The Magic of December

December really is such a great month. We had so much fun celebrating the birth of our Savior. I already wrote about most of the things we did this month but I am going to expand on a few things.

We had fun doing all of our activities for Christmas. Some of the things were a lot of work but they were totally worth it. I made cookies and both of the girls really enjoyed helping me. We did really good until Brynlee helped my put the flour in. Annalyn moved her head right in the way and Brynlee spilt almost the whole cup of flour on Anna's head and that made it go all over the kitchen. I don't think it really fazed Anna at all. She just jumped down from her chair and had fun playing in the four.

The girls and I spent one day putting up our Christmas tree. We got a free artificial tree from someone and I figured we would save the money and use that one this year. It came with so many pieces and it was complicated to put up so I was really proud of that little tree. As soon as we got home, Joel didn't like it. He thought it was too little and he wanted to get a real one. It definitely wasn't as nice as a real tree but I wouldn't let Joel take it down. It was too much work to put up. Joel had a meeting to go to that night so we ended up decorating most of the tree without him. I am not very good at putting up the lights on the tree. It did look pretty sad. Joel helped us fix it a few days later when he had time and it looked much better. He ended up almost redoing the whole thing.

A week into December, Brynlee came down with a really bad cough. The next day, Annalyn started coughing too. Then she kept getting a low grade fever so I set up a doctor's appointment for her. As soon as I set up the appointment, Brynlee started crying and saying her ears were hurting. I called them back and set up an appointment for her too. It was a good thing I did because they both had ear infections in both ears. They had to take antibiotics for 10 days. I gave Brynlee the medicine first and she took it fine, but then she threw up all over my carpet. After that Annalyn didn't want anything to do with the medicine. Brynlee took it great the rest of the time, I just had to make sure she ate first. We bought Twizzlers and they both got one after taking their medicine. Towards the end of the 10 days Annalyn took her medicine just fine too but for a while I felt like we were torturing her. The day after we took the girls to the doctor, I got sick and then Joel got the cold too. It was pretty miserable. A few days later I got pink eye as well. So for almost two weeks, the girls and I didn't leave the house at all. Luckily we all got better just in time for Christmas.

As soon as we were all feeling better, we went to grandma's house and made gingerbread houses with real gingerbread. They went together much more easily than the graham cracker ones. I think the girls both ate more candy than what they put up on the house but we all had lots of fun. Joel really liked the gingerbread and Annalyn kept eating all of the candy off of it. I didn't have my camera with me when we were making the gingerbread houses so I told Joel not to eat it until I got a picture with the girls and the house. That is when he informed me that he had already eaten half of the roof. I still got a picture, I just turned it to the side and I got a side picture. Between Annalyn eating the candy and Joel eating the rest of the house, that thing didn't last for more than three days.

We also got to go to our ward Christmas party and the girls got to sit on Santa's lap. Annalyn wasn't so sure about the whole thing at first, but once I told her that he had candy she was more than willing to sit on his lap. Brynlee just whispered in his ear telling him what she wanted for Christmas while Annalyn sat there. Once I made Anna get off, she was not at all happy. Once we walked out of the room Santa was in, with Anna's candy, someone came up to her as she was crying and told her how scary he thought Santa was too. He couldn't believe it when I told him Annalyn was simply crying because I made her get off of his lap.

It was snowy and cold this month so I am not sure how Joel survived working outside. I know he was really grateful to get a week off to celebrate Christmas. This is the first time I can remember Joel getting a whole week to spend at home playing with us. It was so nice to have him home. He helped clean the house and he just spent a lot of time playing with the girls. He didn't really have any big projects that he had to do. He really needed that break. During his first day off we all went and played in the snow. Joel made a snow dinosaur for the kids to sit on. My dad stopped by for a few minutes while we were outside. It was a lot of fun. Brynlee really wanted a snow dragon so Joel made her a little one to sit on. Annalyn got on the dinosaur and Brynlee sat on the dragon and they were as happy as could be. ( my camera battery died before I got a picture of the dragon.) The day when we came home and discovered that our snow had melted was devastating for Annalyn. She was so distraught. After we made some snow creatures, Joel got out his four wheeler and had fun taking the kids for some rides. They loved that too.

Later that week, we took the kids sledding down a hill that is close by and they both loved that. Especially Annalyn. She would go down the hill with Joel and then he would pull her up the hill on the sled. Brynlee went down once with her dad and the rest of the time she went with my cousin Ryder. She loved going down the hill but she hated having to climb back up. They had a small crash on the last run too but that still didn't stop her from wanting to go again. I mainly just watched but it was lots of fun.

On Christmas Eve we spent the evening with Joel's family and we went on our annual caroling trip. This is one of Joel's favorite things to do. The girls went willingly and they got into the singing a little bit but they didn't really know the songs. It was still fun. When we got back to grandma's house, grandma had a gift under the tree for all of the grandkids and they loved that.

We spent a lot of time visiting family, playing games, and playing with our new presents. Joel went shooting a few times with the guys a few times. On one of Joel's days off he built a sensory table for the kids and we filled it with oatmeal and let the kids play in it. They love that thing. I just need to teach Annalyn not to throw the oatmeal and then they would spend hours playing with it.

25 Days of Christmas

For Christmas this year I really wanted to start a new tradition with my girls that would teach them the true meaning of Christmas. I finally found this idea on pinterest for a Christ centered advent calendar and decided that this is what I wanted to do with my family. I had Joel help me make the board and we finished it right before the month of December started. I wasn't able to get a very good picture of the end result but here is what it looked like after Christmas was over.

 

I had 25 different pictures of the Savior and on the back there were scriptures that told a story about Jesus to go with the picture. There was also an activity of what we would be doing that day. The girls loved getting to open our box with the picture in it every morning and get to put it up on the board. Annalyn wanted to do it everyday and she threw a fit if it wasn't her turn. She also wanted to put the picture up before we could read the back. She kept playing with the board and rearranging all the pictures. She knew they were pictures of Jesus and she would point to them and say "Jesus" so I had a hard time stopping her. I really wouldn't have minded her playing with them at all except I used velcro on the backs to stick them to the board and Annalyn kept taking the velcro off. I had to glue those things on almost once a day. I really enjoyed being able to take this season to reflect upon the Savior and his life. There is so much of a focus on baby Jesus during this season that I think it was important for us to remember why that birth was so significant.

For our activities this year we did several different small and simple things that were a lot of fun. Here is what we did starting with the first day of December...

1. Watched a Christmas movie about Jesus
2. Put up and decorated the Christmas Tree
3. Decorated the House for Christmas (we only put light up inside this year because it was too cold to put them up outside.)
4. Went to Christmas in Melba - It was cold this year when we went but the girls had so much fun. We got to see a manger scene, pet a real camel, and the girls sat on Santa's lap. Brynlee and Anna both sat on Santa's lap without any tears. 
5. Ate Hot Chocolate with marshmallows and stirred it with candy canes
6. Made Christmas candy
7. Went Christmas Shopping. (Brynlee got to pick out a present for Annalyn. I wanted her to learn about giving gift to other people)
8. Watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on TV
9. Made Paper snowflakes ( I think the girls are still too little for this but I had fun doing it.)
10. Decorated Christmas Cookies
11. We did a Christmas craft. ( We made Santa Clauses with cotton ball beards. Annalyn took all of the cotton balls off almost as soon as we were done with that project and Brynlee accidentally ripped her hat. At least we had fun making them.)
12. Had a dinner picnic around the Christmas tree 
13. Read Christmas books
14. Looked at Christmas lights (Annalyn wasn't feeling well so we didn't last long, but it was still lots of fun. 
15. Took a family Christmas picture around the Christmas tree
16. Made Gingerbread houses (I was going to make them with graham crackers, but then my grandma went to all of the work and made real gingerbread. This was a really fun activity)
17. Wrapped Christmas presents
18. Went to the ward Christmas party (we had to help set up for it so we did that too)
19. Found toys to donate to DI
20. Made Christmas gifts for grandma (the girls drew pictures on tissue paper that we transferred to a candle.)
21. Watched Christmas movies
22. Made Christmas ornaments
23. Had a pajama Christmas party (We set up a tent and played in it. I think this was Brynlee's favorite thing.)
24. Christmas caroling with the Hirtle family
25. Opened up Christmas presents and ate Christmas dinner

On Christmas morning, Brynlee woke up at 6am and climbed in our bed. I excitedly asked her if Santa had come yet and she just replied, "It's not morning yet mom, I still need to sleep." I couldn't believe it but Joel was all for letting her go back to sleep so he could sleep in. About a half hour later, Brynlee excitedly sat up and bed and exclaimed, "come on dad, let's go check! Let's go see if Santa came." 

On Thanksgiving day Brynlee looked at a toy magazine and I told her to pick out a toy that she wanted. She decided she wanted some "pink doctor stuff." She has a blue doctor kit but apparently it is not as cool as a pink doctor set. I kept thinking she would change her mind, but that is what she told everyone she wanted. Santa got off easy this year. The doctor set was less than 8 dollars. Brynlee was so thrilled when she got out of bed and saw her pink doctor stuff sitting under the tree. Joel and I both had to get a check-up from Brynlee first thing that morning. Surprisingly, Annalyn slept in until almost 7 that morning. She got an animal planet foam farm animal set from Santa and she seemed to like that but she was way more excited about her candy. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast but mostly the girls just ate candy. Annalyn spent forever lining up all of her chocolate and eventually I had to take her stocking away from her she she didn't make herself sick. 

I was so surprised that Annalyn didn't even touch the Christmas presents under the tree until Christmas morning when I gave her one to open. I don't think she realized there was actually anything in them. Once she got started, she was great at unwrapping. We really had a great Christmas this year. The girls got some great gifts. We tried to keep it simple so we didn't really get a lot of expensive things but they got plenty of toys. Joel did get a mini ipad and I got a steam cleaner vacuum and we got a few more things that we need.

We had a lot of fun celebrating Christmas this year. It was so fun to start this new tradition with our family. I can't wait to do it again next year.

Annalyn - 21 Months

Miss Annalyn is officially 21 months old and she sure has a lot of personality. Lately she has been into all kinds of things. She is just really mischievious and she has such a little mischievous laugh. She likes to do things we tell her not to do and then laugh about it. One of her new favorite words is "sorry." As soon as she does something she knows she shouldn't do, she laughs and says "sorry." The only problem is that she keeps doing the same naughty thing over and over again and just says sorry each time. Lately she has started to do things that make Brynlee mad just to hear her cry. Her favorite is to scream in the car. It is more like a loud little grunt. That makes Brynlee so mad and Annalyn just laughs, smiles and does it some more. During dinner time Annalyn likes to sneakily take Brynlee's cup or some of her food and then she just smiles until Brynlee realizes it is gone and starts to cry. Oh my we are in for it. Isn't she too little to be such a big tease?

Annalyn is starting to talk a lot. She doesn't just repeat words anymore. She says the whole sentence. She loves to say the prayer and will repeat each word that we say. Her words are getting much more clear and easy to understand as well. She is constantly amazing me with the things she can say. She will tell me things like, "I want to eat that," or "that Brynlee's jacket." I love that she can tell me what she wants now. Whenever we ask her which one she wants, she always says blue. Brynlee is convinced that blue is her favorite color. Anna can't actually pick out which color is blue but that is the one she wants. If I tell her there is no blue, she asks for purple. She can say pretty much all of the colors, she just can't tell me which is which.

Every time we ask Annalyn how old she is she grins and says, "two." When I try to correct her or get her to say one she just laughs and says "two" again. She is trying to grow up to fast. Although, she still tells me she is my little baby. I had my hands full and we were walking to the car and I tried to get Anna to walk. She held onto my leg and just cried and said "hold me." I told her she was a big girl and that she needed to walk. She just shook her head and said "no, I a baby." I couldn't help it, I picked her up and carried her to the car. I love that she wants to be my snugly baby still. My favorite is when I get her out of her bed and she puts her head on my shoulder and pats my back. She goes to other people pretty easily, but she is still a serious mommy's girl. She goes to Joel if she has to, but she would  much rather let me hold her all the time.

The other day I started to make some rolls and I set them out so they would rise. Annalyn was napping at the time. I forgot about them when she woke up and Annalyn found the rolls right away and mixed them into one big ball of dough. She loves to pull our chairs all around the house she she can reach things. Now that all my dough was in one big ball, I just stuck them in the oven and cooked them. They still tasted fine, they were just one big giant blob.

Annalyn likes to sit on her little potty chair, most of the time she doesn't really go but sometime she will so I try to encourage this. Brynlee had the bad runs one morning and she spent a lot of time on the toilet. After I brushed Annalyn's teeth that morning, she wanted to sit on her potty chair. Brynlee was sitting on the big potty chair going potty and Anna loves to do what her big sister is doing. Annalyn was sitting really nicely on her little potty and she still had ahold of her toothbrush. She cried when I took it away from her so I let her keep it and pretend to brush her teeth some more. The next thing I knew, Annalyn got mad about something, I don't know what, but she stood up and threw her toothbrush. It landed right in the big toilet between Brynlee's legs. And Brynlee had just pooped. I wasn't sure how I was going to get that thing out of there. Brynlee fixed the problem by just flushing the toilet. Annalyn's little toothbrush disappeared before our eyes. I was really worried the toilet was going to flood or stop working, but it still seems fine.

Annalyn has a serious sweet tooth. It worked out really well when I had to take her to the doctor a few days ago. Both of the girls had an ear infection. As soon as I walked in the doctor's office, Annalyn started crying. She screamed when the doctor came in and she desperately clung to me. The doctor checked Brynlee out first and she wasn't looking forward to giving Anna her check up. She mentioned a sucker in the middle of Brynlee's exam and Annalyn looked right at her, stopped crying and said "sucker." The doctor told Annalyn she would get a sucker as soon as they were done. Annalyn looked at her, opened her mouth, and said "aaahhhh." Then she clapped for herself and said "good job"once the doctor was done looking in her mouth. The doctor and I were both amazed at how well she did. She let the doctor look in her ears and use the stethoscope on her. She was clapping and telling herself "good job" the whole time. It was so funny. She had her sucker eaten before we left the clinic and she even convinced Brynlee to give her the rest of the sucker that she didn't want. 

Annalyn is such a fun little girl. She still loves babies, stuffed animals, and playing with her big sister Brynlee. She loves blankets, chap stick (she eats it), wearing pretty necklaces, and getting pony tails in her hair. She had a lot of fun playing with all of the Christmas decorations in our house this last month. She was really scared of the Christmas lights at first but she seems to like them now. She still loves animals but she seems to be kind of scared of our chickens. They do try to eat her food every time we go outside so I can't really blame her. She likes stickers and she loves it when I stick a piece of tape on her mouth. She is quite independent and she has been trying to do more and more things on her own. She is also very stubborn and throws some good temper tantrums. Annalyn brings so much laughter and excitement into our home. We all love her so much and we can't believe how big she is getting.

Brynlee - 3 and 1/2

Brynlee just keeps growing every day. Today she is officially 3 and a half. She sure does like to change her clothes and dress up. She loves dresses and skirts. She is now working at teaching Annalyn her ways. She loves to dress her little sister up and put on her socks and shoes. Brynlee has gotten really good at entertaining herself. She can play with her toys for hours. I love listening to her play. She is constantly entertaining me and making me laugh with all of the funny stuff she says. I have been waiting to write all of these stories about things Brynlee has done recently so I am just going to write all of these stories and then hopefully leave you with a video at the end where Brynlee will tell you all about the things she likes to do. 

During the summer Brynlee woke up one morning and I noticed a red mark on her arm. "Brynlee what happened to your arm?" I asked. 
"It was a bear, a bear bit me on my arm!" Brynlee answered. 
I looked at Brynlee's arm more closely and said "Well, oh my! It looks like you got a mosquito bite."
Brynlee didn't even pause for a second. She just replied, "Yeah, that bear gave me a squito bite. Do you want to see what happened to my leg?" She pointed to another mosquito bite on her leg. "It was a dragon, a dragon tried to eat my leg. Isn't that Terrible!"

A few months ago I was making dinner and Brynlee told me "Mom, Jakobee changed my life."
"He did," I questioned. "How did he change your life?"
"He changed my life because now I like green beans."
Of course once dinner time came around, she didn't want anything to do with the green beans. We hadn't talked to her cousin Jakobee in a while so I don't know where she got this fun.

Back in September, Brynlee got these weird bumps all over that kind of looked like chicken pops. I was trying to decide what they were when Brynlee told me, "Yeah mom, they are chickie pops. Yesterday I was walking into a fooky (spooky) forest and a chicken bit me on my face and then that gave me the chickie pops."


Brynlee has this superhero dress that she likes to put on and then she turns into Super Brynlee. Super Brynlee is always around to save the day. One day Brynlee was being really whiney and she kept asking me for help with things. I finally got really frustrated and decided I had better find a new way to deal with her. During the next one of her little melt downs, (she couldn't find her doll that she wanted) I ran into her room really quick and told her not to worry because super mom was here to save the day. For weeks after that she would call me super mom and call me to come and save her. "Super mom, come quick, I need you to save the day," is what I would hear all the time. 

We were driving in the car not to long ago and we passed McDonalds. Brynlee started begging to go and get some "chicken muggets." Joel told her they were called nuggets and he tried to get her to say nuggets and she just shook her head and said, "no dad, I can't say nuggets, I can only say chicken muggets."

Brynlee wanted eggs for breakfast one morning and she loves to help me make eggs so I told her she could help. Brynlee and Annalyn both grabbed a chair and started to help me before I was even ready to cook. I had gotten out the eggs and my frying pan, but the frying pan is a little bit broken so you have to be careful. Brynlee wasn't. She cracked that egg and it went right off the frying pan and onto the counter. I tried to save it and I grabbed a bowl to put under the frying pan in case they fell off again. While I was doing that Brynlee cracked another egg and it went right onto the counter as well. I cleaned that up and then helped Brynlee do another one. As I was trying to get out all of the egg shells that Brynlee got in, Annalyn got an egg and she dropped it right on the floor. Eventually we got enough eggs cooked to eat for breakfast. Once I had all of the eggs in the bowl to take to the table Brynlee looked up an me and said, "Mom, we sure are great helper." Yes Brynlee you and Anna are great helpers. Right after she said that she pick up the bowl of eggs to take to the table and she fell and spilt all of those eggs all over the floor. I had no desire to make anymore eggs so I just scooped them up and we ate them.

For a few weeks this last month, getting Brynlee to get dressed and out the door in the mornings was a real challenge. Mainly because we had a lot of wardrobe malfunctions. She thought all of her shoes were too small and they hurt her feet (even the new ones we just bought that felt great in the store), all of her panties gave her wedgies, and half of her shirts and pants had some kind of a problem. I also kept fixing her hair the wrong way. She wanted pig tails so I gave her pig tails, but she wanted "flappy" ones and I didn't make them flappy. I redid them and made them flappy but then I didn't have them placed on the right part of her head. I refused to fix her hair again so then she was really mad. She drove me crazy. We were having major meltdowns about clothes. It has gotten a little bit better lately bet there are still mornings when getting dressed is a real challenge.

In order to fix our getting dressed problems, I took Brynlee to the store to buy some new shoes. My mom needed to do a few errands so she offered to come with me and my brother Josh watched Annalyn. We went to several different shoe stores with Brynlee, but every time we would put a pair of shoes on her foot, she was scream and yell "oww." If they were really cute and sparkly, she wanted to buy them anyways. We did find one pair that fit her really well, but she didn't like them. We ended up not getting any shoes. We did buy Brynlee a whole bunch of new panties that wouldn't give her wedgies and she was so excited about them. For the other errands we went on, Brynlee could not leave things alone. We had to go in several stores with lots of breakable things and she made me so nervous. She tried to touch everything and she even put a few things in her mouth. We had to get out of there really fast.

While we were at Grandma Hirtle's house one day, Brynlee watched the movie Tangled. After that she would turn herself into Rapunzel by making long pony tails out of toilet paper. I would keep finding toilet paper all over the house. She even wore her long Rapunzel hair when I went visiting teaching. The awesome lady that I visit made her some nice long blue hair out of tule and Brynlee really liked that. Although, she still seems to prefer the toilet paper hair lately.

The next morning Brynlee spent several hours lining up all of her panties and "ordering them." She tried on every single pair right away. When it came time to get ready for church, she had a major melt down about what she was going to wear. Joel ended up taking away some of her panties and holding them as ransom until she got dressed. Brynlee was so distressed about her panties getting taken away and it really motivated her to get dressed. I wonder if we are the only parents who discipline their child by taking away panties?

Brynlee loves to play with my ipad. Most of the games I have on it are the free ones so a lot of the things on the games are locked; which means, you have to buy them if you want to play them. Most of the things that are locked even have a lock covering them. Recently all kinds of things at our house are locked. Brynlee brought out several pairs of panties one day and asked me which one she should wear. I pointed to one and Brynlee said "no mom, that one is locked." I tried several different pairs only to find that there was only one that was unlocked. She does that to me all the time. She will say things to me like "where do you want to do today mom? Do you want to go to grandma's house, or to Heather's house. We can't stay home. Staying home is locked."

Brynlee can play with just about anything. The other day I made Brynlee chicken nuggets for lunch. All of a sudden her chicken nuggets got ahold of some pixie dust and they started to fly through the air. They were all talking to each other and having deep conversations. Then one of the nuggets would get a body part bitten off and then they would turn into another kind of animal. Brynlee started to make them fly all through the house. I just had to laugh because I was really enjoying listening to her play.

While we were getting ready to watch general conference on TV, a car commercial came on that had these Zombies on it. Brynlee looked at me and said, "mom Jesus turned into a zombie, but not a real one because then he was alive again." 

For a while, Brynlee would try to say her prayers as fast as possible. Joel and I have been encouraging her to add a few more things to her prayers. Before she would bless the food and bless us with a good night sleep for every prayer and that would be it. Now she adds things like asking that no monsters will scare her, that mice wont come in her closet (she woke up in the middle of the night one night saying that there was a mouse in her closet. It really freaked me out but I don't know if there really was or not.), that our house wont fall down, and that our heads wont fall off. I love her prayers.

I had to do some errands one afternoon and when we were done I drove home, much to Brynlee's disappointment. She scoffed in displeasure and said "not our house mom, I don't want to go to our house. I want to go to grandma's house."

"What is wrong with our house," I questioned?

"Mom," Brynlee continued, "we don't have any candy at our house."

It is true, Grandma has good treats at her house and we don't really have any. No wonder Brynlee likes to go there all the time.

The other day Brynlee walked out of her room only wearing two skirts. She was wearing one correctly and she had the other one hiked up under the armpits. "What are you wearing," I asked her?
"Mom," she scoffed, "I don't want to wear a shirt. Just pretend like I am wearing a bra."
I tried to explain that you can't run around in just a bra but that didn't stop her. I don't know why she thought that would be socially acceptable, I have never done that before.

I sure do love this girls and all her funny ways. I need to start writing more things down because I know there were several more things I wanted to write, I just can't remember them right now. Oh well, this post is pretty long already. Hopefully this video will work.

 

Movie on 2013-12-14 at 13.13 from Melissa Hirtle on Vimeo.

Baby # 3

Our little family of four is soon going to be a family of five. Baby number three is due on June 5, 2014 and we are really excited. Right now I am 14 weeks along.

Joel and I had always planned on trying for another baby when Annalyn was 18 months but I kept changing my mind. I decided I wasn't ready for another baby and I had decided to wait for a few more months when I found out I was pregnant. I thought it would take us much longer to get pregnant so I was a little shocked, but I guess it was meant to be. The timing with my other kids was perfect so I am sure this will be too.

I found out I was pregnant around the end of September. All that day I didn't even think about being pregnant. But that night I started to get that feeling and I woke up in the middle of the night and didn't feel well at all. That is when I took a pregnancy test. Joel was sleeping so I just left the test in the bathroom where Joel would see it and I waited for him to wake up. I didn't sleep at all that night. Joel was in the bathroom for a long time the next morning and he didn't say anything. I finally asked him if he noticed anything in there and he said yes. His main concern was to know when I took the test but he said he was really excited. I think he was just still half asleep. 

Joel waited like a week before he told Brynlee our news. He was mainly concerned that Brynlee would sit on me and squish the baby or something. She took it all in stride and she seems to be excited. Annalyn is crazy about babies so she was really excited about it. She really has no idea what is going on. She is not going to like sharing me. She gets mad and very jealous when Brynlee sits on my laps. 

We waited until I was almost 9 weeks along before I told anyone else. I am not good at keeping secrets or at making big announcements. So we just told people when the subject came up. I told my mom first and then my sister Heather when I asked her to watch Brynlee while I went to the doctor. Joel told his mom over the phone and he told her to let the rest of the family know. I know, we aren't very exciting. 

During this pregnancy I have felt really drained and tired and a little bit nauseous, but for the most part, I have felt alright. I really can't complain too much. The main problem is that I have been getting really bad headaches. Most of the time I do fine during the day but then by late afternoon I am wiped out. And if I get a headache in the morning it wipes me out all day. The only time I throw up is when I have to deal with bad smells. Things like taking out the trash, doing the dishes, and washing Joel's sweaty work clothes send me running to the bathroom every time. I keep trying to get Joel to do these jobs but so far I can't convince him. He really doesn't have a lot of time to do all these things and he does help out in many other ways. The girls have spent a lot more time than usual watching TV and my house is less than clean, but overall we are doing pretty good. I am starting to feel much better so hopefully I can get a lot done during my second trimester.

I have already gone to the doctor twice this pregnancy and everything looks good. The ultrasound picture is from 10 weeks. Actually, I decided to go to a midwife at a birthing center this time. The doctor that delivered my girls retired so after doing a lot of research, I decided this is the route I want to go. I am a little bit nervous because this will be a totally different experience than the hospital birth I had with the girls (I won't be able to have an epidural) but I am also really excited and I feel good about this decision. 

Brynlee and Joel are convinced we are having another girl. Brynlee really wants a girl. Honestly we don't really care what we have. We would be happy with a boy or a girl. We are just excited for another little human to join our family. 

November

I am having a hard time believing that November is already over. It doesn't seem like we did that much this month. We celebrated my birthday and Thanksgiving. Joel got called to be the new Elder's Quorum president for our ward. I think this new calling will be just as time consuming as his last calling as the First Counselor in the Young Men's. He was called and set apart by the stake president. I think he will do a great job.

It is getting colder outside. I feel bad for Joel who has to work outside in the weather but he takes it all without complaining. We did go outside and play in the leaves a few times but it kept raining so the leaves were all wet and mushy.

The kids keep me busy as always. One morning this month they were both in the bathroom with me while I was getting ready for the day. I opened up the door to put my toothbrush away and a jar of red nail polish fell out and broke on the counter and got everywhere. My clothes and Annalyn's clothes were ruined. Brynlee only got it on her arm but she freaked out. It was all over the sink, the counter, the bathroom door, the toilet, and the floor. I scrubbed for hours. My mom came over and brought some Goo Gone. I have got to but some of that stuff. We had everything cleaned, except the clothes, in less than 10 minutes. It was a great adventure.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at my grandma's house this year. I helped her get ready and make all the food as much as I could. Joel spent Thanksgiving morning cutting up some wood for her fireplace with my dad and my brother. My mom and my sisters came and helped cook so it was a fun event. Annalyn loves to help so I tried to let her help as much as possible. Brynlee just wanted to play with my cousin Ryder and her cousin Jakobee. My mom and my grandma prepared all of these trivia questions and things to do during dinner which was a lot of fun. The food was great and the desserts were really yummy.

Joel and I had planned on waiting and going shopping for Christmas presents the next day but then Joel decided he didn't really want to go so I went with my mom and my sister. I have not shopped so long in a long time. We left at 4:30 and didn't get home until well after 10. It was fun to spend time with them. We made it to Toys R Us before the store opened, then we made it to Wal Mart right as they were opening. The line to check out was terrible there but we still managed to make it to JCPenneys right as they were opening. We went to a few other stores at the mall and then headed home. Joel woke up that morning and went to Home Depot and a few other stores. It was a fun adventure.

I love the holiday seasons. It is so fun to spend time with family and reflect on all that we have been given. I have so much to be grateful for. Here are just a few things.

1. My Savior
2. The gospel
3. Joel - my eternal companion and my best friend
4. Brynlee - My sweet little entertainer
5. Annalyn - My happy, mischievous little toddler
6. Joel's new job. 
7. This home we have to live in
8. Living close to family
9. My parents
10. My sisters and brothers
11. My grandma
12. My wonderful in-laws
13. The rest of my extended family
14. My friends 
15. My nice warm bed
16. My health
17. Healthy children
18. The food I have to eat
19. Pictures that capture happy moments
20. Our van
21. Books to read
22. Joel's truck and tools that fix broken things
23. Modern technology so that I can keep up with friends and family
24. Healthy pregnancies
25. The new baby that will join our family next year

Not a Baby Anymore

Little Annalyn in growing up and becoming an independent little toddler. She is definitely a stubborn little girl and she is getting good at throwing temper tantrums.

Early last month Joel went to put Annalyn to bed. He gave her a soother and she was mad so she threw it right out of her crib. She didn't want to go to sleep. Joel picked it up and left. I didn't think she would go to sleep without a pacifier but she surprised me. I really couldn't believe it was that easy but she went right to sleep. I even offered one for her nap the next day and she said no. She hasn't used one since. She just proved to me that she really is growing up and I should have let go of that soother a long time ago. It was probably more for me than for her. I am so proud of my big little girl. It makes me kind of sad that she isn't a baby anymore but I sure do love watching her grow up and learn new things. Now I just have to stop her from sucking on her fingers. She started doing that when she gave up her soother. I just hope it won't become a bad habit.

Reading Glasses

I got this health insurance several years ago and it was supposed to come with one free eye exam per year. I have never needed to use them. I had to do an eye exam when I was really little; probably like second grade but my eyes were good enough that I didn't need glasses. Lately I started to get a lot of headaches and I noticed that they seemed to be worse if I spent a lot of time reading, especially if I would read on my ipad; so I finally set up an eye exam. 

It took a long time to find someone that would take my insurance but I eventually got everything taken care of. My sister Alesha came to watch the girls and I headed off. This was the first time I can actually remember having my eyes checked. Right away I noticed that there was a big difference in the way my left and right eye could see. My left eye can see perfect while my right eye is a little off. The doctor went ahead and prescribed me some reading glasses that I am supposed to use whenever I read or use the computer. 

I didn't actually pick up my glasses until a few weeks later and I am still not used to wearing them. I find myself forgetting to put them on all the time. It helps when I wear them I just need to get in the habit of doing it. 

Now Brynlee really thinks she needs glasses too. She also took my glasses cleaner cloth and used it on her baby doll and got it all dirty. She also took off with my case so I couldn't find it for a while. I eventually found it in one of her purses. Annalyn likes my glasses too. Sometimes when I put them on she cries until I let her wear them. I wont let her run off with them so that always makes her mad. I just hope they don't get lost or broken because they were not cheap.   

All About Me

I recently celebrated my 28th birthday. Joel bought me an ice cream cake and a few presents. I got a new blender and some pillows. My sister Heather went out to lunch with me and then she came over with her family and my mom and Josh for cake that evening. It was a fun and simple celebration.

Since I wrote 25 random facts about Joel when it was his birthday, I am going to attempt to write 25 random facts about me.

1. My dad was in the Army when I was growing up and we moved every 2-3 years. 
2. I have still never lived anywhere for longer than 3 years. I hope that Joel and I can change that trend someday because I hate moving. 
3. I have lived in Texas, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, Germany, Idaho, and Utah. 
4. I got bit by a dog on my upper lip when I was three and I had to get 7 stitches. I still have a scar there. 
5. When I was a baby I superglued my mouth together. That was the first time my parents had to rush me to the doctor.
6. I got my ears pierced when I was five but they would get infected all the time. For several years I would never wear earrings. Now I wear them all the time. I just can't wear the cheap stuff or they will get infected. 
7. I graduated from Leavenworth High School in Leavenworth, Kansas.
8. I graduated from BYU with a degree in Elementary Education with an Emphasis in early education. 
9. During the summers between semesters at school during college I worked at a daycare. I have always liked working with kids. 
10. During my last year of college I got really sick and I had to spent three days and nights in the hospital with meningitis. 
11. I taught first grade for one year and I loved teaching. Some day I would really like to start up a preschool.
12. A few months ago I went to the eye doctor and got my first pair of prescription glasses. They are for reading and using the computer.
13. I like to read books. The last book I read was The Originals by Cat Patrick..
14. I also really enjoy reading books aloud. That was one of my favorite things about teaching. I love reading to my kids now. 
15. I hate doing laundry. 
16. I am not very organized. My house is constantly cluttered. 
17. I am not a perfectionist. I am good with things getting done and just being decent. 
18. I am not into fashion and getting dressed up at all. I never liked wearing dresses so I have no idea where Brynlee gets her fashion sense from. 
19. I don't like spending money on things. 
20. I hate shopping. Unless I am buying something for my kids. I like shopping for them.
21. I refuse to make a shopping trip if I only need one thing. I will make something else work, or just go without. 
22. I like to eat sweets and make them last as long as possible. Joel doesn't let me save stuff around here because if he finds it, he eats it. Half of the time when I go to get a bite of ice cream, the carton is gone.
23. I love looking at pictures of people. Some day I want to take a photography class so I can become a good photographer. 
24. I used to love scrap booking and I did all of my mom's scrapbooks for her when I was growing up. Lately I have been doing photo books on the computer which I really like and they are much less time consuming. 
25. I love being a stay at home mom. I just really like to play with my kids. 

October

October was a busy month full of playing with friends, playing with family, and celebrating Halloween. We played in the leaves and spent lots of time outside when the weather was nice. Two more of our chickens got eaten by an owl one night when we forgot to tuck them in so then we were down to only four chickens. On Halloween night the white chicken returned and it seems like she is back to stay.

We celebrated Joel's birthday this month and the girls both helped me make the cake. While we were making the frosting I lifted up the mixer on my kitchen aid and Brynlee turned it on for us. Frosting went flying everywhere. Annalyn ran to me in terror and grabbed my leg, and Brynlee started crying about her "beautiful Tinkerbell dress" getting all ruined. I think I got the most frosting on me and Brynlee ran out of the room crying so I had to rush over and turn the mixer off for her. She had her clothes changed as quick as possible but when she came out she still had frosting all over her face. 

Brynlee loves dressing up so this whole Halloween thing was right up her alley. She pretty much wore a costume all month. She got these cool "monster teeth" from the zoo that she loves. Her and Annalyn both had a lot of fun rearranging and playing with all of the Halloween decorations. We had this Frankenstein poster that she called "Mr. Frankle" because she couldn't remember his name. Instead of baby dolls she had baby ghost and pumpkin children. I love that girl.

Annalyn has grown so much lately. She used to be so little for her age but all of a sudden she has caught right up to the other kids her age. Her hair has gotten really long too and she likes it when I give her pigtails like Brynlee gets. She has been really clingy lately. Every time I try to leave the room, or even if I just stand up from the table or move away from her, she freaks out and runs and desperately cries for me. It is so weird because she goes to nursery just fine and she will let other people watch her. I seriously love her though. She is so fun.