Bathtime!

This is how bath time started out. Say hello to the new favorite facial expression!

We are glad to have some of our family here! We miss Mimi and Poppy and wish they could be here too. If we could we would have grammy and grampy here and everyone! Grandpa and Grandma were looking for tickets to come out because baby C's cousin who is just a few months older (which we are SO excited they are so close in age!) was being blessed around this time. Lucky for all of us (they didn't tell any of us they were coming) things happened around the same time! It happened that the ticket price went down that morning and they decided to look...coincidence? I think not. They had looked the night before. So they bought them and hopped on the plane. 

It was really fun to watch D and grandpa. Their expressions were the best. 

Do you think he likes his bath?

 Miss A helping to wash her baby brother.

 Not until the shampoo. He was so funny! It was instantly that he stopped crying and was so content. He could have sat there for an hour getting his hair washed.

They showed this way of washing his hair to D at the hospital and I am grateful they did! Baby C loves it!

He Has Her Heart Too!

He has stolen all our hearts! Especially his big sisters. She is so sweet to him. Giving him kisses, loving him like crazy, wanting to hold him. I love how she grabs her dolls and pretends to feed them while her little brother is eating. She pretends to nurse and burp her babies. I think it is amazing that from the time we are little, it is instilled in us that nurturing. Although I do believe it is also something you have to work towards...like anything in this life, part of being a woman means being a nurturer and strengthening that God given gift.

 

 My two handsome boys!

Sweet Miss A!

Sweet little boy!

Welcome Home Baby Boy!

We are all home! I can't even begin to describe how I feel! Excited, thankful beyond being able to thank, joyous, extreme joy, rapture...well maybe that sums it up a little bit? I am so thankful that God created us and gave us beautiful bodies to take care of. I am so thankful that I know the family is ordained of God and I know without doubt there is nothing and I mean nothing greater than being married to the love of my eternal life! I am so blessed to be with him and there is so much joy in knowing that we love each other no matter what...We love the quote, "Choose your love, and love your choice". That's what we did when we all got married right? We may have been raised differently, our personalities may be similar or very different, but we decide how we are going to react and treat each other. If we can learn to forgive each other, stop digging up the past, and just decide to fix ourselves...because things are never one sided...we can learn to love stronger and more fully. Let the Lord's love fill our lives and marriages!

I am grateful to be a mother. It can be hard sometimes...and oh how many fears I have that can weigh me down if I let them, but there is, once again, nothing more fulfilling, rewarding, or worth my time than spending time, teaching, and raising now two little angels, straight from heaven, with minds and personalities of their own. I have cried a lot of tears, and I am sure I will cry many more both happy and sad, but I honestly believe now what one of my teachers at school once said, "There is so much joy in marriage, but it wasn't until we had children that we found just how full our joy could be." I know that is true for us! 

This pregnancy along with labor and delivery were so different than with Miss A. I actually got an epidural and yes I am thankful that I got it, but it was rough for me. Now while recovering that is the most painful part! I hated not being able to feel my legs ahh!!! It drove me nuts that I couldn't move them or move my toes, and when my leg would flop over I didn't even know until I would look down of Drew would start laughing! He was sweet enough to fix it! It was really as if my legs were disconnected from my body. However, I am glad I got one.

Can skip this part if you don't want to read the details but I am writing them down! We went in at 7:00am. Took our sweet time. I was so nervous, Drew seemed calm as can be! I requested that I not get induced but to try to break my water first. So at around 9:00am Dr. B came in and told us, as requested, the funny story about the time he gave his dog a hymenectamy so she could have puppies...and apparently it worked! We laughed and laughed. At this point I was at 6cm. He put the heart beat monitor into sweet baby C's head and punctured the sac so my water would slowly trickle...well do you think that happened? The nurse left the room saying, "Okay now you probably won't feel much it will slowly drip out..." Drew got up to use the bathroom and I laid there. As soon as they both had left can you guess what happened? The flood gates opened actually broke and there was no small trickle and no stopping it. The nurses came back in and after cleaning and all laughing one said, "Wow this is the most amniotic fluid I have seen in a long time". We laughed a lot during this delivery. So after checking and progressing we were at a stand still because sweet baby C decided he would be a gentleman and come into this world with his hand stretched out and ready to shake hands. He had moved his hand on top of his head- I wonder if it is because of the monitor in his head...you've got to admit that'd be pretty weird to feel something up there. So after trying and trying to move his hand back the nurse went and got her charge nurse who "had done this a lot longer than she had". She came in and after a minute or two and lots of shoving his hand was back up. I could feel the whole thing-which made me grateful at that point to have had an epidural because it would have been A LOT more painful! Keep checking dialated to 9 1/2cm and guess what- his sweet hand is back down! Dr. B came in at about 12:30 and ten minutes went by and two contractions and this sweet little guy was born at 12:48pm. He is so tiny! 6lbs 14oz, 20 and 1/2 inches long. Dark brown hair just like daddy :) He is the sweetest boy in the world. I can't even begin to explain how blessed we feel we are! When they handed him to me I instantly began to cry. Holding this sweet boy straight from Heaven knowing that I have so much to teach him touched me in a way that I haven't felt before. It was so clear to me that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and how grateful I am that sweet baby C was sent to our family. It is funny to me, and maybe this is because Satan knows how to make you worry etc etc etc...which is rather annoying, but while pregnant I still worried about how I could love another child while still loving little Miss A. The love I have for her is so great I feared that with another child I would love her less or not know how to share my love and time. I just couldn't understand how my love could spread, nor did I understand how in the world I could handle TWO! Once I held our sweet little boy in my arms and looked at D there was instant peace that came over from the Lord. Instantly those fears and worries were lifted. I can't tell you how real that feeling was for me. I know the Savior helped me in many ways! Once I saw two tiny feet and heard a little voice behind the curtain in the room saying "mommy, is baby brother here, are you done feeding him?" It somehow just happened my love never changed for her and I love him with all my heart too.

 Nana and Miss A came shortly after he was born. The curtains were closed to the room and all I could see were little jumpy feet waiting to open those curtains to see her baby brother whom she has waited a LONG time for. She ran in and instantly went to daddy arms reaching out to hold her brother and gave him a sweet sweet big sister kiss. Then she climbed in next to me and we talked and giggled.

 She LOVES her baby brother!

After his first bath. D said he hated it all except when his head was being rubbed and washed. He instantly stopped crying and just laid there. Oh our sweet baby C we love you! 

Our Hospital Visit in March

Starting now I am going to try to write more! Six months have gone by and I have missed writing our little stories and experiences down, but with one computer and one busy husband in school needing the computer, writing on the blog has gone on hold. So tonight while I have a minute I am going to write a few things!

What has gone on? I don't even think I can remember everything! Starting from most recent...Baby number two is doing great! D and I had a wonderful date night at the hospital last Friday after I fell during my last class. I had a few learning moments on Friday...Fourth graders will laugh at a pregnant woman falling not even realizing how scary it can be. I went to do an assemble, not even jumping into it I simply walked brushed one foot out hit a super slick spot and next thing I know both feet were up in the air not completely vertical thankfully, and I was down on my back with one hand bracing my fall. I felt wet and thought oh no was that my water? I stood up amongst the laughter and pretended I didn't hurt at all :) Thankfully it was in my last ballet class of the night and I only had about thirty minutes left! D and miss A picked me up and after calling we went into the hospital. My wonderful brother and sister in law dropped what they were doing to come pick up miss A. She didn't know what was going on, simply excited to play with her cousins and have a sleepover. Come to find out when we picked her up that she refused to go to sleep even though she wanted to sleep over. Funny girl.

We now know what the hospital is like and one of the nurses. We were there for a few hours monitoring baby and contractions. He was great! I was dehydrated...what else is new? I had just been teaching for three hours! They ended up giving me a shot to stop contractions which I was a little hesitant about, but I am glad because I wouldn't want him to have come that early. (March 19th). Come to find out my water did not break... I just wet my pants a little...I didn't think I would ever be so happy to have wet my pants! I haven't slipped since then in ballet and don't plan on it! We are grateful everything was great!

The April Fool's Jokester

We love April Fool's around our house! Miss A now wakes up every morning and asks, "What is today? Is it April Fool's day?" We didn't do a whole lot, but papa certainly got us good! We don't do mean tricks around our house, we just like the silly ones. Since we are living in my parents basement we come upstairs and visit and sometimes eat breakfast with Nana. Well this morning when we got up we found the chairs on the counters and balloons in the fridge. We called Papa immediately and miss A told him all about what she had found. He said, "The April Fool's Jokester must have come". So on went our day...we played and then heard Nana from down the hall ask, "Have you looked in the toilets yet?" Off we went to the bathroom and what do you think we found???

Balloons, in almost all of the toilets. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. She talked about it all day. The day went on. I thought for sure papa had to have done more than that, and sure enough when we went to put our shoes on we found they didn't fit anymore due to tissue paper shoved into the toes. So we decided to switch the cereal inside the cereal boxes for papa to find. We then thought about putting balloons in his shoes. We told miss A should couldn't tell him though, it had to be a surprise. What happened when Papa got home from work? This sweet girl happily and excitedly says, "Papa we put balloons in your shoes, but you won't know because it will be a surprise" and then she laughed.  The only other trick Miss A and I played was during dinner. For part of our dinner we made strawberry juice stuck in a glass. Miss A had so much fun making it...and we even tricked daddy! 

The only trick D and I played was blowing up a balloon in a shampoo container so when my dad went to use it he wouldn't be able to get anything out. Was it a success? We woke up the next morning to the balloon sitting on our kitchen counter with the words "Good One" written on it.

Until next year April Fool's.

Three and a Half Weeks and Counting Down

We are so excited for this sweet baby boy to be born! We only have three and a half weeks left. I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone by. I have so many mixed feelings! I am excited for this little one to enter this world, but oh how I have loved to be pregnant! Watching my belly grow, feeling him move, losing sleep because of bathroom breaks, not being able to lay down to sleep or find anyway to sleep...even after stacking up all of our pillows except two. I love feeling him roll around, kick, stretch, and get hiccups. I love that D and A can feel him too. We just laugh and laugh when he moves because when he moves he really moves. He pokes out until my stomach feels as if it could break!

I am grateful little miss A is excited for him to be born. For a while there were some rough moments- the first one being at the "big ultra sound". We took Miss A with us, which was so funny. The moment the ultra sound tech showed us and out loud said it looks like you're having a boy, Miss A started to do all she could to tell us he was not a boy but a girl. She said to the tech, "no it's a girl, Heavenly Father made her to be a girl". After that anyone who said she was having a brother would be told that we were not having a boy but a girl. We have now gone from that, to her being very excited about having a baby brother. The other morning she woke up and asked, "Daddy is it May?" because she knows her baby brother is supposed to be coming in May. She does pray for her baby sister in heaven and never fails to remind us, "after my baby brother is born my baby sister will be born". We have many colored pictures of ultra sounds of her baby brother :) She loves to draw the ultra sounds.

I am very nervous about the changes that will happen, but I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for our growing family. We have been blessed so much already. In one of our family classes up at school our teacher once said, "It doesn't take money to have a baby, it takes faith". I know it does take money, but when we prepare in all the ways when we can, and when the Lord says it's time, you do your part and the Lord takes care of the rest. We found that with miss A and now with this little guy. Things work out! I definitely found myself saying, "but how?" but little by little and putting trust in the Lord things really do unfold and work out. One funny thing that still keeps me laughing is how I just started a new job, as a ballet teacher, and was expecting. I kept thinking what funny timing right when I start this job we are also expecting a new baby! I know it wasn't just coincidence. Soon after that I found out with this job I get six weeks paid maternity leave. I was placed with level one ballet classes, which although have been very challenging at times, I have been able to keep up teaching the entire time.

We have been blessed, and I never thought I'd say this, with loan money not taken out from the bank but through the school! We were very happy to hear that! We have been blessed with baby needs and just so many things! So if I could say one thing I have learned through this pregnancy I think it would have to be gratitude and attitude.

The Lord does know all things!

Five Months Later...

Wow I have been terrible at keeping up our little love blog. From now on I hope to be better!  What's new? We celebrated our anniversary!!! That's about it.

Have you ever read in the scriptures a few verses that just STAND OUT? I have found more! I think that is the beautiful thing about scriptures...and marriage...the more you read them (even if it is the same verses over and over again) the more you learn. Same with marriage the more you put into your marriage, the more you serve...even if it means washing the same pair of jeans twice in one week, or doing dishes again and again, the stronger your marriage becomes.

We are experiencing this right now. I have found out that switching roles even slightly can be a challenge. D just started grad school...HOORAY!!! He isn't working during school, we didn't want to take our more loans, need I say more? and a job came to me at the perfect time. It has been a BIG blessing in more ways than one. I only work a few times a week for a few hours a day. I am grateful that it isn't a full time job because all the money in the world wouldn't be worth being gone from our little lady all day. So even though money will be tighter than ever, we will be okay. Little lady asked me to turn on this little video one morning and we watched it together...she watches it for "the little girl swinging on her belly on the swing."

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2119328537001 

To be honest I feel like one of the little children in the video. The father talks about how they expect food to be in the pantry when they open it, the crayons and toys they use, the clothes they wear are just there. All of it is provided for them. With D working I knew where our money was coming from that he was providing, but I never really felt the anxiety that he felt, that a father feels in needing to provide for the family. I never had to think If I miss work today we'll be short money this month. But I have felt that now, not to the same extent. This has helped me appreciate D more and I am grateful that one of his roles as a father is to provide for our family. Wow what a sacrifice that is.

So goal for each of you...Take a step back and think about the sacrifice that your husband makes for your family each day to provide the necessary things in life and vv. D and I, being in school since we got married, have always been pretty good with our money, we haven't had much and we have lived pay check to pay check for four years. We've really learned and still are learning to live within our means, buy the NEED not the WANT. It is hard sometimes, but worth it to us. We have been able to not fight over finances and know we are on the same page.

So back to that scripture that has stood out to me. And not it doesn't have anything to do with the above thoughts...Proverbs 31:10-12

"Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies."

"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil."

"And she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."

This is one of my live by scriptures. Virtue is one value that isn't well known in the world. It is a value that I believe should be known and practiced by all in our home and our lives.