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!

Nothing New

I think our house pretty much looks like every other house right now: Christmas tree up, lights outside, presents hidden in secret locations, mom throwing up in the bathroom . . . oh wait . . . 

Well, I am 10 weeks tomorrow and showing and feeling ick.  Actually, I'm feeling better and I think I owe it to a nice little prenatal vitamin that has something like 50 mg of B6 in it.  Still feel icky but I'm not such intimate friends with the commode anymore.  Thank goodness.  I hate throwing up but it's even worse when you have one child on one side crying to be held and the other yelling at you that she wants to take a bath.  We apparently have no concept of "sick" or "privacy" in this household.  

But I'm starting final preparations for my entire family to descend on my house in a whirlwind of Christmas cheer and gag gifts.  I think I'm done with my Christmas shopping -- always a nice feeling -- and it's raining!  Merry Christmas to Dallas!

Please come Christmas!

We Have A Gummy Bear!

The hands-down best thing about being pregnant in this day and age is the technology that allows you to see and hear your baby so early!  I love it!  However, drugs that help with morning sickness may come in at a very close second.

I had my FIRST doctor's appointment today and she did an ultrasound to confirm due date.  Sorry, I left the pictures at the doctor's office so I'll scan and post them later when I pick them up because it seriously looks like a gummy bear!  At this point, the head is 50% of the total body mass (or weight or whatever) and the arms and legs are just developing so it really is a gummy bear.  But you could see (and we did hear) the little heartbeat and there was quite a bit of movement which surprised me.

Everything is looking good and my official due date is July 13 which means for those of you who know me that there will be a baby in the house sometime in the week after.  

I just love that visual and audio confirmation.  As if my head in the toilet every two hours isn't confirmation enough.  It's just so sweet and wonderful.

And yes, we will find out the gender.  Honestly, I keep thinking of the baby as a "him" but I kind've felt that way with Abby and was obviously very wrong so I've decided I don't have intuition in that department.  But we will find out for sure because you know I can't stand the wait!

Funny Words

There are a lot of things that I don't love about having young children: tantrums, fighting, picky eating, etc.  But one thing that I do love is language development.  Both my girls are in fun stages with their language.  Megan sounds so sophisticated -- funny when it comes out of her 3 year old mouth.  And I can't even convey what it sounds like with their little voices but it particularly makes us laugh when she pronounces:

"I just love this hot hot chocolate!"

"That is the biggest Christmas tree I ever saw!"

When I ask her if she wants something and she doesn't -- "no thank you, I'm just eating my _______ " because this usually happens with food.

Abby on the other hand is starting to use verbal filler.  Last night Megan kept saying stuff that Abby would repeat.  We were watching the Christmas devotional and they had a prior program with flowers in the end credits and so Megan says "look at those beautiful purple and pink flowers!" And Abby says "oh, purple and pink!"  "I love those orange flower" "Oh, orange flowers".  

It's so much funnier to actually hear.  I'm glad everyone's coming for a visit.

And speaking of which -- I'm working on closets and Abby discovered the infant seat and promptly climbed in.  Funny thing is, she actually still fits.

 Just some cute pictures from the park in front of the library the other day.

 Abby has the most amazing sweet tooth.  She ate all this ice cream without hardly pausing.  AND she likes soda.  I have always banned Chopper from giving the girls Dr. Pepper but she's had some sips of caffeine free drinks and now Chopper has to be careful about leaving his Dr. Pepper around.  She knows and loves soda!

Just some more words -- her fun expressive ones.

A Fairy Party!

Well, I'll apologize first off and tell you that my pictures are terrible AND I didn't even think to get the girls to pose for one together.  Sigh.  Fun party though.

Right before Thanksgiving a new Tinker Bell "movie" came out.  So in honor of The Pixie Hollow Games,  worked with some friends to throw a fabulous fairy party!

We started at a friends house where Silvermist (one of Tinker Bell's friends) had visited and left dew drops (blue tear-drop gems) and fairy treasures (rollo candies -- loved by all of course).  The girls went on a treasure hunt and then used their dewdrops to make fantastic dewdrop bracelets.  Thanks Silvermist!  The idea came from FamilyFun Magazine and you can find it here.

Then after playing for a little while we came back to our house.  We started by making some flower fairy friends (also from the magazine here) that the girls just loved.  And they did turn out really really cute!  I prepped most of the parts beforehand and the "building" still required parental involvement but the girls did really well with picking colors and cutting and assembling.

Afterwards, we laid out a picnic blanket and had a picnic lunch eating fabulous fairy foods: fruit, flower sandwiches, little crackers, mini cupcakes, and acorn cookies (also from FamilyFun, my goodness they have the best ideas!!) while watching the movie and we ALL loved that.  I'm serious!  The girls were mesmerized and the adults laughed at quite a few things as well.  It was actually really really cute and just a shame that it was a lot shorter than we thought -- 1/2 hour maybe 45 minutes -- not a feature length.

Ignore the while frosting -- they would have been much cuter with brown but they were still cute!

Anyway, we had a GREAT time!  Megan may be asking for fairy parties for quite some time . . . 

  

So Thankful

A friend of mine gave a really good talk on Sunday about gratitude.  She asked the question, are we living the things that we are grateful for, not simply saying them?  So when I say I am grateful to have a temple, do I show that gratitude by visiting regularly.  When I say I am grateful for my family, do I show them that in the way that I treat them.

So this past week I have had much to be grateful for in having my parents here for Thanksgiving but I'm not sure how well I showed it since I spent a lot of time on the couch or in the bathroom.  My mom was amazing with entertaining the girls, cooking meals, and even cleaning my house before she left.  And despite the nausea, we had a great time as a family and I'm really looking forward to having them ALL (my whole family!) for Christmas.

 The girls love when Grandma comes because they get to play on her bed -- a mattress on the floor.  They enjoying snuggling, jumping, plopping, bouncing -- all the things they're not allowed to do on their regular beds (except the snuggling, but they never want to snuggle with me!).

 Sorry for the light behind the picture but Abby really loved watching football with daddy and Grandpa (which she can now say.  There is no more ka-pow).

 And it was tons of fun to get the decorations out of course!!  Boxes to sit in, things to play with that shouldn't be played with, pure heaven!

We went to Bass Pro Shop and looked at Santa Claus and rode the carousel.  Abby cried bloody murder when it was time to get off.

But she was super cute going to church on Sunday!  

My parents also stayed with the girls alone while Chopper and I took an overnight date for an early anniversary present.  Hooray!  We had a great time, very relaxing and I think we might have to do that again some time!

Now it's back to the same old same old except that everyone will be back in just 2 and 1/2 weeks and I have SOOOOO much to do!  And not enough energy.  Like right now -- I should start sewing but all I really want to do is take a nap.  What wins?  I guess we'll find out later.  Maybe just a short nap . . . 

Oh and this is cute video.  Abby is so vocal now and she likes to say "ta-da" when we turn the Christmas tree lights on but of course won't do it on camera.  But all our conversation is pretty interesting as the girls help decorate the tree.

And in other news . . .

I think everyone knows already PLUS I'm not doing very good at keeping a separate journal from my blogging so I might as well say it.

Chopper and I are pregnant!

Ok, well I am anyway.

I had to go back and put an exclamation point on that.  Actually I am excited but it's a little dampened right now by a few factors:

1.  I'm only 6 weeks and I'm already exhausted and nauseous.

2.  Now that Megan's almost four and Abby almost two I have a better understanding of what having children means -- especially multiple children.  Because even when pregnant with Abby, Megan was young enough to not really get it . . . yet.

So I'm excited but also apprehensive about the additional responsibility and work.  But I know there will be additional joy.  I'm already looking forward to seeing how different # 3 will be.  I was looking at Megan the other day when she was laying next to me in bed (I can't get up to save my life these days) and thought about how beautiful she is and how individual.  Abby too.  So the thought of a third one is really fun.

And the outpouring of love and support from my friends here has been incredible -- offers to take the girls so I can get some rest and one friend just brought me a lasagna so I don't have to cook tonight!  I have wonderful wonderful friends!!!

So that's the big news.  Stay tuned because more will surely follow!

Potty Training Success!!

Well it's been a week today since we started potty-training Megan and I think we've been very successful.  Since beginning the process Megan has:

1.  not had a single pee accident

2.  successfully transitioned from pooping on the floor to pooping in the potty

3.  Been dry for 4 nights in a row

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!!!

I take no credit for this.

I think part of it is her age (4 years old in 2 1/2 months), the amount of bribery we've given her (shamelessly I might add), prunes, and Heavenly Father taking pity on me because of everything else.

Needless to say we are INCREDIBLY proud of her and have been doing lots and lots of happy dances around here.

Texas Ants are Mean!

There are many times that I am grateful I was never a pioneer but I am even more grateful that I was never a Texas pioneer.  Texas bugs are big, nasty, and mean and if I couldn't combat them with chemicals and solid walls and foundations, I think I would die.

Case in point, there was a terrible story about a baby abandoned in a dumpster a few months back and when it was found (incredibly still alive), the ants had gotten to it.  The pictures made me want to throw up and it wasn't bad -- just the thought.

So yesterday we went to a park to play with some friends.  The play set in this park is set in cement with that spongy rubber padding stuff but of course Abby and another little boy about her age find some dirt in the cement cracks to play with.  No problem right?  I'm all about playing in the dirt (sometimes).

The next thing I know, she comes running over to me whimpering and when I take a look, she is covered in ants!  Fortunately she was very well covered but they were all over her poor little hands and clothes.  And the thing is -- when they bite, they stick.  So you can't just brush them off, you have to flick, pinch, hit, use force to get them off.  And they hurt!  I don't think that these were full-fledged fire ants (which are HUGE and PAINFUL!) but they were the little black and red hybrids.

Look at her sweet little hands!

How horrendous is that!!!  She's fine now but THAT is why I try (obviously failed yesterday) to monitor their playing especially when it involves dirt.  These things are everywhere.  And it's also why we got a stand alone sandbox rather than built one in.  They're less likely to invade.

I hate them.

Learning and Growing

It's day 3 of potty-training boot camp and we're doing better than expected!  Megan surprisingly has not had a single wet accident (but the other one, that's a different story).  We are all going a little bit stir-crazy from being in the house all day every day (it's not quite warm enough to go naked outside) but we're surviving.

However, in light of the need to find things to do, Megan has acquired a few other skills besides using the potty.

1.  Cutting paper (all of my index cards have been reduced to confetti)

2.  Peeling eggs.  We got some brown eggs and she was so fascinated that I boiled them up and she ate some!  That is a miracle in and of itself.  And you should've seen how proud she was to peel that darn egg all by herself.

Chopper, Abby, and I are all sick.  That means things are really miserable and we're watching a lot of TV and ordering pizza because no one wants to cook.  But hopefully, by the end of the week, ALL of the misery will be over and we can move forward to Thanksgiving!

Oh and I know that I completely dropped the ball on 30 days of gratitude so instead I am creating a list (to post all at once) of 30 things I'm grateful for.  It's probably cheating but I'm not in the mood right now to post every single day.

I am grateful for delivery though.