Back in Kalamazoo

Well, I've been back in Kalamazoo for nearly a week.  We've been so busy living life and getting things done that I haven't had time to write.  Lila's napping right now though so I have some time.  She's teething again (her top two fangs are coming in, and she's been pretty cranky... very clingy to me, she cries and says "ma da!" and I don't know what that means yet... when she's feeling like that, she doesn't want Jake to hold her at all, just wants Mom).

So, we've been busy.  Having fun though and trying to enjoy the summer.  Friday evening, we took Lila for a walk in her new wagon (Jen Randall gave it to us, used to be her boys') to visit Frank and Kate Whitaker at their new house in our neighborhood.  They moved in while we were in the UP.  Jake and I both think that Heavenly Father wants them to live near us... I feel like we'll become pretty good friends.  They have a 5 month old son named George; he was born in January.  She is WAY into breastfeeding and is a "hardcore hippy" while I am just a "softcore" one.  She always asks how the nursing is going with Lila and says "good for you" when she finds out I'm still nursing.  They hadn't heard that I was pregnant again, so they congratulated me.  Kate and I were standing in their driveway with the kids and she told me that SHE is also pregnant!  8 weeks already!  So her kids will be 13 months apart.  Wow.  That will be very interesting to observe.  She's a pretty strict Catholic (I guess), and said that they use natural family planning (which, by the way, doesn't really work... my grandmas had 9 and 11 kids and hers had 10).  But she wants a big family.  Frank, on the other hand, doesn't, and I think he's feeling pretty stressed out.  Jake went over there on Saturday to help him change the oil on his lawn mower, and then Frank came over again later that evening and was talking with Jake.  He asked, "Do Mormons use birth control?" lol.  So, I think it'll be good for us to be friends.  I like Kate a lot, she kind of cracks me up.  We tried putting George in the wagon with Lila and Lila freaked out... it will be good for her to be around babies more too :)

Lila has been completely adorable.  It's driving me crazy that I can't find our camera charger.  I just want to savor and remember all these little moments I have with her.  Like this morning, she wanted to go outside and blow bubbles on the porch.  So she was happily walking around in her little green nighty, her blonde ringlets very curly because it was so humid, and she was just so happy to be out there with me.  I just love her so much and am so grateful I get to be her mom and be with her all day.

Anyway, the rest of our weekend was pretty good.  I was "mad" when I woke up on Saturday because Jake had left to get our keys re-keyed at Home Depot, and I had wanted to go with him.  But, he knew that I'd be mad, so he brought me home some donuts. :)  I knew he would, lol.  We went to Lowe's to buy paint.  We started painting the living room that night.  Well, I did.  Jake was outside with Frank, so I started painting the fireplace mantle.  It took a few hours.  3 coats of primer and I quit after one coat of white semi-gloss paint.

Sunday was pretty good.  I was telling Jake that with my current calling, I know that I'm serving the Lord and His children, but I don't feel very spiritually edified afterwards.  And I guess it's not my time for that, but I can still go and serve and feel the Spirit.  And I need to work harder at enjoying myself and my time there instead of just going through the motions of Primary.  Lila stayed with me in Primary the whole time and really enjoyed herself.  Likes the music and the kids, and she ate a lot of snacks.  A few people asked when she's going into Nursery, because she looks like she's ready to go.  Two more months to go.  Can't believe it's already almost time for her to go to Nursery!

After church, we all took awesome naps.  We took a bike ride after dinner.  It's been very hot and humid this week, but we wanted to get out and Lila loves being outside.  Today's heat index was 100 degrees and tomorrow's is supposed to be 110.  So we'll have to stay inside again, but that's okay.  I let Lila go out for 5-10 minutes a few times a day, but it's just too hot.  She's learned to like popsicles though :)

Monday was good.  Emily didn't have to work so we hung out.  We went to Kohl's to make a return and I picked up a few maternity shirts (one of which I'll return) and then to Target where I found two XS maternity shirts on clearance, woohoo.  Oh, found out that Becca Burkhead is pregnant (finally!) and she wants to go maternity clothes shopping with me (she's not due till Feb though) because she and Joe think I'm one of the best dressed pregnant women, hah.  And Christy and Sean found out that they're having a boy!  She's due just a few days before me.  So cool to know that my baby is already a boy or a girl and I am soo excited to find out.

Target was nice.  After we checked out, we were super hungry and happy to find that Target has Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas there.  We both got one, and I think Lila must've eaten half of mine.  She loved it.  It was really fun feeding her. :)  She's started to let me popping food in her mouth now, which she's never let me do before, and it's not messy and she eats a lot more food that way.  I don't do it often, but it worked well at Target, where she just sat in the cart because there weren't any high chairs.

After that, we met Jake at home and then went to Aunt Gina's to go swimming in her neighbor's pool.  It was really refreshing.  We took Lila into the pool and she did pretty good.  I think if the water had been warmer, she would've liked it a lot better.  But she did alright... she didn't scream, but she didn't enjoy it a whole lot.  She did like it when Jake blew bubbles in the water with his mouth, she laughed and thought that was funny.  Otherwise she whined and wanted to get out.  She did really like sitting at the edge of the pool with Jake and sticking her feet in and splashing around, she laughed and smiled a lot.

I'm awesome and forgot that my phone was in my swim shorts pocket.  Why do they even put pockets on swim shorts?  I don't know.  Frankly, I'm surprised that I haven't done something like that before... but maybe it was just pregnant brain.  Who knows.  So, it's sitting in rice and I just hope that it'll work.

Today I was tired and kind of crabby with Emily (who didn't have to work again) because Jake and I were up past midnight last night painting.  We did all of the edging.  I'm glad that we're not doing this when I'm more pregnant.  I like the color.  We tried 3 different paint samples but we hated them all, and ended up going with Sharkey Gray as we originally thought we might.  Oh well.  I think this will make it feel a lot more like our home, rather than just a big apartment that we're living in.

Lila is awesome, I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I had fun playing with her today, reading and feeding her.  She loves raisins now.  We took her grocery shopping and she happily sat and snacked in the car.

Jake didn't get home till 6:30 or so and I was exhausted.  We had a nice salad for dinner, but I didn't feel well so didn't eat it.  Lila went to bed and we've been painting.  We'll have the room finished before bed, which is awesome.  I'm happy about that.

Oh, on Monday morning we at Primary meeting at the church to finalize plans for the Ward Picnic we're in charge of on Saturday.  Jake is surprised that the Bishopric delegates the planning to the auxiliary presidencies, who already have so much on their plates.  Lila had fun at the meeting, chasing after the other kids.  Seriously, she is so cute and I just love watching her.  She's so happy to run around in the gym and shout and listen to her echo and play with the balls.  She's such a sweet girl.