A Photo A Day: Week 7

Feb 12: Eli looks so old to me lately. Sometimes I look at him and think he looks like a 5-year-old, not a 3-year-old.

Feb 13: This is a horrible picture (I think my camera was on manual focus, not auto!), but I went to check on Oliver during his nap and found his asleep sitting up with his legs between the slats of his crib. He was clutching 5 burp cloths and had been asleep like this for almost an hour! Thankfully, the click of my camera woke him up a little and he laid down.  Poor, tired baby!

Feb 14: My girlfriends from high school got together for our monthly play date and I finally insisted that we take a picture. In all the years we've been getting together, we've never gotten one before! I just love them and love seeing them every month.

Feb 15: Adam recently got these rings for exercising and hung them in the laundry room. The boys have been getting more use out of them than he has. They've been impressing me with their moves.

Feb 16: The weather has been unusually nice for this time of year so we've been taking advantage of it by playing outside a lot.

Feb 17: We took the boys to the rec center to go ice skating but like idiots, we didn't check the hours that it was open to the public, and of course, it was closed. So instead, we climbed on the rock wall. Adam definitely had more fun than the boys did.

Feb 18: 18 weeks, and mama's getting biiiiiiiig!

18 Weeks Pregnant

I'm still feeling really great! I realize how blessed I am to have easy pregnancies and thank the heavens every day for it. I don't know how I would do it if I had to chase around my two boys every day while feeling awful. To all you women out there who do it... you have my full respect!

I frequently forget I'm pregnant but then will catch a glance of myself in the mirror and be like, "Oh yeah! I am definitely getting big!" I'm a hard core belly sleeper and am having a hard time adjusting to sleeping on my side. I probably still sleep on my belly the majority of the time but am trying my hardest to transition to my side. I've found that if I put my head on two pillows, it helps me stay put during the night. Otherwise, I'll wake up and find myself on my belly.

Just like with my other pregnancies, my skin is horrible. I talked to my doctor about it and he told me that my hormones are causing the flare ups and there's probably not much I can do about it. I use salicylic acid washes and stuff like that but the only thing it seems to do it make my skin dry. I guess I'm going to just have to deal with it and wear a lot of makeup in the mean time. With my previous two pregnancies, my skin cleared up within days of birthing my babies, so I'm assuming the same thing will happen this time.

I'm not going to lie, I'm getting kind of discouraged about my weight gain. I track my calories to make sure I don't overdo it but it doesn't seem to matter. The scale keeps climbing at what to me is an alarming rate. My theory is that when I'm pregnant, my body doesn't burn as many calories as it does when I'm not pregnant. It clings on to everything and I pack the weight on like crazy. They say you can and should eat and extra 300 calories a day at this point in pregnancy, but if I did that, I would be a whale. I eat fewer calories than normal and I still gain tons of weight. It doesn't make sense and it's frustrating!

Adam and I have discussed names for this little guy a little and we came up with one that we both like a lot. I still want to explore more options, but I bet we'll end up naming him what we came up with recently. Who knows though, we still have about 5 months until he's here.

18 weeks pregnant with Eli.

A Photo A Day: Week 6

Feb 5: I've been collecting colors of Gelish every chance I get. This is probably my all time favorite (right now at least!). It's fun for winter.

Feb 6: We had a super fun gender reveal party with all our our family and found out that Alba Baby #3 is ANOTHER BOY!!! Heaven help me!

Feb 7: Lauren took out her endowments at the Bountiful Temple and the whole family got to be there with her. It was a special day because it was the first time all of us have been in the temple together.

Feb 8: The big wedding day is finally here! Here are Mr. and Mrs. Packer coming out of the temple. Aren't they a handsome couple?

Feb 9: This boy loves nothing more than to be naked. I let him run around the house in his birthday suit probably more than I should!

Feb 10: I took some photos of little London Loo. Oh man, is she a cutie! I can't get enough of that girl. She is the happiest baby ever.

Feb 11: 17 weeks and feeling great!

Oliver: 21 Months Old

Dear Oliver,

Holy moly, you've turned into a little terror this month! Okay, I'm exaggerating. You're not a terror, but you have definitely become more opinionated and sassy. Your favorite word to say is "no" and you say it hundreds of times a day. You wake up saying "no" and go to bed saying "no." You like to do everything yourself and hate when I try to help you. Sometimes you'll have tantrums where you scream "NOOOO!" for a good half hour or so and I honestly can't figure out why you're so mad.

Your eating has been pretty awful this month in the sense that you sure don't eat much. At meal time, you eat with gusto for the first 3-4 bites and then you stop cold and refuse to eat any more. I seriously doubt that you are full after just a few bites but I don't know what to do about it. You just act like you don't care about food, which I don't understand in the least. I plan my entire life around what I'm going to eat. I wake up in the morning and my first thought is usually "What delicious foods can I eat today?" At least you're still pretty adventurous about what you'll try, even if you only have a bite or two.

You play independently so well. You love to zoom your favorite toys around the house so quietly that sometimes we have to ask each other, "Where's Oliver? What is he doing?" In one sense, it's so nice that you can entertain yourself, but in the other, it makes me sad sometimes because you want nothing to do with me. I'll go up to you to try to play with you but you'll yell "No!" and push me away. You love time to yourself. I don't know why you're like this. Is it just how you are or is it a result of being the second child? I don't have as much time to dedicate to you and maybe you've just learned to deal with it. Eli is definitely the squeaky wheel at our house and gets more attention than you. It's sad and hopefully you won't be scarred for life because of it!

You poor baby, you are still hardly talking at all. The other day, I was thrilled because you called me mama. You rarely do that! You can say "daddy," "Eli," "I do," "thank you," and "berries." Other than that, you're pretty silent. I've had people tell me that maybe I should get your hearing checked or get you into some therapy, but in my heart, I don't think there's anything wrong with you. I just think you're a late bloomer and you'll learn to talk in your own time.

You are so full of life and are so much fun. You love to dance and do this funny thing where you'll run around the room pointing at people while you dance. Your favorite part of the day is when your daddy comes home. You run outside to greet him in the carport with a big smile, a squeal, and rosy cheeks. You immediately want to wrestle with him and can hardly wait for him to change his clothes.

We've discovered that you absolutely love to be naked and need "naked time" before bed. If we don't strip you down and let you run around for a good half hour before we put you in your pajamas, you freak out. Things go much more smoothly if we let you have this time. I love watching your naked, squishy body run around the room. It's the cutest thing ever.

Oliver, I love you so much. I even love your sassy-ness and your attitude. It's impossible to ever really get mad at you. You're so much fun and I feel so privileged to spend every day with you!

Lots of love,
Mama

21 Month Stats:
Weight: 26.6 lbs (43rd percentile)
Height: 33 1/2 in (49th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19 1/4 in (65th percentile)

Gender Reveal Party

My little sister is getting married this weekend, and it just so happened that that we also had our 16 week appointment with Dr. Ward this week. This was a big appointment because it was the one where he would tell us the sex of the baby. After double checking with Lauren that she didn't mind us doing it the week of her wedding, we went ahead and planned a fun gender reveal party for our families. When we found of the sex of our babies in the past, we just found out in the doctor's office and called people to tell them one-by-one. We thought that this time, it would be a lot of fun for us to all find out together, us included.

During the ultrasound on Monday, we told Dr. Ward to tell us when he was going to the genital area of the baby and we would look away. We're not ultrasound techs by any means, but we wanted to make sure that we wouldn't accidentally see something we weren't supposed to. He told us to look away and I'm not kidding, 5 seconds later he told us we could look back.  That was fast! I asked him if he was sure he knew and he looked me dead in the eyes and said "I am 100% positive." When he said that, Adam and I both had the strongest feeling wash over us that it was another boy. I don't know why, but we both just really felt like it was. I had felt like it was another boy for my whole pregnancy though, so this just solidified it.

Dr. Ward wrote the baby's sex down on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope. To be honest, I really wasn't even tempted to look at it. I was excited to find out with everyone on Thursday. Michelle came over the next morning to pick up the envelope. She was the one person designated to know. Her instructions were to fill a big box full of blue balloons if it was a boy or pink balloons if it was a girl. When we opened the box at the party, the balloons would fly out and that's how we'd all find out.

We anxiously waited for Thursday night at 5:30. We put together some decorations and some food and had a grand ol' time. Here are a few pictures from the party!

The sign welcoming everyone into the house.

I made these cupcakes and was pretty proud of how they turned out. Let me tell you, it took freaking forever to cut out all of those mustaches though. Worth it? Probably not. At least I have this cute picture as a reminder of my hard work!

We had everyone write their names on a slip of paper and put their guess in either bowl. The majority of people guessed that it was a boy!

I saw the Pioneer Woman making these blackberry cheesecake bars on TV and knew they had to make an appearance at our party. Adam even helped me make them on Wednesday night. He never helps me cook, so it was really fun to have him in the kitchen with me. What a treat!

There are dozens of "Old Wives Tales," or ways to tell what the sex of your baby is. Here are my answers. My cute friend Jessica Laspina made this board for me.

Here I am drawing a name out of the boy bowl. The prize was a Target gift card and Patrick won!

Here's the cute box filled with balloons that Michelle made.

Here we are about to open the box. Boy or girl?

We started cutting....

And cut a little more.... Is the suspense killing you?!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

I immediately got teary eyed. So many emotions!

I don't know if the boys really knew what was going on, especially Oliver.

I guess boys are all we know how to make!!!

I adore this group photo of everyone that was at the party. Look how many people already love our little guy. I can't wait for him to get here and meet everyone!

16 Weeks Pregnant

The past few weeks, I've been sleeping horribly because I've been having so many bad dreams. I wake up in a sweat almost every night and even woke up crying once this week. They range from dreams about Adam cheating on me to people chasing me that are trying to kill me. I recently dreamt that I caught Adam having an affair. But instead of getting really pissed and leaving him (like I would in real life), I was hysterically pleading with him to stay with me instead of the other woman. I begged him to help take care of me and our 3 kids, but he laughed in my face and simply said "I don't want to." Then he walked away with the short, busty brunette and I never saw him again. I woke up in tears and couldn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night. I also recently dreamt that two women were chasing me with knives, trying to slit my throat. Yuck.

I talked to my obstetrician about these dreams at my appointment yesterday and he told me that they're very common in pregnant woman. They come from a combination of hormones and insecurities that you already have. Adding another child to our family brings even more responsibility and stress, so of course I'm anxious about it. At the very beginning of my pregnancy, my anxiety was through the roof but I think I'm doing a lot better now. I'm adjusting to the idea of taking care of 3 kids all day, even though there thought of it gets my heart racing if I think about it too much.

My energy has picked up and I can get through the day without needing a nap. I still take a short one a few times a week if I can manage it, but it's not completely necessary like it was there for awhile. I have been on a big house cleaning and organizing kick. I made a huge list of projects, big and small, that I want done before the baby is born. Most of them are random things that have been bugging me like moving the bed to clean and dust under it to trying to find matches to all the socks in the house. Weird, I know. But hopefully our house will look amazing by the time baby is born!

We had an ultrasound yesterday to determine the baby's sex, but we're waiting until Thursday to find out because we want to do it with all of our family. We turned our heads while Dr. Ward looked at baby's nether-regions and he wrote the results down in an envelope. It only took him like 5 seconds. When I asked him how sure he was of the sex, he looked in my eyes and said in the most dead serious voice "I am 100% positive." Good enough for me! I can hardly wait to find out in 2 days! I bet you ANYTHING it is a boy. Adam had another one of his dreams that it was a boy a few weeks ago and he hasn't been wrong yet. Also, all 3 of my pregnancies have felt exactly the same, so I will be shocked if it's a girl.

16 weeks pregnant with Eli and Oliver.

A Photo A Day: Week 5

Jan 29: Grandma Janie gave the boys a very obnoxious slot machine that they've become completely obsessed with. It's been ringing all day and they've wanted to take it with them everywhere we go.

Jan 30: Eli lined up dozens of toys along his play mat to create a "traffic jam." I adore this kid's creativity.

Jan 31: Eli woke up in the night and threw up. In the morning, he had a fever and he continued to run a fever all day long. He was incredibly lethargic and even took 2 separate naps, which is so unlike him. After one of his naps, he came out of his room and laid like this in the hallway for over an hour. It was so sad. Nothing makes me feel worse than seeing my babies sick.

Feb 1: I literally picked these up on the way home from the gym. Do you think they cancelled out my workout? Oops.

Feb 2: For our Superbowl Sunday feast, I made bruschetta. Homemade baguette, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It was killer!

Feb 3: The boys love to play in my bed after bath time. This morning, they read books for almost an hour.

Feb 4: Baby is the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long and 3.5 ounces.