7 months...

On 2/21/12 I hit the 7 month mark!

I am getting more and more excited everyday to meet our little guy. I still can't believe that we are having a boy! The last little boy I REALLY helped to take care of as more than a baby sitting job was my brother Tyler, and he was born when I was 7 years old!

This will be a whole new adventure for me, for us to go from a house of pink and lace with barbies, strawberry shortcake, polly pockets and my little ponies to house with blue, cars, trucks, trains and dinosaurs.

At my appointment two weeks ago on 2/17, I was measuring right on and had only gained 14 lbs total, yeah! Still contracting and told to still enjoy my bed rest. My last growth U/S on 2/16, showed that his growth was measuring 5 days early which is great news with my under weight babies. It also means that the bed rest is helping little man to get everything he needs. My doctor also scheduled my c-section for 4/12/12.

My point of view on 2/21/12

2/21/12
With 7 weeks 2 days until delivery day!!! 8 weeks 4 days until due date.

For now I continue on with NST and biophysical profiles every Tuesday and Thursday, growth u/s every 4 weeks and my OB every 2 weeks. And I am lucky enough to be able to see my baby on u/s 2 times a week, its fun to watch him continue to grow and change. We love going to the doctors 2-4 times a week! Okay I am being sarcastic but it really does make the time go faster. This has been the drill since week 26.

On 2/28/12 I went in for an NST and biophysical profile, things are still looking good. I then went in for my Dr appointment he said that with the decrease of contractions he was going to lift my restrictions some. Yeah! This means I can run small errands and do light housework again, my family is very happy with this news. We are still on for 4/12 which is 6 weeks 1 day, gulp! I am so unprepared for this little guy. We have NOTHING (other than the big items), thank goodness for a baby shower this weekend. I also have a long list of things to make and well they are not made, and this baby still doesn't have a "place". I am not sure where he is going completely or how I am going to make it work. We like to wing things. Oh by the way I failed to mention that this baby has dropped! my first kid to ever drop. I think he is a little anxious for some more room.

Sunday 2/19/12...

After missing the chance to take a picture of my girls the last two weeks in their Valentines Day skirts, I wanted to make sure I got them today.

Ava in her cute new denim dress from target.

My beautiful girls

Trena in her cute dress she got for Christmas.

VALENTINES DAY!

The girls and I woke up to valentine goodies from dad!

A dozen roses for me as well as 3 beautiful tulips ( should have turned the tulips around the ones in the back were still closed).

The girls each got a rose and a note from dad.

This is Ava walking in to see the flowers, Trena had already seen them and couldn't wait to show her sister, and asked me to have the camera ready to catch her face.

Ava was dressed very cute all day long for Valentines Day and she wore her cute Valentine's Day skirt and shirt I made her the two weeks prior, but of course she always had her clothes changed before I thought to take a picture.

Trena had to wear her school uniform to school that day and had already changed into lounge clothes by dinner time.

Ava opening her goodie bag. I made these super adorable bags last year and I still love them just as much as I did then

Ava got a cute Berenstein Bear book, Valentines Day Party and a heart filled with M&M's
(She of course got goodies from grandparents and a couple of friends too)

Trena with her goodie bag.

She was SO excited to get the newest My Sister the Vampire Book, Twin Spin. She loves these books so much that I always order them right after they come out and she usually doesn't even know they are out yet, a friend spilled the beans on this one, but she still wasn't expecting it. Here it was straight from the UK and the best part it came in the mail that day! I was worried I was going to have to put the order receipt in her bag.

she also got a box of chocolates and of course goodies from grandma and grandpa and friends at school.

I did do something for my husband this year believe it or not :) I really was limited on what I could do, but wanted to do something to let him no that I love him. I had an NST that morning and then afterwards went and picked up Thai take out and met him at his work. I sent him a text telling him not to heat up his leftovers and to meet me in the van by his car.

In the back of the van Ava and I had spread out a Valentines table cloth and had valentine plates and cups with the Thai food, sparkling cider and chocolate. He was surprised and I could tell that he really enjoyed us doing that for him. I love that.

Here are the girls PB knock off bags I made last year:



I am really wishing I had made 3 (especially because I was pregnant when I made these), but don't know how my little boy will feel about pink and black seems to dark. Oh well guess I have a year to figure it out.

Ava, Ava, Ava...

My darling Ava is at a very mischievous stage. If there is a marker, crayon, pencil or pen anywhere in the house she will sniff it out and find it!

My Trena wrote on something one time about the time she was three, I made her scrub the walls we talked about it and that was it. But my Ava girl, we talk and we talk and we talk and she writes and writes and glues things to walls, etc...


2/8/12

Her latest masterpiece was her self. I think she wanted to be a tiger that day as her arms are striped.

Another thing she does that's good and that drives me batty is that she LOVES to change clothes and looks for any reason to do so. In the morning I will be laying in bed and I hear her dresser drawers shut and a few minutes later she comes in fully dressed, for the most part she does a decent job. Now usually after a couple of hours this outfit is no longer good enough, so she needs to change it and then we usually have to change it one more time before sissy gets home. Next up pajamas; as soon as she hears the garage door open she says to me dad and Trena are both home I can put on my jammies and there she goes. And sometimes we actually change our PJ's again one more time before bed. Independence=good, dirty clothes=bad.


A plus to being down most of the day due to bed rest is that we are working hard on our letters and numbers (and facebook and pinterest too).

2/9/12

I printed off a bunch of fun practice sheets for numbers, letters, counting, tracing and even some word search type find all the letter A's or count how many and circle the right number papers. I then put them all in sheet protectors and into a binder. This way she can do them over and over again. I also printed out some one time coloring and cutting activities as well and she has loved working on these.

2/9/12

Sometimes we sit at the table with moms feet up and play playdoh together too! And she loves when I give her some fake nails.

Ava is such a trooper for all of my Dr appointments. I go at least two times a week for about 2 hours and then on other weeks I go either 3 or 4 times. This last week some of my appointment got canceled and rescheduled and had to be doubled up on the same day, good for gas money, bad for me and Ava, so we were at the Dr for about 5 hours two days last week and she was my super trooper, I was so proud of her!

Crazy Hair Day...

1-25-11 was crazy hair day at T's school.

I think she looked kinda cute!

Ava was asleep when Trena went to school so when she came home and Ava saw her hair she had to have it done the same way.

Ava's do

Six Months...

Oh Happy Day!

6 months
3rd trimester
and past the date we lost Braxton
Three hurdles in one week.

1/21/12

My point of view

Trena Turns 11...

It is still so hard for me to believe that Trena is 11!! I look at pictures of how much she has changed in the last couple of years and I am so amazed. I'll save all the mushy talk because I posted the mushy stuff on her Birthday!

opening her present from Ava

A present from grandma and granpa

And her kindle from mom and Dad

Then she skyped with some family in Utah and opened there presents lots of clothes.

On Friday (1-20) we were all ready for a Birthday party sleepover she invited six friends and we slowly heard that people were not coming, two hours before the party there were 3 no's and 3 we had no clue on. I was seriously sweating it I had a whole plan for if no one showed up.

Luckily for us sweet Jenna was able to come!

They gave each other un-makeovers. The one doing the makeover was blindfolded.

They then made Ava look like the wicked witch of the west.

The crazy girls, they were so good to play with Ava all night. I am not sure what's up with T's I am too cool face.

With her favorite Twix Cake

Blowing out her candles

The Saturday (1-21) after her Birthday we went to the Woodgrill Buffet for her Birthday dinner, doesn't she look so grown up!?

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam...

Our littlest Monkey is a SUNBEAM!

I can't believe that Ava is old enough to go to Sunbeams it actually breaks my heart. I am so glad that I am in Primary and got to see her in there. She sat so good and was singing so well and that night when she was going to bed she was singing to me the song we learned that day and she was telling me all about what that man, the bishop, taught us. I seriously think she sat better than the 4 year olds.


1/8/12

We missed the first Sunday because we were out of town. There are only 3 kids in the class and they are each one of the presidency members kids so we were a little worried about how they be and they are all doing really good.

A Time to Reflect...

So the downside to bed rest means a whole lot of time doing nothing, the upside to bed rest is a whole lot of time to reflect. A time to reflect on areas you are failing in, on what you could do better, differently, on past choices, on what might have been.

I have always been a lover of many different genres of books, one of these being self help books. Embarrassing to admit maybe, but I am. You will find me reading these books with a notebook and pen always taking thorough notes. Maybe if I was that diligent in school I wouldn't find the need to read them now :) Two of these books that i have read and really really enjoyed and have continued to cause me to reflect are:

The Happiness Project
and

The Daring Female's Guide to Ecstatic Living: 30 Dares for a More Gutsy and Fulfilling Life

I read the Daring Female's Guide to Ecstatic Living about 2 1/2 years ago and I still find myself reflecting on something I read in it often. This book if I remember correctly did have some swearing just as a warning for anyone that may be interested in reading it.

Anyways one of the topics of discussion is basically finding your passion of what you want to do with your life. I feel that I wear many hats, but am I truly fulfilled, do I have a passion, am I just in a rut doing the day to day or do I LOVE what I am and what I do. The book discusses that you can do many things but you can only be great and completely devoted to one thing. I kind of believe this: You're not going to be the top lawyer at your firm, the best homemaker and the mom that never misses anything that's important, you would break, you would snap its just not possible. You could be a good lawyer, a good homemaker and a good mom, but you may always feel that you are lacking in one or all of these areas.

I LOVE being able to stay home with my kids, I love that I am there when they are sick, i am at every assembly, performance, church activity that they want me to be at. I can volunteer in classrooms, go on field trips, I can teach them how to write their name, use their imagination, read to them and tuck them in at night. I am in no way a perfect mom and this IS my job this is the career I have chosen and have been lucky enough to have. I know I should spend more one on one time with my kids, my house could be cleaner, I could cook healthier, be healthier, etc.

And yet I reflect, I feel that I am missing out on something. I used to work for Social Security Disability in Utah as weird as this may seem my job was stressful but it was extremely satisfying, everyday I left work knowing that I was really helping people that needed my help, I also knew that there were many people trying to get a free ride, but I was helping others. The day that I quit my job, as I was moving to another state and was about to embark on my journey as a stay at home mom I cried, I cried and cried. I cried at the thought of not having a reason to get up, get dressed, to go to my office, yes office, sip on my herbal tea and be someone important, to change someones lives.

And yet as a mom we have the opportunity to change someone's lives every day, we, I, just often fail to recognize this. I have two beautiful daughters 11 and 3 with a son on the way, they are my "disability claimants". My kids come to me every day to see how their case is coming along; am I failing, am I earning an A+, unfortunately I would say that I am only earning a C, there is definite room for improvement. Why do I fail to devote to "this" job what I would require of myself at my paid job.

When we are in our twenty's we have options: careers, families, travel the world, save the world, we can dabble in many things before we make the decision to settle down and start our families. I, like so many others in my religion was in a hurry to marry and settle down. Do I regret marrying young and starting a family, yes and no. I regret not taking more time for me, to find out who I was, to discover myself. I believe if I had done this I would feel more fulfilled. Do I regret having my oldest daughter at the age of 22, no! I do wish I had been older when I married and started my family maybe 28ish, but never for one second regret the joy and love she has brought into my life. Also if I had not decided to start my family until I was 28 my already hard long road to having children would have been even more difficult and I would have been completely unaware.

I wish that I had finished my education, that I had followed a career path. Maybe if my career path hadn't led to an office job it would have led to a career easily done with young children. What career path would I choose if I had it to do over, I had always contemplated nursing and teaching, both are pretty great careers for mom's, maybe I would have been a writer, or owned my own shop, a quilt shop or some kind of bakery.

The only thing I know for certain is that nothing in the world beats the sound of your child saying "mama, I need you" or "I love you". Some things in life just can't be beat. If I had it to do over would I do it differently; maybe, but not completely. I wouldn't change my choice to be a stay at home mom. I would change my choice to get married so young, I would take the time to discover me, to finish school, I really believe this would have made me a better wife and mom. I would choose a career and although I probably would not spend much if any time devoted to that career it would be an option for when the time came that I found myself searching, possibly after my kids are all in school.

We have so many choices to make that affect the rest of our lives that we all need to slow down and take the time to make the best decisions for each of us. We only get to make these decisions once and we want to have no regrets with the decisions that we have made, we don't get multiple lives to live out all the different lives we think we might enjoy. We need to be sure of our decisions so that we have no regrets and our children come out the winners.

Ok, I am climbing down off of my reflective soap box now.

After the 26th... until the 1st.

After Christmas I became a very bad picture taker, if there wasn't pictures on my camera from after we returned home I would swear something had happened. But then again I am never a good picture taker when I am pregnant.

December 27th, the girls played dress up after shopping at Quilted Bear

On Wednesday the 28th we met up with Brent's sister and kids, brother and kids and cousin as well as Grandma and my in-laws .

The Girls with Grandma Hanson.
See this is how you know I got bad with the camera all those people and I have one photo of my girls with their great grandma!

This was also mine and Brent's anniversary, nope no pictures of us either. We went to dinner at the Brazza Grill and then went to catch a movie only to find out it was completely sold out, so we met up with his parents and his brother and family for ice cream at Leatherby's.

Thursday the 29th I went to lunch with my mom, sisters our kiddos and my aunt Traci (my uncle Wade's wife) and her mom and grandma, ran in a few stores and then we went to dinner with my in-laws and brother in law and his family in Brigham City it was pretty yummy and again no photos!

Friday the 30th marked the 6th anniversary of the day we lost our sweet baby Braxton, we made our usual trip to the cemetery. I usually take a photo of my girls there, but did not. I also forgot to mention that when we got in on Christmas Eve we met my mom, grandma, sister and brother at the cemetery where they had put out 5 luminaries by Braxton's and the other babies graves that are buried by him.

On the 30th we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse where the only photo I took was of Ava holding Kenzie, seriously what's wrong with me???

I LOVE this look on Kenzie's face!

On the 31st we went to dinner with my in-laws to Sweet Tomatoes (Trena's and my MIL's favorite), then Bren, the girls and I went and saw the smurfs super cute. And then back to my parents to bring in the new year. Yep you guessed it no photos here either. I really hope my mom has some on her camera.

Sunday the 1st we went to church then home for lunch and to load up the car, we said our goodbyes to both families and then hit the road. We stopped at Cafe Rio for dinner and then spent the night in St George at my Aunt and Uncle's house, visited for a bit, went to bed and arrived home on the 2nd.

It was a super fun trip and we were so glad to spend more than 2 days there.