52 Blessings

Weeks 1 & 2: A Father in Heaven who hears and answers prayers AND having my immunization records.

I'm going to do two blessings this week because I want to be on the same week as Amy so I can easily keep track by looking at her blog when I get behind! (maybe she can keep me on track.)

I loved Amy's introduction to her starting the 52-week blessing posts. It inspired me to go back and re-read Elder Eyring's General Conference talk. On Sunday I did so and I became really excited to record some of the many blessings that I have. As I pondered, I realized there have really been some amazing things that have happened to Nate and I this past year that need to be recorded for our memory and for our children (and us) to know (and remember) just how much our Father in Heaven looks after and loves us and our family. So I plan to do that on my 52 Blessings as well as a gratitude journal I've started.

President Eyring's advice was to sit down every night and ask the question: "Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children?"

In closing he testified that Heavenly Father "loves us and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized." I hope that by doing my journal and the 52 Blessings on my blog, that I can learn to see His hand more in my life so that I can give Him the proper thanks (even though that's probably not possible) for all He does for me.

Enough blabbing . . . onto the blessing for the week!

Every mother knows what this is a picture of . . . the dreaded immunization record. Shots are the bane of motherhood because you never know just how hysterical your child will be (or not be) and then there's the pressure of keeping it in a safe place for their whole childhood; hence, the beginning of my story.

Savannah is only four (well, almost five), but her shot record looks like it's a lifetime old. I don't care what it looks like, I'm just grateful to have it.

In December, I planned to get the girls updated on shots. Trying to be prepared, I found the records and had them out on my desk. The day for shots got changed and the records stayed on the desk.

Then the day came and I went to grab the records which were nowhere to be found. Ugh! I had no other copies of their records and Savy starts kindergarten next year and has to have her shots caught up and proof of the fact. I searched and searched. Then I prayed and prayed. The minute I prayed, I knew they were out in my garbage can.

I hate clutter and I clean our desk quite often, but I am usually careful because Nate likes little scraps of paper for writing down phone numbers and important info. So I like to think I'm careful about not throwing away just anything - especially shot records! Preposterous that they would be in the garbage I thought, I'm much too careful for that. Can we all say "pride." So I searched everywhere one last time and I still knew they were in the garbage.

So out to the garbage can I went. Two garbage bags and a puddle of rain water is what I found upon opening the lid. I quickly discovered, of course, that the one from the office was on the bottom in the rain water. Taking it onto the back porch, I started the job of going through the garbage and quickly found them right there at the bottom, wet and dirty. Immediately I thought how quickly my prayers were answered (if I had just listened sooner) and how blessed I was because it hadn't been a garbage day (and we have two each week) when my shot records would have been gone forever to a dump.

After a session of lysol disinfectant spray and then a good blow-dry, we were off to get shots. I'm kind of glad they look so trashed because now every time I go for shots, I can remember how blessed I am and how Heavenly Father really does listen to our prayers and cares about our problems and is willing to help.

Undisturbed Sleep

I figured out why I am always tired.

#1 The child inside me.

#2 The children outside me that came from inside me.

Both cause me to never attain that elusive undisturbed sleep. Doesn't your body need that in order to get REAL rest? Two hour increments of sleep just don't do it for my, I'm afraid. For example:

Saturday night

10:00 pm went to bed

11:45 pm bathroom

2:00 am

I wake up (for the bathroom break) and see that the girls have their door open and light on. I jump up quickly thinking that London had gotten up to use the bathroom and is confused and I need to get that light off before Savannah gets woken up. I walk passed the bathroom. . .no London. Into their room . . . no little girls. Into their little walk-in closet where the light was on and they sometimes play . . . no children. Then it hits me and I go into the extra room that's a cross between a playroom and new baby room that's not organized yet. Sure enough the door is shut and the light is on. I walk in and there they are on the floor playing.

Did you notice the time? Yes, it was 2 in the morning! I don't know what the heck they were thinking, but there were no protests when I marched them both into their beds and told them to go back to sleep.

5:45 am -- bathroom

6:30 am -- girls are up and playing (not-so-quietly) in their room.

7:30 am -- I finally get up because I can't seem to sleep when they are awake and playing so loudly. I know they're not getting into anything and their door is shut in their room, but I guess I need complete silence to sleep.

The 2 in the morning thing still seems a bit surreal, but I bet that would explain why they were both incredibly cranky yesterday and we even had problems during sacrament and Nate had to finally take London out. The funny thing is that that's the second time this has happened in the past year and I just don't get it -- has anyone else had this happen or are my girls just strangely obsessed with playing? I think they get confused because at 6:30 (their new wake-up time as of a couple weeks) it's still dark so maybe they just figured it was time to get up. As for me, I'll just be hanging out here waiting for some undisturbed sleep.

29 week update

Today my visit to the doctor consisted of a glucose test followed by an ultrasound and then news that Dr. D was in surgery and wouldn't arrive for another 1/2 hour. I asked the nurse if we could just say it's all good and I'll see him in two weeks (yeah - I'm now seeing him every two weeks!) since every thing's been fine and I didn't want to wait 1/2 hour+ to tell him that.

The ultrasound was to check and make sure my placenta has raised since it was so low last time. Let me tell you - ultrasounds are not nearly as fun when you're further along because the baby is so dang squished, you can't tell what is what. We barely got a face shot, but I love it because she looks like a real person now, not a skeleton -- so Megan and Rachel don't have to freak out at this pic!

Megan's been begging for a picture so here it is -- I suddenly popped out a ton last week and I only expect it to get bigger and bigger quickly because I've been pretty small so far. Megan is due the day before me so it's fun for us to compare - I'd say I'm definitely bigger than her.

29 week stats:

Baby weighs: 3 lbs
Mom's weight gain: 20 lbs
Baby due date: no change -- exact same to the day -- March 29
Placenta: moved up into normal place - yeah! no c-sections here!
Possible names: Kate, Sydney . . . I'm not good at choosing names!

Look at those cute chubby cheeks!

Word of the Week: lachrymose

lachrymose : /adj./ given to shedding tears easily. weeping or inclined to weep. overemotional. teary. soppy.

lachrymose /adj./ 1. You can't get more lachrymose than when you're pregnant!

lachrymose /adj./ 2. I used to never be lachrymose when I was younger and my friends would always comment that I never cried during movies. I don't know if it's due to getting older or the hormonal changes of becoming a mom, but I can tear up at the silliest things now (and not just when I'm pregnant). And Amy - I tear up at songs all the time, although I often hide it because it's so dumb.

lachrymose /adj./ 3. I had a lachrymose moment (or should I say hour) on Sunday as I watched my little London on the front row in Primary as a Sunbeam. The president had all the Sunbeams raise their hands and then stand in front to be sung to. She stood up there through the whole song, proudly holding her hand up high. Then she sat the whole time, mesmerized with her arms folded on that front row and then when her class was dismissed, she walked by me and gave me this smug look-how-old-I-am look. Yes, I teared up a few times!

ATTENTION

Nobody told me when I changed my template that I would lose all my links to friends and family. Dang!

Hence, I lost my two mission companion's blogs and as much as I google their names, I can't find their blogs.

So. . .

ATTENTION

adelante8 and Lillian

please email me your blog sites so I can check up on you guys.

Thanks!

(and I'll be prepared next time I change templates)

Bikers and Hidden Treasure

The day after Christmas we headed to the park near our house because the girls were dying to try out the new bikes. Well, Savy's wasn't exactly new, but it's been in the garage with flat tired for a long, long time so it was new to her. I must not be up on the bike thing because this is the first time they've been off the plastic big-wheel type bikes and onto "real bikes." The transition can be frustrating because they always want to pedal backwards which works on the big-wheels, but stops you on the real bikes. Nate did some awesome teaching and London was off! She's didn't need two teaching sessions. She just took off and has even crashed a few times because of her recklessness and speed. But Nate pep-talked her about how everyone falls and he did as a little boy and you just jump up and get back on. So, every time she falls, that's exactly what she does. No big deal. But like I said earlier, I'm getting a helmet for evil kenival next time I'm at Target!

Today I took them to the park and they did awesome.

London kept saying, "mom, I'm getting the hand of it!" (no, that's not a typo.) And so she is - she's learned to maneuver her body to balance out the bike so she can take turns at high speed and not crash. I saw it save her a few times today from major wipe-outs.

The race.

London must have taken this picture, but it reminded me of something funny Savy said last week at the dinner table. She said, "mom, my hair is like treasure." It took me a minute to realize she was referring to her hair color being like golden treasure, but once it clicked I thought it was quite the clever insight.

Post Holiday Post

Catch-up time.

As usual, I'm behind on posting, but I have determined to be better in the new year and post things in a timely manner so that I can always remember even the little things that have happened in our lives. Like today, we left Nate's parents' house and London declared: "Grandma Norma is SOOO nice." London is sooo cute.

But on to documenting the holiday.

CHRISTMAS EVE EVE (SUNDAY)

Sunday night we went over to Nate's sister, Jill's house for a nice dinner with Nate's family.

Dallin is the ring-leader on this side of the family and always has a fun game for the littles to play.
Jill read the kids the Christmas story, but London was the only one completely enthralled (as you can see). Did I mention in any earlier posts how obsessed she's become with the story of Christ's birth? It's her favorite. Even this morning, she was playing with a Santa decoration and singing some made-up song about how it's not about the presents, it's about Jesus' birthday, etc. Her favorite song now is Away in a Manager and I'm quite impressed that she must have learned all the words in nursery because I don't go around the house singing it.

CHRISTMAS EVE

I have no pictures for Christmas Eve, but we had a fabulous dinner of prime rib, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and salad. Fabulous even though I prefer my prime rib more cooked than most everyone there, but it was still great.

CHRISTMAS

The girls didn't get up early -- luckily. And they were quite hesitant to go downstairs -- surprisingly. But once they came down, the excitement settled in.

A couple weeks ago we got a pump to fix Savy's bike and so that fueled London into wanting a "big girl bike." And Santa listened. She was very happy. She caught on very quickly and is a riding demon -- I didn't think they needed helmets but with this daredevil I think I'll have to get one next time I go out!

Savannah cracked us up. Every present she saw or opened required an excited squeal. She definitely enjoyed everything. . . even the orange in her stocking!

Who would have thought an orange would be so exciting? Well, I guess if it's an orange from the North Pole. . .

Nate's parents dropped by to see the loot and give the girls their presents. Ever since their cousin, Emma, came from Denver, they've talked about Webkins (little pets that you can register online). So they each got a dog and were ecstatic. Oh, and I was thrilled for two Where's Waldo books - I think they're so fun and so reminiscent of my childhood days. London's actually quite good at spotting Waldo.

Pat and Norma left to have their Christmas feast and our other guests arrived: Grandma and Grandpa Jones, Grandma Cyndee and Tyler and Gina and family.

I thought our Christmas table turned out gorgeous and it was very nice to have an intimate dinner with so few people. The food turned out great as was the company. The whole day was great - relaxed and unstressed. I loved it because I spent most of the day holding my new nephew, Ryder and my fabulous Nate even did the dishes.

Grandpa Jones and Wyatt. Wyatt definitely has his dad's curly, wild hair.

Grandma Jones and Ryder. He is the perfect baby. I don't think I heard him cry once and he laughs and smiles a ton and even babbles at you when he's in the mood. I think I took some video of it and we'll see if I can't get it on here sometime this week.

Tyler playing with Christmas toys.
Not the best picture of London, but Ryder looks darling! I took like five pictures of Savannah with him and she closed her eyes in every single one. I don't know what to do what to do with that girl!


Noah spent most of the day at the table eating treats. When we realized it, though, I think it was a little late and he didn't feel so hot.

Wyatt. Tyler calls him a little hobbit and I'd have to say the description fits him well. I think he was in a whole new world at my house because he's used to all boys and Baylee (who is a tom-boy if I ever saw one). So when he came down with princess stickers on his face and baby dolls in his hands, it was a new look. But then again, Savannah can get anyone to do anything I think - she's quite the leader.

I have no pictures of Wesley because he played Playstation the whole time. Nate never plays it, but it sure has come in handy for both Thanksgiving and Christmas with these elementary school little boys.

It was a great day, but I am now ready for the new year to begin. I love Christmas, but I also love cleaning it all up and starting a new year and getting back to normal. Back to preschool and real life. . . oh and it's time to get on the waiting list for Savy's kindergarten next year! I can't believe she's that old.