Friday

I can not express how happy I am that it's FRIDAY today! We've had a good week (with a few tears- mostly from my hormonal/emotional self), but we are looking forward to spending lots of time with David this weekend and we couldn't be more excited. Here are some things we've been up to this week:

1- Amy came down last Friday and Saturday to visit us. It was super fun and we really enjoyed it. On Friday we had some dinner, made some crepes, played with Lydia, put her to bed, watched some Agents of Shield, and played some games. We always love with Aunt Amy comes to visit! The first thing that Lydia said when she woke up the next morning was "Amy?" Luckily, we convinced Amy to stay and play with us pretty much all day on Saturday. We went to an egg hunt for Easter, then headed down to Orem for the Women's Expo at UVU. We played a few games in the afternoon, and then met up again that evening to celebrate Kaylee's birthday! We went out to dinner at Zupas and enjoyed celebrating with everyone.

2- I mentioned that we went to the Women's expo at UVU, but I think that it deserves it's own space! I love things like that, and luckily David enjoys them as well. Amy wasn't sure what to expect, but I think she had fun with us! We loved walking around all of the booths to see what they had to offer. I have to be honest though, our favorite part definitely is the "getting free stuff" part. We came away with some serious bounty! A full-sized cherry apron with matching hot pads, two free ice packs (for sore muscles), four darling sets of bows for Lydia, a 10 minute hand massage for Amy and a 5 minute back massage for David and I, a free cleaning/checkup to a Pediatric Dentist, a $10 gift card to Dillard's. That is in addition to all of the samples, candy, and little toys that were being handed out. We had a nice time walking around together - and seriously can't believe the haul of free stuff that we scored!

3- We've really made an effort lately to make sure that we are attending the temple regularly. Luckily we have some wonderful family and friends who are willing to babysit so we can meet our goal of regular temple attendance. Melissa & Blake had volunteered to babysit for us on Tuesday night so we could go to the temple. We were super excited, but then at work on Tuesday David found out that some paperwork for a really big project that he has been working on for weeks (months?) was finally going to be finished around five p.m. and needed to be approved (by him) asap. Meaning, he was going to have to stay and work late. We were bummed, but I decided that rather than cancel with Melis, I'd just go by myself and do the initiatory work for some family names that my parents had asked us to do (the initiatory for the boys had already been done by my dad/brothers). All the sudden - pretty close to the time Melissa was getting ready to leave - I realized that David had my Temple Recommend in his wallet. I was so sad, but called Melissa to see if we could reschedule for another night. She was so sweet and we talked about a few possibilities. While I was on the phone with her David called. I called him back and he said that the lady who was supposed to get him the stuff wasn't online and probably wouldn't finish it at the time she said she would, and that he was just headed home right now so we could sneak out to the temple and he would just work later that night. I sheepishly called Melissa and asked if we could un-cancel. I am so glad that everything worked out to be able to get to the temple, because we had such a beautiful experience. I had the opportunity to do initiatory work for four sisters, a mother and a daughter - all on my mom's Jette side (Marie Loraine Eva Charpentier, Alda Charpentier, Alma Charpentier, Josephine Charpentier and Alma Jette and her mom, Rosalie Charboneau) . The last person that I did the work for was the mother, Rosalie. Just thinking about each of these women and the lives that they lived, and thinking about the blessings that were being promised, was so sweet. The Spirit of Elijah bore witness to me the importance of temple work - not just for the names that the temple provides, but for my very own ancestors. It was beautiful. Of course, I left crying and just happened to run into my entire Relief Society Presidency (I'm so awkward!), but the spirit has stayed with me and I am SO grateful that we were able to go, even though it seemed like we wouldn't be able to.  

4- Sue, my sweet sweet mother-in-law, knew that I didn't have any summer maternity clothes and so she came down one morning this week and took me out shopping to buy a couple of shirts. I ended up with a few darling t-shirts that are going to be great for this summer. In fact, I'm wearing one of them right now and I love it! It was nice to spend the time with her, and so nice of her to look out for me! I lucked out in the in-law department, that's for sure.

5-We've all been hit with allergies at our house. Runny noses, itchy eyes, sore throats. It's bad. Poor Lydia keeps asking us to "wipe her eyes" when we wipe her nose because they are so itchy. The allergies hit Lydia and David a couple of days before they hit me - so I was telling everyone that I only get allergies in the fall and springtime doesn't bother me. Boy, was my memory faulty! David's been taking allergy medicine, but I don't really know what I can give to Lydia or what I can take myself. I need to find myself a Doterra pro and see if there is anything that they can do for us, or so some other research into kid/pregnancy safe allergy medicine. (One of my friends commented on my last post that her nephew takes allergy medicine for kids because his allergies are so bad.) Wish us luck! (Or at least wish us less itchy eyes!)

Happy Friday! 

(These aren't the best pictures, but I love that I was able to snap these candid shots of Lydia and Elsie. They just really love playing together - and I love watching them.) 

Easter 2014

David and I have talked a lot about how we want to do Easter at our house. You know, how to find the right balance between secular and spiritual. We didn't really figure out exactly what we want to do in the future, but I like what Ashley's family did growing up - they did Easter Baskets and things like that on Saturday and then spent Sunday talking about the real reason for Easter. We went that direction this year, and although we didn't do an Easter Basket for Lydia I think we had a really good balance. 

Friday afternoon was Lehi's Easter Egg Drop. It sounded like a fun little Easter Egg hunt for the little kids (they had it separated out into groups so that the little kids wouldn't get trampled by the big kids). I told Ashley about it and we decided to make a little adventure out of it. This is the only picture that we took, while we were waiting for the festivities to start: 

Turns out, it was a disaster! There were a ton of people and the space was teeny-tiny (like smaller than our backyard for the whole 0-3 age group). You couldn't really hear what was going on, but they had a guy in a boom-truck drop a box full of eggs into one giant pile underneath of him and the crowd mass descended on the giant pile of eggs. Ashley and I stayed back with Lydia and Elsie, but Carson headed straight into the fray. There were kids of all ages and many parents right in the middle of the massive group of people and it was complete chaos! Carson came back in tears because he didn't get any eggs - and we all left empty handed. I heard that they changed some things and that it got better for the older age groups, but I'm not sure what they could have changed to make it better. It really was so sad. 

Ashley suggested going home and having our very own egg hunt. We scrounged up some eggs and filled them with candy then had Ashley go out into the backyard to "hide" the eggs. The kids were SO excited.

 I can't get over Elsie and Lydia's faces in this picture - they were SO sad because we told them to stop on the porch so we could take pictures. Poor little kids. Who knew egg hunting was so traumatic? We stopped trying to get them to pose for pictures and let them go to it! Lydia was a champ - she knew exactly what to do and loved finding the eggs and putting them in her basket. 

 Daddy got home and joined in the fun. Lydia loved showing him all her eggs. Our little Easter egg hunt was such a success - I think that we will do that every year from now on! It was much more fun to play with our friend at home and not have so much egg-hunting competition. 

Not to be dissuaded from a large organized Easter Egg Hunt, we decided to go to a community one put on by a local insurance company. Amy had come to play with us on Friday night and slept over (Lydia's first word in the morning was "Amy?" and was so excited when Amy was still here) and we convinced her to come spend the day with us. The egg hunt was a billion times better than the one the previous day! Lydia could barely contain her excitement at getting to find more eggs. 

 

Many of the other kids her age were being led around by their parents "Look at this egg, come get it!", but Lydia was totally into it. She kept going after all the eggs she could find - we had to laugh though, because there were also little candies (laffy taffys, etc...) in the grass and she would just walk right by them. She just wanted the eggs! She was so cute - and I'm glad that we went because she had a really good time. Plus, it was held at a park pretty close to our house and we are super excited to go there some more this summer. Lydia loved going down the slide, and even though she definitely could do it on her own, she loved having her daddy go down with her. 

  

Our sweet little Lydia girl started feeling a little sick Saturday night. I attributed it, and still mostly do, to  a combination of teething (she's still working on her first two molars) and allergies (David gets really bad allergies and she's been asking me to "wipe her eyes" like they are really itching her). She had a little fever and runny nose, but during the night - the mucus got into her throat and she started coughing and didn't sleep well at all. David and I took turns rocking her and holding her and then she spent half the night sleeping in our bed with us (not a common occurrence). We knew we couldn't take her to nursery the next day - but luckily my family came down early and were able to watch her while David and I went to church. Our church doesn't start until 1:30 - so we knew that getting anywhere for Easter wasn't really going to happen. However, my family was happy to let us "host", meaning - they brought all of the food and they came to us. It was so nice to spend the evening with them. It was perfect. I didn't get any cute pictures of Lydia in her Easter dress, because she stayed in pajamas the whole day - but thankfully she was her happy cheerful self for most of the day.  

 (I love my kitchen curtains, but hate the funky coloring that they give to all my photos. I think I'm going to have to get new curtains that act as a better "backdrop" to all the pictures that I take in the kitchen.") Also, the picture below with my mom and Lyida is titled "Cheers". We had been talking about the orange glasses that we were using along with the china plates, and I pulled out a little purple glass for Lydia. My mom said cheers, and held up her glass - and Lydia in her sweet little voice said "Cheers!" and held up her glass too. They did that a couple of times and it was darling. 

After dinner we dyed eggs, and we let Lydia color a few eggs with her markers. It was very fun.  

After dinner - we had a little lesson about Easter. We wanted to find a way to teach Lydia about Jesus, and make sure my family got to take a minute to focus on the Savior as well. I saw several examples on the internet for these Resurrection Eggs - but ended up making my own because most of the ones online were from Catholic-type religions that focused more on the cross, and didn't mention the Atonement at all. I'm including the directions here so that I can make them again next Easter and not have to worry about keeping my little slips of paper for an entire year. (I just hand wrote them).

I filled six eggs with the corresponding items from the list below, and then had each one of us take a turn reading the slip of paper inside of the egg. Lydia liked handing out the eggs to the next person, and I think that next year she will be able to understand even more. (I color coded them according to the rainbow so I could remember which egg came next without having to write numbers on them.)

1-Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, as was prophesied in the scriptures. The people waved big leaves called palm branches, because that is what people used to do when a king walked by. They knew that he was the greatest King of all! (Matthew 21: 1-11) Leaf that looks like a palm frond.

2- Jesus has a special dinner with his friends called the Last Supper. This is when the sacrament began, because Jesus gave his friends bread and water and said that they should always remember him and follow him. (Matthew 26:17-19) Piece of bread or sacrament cup.

3- Jesus went to a garden to pray. There, he suffered for our sins and all our sorrows. Because he did this for us, if we repent we can return and live in Heaven again. (Luke 22: 39-44) Flower from garden.

4- Jesus was betrayed by one of his friends. He was arrested and sentenced to death because the chief priests were afraid of him and thought he was a liar. They were very mean to him and used nails to hang him on a cross. Before he died, he prayed to Heavenly Father to forgive them. (Luke 23: 1-46) Nails to represent the nails they used to hang Him on the cross. 

5- His friends were very sad when Jesus died and they wrapped his body in clean white cloth and laid his body in a tomb. There was a big rock covering the opening of the tomb so that nobody would be able to bother his body. (John 19:40 and Matthew 27:59-60) White cloth or tissue, small rock. 

6- Jesus' friends came to visit his tomb, but they found that the rock had been moved and the tomb was empty! Then an angel came and told them "He is risen, He is not here." The egg is empty because Jesus' tomb was empty. The tomb was empty because He was resurrected! He lives! And we also live again, because of Him. This is the reason we celebrate Easter - and all the hope that comes because of Him! (Mark 16:66, Matthew 28:5-6). Empty Egg to symbolize the empty tomb. 


I love Easter and all the happiness and hope that comes from remembering the sacrifice of our Savior. I saw a quote that really hit home to me about the feelings that the disciples and friends of Jesus must have felt when Jesus died. That day, that Friday, when earthquakes shook the earth, and their friend and Messiah died while being scorned by all those around him. But what hope came, just three short days later, on that Sunday, when the Savior appeared to them again. That is what the Savior brings, hope and happiness.  Because of him, I know that in the Fridays of life - that Sunday will come.

Happy Easter!

17 Weeks: Baby #2

When we were pregnant with Lydia, we documented each week by taking a picture and writing a little letter to her. I love looking back and reading through those letters and remembering the feelings that we experienced. I also think that it helped me (personally) to bond with Lydia in a way that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. It's been fun to look back and compare the differences between pregnancy #1 and #2. I've wanted to do the same thing for this new baby, but I changed a few things that I wish I had included the first time around (like, the date at the top of the day that I turned "-- weeks" so that when looking back I have a good idea of what time of year it was). Saturday marked day one of week 17:

 

I didn't start documenting as early last time, but looking back... I think that I am showing pretty much on the same schedule as before. Week 16, 17, 18 was when my bump started to arrive. It's amazing to think that there is this little baby the size of a turnip growing inside that tummy of mine. I am excited, because I love seeing the results of this tiny baby growing.

Some other things from the last several weeks:
-I felt so much better than I did when I was pregnant with Lydia all through the first trimester. Every person that I met said that meant that I was having a boy, because girls make you much sicker. It might be a boy, but it's just so hard to really compare because my lifestyle is so different than what it was before. (Waking up early and being a high-energy teacher all day vs. Setting my own pace for the day and eating when I want.) For a long while, I was really sad for a while and kept trying to find reasons why it would be a girl - because I really want a little sister for Lydia. But I think I've gotten over that, and now I will be genuinely happy with a little boy or little girl. I've seen some really cute little brother/big sister combos lately - and I just think that whatever happens we will be the happiest little family. I've also started slipping and calling the baby a him occasionally, so I don't know if that means anything. (I do sometimes call the baby a her, as well - but before I never really said "him".)

-I say that I've been feeling really great in comparison to last time, but through the first trimester I still felt nauseous in the mornings and didn't have a ton of energy (especially at first). Last time I hit 14 weeks and almost overnight I felt awesome. I was sick, sick, sick, then one morning I woke up and felt a little better, then the next day I felt even better, and I never really got so sick again. I was really looking forward to that again this time - but if anything, I hit 15 weeks and I started feeling even more sick! Not necessarily in the mornings, I wasn't so queasy right when I woke up, but more of an all day yuckiness. I'm starting to feel a little bit better, but I'm a little grumpy that I let myself get so excited about "magically not being sick anymore" and then right when I was hoping for the magic cure was when I started to feel more sick. I hope that I do start feeling better though. I'll be in my second trimester for most of the summer - and I love that second trimester. I'm hoping that it will be really awesome.

-We scheduled our 20 week appointment/gender check! It's in just over three weeks and we are so excited!

-Lydia is so cute and when you ask her where the baby is she'll say a combination of the words "Doctor. Mommy. Baby. Tummy. Heartbeat." It's super sweet.

-I've been eating a ton of Spaghettios over the last month. However, last time I went to the store I bought the ones with added calcium because I figured if I was going to eat them I may as well make them as healthy as possible - but I had forgotten that the only reason I was eating them is because the way my pregnant body liked the way they taste! Apparently, the calcium changes the taste slightly and they aren't quite up to snuff. However, they still seem to settle my stomach - so we'll survive. I also crave cold pepperoni and was eating bags of the stuff until I realized that it probably fell into the same category as lunch meat (which I also crave). I read some stuff online saying that it isn't really a Listeria hazard because it's been salted and dried like salami (shelf-stable until opened). But better safe than sorry!

(Today is Easter, and we are planning to host my family for Easter Dinner tonight - but I wanted to get this post posted as close to 17 weeks as possible. I'll have another post about Easter tomorrow!)