38 Week Pregnancy Update

It is crazy to think that at this point, our baby could come any day. I am definitely done being pregnant, but I feel nowhere near ready for this baby to come. I feel pretty confident that I have at least another week to get things ready and I have been working hard trying to get my house in order and all of the last minute things done before she comes. I have been so exhausted lately but I am pushing through it because I know I will be even more tired after I have the baby. I deep cleaned the carpets, cleaned my bedroom (even my closet), cleaned Annalyn's room, and today I am working on Brynlee's room. Next up is the kitchen and the laundry room. Plus I want to scrub the bathrooms really well. We will see if I can get it all done. I took the girls shopping yesterday and we got diapers and all the other essentials we will need but we still don't have a car seat. I ordered one online so hopefully it will get here soon.

Joel is going to take three days off of work when our baby arrives so that will be good. The girls must be sensing that a change is coming soon because they have been super naughty lately. They keep fighting with each other and Brynlee has been really whiney and defiant. Annalyn keeps crawling all around the house pretending to be either a baby or a kitty and she keeps telling me that she is a baby. The last few times I tried to take my kids somewhere they were terrible. I think we might be staying at home for a long time after we have this baby.

As for me, I feel tired and it is really hard to get around but I am still doing fairly good. I have even been able to keep my wedding ring on this whole time, although I had to take off my wedding band months ago. This baby has not been hanging out so high up in my ribs lately so I have had a lot less heartburn. That has been a huge relief. I can tell she is running out of room in there though and she keeps getting in some really uncomfortable positions. It has been getting hot around here so I am very grateful that Joel put in our swamp cooler and he fixed the air conditioning in our van. Now I don't have to drive everywhere with the windows wide open and my hair blowing all over the place. I am hot all the time, even when everyone else is fine. Joel loves sleeping with the fan on so he loves it when I want it blowing on us all night. I am now making weekly trips to see the midwife. Their is a lady from my ward who has been watching the girls for me the last few appointments so I haven't had to take them with me. Both of the girls love going over there so they have really enjoyed that. Although, now I don't even have to leave a urine sample every time. Apparently there is new research showing that it is unnecessary to do it, unless there is a problem. I am very grateful to report that everything looks good, we are now just going to play the waiting game and try to keep guessing when she will come. And now, here you can have a look at me and my growing belly. Plus my two older girls that couldn't resist jumping in to take a few pictures with me.

What I Believe

I have been working on this post for a long time now. I really want to document my testimony and what I believe; mainly for my girls so they know what is really important to me. It is hard to put something so important to me into words. I grew up in the LDS church as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For as long as I can remember I have been going to this church and I love the gospel and the things my church teaches. I was happily baptized into the church when I was eight years old. I loved going to primary (the class for children) and I felt so much joy and happiness when I lived by the standards and sang the songs I learned at church.

My family - I am the oldest child. 

The feelings of joy when I went to church is the main reason I went to church when I was younger. I loved going and I believed what was taught to me wholeheartedly. And then as I grew up I started to get questions about my beliefs from other people. I began to realize that most people didn't believe the same things I did. I had to make a choice. In my freshman year of high school, several people questioned my beliefs which really made me step back and take a look at the things I believed. Were they really true? I turned to the scriptures and prayed and I really tried to study the gospel. If I was going to defend the teaching of the gospel, I realized I needed a deeper understanding of what was taught. I prayed, I read, and whenever I did I felt that deep feeling of joy and happiness. Every once in a while there would be something or someone who would come along and shake my testimony. But I would keep praying and eventually I would feel that peace again and I would gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for what I believe. I am not a gospel scholar by any means, but I try to read and learn about the gospel a little more each day. The more I learn, the more I want everything that the gospel of Jesus Christ has to offer. I believe it with all my heart and I know it is true because I have felt the small whispering of the Holy Ghost telling me to keep going, comforting me, and guiding me in my life.

Our church is a church that believes in Jesus Christ, and in our Heavenly Father. As a member, I try really hard to follow the example of Jesus. It is not easy and I am not perfect, that is why we have repentance. There are many members of my church that don't follow all of the teachings of the church and several times outsiders will look at them and think badly of the church. I hope that I can set a good example and show love to everyone, no matter what their beliefs are. If you want to know more about what I believe, I would be happy to answer any questions or you can go to LDS.org. The church and what it teaches is a huge part of my life and I am so grateful for my testimony and for the comfort that I find in the teaching.

Quotes from my Girls

My girls sure are growing. The keep me entertained all the time. I lost my paper where I write down all of the quotes said by my kids say so I am going to write down all of the ones I remember before I forget them. Hopefully I can find my paper and remember some more later.

Brynlee

The other day when we were in the car Brynlee looked at me and asked; "mom, are you a kid?"
"No, I am not a kid." I responded.
"Well I kind of think you are a kid because yesterday when we went to Chunky Cheese you got lost."
We went to a birthday party for one of Brynlee's friends at Chucky Cheese and I missed the turn and had to turn around. Brynlee was quite distressed that we would miss the party when that happened but we still made it there on time. I tried to explain that just because I didn't go the right way the first time, I was still a grown up but I don't think Brynlee bought it.

Here is another conversation I had with Brynlee in the van.
B: "Hey mom. Do you wanna know what I am eating?"
Me: "What are you eating?"
B: "It is something I found in my eye."
Me: "Ewwww, that's gross Brynlee. Don't eat it."
B: "It tasted good."

While we were playing in the front yard one day we discovered a dead mouse that one of the stray cats probably brought into our yard. I made Brynlee leave it alone. When her dad got home she ran outside and then walked in a few minutes later exclaiming, "mom, guess what, I squished that dead mouse with my shoe. I squished it really hard like this." She then demonstrated how she squished the mouse.

The other day we were at my sister's house. Heather was wearing these pants with holes in them. Brynlee looked at her pants and told her; "You better not let anyone see those pants Heather, that would be embarrassing."

Lately anytime we tell Brynlee she can't so something or if we get onto her for anything her response is "Mom/Dad, you broke my heart. You just really broke my heart."

Brynlee is convinced that every single person who comes to our house cannot leave without getting a kiss and a hug from her. She is really distressed when she forgets to do this. Every time Brynlee does it, Annalyn does it too. Brynlee's friends were over here the other day and she not only gave her friends a kiss and a hug, she gave their mom one too. Annalyn looked at me and said, "I want to kiss the mommy!" Then she ran over for a hug and a kiss. Even in Primary Brynlee kept kissing her teacher and giving her hugs. I am glad she is affectionate; I just wish is wasn't with every random person she meets. When we left after my doctor's appointment last time she was disappointed that she didn't get a hug and kiss from my midwife.

At the last doctor's appointment the girls went to with me, we got to meet the new midwife that just moved here from the UK. She talked with a thick accent and Brynlee just looked at her and said, "I think you look kind of funny." I was completely embarrassed that she said that. I couldn't see any reason that she looked funny.
The midwife just looked at Brynlee and said, "why do I look funny."
"It's because you kind of talk funny."
Luckily my midwife just laughed it off. Brynlee then complimented her on her beautiful fingernail polish on her fingers so that made up for it a little bit. When we went out to the waiting room Brynlee found this couple in there with a tiny newborn baby. Brynlee ran up, peeked in the car seat, looked at the couple and told them, "Ummm, I really like your cute born baby."
You gotta love little kids. They just say what they think.

Annalyn

Annalyn loves to help me, especially when I am cooking in the kitchen. Several weeks ago while I was making dinner Annalyn really wanted to help me so I had her help set the table. She is actually pretty good at it. After I gave her all the plates, forks, and cups to put on the table, she wanted more things to take so I gave her the butter and the peanut butter. When I went over to check on her I discovered that she had put a huge helping of butter on two of the plates. I snapped a quick picture of her and then went to wash off the plates. Most of them were still stacked up in a pile. When I went to unstack them I discovered that these stacked plates had more butter on them than the other ones did. She covered them in butter and then she stacked them back up. If I hadn't gotten there sooner she would have put peanut butter on everyone's plate too. Just what we wanted to eat.

Annalyn loves to play outside and she is constantly trying to sneak out there. The other evening Joel was working outside so I let the girls out there with him while I cleaned up dinner. Apparently Annalyn was determined to catch our white chicken and she chased that thing all the way in the neighbors field where she found a huge mud puddle and she fell in and was covered in mud up to her waist. Joel ran over to save her but he said she didn't start crying until she got her hand dirty. Even when he brought her in to me she was still crying that her hand was dirty. Joel stripped her into her diaper and shirt while she was outside and everything he gave me was completely caked in mud.

Annalyn went through a really weird sock stage where she wouldn't wear socks on her feet but she insisted on wearing them on her hands. She kept raiding her sock drawer and she would come out with a pair of socks on her hands. She would get really mad if I tried to take them off of her. She even colored, ate, and played with her toys with them on. I am glad she hasn't done that in a while. I hate folding socks.

Lately Annalyn gets really mad when it isn't her turn to say the prayer. Most of the time she will try to say it anyways or she will repeat everything the person who is praying says. If she is listening to a prayer that she feels is too long, and at the end of each of her prayers she says "Christ, Ah-MEN." The amen part is always said very loudly and with lots of enthusiasm.

Lately Annalyn has started singing all the time. She sings in the car, in her bed during nap time, in the bath and even in the grocery cart at the store. It seriously cracks me up. She sings with so much gusto and hand movements. One of her favorite songs is the "Let it Go" song from the movie frozen but she knows several songs and she picks up on the word very quickly. Sometimes she just spins around and around in the living room with her little hand outstretched while she sings her little heart out.

April Adventures

Life at our house has been busy lately. We are loving the warmer weather and the chance to play outside. The girls are obsessed with picking flower and they pick me a bouquet of dandelions every time we go outside. It did rain several days this month so we had to play inside quite a bit. The girls play together very well these days (most of the time.) They like so makes tents together, go swimming in the bathtub, and they are good at helping each other out. Lately their favorite game is to pretend to be kittens. Annalyn only takes a nap a few times a week these days so they are together a lot more.

We had fun celebrating Easter this month and celebrating our anniversary. We still had Family Night every Monday, held preschool at our house every Tuesday, went to the library every Thursday, and alternated spending Sunday with my parents or Joel's parents. I only made it to Zumba a few times this month because once I was done exercising, I couldn't find the energy to do anything else that day. I had a doctor's appointment to attend every other Monday this month as well so that kept us busy. We went to the park a few times, hung out with my sister Alesha while she was on a week long break from school, and got to meet my sister Heather's new baby girl.

We are starting to put in a garden and Joel has already had to mow the grass several times. The good news is that his dad had this old ride on mower that he let Joel use so now that job shouldn't take so long. We spent a few days helping grandma get her garden ready too. There was a small accident next door to our house where they tipped over a big sprayer that was full of some kind of weed spray. I guess they were trying to drive it up on a trailer and it tipped over and the spray leaked all over into our yard, fairly close to our garden spot. Hopefully we can still get things to grow in there.

I officially gave up on making Annalyn take a nap on preschool days because she wants to come so bad. Her and Brynlee really look forward to preschool and they love helping me set everything up and decide what we are going to do that day. It has been really good for them. Both of the girls have been really into crafts lately because of it.

My parents got a good deal on all of these baby chicks and asked us if we wanted some. Right now they have 30 baby chicks and they are planning on giving 10 of them to us. We just need to set up a place to put them. We have gone over there and looked at those chickens several times and my girls are in love with them. They love to hold them, especially Annalyn.

My sister Heather, had a beautiful little girl on Tuesday, April 22. She was convinced she was going to have the baby much sooner than that but we all kept telling her the baby would come on the 22nd because that is my grandma Verna's birthday. Her little boy Jakobee was born on my grandpa's birthday. We were still surprised that her baby actually did wait and come on grandma's birthday. Heather named her baby Remi and she is a cute tiny little thing. The girls and I all went to visit her at the hospital and they both fell in love. Anna cried when she had to give the baby up. They didn't want to leave and they have been begging to go see baby Remi ever since. This makes me really excited for when we have our baby but also a little nervous. I know the girls are going to try to help with everything and not leave the baby alone.

Joel and I went to the temple twice this month, we haven't been in a while and we probably won't be able to go again until the baby is old enough to leave with someone else for a few hours. We spent one weekend watching conference, and another weekend going to some garage sales. We helped my parents put in a huge sand pit in their back yard and we had a lot of fun playing in the sand. Joel and Brynlee made several sand creatures, including a turtle, a horse, and they even made a sculpture of me out of sand. Annalyn really tried to help move that sand around with this big shovel she found. She held onto that thing for a while and looked at my brother Brian and said, "It's heavy Brian, it is so heavy." The best part is that my brother Brian was carrying a big heavy rail road tie at the time. We have gone over there several times so the girls can play in the sand and they love it.

Easter Time

It is so much more fun to celebrate the holidays when kids are involved. We had a lot of fun this year celebrating Easter. We started off celebrating by doing an egg hunt during our preschool. We made bunny baskets out of milk cartons but it was so windy outside that the ears and tails blew off most of the bunnies as soon as we walked outside. We still had lots of fun and found plenty of eggs filled with candy. Annalyn loves doing preschool stuff with the big kids and they were all good about helping her find some eggs.

Later that week we got to color some eggs. The kids loved doing that. Annalyn was so fast at it and by the end of the decorating, her hand was completely pink, as were most of her eggs. She would take an egg out and put another in the same color before I even knew what she was doing. Brynlee really got into writing designs on the eggs and making them beautiful. Joel and I got to decorate a few eggs but we mostly just helped the girls decorate their eggs.

The Friday before Easter, the girls had another Easter egg hunt at Grandma Verna's house with my cousin Ryder. Brynlee and Ryder kept going after the exact same egg and getting mad when they didn't get the egg they wanted. Annalyn did pretty good because she went to the opposite side of the yard. In the end, they all got lots of eggs and candy and had lots of fun.

On Sunday morning the girls both gorged on candy from their Easter baskets, put on the beautiful dresses my mom bought them, and then we headed to church. I love celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. We watched as Easter movie after church and then went to Grandma's house for dinner. The missionaries came over and they gave us another great Easter message. I am very grateful for my Savior. Becuase of him, I know that I can live with my family forever. Happy Easter!

Happy Anniversary!

On Saturday Joel and I had fun celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. We sure have come a long way in the last six years. It was extra special this year because it came right before Easter. My sister Alesha offered to watch our kids all day. Joel planned the date this year and he did a great job. He even surprised me by bringing home a dozen red roses, a pretty orange plant, and some candy. After an Easter breakfast at the church, he came home and slept the rest of the afternoon so I was a little worried about how this date would turn out. I finally woke him up and then we left for our date at three.

Us on our wedding day!

We started off the date by stopping at wal mart for some lotion, some chap stick, and some tums. Then Joel took me to play miniature golf since that is what we did on our first date. We haven't done it since and it was a lot of fun. I was a little worried about being able to golf at 33 weeks pregnant but we managed just fine. Joel had to bend down and get my ball after every hole. Neither of us are very good at golfing. In the end, we didn't even add up our scores. Joel said we didn't do well enough to add it up. He probably just didn't want to find out that I beat him.

After miniature golf, we went to dinner at an all you can eat chinese buffet place. Mainly because that is one of Joel's favorite places to go. Even though we took as much time eating as we could, we were done by 5:30. I just looked at Joel and said, now what? We can't go home now. That is when Joel suggested that we go watch a movie. We headed to the movie house and discovered that Divirgent started at 6:20 so we stayed and watched it. I was surprised that Joel wanted to do such things because normally he is totally against spending money. I think this is the most we have ever spent on one date. We both liked the movie and had a lot of fun. It was good to get away and spend time together.

 I think Brynlee was really confused by the whole anniversary thing. She is convinced that Joel and I are going to get married again after we have the baby. She can't be convinced otherwise. She keeps bringing me things and talking about my wedding that is coming up. I keep thinking that she understands that we are already married so we don't need to get married again and then she will bring up the wedding again. 

I sure do love my handsome husband. Sometimes I don't give him enough credit. He is such a hard worker and a great father. I am grateful that we could spend some time celebrating our marriage and I look forward to many more years with him.

31 Week Update

As of last Thursday I am now 31 weeks pregnant. My second trimester really just seemed to fly by. It has really helped that I have two little girls that keep me busy. I have felt pretty good for the most part. I am starting to feel more tired on some days but on other days I feel great and I can get a lot accomplished. I have been terrible at taking pictures this time around but here is a shot of me and the girls when I was 30 weeks and 5 days along.

My biggest complaint is still heartburn. It isn't as bad if I don't eat or drink anything at least 2 hours before bed and as long as I avoid anything spicy, well seasoned, fried, or sweet. Chocolate seems to be the worst. Even when I do all those things, I still get heartburn sometimes. Not to mention, I have had a very hard time not eating any sweets. I just can't help it, but then I immediately regret doing it. This seems to happen every time I am pregnant.

In other news, I think we have finally picked out a name for our baby. Joel is determined to keep it a surprise and so far the girls haven't told anyone what the name is. I was a little bit worried that we would have to bring her home without a name so I feel much better now that we have something picked out. Brynlee was full of great suggestions but she didn't like any of the names Joel and I liked. One day I was talking to her and telling her that we needed to come up with a good name for the baby. Her immediate response was, "don't worry mom, I already named our baby." 

"Oh really," I questioned. "What did you name her." 

"Mom, her name is Leafy."

On another day while we were driving in the car I was calling out suggestions for what we should name the baby. 

Me: "Brynlee do you like the name Camille?"

B: "Ummm, How about Cupcake, that would be a good name." 

Me: "You don't like Camille. Well, what about Elaina?"

B: "I know, we could name our baby Snowball!" 

And so it went. She has suggested so many names. Names like Strawberry, Bowly, Pinky, Princess, Rose, Pixie, or LuLu. She was just so much help. 

I have been making a trip to see my midwife every two weeks for the last month. It is a lot of work going to the doctor so often. I never went this much with my other kids. I had someone watch my girls a few times but it is almost easier to just take them with me. They are both pretty good for me. And we have had to wait a long time so I am impressed that they were as well behaved as they were. The worst part about taking them is the commentary from Brynlee. She doesn't want to wait in the waiting room when I have to use the bathroom. She has to come right with me and be the little commentator. She knows the routine nows so she tells me right what to do. Here is about how our conversation went last time we had to go.

"Here you go mom. Here is your cup. Are you going to pee in it again? Ok, I am not going to laugh at you. Mom, I think I need to go potty. Are you going to get me a cup? All right mom. Now you need to stand on the scale. Come on up mom. Wow, your number went really high!"

Yeah, thanks for the help Brynlee. In the meantime it seems like Annalyn has to take off her jacket, her shoes and she has to try and touch everything she sees in every room we go into. My sister Alesha is going to watch my girls next week for me and I thought Brynlee would be excited about that but when I told her she was disappointed that she wouldn't get to come. "What," she responded "You mean I don't get to go hear the baby's heartbeat?" She was excited when I told her she could come with me next time. I am glad they are so excited for the baby to come. It has been fun to plan and talk about baby stuff with them.

March Happenings

In march we had fun playing outside again. The flowers in our front yard started to come up and our apricot tree started to bloom. It also rained quite a bit and we had several days with some really strong wind. We were stuck inside on those days.

Brynlee is still loving her preschool and that has kept us busy. We still went to exercise at the church whenever we could make it. I started having to make a doctor visit every other week so we went there three times last month. We celebrated Annalyn's birthday and we had fun playing with play doh for family night one evening. For another family night the girls and I made some dirt cups, complete with gummy worms. The worms were covered in chocolate pudding so the girls didn't want anything to do with them. In fact, I think Annalyn was scared of them.

We celebrated St. Patrick's day by wearing green. One of Brynlee's friends had a birthday at Chuck E. Cheese one day last month and I went with her and took Annalyn to play. They both had a blast but it was a lot of work for me. That place is always packed and Annalyn kept trying to run off. I got my hair cut at the end of the month and I am enjoying having short hair again. It was a fun month and we are excited for what April will bring.

Anna's 2nd Birthday

To celebrate Annalyn's birthday this year we decided to keep it simple and just do cake, ice cream, and presents on her actual birthday. She woke up that morning to find balloons all over the living room. We went to the library for music time in the morning and then we came home and played outside. I put Annalyn down for her nap and then I attemped to finish decorating the birthday cake. I decided to make a two layered circle cake this year and it was first time I have done it. It was going really well until the second layer broke in half. Joel tried to help me fix it but in the end I think he made it worse. We were able to use half of the top layer so I just decorated it. The good new is that Brynlee and Annalyn thought the cake was beautiful. They told me they loved it several times. I had the girls help me decorate the cake with m&ms for the finishing touch and while they were doing that, Annalyn took a big bite of the side of the cake and declared it to be really good. I was able to fix up the part she ate with some frosting. Hopefully I can get better at this cake decorating thing soon. At least the birthday girl was very happy with the cake I made her. She especially enjoyed helping me put on the candy. I think she ate more M&M than she put on there. 

For Anna's party, most of my family came over to eat cake and watch Annalyn open all of her presents. She opened one of her presents right before everyone got here so I had to quickly rewrap it. When we sang to her, she sang right along and then she enthusiastically spit at those candles until the fire went out. Although, she had a little help getting the fire out. She was quick to open all of her presents and then she ate a big bowl of cake and ice cream before playing with her presents. She had a great time and she got lots of fun gifts. she really liked the chap stick I got her and used most of it up that night. She also got a little play tent and some animals that she has really enjoyed. She got the Frozen movie and she loves to sing the songs and watch the snowman on that show. She doesn't really sit and watch the whole movie but she comes in and sings and dances during the songs. 

Anna's birthday was on a Thursday this year. On Saturday we went out as a family and did something fun to further celebrate. Joel really doesn't like celebrating birthdays so it was hard to get him to agree to come. Eventually he agreed and we went to the park, ate a pizza, and flew a kite. The girls had lots of fun. Anna loves going to the park. It wasn't all that windy by the time we got our kite out but we got it to fly a little bit. Annalyn had a nice fun time and I think it was the perfect birthday celebration for our sweet little girl. I know she enjoyed it.