Til We Meet Again

I have a few minutes in the silence of naptime... one of my favorite times during the day. My quilt is coming along- I got all the blocks laid out last night and backgrounds picked out and now I'm working on topsy-turvying them. I took some pictures of the process along the way... I'll post them when I finish, I think. I'm hoping to have it done by the time we leave for AZ, but I'm not sure I will.

Today I am grateful for a knowledge of my Savior and all He has done for me. I am thankful to know of a loving Heavenly Father's plan for us, and that we can live with Him again. A good friend of mine passed away- I don't know if it was today or yesterday but today was the day I found out. Tiffany Brock was my accompanist for most of my degree at ASU and she has suffered from cystic fibrosis- but I am glad she no longer has to struggle with it. We pray for her family that they may be comforted as they grieve.

I am also grateful for my family. I have the most wonderful little family- today I really tried to stop and take time to smile and laugh at things that happen instead of getting frustrated. As Audrey is getting bigger and now Ethan is starting to be more interactive, she really wants to play with him. It's sometimes frustrating because I feel like I can't do anything without her pestering him. He's also learned the game siblings play of picking on each other really well- since he can't pester her back, he just hollers and looks for Mom. I feel like I've been constantly upset when they are both awake and I'm trying to make dinner or get a little cleaning done. So today I tried to be kinder with my words and tone of voice. It was surprising to me what a difference it made. Not that Audrey pushed or pulled on Ethan less, or that he hollered less today (so far he's been grumpier than yesterday), but I felt less stressed, and I could tell Audrey was calmer. I was able to hold onto those moments of peace that came so fleetingly yesterday. I took time to appreciate that I have such a wonderful gift- today to be with my children and to play with them and care for them.

Onward and Upward... and downward too I guess

Well, I got released from my calling tonight(for those who didn't remember/know, I was the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency). Bro. B came by and talked to us this evening about us moving and he went ahead and released me. Kind of mixed feelings. Nice to feel the burden lifted, sad to realize that I love love LOVE those kids and I will miss them like crazy. We really only have one more Sunday in our old ward- the Sunday after that is Stake Conference.

Good news on our house- they FINALLY started drilling the well today. The Wahlquists called and said they could see them doing it from their house. You can actually see our house that we are buying from their back doorstep. Kind of neat- we are excited to live near(er) to them and to be in their ward!

Ethan is learning to take a bottle. I have mixed feelings about this... My problem is that every month when Mother Nature sends her gifts to me my milk supply basically disappears, and it keeps getting worse as Ethan gets older and requires more to subsist upon. It usually comes back just fine, but it takes about a week. Finally decided we needed to suck it up and supplement for that week. I am so relieved in that I know that now he is actually getting enough to eat. He is SO happy because he LOVES food and eating and anything like that. He was so delighted when I gave him the bottle and once he figured it out, I could see in his eyes saying "WOW! This thing has FOOD! LOTS OF FOOD!" But I am a little sad that I can't provide ALL of his milk for him. That bond is really special to me- something that I felt went WAY too fast for me this time around. So that adventure began today. I hope that means he won't wean for good... but I would be ok with that if that's what he chose. Thomas and I were talking about it today and he made the comment that maybe that would be for the best- maybe that is just how my body works, maybe I start producing less milk after 6 months or so postpartum. It helps to have him tell me its ok- part of me feels like I'm obligated to never feed my baby formula ever.

Ethan is mostly sitting up now, and he can scoot himself around on the floor. He sits until he falls over, and then he scoots around on his back. It's way cool. Audrey is so talkative. Phrases you will probably hear her say:
- "I just..."
- "Hey Mommy! Hey Daddy! (then nothing, or random things like '...arm!')"
- "No want it!!!"
- "Iya needa sanck" (I need a snack)
- "Yeah!"
- "I wuv it, a-Toy Story! (or whatever the thing is)"
She is doing so well with sentences. She's started to babble again, kind of like when she was first learning to talk in sentences. She just spews out tons of sounds and I can't decide if she's really saying things and I just can't understand it or if she is just trying to make herself sound like she's saying paragraphs instead of sentences. Every few sentences will make sense when she does this. But she really communicates very well when I take the time to really listen and decode what she says. Her favorite movies are Toy Story and Monsers Inc (Monsters Inc). She has such a good memory and she remembers parts of the movies and can quote them to you. I have such adorable children. :)

I can't believe I haven't written about this yet... My sister is getting MARRIED!!! She is marrying Josh Stoker on Dec 22nd. I have no idea how I haven't talked about this on here yet. !!! Yay marriage! :D We are excited for them and for Josh to be part of our family.

I should post pictures of the blizzard and of my adorable children, but I'm really tired and I have to get up to play for a lesson tomorrow, so I won't. Sorry. :)

Teeth!

Well, tooth actually. I forgot to write in myt last post that I discovered Ethan's very first tooth yesterday evening! It's his bottom front left tooth. The right one is still super close. I'm glad he at least got one of them... :D

I also wanted to write quickly about a phone call I got today. It was a lady calling with a survey about breastfeeding. It was really short, probably only a minute and a half. This is the third time she'd called me, because I always seemed to miss the phone call and she left a message and I never bothered calling back. But it was just a few questions about how long I'd breastfed Ethan and why I decided to do so and a few things like that. At the end she told me that I was doing a great job and that I was a great mom, and then she said goodbye and that was the end. I guess it was just really good to hear someone tell me that I was doing a great job and that I was a good mom today. It made me feel good.

I also feel good that I finally got to the bottom of my laundry pile. :)

Blizzard and Blessings

The last time we went to Dairy Queen to get a blizzard it was awful. The line inside was forever long so we went through the drive-through. The person was really nice but made a couple mistakes on our order sizing and then got confused about the coupon we had and tried to charge us double. Then what I ordered was missing half the things that were supposed to be in it, and Thomas' was the completely wrong thing. Next time, I'm just going to Arctic Circle. They are way better anyway.

But we had a real blizzard today- the first one I was aware of. Thomas claims that we had one last year but I don't know how I could have missed it... My car is covered in like 2 feet of snow. I park right across from the park's park... haha... I park my car right across from the mobile home park's little park thing with the swings and all, so I got a lot of blown snow across it. I tried to go out and dig it out earlier today and it was really hard. I got Thomas' car uncovered but mine was more than I was willing to sweat over just then. It was kind of fun I guess. It's sort of unreal to me that I can take a hot shower in a blizzard and be perfectly warm all I want and not have to worry about a thing, just stay inside and all is well. I think of the settlers of this town years and years ago who thought Rexburg would be a swell place to live (they must have gotten here in the summer) who didn't have modern conveniences to endure the long winters with. I am grateful to live in this day where I have so many blessings to make my life easier: refrigerators, dishwashers, breadmakers, crockpots, washing machines, cars, grocery stores, freezers, furnaces, water heaters, indoor plumbing, the INTERNET... the list could go on forever. I am so blessed!

I have a wonderful family who loves me and wants to be with me in the Gospel. I have the most amazing husband anyone could ask for and he is perfect for me in every way. He holds the priesthood in our home and is worthy to go to the temple with me. He gives so much to me and to our family without even questioning, even if he doesn't want to do it. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful ward who loves my family almost as much as I do. I have a beautiful warm home to live in. I have an amazingly comfortable bed to sleep in. My children are fed and warm and happy when they go to bed at night. I don't think I could want for anything more in life- my needs and beyond are met so fantastically.

My Savior loves me and has sacrificed beyond what I can imagine so I can live with my Father again. I have the knowledge of His Plan for His children. I have the privilege and responsibility of raising two of his precious, choice spirits and teaching them about this Plan. Thomas and I get to lead them through life and help them to choose what God would want us to choose. They are so beautiful and wonderful. I cannot imagine my life without them as a part of it forever.

Winter Work and Chocolate Chip Cookies

We are supposed to get a blizzard tonight/tomorrow. SO, I just took an amazing hot bath to warm up (since my dear husband is distracted playing a computer game instead of getting more firewood or lighting the furnace). I LOVE my jacuzzi tub. I am going to MISS it SO much when we move.

Speaking of which, I guess some people didn't know we are moving! We are buying a house out in Hibbard, just a few minutes away from where we live right now, and right around the corner from the Wahlquists! It is a foreclosure, so it's taken a little longer to close than we originally planned (which we expected). Last I heard they had started drilling our new well and we are just waiting for them to finish any repairs they need to make and for an appraiser to come out and tell us if there is anything else we need to fix on it before we can close on the house. We are hoping to close in the next week or two so we can get everything moved and done before we leave for AZ for Christmas. Thomas and Audrey are headed to the Valley on the 13th of December, and Ethan and I are coming on the 17th. I have to stay a little longer to finish up playing for juries up on campus.

I've been going through old boxes of papers and filing cabinets and de-junking everything so we don't have so much stuff to move. It's been kind of fun going through all this old stuff and remembering high school and friends and elementary school teachers. It's been fun to go through some of it with Thomas too, and share that part of my life with him. I feel like I've always known him, and it's sometimes almost surprising when I realize there's only a small part of my life he's been in it, and a large part he didn't know a lot about. It's fun to get to know him more every day.

Thomas is still crazy busy but is learning to balance work at home with family time. He really likes his new job but is struggling learning to manage his own working time, like setting his own hours. Really a lot of his stress (and my stress) is that he isn't done working at Allstate yet. His boss just had surgery and he's on the phone or headed into the office almost every day to help the newbies manage things. I don't mind that so much, but when you add it to trying to balance that, working for Auto & Art at home, MissionShoe stuff, and trying to fit it all into a schedule it gets kind of crazy. Not to mention trying to get some face time with his adorable children... if I do say so myself.

Speaking of them, Audrey and Ethan are getting so big. Audrey's favorite thing ever is Toy Story- we borrowed and rented Toy Story 2 and 3 this weekend and had a marathon. She loved it! We also loved getting to finally see the third one since we hadn't yet. She is talking so much better every day and she is so wonderful. She has definitely entered the "terrible twos". I was beginning to wonder if she would at all, she was doing so well. And even still, she is a good girl. Things are just so dramatic! :) Audrey loves being a big sister and is already picking on Ethan to show her love. Ethan is amazingly tolerant of her, but he has his limits. He is ALMOST ready to pop his first tooth out, but not quite. He is going through a growth spurt I think, because last night he slept for 13 hours STRAIGHT (no waking up to eat at ALL) and then he took a 4 hour nap today. And went to bed on time so tired. I haven't slept that well since he was born! He is starting to eat more foods now, he likes green beans ok but he isn't such a huge fan of peas. The funny part is that even though he doesn't like the food, he keeps eating it. Today I was feeding him peas, and he makes awful faces and was actually crying because he didn't like the taste, but he kept eating it didn't spit it out. Silly boy! I guess he loves his food! He is still doing pretty well nursing, which is more than ok by me. Audrey didn't make it this far nursing- she was pretty much done by 6 months. It's interesting learning to nurse another baby- Ethan has been very different in a lot of ways. I love my kids so much!

I am enjoying accompanying up on campus. I am grateful to have had such wonderful accompanists in my college experience. I still keep up with Tiffany (I worked with her for most semesters and my recital). She is still struggling with cystic fibrosis. Go here to read her blog. I try to keep her and her family in my prayers. I am also grateful for professors who taught me how to treat my pianists. I feel like there are so many students on campus up here (and teachers who don't think to teach them how) who don't really appreciate their accompanists enough to show them courtesies they should. Again, sometimes their teachers just don't stress how important a good accompanist is or how to keep one. I've only run into a couple who are actually *rude*; for the most part people are at least decent. But they are cheap. They don't want to pay for anything they can get away with not paying. I actually had one girl last week who was challenging me, to the dollar, over her $27 bill for November. Sheesh! I miss ASU sometimes. More serious musicians ready to go places and work hard, willing to pay for quality and appreciate it, taught to appreciate and REHEARSE with their pianists... *sigh*.

I love to cook. I am going to try and share more of my favorite recipes that I find. Here is my favorite for today...

"The Chewy" (chocolate chip cookie) by Alton Brown

These are SO good. I think they might be the best chocolate chip cookie I've ever made. I have a problem keeping these in the house. I might need extra Pilates and Zumba to make up for it. The recipe calls for scooping dough with a #20 disher, which I didn't have, but I looked up how much that is, and it's just under 1/4 cup (about 3.2 T). I just used a 1/4 cup scoop not filled all the way. Please, use real butter, and don't forget to chill the dough thoroughly.

Ok peeps, here it goes. We are finally going private. (of course, I say "we" even though Thomas NEVER even reads this blog... He may not even remember the address...) I've gotten a few weird comments and followers that I don't know at all, so I'm gonna play it safe. Message me your email address and I'll send you an invite. To be done later this week...

After I privatize I'll update you on happenings in Scott-land. :)

Three-bite rule

Realized I forgot one thing I wanted to say- something Dr. Agatston talked about in his book that I loved was his three-bite rule for desserts. He says that if you want dessert, you should have it. But only eat three bites. Eat them very slowly, and then be done. You end up just as satisfied but without the guilt of eating a whole piece of cake, or slice of pie or whatever. I tried it and it SO works. It satisfies my craving for something sweet without overdoing it. I really like those little tidbits he talks about, things that I can do without following every part of his diet. Just to help us eat healthier.

Food, Glorious Food.

Right now I'm reading The South Beach Diet by Dr. Arthur Agatston. I'm not one for fad diets, but I like a lot of things that he has to say about healthy eating and making smart choices. I also learned all about how your body processes and absorbs food- I had NO idea about ANY of this! I found it fascinating, so you all have to hear about it. If you already know or don't care, don't read it! :)


So you eat food. Carbohydrates are converted/broken down into sugar, which equals energy for your cells. You need insulin to absorb the sugar into your cells so you can use it for energy- it's like a key that unlocks the cells. Your pancreas makes insulin according to your blood sugar levels. Your cells absorb the sugar/energy and you can run around chasing toddlers.

The more processed a food is, the less work your body has to do to get the energy out of it. The less work your body does in breaking down the food once you swallow it, the more energy can be stored (read:fat) because it doesn't use up energy as it breaks down the food you ate. For instance, if you eat cooked broccoli, it has already been steamed and made soft and warm, and stripped of some of its fiber/nutrients and stuff. This is what your body would have to do if you ate it raw. So your body doesn't have to work as hard to break down the cooked broccoli as the raw broccoli. This is true for any food that has been processed in some way before you ate it.

Carbohydrates can be good or bad. For example, eating a slice of white bread vs. eating a slice of whole wheat (with the grains and stuff showing). The white bread is made of white flour, which is really wheat stripped of some of its parts and ground up really fine. It's REALLY easy for your body to process white bread- it's practically like eating pure sugar from a glycemic index point of view. (NOTE: glycemic index is a measure of how difficult it is for your body to convert it to energy/sugar. They give each food a number to show which affects your blood sugar levels differently.) The whole wheat (meaning made of wheat that hasn't been processed to death, you can see the grains in the bread) is better for you because it hasn't been. However, if you ate the bread with some butter or oil, it's actually better for you (glycemic index talking) than if you had eaten the bread plain. Dr. Agatston talks about how if you eat carbs with a fat or a fiber, it slows down the speed at which the carbs are broken down, and slows the rate at which sugar is released into your blood. So eating a baked potato (lots of carbs, lots of starch) with sour cream and butter helps balance your blood sugar so the sugars are absorbed more slowly. Or eating chicken or fish, plus a salad and veggies with your pasta helps to slow the rate at which your body breaks down and releases sugars from the carbs in the pasta.

Here is the problem. Say you have waffles with butter and syrup for breakfast. Lots of carbs and sugar. Your body breaks down those carbs pretty quickly (making you hungry more quickly too, i might add), so the amount of sugar released into your bloodstream goes up really quickly (not to mention the syrup which goes straight to your bloodstream, as it needs no processing by your body to be used as energy). Because your blood sugar level goes up so dramatically and quickly, your pancreas pumps out a ton of insulin to correct that. That means that your blood sugar shoots up, and then the sugar is absorbed quickly so it drops down. When your blood sugar drops, then you have cravings for more carbs and sugar because that's what your body needs ASAP. Your body knows you need it quick so it can keep functioning, so that's what message it gives your brain- more sugar!

In contrast, if you ate eggs with peppers and mushrooms (veggies have a very low glycemic index, which is part of why Dr. Agatston's diet recommends the 2-week veggie thing) and some canadian bacon (he says its better than regular bacon), and maybe a slice of whole-wheat toast with butter. You fed your body protein, fiber, fat, along with some good carbs. So your body breaks it down more slowly, keeping you feeling full longer, and raises and lowers your blood sugar more gradually so you don't crash out at 10:00.

So when a person is overweight, the reaction their body has to this process is slightly different. Consume food, breaks it down into sugars, same as before. The pancreas detects the level of sugar in your blood and sends out insulin, but in this scenario, the amount of insulin an overweight person's body has to produce is much higher (depending on how overweight they are). This is because when your body stores fat, it doesn't make new cells to store it in. It just adds it to the ones that are already there, so your cells grow larger and larger. When your pancreas produces insulin, it has to make more than a normal person's body because the cells are so large they don't recognize the normal amount of insulin. So their blood sugar levels drop much more quickly because by the time the cells recognize the insulin and accept the sugar there is so much insulin the sugars are absorbed really quickly. This leads to the crash and crave cycle- your body needs more sugar NOW.

I just thought all this was really interesting to read about. I also learned more about Type 1 and 2 diabetes, but I won't get into that right now.

Firsts and Changes

Bah so much for my goal to write all the time. I blame going out of town. That's a good reason.

Well, Audrey and Thomas made it home just fine. Audrey was happy to see me and she came back knowing a TON of new words and phrases. She still says "oh sure" instead of "ok" when I ask her if she wants something- dunno who that came from! She talks so much and she loves to play pretend everything Mom does. She also still talks about Gramma and Gramma Becca and Mo-Mo... sorry Grandpas. :) Every time I try to get her to say "grandpa" she says "gramma". We were eating breakfast the other morning and she told me she wanted to share her waffle with me, and then she said it was for Grandma. Cute!

We (Ethan and I) had a great week in AZ playing with Grandmas and Grandpas and family and friends. He was kind of overwhelmed at doing so much stuff, since we really don't go a whole lot of places and see a whole lot of people normally. But he did great. He actually slept really well in a new place/situation and I was so proud of him. In fact, we ended up moving him out of our room because he got used to sleeping in a dark, quiet room. Our first night back here in Rexburg was pretty bad- he didn't like sleeping in our room anymore. So now he sleeps in the shoe room with Daddy's shoes. :) And we LOVE having him out of our room. He sleeps SO much better and so do we. He also actually NAPS for REAL! WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!! I'm shocked. He's always been a great sleeper at night but he never really napped regularly. Until NOW! Ha! Love it.

In other "growing up" news, Ethan also loves rice cereal. He can roll from his front to his back and his back to his front now. He can scoot himself around, either on his tummy or on his back. He is 5 months old tomorrow! He also discovered the "buh" sound this morning at 5:00am when he thought it was time to get up. It's really cute. He's been "buh-buh-buh"ing all morning.

Audrey is getting so big too. She is officially TWO years old! She had a wonderful birthday. The only thing she wanted to watch all day was Bobby's World. We went to Wingers for dinner, and then went to the park afterwards. She loves the slides. Then we told her we were going home to open presents and she got so excited and kept asking about "presents" the whole way. I'm not sure she really understood what that was, but she still talks about her birthday. I think her favorite present was her Elmo she got from Aunt Missy- she carried him everywhere for about a week after. Second favorite was the card from Grandma and Grandpa Scott- it plays music when you open it and I have the cutest video of her opening and closing and opening and closing and so on. However she also LOVED Monsters Inc... we've watched that a few times and she likes it a lot.

Thomas is starting his new job today! He went in to Allstate for an hour or so to get things rolling there and then he will come home and start working for Auto and Art! He is doing some web stuff/marketing stuff that I don't really understand quite all what he will be doing, but I know Thomas is WAY excited about it and is so done with Allstate. He has to pull double duty for this month- still kind of working at Allstate til Shannon comes back from having her baby.

I have four students to accompany for this semester, which is awesome. The gal I was going to play for her recital this semester fell through- she said she just got so busy she didn't have time to practice so no recital this semester. But I'm excited to get to have a few accompanying jobs again. Ethan is older and I really feel ready to get back into that.

We are also excited that we will probably be moving by mid-November into a new house! Well, new to us. The bank accepted our offer on a foreclosure on 3 acres out in Hibbard and we love it. It's a 1996 doublewide on a foundation, 1800sq ft and very open floor plan. We are getting a super deal on it. It needs a little work, but we like that because we can make it our own and do what we want with it. We will miss this ward and our little double-wide here in Mill Hollow, but we are kind of done living here. It was a chapter of our lives and now it's time to begin a new one. And we could use a little more space for Thomas' shoes (I crack myself up every time I say that) and so he can have an office to work from home in. We won't close on the house until after he's had two full paychecks from his new job, which works out well since that means I can stay til the Sacrament Meeting program is done! I'm excited/scared to see that through... but mostly excited. :)

I was gonna upload some pics... but Ethan just woke up and I ran out of time. Maybe later today! :)

Day 2 of toddlerlessness

Today was wonderful. I spent most of the day reading The Hunger Games trilogy. I'm about halfway through the third one- definitely a huge fan. Can't wait to see how it ends! Ethan LOVES having all my attention and not having to share it with Audrey all day. He seems to have a rough time whenever he starts to get tired. He gets a little tired, his mouth hurts and he refuses to eat, but he can't fall asleep because usually he falls asleep while nursing. He won't take a bottle or anything either. Poor kid fell asleep sucking his thumb in his bassinet tonight cuz he wouldn't eat anything. His wet/dirty diapers are still doing fine, though I don't know how. He must be getting more efficient during the time he does spend nursing. He hates anything but breastmilk so far- not a fan of formula and he hates taking medicine.

My house is blissfully clean. I love it! I know it won't last when Audrey comes home, but I don't mind. It's nice to have it clean for a few days. I also made, refried and froze some beans today. It's strange only cooking for one. But kind of fun cuz I can pick whatever I want to eat without stressing whether Audrey will eat it or if Thomas will like it.

I'm pretty much finished with preparations for the Sacrament Meeting Program in November. I just have to make up a seating chart and do some last-minute tweaking as kids come and go from primary. I know there will be some changes to make in the next two months.

some pics to enjoy!

Messy hairs!

Making faces

We got to play with Carter and Connor Baker a couple weeks ago. They had so much fun!

Leaving on a jet plane... Part 1

Well, we sent the Audrey and the Thomas off on a shuttle bus this morning, headed on their way to AZ. I actually had mixed feelings- part of me was kind of sad because I will miss my little girl for a few days! I didn't anticipate that- this is the longest I will have been away from her ever. So far I am kind of liking the freedom I have though... My house is almost clean! I might even clean the bathrooms tomorrow... It's been a long time since my house had a good, top-to-bottom cleaning. I like it! My poor Ethan is still very grumpy. But we are watching old Stargate episodes and Cosby show episodes and doing a little ironing when the opportunity presents itself. We might get adventurous and take a walk this evening to fetch the mail.

Thomas just texted me and said they made it to the airport but their flight is delayed about an hour. He also said Audrey hasn't napped but she is doing just great- having so much fun with Daddy. I'm excited for grandparents to see her and enjoy her cuteness. In the meantime, the Ben & Jerry's hidden in the freezer is calling to me... :)

The Trouble with Teething

I think 4 months is way too early to begin serious teething. Audrey started "teething" at around 3 months, but that was pretty much just drooling and gnawing on things. This kid is full-fledged super-grumpy, biting, screaming teething. My saving grace is that he sleeps 8-9 hours at night (knock on wood). He doesn't nap much anymore. Occasionally we get 20 minutes of peace and quiet, but, the poor dear doesn't want to eat, can't sleep, tylenol barely takes the edge off it for him. Has to be held while standing up... *sigh*. I'm just tired... and venting. I really do have wonderful children. I'm looking forward to a little break this week and next week. Thomas and Audrey are AZ-bound on Wednesday and will come home on Sunday. So it will just be me and the little man for a few days. Then next week it's our turn to head to AZ! We are so excited to see family and friends! Part of me is sad that we aren't all going down at the same time... but part of me is glad too. This will be a little easier to orchestrate and will give us a break from two children screaming at the same time. I'm getting a little frazzled these days. :/

I really don't want to sound like I'm complaining- I realize that my children are so good. I really do have well-behaved kids. Ethan can't help that he doesn't feel well when he is teething. Audrey is two- she acts like a two year old. But she listens fairly well.

Well my 5 minutes of quiet is up. :) Adventures in Mommy-hood!

Saturday is a special day

I am so glad that Daddy is good at putting the boy to sleep. It makes having two hands for blogging a whole lot easier. :D

Weekends are glorious. :)

Today I learned how to take care of a bumblebee nest. We have one under our house, since we live in a trailer and all. I learned that bumblebees are nice as long as you don't go poking around in their houses. They never build a nest in the same spot every spring, so next spring they won't come back. I learned that the new queen goes off to hibernate elsewhere and leaves the drones/worker bees to die in the nest during winter. Then she builds a new nest and workers and stuff in spring. So I don't think we will have a problem, since it's not a place that anybody can get to and bother it right now. It makes Thomas' to-do list shorter for today! :)

I'm off to go polish up plans for the Children's Sacrament Meeting Program I'm in Charge of. It's not happening til mid-November. I'm scared, well, excited AND scared.

Hello, Fall

Ok- update on the last post. Blogger didn't delete my posts... the list was somehow missing and empty for a couple times I visited my dashboard... I am ok. :) I also laid the screaming, inconsolable child in his bed. Sent the man out for Redbox and Karie Anne's. Mama needs a minute. Or two. :|

Ethan is 4 months old now. He's getting so big so fast. He rolls from his front to his back, is definitely teething. I don't think we make it through an hour without him soaking the front of his outfit with drool. He's a super sleeper most nights- he goes to bed around 9 or 10 and wakes up once around 5 or 6. Sometimes he goes back to sleep after that... but sometimes he wants to play. I'm slowly getting him used to putting himself to sleep. His naptimes are all over the place but I'm ok with that now. He's usually a happy baby- but teething has kinda kinked that. (can I say that to a woman?) We love him! Audrey loves him too. She loves having a little brother. We went to the dr's yesterday for her 2-year and his 4-month appointment. She brought her baby doll (Mimi gave it to her for her first birthday- she has to have either the doll or her bear which was also a gift from Mimi) and she did AWESOME!!! I was so surprised, especially since I had both of them in there by myself. I was a little worried cuz last time we went to the dr's with just me and the two of them it was a fiasco. But this time was better.

Audrey will be 2 in almost a week. That is so weird and awesome. I LOVE having a toddler. I don't know if that is weird. She just gets more fun every day. I woke her up from a nap the other day and she opened her eyes and said "Goodbye, Fishies!" I thought I had mis-heard her so I asked her to repeat herself and she said it again. We had been to the drs that day and they have a fishtank. She loves fishtanks (she loves the one at the library). I asked her about it later that day and she told me all about the black one and the blue one and the yellow one.

Oh thank heavens today was Friday. So glad for the weekend! Thomas might actually be home for most of it. That would be nice. He's been so busy with Allstate now his boss is on bedrest.

Well that's all for now. The man is back with my Karie Anne's and a movie. Toodles!

Resolved

I have an infinite love for Ben & Jerry's Brownie Batter Ice Cream. It pretty much tops my list of best ice creams ever.

I really hate that Blogger deleted all my blogs that I follow. All my friends and family and recipe blogs that I love... I have to rebuild them all.

Maybe my love for Ben & Jerry's will get me through it.



I'm trying to be better at blogging. I was inspired by a post by Pioneer Woman about blogging- and I'm gonna try and blog more often. Even if it's just dumb stuff about Ben & Jerry's and hateful deleted lists written while my younger child is screaming his head off. I'm trying to block it out... it's been a long couple of days. (poor kid had his shots yesterday... and he's still teething like MAD. I don't know whether to pray for teeth to come already or if I should just grin and bear it.)

I fear sometimes that so much of my life happens without me writing anything about it. I'm gonna try and write something- even if it's short- at least once a week. I was gonna say once a day but I know that will NEVER happen with two kids keeping me on their toes.

All is well. :)

Fourth of July Fun!

We took Audrey to her first fireworks show Saturday night. She loved it. She was such a trooper! We tried to get her to nap late so she would be able to stay up late but that didn't work. She got an early nap in this morning but she was still so super tired. We stayed here in Rexburg to see the show they do at the fairgrounds. We camped out in the little park there near the fairgrounds, and Audrey loved getting to play on the slides with the other kids. She was unstoppable! She didn't even care that we had yummy fried chicken to eat. After it started to get dusky people started setting off small fireworks over in what used to be the ice rink in the wintertime, and Audrey thought that was SO cool. She also loved the sparklers until she tried to poke one with her finger and it got a little too hot. She didn't like that so much. She liked the firework show, but she was really tired at that point and the loud noises kind of scared her. She kept telling us she was sad when she would hear the boom, until we gave her a cookie. She really liked that. Ethan didn't really care about the fireworks, he just sat there and listened to the sounds. Thomas took some good pictures...

She dominated the slide!

This is Jason. He is Audrey's friend from down the street and around the corner. We try not to be jealous that despite being only 2 1/2 weeks older, he has already had like 6 haircuts and still has all that hair.

This is what I was doing!

We moved Audrey to a toddler bed. She actually has been doing pretty well with it. Bedtime is fairly easy thus far, but naptime is hard cuz it's light and she can see all her toys. She is so proud of her big girl bed- when we first set it up all she wanted to do was play on it. She is learning to be a good big sister to Ethan. She loves to play with him and I think he is getting more used to her style of "play".

Thomas interviewed for that position here in Rexburg. Still waiting to hear about it. We are hopeful but time will tell. I'm keeping busy with the two kids. It's super fun but sure is tiring. I know why women bear children when they are young!

Life with the Four of Us

Well we are adjusting to four-dom life pretty well, I think. Ethan is an awesome baby and he actually lets me get some sleep at night most days (nights?). He is probably close to 10 pounds now, which his sister did not achieve until probably close to 4 months or so. He's definitely an eater. Which is probably why he's more of a sleeper than Audrey was too. He's had some spit-up troubles, but I started feeding him in more of a sitting-up position and he is doing remarkably better- it's nice not to have to change both our outfits 5 times every day. Audrey is getting so big and so close to terrible twos. It's crazy to realize in just a few months my baby girl will be two. She really doesn't have so many problems with tantrums right now, it's mostly just she ignores when we ask her to do things or to stop doing things. She really is a good girl- it's just interesting to me how all children go through this phase. It's nice to remember it's just a phase... and it will pass... but my patience is extremely tried in the meantime! She counted to ten all by herself, unprompted just the other day- I think it was Saturday. It blows me away how big and grown-up she is getting.

Summer is finally here! Sort of... it froze last week and killed a bunch of people's gardens and stuff. We were lucky and procrastinated our garden-planting until this week when it got warm again! We planted peas, green beans, carrots, lettuce, beets, and cucumbers! We are so excited to grow things again! We also cleaned out our raspberry bushes and rescued them from the tangles of evil grass that besieged them so last summer. They look much happier already! However we shamefully neglected our tulips this spring, and they didn't last very long. They fell into the clutches of the aforementioned evil grass. :( We aren't sure what to do with that corner of our yard now... I kinda just wanna run over it with the lawn mower, but... yeah.

Things are going well for us- Thomas graduated (YAY!) and is working still at Allstate here in Rexburg. He has been putting out his resume and applying for different jobs. We've got a couple of rejection letters, but mostly we are still waiting to hear back from places. There is one here in Rexburg we are particularly excited about- we are hoping he will get an interview set up for this week. It's an exciting thing to explore so many options and to imagine what the future will be like, but also kind of stressful/scary.

Now that Ethan is getting older, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I have started my long-lost love of Pilates once again, and we go for walks most evenings with our AMAZING double jogging stroller... which I plan to make great use of this summer! I love the feeling of exercising and using my body again since it's been a little while since I have been able to do that! I've also started to get back into my calling (1st counselor in the Primary Presidency) and get crackin' on that Sacrament meeting Program that I'm in charge of... wahoo! And... yikes! But I'm actually starting to get really excited about it. It kind of reminds me of when I used to be in college and have homework and have to write essays and stuff... and that's kind of fun to remember nostalgically, while it's not quite the same cuz I get to play with the primary kids! Yeah! I really love Primary! Oddly enough a great source of stress in my calling is actually the President I serve under. I love her so much and I love working with her and she is so effective... but she is one of those ladies that is ALWAYS busy doing something and serving and is so involved in everything, and when she is given a task or sets her mind to do something, it's done before you can turn around and say "what?" It kind of stresses me out, because I feel this pressure to be just like her and be amazing and wildly productive. I knew that I felt stressed sometimes after talking to her (even just on the phone) but I didn't realize how much it stresses me out until this last Sunday when she was out of town and we ran things in Primary by ourselves. I realized I didn't get stressed about ANYTHING Primary-related that day- which is rare. I'm glad to realize this so I can figure out how to fix it.

I have a lot more I want to blog (as always)... I also wanted to get pictures up on this to go with this post but if I wait to post this til I have all the pictures then it will never get posted... and both children are sleeping... and I am tired! Why am I still awake?! Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to bed I go!

Ethan Thomas Scott

He is here!!!

Born Thursday, May 6 at 3:12pm. 7lbs 15oz, 19.5 inches long. Everyone is doing great! Ethan is a good eater and (so far) a pretty decent sleeper between feedings. He is getting cuter every day and we love having four of us!

Audrey didn't like Ethan at all at first. She loves him now, but she didn't at first. She came to see us in the hospital and she didn't like it at all.



Not sure if she was freaked out by the hospital or the baby or just the whole thing in general- but she is slowly getting better. She pretty much ignored him when we first brought him home, unless he cried- then she would say "Baby? Baby?"



After about a week she started being ok with him being around, and by now she LOVES her "buddy" but she doesn't know how to play with him as softly as she should!

Audrey update

I pulled this out of my journal- just kind of an update on Audrey. She is such a chatterbox and loves to make up stories and sing songs to herself as she plays. She also recognizes that letters all by themselves are different from pictures, and every letter she sees she calls the letter H. She is fascinated by counting, and can count to 5 (repeating after me, although she sometimes remembers 2 to 3 without help, and from 4 to 5 without help, but she still says "cat" for the number 4.) Sesame Street is her absolute favorite- she loves all her muppet friends and asks for them often. She learns new words from Sesame Street too- that's where cookie and dolly and the letter H came from. With the melting of the snow, we've discovered she is still obsessed with sticks and has brought several inside the house to keep. She had her 18 month checkup this week and the doctor says she is doing great- 30% for weight and 60% for height. She's still in the 96% for her head size... so I guess she's really smart... She knows there is a baby in Mommy's tummy and that his picture is on the fridge, but she calls her tummy a baby sometimes too, so I don't really think she gets what it all means. She is going to nursery now and doing great- she does a lot better if Thomas drops her off instead of me. She is very social. She is doing a lot better at sitting quietly during prayers and folding her arms for more of the time. She also is learning to recognize that Mommy isn't the only one who can say prayers, and that sometimes she needs to sit still when other people pray in church. She loves looking at church magazines or the Nursery handbook, and loves finding pictures of Jesus in them. She will sit for most of the Sacrament part of Sacrament meeting looking at a book with pictures of Jesus in them. I could go on and on, but here is the list copied from my journal.

I wanted to make a list of all the words Audrey can say as of today. She will try to imitate pretty much any word you ask her to, but I wanted to make a list of words I know she knows what they mean and uses them independently without me prompting her. Parenthesis are what you hear when she says the word. Some words sound exactly the same as other words.

1. Mommy
2. Daddy
3. TV (Tee-tee)
4. Binky (Meenee)
5. Blankie (Bennee)
6. Food (Boot)
7. Light (Yight)
8. Doggie/Arf
9. Kitty/Meow
10. Duck
11. Horse (she neighs)
12. Cow (she moos)
13. Sheep (she baas)
14. Piggie (scrunches nose and sniffs a bunch)
15. Car (Vroom)
16. Snowing (No-een)
17. Truck (Duck)
18. Stuck (Duck)
19. Up
20. Down
21. Done
22. Yucky (Uckies) *anything on the floor like fuzzies or string or bits of paper or anything is "uckies"
23. Ernie (Ehnee) *she is obsessed with Ernie. He's her favorite.
24. Bert (Ehnee) *she used to call them both "Boht" for Bert, and now she calls them both Ehnee for Ernie.
25. Big Bird (Bo-Bo)
26. Cookie
27. Grover (Goh)
28. Count (Coht)
29. Snuffy (Nunny)
30. Coat
31. Shoes (Tooes)
32. Toes
33. Nose
34. Eyes
35. Mouth (Mots)
36. Neck
37. Socks (Tock)
38. Apple
39. Banana (Mana) *She turns a lot of words that begin with "B" into words beginning with "M"
40. Bread (Beht)
41. Bed (Beht)
42. Spoon (Poon)* she calls a knife and fork "poon" also
43. Plate (Payte)
44. Hi *she will wave and say hi to any ladies or kids regardless of if she knows them, but not to men- she tends to be kind of afraid of men until she gets to know them
45. Hello (Ewow)
46. Bye-bye
47. Trees (Tees)
48. Teeth (Teet) *she is obsessed with brushing her teeth.
49. Wipe (Wi-PE!)
50. Baby
51. Ouch (Out)
52. Jesus (Dees-dus)
53. Man (Manuh)
54. Book
55. Toys (Towees)
56. Egg
57. Juice (Doose)
58. Cup (Puck)
59. Train (Too-Too)
60. Monkey (Ooh-ooh)
61. Owl (Ooh-ooh)
62. Chicken (Bock-bock)
63. Bird (Bowt)
64. Please (Pees)
65. Poopy
66. Potty (Poddy)
67. Grandma (Mo-mo)
68. Ride (Wite)*this one she loves- it's like telling a dog "walk" or getting out the leash or something
69. Dolly (Towee)
70. Puppy
71. Box (Baht)
72. Uh-oh
73. Girl (Goh)
74. Boy (Bowee)
75. Bowl (Bow)
76. Fruit (Poop) *this may also mean Winnie the Pooh but I haven't confirmed it
77. Stick (Tick)
78. Pretty *she almost always whispers this one- I've only heard her say it out loud a few times and only recently
79. Phone (Bone)
80. Amen (AH-men)
81. Shh *I don't know if this counts as a real word or not, but she says it whenever she sees someone doing it

Life

I was telling Thomas about this but he made me stop because it made him sad. I had to come finish telling someone. I just watched Gianna Jessen speak on YouTube. You can watch it too, here and here. Gianna is a woman who survived an abortion in 1977- her parents were both 17 years old, and at 30 weeks along decided they didn't want her, and turned to an abortion clinic. The procedure was unsuccessful, as Gianna was born alive instead of dead, and was put into foster care with cerebral palsy as a result of the attempted abortion. She walks today with a mere limp, something her doctors never thought she would be able to do, but her spirit is so strong as she speaks of things she is passionate about. I have never met her but I love her for her passion for life and her determination to be an advocate for good. I am shocked into fascination by her story. I won't tell it all here, she does that much better than I could. I am confused and outraged at a man who tried to take her life but ended up signing her birth certificate, and is proud and passionate of his accomplishments of murdering over a million children before they had a chance to live. I truly do not understand how people cannot see it as murder. I think of Gianna's mother- as I sit here just a few weeks further along than she was when she chose to end her pregnancy. I do not understand how, feeling this baby boy move and live within me, anyone could in good conscience not feel that this baby is living and deserves life. I cannot understand, remembering watching early ultrasounds of both my children and marveling at how much they moved and kicked and danced inside me without me even feeling it, that people could not consider that life, and deserving of life. I would never be able to live knowing that I ended that for someone so small and helpless, someone God trusted me with the care of. How could anyone betray that trust, no matter what the circumstances? A mother's body needs nourishment to nurture babies, whether they are inside or outside her body. I love my baby boy, my Little Brother, and I am so excited and proud to give him life- to be giving him life every day.

Desert Rat Memories

I was sitting here and I looked up the weather for tomorrow, and it said "scattered T-storms" and I had this sudden memory of Arizona that made me miss it. I remember back at our second-story apartment in AZ, we had a bench on the front porch that we got for $10 at Bed, Bath and Beyond because it had some broken straps in the woven seat. We used to sit on it on nice days or evenings and just talk. I remember sitting on the bench in the summertime in AZ, in the evening as the sun was setting off to our right, and the monsoon storms rolling in on our left. I remember the feel of the hot wind and the smell of the wet desert air. I miss AZ monsoons- oh how I love them. I looked at the weather forecast and I was like, ooh, a thunderstorm! A real spring storm! It reminded me of the way I used to look forward to the end of summer monsoon season storms and how crazy and wonderful they were. I remember dancing out in the warm rain with friends SO many times. I think I will always be a desert rat at heart.

Well life is never boring! We've been sick on and off over here since January... and I guess kinda before that. I've kept getting sinus infections. Audrey got a cold. Thomas has a stomach thing right now. I got a real bad sinus infection a few weeks ago, but I think I've finally gotten rid of them all and now I'm just trying to stave them off for a couple months until I deliver this kid. Nasal rinses are my friend. I wish I could say we are all healthy right now though!

We've had a bit of excitement with this pregnancy- about the time I was getting rid of the last sinus infection I started having some real contractions- pretty close together. I'd had tons of Braxton-Hicks since around month 4 but these were definitely more real and they started happening every 2-4 minutes so we called our wonderful doctor. He said to take it easy and see how the night went, and to come in the next day. The night was fine- once I took a warm bath and put my feet up for the night things calmed down. We went in the next day and they checked me out and everything was fine- no dilating yet or anything. So they told me to "take it easy" for a few weeks, at least until 34 weeks along. After that point they said they wouldn't stop my labor if it actually happened. So... we've been taking it easy! I still get contractions, even if I'm totally at rest for awhile, but if I am sitting or laying down I only get one or two an hour. Anytime I stand or do anything of consequence I usually get more of them. Our ward has been wonderful and everyone is so nice and helping when we need it. I'm really still able to do a lot of things I normally can, just a lot slower with lots of breaks in the middle. Anything that has me lifting or bending is hard. Mostly my body is just really tired- muscles working hard with contractions and dealing with the pain.

Thomas is rounding the corner into his last month of school- just a few more weeks really and he is done with his undergrad! We are so excited for him to be done. He is starting to feel the "now what" syndrome- faced with career and job options and where our family will be next. We aren't quite sure yet what the future holds for us, but we are starting to explore many options. Our tentative plans are to stay here until September, but after that we aren't sure. If Thomas gets a really awesome offer somewhere before then, we might end up leaving sooner. Who knows! It's exciting, but kinda frustrating to have everything so up in the air. It's such a fun time of life though- we are so grateful.

The weather is starting to get SO beautiful here in Rexburg. It's warming up so it doesn't get SO SO cold at night, and the snow is all starting to melt and the grass is showing through. I didn't even wear long sleeves when we went out today- it was blissfully beautiful. We are SO SO SO excited for spring and summertime here! I know our AZ family is telling us it's starting to get a little warm down there... but we welcome the warmth!

Audrey is getting so big and fun to be with. She is going to Nursery now, as her 18-month mark is on Saturday. She's gone a couple times, and we still have some tears but we've learned that Daddy is better at taking her and dropping her off because she's less nervous about him leaving her. Plus they have snacks. That's always a winner. She is such a chatterbox and loves to tell stories as she plays by herself around the house. Her new favorite spot is on the low bookshelf in her room, sitting so she can look out her window and talk about all the things she sees outside. She is learning so many real words and I catch her practicing them and putting them into little sentences. A lot of her words are made-up but they mean real things, like "Meeny" for "Binky" and "Bo-Bo" for "Big Bird". She LOVES her Sesame Street, and it's gotten us through many days, especially as I'm not able to be as active as I'd like to these days. She's such a joy to have in our family, and she's excited to be a big sister (we think- she points to my tummy and says "ba-bee" and knows his picture is on the fridge, but I'm not sure she realizes quite what that means since it really doesn't look like any other baby pictures she's ever seen). She is getting better at saying "Jesus" instead of "doo-dee" and loves looking at pictures in the Friend, Ensign, or Nursery manual. This is largely how we get through Sacrament meeting without tantrums because she can't run free and wild around the chapel and halls. She is getting so good at sitting like a big girl in church. She knows to fold her arms and bow her head for prayers and she always reminds us to pray on our food. Such an adorable girl.

I'm getting really excited to have a new baby- but a little nervous at the same time. Mostly lately I'm starting to freak out pregnant-style about not having everything ready for him to come- "what if i go into labor right now and we have the baby tonight and he will have to wear girly pink clothes cuz we haven't gotten him any yet and we don't even have a crib mattress for him to sleep on yet and..." you get the idea. Just totally pregnant hormone love. I am excited to have him come into our family!

Goals and things to think about

I've been thinking- I want to set out some goals for myself to make the next few months as wonderful as possible.

Make a menu- weekly or monthly or whatever- and stick to it. I'm tired of getting to lunchtime and then starting to wonder... "what on earth are we gonna eat for dinner?" and not figuring it out until 5:00 and having to scramble to get things together. I want to plan out what we are having. I was inspired by this post here. I'm not gonna make a crazy cute little thing like she did- but I was inspired to at least start planning meals better. I think it will take one more stressful thing off my shoulders.

Study the scriptures every day. I'm kind of flexible when it comes to this one. Sometimes (like today) I read articles from the Ensign and looked at the pictures with Audrey and told her stories about Jesus and members of the Church. It was delightful. This is kind of a two part goal. I also want to make time to read something gospel-related with Audrey every day. She is too young to read the scriptures out loud to, but I want to start getting into the habit of her being exposed to the Gospel at a young age. She's learned who Jesus is- but she made up a different name for Him. She always says "Doo-tee" when she sees a picture of him. Go figure.

I want to be better prepared for Primary on Sundays. I feel like Sunday is the most stressful day of my week sometimes, and it's a struggle just to get through it alive. Part of that is Audrey is transitioning into Nursery... kind of... but it's a hard time of the day for her. I have to swing Sundays so she wakes up really early and takes two naps, or wakes up really late (like 9:00) and takes one as soon as we get back from church. Otherwise she is a pill for Church and won't leave Mom or Dad to go to Nursery, or anywhere else besides the hallways.

I'm not gonna pile up more stuff for myself to get overwhelmed with right now. But that's a starting place. I think those are the main sources of my stress- so I hope that will make things a little easier!

Long overdue

The post right before this one was one I apparently had typed before Thanksgiving... I'm a blogging slacker. I will try to do better! I would like to blame some of it on not having a functioning computer for awhile- my laptop caught some nasty bug and I had to reload everything back onto it. Audrey isn't so fond of computers if she's not the one pushing the buttons, so it took me about a week to get things fully back up to normal. So much is going on up here! Let me play catch up a little bit...

Christmas was amazing and wonderful and WARM. We got to go down to AZ to visit our families and to enjoy wearing short sleeves when leaving the house. We actually wished for shorts a couple times while we were down there. We loved getting to see all our family and many friends! If we missed you we are sorry but time was so short. We got to take Audrey outside to play! Hooray! I know she misses it. She loves to sit in the window and watch the snow fall... we are looking forward to spring! We've actually had a very mild winter- very warm and very dry for Rexburg. They are getting kind of concerned about the summer because of how dry it will be- especially over in Yellowstone. I personally don't mind not having a ton of snow around my house, or having to deal with shoveling 5 times a day. :) I would love to have time to post pictures and details of our AZ escapades, but I think I will save that for another post. I want to catch up on things first... naptime is only so long!

We made it back up to Rexburg and settled into the semester nicely- this is Thomas' last semester here! He graduates on April 10th and he is definitely struggling with a major case of senioritis. In one sense it makes me worry more for him, but in another it's kind of liberating to see him more relaxed than last semester. I figure it will start going away as the projects start to pile up... but we will see. We are still tenatively planning on staying in Rexburg after graduation, but we have discussed other options and we aren't quite sure what will happen exactly. There are still several things that are up in the air and who knows what opportunities will come our way. Thomas' latest pet project is putting all that web design practice he got last semester into building MissionShoe a new website. It's coming along nicely and he is really excited about it. MissionShoe is doing very well- he is looking at establishing another account with a company in Utah that is very interested in carrying his shoes. He also wants to do some spiffing up of the display he currently has in the BYU-I bookstore. We did an inventory/organizing of all his shoes on Saturday and realized he has a lot of shoes. He will probably be moving some of them into a storage unit by the next shipment, and definitely before May so we have a little extra space for more baby stuff.

I don't know if I ever actually announced it here- we are expecting a baby boy on May 9th or thereabouts! We are very excited and are doing well. Audrey doesn't understand why we keep telling her Mommy's tummy has a baby in it- she looks at it like "you can't fool me, I know that's not what a baby looks like". We are excited for her to be a big sister! She is growing ever faster and is getting to be a pro at feeding herself with her own little dishes and forks and things. She is totally off the bottle now and drinks milk totally fine from a sippy. I had had such a hard time getting her to drink it from a sippy, but one day she just decided she would do it. I've found with her the hardest part of teaching her something like that is that she is set on doing things her way until she decides differently. It's taught me a lot of patience. She still loves climbing and pushing buttons but she is learning what is ok and not ok for her to play with. She is getting better at listening and getting better at not listening. She is definitely in the "tantrum" phase which has been interesting to deal with. She is still a Daddy's girl and talks about him all day long, and when he is home, she thinks he should do nothing but play with her.

I am getting better at managing a toddler and keeping the house in order. It seems like every time I have something figured out, life changes and I have re-adapt. I expect to feel like this for most of my mothering life. My calling is going wonderfully- I truly love it and while I still feel very overwhelmed much of the time (blame it on the hormones) I am so excited to be where I am. I finally found out today that they have found other leaders to take over the Webelos so I don't have to do that anymore. I am planning on going to Den meeting today to hand off my book and things to the other ladies, and I think I'm still invited to the Blue and Gold Banquet in two weeks but other than that, I am done with Cub Scouts for now. Lots of relief but also sad because I did love working with the boys, and we had such wonderful leaders to work with also. I am excited to have a little more brain to focus on Primary though.

This pregnancy has been good to me- I felt a ton better at around 14 or 15 weeks so no more morning sickness! Hallelujiah! I do get horrible round ligament pain most days, and I also seem especially prone to sinus infections this time around (working on #4 right now) but I really can't complain. It is SO amazing to be able to feel normal and forget I'm pregnant! I really have enjoyed this second trimester- it was such a relief that I wasn't sick the whole time. I wonder if it's a gender thing or if it's just luck of the draw. I'm starting to wind down the second trimester- my last few weeks here, and I realized as I woke up to the little guy pummeling on my full bladder this morning that I'm reaching the end of my "forgetting I'm pregnant" days. He is getting a lot stronger every day and I'm starting to feel a lot larger. I knew it couldn't last forever... but time really does seem like it's flying. Hard to believe that in just over 3 1/2 months, Thomas will be graduated and we will have a newborn in the house!

I was grateful to not have lost any information when my computer got sick- which means all my pictures are safe! Hooray! I will try and put some pictures on here later today or tonight- for now I am going to catch a quick snooze while the child still sleepeth!