"Happy Thanksgeebing Back."

The day after Thanksgiving! Black Friday! Jake and my dad are out braving the crowds.  They only left about 15-20 minutes ago, so that's not terrible.  But Jake is going to buy a piano keyboard from Guitar Center (he's been wanting to buy one for a few years now) and they have a 15% coupon today.  He's also going to see if they have any more Christmas trees at Home Depot, they were $100 off.  Probably sold out.  Jake got up at 7 to go, woke my dad up, and they woke Emily up because Emily's been saying how she wants to go shopping today, and she growled and whined at them. :) hahaha... Oh, I'm so excited for her to become a mom.

This week has been really nice so far.  On Monday night, we home taught the Tensmeyers.  Jake's companion was sick and couldn't go, so we took Lila.  Lila and Ella had fun playing together, they're pretty funny to watch, two little blondies running around.  Ella was at the tail end of croup, so she was coughing a lot.  Their little baby Rosalie (love that name) is almost a month old now, and so sweet.  Holly is doing great, she looks really good.  Dan's mom was there for the holidays and was a nice lady too.  We only intended on a short visit, but we were there for almost 3 hours I think.  Dan's mom asked what Jake did, and then Dan asked, "So, you're pretty good with computers?"  And then Jake helped him fix his iPhone, which wouldn't allow him to connect to his iTunes account.  The little girls got suckers and cookies and played with the iPad--what a life!  It was nice visiting with Holly.  I'm going to take Lila over there this week to keep her company and to let the girls play together.  I'm glad Jake was able to help... it's nice to actually be able to do something for the people you home/visit teach (especially when it's easy!) instead of just saying, "Let us know if there's anything we can do for you."

Tuesday was like a Friday, because Jake took Wednesday off of work.  When he came home from work on Tuesday, we told Lila it was the weekend, and she waved her arms around a little and said, "Weekend, party!" :)  We went to Sam's Club to get some things for Thanksgiving and stopped at Meijer for some produce and to get a Blu-ray from Red Box.  One of our goals for the long weekend was to watch a movie together, something we haven't done since August.

Wednesday was a busy day and went by really fast.  We had a quick BPP (biophysical profile) ultrasound to check on Baby Jared.  (This is cute, instead of calling him Brother Jared, like Jake and I usually do when we're talking to her, Lila calls him Jared Brother.)  It was really only 5 minutes or less.  He's looking good though, practicing breathing this time.  I think they're probably a little too zealous in their monitoring of him, but I guess that's okay.  Just want to make sure he's doing okay in there.

After that we went to our insurance people to get our applications for life insurance.  It's been on our to do list all year, since we bought our house, and just haven't gotten around to it.  Made me a little nervous when Jake did his traveling this month, that we didn't have anything set up.  So now we have to fill those out and get little physicals done.

We watched the first half of Captain America during Lila's nap, and she watched the second half with us.  Good movie, and it was fun to just relax on the couch and watch a movie together again.  It's the little things :)

Lila had an appointment for immunizations at 3:15 and we didn't get out of there till after 4.  There was some confusion about what dose of Hep B she was supposed to get, so it took a while for them to check.  She did considerably well waiting in the exam room and actually getting her shots.  Didn't put up a fight and only cried for less than a minute.  I think the Skittles I gave her afterwards helped.

From there, went to Meijer to finish up our Thanksgiving shopping.  Emily was there when we got home.  Got dinner.  Dad arrived an hour later, it's nice that he could come.  Lila was happy to see him, of course.  Jake and I drove around for almost an hour trying to find a newspaper with all the Black Friday ads, but all 10 places we checked had sold out.

When we got back, Jake set up Jared's crib.  Yay!  And we put drawer liners in his dresser and I filled it up with a ton of clothes.  This kid has more clothes than Lila did as a baby, for sure... and almost all of them so far we've gotten for free. 

Lila slept terrrrrrribly that night.  Was up at 3, fell asleep for a bit, and then was up crying till like 7 or something.  YIKES.  Jake and I were both up with her, and then my dad took her for a while so we could go back to bed.  It was pretty awful, we just wanted to sleep.  And then it dawned on me that, duh, she'd just gotten shots that day so we gave her some Advil and she went back to bed shortly after that.  Duh.  She slept in till 11.

Thanksgiving morning was busy, getting food ready, getting showered and ready, etc.  We made mashed potatoes and sweet potato bake (with lots of brown sugar and pecans).  We got to the Burnhams at 2:00 and got to watch the second half of the Packers/Lions game (Packers won).  It was an awesome way to do Thanksgiving--I'm so glad we arranged it that way.  Terra was in charge of the turkey, and every other family brought one or two sides.  It was perfect.  The Thompsons, Gochnours, Melissa/Mark Christensen, and the Hunts were there.  The Gochnours and Christensens are new to the area--they are new medical residents here in Kalamazoo, as is Nick Burnham. 

Came home, tried to take a quick nap.  Lila fell asleep on the way to the Hunts for dessert at 6:00 or so.  We split up dinner and dessert, which was also an awesome idea.  We had a really, really fun time there.  Dad didn't go, he stayed home and slept, but Emily came.  The same group of people were there and it was nice getting to know some of the new people.  We had yummy dessert and then played Catch Phrase and one of my old favorites, Mafia.  Lots of laughs.  Especially when Terra was a police for an entire game and didn't know it.  We're lucky to have such awesome friends here.  Lila was pretty tired and clingy, but she did alright.

We got home at around 10pm.  Lila stayed up for another hour.  We played in the guest room with Dad and Emily and Lila was just so happy, we were all laughing at how cute she is.  We sure love that little girl.  I was really, really, really hoping that Lila would have a good night because I just needed to get some sleep.  So I cuddled in her bed with her, and she fell asleep cuddled up against me, and oh my, it was so sweet.  And she did sleep through the night, hallelujah!!

Jake stayed up late researching Black Friday sales.  Now it's 10am and he's back with the keyboard, Dad and Emily are going shopping, and Jake is outside with Lila and the Caldwell boys winterizing our tractors.

The Little Things

Jake does this thing where he likes to tease me.  For example, yesterday we drove past a restaurant on Westnedge that I had never seen before called Old Chicago.  I said, "Have you ever seen that restaurant before?  Old Chicago.  I wonder if it's new."  And Jake said, "No, it's Old."  As in, Old Chicago.  He does that a lot and I always roll my eyes, and I'll say, "Jake, why can't you just be nice to me?"

I've gotten to do that to him three times within the past few days, though I can't remember what the first two were.  But after the first time, Jake realized how annoying it was and said, "Really?  I don't even do that to you anymore!"  But, yes, he does, because he did it to me yesterday.

The last one I can remember saying to him was last night.  This morning (Thanksgiving) a bunch of guys from church are playing football at the Texas Drive Park.  Last night he read the email with the info and asked me, "Where is Texas Drive Park?"  And I smiled gleefully and said, "Texas Drive!"

It's the little things in the life :)

Perspective

Just spent some time reading my journal entries from the beginning of the year, when we were buying the house, moving in, finding out we were pregnant, Lila was teething and crazy, and I was so exhausted.  What a crazy time in our lives.  I think everything going on at the beginning of my pregnancy kind of gave me a sour taste about the whole thing.  But now, with more experience, time, and a different perspective, I'm feeling a lot better about everything.  I'm getting used to having a toddler with mood swings, realize that tantrums are necessary, Lila is more independent than she was at the beginning, and I'm more comfortable being a mom and am a little more relaxed than I used to be.  I had so many worries, and now I see that those worries were silly... and that means that most of the worries I have right now about what it will be like having 2 kids are silly.  We push through the hard times and they get better.  Most of the time, things are great.  But I will surely have a few rough and awful months when the baby comes... especially when Lila's getting her last set of molars (she's an awful teether, it drags on for a month), but we'll get through it alive and life will be good again. :)  It's been good for me to see how much we've changed and accomplished just since moving into the house.  And I realized how much work having this house has actually been!  It's been totally worth it, but we've poured so much work, energy, time, and money into making it our home.  It does feel like ours, and there's still a lot we'd like to do, but we've been able to accomplish a lot since moving in.  We need to give ourselves credit for that and enjoy the work we've done.  Because now, for a season, we'll have to put a lot (most) of our projects on the back burner and focus on our little ones.  And that's perfectly fine.

So yes, I'm starting to feel a lot better, calmer, and more confident about having another child.  I'm just accepting that life will be kind of crazy, but we'll get through it and have a lot of fun in the meantime.  Hard work and trials are blessings from Heavenly Father, opportunities to grow into better people.

I gave the VT message this month to the sisters on our route, and I chose to speak on the talk by Elder Carl B. Cook.  This is my favorite quote from his talk --

Experience has taught me that if we...  exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life. We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy. We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance—and if it is, the Lord will help us. But we must have the faith to look up and the courage to follow His direction.

I like that: "most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance--and if it is, the Lord will help us."  He'll even help us with the things that aren't exactly of eternal significance.  Just don't need to worry.

Even More...

Lila keeps doing these cute things that I want to remember.

We have a Little Mermaid doll that my mom saved from when I was little.  It has a removable bikini top type thing, and underneath is a Barbie-like chest.  Oh, first of all, there's a little cord on the back that you can pull and she'll talk.  Jake was making the Little Mermaid talk the other night and Lila didn't "yike" it, of course.  So now she furrows her eyebrows, shakes her head, and says, "I don't yike mermaid talk."  Very funny.  Anyway, She realized yesterday that the bikini top came off, so she was taking it off, saw the boobs, paused, and said, "Milk?"  lol.  A week or so ago, Jake had his shirt off and she saw his chest and said, "Daddy milk?" lol.  So we had to explain to her that Daddy doesn't have milk, but mommy has milk.  And yesterday I explained that mermaid doesn't have milk either.  So now from time to time, she'll say to me while shaking her head --

Lila: Mermaid milk.
Me: No, the mermaid doesn't have milk.
Lila: Daddy milk.
Me: No, Daddy doesn't have milk.
Lila: (Nodding her head) Mommy milk.
Me: Yes, Mommy has milk.


Last week, we had her friend Lucas over and he slipped and fell on the tile by our front door.  Lila did that a few times when we first moved here, and if she's running through, she'll slow down and walk across the tile and start running again when she hits the carpet.  Anyway, Lucas started crying, so Ann (his mom) hugged and comforted him.  Then Lila walked over to the tile, sat down, said, "Ohh, fall down."  So I asked if she wanted a hug, and she makes a hurt face, nods her head, comes to me for a hug, and then goes back to the tile and "falls", etc etc.  That's a game she likes to play now.

More Lila @ 20 months

As Lila was trying to put on our underwear and kind of got them on.  
Me: You did it, sweetie!
Lila: I did it, sweetie!

She loves listening to Primary music.  I have a CD of songs that we listen to in the car.  She knows the order.  After the first song ended, she said, "Temple!" which is the next song.  And after the temple song ended, she said "Heavenly Father!" (A Child's Prayer) and that is the next song.  Twice recently I've seen her holding a hymn book or the program for Stake Conference that had music in it, and she sang "Teach me walk in da light."  She likes that song too now, apparently.  I am so impressed with her.

A few weeks ago we were teaching her the shape triangle, and she said the word once or twice, but we haven't revisited that at all.  Tonight when we were home teaching the Tensmeyers, she was playing a game on their iPad and saw a triangle and said "triangle!" 

Whenever we turn onto our street, I'll tell her, "Lila, we're on our street!"  And so now whenever we turn onto it, she knows and tells me we're on our street.  A lot of times when we leave our house, she'll say, "Bye bye, house."

One of her very favorite things to do is put her blanket over her head or our head, or her feet or our feet, and say, "Where'd Mommy go?" or "Where'd Yiya go?" or "Where toe go?" or "Where'd hand go?"  She loves playing this game.

We have a CD of my dad's band, The Cadillacs.  They do a lot of Beach Boys.  The song Barbara Ann is on the CD, and it's Lila's favorite.  She'll sing, "Bop bop bop Barbara Ann."  So cute.

Megan Schmidt engaged!

Oh, I don't think I've written that Megan Schmidt is ENGAGED!  Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever see the day. :)  I don't know many details, mostly just from Facebook and her blog.  I did get a text from her about a month ago saying that she was engaged and that they're getting married on December 16th in the Spokane temple.  From what I've gathered (Facebook stalking!) he's Emily's age, which is kind of funny and weird, and looks a lot like Megan's brothers.  But he's cute and they look really happy together.  I'm so happy for my dear friend.  Her parents moved to Montana, so they don't live in Esky anymore and I think it'll be quite a while until I see her again.  This is from her blog--so funny to hear her talking this way... she's one of my last LDS friends to get married:

Adam and I are getting married in the Spokane temple on December 16th 2011!  I know it's fast, I know it's soon, but I also know that it's right.

    His proposal was so adorable.  I got off work at 7 on Saturday morning.  We always had this little joke that some day he'd be waiting at my house for me to come home from work so I could sleep in his arms, of course that never happened.  Who wakes up before 7 on a Saturday? But secretly I always hoped he would someday.  As I drove up to my house everything was normal, but then I saw his car in my driveway. It was pretty well hidden by my neighbor's bushes.  Then I looked up over our hedges at our front door and there he was sitting on the front step.  (he had been waiting out in the cold for over 20 minutes just in case I came home early!) As I approached him he told me to take off my gloves, got down on one knee, told me how much he loved me, and pulled out the box with the ring.  It was wonderful.  Then we went inside.....he had snuck into my house (both my roommates were out of town) and made us breakfast!  What a wonderful surprise on a most wonderful morning!  I can't wait for us to start our life together!

Charlie Horse - 34w 4 d

Pregnancy going well.  This boy is kicking and moving a lot.  Not always in frequency, but the strength of his movements are pretty crazy sometimes, and I don't remember Lila being quite that strong.  I definitely feel his bum most of the time, and am starting to feel a lot more of his other body parts like feet and elbows and knees, and I mean feeling them from the outside with my hands.  Still can't tell where his heels are, and I remember very clearly being able to feel Lila's heels.  But he's head down, which is wonderful.

Before bed, my nightly "ritual" involves peeing 4-5 times, but each time only peeing like a few drops. (TMI?)  With Lila, I would have to get up to pee every hour or two and that was annoying, but with this kid, I've been able to sleep 3-6 hours stretches still.  But, before bed, I always have to go, and it's always nearly impossible to get anything out, maybe because of how he's positioned.  It's very annoying. 

I feel huge, but someone told me today that I still look "tiny" and don't look like I'm due in a month.  I find that hard to believe.  I'll have to take some pictures soon, I've been bad about that.  I really need to get some pictures of me and Lila too... I don't have very many!  I feel bad about that. 

Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night with a charlie horse in my calf.  It was so confusing at first and then just really painful.  I woke up Jake after a little while (I wasn't thinking very clearly, I was tired) and he woke up startled and confused, and I told him to start massaging my leg, and he massaged the wrong leg, but it went away right after that.  Yikes, though.  My leg was even sore when I woke up this morning.  Never had that happen during pregnancy before.