My baby

My baby turned TWO on Sunday. I just can't believe it. When did she grow up? Sometimes I still feel like we just brought her home. And then she says something to me like, "Love you mommy." and she's just all toddler now. She loves her shoes, and dresses, getting her back scratched (no doubt because Caleb does), and my makeup. She loves it when Caleb chases her around the house.

She has been consistently getting WORSE at going to bed. And taking naps. I guess it comes with being 2. When we first switched her to the bunk beds, she really didn't get up all that much. Now it seems like every night is a battle. She climbs out of bed 3-10 times a night. It's a painful routine of spankings, crying, putting back to bed, and threatening for more spankings if she does it again. I've found with naps, that she does better if I put her down early. Like BEFORE lunch, around 11:00. If I wait till after lunch, she likes to climb out of bed and then it's impossible to get her to stay. Although yesterday she had a late nap. But I had to lie down with her, and we slept together on her bed.

It used to be that a daytime nap would ruin my good-night's sleep. Not when I'm pregnant. Yesterday I got to sleep in till 8:30, AND I took a nap with Angie around 2:00. And I still CRASHED at 11:00 when I went to bed. This pregnancy seems to be marked by TIREDNESS more than anything else. I'm happy to report the naseua has pretty much passed. I'm 12 weeks. Not bad. I'm still technically in my first trimester.

The other night Caleb woke up with a bad dream. He was pretty upset about it and REALLY wanted to sleep in our room. I sat up with him and told him that if he has bad dreams, that he should say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to bless him with GOOD dreams. So we prayed together in the middle of the night. He slept well on the floor next to our bed for the rest of the night. (We don't do children in our bed......ever). The following night he wanted to pray for good dreams, so he did. And when he woke up I asked him, "How did you sleep Caleb?" He said to me, "Mom. I asked Heavenly Father for good dreams, and He gave me NO dreams!......Heavenly Father didn't hear me right!" Parker and I laughed. I explained to him that NO dreams WAS the answer to his prayer. And that Heavenly Father doesn't always answer our prayers the way we THINK he will.....but since he didn't have bad dreams, it was still an answer to his prayer.

Angie is becoming a little copycat. It seems like EVERYTHING Caleb does, she repeats. He has this TERRIBLE habit of climbing down from his stool while he's eating his meals, and either running to give me hug...BETWEEN EVERY BITE!...or to hide under the counter and then ask, "Mom! Can you see me?" Well now Angie climbs under the counter and says, "MOM! See me?" and now SHE insists on having hugs between bites as well. "A hug! A HUG!!" It's REALLY annoying actually. Mealtime is such a pain anyway. For some reason, Caleb always asks if he can sit in the middle when we're riding in the car. The answer is always no. But yesterday we went to put Angie in her carseat, and she climbed over and sat in the middle and said, "I sit en middow!!" SERIOUSLY? NOBODY SITS IN THE MIDDLE! And she TOTALLY got that from HIM. Anyway. Most of the time it's just really cute. She seems to be growing SO FAST lately. I just love her to pieces.

Happy birthday to my baby! I'll post pictures later.

Journal post

They put me in Young Women's. I'm very excited......and intimidated at the same time. As a Relief Society teacher, I only taught once a month. And grown women have all kinds of personal experience and insight to offer and add to the discussion at each lesson. I'm teaching the beehives THREE times a month. And thank goodness they know how to sit still and listen, but participation is A LOT harder to come by. I feel like after 15 minutes of me talking, that they're all just bored. The energy level is so different as well. The girls are so CHATTY!! And they don't know much about respect for a person standing in front of the room.

After giving my first lesson yesterday, I realized that these girls need some help navigating the scriptures. They're too young for seminary, and most of them are probably just starting to read the scriptures on their own for the first time. But yesterday I asked them to turn to a scripture in Alma, and a couple of them didn't know how to get there. I've decided I'm gonna teach them the books in the Book of Mormon, and at the beginning of each lesson we're gonna do scripture chases. I really hope I can get them accustomed to turning the pages in the scriptures before they start seminary.

I find myself constantly thinking about these girls. It's probably just because it's all so new to me, but after last week's lesson I really want to find ways to make the lessons entertaining and fun, as well as meaningful. Parker keeps telling me they just need to know that I care about them, and then they'll like me, and it's all easy from that point on. I know he's right. I'm just not the chatty Kathy teenager I used to be. It's gonna take a little work on my part.

Onto other things. I really am doing VERY well for this pregnancy. I'll be 11 weeks on Friday, and I STILL haven't thrown up. I've wanted to a couple of times, but honestly I'm just gonna believe that the Lord is blessing me, because He knows I just wouldn't be able to handle being sick, working, 2 kids, and have a young women's calling. :) We'll SAY that's what it is. I guess I shouldn't count the chickens before they hatch, but I'm pretty sure by this time with my other 2 babies I was puking my guts out. Hopefully that doesn't mean anything is going wrong with #3. It just means I'm lucky right? Well. .... not too lucky I guess. I'm still super tired. And the naseua is STILL there. But I'm grateful to be doing as well as I am.

Angie's vocabulary is growing by LEAPS AND BOUNDS! She speaks in small sentences now. She says things like, "Caleb get me." and "Daddy shoot me" (when Parker's messing around with his guns). She also says the typical 2-year-old phrases like, "MINE!" and "MOM!!" and "Waaaa!!" But the other day, I could've SWORN she had a poopy diaper. I went to change her and the diaper was dry. I said, "Angie....I thought you were poopy. You stink!" and she said, "I TOOT!" I just about DIED! Now she announces it whenever she does. She's such a lady.

Last Sunday in church Caleb learned the new theme for Primary this year. "Choose the right." I am not really sure what exactly they said in that sharing time lesson, but he ATE IT UP. And when we got home, he was being SO KIND to Angie. They got a couple of the bathroom stools and sat together. He put his blanket over both their laps, and then said, "Mom! I'm sharing my blanket....I'm choosing the right!" He'd share toys, or pat her on the back...all for the sake of "choosing the right". And she, of course, thought she was on top of the world. He was PLAYING with her instead of fighting with her or ignoring her. They played together for a couple of hours without any pushing, arguing, or crying. If only they could act like that EVERY day!

Parker was set apart as the Executive Secretary on Sunday as well. So now I won't have him on Sunday mornings before church, because he'll be in bishopric meetings. But at least church has moved to 11:00 instead of 9:00. So it's not quite as much of a rush in the morning. I'm excited for his new calling. It's been a while since he's had a calling in church that's actually kept him busy. ;)

Well, I'll probably be doing a lot more journaling in this blog for a while. At least while I'm in young women's, because I'm gonna try to go through personal progress again. I did it as a young woman....but I kinda feel like if I should expect my girls to do something, I should be willing to do it myself. So that means journal writing, and reading the book of Mormon cover to cover, and memorizing the Family Proclaimation....and a WHOLE LOT OF OTHER THINGS that I don't really have time for, but I'm gonna MAKE time for.....and just from talking about it I'm sleepy. ;) Wish me luck!

#3 Picture

Here's my ultrasound picture.



Baby #3 is so-far healthy and strong. I've been doing well considering first trimester icky-ness. But still not too bad. You just learn to live with it. Caleb is convinced it's a boy....he wants a brother SO bad. I keep telling him it could be a brother or a sister. He understands, but he's still hoping for a boy. For HIS sake, I think I want it to be a boy too.....but honestly I don't care either way.

My due date is July 31st......which means this little thing could be born on or before Caleb's birthday (July 25th). We're all excited!

back up

Please read the post titled "black friday" first. You'll understand why you'll want to read them in that order, after you do it. :) I'll post pictures hopefully later today.

baby steps....

Last Friday I went in for my first doctor's appointment. Parker took work off so he'd get a chance to see the baby. Only to find out, that I wasn't actually SCHEDULED for an ultrasound. WHAT? With my other 2 kids I always got an ultrasound on the first appointment. Apparently you have to SCHEDULE an ultrasound separately now. GRR! This means Parker took work off to watch me get blood drawn and get a pap smear. WHOOPIE. I felt so bad. Now the ultrasound is scheduled for this coming Friday. And Parker has to work. So I'll get to call him and let him know how it went. Hopefully no big surprises like twins or something. ;) It's also disappointing because.....I just thought I'd know by now if the baby was ok. As soon as I found out I wasn't getting an ultrasound, I said, "Well...how do we know if the baby's ok?" I told them about my sister who had a miscarriage but her body still thought she was pregnant. No bleeding. No cramping. But at HER first ultrasound there was no heartbeat. The nurse looked at me and said, "Yeah....that actually happens quite a bit. I'd say once or twice a week for our practice." I'm thinking...WHAT?!! WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS IF YOU'RE NOT LETTING ME GET AN ULTRASOUND!? Holy cow. So now we have one more week of suspense. I sure hope everything is ok.

I've been feeling pretty icky. I'm so tired after work. It's a wonder ANYONE gets fed. My bathrooms haven't been cleaned in a month. I keep telling myself I need to do it, but I'm JUST SO TIRED all the time. And 2 hours before and after each meal I just feel nauseated. I haven't lost my lunch.....yet. Wouldn't it be nice if I could just SKIP that part. But I seriously doubt it.

Christmas this year is at our house. This is a first for me. Paul and Claudia are coming over Christmas Eve for dinner. I'm excited to be the hostess. But all of the sudden I have SO MUCH more admiration for my mom. How did she do it all these years? I don't know how I'm gonna fix all those caseroles with ONE OVEN! Not to mention the HAM! Pies will have to be made the day before. But seriously, I'm kinda freaking out a little bit.

Then there's Christmas morning. We have church at 9:00. NINE! How inconvenient! It's hard to make it on time to church on any given Sunday.....but throw CHRISTMAS into the mix? I know Caleb will be disappointed, but I think we're gonna hold off on presents till church is over. And there's no skipping church either. First of all it's Christmas. Secondly I'm singing in Sacrament. There's no getting around it.

I hate that I have to work this week. I was asked to feed this missionaries this week, but I had to say no. With work, and Christmas and how EXTRA TIRED I am all the time, I really just can't add that burden right now. I hope they find someone else to do it. I felt bad.

Hopefully after this Friday I'll be able to publish these blog posts and share the news with everyone. For now I just save it in the drafts. :) Merry Christmas!

Black Friday

I am writing this poast today (Dec 10) but I won't be publishing it for a week. On Black Friday we found out I was pregnant. I'd been off birth control for.....like 30 seconds. Ok not really. But I went off the pill, and 2 weeks later got pregnant. I have a doctor's appointment next Friday the 16th. The first doctors appointment is ALWAYS kinda nerve-racking for me. Because it's the appointment where you find out if there's anything wrong. If there's a silent miscarriage. If the baby's gonna be ok. If there's as heartbeat.......of if there's......more than one. There's a lot to worry about. And NOT a lot you can do about it until then. I hope everything is ok. This is why this post won't go up for a week. If there IS anything wrong.....it won't be going up AT ALL I suppose.

For the past 2 days the naseua has started to set in. It's not bad or anything.....It's not like I'm gonna puke every time I brush my teeth (at least not yet.....we ALWAYS get to that eventually). But I just feel icky. If I'm SLIGHTLY hungry, I don't feel well. And if I'm REALLY hungry I wanna curl up and die. I'm EXTRA tired. By 9:30 I'm out of gas. It makes it hard since I REALLY enjoy my evenings after the kids have gone to bed. There's not much time to have any kind of fun when you're dozing off as soon as the kids have gone down. Oh well.

No motivation to cook. No motivation to eat. OH AND LETS not forget that diet I'd been doing. That all came to a CRASHING halt too. I lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks. Not too bad. I would have done SOOO well if I could have kept on going. But that's ALWAYS how it goes. I lose weight- and I get pregnant. Apparently they go hand-in-hand. Oh well. I know how to do it now. And I'll start again after the baby's born. Although I always feel hungry.....sometimes the feeling of being full- is much worse. At the moment- the thought of morning sickness is FAR MORE daunting than the thought of going through labor. I REALLY don't enjoy feeling like this EVERY DAY for weeks and weeks. At least with labor- it only lasts a few hours....it has an end.

Anyway. We're very excited about our Summer surprise. July is going to be an exciting month. Garrett gets home from his mission. Jared comes home form Afganistan. And we will be having a new family member. I don't actually have a due date yet (since I haven't been to the doctor yet). But I'm guessing it'll be the end of July....maybe early August. I'm not so excited about this first trimester. I think I've kinda blocked it out with each kid so far. I definately think it's the WORST part about being pregnant. We'll see how it goes.

Play Time

On Tuesday I didn't have any patients until 1:00. So I got to hang out at home with Angie while Caleb was at school. This.....NEVER happens. I'm off on Fridays, but Angie and I go grocery shopping while Caleb is in school, and we always get back right as he's getting out. So this day was EXTRA special. I sat in her bedroom and just let her play. I can't believe how big she's getting. She's changed so much lately. This video may not seem like anything special to any of you. But it was a moment that I got to share with her....just the two of us. And I'm glad I grabbed the camera so I could remember.