Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

She has finally arrived! The newest little Perry girl!

8lbs 6 oz
20" long

She is completely adorable with brown hair and a dimple in her left cheek.
Both Trisa and "baby girl Perry" are doing wonderful.
Please check back soon for pictures, Chelsea and Michael's reaction and
her name . . .
it is hard to name such an adorable little angel!
(Posted by one proud aunt!)

And the winner is....

Baby girl Perry! (Yes, I know. We need to pick out a name)


She has "cooked" longer than both Chelsea and Michael now. And I'm OKAY with that. Things have gotten VERY busy around here (that's for an upcoming post) and so I'm glad she's held off. HOWEVER, that is almost over and I am ready for her to come. NOW. At my last appointment, on Tuesday, I was almost dilated to a three and %80 effaced, and he was amazed at how low her head was.

"I can't believe you can walk or even sit down!" an official comment....

Me neither.

I know I still have another week and a half, but I've never felt so big or stretched to my limits as I do now. My stomach is so hard and stretched, it seriously feels like I swallowed a bowling ball! She is still moving all around, which I finally videotaped...but will spare you nightmares...

I'll post an update on the side of the blog...just for those that are curious. I know I go insane with curiosity when my friend's due dates get close.

You want talent?

I just found this on a friend's blog. Hope you enjoy! It certainly got my round belly laughing. :)

A little fun while I wait...

I know, I know, lately this blog as been all about me, Me ME! :) Hopefully I'll be able to bombard you with pictures of a new Perry soon.

...or at least something of more interest. :)


I've been wanting to perm my hair for a while (years) My hair is so flat and I just don't know (or rather don't want to spend the time) to figure out how to fix that. I've always loved curlier hair, figured it would be easier to fix in the morning, and was just ready for something new.

My hair grows slow and is relatively thin, so I wanted to perm it when I had pregnant hair...when it is thicker and grows faster.

So, for my sisters and anyone else who cares :), here are the before pictures:







And the after:



I was hoping it would be more curly, but my hairdresser was skeptical that my pregnant hair would hold any curl at all. I'm happy with it though. :) I haven't tried it yet, but ideally, with my flat iron, I can go back and forth between the two hairstyles (the before and after). we'll see. :)

oh...hold on...before I close this post....we have another person wanting attention before the baby comes! :)

Dan planted a corn field in our back yard! okay, so it's not a field, but like a 4x5 feet section from our lovely rock garden. If it were OUR yard, the rock garden would be gone and he would have planted many more rows.




We have been surprised at how quickly the corn has grown and are crossing fingers that we will be enjoying home grown corn on the cob in a few months!

All things baby...

So, I feel the countdown beginning! This week I reach 37 weeks...about the time Michael surprised us by coming early. I keep telling everyone that I'll probably come early, but I'm okay with waiting three more weeks. My days are busy keeping up with the other two and other events in our lives that I'm sure the time will fly right by. My countdown of friends that have to come before me is almost gone. Just Emilee and Rachel...which could come any day now! It's so fun to have so many friends going through the same things I am. :)

Emotionally, I feel ready. Physically...we're almost there. My house is a mess, but that's what this week is for!

We ALMOST got the crib up, but can't seem to remember where we placed all the hardware to put it together. We've found most of what we needed at Lowe's and have a few more stores to check out for the rest. I know as soon as we get the final screw...the bag with all the parts will show up. Why is it always like that?!

I am feeling really good. Too good probably...which makes me feel like I have a lot LONGER than just 3 weeks before the due date is here. My back aches by night time, but our awesome memory foam topper erases that by morning. I do feel exhausted all day long so I move a lot slower and take so much longer to get things done. But like I said, I am feeling great, and have NO reason to complain. It's fun to see her legs poking my stomach out, and even the kids enjoy watching and waiting for a foot to push back in. Kinda like that bopping game at Chuck E Cheese's. :)


The ladies in my ward threw me a baby shower last week. It was supposed to be a double baby shower with a girl who is due just a few weeks after me, but she had to cancel last minute because her other two kids had the stomach flu.



Chelsea was sad to miss the party due to Kindergarten, but not sad enough to stay home. Michael came with me and was so excited to open presents. I had a hard time figuring out who gave me what because cards and wrapping paper were flying everywhere! I think we got it under control though.


I was amazed at the generosity of these ladies, some of whom I barely know. Being the chorister in Primary, I don't get out much to meet the others. I think we might just be totally stocked on diapers for several months. WOOHOO!!!! But more than the amazing gifts, I was touched by the many offers to watch my kids when labor actually does kick in. I have been more stressed about this issue than any part of the delivery...who to take my kids to? The closest family we have are Dan's parents who live 4 hours away. So now, I have at least 5 phone numbers in my cell phone of people in the ward willing to watch my kids any day or night. I am so grateful to their generosity and kindness!

Now, I can truly focus on the pain and joy that is hopefully not too far way from me now!

Mother's Day and movie night

Last Thursday, I was invited to a mother's day tea party at Chelsea's class. She was so excited about it and wanted to "dress up" so she wore one of her school dresses and I curled her hair...(well I tried..but I her hair was too wet to start with and the curls didn't really turn out...) She still looked beautiful. The tea party lasted only about 30 minutes long, but I enjoyed every second of it.

The kids came out of the classroom to meet their mom's in the hall. Chelsea presented with me with this beautiful homemade corsage.

Then she led me into her classroom, to her chair, and let me have a seat. I was worried I'd need help getting out of the "little" chair when it was time to leave, but was grateful to be sitting.

The kids then sang two songs for us. One about the alphabet and the other the "Five Little Ducks went out to Play" song. I recorded it on the camera, but am too tired to post it. Sorry. :)

Then the kids lined up to get refreshments for their moms. Chelsea loves getting to do big jobs, so she was looking forward to serving ME the food.


Each mom received exactly 1 strawberry, 2 vanilla wafers, and a spoonful of cranberry-chocolate chip mixture. (Later we could have seconds...) After the mom's were served, the kids got to return to line to get their own. I think the idea was that the kids would sit on our laps to eat...but poor Chelsea had to balance on the edge of my knee since my Stomach was taking all the room. It felt good to hold her though.

Finally, they presented us with gifts. A homemade card and a ceramic craft (still not exactly sure what it is, but it's beautiful! :)) that they made in art class.

I feel so lucky to have a daughter like Chelsea. She is so sweet, gentle, and caring, and EASY. I was really blessed to have her first, so she could be an example to her brothers and sisters...and of course, ease me into parenting. She has a very silly side when you get to know her, which she definitely got from her Dad. I love you Chelsea!

For the actual Mother's day, the kids (under Dad's supervision) treated me to a 4 course breakfast.

Course 1: 1/2 bowl of corn Chex cereal with milk


Course 2: 1 piece of cinnamon toast (Michael served this entree to me...and dropped it on the floor right when he got to the bed. He just said "oops. I sorry mom" picked it up, put it back on the plate and said "Happy Mother's day!" I love that kid!

Course 3: 1 bowl of cooked, instant oatmeal. You know, the kind that comes in the packets.

Course 4: 1 eggo waffle with syrup.

I felt like a queen. Well, at least a very lucky Mother who has the cutest kids.

Lastly they presented me with my mother's day gift. A book.
They curled in bed next to me and had me read it to them. It was perfect. Truly, I am, the happiest mother ever!

On another note...to make the length of this post growing...

We found out something fun we can do on the weekends! WAHOO! :) There is a restaurant here called "Smoovies" which makes smoothies (and sandwiches, and ice-cream, and lots of other stuff...) and sponsors a movie in the park on Saturday night. The movie was supposed to start at 8, but it wasn't dark enough, so the kids spent some time playing in the complimentary bounce house. I waddled myself down a half block to get us some smoothies, which of course we devoured before the movie started. The movie they showed was "Bedtime Stories". The kids were more interested in the popcorn and m&m's, but still liked it.

Whether it was the bounce house, smoothie, popcorn, or movie, apparently they had too much fun. We are SO doing this again.

Kindergarten Trip to the Farm

Chelsea's kindergarten class recently did a unit on Farms. They were given 8 chicken/duck eggs to put in an incubator until they hatched. Unfortunately, NONE of the eggs hatched, except 1 duck. Chelsea had looked forward to "hatch" day for weeks (okay, only the 26 days it takes..) and skipped to school that day. She was so upset when they learned that the eggs were not going to hatch.

The neighboring kindergarten class had ALL 8 eggs hatch, so they gave Chelsea's class 3 of theirs. Chelsea said the class named ALL three "Poofy." :)

Today, they took a field trip to the farm where the eggs came from, to return the chicks and ducks. Unfortunately, it was raining, so there time was cut short. Michael and I went to "chaperone" but there were so many parents there, we didn't do much.

The kids loved feeding the animals, especially the pigs and goats.





Notice the whole piece of bread on the back of the pig...


They kids were taken into a chicken coop so they could find an egg and put it in a basket. I was impressed with how gentle the kids were with the eggs.

Especially, when just a few moments later, they were allowed to hold some live baby animals.



..yeah...not so gentle.

Chelsea was in heaven with the cute little bunnies and kittens.




Michael wanted to hold them too, but wasn't sure what to do when he finally did get to hold one.




Don't forget to sanitize!

This is her teacher, Mrs. Martin, counting to make sure all kids get put back on the bus when it started to rain even harder. Michael kept getting in the count...although he'd make a tiny kindergartener. :)