It's a Sick Sick Year

We have had illness in this house literally since Christmas.  Literally.  Abby just barely got over what I think was the longest cold in recorded history and one that Megan had a shorter version of.  Chopper was sick briefly and then I've started into it this weekend.  Fortunately for me it hasn't been too bad.  Then yesterday we're sitting in church and Chopper nudges me that Megan is really hot.  She's flushed, she's cuddling (always a sign that she doesn't feel well) and we have 15 minutes of church left.  So rather than pack everything up and leave right then (we sit near the front and I hate how visible that would be -- is that wrong?) we go home right after sacrament meeting and lo and behold Megan is 103.8.  And our thermometer tends to run low.  She's complaining of cold, shaky, lethargic, and says I'm hurting her when I change her clothes.  Classic flu.  And I realize now that I think I've never had a child with the flu!  I hope January takes all this illness with it and we can get back to normal lives.

But on the good side of life, the baby is kicking.  It's pretty sporadic and still mostly just twinges of "was that the baby"?  But last night Chopper and I watched the Green Lantern (kind've a weird movie by the way) and I'm curled on the couch and this little guy just goes to town kicking me over and over.  And it was hard enough that Chopper came over and felt him!!!  This is one of my favorite things about pregnancy and makes a lot of the other icky stuff worth it.

Weekly Update

That seems to be all I'm capable of at the moment.  It's a been a week busy with Relief Society "stuff", kid "stuff" , and lack of energy "stuff".  We haven't even left the house all that much either . . . 

I guess the really big deal is that I took Megan to see a therapist on Monday for an evaluation.  This is a therapist that works in occupational and sensory integration therapy.  She was recommended to me by a friend whose son has issues that sound very similar to Megan's.  Megan, somewhat unfortunately, had a GREAT day on Monday. Don't get me wrong, I treasure great days, but when you're seeing a therapist for the first time, you kind've want them to show the side that has brought you there in the first place!  Regardless, when we spoke briefly after the session, she said that she is definitely seeing some motor planing issues with Megan.  She has difficulty going from point A to point E because she can't figure out the process.  That leads to frustration which leads to tantrums which leads to angry, screaming Megan and frustrated, crying mommy.  Chopper and I will go back for a full parent conference in about a week and a half and discuss what she's seeing as well as what we see and her recommendations for therapy.  Since the rest of this week has been pretty horrendous, I have to say I am very excited to perhaps get some tools under my belt and some professional help.  For Megan and I both.

So it's been a rough week.  But these past two days have been in the mid-70s for weather and so even though we haven't been able to get out of the house much due to tantrums, we have been able to get out and play at the park.  Thank goodness being outside almost always makes my girl happy.  And being in the bathtub.  Anyway.  Today we went and played with friends and had a great time at a wonderfully enclosed park where the girls can run and I can chat.  It's nice for me to get a break too!  Yesterday we went to our little play area down the street and then explored in the trees.  I took along the camera because I know that ya'll are suffering from too many words and not enough pictures and the girls were very compliant.  Megan was so compliant that she started posing and there's some great shots of her vogue-ing out (is that a word?).  Abby will say cheese but she doesn't smile and she doesn't look at the camera when she does it.  But she's still cute as a button.

 Oh I forgot this one -- Megan was making a quilt on the floor.  She still just loves to organize fabric, use pins, play with buttons -- all those things that make her my quilting and sewing girl!

 And this was too funny to not take a picture of -- Abby after breakfast (hence the food on her face) the morning after she's had a bath and gone to bed with wet hair.  She is quite the little fuzzball and in desperate need of yet another haircut!

Action shots of course . . . 

 And then here are all the posing ones -- if you need copies, you know my phone number!!

 Posing with sticks was one of Megan's favorite things to do.

 I LOVE this one how Abby mimics her sister.  Because it happens ALL THE TIME!

 Nice little foot pop.

 And another stick picture.

Happy spring?  I don't think it's here for good but I'll take what I can get.

Pictures I found

I'm working on a quilt for Project Linus and took some pictures of the process so I can get a better perspective. When I downloaded them, I found a few that I had forgotten about!!

This was Megan's first day of dance.  It didn't go so well.  It turned out that she was assigned to a more advanced class for her age and she just did not get it.  She also resisted the teacher's instruction (no surprise there) and told me on the way home, "mommy, I'm not good at dance class."  I was a little worried.  The next week, we switched her to a more beginner's class and it went fantastically!  She has a hard time with the tap dance -- I think mainly because it's faster paced and requires movement of legs and arms at the same time (that would be the inheritance of my horrible hand-eye coordination -- sorry!!) but the ballet moves are good!  She followed along and tried and did was the teacher asked her to do.  When she came out she was so excited about how well she had done and the things she had done and very proudly told me "I had no grumpy faces, only happy ones!"  So I think we'll stick with it a little while longer and see how she does.

Ahh, Abby.  She likes to be in the bathtub.  Notice she's wearing her diaper here.  You see, I had already given her a bath and let Megan stay in longer while Abby ran around as a naked baby (with diaper of course).  When I went to check on Megan, she went with me and decided to get back in -- head first she leans in and just kind've belly flops into the tub -- without getting her head wet.  She was so glad to be in the tub again but Megan was not too happy about having her imaginary world interrupted so unceremoniously!  So out she came, with a very full diaper.

These actually I did just take today.  I "commissioned" my sister-in-law Denise Gasser who is a fabulous artist, to draw some birds for the girl's room.  I am so pleased with the results!!

Close-up

I love them -- they're bold and graphic and don't have any green in them!  I love the green on the girls' walls but it is a little bright!  Now I just need to do Abby's quilt, and get birds and a tree on her wall opposite Megan's and we will be ready to move her in.  And then I can start working on a boy's room!!!  Yay!  I'm very excited about all of the decorating and creating in my future!

Random Things

I just need to write these down or I'll forget.

For pregnancy: 

I'm not about 2 days away from 14 weeks and the nauseousness is pretty much gone!  And the headaches!  I did lose my breakfast this morning after brushing my teeth but it's something about brushing my teeth -- I have no idea what.  And I still don't really feel like eating a lot.  I'm not in the mood for food.  That's made cooking a problem and somehow I'm still managing to put on 2 pounds a week.  Maybe it's because I don't feel like cooking and so we've been doing a lot of eating out.  That needs to stop.

Yesterday when I came home and showed Megan the pictures of the baby (she loves seeing the pictures of the baby) we talked about it being a baby brother.  She was fine with that, which surprised me because for the most part when we ask her she wants it to be a girl.  Then she said, "and when he gets bigger, he will turn into a girl!"  Ahhh, that explains it!

She also says some things that I've learned to ignore because she's picked them up but doesn't mean it.  I don't think she understands the context behind what she says.  But randomly she'll say "what's the big idea?" or "what's the deal?"

I am going to put more effort into Family  Home Evening because I'm TERRIBLE at it!  So maybe to help keep myself accountable, I'll start posting what we do.  Our Relief Society meeting tonight is going to focus on that so maybe I'll get the some good ideas.  The problem is the execution for me though.  I just don't get it done!!  Well, try try again.

Abby's favorite new word is "gosh".  We still have to repeat pretty much everything she says or she continues saying it.  You can't acknowledge with "ok" or "uh-huh" you have to repeat.  So she'll come up to me and say "gosh, mommy, gosh" and I just have to say gosh back.  It's also pretty funny to hear her ask for her vitamins and probiotics in the mornings.  I don't know if I can even get it out so you can say it phonetically.  I might have to see if I can get her to do that one on camera.

She also loves to be a naked baby.  Thank goodness Megan is getting past that phase.  But Abby loves to be a naked baby and run run run!  (Yes, there's a diaper on).  She pitched a major fit today when I finally wrangled her down to get dressed.  And speaking of fits, even that is different between the two!  When Abby doesn't get what she wants -- she screams.  Loudly and defiantly!

Oh but one very good side -- Megan is learning how to scratch backs and comb hair.  Soon Chopper and I will be in heaven -- for 30 seconds at a stretch!!

Do You Want to Know????

So I opted for a first trimester screening that took place today.  It was NOT an amniocentesis -- those are too scary.  This was just an ultrasound where they measured the skin of the neck and then did some bloodwork on me (which had to happen anyway).  So the baby looks good -- most likely does not have Down Syndrome or Trisomony 18 (spelling?).  I don't know how likely it is, but with Abby we had some concerns about half-way through so I thought it would be nice to just get that out of the way.

Although I admit that I had other motivations!!

A friend of mine had this done and they were able to tell at 13 weeks what the baby was.  Hmmmm, I like that idea.  Well this little turkey of ours was upside-down, fast asleep.  The doctor did a lot of poking and prodding (I'm a little sore honestly!) and I did a lot of coughing to shake the uterus and finally, eventually, we got a slow roll that showed us . . . (drum roll please) . . . 

A BABY BOY!!!

I did get the standard -- we're only 90% sure and we'll confirm at 17 weeks -- but to me that's pretty good.  Good enough that I bought some little boy onesies to tell Chopper and am spreading the news.

We're excited.  Very!  I always said I wanted -- ok needed -- to have at least one daughter and after that I didn't care.  With Abby, I was excited for the prospect of sisterhood.  And now with this one, I am genuinely excited to experience what a little boy will be like and look forward to all the things that kind've come with boys -- trains and trucks and scouting and missions.  It's going to be awesome.  Chopper's already talking camping and guns too.

And yes, we're discussing names and kind've already think what we're going to name this little guy.  I don't know if we'll tell yet or not honestly.  That's another thing I don't really worry about keeping secret but maybe I should at least wait until we see it again??

But it's fun to play with Lloyd a little bit -- there are some great combinations out there -- Lloyd Byron, Lloyd Voldemort, Lloyd of the Rings . . . we'll see what happens!

I've been tired

Today I am 32 years old!  Wahoo!

I decided for my birthday I wanted something very quiet -- cheesecake and a good girl movie and sleeping in tomorrow.  I just am so tired.  I guess I shouldn't complain though -- after all, I'm 13 weeks and hardly sick at all anymore.  But I find myself wondering how I'm going to do this with 3 kids when the thought of just taking my 2 for a quick trip to get groceries or run to the library exhausts me.  I have a feeling that my eating habits in the morning are also messing with my thyroid so that probably isn't helping.  

Sorry, enough griping.  But it's also why I'm not posting a ton.  I just don't feel up to it.

Maybe I'll give it a another week.

One Last Thing

The last of my family is leaving tomorrow and it's bitter-sweet.  There's going to be a lot to miss and, I admit, some nice things about being just us again.  And what are they?  Well . . . 

Top 10 Reasons It's Nice to Have Your Entire Family In Your House

(but not in any particular order)

1.  Everyone takes a turn cooking and cleaning

2.  Free babysitters (hooray for date night!)

3.  Games are so much more fun with 10 people than they are with 4 (no offense)

4.  Every funny story and home video comes out of the woodwork

5.  There's always someone to laugh at

6.  There's always someone to laugh with

7.  I don't have to eat that entire batch of cookies all by myself!!

8.  My girls are getting to know and love their family

9.  You get out and explore new things (or cook new things -- hooray for new recipes!)

10.  A reason to eat out to share all our favorite restaurants

Top 10 Reasons Why It's Nice to Have the House Just Back to Us

(also in no particular order)

1.  The bathrooms don't become as much of a disaster with just the 4 of us

2.  You don't have to knock on doors before you enter

3.  NO MORE SHARING OF BEDROOMS WITH YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!!  (Megan keeps waking up scared of "that noise daddy makes".  I don't blame her -- it scares me too.)

4.  Every embarrassing story and home video comes out of the woodwork

5.  Air mattresses really are NOT that comfortable

6.  There's milk and eggs in the fridge and bread in the cupboard for longer than 24 hours

7.  Quiet can be very nice

8.  Less commentary during my favorite shows (ok not really with Chopper home -- love you!)

9.  I get my sewing room back!!!

10.  Less people to fight over the computer with

Did I say already how blessed I am to have the family that I do?  I should say it every day because that's how blessed I am.  But I also love being our own family unit.  Wow.  It's just good all around!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It has been such a wonderful holiday you'll have to bear with me as I get it all down on virtual "paper" because there has been quite a lot going on around here!

It took a few days but my parents and brothers and wives and nephew all arrived and we were a household of 13(point 3) in time for Christmas.  The first few days were a slew of shopping for Christmas presents and groceries.  The amount of food that has gone through this house in the past 10 days is staggering!  One night as we sat down for dinner Megan looked at me and said "It's nice to have a family here!"

Liam is the girls only cousin on our side of the family and the girls just loved him!  He's the same size and a little heavier than Abby but a few months younger so not quite talking as much.  It didn't matter.  He could really get his point across!  It didn't take long for Abby to decide that she needed to tell him what to do just like Megan tells her.  So the days were peppered with "Liam, where are you?" and "Liam, that's my milk!"

On Christmas Eve we had our first family activity together -- decorating gingerbread houses.  We had a great time!  The girls both ate more than they decorated of course but they actually both helped.  

Megan did actually pipe some some icing but was really good with the small candies.  Abby actually placed some of the chocolate rocks on the "porch" until she realized that they were chocolate and not candy.  Then that was the end of that!

Jeff and James and my parents teamed up on a house that ended up . . . quite interesting.  The process was quite entertaining itself.

Danny, Denise, and Liam of course had to go all artsy on us!  Danny was a little disappointed that we weren't building Frank Llloyd Wright gingerbread house but hey, when you're baking four of them, they're just going to be 4 walls and a roof!

Trust me, this looks a lot better than it did.  But it was dubbed the house on fire.

Mark and Adrienne also got fancy-schmancy -- that's what you get when you marry a cake decorator I suppose!

Abby loves Grandpa!   Last night when we went to dinner Jeff asked to carry her into the restaurant and she loudly said "no!" so I asked her if James could take her.  Another "no".  Then she said, "I want grandpa."  And go to him she did.

The finished products!  They all turned out great especially since Megan and Abby ate half of our decorating items . . . 

So Christmas morning was an explosion of presents because we hadn't put any out at all and then had presents for 13 people!  I was so excited to see the look on Megan's face when she woke up the next morning and found that Santa had come.  Well, turns out she already had the no sleep bug.  At about 2:00 a.m. my brother comes in my room to tell me Megan needs to use the potty.  That makes no sense because Megan is sleeping in our room.  Turns out she has been up and looking at presents for about a half hour and he let her!  What a great uncle.  Grrrrr.

Abby really loved the musical cards from Grandma Whittacre.  Sorry Grandma, I had to take it away from her after the 5th time!

Megan and her twirly Minnie from her stocking.  I was a mean mom and took all the candy out of their stockings before they saw them.  But we had church later in the day and both girls were getting sick.  The last thing they needed was to gorge on candy in the morning!  I don't think they noticed though!

Megan's favorite by far was her dance clothes.  She has worn them every day since Christmas and can't wait to start her lessons next week.  She is SOOOOOOOO excited!

Abby liked all the boxes!  And she got a Lightening McQueen plush that was the cause of frequent battles between her and Liam.

I tried to get things for the girls this year that they could do rather than just play with and it seems to have worked.  Chopper MADE me a quilt rack for my wall quilts (I loved that man), got me some little sewing and quilting things, and then a prenatal massage (have I told you I love that man?).  I gave him a dutch oven, dress shirt, and a new computer game.

In our family we also have gag gifts -- some that come around every year and some that just happened -- like these:

Jeff asked my parents for green slip-on shoes.  ??????  Mom found him a pair of Converse but we thought it would be funny to wrap up a pair of elf shoes instead.  It really was actually!

Megan showing me a dance move.

The girls both loved the Mr. Potato Head playdough set from Aunt Krista.

Since Christmas we've been out to see some of the sights of Dallas but I keep forgetting my camera!  Oh well.  We did take some family photos though which actually turned out really well.

Always some funny and some serious.  But this is the whole clan: mom and dad, me, Chopper and the girls, Mark and Adrienne, Danny, Denise, and Liam, Jeff, and James.  It'll be fun to the see the other women and babies that come into our lives.

I am incredibly grateful for a family that can share close quarters for 2 weeks and love it.  Part of why we haven't done a lot is because we sit around and talk and eat and play games.  What a wonderful gift to be able to spend that kind of time with your family as you all get into adulthood.  I really feel blessed.

I also got a great present in that I haven't thrown up in 5 days!!!  Perhaps my icky days are coming to an end.  I'm 12 weeks today so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Our family also starts the new year with new challenges already, or at least I do.  Right before Christmas I was called to be the new Relief Society President.  I still get a little teary eyed just saying that because of the magnitude of that calling.  But I am grateful to have amazing women in my presidency and look forward to a stretching experience.  

I don't know that I'll post again until the new year so Merry Christmas everyone!  We hope you had a wonderful, joy-filled holiday filled with presence of family (whether they could be there or not) and the love of our Savior!

Signs of the Season

I'll just tell you right now that all these pictures are blurry.  No one wants to hold still around here!  With less than a week to go, we've been holiday busy in a very good way.

Our house is decorated (somewhat) and the girls got to see Santa come by on the firetruck!  They do this every year but I felt bad for him this year because we really had below freezing weather and that poor Santa is riding around on the top of a fire truck!  I hope that his padding was electric heated. . .  .

This year our Christmas party was "Christmas morning" themed and we wrapped some large diaper boxes to put under the tree for decorations.  Abby very obligingly helped us carry them to the car.

I finally got all my projects finished (ta-da!) and I don't think I took a picture of a single one except this one!  Whoops!  Given the lateness of the season I'm titling it "In the St. Nick of Time".  Haha.

Most of my family is here so there will be plenty more pictures to follow (hopefully -- I'm pretty bad at that) but for now everyone's tired and catching up on shopping and eating and sleeping (all my brothers except one are still poor student-types).  But it's fun to do funny things when they're sleeping.

Megan and Abby have ONE cousin on my side of the family and Liam is a cutie.  He's also very active and the same size, if not bigger, than Abby.  And he's almost 6 months younger!  The girls are having tons of fun with him and their uncles.  We've had piggy back rides and shoulder rides and flying and all sorts of things that I'm too tired to do and Chopper's still working for the week.  They are in heaven!  I am too because it gives me a nice little break!