Baby #3

So, we are expecting child number 3. I wanted to write down some things about our decision and how pregnancy has gone so I don't forget!

I have always known that I would like my children closer together so when to have my children is actually on my mind quite a bit. I one time asked Phil if he thought much about this topic and at the time he had been studying tuberculosis in school. He asked me in return how often I thought about TB, the causing bacteria, etc. Alright, case made. It made me laugh though. I guess there just needs to be one of us thinking about it and to bring it up with the other to discuss.

I knew I wanted to wait a little longer than I did with Maren but then there was residency coming up. Maybe it doesn't make that much of a difference but I do remember a friend from Tucson telling me, "No matter what, don't have a baby during the first year of residency!" and for some reason it has stuck. I guess Phil will be extra busy and I'd be trying to figure out being a mom of 3 by myself without the two extra hands. Because of that, I wanted to wait until the end of residency year 1 or have a child before then with a little extra room for adjustment.

When Maren was close to 11 months old I remember feeling totally not ready. Pregnancy with Maren came when James was about 1 and the thought terrified me. However, over the next month, with lots of prayer as to what to do, I finally felt like whenever I felt ready, everything would turn out okay. Even after that feeling came I vacillated back and forth as to what to do but tried to hold to that feeling that I previously had. Heavenly Father graciously comforted me several times again and when I finally felt good about it, we moved  forward.

It was actually quite ironic that after I was pregnant and couldn't go back, I ended up babysitting a 4 month old for a neighbor for a week and thinking to myself, "What was I thinking?!?!" Once again, I've had to hold on to that feeling that everything was going to be fine and would work out how it was supposed to work out.

My first appointment went well. I am continuing  to go to my previous doctor (yes, my stake president) and although I was super nervous about how things would go, I was completely comforted by how comfortable I felt during my appointment and have been since. My due date was supposed to be right around Valentine's day but the baby was measuring a week bigger which puts me at February 6.

My pregnancy has gone well. I had a little nausea (with no vomiting) like I did with Maren which wasn't fun but nothing to complain about. At about 12-13 weeks I started getting some varicose vein pain. It has no rhyme or reason to it. Some days I don't notice it while others it really bothers me. I've also started getting braxton hicks contractions (which I'm pretty sure I had with both James and Maren by this time) which are just a little uncomfortable for those few seconds.

I don't remember talking about other women having babies in their tummies so when James asked me randomly while sitting on my lap when I was only 7-8 weeks along, it really took me off guard. I decided to completely lie to him as I wasn't ready for others to know yet. However, he asked me again during church the day before my first appointment, about 10 weeks, and I figured we were going to tell him and others that week anyway, so I told him I did. He then asked me if he had a baby in his tummy too. I think he understands but doesn't understand at the same time. Every time we asked him if there was a baby girl or baby boy in my tummy, regardless of which came first, he answered girl except for once. Because my pregnancy had been so similar to Maren's and because of James' answer, I knew it was another girl.

My doctor does ultrasounds at every appointment up to 20 weeks so when I went in for my appointment at 15 weeks I knew there was a good chance I could find out the gender. Phil wasn't able to come but luckily had a lull at the hospital and was able to "be there" via phone. And to my surprise, it was a boy. My first response, as stated before was surprise. But then I had a feeling of excitement and knowing that it was supposed a to be a boy coming to our family next.

I haven't felt movement yet, at least not that I'm absolutely positive was movement but I pay close attention as the timing is soon. I'm definitely in the fat/poochy stage where I just look awkward and look bad in most all I wear. However, I've had two people ask me if I'm pregnant so it must be obvious enough (something I would never dare ask anyone!).

As time goes on and more and more pregnancy symptoms come, I get more excited and nervous! We love our two kids and are so excited to add to the bunch!

Sweet husband

I wish I were better at this journaling thing but I'm terrible. I was at a funeral on Saturday for a man in my ward and was completely devastated for the wife. How lonely she must be and feel. The times I got the most emotional was when I was thinking about being in her place. What would I do? How would I cope and adjust. The thought crossed my mind, "would my posterity know how much I loved my husband if I were to die?" and so I decided to take a couple minutes to write down how much I do...and maybe just maybe get in the habit of writing down other things on a regular basis.

My feelings for Phil are so hard to put into words. I often think how blessed I was that Heavenly Father lead me to him. This may sound odd but I look back at our courtship and think how much better I could have done getting to know him during that time. I hear horror stories of people getting married that "knew" each other and then their marriage falling apart years later. I sometimes wonder how much I did "know" him. I was immature in certain ways (probably most ways) but being married 6.5 happy happy years helps me realize how blessed I really was and that I was guided into this huge decision. And it has turned out far greater than I could have imagined. I can't imagine being married to someone who understands me and is patient with my quirks more than he is. He knows exactly how to proceed with me in certain situations (when I'm upset, distraught, tired and exhausted, etc). For example, when I'm mad at him (what? mad at Phil?!?!) he knows to give me time and then make me snuggle with him to talk it out (or cry it out).

Phil is super patient. He rarely ever gets upset and he has never raised his voice in the house...okay, except when he is playing with the kids or being weird with them...never in an upset situation though. He is also so patient with others. There are a few families he home teaches that keep having problems because of the decisions they make and yet he patiently helps when and where he can when appropriate.

He loves others. He truly has a genuine love for people and are sensitive to their needs. He is so very thoughtful. A resident that he had worked with for only 2 weeks mentioned her A/C had gone out in her home. When he got home that night he asked me if we could have her stay so she would be cooler. He sometimes will get home and tell me he thinks we need to do something for someone in particular as he felt they had a specific need and a thoughtful gesture would help.

He is an awesome father. James and Maren adore their dad. As soon as we hear the back door open or hear Phil's whistle to indicate he's home, the kids stop what they're doing, say, "dad's home", and run to the back door to greet him and then they usually have a 'wrestle' session as I finish dinner prep. Recently Phil has been pretty busy at the hospital and then given assignments he works on at home which means he hasn't been around as much. When James wanted me to put him to bed and not dad I asked him if it bugged him. He said no but his greatest concern is that the little time is home with the kids, if he has to discipline them, that that is what they'll associate with their dad (James had had a particularly bad day that day). He loves those kids!

He makes me laugh. Not many people know Phil's weird side other than me and his family members. However, rarely does a day go by that he doesn't make me laugh with that weirdness.

He is dedicated and committed to family, church, becoming a doctor. He always wants to be doing his absolute best in all roles in his life.

The list could go on and on I'm sure. I was so blessed to attend nursing school with him as we got to be together so much. I've told him that although he hasn't officially started a "real" job, I can't wait until retirement so we can be together more. I now know how wonderful a best friend can really be and it just gets better and better. I love him and I'm so grateful he loves me too!

Oh what do you do in Pinetop?

Phil is doing an away rural family medicine rotation in Whiteriver for 6 weeks. The school was able to find our family accommodations in Pinetop so that we could come along and not be stuck at home without him for so long (thank heaven!). It has been an interesting trip thus far. We live in a beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath cabin with a gorgeous kitchen (including a dishwasher!) and nice living room. The weather has been wonderful as well...even including the snowy first weekend we were here. As much as I hate being cold it was fun to have snow because I knew it was going to melt and warm up a few days later. The weather has been around 65-75 on average (besides that one weekend)...awesome!

The biggest downside is that Phil has to drive to Whiteriver every day which means for this one car family, that I don't have a car. If we could walk places like we can at home (park, library, store, etc) it would be great but we don't live near any of those things (near as in walking distance...or at least how far I'd like to walk. The closest store is ~7 miles round trip. There is a dollar store about 3 miles round trip so if I really needed something that they carried I could get it). I actually did a week's worth of meal planning last week to make sure I had everything so I wouldn't need to go to the store (I was very proud). The biggest issue is keeping busy with creative things to do. We are limited with the toys we brought with us plus the few books we brought along (I thought I'd be able to use the library here...I ended up not being able to get a library card...big bummer. Thank goodness I brought the few kid books I did! We read them many times a day!). I was hoping to do some hiking possibly but once again, not finding any close trails. Any woods to do exploring seem to have fences surrounding them or have do not trespass signs. We are really doing fine but sometimes I just get a little bored, the kids may not but I do. I would love to do different things with them. Any bright ideas? I'm open for any suggestions.With all that said, I am so glad I get to be with Phil for these 6 weeks and not stuck at home by myself! That would be awful!.

And some pictures to document the adventure:

James enjoying the snow...didn't last long though since he didn't have gloves. We aren't so equipped for such weather! Maren didn't like it much either.



James playing with his beloved trains.

Maren's new trick...getting on top of the table. If you're wondering, I'm not very excited about it.

Maren

At almost 11 months, Maren is such a JOY! I can’t believe she was born almost a year ago. She is such a happy and pleasant baby especially when she has eaten and slept (she takes after her mom when it comes to hunger grumpiness). She is about 18 lbs but just seems to be such a petite thing especially compared to her friends and cousins who are of similar age. She has two bottom teeth which she got right before she turned 9 months but she still hasn’t gotten any more. We are hoping that more come soon. I am advancing her diet probably a little too quickly but she is managing very well with those gums.

Maren started showing interest in crawling around 7 months and then started to get a hang of it in her 8th month. She quickly started standing soon thereafter so we thought she’d be walking rather quickly but she has been content with taking her time. She has started taking steps and has taken around 8 or so in a row. We sometimes try to encourage her but she typically won’t do it when we want her to. In fact when we try to make her stand up and get her balance so we can get her to take steps, she will completely lean on us and not let go unless she has a really good distraction in front of her. She just walks when she wants too which is random. I often will walk into a room and there she is taking some steps. There is no rhyme or reason, at least to me.

Maren started rejecting baby foods earlier than I had expected. Because of that I started with table foods much earlier than I had planned to. I love that we can give her most anything we eat. She is not too picky but she has her moments. Many times while we are trying to feed her, she will turn her head defiantly. If we wait a few seconds more, she’ll come back and eat the bite. She typically eats regular oatmeal for breakfast (she loves it), sometimes with fruit but then usually eats whatever we are eating for other meals/snacks. I still breastfeed her morning and night and will sometimes give her an additional bottle of formula when she is cranky and food isn’t cutting it. However, she drinks water out of a sippy cup for meals. I’m looking forward to cow’s milk and will probably break down and do it sooner than 12 months (since she already eats other milk products with no problems).

Maren has started showing quite a bit of independence. The feeding story above as well as walking when she wants to are some examples. It is hard for me to let go and let her do things herself sometimes but I’m working on it and it makes us all much happier.

Her personality is really starting to shine. The last month especially I have really started to love her progress and development and have a lot of fun with her. She loves to play chase with James and will crawl after him all around the house. You can also get some pretty awesome laughs out of her as she is very ticklish. She has started the “drop and pick-up” game and loves to do it with balls, her pacifier, and her sippy cup when she’s in her high chair. She is pretty good to entertain herself for awhile but likes to be in the same room as others. When James and Ember are playing with blocks, trains, etc., she likes to be right there with them (which is a struggle for James when she wants THE tower James is working on, for example). She has also started liking peek-a-boo more and it is fun to play that with her as well. She also loves to sit on my lap and play the piano. She will even crawl over and play it while standing right next to it though it isn’t as fun. She is also learning to love the outdoors as much as her brother which is great. She will get right in the dirt/grass/ leaves. Unfortunately, she is also attracted to rocks which typically end up in her mouth. It’s a good thing we aren’t afraid to get dirty! She loves toilets unfortunately especially after she has flushed them! We are reminded of the time when bathroom doors must remain closed at all times!

She is pretty good to let most anybody hold her but most prefers her mom especially when she is tired. The last few months she has become more of a snuggler which I love! She loves her brother and nobody can make her laugh quite like he can. She will let him wrestle with her to a degree which is quite impressive to me. She can take quite a bit of roughness. She doesn’t like being thrown up high in the air like James did as a baby but she does like it when it isn’t too high. She loves to dance when we freeze dance and especially likes to twirl. When it comes to sleeping, she is great and almost always sleeps through the night and has since about 6 months when we did sleep training. She prefers to go to sleep on her own and preferably in her own bed rather than be rocked.

She doesn’t say any words yet but does babble quite a bit. I have started signing with her and she has started doing “all done” even though it isn’t in the right context but it’s a start. She also loves to clap her hands and does a certain voice when we say “yay!”.

Stories:
-One afternoon both Maren and James had woken up from naps around the same time. James had gotten out of his crib and was playing with Maren while she was in her pack and play. It was fun to hear the squeals of laughter from both of them.
-I had put Maren in her high chair with some food and then ran to the bathroom. Right before I turned the corner back into the kitchen I heard a thump. She had wiggled out and fallen and hit her head (although I didn’t see the fall or hit). 10 minutes or so later she vomited everything she had eaten that morning. I started to panic a little bit and grabbed a pen light to check pupils. They reacted fine and she acted fine as well. She was able to eat breakfast and keep it down and then played just as normal. She also got a good goose egg out of it. It sure had me nervous. Needless to say, she is always strapped into her high chair now.
-We have a little walker toy we borrowed from a cousin. It goes forward fine but is kind of hard to turn. She gets so frustrated when she hits an obstacle and can’t move it. I just bought another walker toy at a yard sale for 25cents which is much better and she is starting to catch on quickly that she can move it on her own.
-We have a little push bike that is a hand-me-down from Pierce. Just this past week we put her on it and she loved it! She especially enjoyed riding on it with James. They both think it is pretty fun.

We sure love our girl!
Crawling around while putting the Christmas tree up.

James

As I haven't journaled hardly at all recently, I thought I ought to do some catch up. I started by writing down some things about James:

At 2 years and 7 months, James is an energetic boy. He loves tractors, fire engines, ambulances, police cars, and trucks and will usually be the first one to notice them while driving. He especially likes to see them when they have their lights on or when they are working. When playing with cars/vehicles/etc. he loves to make noises that go along with them. He also loves to dig in the dirt and use his dump truck to carry the dirt elsewhere.

James is very active. He loves to jump or “bounce” especially on the bed or couch. He likes to jump from high places and likes people to watch him as he accomplishes this task (as well as many other tasks). He likes to run fast as well as do somersaults and other climbing/tumbling. On the bed he enjoys doing “bums” and “divebombs” as have been named by his dad. He loves to freeze dance and has a “freeze position” that he gets into after the music has stopped. He likes to play the letter game (identifying letters on the boggle game), play memory (which mainly consists of finding matches vs. turning them over and remembering), build forts (which means mom or dad build it and James destroys it after playing in it for a few minutes), and wrestle (especially with dad). He usually likes to be tickled and wants to do it “aden” and “aden” (again).

Some FHE games we have played recently which he wants to do all the time are “Go and get the plates” where we hide the ‘plates’ (a piece of candy) and he has to go and get them. We also play “Let your light so shine”. It is hide and seek with a flashlight and the finders tell the hiders to let their light shine when they need help finding them.

He can identify numbers 1-9 but confuses 10, 11, and 12. He can count to 10 but lately has been skipping from 2 to 7 and drops 3-6. If you make him go slowly, he can do it correctly. He can also identify most of his uppercase letters. He has started singing more and his typical repertoire include ABC’s, Eensy Weensy Spider, I am a Child of God, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Book of Mormon Stories, Snowman (as well as the baby song), and Give Said the Little Stream.

He likes to snuggle and will even give hugs and kisses without being asked. He loves cereal and would eat it all day if you would let him. He loves to work outside along side his dad and wants to do what he is doing as well as use the tool he is using.
We love James’ facial expressions. One of our favorites, besides his outright smile is his “trying not to smile” face. He is a little bit of a weirdo but he doesn’t have much choice in that matter when he’s got us for parents! He likes to be covered with blankets before he goes to bed and loves to chew on the corners of his 2 favorite blankets.

He is showing a little more independence but still lets us do things for him. When he gets in trouble or isn’t happy and we make him go to his room, he soon stops crying and says “I’m happy now”. He loves to please and likes to tell us “I did it mom/dad!”

He has been good and bad moments with sharing these days. Sometimes he is great and will share lots of things with Ember Florie (a girl I watch) and Maren. Then other times, I can’t get him to share a thing. Now that Maren is getting older and getting into things, she will frequently grab toys that James wants to be playing with and James will grab them away from her. We are working on trading as well as finding other toys that Maren would like to play with.

Some fun stories:
The past week he has been waking up about 5am and coming into bed with me (phil has already left for the hospital). I have let him come to bed with me as long as he doesn’t make much noise and lies still (even though this rarely happens). When he comes in and I don’t move, he will come up on the bed, lay is head on top of mine and say “Hi mom”. Sometimes while lying “still” he will break out in a whispered song. One morning when he came in, I asked him “What are you doing up so early?” He answered very excitedly, “Eat cereal!” (we had not had cereal for a few days and I had bought some the day before and told him he had to wait until the morning).
Maren has started taking a few steps which gets Phil and I excited. We keep trying to get her to take more and are really encouraging to her. James has wanted to “take steps” too so he will stand a few feet away from us and pretend to be struggling to take steps and then makes it to us and we follow it with praises. He loves it.

Loving his sister (November 2011)
Riding Grandma and Grandpa's motorcycle with Dad (November 2011)

Sick kids

I have had some poor sick kids this past week! Both Maren and James broke out with a fever last week but seemed generally okay otherwise (both were happy and playful). When I went in for Maren's 6 month check up a few days later, the doctor informed me that she had a double ear infection. I felt like an idiot. She had shown me no signs of an ear infection. James then developed a yucky cough and became quite lethargic just wanting to be held all the time. I finally broke down and took him in to the doctor for a check up on day 5 with his fever and the doctor just thought it was viral. Maren just developed the cough but has been acting great. So it is just waiting it out. James has improved immensely the past couple days but still needs some extra loving. I have savored the time that I have been able to snuggle with James. It isn't too often that he just wants me to hold him for no reason and for a long period of time. However, I'm definitely ready for him to be his energetic self! I sure hope this cough clears up soon! Sickness sure helps you appreciate healthy bodies, doesn't it?

On another note, this weekend my friend Megan got married! It was a beautiful ceremony and fun to be a part of the festivities. This is a picture of Amanda, Megan and I with Amanda and I holding my passed out children. They were wasted because of sickness! Congrats to the newly weds!

Fathers and Sons

Last weekend it was our ward's father's and son's campout. Phil decided to go a week before. I appreciated him taking time out to spend with James. He has been studying nonstop for his first set of boards next month. It has been a worse schedule than when he was actually in class! But a week before the campout Phil informed me that he was going to go which surprised me. It would take out a whole day of studying. He then told me that he didn't want to ever be "too busy" to do things like this. Quite impressive to me.

They had a good time and James loved to be outside to play in the dirt, with sticks, etc. Phil also took 2 boys from our ward so they kept James entertained on the drive to and from the campout. Phil decided to sleep in the car with James while the 2 boys slept in our tent. They didn't get to bed until at least 10pm and then James was up at 5am. So needless to say, James was one tired boy when he got home...his dad was also! I guess Phil decided to just sleep in the same sleeping bag half way through the night so it wasn't the most restful sleep!

I was a little lonely on Friday night but Saturday was able to do some major cleaning. It is amazing what you can get done when you don't have a toddler at your side or needing your attention!

That night we went to a East Valley Mormon Choir Orchestra (EVMCO) concert to see our family participate (Steve, Louise, Shay, and Derek). The concert featured Collin Raye

and was absolutely amazing. It had patriotic songs (some of my favorite) and the evening was a wonderful. My awesome sister put up with grumpy and tired James as well as Maren while we were gone and luckily James crashed for her at an early bedtime. It was a great weekend!