Almost 38 weeks

I have been a terrible blogger, and therefore, a terrible journal-er of this pregnancy. And since it is almost over, I better write down a few things for memory sake. It really has been pretty uneventful, which is a good thing! I have had to have some things more closely monitored just as a precaution since Brooke was so early. But because of that, we pretty much had got to see the babe at every appt up until a couple weeks ago which was fun! The doc tried to do a 3-D ultrasound twice, at 28 weeks (and she didn't cooperate) and again at like 31 weeks (and again she didn't cooperate very much), but I guess that will make it all the more suspenseful what/who she will look like. She sure is not a fan of showing off much of anything..stubborn little girl already! I have felt really good (minus frequent heartburn, but thank goodness for wintergreen tums), up until a couple weeks ago. Then the pressure increased, I started having to focus on walking normal and not waddling, and just lots of lower back pain. Since I have never been this pregnant before, that was all new to me! At my appt 2 weeks ago (36 weeks), the doc checked me for the first time and I was almost 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Last week, the exact same. I have had to be on a daily shot since December to thin my blood to prevent clots since I have a DVT after Brooke, and a couple weeks ago, I had to switch to a different shot that is twice a day. Twice a day is much harder to remember than once! I'm really glad to be almost done with them..let's just say I'd much rather give than receive shots :) I'm still not really sure that a contraction feels like, but I think I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks..not painful, just an uncomfortable tightening. I go to the doc today so we'll see if anything has changed (which I doubt). Next week is my last week of work, so really, she can come anytime and although I may not feel mentally ready, I sure do physically! I scheduled an induction for July 23rd (he would start me that night) since my entire family will be in town that week and we have family pictures on the 28th..so ready or not, the longest I'll be pregnant is 18 days! We can't wait to meet our little girl!

 This was at 32 weeks (and the only pregnancy picture I have taken so far..I stink!)

Just imagine a significantly larger belly and you get the idea..(Now you don't have to ask Curt for a picture Lisa Marie :)

Elmo Party for Brooke's #2

 Brooke was all excited for her Elmo Party! We had it a few weeks after her actual birthday, because we wanted Uncle Tate to be there. With lots of help from my parents and Curt, the party was a success! We woke Brooke up right before the party started, gave her a quick bath and it was time to party. When she saw all the Elmo decorations, she was giddy with excitement and went around saying, "Elmo Party." We had a fun crowd with grandma, grandpa, Tate, nana, papa, the Pittenger's, Barb and Ernie and Lucy.

 

 Thanks to Pinterest and a couple Sesame Street Cricut cartridges, we had fun decorations! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make party hats again, but hey, when you only have one kid you might as well go a little overboard (Tate says all these pictures only condemn me and basically will make all my other kids think they aren't as loved..yes, he is the baby :) and he is probably right on this one...) We had an awesome BBQ dinner, with Elmo cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Good food + good company + a cute 2 year old = Par-tay! We played Elmo bean bag toss (everyone had to play :-) and the kids played Pin-the-nose on Elmo.

 This girl was spoiled r-o-t-t-e-n! She received so many fun presents! A new bike (pink and purple, her favorite), tons of clothes (thanks mom for your shopping addiction!), a water/sand table (and yes, we might have let the kids play outside in the water in freezing weather in shorts/t-shirts..can't wait till she can play in it during warm weather), a new swimsuit, light up flip flops, sunglasses, an art easel, an awesome colored rice box with fun toys to play in it, Word Factory DVD, an Elmo bus and an Elmo pillow (kid size...and it's adorable and she's in love. Thanks Nana!). She is very loved and oh so spoiled!

Brooke had so much fun with her cousins! They helped her open presents and will be coming over this summer to play with her new toys with her. 

 

Thanks to everyone for coming and making it such a fun night! Party planning is one of my very favorite things to do and it turned out so much fun! We sure love our little two-year-old crazy little thing and can't imagine life without her! She is such a sweetheart and we are blessed to have her forever!

Happy Easter!

We had so much fun celebrating Easter! Her favorite thing to say was "Easter Bunny" with the cutest voice fluctuation. We went and got pictures with the Easter Bunny (classic kid screaming trying to get as far away from it as possible picture), dyed Easter eggs, had a fun Easter morning with yummy breakfast, a wonderful Easter dinner with a fun Easter Egg Hunt and finished off the night by going across the street a depiction of the Savior's last days on earth, including His Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection. 

Easter is such a wonderful time of year to reflect on the blessings that we have because of our Savior and all of the sacrifices He has made for us. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of life after death and that families are forever! 

Brooke is 2!

Brookie boo turned 2 on April 1st! Since we are having her party in a couple weeks, we kept it really low key on her actual birthday. We blew up balloons before she woke up so they were all over the floor when she came upstairs, and she loved it! If only 50 cents would always work for so much fun...We'll enjoy it while we can! Her b-day was on Conference Sunday so we spent the day watching conference, making delicious homemade cinnamon rolls, and finished the night with home made Crunchwrap Supremes and cowboy caviar, foods we know Brooke loves. Brooke isn't a huge cake fan, but she does love fruit so we made her a delicious strawberry banana trifle, with vanilla pudding and whipping cream layers. She scarfed it down! The only present she has gotten so far she loved! It was from her great auntie Kay..a super cute outfit with a singing card. Brooke listened to the card again and again and again! I can't wait for it to be warm enough for Brooke to wear capris and short sleeves! 

There are SO many things we love about her right now! She is at such a fun age and is constantly making us laugh like crazy!

* She copies EVERYTHING anyone says..not always a good thing. The other night my dad said "crap," so Brooke on repeat mode said it about 8 times in a row. I said, "Brooke, that isn't a nice word to say. Please don't say that." She then pointed to grandpa and said, "He said crap." 

* We were driving home from going out to eat the other night. It was late and we told Brooke we were going to go home and go to bed. In a loud, desperate voice, she said, "Bath! I need bath!" It was really funny and of course, we gave her a bath before going to bed!

* This girl is obsessed with music! Her favorite part of our bedtime routine is singing songs, and it has to be in the rocking chair. We usually tell her we'll sing her 3 songs, and then she talks us into singing like 10. Her favorites that she has to have EVERY NIGHT are "temple," "Prophet," "Susbeem," "Nephi," "family," and "Choose da wight." (I love to See the Temple, Follow the Prophet, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Nephi's Courage, Families Can Be Together Forever, and Choose the Right). I love her love for music and can't turn her down when as we are walking out of her room she innocently says, "Choose da wight." How can you say no to that?

* She loves to pray and has been really good at folding her arms for a long time. But now she is better at repeating what we tell her to say, and she even is pretty good at kneeling at our family prayers each night. She loves to say "Amen" and says it in such an excited voice every time. 

* She talks so much and has an opinion about everything. Everything these days is, "No, Brookie do it," and if she decides she actually can't do it by herself, she says, "Need help." She is little miss determined and has recently learned to open the screen door by herself. This means, we will be locking the screen door, since there is a park out the front across the street that Brooke is obsessed with. I have a fear that she will disappear alone to the park..Hence why we will be locking the screen door! 

* She loves to sit in her little recliner and read. She says, "I read," and actually has a pretty good attention span for it! She loves books and has a cow if you try to bring her upstairs each morning before she has a chance to grab 2 or 3 books.  

* She is very smart! She can sing the ABC's almost perfectly (not usually on demand, but when she is in the car and bored or something), and she knows all the sounds for every letter (Thanks to an awesome movie called Letter Factory..it's seriously a must have!) I can't believe how much knowledge she soaks up! 

* She loves to kiss my tummy and blow raspberries on it, and seems to understand that there is a baby in there. She is going to be a great big sister because she loves babies! We have started calling her baby Brynlee and when asked what her little sister's name is, she says, "Brelee." It will be so fun to see her give her little sister cuddles and loves, with lots of reminders to "be soft" I'm sure. 

*She is obsessed with technology! Ipad, Kindle, cell phones...you name it! She can change from game to game on my dad's Ipad. He jokes that she should teach him how to use it..not sure if it he's actually joking:) She loves to watch the videos on our cell phones that we have recorded and just smiles and giggles. 

She blew out her candles so softly..but she actually did get the flame out! I love her slightly puffed cheeks. 

Did you know you can put most any fruit on your finger? Strawberries and grapes..yes, they taste better when they are put on your finger according to Brookie. 

The cake lied..

I had my 24 week appt on Thursday, and the doc was getting ready to find the heartbeat. I asked him if we might be able to sneak a peek to see what "it" is. So after finding the heartbeat (144 bpm) via ultrasound (love the ultrasound in the office..get to see the baby lots of times), he pretty much instantly got the view we have been waiting weeks (or more like 4 months) for! And he very nonchalantly said, "It's a girl." I had thought all along that it was a boy, and I had Curt thinking it was a boy as well, so we were both a little surprised, but of course, very excited!! Brooke didn't really understand what was going on, but was excited to see "baby on teetee (tv)". Since we have everything pink, tons of baby girl clothes and accessories, we are already pretty much ready for this little girly (at least as far as "stuff" goes). We will have a 3-D ultrasound at the next appt and are excited for another chance to see our baby girl. Now onto agreeing on a girl name...

It's a....

Stubborn baby something!! The night before our 20 week ultrasound, we copied a cute idea from my cousin and made a half pink/half blue cake and frosted it white. Supposedly, whatever color you cut into is what you are having. So...according to this test, we are having a...

 

 BOY...

Plain white cake...I had to cake on the frosting to cover the colors

Just to prove that it is half and half

 

 

 

 

But here's the funny thing....we still do not know what were are having! So we had the ultrasound on March 9th. I had rescheduled it from the 2nd to the 9th since we went out of town, so I was really ready to find out. I got a call from the doctor office that afternoon and they said my dr. was in emergency surgery and asked if I could reschedule. I told them I really wanted it that day since I wanted to know the baby was healthy. So they just had me come in later. I finally got into the ultrasound at 5:30pm (my doc does all the ultrasounds in office), and after all the measurements and knowing the baby is healthy, he tried to see the gender...No luck! So by this time, it was after 6pm and he told me I could come back anytime and he would look again. 

So I went back a week later in the morning, drank a lot of juice ate Lucky Charms before, and he looked around for 5-10 minutes...still no luck! This is one stubborn baby and "it" is already on the naughty list :-) 

My next appt is this Thursday afternoon. The doc will do another ultrasound so there is a chance we may find out..but we won't be getting our hopes up too much! Hopefully we at least know before the baby makes its appearance...It's kind-of ironic, since I'm the person who is always like "Why the heck wouldn't you find out if you could," and here I am 2 appts later with no clues!

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going to the annual parade downtown. In all our years here, it was the first time we had been. It was fun because we were there with several couples/families from church, but the actual parade was a little lame! Not to mention the fact that Brooke was a little overwhelmed b the crowds/noise so we had to hold her entire time. Maybe next year she will be a little more brave if we decide to go...

For dinner, we had our traditional corned beef and cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, complete with Irish Soda bread, green pina coladas, and green jello cake. It was a yummy dinner, and a great way to celebrate our Irish blood!

Mardi Gras

A few years ago, we decided to add yet another "holiday" to celebrate! Fun necklaces + masks + jambalaya + King Cake = A great way to celebrate Mardi Gras! It is now an annual tradition and we look forward to the fun and food. The jambalaya recipe we have it SO GOOD! We got it from a native Southerner. And my King Cake was much more successful this year (I didn't kill the yeast), so it was a fun Mardi Gras celebration! 

V-day

 Valentine's Day was low key this year, but so much fun! I got a little box of chocolate for the kids, made strawberry crepes for breakfast (even got up at 6:45 to make them for Curt), and Curt and I cooked a delicious Steak Dinner at home while my dad watched Brooke. It was so fun to celebrate our love and was rejuvenating!

My Handsome Valentine!

The chocolates were a hit! My parents used to do that for all of us kids each Valentine's..we'll carry on the tradition!

Our little Strawberry lover! "Strass" as she calls them..she made me peel the chocolate off of this one..weird child!