Dad Betzold visits, Emily Betzold's birthday

On Friday afternoon, I was going to try to go grocery shopping. I've been handling it on my own up until a few weeks ago, but now the thought of taking Lila to the store and walking around for an hour pushing a cart and then unloading the groceries when I get home sounds absolutely exhausting. I couldn't keep my eyes open after Lila woke up from her nap, so I let her watch cartoons and climb all over me and nurse for like an hour so I could just lay down. And then I got up around 3 and was going to pack up and head to the store, but Jessica called and I talked with her for over an hour instead. :) It was her 25th birthday on Thursday. I think it's adorable that we met when we were 13 and are still good friends. We hadn't talked in quite some time, so it was great catching up and hearing about her adventures in motherhood. She's still very much in that new-mom phase, and it was interesting to see how my perspective on motherhood and parenting has changed in the past year. I'm definitely doing some things differently with Jared. Anyway, by the time we got off the phone, it was past 4.

When Jake got home, we headed to the chapel. Our ward was having an Italian dinner. Four men from the ward served their missions in Italy, so they cooked for the entire ward! The food was delicious and it was a fun time. We sat with the Thompsons, Burnhams, and Tensmeyers. We all had a child in our laps (except for Holly and I, but we're pregnant). Terra Burnham is also having a boy in December. Lila loved the food (Italian is definitely her favorite cuisine). I feel so blessed to have good friends here in Kalamazoo.

When we got home, Jim (Jake's dad) was there. He spent the night. Saturday morning, Lila woke up at 5:30 and it took her a long time to go back to bed. Jake got out of bed for a while. When she did fall asleep, I went out to see what he was doing, and he ran up the basement stairs all pumped up and energetic because he had just worked out, lol. So we had some cereal, watched an episode of the Office, and went back to bed. We had a late breakfast and then Jake and Jim discussed ways they could hook up the generator to the house. While they did that, I drove to the Loso's to pick up some Popsicle sticks for Primary. When I got back, Lila was having a meltdown and she calmed down as soon as she saw Mommy. She sure loves Mommy!! We had a quick lunch and then hit the road for Holland. Lila slept the whole way there.

Emily Betzold turned 6 on Friday. So her party was at the church building on Saturday. It was a cute little party. Lots of pizza, cupcakes, games. I helped Angela paint the little girl's nails. Lila loved being chased around by the older kids. She looked so short compared to all of them. :) She just loves her cousin Emily ("Mem-ah-wee.") She also LOVES Grandpa Jim. She warmed up to him immediately this time, gets so excited when she sees him and jabbers on and on. Except she calls him "Gamma." lol. Doesn't quite pronounce the p. She says, "Gamma holdy." She likes Uncle Jim a lot too. They're all very good with her and love her a lot. Emily had a fun time at the party and was really excited that we came.

After the party we went to Jim and Angela. Angela sure has fixed the place up so nice. They're doing very well. They just bought a Toyota Corolla and also a Rav-4. We watched some TV on Hulu. An episode of Modern Family that Jake and I didn't think was funny and parts of Up All Night, which we do think is funny. Then we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner. The food wasn't very good and I couldn't eat a lot. I took the girls outside to walk around because they got restless. After that, Jake and I left for home (Jim spent the night with Jim and Angela) and Lila slept the whole way again.

We went grocery shopping when we got home at like 7:30 or 8. It was a long trip. Lila was cranky and difficult, wanted to walk around but whine and complained and then wanted to be held. Jake and I split up; he hit up the produce and I got everything else. But it still took a long time. We were tired when we got home. But we were up till 11:30 with Lila, because of her late nap, but I feel like we got pretty decent sleep.

Church was good. We sat in front of an old married couple again (the Peters). Lila was actually pretty good but spent a lot of the time climbing all over me (and pulling my shirt down most of the time), coloring, and snacking. Brig joined us for the last little while. After sacrament meeting was over, Sister Peters told me that I have the patience of Job and Brother Peters told me that Lila is the most beautiful little girl in the whole world, and he even has lots of great-granddaughters to compare her to. lol. It was nice to hear. Primary went SO much more smoothly today! All of the rules and incentives we set in place worked. Sister Loso is awesome. She has a Masters in Education and specializes in teaching children, I think, so she has a ton of great ideas. It wasn't nearly as chaotic and the kids were a lot more reverent. It makes it a lot more enjoyable for me. :) Lila didn't do well in Nursery today, even when Jake sat in there with her. Poor girl. She was pretty tired.

After church, we drove to Battle Creek to pick up some stuff Mike needed to give to Dad, and Lila slept on the way there but woke up as soon as Jake parked the car, which was unfortunate. So her nap was half as long as usual. When we got back to our house, Dad was there. He stayed for a few hours to visit and then left for Illinois again. Emily came by too. She visited her new dating interest, Mark, this weekend. Spent the weekend with his family, said she had a really nice time. He's selling security systems so isn't home very often and will be gone full-time starting in March.

Emily and Jim left, and then Lila was super cranky, so we all tried to lay down for a while. We Skyped with my parents for a bit, had dinner. Lila went down "early" and was asleep at 7:45. We'll see how tonight goes... I'm not very optimistic. Jake left at 8:00 to pick up an iPhone 4 for me from Craigslist. :) It's in Vicksburg, so it's a little drive. I'm excited. I think it'll keep me from going crazy once the baby comes.