Lemon

Once again, not the U2 song, but rather . . .


14 weeks.

My baby is supposedly about the length of a lemon (3 1/2 inches) and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces which does not account for my already showing stomach area. I am grateful to be clearing out of the first trimester and am hoping for the fatigue and nausea that I have had worse than any of my other pregnancies will just disappear along with that first trimester like it did with the others.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday JoDee!

10 things about JoDee for her birthday.

1. She has the cutest house you have ever seen! I love going up there and seeing what new things she has done to it -- both inside and outside.

For example:

her kitchen

2. She loves to laugh and once all the siblings are together, it's hard to get her to stop laughing and being silly - it's really fun.

3. She karaokes like a champ!

4. She has the funnest family who are always going and doing fun things.

Andersyn, Talin and Baylee

5. She has four of the cutest kids in the world: Andersyn, Madalyn, Baylee, and Crew.

6. She is very thoughtful and never forgets a thank you card or a birthday card in the mail.

7. I love when she comes to the valley to visit because she inspires me to shop which I hardly ever do and I love the break! (although I'm not sure Nate's as thrilled about the shopping).

8. She's the best shopper in the world and I also love going to Cedar and having her take me to her favorite places -- I always come home from Cedar with new clothes!

9. She has more friends than anyone I know -- she and Shane are always going out and doing things with various people and they have tons of fun together. Plus, she understands the importance of "girls night out" and always insists we have one when the family's together. We're working up to a girls trip someday.

10. I'm glad that she's my sister!

Sorry I couldn't find any pictures of her from recent times -- we're pathetic because we usually just take pictures of our kids! As pathetic as it is, this is the best and most recent photo I could find, taken a couple years ago at a holiday party at Aunt Judy's house (when I was pg with Savy so I didn't have kids to take picturess of).

Megan, me and JoDee

The Sweetest Thing

No, I'm not talking about the U2 song although it is one of my favorites that brings back some fabulous memories of my study abroad in London (right when the song came out).

No, I'm talking about dads and daughters.

The other night after bath time I asked Nate if he wanted to brush teeth or hair. I knew the answer before I asked the question - hair. He loves brushing the girls' hair.

As I brushed London's teeth and looked over to see him brushing Savy's hair, it struck me how soft and careful he is and how he could do it forever if I didn't keep things moving. It's just sweet to see a manly man who hunts, fishes, rebuilds guns, etc. to soften up and be so sweet and tender with his little girls. I love watching him brush their hair.

Besides, I'm sure they prefer it over me because I'm not quite that tender and soft . . .

8 Random Things About Me

I think Amy tagged me because I hadn't written an entry for almost a week, but I did yesterday!

1. I can't seem to read enough lately and just go through books as quickly as I can and I'm loving it because for a while there I'd gotten out of the habit and I'm realizing now how much I missed books!

2. I have been watching the first season of Heroes on dvd and can't decide if it's up there with 24 and Lost or not. It's intriguing, but I'm still not sure. . .

3. I've finally come to the realization that London may not need to nap everyday -- and that hurts because I NEED to nap everyday!

4. I only need to nap because I'm pregnant and insanely worn out all the time! I'm hoping that since I'm 13 weeks, the tiredness will go away . . . soon!

5. Last week I watched Glenn Beck every night and am 100% scared to death of a terrorist theory called "The Perfect Day" that is the most probable next step for terrorists, according to experts. Because, believe me, they're not going to leave America alone. Seriously freaked out.

6. Just as I was typing, the FedEx man delivered my syllabus for BYU's English 315 - my only general I failed to take when I was there. After this class it'll be all history and art history courses until I graduate - yeah!

7. As you can tell, my grammar and writing skills need improvement, so this class will really help with all the papers I'll be writing in my upcoming classes!

8. I heard my baby's heartbeat yesterday.

I tag Elizabeth and Rachel.

What do you do or say?

I'm disturbed by something that happened in the grocery store today. I don't know if I'm more disturbed by what happened or by my response.

One of my major flaws is that I don't always react in the moment. Rather, I let it pass and then afterwards I think of these fabulous scenarios replayed in my head where I say and do the perfect thing for that particular situation - but the situation can never be a do-over and what's done is done.

It frustrates me that I can't act or think right in the moment.

So, I'm sure this has happened to many a mother before and I'm wondering what the correct response would have been.

Unloading the cart in the checkout line, I hear London saying "that lady has a baby in her tummy - she has a fat tummy" over and over again. I tell her to stop before they get too close (there were two very overweight women together), but too late: they've heard. Embarrassed by my child, I just say sorry quickly and focus on the groceries I'm transferring to the conveyor belt and hope that London listens to me and doesn't talk anymore.

Then I hear the lady say to London -- a three-year old mind you -- "Stop being rude" in a not so polite voice.

Silenced, London won't even respond to the friendly cashier who tries to talk to her. Then, she asks me why the lady talked to her. I just want to get out of there.

So, now that I'm home I'm disturbed that someone would talk to a child that way. I'm disturbed that I didn't stand up for my child. I know it was a rude thing to say, but London was just excited thinking the lady had a baby in her tummy. I know she wasn't saying it maliciously because she tells me my tummy's getting fat with the baby all the time and I try to correct her, but it hasn't sunk in yet apparently. I think they've overhead Nate complain about his stomach getting fat lately and have caught on to the word and don't quite get that it's a derogatory word.

Sooooo. . . what would you have done?

THE DO-OVER (that will not happen)

I politely stop what I'm doing, look at the lady and apologize explaining that she's only 3 and doesn't understand since I'm pregnant and we've been talking about my stomach growing bigger.

Or is that too much? I do feel bad for the woman and had a good talk with London as I buckled her into her car seat and hopefully that will never happen again, but I still think she was a little harsh with a toddler.

My Favorite Dinner Guests

Last night Gary and JoAnne Waldie came over for dinner. Yeah!!!!

On my mission I spent 7 months in a little town called Peumo with two different companions (Hna Vaneps and Hna Lacey) and the Waldies. Our service every week consisted of helping them learn Spanish which was fun and entertaining to hear Gary speaking without any conjugation whatsoever - but the Chileans didn't mind in the least -- they just conjugated for him as he went so it really didn't matter much.

They helped us with our missionary work so much by always giving us referrals (all the Chileans loved them), giving us background information on the drama of the town/inactive members, hosting FHEs for investigators as well as members, taking us to zone and mission conferences, and many many other things. I must say that they made p-days fun getting permission to take us to the beach or other places and JoAnne's mexican food was always a treat when we were used to eating nasty food most of the time.

me, Gary, Joanne, Hermana Perez (from Argentina)

at a mission conference after I already
left Peumo and was in Pichilemu (beach town)

They have to be two of the best people I have ever met in my life and I am lucky enough to live in the same city as them now! When I got home from Chile, they were already back and we made a little wager. They gave me a year to get married and I said "no way" as I was determined to go back to BYU and have fun. I guess they knew something I didn't because a couple months later, I met Nate.

Charming and persuasive.

I tried to resist by returning for winter semester to BYU, but got engaged in February and came home after finals to be married in May. So I lost my steak dinner bet, but the Waldies took me to dinner anyway to meet Nate and it was an instantaneous connection. I am beginning to wonder who they like better now - me or Nate -- that's how much they love him! Once Gary and Nate get together it's like two teenage boys and I love it.

I love that these two aspects of my life that I love so much fit together so well! My children even call Gary and JoAnne Grandpa and Grandma Jo.

Whenever Nate and I talk about our future and what we want to do in retirement we always return to the Waldies - we want to be like them! They are the funnest retired couple I know who constantly go and do. They travel all the time, have served a mission, have season tickets to the ASU football games, a beach house in Mexico, a cabin in the forest, and I'm sure there's even tons more that I don't know about. They just go go go and I love that!

In fact, they came over for dinner last night so we could hear about the trip they just took to Africa a week ago. Gary hunted and JoAnne visited villages, saw animals and stayed in a resort-type place. I love that they do everything together too -- I told Nate if he ever wants to hunt in Africa (yes, I married a hunter) then he can't go unless I go too!

It's always fun to have dinner guests - but especially fun when it's the Waldies!

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday Savannah and London headed out for the first day of preschool with Mrs. Jill. Aidan is also in their class which made it easier - as I'm sure being together did too. I decided to put them together in the same class (London's in the 4-year old class even though she's only 3) because I didn't want to be running around all day at different times to pick up/drop off both of them. I also wanted to have a block of alone time to work on my BYU schoolwork and get this degree thing finished! And that's not even mentioning how nice it will be in March when I have a new baby and have that time alone with him/her. So, I figure London can handle all those 4-year olds and she'll be extra excited to be in Jill's class again next year and be the pro.

Savannah woke up at 6:30 ready to go. I told her to go play quietly because it was way too early! So Nate and I hear her in the other room looking at books and this is what we heard:

"S is for Savannah" "L is for London" and various other letters being reviewed.

Then it was on to the colors as she would say all the colors. It was so cute -- getting ready to learn!!!

I have gone through various emotions with this preschool thing. A couple weeks ago I got really sad thinking that I would miss them both for 3 hours 3 days a week - and then London would probably come home and nap on top of that!

but then last week happened. . .

And last week was one of the worst parenting weeks of my life! I just felt like it was all falling apart: the girls started fighting and arguing everyday and sassing back to me which they have never done before. I just did not want to deal with it and preschool couldn't come fast enough -- so my sadness flew out the window and quickly feelings of anticipation replaced them as I looked forward to Monday.

And it finally arrived.
Savy and London acted cool, calm and collected on the way there.

Afterwards I didn't get much information out of them until London was napping and I sat down alone with Savy to hear all about school. In fact, all London would say was that they got cheese crackers and apples for a snack. Savy, however, went on and on with entertaining details of the day which is great because last year she had this weird thing about everything being a secret and I couldn't know. Probably the funniest thing she said was this:

"We have a boy named Collin in our class, but he's not the real Collin."

She was referring to my sister, Megan's, little boy Collin. Apparently anyone else named Collin isn't real. Then I laughed and she realized what she'd said and tried to fix it:

"I mean, he's not pretend, he's real, but he's not our Collin." Much better.

It's going to be a fun year for them.