Bored with Bedrest

. . . And I have only been on it for . . . oh . . . an hour now. This should be fun. After about 4 hours of intense contractions yesterday (which eventually DID stop--what a blessing!), I am now dilated to a 3. Which isn't so bad, of course, but it does mean the contractions were doing something there. A little more worrisome, however, is that my blood pressure is 144/70-something and my dr. is worried about preeclampsia. It's not that this is an unfamiliar scenario with us--I mean it's happened every time so far, but I haven't had a full 2 weeks bedrest since I was pregnant with Lucy. So I'm on a medication to reduce contractions and my blood pressure. I'll take my b.p. 3-4 times a day. As long as it goes down into the 130s I get to stay at home. If it stays in the 140s, the dr. wants me admitted to the hospital. So everyone think relaxing thoughts . . . I'll be able to get up again at 36 weeks and then the baby can come whenever (as long as my blood pressure is okay). So has anyone read any good books lately? I'm in need of some recommendations.

7 Weeks and Counting

It's always nice when you can start counting down weeks instead of months left in your pregnancy . . . and we're there. It's seemed to pass incredibly fast because of our busy, busy summer. Now we are trying to finish the basement before baby #4 arrives and it feels like a race. On the upside, all looks good with the baby . . . just measuring a little small, but still growing at this point. Now it's so peaceful and quiet in the house, I think I'll read for awhile.

Tagged

As I've been tagged by Katie Green, I will now grace the world with 7 random facts about myself. Seriously, what more could anyone want?

1. My favorite time of year used to be the fall . . . with the air turning crisp, football games on Friday nights, and most importantly (to me), returning to school. I love, have always loved, and will continue to love learning. Now I love all seasons in their time, especially since we moved back from AZ and we have seasons again.

2. I was born in Independence, MO in July 1976—the month and year that the extermination order against Mormons was officially repealed from Missouri state law.

3. Some of my favorite memories are from girl's camp, youth conferences, and Stake Saturdays while growing up. When you grow up without big numbers of Latter Day Saints around (and believe me, SD has a limited number), you have a strong stake youth group. I especially loved all night temple trips to Chicago, IL, and have learned to appreciate the sacrifices our youth leaders made for our benefits.

4. I played Eliza Doolittle in my high school musical “My Fair Lady” when I was a senior. Now I'm lucky if I get to sing one line of a song before one of my kids yells, "Mom, STOP SINGING!"

5. I asked Zach out on our first date on a dare from Jon Edwards. Jon, who later married my good friend Dorothy, even paid for the date. On said date (Preference-for those of you BYUers who know what that is), Zach and I were dancing and I tripped over someone’s feet and literally sprawled across the floor. It was actually quite funny and we laughed about it all night.

6. One of my dream jobs (besides the one I currently have, that is) would be to research random facts for the Uncle John’s bathroom readers. What could be more fun than that?

7. I love to read more than (almost) anything. It is my therapy. If I am ever really mad, cranky, tired, or overwhelmed, I can pick up a book for a few minutes and relax. I often read during my spare moments: at the counter while cooking dinner, while getting ready for the day, doing my hair, while watching the kids play outside, and before bed. I've tried while folding laundry, but it just doesn't work.

Now I tag the only 2 people I know check this site sometimes (that haven't been tagged already): Katie Williams and Alisa Leavitt. (That means you have to start blogging, Alisa:-)

Micah's Wedding

Yes, I realize my brother's wedding took place back in October, but I just got a CD with pictures from this momentous event and wanted to post a few fun ones.

The Fesler siblings, goofy as always.
Micah and Katie.
The five fabulous Fesler boys . . . and their mom.
Mom and Dad enjoyed the very important role as parents of the groom . . . but even MORE importantly, they brought the food!
Fesler family: (b) Matt, Jacob, Dad, Micah, and David.
(f) Seth, Sarah, Becca, Mom, Camille, and Katie
I can tell I was the only one who took the photographer's suggestion to be REALLY goofy seriously . . . seriously.
And one of the siblings, youngest to oldest: David, Seth, Jacob, Camille, Katie, moi, Becca, Micah and Matt

It's Time AGAIN!

Top Ten—July 2007
(Sometimes it’s hard to come up with 10 things of significance. This time it was hard to narrow it down. July was a fun month for the Bradshaws!)

10- Lucy faithfully reciting her new mantra (“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, MOM!”) every time I try to throw anything away. And I mean ANYTHING! I’m not just talking about old clothes and toys here—also cereal boxes, Pringles cans, and anything else she drags out of the trash b/c she knows she’ll use for something someday. My house is NEVER going to be free from clutter . . . EVER!

9- Our July celebrations—Independence Day (see previous blog) and July 24th, which really consisted of going on a bike ride and watching the Spanish Fork fireworks. Of course, they didn’t start until 10:45, by which time Kye had been asleep on the grass for ½ an hour, Isaac was absolutely crazy with exhaustion, and Lucy was pretty much ready to go home.

8- Our annual drive to SD for an awesome summer vacation. The trip out was quite uneventful. The trip back was an adventure—I drove with the kids myself and we stopped in WY for the night. There was apparently the Scary-Looking-Men convention at our hotel, so we checked in, ran to our room and didn’t emerge for the rest of the night.

7- Isaac’s calamitous vacation: getting his leg run over by the double bike, falling off the bed and sleeping upside down most nights, biting a hole through his tongue, and getting turned upside down in the pool with his life jacket on. Becca was on duty and quickly saved him, but he stayed away from the pool for awhile after that.

6- Kye’s amazing discovery for the purpose of sign language: “Mom, here’s how you talk with your hands . . . “ (he signed, “I love you”). “That’s in case you don’t have a mouth . . . or if your face is on your back.” Yes, yes . . . not to mention the convenience for the Deaf, including his own cousins.














5- My dad’s fantastic idea to jump in the pool fully clothed after a hard day’s work. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for everyone to follow.

4- Zach: How about we name the baby “George?” Isaac: Nooooooooooo! (with great contempt), I’n Jawj!

3- Kye’s very first attempt at drawing a full family picture. He handed it to me so proudly with, “Mom, look! I drew you with cranky eyes because you get soooooooooooooo cranky!” Soooo glad everyone notices:-)
















2- Zach and Dad making a mantle and side pieces for our fireplace in about 6 hours. Cha-ching! We saved ourselves $700 by making it! Thank you, Zach & Dad!



















1- The rest of the trip to S.D., in which I rarely saw the children because they were so busy 4 wheeling, playing in the sandbox, doing “canyonballs” in the pool, playing with Gma and Gpa’s toys, picking gooseberries and sweet peas from the garden, lighting sparklers, roasting marshmallows, playing with cousins, listening to Gpa’s stories, sleeping on the grandchildren’s porch, and jumping on the trampolines. You just can’t get any better than that.