Family Pictures

I love this picture...this is so our family. The kids are all in their own world.

My sister Marji was nice enough to take our family pictures for us, when she was out here in August for Gabe and Molly's wedding.  She did a great job and I am of course having a hard time choosing which one I like the most. It was quite the challenging photo shoot. The sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky.  The places we had planned to do the pictures at fell through. A city park was actually closed for the day...how is that possible?!  It turned out great though!:)  Family picture are not my little family's favorite, but they suffered through them and we are good until next year, when we welcome our newest member. :)

Snow

Well we had our first snow of the season yesterday.  It was barely enough to cover the ground, but the kids had a blast playing in it.  This is the first snow that Parker has had that he could actually play and run around.  They all had a great time making snowballs and chasing each other.  We will see what our winter is like this year.  Last year I think it snowed a total of 3 times the whole season, which is way below average.  The good news is that I didn't have to shovel the driveway, which is a huge plus. But the bad news is it made for a big drought in Utah.  We'll see what this year has to offer!

Taking Pictures

This is Maggie's favorite doll. Her name is Maggie too!:)

Maggie and David have been taking over taking pictures these days, which is great because I have been a little neglectful  of the camera the past few months.  They have been doing pretty good with taking the pictures. They love including all of their animals and dolls and Biscuit.  All of these pictures were taken by either David or Maggie.  Not too bad.  Such entertaining kids.

17 Weeks

I haven't posted much about this pregnancy, so I figured while I am here laying in bed with laryngitis, eating ice chips, with nothing else to do and not able to speak now would be a great time to update the blog about this pregnancy. :)  I am 17 weeks along today.  I can't believe I am that far along.  It has gone by so fast when I think of the fact that in another 20 weeks and I will have a new baby to take care of and 4 children in all to try to juggle.  I am finally over the "nauseous" stage where everything and every smell makes me run to the bathroom.  I started feeling better about 2 weeks ago, but still have the occasional sick day, where I just can't keep things down and I have absolutely no energy for anything.  That is usually only once or twice a week though, which I can handle.  I have not gained or lost any weight in this pregnancy yet.  I was heavier starting out with this pregnancy, so the baby has had room to grow in there without making me gain a ton of weight yet.  I still fit into all my clothes and most days I just look like a have eaten a little too much and have a little bump, but doesn't look like I am pregnant, which is good and bad.  I have gotten my energy back and can keep up with the cleaning on most days without falling over in pure exhaustion. 
I started feeling the baby kick and move about a week ago and absolutely love this part of pregnancy.  I love feeling the movement of him/her and at the same time not having a foot in my rib the whole time or pushing on my bladder for fun! He/she is still small enough to have room to play in there for the next couple of weeks.  This really is the best time of pregnancy.
 I had my monthly check up this week and took Maggie and Parker with me to the appointment.  Maggie loved hearing the heartbeat and said it sounded like an animal of some kind, but now I can't remember what she said exactly.  Everything looks perfect and next month we will have the ultrasound and get to find out if it is a boy or girl...I think everyone knows that the kids are pretty big on getting "Elizabeth" here.  Maggie is definitely the most excited to find out.  She has announced this pregnancy to way more people then I have and is proud to have another baby on the way.  People will come up to me and say that Maggie was talking about the baby in her mommy's belly or how sick the baby makes mommy and check to make sure she is accurate! 
Starting at my next appointment I will be starting my weekly progesterone shots.  I was going back and forth about whether I wanted to get them this time around, since I was still on bed rest last time even with the shots.  But the shots did keep the baby in for as long as possible and now that I know what to expect I think this one will be better.  The thing that really helped me know that I needed to start the shots is when I start having very light Braxton Hicks contractions starting last week.  I am definitely taking it easy with this pregnancy though and know when I need to rest.  David has been amazing during this whole pregnancy so far and is always getting onto me to stop doing so much and to rest more. He takes the kids places and does homework on the days where I just can't function.  He has made many trips to the store for whatever craving I may be having at that moment.  I have loved italian food with this pregnancy especially fettuccine Alfredo. YUM! I can't get enough of it. I also love french fries. Especially Arby's curly fries.  My go to snack most of the time is either a bagel with cream cheese or Corn Flakes with bananas.  I can finally eat pizza again after months of it making me sick.  I love my Dr. Pepper, but water and milk are usually the things that quench my thirst.  The things that I have had to make a run to the store for are cinnamon bears, Twizzlers, salad, alfredo, snickers, watermelon, apples, caramel apples and probably a lot more that I have blocked out of my mind.
I do not sleep well, while I am pregnant.  I always wake up thinking that I am late for something or that I forgot to do a school report for David or something to do with school and deadlines.  Most nights I will wake up in a panic thinking that I have forgotten to do something.  So I do not get that great a nights sleep, but at least I don't have a baby attached to me and no explosions to clean up. :)  All in all this isn't the worst pregnancy I have ever had.  I have to eat constantly to avoid getting sick and usually can't eat just anything, but at least I have medicine to help me on my bad days.  So that is the pregnancy.  Until next month, when we get to find out what we are going to call this little monkey. (cross your fingers that they get it right this time too!) 

Parker 18 Months

Height: 31.3 inches (30%) Weight: 24 pounds 9 ounces (35%)

 He is our smallest kid yet!:)

Parker is now 18 months, which is so exciting for  a couple of reasons.  The biggest reason is because in our church that means he gets to go into nursery!  David and I have been counting down to this for about 17 months. ;)  We both have callings in church that make it more difficult to have an active toddler running around.  I figured Parker would be my first baby to transition well into nursery and had high hopes for him on that first day in nursery.  We were sadly mistaken.  He balled the whole time and one of us had to be in there with him the whole time. It had already been a bad and stressful day and we both had a million other things we needed to be doing for our callings during these 2 hours, but that all went down the drain and I stayed in there with the little man.  To be fair he has all of his back teeth coming in and he had not been himself for the days before this nursery day.  So his first Sunday in nursery was a bit of a failure, but luckily we had many more Sundays to let him try it out again.  The second Sunday David went and dropped him off and stayed in there for a few minutes and then was able to leave with no problems!! We were both sitting in class just waiting to here his scream out in the hall or have one of the leaders come in and tell us he was miserable again, but he stayed in the whole time and they said he did great and only had one short meltdown. What a relief! He came out of nursery so proud of himself holding his picture that he had colored and looking so big. It was so cute!
Parker has come so far in these 18 months. He is a funny and entertaining little kid.  He is very vocal and can say quite a few words. So far he says, hi, mama, dada, juice, go, one, two, three, there it is, Dave, and lots of different animal sounds.  He will point to an animal in a book and then do the sound that the make. He is pretty smart!:)  He is still a great eater.  He loves almost all fruits and vegetables and especially loves yogurt.  I am not a huge fan of the yogurt, because he insists on feeding himself and makes a pretty big mess with it. He will go and stand by the fridge waiting for someone to open it and then jump into it and try to find something he wants to eat and then quickly and forcefully close the door.  He is very independent.  He loves playing outside and about 3 weeks ago finally learned how to climb up the rock wall onto the "pirate ship."  He could not have been more proud of himself the first time he finally made it all the way up the first couple of times.  He still loves throwing anything and everything. Most people know that he is holding something they should cover their head, because he is most likely going to throw it at them at any moment.  He has finally gotten over his "trash" phase. We had the trash can on a chair for a while, so that he could not a.) throw things away that shouldn't be and b.) get things out of the trash that should not be touched.  He loves throwing his own diapers away and any trash that I may find around the house. He is actually a very neat child.  He likes his room to be clean and can follow simple commands that we tell him, like put your shoes away or put the book back.  He has recently switched rooms and now shares a room with David.  It has been about a week now and they both love having each other as roommates.  They both like a tidy room, which works well. 
My favorite time of day with Parker is when he first wakes up. This is the only time that he will actually let me hold him (while standing) and snuggle with him.  We just stand and rock back and forth for a minute or two until it is time to change that fun morning diaper.  He is also a pro at actually walking instead of sliding up and down the stairs. He is very careful and has not fallen down yet.  He loves bath time and if he hears you say the word he will run straight to the bathroom, while screaming, "bath, bath, bath!"  He loves to do everything that David and Maggie do and wants so badly to be included in all of their fun games.  He loves saying "hi" to people and will not stop saying it until he gets a "hi" in return. He also has to put his face right next to yours and look in your eyes, while doing this.  He is a great sleeper at night.  He doesn't take very long naps anymore. I am lucky if he stays asleep for an hour in the afternoon.  He absolutely HATES blankets.  He doesn't even like one sitting next to him on the couch.  He has also never taken a sippy cup to bed with him.  Sometimes if he has been extra rotten that day I will go and put blankets and a sippy cup in his crib.  As soon as he gets in there he immediatly starts throwing everything out in a panic.  Cruel and unusual punishment for an 18 month old, but it makes me laugh so hard at his disgust for things in his bed.
He is a very fun baby to have and we are entertained by him daily (good and bad). There is never a dull moment with that boy and we can't wait to see what a new baby will do to him and his ways.  It will be an interesting transition for all!

Preschool

I started a co-op preschool last month with a few other moms. Maggie has loved it so much! I have loved it as well. It is nice only having one kid at home for a couple of hours.  Last week it was my turn to have the kids at my house. It was a lot of fun. I liked getting all these crafts ready and songs and books.  It brings back some memories of years working with kids.  Although I am also glad I only have to do it once every 5 weeks.  All of the kids were so good and loved learning the things I had for them.  Lots of fun times to come!:)

F.H.E.

For Family Home evening a couple of weeks ago David was in charge and he wanted to help the kids make Popsicle "treasure chests."  So we headed to Wal-Mart and got all the things we needed for it.  Then we went back home and put them together. After they were put together we had the kids paint them.  I haven't gotten a picture of the finished project yet. More pictures to come soon.:) 

My Beehives

Beehives tying flip flops!

The girls "chalking" Kate's house

I have been serving in Young Womens in my church for 2 years this December.  I LOVE my calling.  I am over the Beehive class, which are the girls ages 12 and 13.  I have such a fun group of girls.  They are all so close and always have a ton of fun together.  We have a Beehive class party a couple of Fridays ago and had a blast.  We went swimming for a couple of hours and then we (Me and Alice-Anne) took the girls to Chili's for some yummy snacks.  Oh the lives of 12 year old girls! They are wild, loud and always energetic.  After our big snack I told the girls IF they were good we could go and chalk Kate's house.  Kate is in the Young Women presidency as well, but she is with the 16-18 year old girls.  The beehives LOVE Kate. They are infatuated with her. Every time we are together they ask why Kate didn't come to our activity and what we thought Kate was doing that night.  Love is not a strong enough word.  They have been begging me to take them to Kate's house for the past 3 months to go "chalk" her house.  I finally gave in and they were thrilled.  They had the time of their lives!:) They are very easy to please thank goodness. 
The beehive class is our biggest class in our ward. We have about 8 girls that come weekly.  We can do a lot of fun things with so many girls.  Most of the girls also come to play Youth Volleyball on Thursday night, which I somehow got put over.:)  It is a lot of fun coaching them.  We have been playing for 3 weeks now and have come a long way. We finally won our first game this past Thursday! We were all so excited.  I am amazed how brave all the girls are at playing. None of them had ever even touched a volleyball, but they got out there and gave it their all.  I am so proud of them! I played volleyball in high school, but that was a long time ago. This has brought back some great memories from my younger years. 
This calling keeps me extremely busy. Sometimes I don't think that I do very much for it, until I start thinking about Sundays, Wednesdays, Volleyball, meetings with the presidency twice a month, class presidency meetings once a month and whatever other extra activities come up.  It can be a little draining at times, but I always come home feeling so much better than when I left.  It is a great blessing in my life!

Parker

Oh look at my special little kid!:)  He LOVES making people laugh. So he kept putting these goggles on.  So dang funny! Poor little guy has his molars coming in and he is in pain with them.  He has about 9 teeth that have either cut through or are almost poking through.  He had a mild fever the past couple of days, a runny nose and has been taking 2 naps a day, which is very different for him!  David gave an amazing talk in church on Sunday, which meant that I was alone with the three kids for 75 minutes, but who was counting.  Parker got especially mad during part of David's talk, so I went to take him out and one of my sweet friends came and took Parker from me, so that I could go and listen to David's talk.  I loved those 20 minutes dearly.  Then David decided to take Parker home and he slept until the rest of us got home a couple of hours later.   The good news is that starting in 2 weeks Parker is in nursery. I could not be more excited!  I am praying that he will like it in there.  I could use a 2 hour break from him.  Just a little angel!:)