Another funny thing Lily does!

I've been trying to help Lily understand that there is a baby in my tummy. I am not sure if she is really getting it, here's why. One day Lily pulled my shirt up and pointed to my belly button. She knows what it is so no big surprise. I told her there was a baby in mommy's tummy. She said,"Let me see!" She then took her two pointer fingers and preceded to stretch my belly button out so she could look into it! After doing this she said, "Look baby in there!" She has done this many times, wanting to see the baby. I don't know if she is pretending or really thinks she can "see" the baby, but I sure get a kick out of her doing it!

Doc appointment

I went to the doc yesterday. Things went pretty well. My blood pressure was a little high, but not enough to worry about. I had only gained one pound! Yeah! I am doing sooooooooo much better on weight gain this time than with Lily. So I don't go into too much detail, I will just let you know that the doc said I am "progressing". Which is very exciting because I never "progressed" with Lily. The doc said she doesn't expect the baby to come early but there is still a chance she could. The doc also said that she thinks the ultrasound was probably a little inaccurate on the weight of the baby. She thinks that since Lily was such a big baby, she will probably be similar in size. So maybe I will be having a watermelon baby in the end :( I don't have a picture of me this week. Maybe later when Russ gets home we'll take one. Check back later!

Oh so much pain!

I've mentioned before that with this pregnancy I have a thing called symphasis. Basically my hip ligaments have stretched farther than the should. So my hips are all lose and wobbly. This is creating extraordinary amounts of pain. For awhile I went to a physical therapist to help with this. The pain went away, so they said I didn't need to come in anymore. Well, now for about a month the pain has come back like 20 times worse. It has gotten to the point that when I stand up I have to hold on to something in order to get my legs moving. They just won't move by themselves. I have to force them to move. Last night was the worst. I seriously almost collapsed going to the bathroom because it took longer than normal to get my legs working. The docs have suggested I take Tylenol to help. But Tylenol doesn't help because it isn't an anti-inflammatory. They said I could take Advil if it is that bad...but not to take a lot because it isn't good for the baby. I've been holding off for weeks, but I think I am going to have to give in. The pain is just too bad. I keep praying this baby will come early so the pain will go away, but I think she is too comfortable in there to be concerned about poor mommy. Oh well, endure to the end right?! Sorry to whine, but this helps get out the frustration, and takes my mind off the pain.

Memorial Day!

Memorial Day was Russ's first holiday off this year! (He doesn't get any holidays before that off, so he can get some extra time off during Christmas) We were excited to have him home for the holiday. We went shopping in the morning to get Lily shorts. Somehow she outgrew last years shorts that fit her a month ago! As we walked out of the stores it started to sprinkle. Well there went our picnic at the park! It was okay though we ended up BBQ and eating indoors. Lunch was scrumdidlyumpcious! Here is what Lily did while Russ and I cooked:

Catching water out of the broken rain gutter to water the flowers!

Catching more on her head and arm than in the bucket.

Oh! Can I catch some down here?

After lunch Russ brought out his remote control truck. I had bought this for him for Christmas so that he could play with Lily with it. Because of his busy schedule this was really the first time they had a chance to play.

Making the jump. The truck actually went off it successfully but I never got a pic. Darn!

Poor Elmo! Lily was quite concerned when he got ran over! Also notice that Lily decided to give baby a ride in the back of the truck!

Lily's turn controlling the truck.

Daddy and Lily playing with the truck.

The rest of our day, we spent relaxing. Who could ask for a better day?

I'm Stuck!

Here is a funny story about Lily this weekend. Russ and I had left Lily in the bathroom to finish putting on her panties. We were in the kitchen starting dinner when we hear Lily yelling, "HELP ME!" Russ ran to check on her. Then yelled for me to bring the camera. I guess Lily's underwear had fallen in the tub and she reached in over the edge of the tub to get them. Well, she got a hold of them, but didn't have enough strength to push her self back over the edge. She was just kinda dangling there naked bum and all. We laughed and took a picture which Lily made sure she said "CHEESE!" for. Russ requested I not post the pictures, but i couldn't resist telling the story. It was hilarious! Or maybe just one of those moments where you just gotta be there.

Blast Off Again!

I know I did a previous post about Blast Off, but I got much better pics this time. So I couldn't resist. We went on Friday, because Russ decided he wanted to actually take his day off instead of work it like normal. We had a great time at Blast Off....then we walked outside. All of sudden Russ felt VERY sick. We figured out later on that he had gotten food poisoning from some leftovers he had ate the previous. I tell him to quit eating stuff that is more than a week old, but he doesn't listen. Maybe he will now! Here are some pics we took at Blast Off!

Where did Lily go?

Russell being a great dad and playing with Lily on the slides!

Weeeeeee!!!!

Lily can't get enough of skiball

Lily always has to climb in this and drive it, even though

we never put any quarters in to make it go. She probably doesn't even

realize that we could make it move!

Nursery can be fun!

Heavenly Father gave me the calling of nursery to teach me some sort of lesson. I know that without a doubt. I hope I am learning that lesson. Today I learned that nursery can be fun not just stressful. Nursery is stressful to me because I feel like ours could be so much better, but I am too tired to set an example of how it should be better.

Nursery started out stressful today. I through together a lesson at 7:00 this morning, because I knew that the other teacher would forget that it was her turn to do the lesson. I think she has remembered her lesson like twice the whole 6 months I've been in there. I got to church and low and behold she had forgotten. I tried not to be upset. We need to think kind thoughts of others right? Well, not to brag or anything but my hasty lesson turned out great!

We were learning about being thankful for hands today. I had the kids start with playing blocks. We have never brought these out before. The kids played with them for quite awhile, AND our crier got interested in them right away. No crying! Yeah! For the lesson, I had brought a bunch of different objects to feel. The kids loved feeling them. We went outside and walked around the church feeling things. The kids were so excited they were pulling the teachers around. Lastly, we came back in and made a mitten to put on their hand. The kids really liked it as well. One kid even cried when is accidentally got broken! (Don't worry! We fixed it!)

The kids were great, and they had fun. Which in turn helped me relax and feel better about my calling. I had fun, even if I did still grumble a little bit to Russ that I had to the lesson.

All is well!

Today I went in for my ultrasound to determine what is going on with my growth spurts. The technician was really nice except that she kept making noises like, "Hmmm....Huh....Well, that is interesting" Geesh! Nice way to worry someone. But she did take a lot of time showing us Allie's head, tummy, heart, legs, and hands. Allie was doing the cutest thing with her hands. She had them up to her face balled into the fists. When the technician would push a little hard she would kinda shake her fists back and forth. Sadly enough, the tech didn't print off any of the pictures she took. :( The tech also let us know that she is weighing in at 5 lbs 11 oz right now. Whew! No watermelon baby for me, most likely! Dr. Lovell came in and said that everything on the ultrasound appeared normal. Allie was right where she should be for growth and I didn't have a huge amount of fluids. We asked why I was measuring so big, and he suggested that it could have been the position of the baby on that day because today I was only measuring 38 cm! He said as far as he was concerned I should deliver a healthy baby sometime around my due date! Whew! What a relief to know that everything with me and Allie are okay!

Fun in the sun!

Yesterday, Jess called us up to see if Lily would like to go swimming at her house. Since I was dreading pulling out our own pool so Lily could swim, I gratefully excepted the invitation. I found out later that Tanner had asked if "Lily from the Library" could come swim. So cute! They spent about 2 hours swimming and playing. Thanks for inviting us Jess, let me know what pictures you want and I will e-mail them to you!

Going up the slipper slide!

Playing with Kyliee.

Kyliee giving me a flower. Isn't she a cutie?

Taking a break in the playhouse!

I drive. Now it is your turn!

All three kids having fun!

My little daredevil!

Tanner is a daredevil too!

Yep! They are huge!

Well, my feet did swell up again yesterday. They are already swollen again today. I guess it isn't a fluke. The pictures aren't the best of them, but as you look at them remember that I usually DON'T have wrinkly ankles. When I showed Russ how swollen they were all he could say was,"Oh wow!"

Off to school she goes!

For some time now as Lily has watched Russell put his backpack on and head off to school. She has begged for me to get her backpack out of her closet, so she can go to school too. The other day we finally relented and let her get it out. Randomly throughout the day she will ask me to put it on so she can go to school. The funny thing about this is that the backpack is WAY to big for her and it is loaded down with her peek-a-boo blocks. (Pardon the underwear we are still potty training! Successfully I might add!)

Oh man!

I was hoping that when my feet swelled up last night, it would be just a fluke. I was wrong! This morning as I was running around doing some errands I felt that familiar tingling start again. I looked down and sure enough I was puffy. I never had this problem with Lily and I thought I wouldn't get it with this baby. I am still hoping it is a fluke though. We got our air conditioner working this morning. Our landlord finally decided it was time to fix the broken water pipe after about three weeks of us reminding her. Which meant that I could cool our house off. Hopefully, now that it will be cool in here my feet will return to normal size. I didn't post a picture because I can't take a good one by myself. If they are still swollen tonight I'll have Russ take one.

Isn't she funny!

My mom encouraged me to write this down so I won't forget it, and so I can embarrass Lily with it when she is older!

On Saturday Lily came up to Russell and said she needed some candy. Russell asked her why she needed candy. She patted her stomach and said, "The baby is hungry. I need to feed it!" (She had heard me say that the day before) Russ really got a good laugh out of that.

Then yesterday Lily grabbed a wipe out of the box. I told her to put it back because she has been wasting them on "washing" our tables and couches. She looked at me and said "No mommy. I need to wash the baby!" She preceded to rub her belly with the wipe and say,"Wash! Wash! Wash! All clean!" I tried to keep a straight face but couldn't. Lily didn't seem to get why I was laughing so hard.

The results and the decision!

This was the results of our "naming" game.
Laura May
6 (33%)

Allie Marie
9 (50%)

Claire Catherine
3 (16%)

A couple of days ago we came to the conclusion as to what we are most likely going to name our baby. We are going to name her Allie Marie! The funny thing is we were not at all swayed by this voting. We were leaning towards Claire when this was finished, but I all of a sudden decided that the name should be Allie. I had been set on this name at the beginning of my pregnancy, then went through an iffy stage, and I am not back to being set on it.

36 Weeks

Friday I went in for my 36 week doc appointment. All was going well until the doc measured my belly. I was measuring 40 cm! That is the size you should be at when you deliver. In just 2 weeks my belly had grown 6 cm! The doc was a little concerned because I hadn't gained much weight which meant that it was the baby who had grown a ton. So next week I have to go in and get an ultrasound done. The ultrasound will check to see exactly how big the baby is and how much fluid is around the baby. The doc said it is just a precaution to make sure I am not having a massive baby. I kept thinking to myself "What is massive? Bigger than Lily (who was 9.3)?" Well, I thought I would post a pic so you can see the two week difference. It is quite a shock, even for me! The striped shirt is 34 weeks and the orange shirt is 36 week!

Lily in the leaves

I have had this scrapbook page done for awhile, but I kept forgetting to write on it! I finally did and wanted to show it off. The pic isn't the best, I just couldn't get it to stop glaring. Oh well, you get the gist. Lily was just barely one when we took her to the church to jump in the leaves. Don't tell anyone we did it there, it seems a little sacreligous. :0

Just some fun pictures!

The people who lived in our apartment before us planted these. But last year only about two little ones bloomed. I took really good care of the garden area last year, and it payed off this year. I got two large groups of tulips! I also got a good picture of them! I am improving on my domestic skills all the time!

Lily wanted a picture by them, and it was too cute NOT to post!

Grandma Lala and Lily just chillin' Saturday morning!

Lily and Uncle Ken moving Uncle Al's four-wheeler so we all could help clean grandma and grandpa's garage. Lily loved her first four-wheeler ride. She kept saying, "WHEEEE!", even though Ken couldn't have been going more than 2 or 3 mph!

Lily and cousin Tyler playing with the old school little people sets. Lily was a little upset when we had to leave the city behind at Grandma Lala's house.

Me, my mom, and Lily on Mother's Day. It is tradition that mom takes a picture of the three of us almost every time I come down. Oh look at Lily's cute new dress!

Lily and Mommy planting Lily's flowers! Yes she is growing her own flowers. Grandma LaLa gave her some around Easter time.

Watering the flowers. Or should I say drowning the flowers?

Mother's Day in Utah

Since Russell was gone to California I spent mother's day in Utah with my family. Not what I would call an ideal situation. I mean Lily was there, but Russ couldn't help her acknowledge that it was a special day for me. The day still turned out pretty well. My parent's ward gave all the mothers a huge chocolate bar with the "Testaments" DVD attached. I already have the DVD but man that chocolate bar was good! (SHHHH! Don't tell my doctor that I ate it!) In nursery Lily made me a foam crown that said MOM on it, but she decided she would wear it instead of me. I was okay with that. She also brought me a chocolate dipped pretzel that said,"My mom the princess."









After church we went to my sisters house and had a GREAT dinner. I then got to relax and watch the Jazz game while my nephew played with Lily. Also, my sister/brother-in-law gave me a miniature rose bush. Very pretty! I hope I don't kill it. :0







When Russ did get back from he gave me a poem that he had written. He always does creative things like that! I debated whether I should post it, and in the end decided to because it is just so sweet!

Cursed Rat of '08

This is the cursed year of the Rat,

There is no denying that fact.

Why is it cursed you ask?

Because my blunders this year is worse than the ones years past.

What blunders you may inquirer?

The answer, where do I begin to relate this satire.

I guess a place to start,

Is in February, the day of the heart.

Yes Valentine's day as you may recall.

I did not take you to dinner, Cold Stone, Jamba or a ball.

Well dinner yes, but I was too late,

To take you on that lovely dinner date.

Next was our anniversary's day,

Which I am really sad to say,

Did not work out like how I wanted it.

Lily was there about to throw a fit

No lovely gift did I present,

Which is a super big regret.

And now it is Mother's Day.

I thought real hard, planned and schemed for that time in May.

But due to an untimely trip down south,

I was gone to California to my old house.

Once again, separated on an important day of celebration.

Only by phone can I give a salutation.

Once again I have no gift to exchange

And so you see that the rat curse has not lifted or changed.

So right now something desperate, I am going to try.

I know it is late, but if I don't do something, I might just die

A gift I have in hopes to lift this curse.

So come on, lets go and get you a purse.

Later that day Russ took me to Kohl's and bought me a really cute purse. He said he would have picked out the same one for me that I did pick out. My hubby knows me so well!

I almost forgot, Lily also got me a present. Well, my mom bought it and told her to give it to me. It is a really pretty silver necklace. I can't really explain it so hopefully you can get the gist of it in the picture I am posting.

This is why I stay at my parents house!

Well, I am back from Utah. We all were safe and had a great time. When I got home yesterday I decided I would read my friends blogs and catch up on their lives the past week. Boy did I get a shock! Dawnyel who lives two blocks away from me wrote about how she woke up at 4:30 in the morning on Friday to a reverse 911 call! Apparently, there was some nutty guy who lives down the street from her shooting holes in his apartment with a gun. The SWAT team had to come in and get him under control. After reading this I checked our phone messages. Sure enough, there was the reverse 911 call on there! Can you imagine how panicked I would have been if just Lily and I had been home when all this was going on? I would have died! I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly why I stay at my parents house when Russ is gone!

Family Update 5/14/08

I haven't written an e-mail in awhile, so I thought I would. Of course you all know pretty much how Russell's past week went. I mean he spent it with all of you in California! He seemed to really enjoy the time he was able to spend with the family even if it was under not so fun circumstances. I am glad he was able to go, since we just don't seem to be able to make it out there very often. Today (Wed) is Russ's first day back at school/work. His school started a new rule this semester. All graduate students have to be continually enrolled in school, including summertime. So Russ signed up for Thesis credits. This isn't really a class, it is just the way the school can document that he is working on his thesis. He won't have any classes, he will just be going to INL (work) everyday and working on his thesis. I talked to him today, and he sounds excited to be focusing on just that instead of classes and the thesis. Hopefully he can get a lot done before the baby arrives!

The past week as you know I went a stayed with my family. I HATE staying by myself while Russ is gone. I felt bad that I couldn't travel to California with Russ, but I barely made it to Utah without crying from being so uncomfortable. Anyway, I am glad I chose to go down and stay with my family when I found out that their had been some psycho guy on the loose in our neighborhood on Friday. Apparently, he had a gun and was shooting holes in his apartment with it. The SWAT team had to come and get him and everything. I would have seriously died of panic if Lily and I had been here alone at the time. Lily and I just hung out at my parents home the whole week. Nothing different from being here, just feeling a little safer.

Lily has just exploded with talking again! I've always thought she was talker but now it seems like she just won't be quiet. Her sentences are getting longer and much more complex. Developmentally her language is ahead of where it is supposed to be. YEAH! While at my parents house, she found the joy of band-aids. To her they are stickers that she gets to put all over her body. We finally had to hide my moms because she was getting in the drawer, pulling them out, and putting them on herself without us knowing. Today she tried to get ours out, but I hid them as well.

Also, I guess Lily is going through yet another growth spurt! How tall can this girl get? About two weeks ago we tried on Lily's shorts from last year. They were HUGE last year, so we thought they would fit this year. They were a little short, but they would do for the summer. Well, last week I put them on her to wear. To my surprise they weren't just "a little short" anymore, they were "hot pants" short! I couldn't believe it. I can not keep up with her! Ah such is life of a two year old!

Well, there is our boring life in nutshell. I do have a few cute pictures of Lily I am putting on our blog if you are interested in looking. Hope you all have a great week!

Let's go driving in an automobile!

Yes, I did get that title off of Sesame Street. I still remember ALL the words to that song. I sing it out loud when Lily is watching Sesame Street and it comes on. Anyway, the point is I am going yet again to Utah. Not that I don't love my family, but I don't want to drive in a car for four hours. It HURTS to sit that long in such a cramped area. Anyway, I am going down their with Lily because I am a chicken and I am scared to death to stay by myself at my house. Russ will continue on down to California for his grandma's funeral. He is going with his brother, sister-in-law, and sister, so I don't have to worry TOO much about him falling asleep and crashing. So, yet again there will be about a week long hiatus of blogging from me. (I really need to get my parents to get the internet!) Oh well, I hope you all enjoy your week, and I can't wait to read all the fun things you've done when I get back!

34 Weeks!

I went to my 34 week doc appointment on Friday. It was slightly dissapointing since I had to see the midwife that I hate. Russ had to remind me at the end of it that stress was bad for me, and that I needed to calm down. Here is just a bit of why I was stressed with this lady. She first asked why I didn't wear the maternity belt that I had been prescribed. I told her because that I went numb from my chest down when wearing it. She told me that couldln't be happening because I didn't wear it that high. Gee thanks for not believing me! She then asked why I was supposed to be wearing it. I told her because my regular doc had diagnosed me with symphasis and my hips have progressively gotten worse as the pregnancy continues. She well you don't get that until your 3rd or 4th pregnancy. I don't know why you were diagnosed with it. Steam was building up inside of me by then because not only had my doc diagnosed me with it, but so had a physical therapist! She then measured my belly and didn't tell me how big I was. That was just irrating because I want to know if this diabetic diet has been helping my baby at all.

Then she listened to the heartbeat. Lily got excited and said that's the baby heartbeat. The doc said oh she doesn't understand what that means, she's too young. By then I was breathing very had trying to keep my anger in check. How dare she say my daughter doesn't understand what she is talking about? By then it was the end of the appointment. The nurse (who knows I hate this doc) could tell I was a little upset when I came out of the visit. She graciously made sure my appointment was NOT with that lady again. Here is a new picture of what my growing belly looks like. The first pic is at 24 weeks, the second at 28 weeks, and the third is at 34 weeks! Oh my, just six more weeks! I am so excited!

Scrapbooking Fun

I have been trying to scrapbook a little bit lately. I am so far behind on Lily's book! This page is right after she turned one. I don't even have all her pages done before she turned one! What am I going to do with another baby's book to do? I guess have fun "trying" to catch up. Anyway, I thought I would show this one that I finished. I messed up on it so don't look too close. I have another one that I will be adding soon as well. I just got to write on it. That part always seems to take ten times longer to finish than to do the rest of the page!

I am really excited to show these next two pics. When down in Utah, my mom and I went window shopping at a great scrapbook store called Archivers. My mom saw a pad of 48 baby papers and bought it for me! It is so cute. Many of the pages of glitter on them. The pic to the left is just a couple of my favorite pages out of it. I can't wait to use it!

My other exciting thing I got down in Utah is this baby album. I got all of this stuff including the album for $12.95! Regularly it cost $49.95. I LOVE when I find good deals. If any of you are interested you can still go by this at Seagull Book for the same price. They are also selling a boy scrapbook with all the stuff. The album is really pretty, it has a cordoroy cover. When I first read this in the ad, I didn't think I would like it. But it turns out it looks really nice. Russ was happy that I got it for so cheap. Just one more thi ng I can't wait to start using!

Happy Late Anniversary Sweetie!

I have meaning to do this for awhile, but it seems like life has just been to crazy and I keep forgetting. So here is a very short tribute to my sweetie.


Being engaged was just fun and games. We never really went on many dates. But that is okay! I still loved the time I spent with you even though we just did homework.




Weren't we such a cute couple? Maybe I should say weren't we such a cute YOUNG couple? How many people questioned us if we were old enough to get married? Ahhh...those were the days!





Here we are here and now. No longer is it "just us". But who would want it any other way? We have changed so much, but one thing is still the same.....I LOVE YOU SWEETIE! Hope you have enjoyed these past four years as much as I have!

Grandma Jones

Early this morning Russell received a call from his mom telling him that his Grandma Jones had passed away during the night. It wasn't unexpected. She was in her 90s and the family had been told recently that she wasn't doing well and wouldn't make it much longer. I only talked to her two times the whole time Russ and I have been married. One was at our California reception. The picture to the left is of her there with Aunt Ethelann. I wish I had gotten to know her better. She was so nice to me those times I did talk to her. I also wish Lily had had the opportunity to get to know her great-grandma. I guess that is one reason we have eternity. So we can get to know our family that went before us. Grandma Jones will be missed by many.