Cece's blessing day

We blessed Cece in October and since General Conference was the week before, we were able to go down to utah and go to conference with my family and then have my parents come up to Idaho later in the week. Aunt Diana and Katya also came, which was so sweet of them :) and here are the pictures!

Here are some random pictures.

Juliet with pigtails

Cece in her blessing dress. (not the best, but these are from Tim's ipod)

Smiling Cece!!

Some funny things the girls have been doing lately:

Juliet story #1

Juliet walked past me the other night before bedtime and tooted. Tim asks her if she tooted and she says, "the mommy!" Little stinker! Trying to blame it on me!

Juliet story #2

Juliet has had a recent fascination with women's bodies. Apparently she has grabbed Sam before, and yesterday I was sitting in the back seat of the car when she just squeezed me! It's kind of funny, but a little awkward since she's getting older all the time! She also saw Sam changing Calvin's diaper at our house and when the diaper came off Juliet went "Whoa!" hahahahaha!

Juliet is constantly putting things in her hair and I have some great pictures of it! I will be posting those soon!

Cece is soooo cute! She is very smiley and laughs at Tim all the time. She is still a great sleeper at night, but we are working on her daytime naps.

Last night we went to the employee christmas sale at the school bookstore. the girls got a picture with santa and i got a signed book by jack weyland :)

well, not much left to say. next time, pictures!

bleh

i don't want to blog :( but certain people are getting antsy so here i go.

juliet is adorable! she loves tangled and loves the part where they are singing with the thugs and ruffians hahaha. she'll stand in front of the tv and sing, "a dweam, a dweam, a dweam." and lately she has been talking A LOT. she describes everything she is doing or what we are doing. she likes to say that she is taking "big steps!" and that daddy is at "wooork." she is surely becoming a picky eater and it drives me crazy! but i've been trying to put her in her seat more so that seems to be helping a little bit. she also had 3 play dates this week, which was very fun for her!

cece is great! she pretty much does what a normal baby does: eat, sleep, poop, repeat. her schedule is changing but it's a lot harder to figure out since i have juliet to take care of. since she sleeps so well at night i think her morning nap is getting pushed a little further but it's hard for me to remember some days. she is very smiley and juliet loves to make her smile :)

tim got another job working at the salt lake express again. it's pretty awesome and he has some great hours right now. he's pretty much the best ever and helps me out so much. his mom is coming next week and we are VERY excited. it'll be nice to have someone around while tim is at work.

i'm just hanging out. you know, taking care of two kids all day. two kids that don't nap at the same time. but i do love spending my days with my girls :) oh, and i have recently discovered "pinterest." it's amazing and i've already done some of the crafts and recipes that i have found from it. you should all try it.

well, that's all i can think of right now. i really don't look at blogs as much as i used to, and i don't even facebook that much anymore. juliet and cece just keep me too distracted....and pinterest. but i'll try to do better :) and maybe next time i'll have pictures!

Today

This is how today went:

Juliet waking up too early

Juliet and Cece being fussy at the same time while Tim goes to his second job

Juliet and Cece then taking an early nap (which finally led to me being able to take a nap!)

Cece and Juliet wake up and Juliet is fussy again

Sam offers to watch the kids so Tim and I can go shopping

WalMart lady telling me they have stretchy pants because she assumes I'm pregnant

Come home to what would seem like a happy Juliet, only to find out she really is still fussy

I try to distract two crying kids while Tim makes dinner

Stub my toe while holding Cece so I start to cry

Finally get kids quiet and we have pancakes for dinner

Tim pours a very large glass of OJ and I tip it over

Juliet starts to cry

Cece starts to cry

I attempt to clean up the mess

Juliet gets a bath and then has to get out early because she is splashing too much

Juliet is fussy

Juliet goes to bed at 6:45

Cece falls asleep

Tim goes out and gets us dinner

We eat dinner and now Tim is cleaning up the rest of the kitchen while I blog :)

Last night I decided that it was cold enough to get out a bigger blanket. I asked Tim to help me shake it out and look at it since we'd had some issues with spiders lately. He says we don't need to because it was up on a high shelf in the closet. I was like, "really? spiders can crawl into high places." Then we both just happened to look up at our ceiling and what did we see?! That's right! A spider! We started to laugh, but then I made him kill it because he made that silly conclusion that spiders don't climb.

"A" Parking

Yesterday Tim and I went up on campus to get his "A" parking pass. Big deal for us! It is the most coveted pass. Anyway, we get there and the lady asks him which pass he wants, free or south parking. Tim says, "I want A." She looks at him and says, "Hahaha, ok well which one do you want free or south?" Tim says, "I want A." AGAIN she asks him, "OK which parking do you want?" Finally Tim explains to her that he really does want "A" parking and that he qualifies for "A" parking because he is faculty and tells her to look at his I-Card. Hahahahahaha. I guess she didn't expect someone with such a young and pretty wife to be a faculty member :)

Happy Half Birthday Tim!

Tim just pointed out that it is his half birthday! And since I am such a big fan of half birthdays I have to make a big deal out of it. Too bad I didn't remember sooner or we would've had a better celebration! Oh well. HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY TIM! YOU'RE THE BEST!

Juliet Swing Pictures

May 2011

September 2011

Doesn't she look older???

Prayers

Tonight before bedtime Juliet was running back and forth between her bedroom and the kitchen. I think she knew it was almost time for bed because we had already read her scriptures and were putting toys away. When we said, "Juliet time for prayers!" she just kept on running...but with her arms folded :) Isn't she cute!

She is such a little sweetheart (when she isn't driving me crazy by jumping and climbing on things that I know will inevitably lead to her getting hurt). Tonight Tim and I went out to dinner as a sort of last celebration before school starts and our money starts to dwindle. The whole time we were waiting for our food, eating our food, and leaving the restaurant, she just kept saying, "HI! HI! HI!" and, "BYE! BYE!" to everyone around us. She also liked flirting with the waiter at the next table and gave him some cute smiles and even a high five. People just seem to get a kick out of her, especially grandparent-like people. I love how friendly she is because it has sure made the transition to going to nursery on Sunday's easier (or so Tim tells me. I've only gone to part of church since Cece's been born).

Oh! And I got her Halloween costume today! I got it from this used children's clothing store here that I LOVE! They also sell some new things and crafty things, like bows and hats and such. Anyway, they are starting to bring out the winter stuff and I saw a bumblebee costume that looked about her size (the tag was ripped off or something) and it was only $5! So she hasn't actually tried it on yet but the lady is super nice about returns. So Juliet will be a bumblebee this year and Cece is going to be a flower, since it'll be easy to just stick a ridiculously large flower bow on her small little head :)

Her last horsey ride before they closed down for the winter

Potpourri

I need to unpack my normal clothes and put my maternity ones away! It will hopefully be fun because I really can't remember what any of those clothes are but I don't want it to be depressing because I don't fit into them. So wish me luck that they fit!

We finally were able to clean house tonight! Tim did dishes while I folded MOUNDS of laundry and put them away. Of course, we still have a ton of dirty laundry but at least the clean stuff is put away. I am SUPER grateful that we have a washer and dryer in our apartment and don't have to go to the laundromat. I am also glad that we switched to cloth diapers, something we never would've done if we didn't have our own washer and dryer. They really aren't inconvenient and it is almost as easy as disposable ones. And it doesn't bother me to wash them every night or every other night.

I got my new I-Card that says "emp spouse" which is fun! And Tim's new one says "faculty!" Anyway, this means that I can go to the gym now. Which is completely necessary if I want to fit into all of those clothes I was talking about unpacking!

Tim and I have started to try taking shifts with Cece at night since she is formula fed. Last night was the first night and it worked out great! Tim got up with her the first time and I got up with her the second time which meant that we both got large chunks of sleep. I felt so much better today than I have in a long time!

Juliet gave me and Cece some very tender hugs today :) I think she is starting to like her baby sister more and more. Now we just need to work on her trying to play with Cece while she is sleeping. She is also getting more independent everyday and much much more of an attitude! Sometimes it's funny, but it does make me a little nervous for the future!

Cute, but LOUD!

Remember that sweet, adorable baby I brought home four weeks ago and put in my room? I want her out! Yes, she is very cute, but man she sure is noisy! I swear she is worse than Juliet was. I even figured that since this is my second kid I would be less paranoid about whether or not she was breathing all night, but nope! If I hear her then I have to look at her. And she makes the strangest grunts and she sounds like she's trying to poop all the time. She usually does like to do all of her poops at night and I don't know if you can fix that, but we are sure trying hahahaha. I called the doctor's office today and asked them about it since she is so much noisier than Juliet was and she coughs a little more than I think is normal, so they said to put the humidifier on and try to put her in a swing or something so she is sleeping upright in case she is congested. So hopefully that helps and I guess I won't be kicking her out until the coughing lessens, but I might sleep on the couch and let Tim listen to her for awhile since he can sleep through it better than I can. I NEEEEEED SLEEP!

These cookies are my OBSESSION. I won't even go into how bad it is and how many I eat. Let's just say that I need to go the gym soon! But seriously, I am always craving these cookies and since they are a special kind of Chips Ahoy there really aren't that many cookies in each box right? Anyway, if you haven't tried them, you should, and in the mean time I will try and lessen my addiction :)

Things I say...

Things I say everyday:

Are you poopy?

Do you want to watch Barney?

Don't hit the baby

Don't kick the baby

Don't step on the baby

Don't poke the baby in the eye

That was a very sweet kiss for the baby

As you can see we are still working on Juliet and trying to convince her that the baby is staying. She is doing better everyday and really does love to give her kisses (especially when Cece is sleeping).

We took them both to the doctor the other day for checkups. Cece now weighs 7 lbs 10 oz (she was 7 lbs 3 oz at birth) and is doing great! Juliet weighs 21 1/2 lbs (7th percentile) but is in the 72nd percentile for height (don't quite remember it, maybe 32 inches?) so she is definitely tall and slender. And now she only has to go to the doctor once a year! Such a big girl!

School starts next week for Tim and he is so excited to teach German. Wish him luck for his first day and luck for me since it'll be the first time alone with both girls!

snuggling baby sister :)

Cecelia Kathleen McFarlane

She's here! Cecelia Kathleen McFarlane came August 11, 2011 at 7 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long. So here's the story:

Wednesday night (the 10th) I was having some contractions and pains but they weren't regular and we decided to finally just go to bed and see what would happen. Nothing did and by morning they had stopped. We showered and got ready to take Juliet on a walk that morning, like we usually did and the contractions started almost as soon as we started our walk at around 9:30. We walked for about an hour and I was timing them at about 4-6 minutes apart. We decided to go home and see if they would stop if I sat down like they usually would. They didn't so at 11:30 we left Juliet with Sam and went to the Dr to see how dilated I was. We wanted me to get checked so we didn't have to spend more time at the hospital away from Juliet than was necessary. I was at 5 cm so the Dr said to go home and eat and we could go in at any time. We checked in around 1:30 and I was already at a 7! I couldn't believe how fast it was going compared to Juliet's labor. It was a really busy day for babies so around 2:30 I was finally put into my room. Immediately I recognized that it was the exact same room I gave birth to Juliet in! How cute is that? I spent the first 45 minutes laboring in the jacuzzi, which was awesome, and then just hung out until the Dr finally came to check and see how dilated I was. My contractions aren't really too bad until they break my water so I had planned to go without an epidural or any medication until then since that's what I did with Juliet. Well, when he checked me at about 5:15, I was only at a 7 1/2 which isn't much progression for almost 4 hours of sitting there. He asked if I wanted him to break my water because I would then have the baby within the hour so I said yes. Well, by then it was too late for me to get any sort of pain relief so for the next 30 minutes I was in SO MUCH PAIN! I took a swing at Tim (and missed) and was pretty grouchy with the nurse because all I wanted to do was push but I couldn't because I wasn't fully dilated. I finally made her start checking me at every contraction because I was getting so close! When I was finally able to push it felt so much better and one push later she was out! I couldn't believe how fast it all went AND that I did it naturally. I was kind of in shock and my body was shaking so after I held her for a minute they took her to clean her off and get her measurements. Tim was so great the whole time! He kept telling me I could do it and how proud of me he was. Afterward I could just see how happy he was because he couldn't stop smiling :) I had also invited our friend Mckenzie in the room to take some pictures right after she was born and she did such a great job! I think this labor and delivery was such a great experience (minus those 30 minutes hahaha) and we are very happy about our new addition to the family :)

First family picture

Day 2 and so cute with the bow the hospital gave her

Right after they got her all cleaned up

Daddy and Cece

Mommy and Cece. Cece kind of looks like she's smiling :)

38 1/2 weeks

I have 12 days until my due date! It's been awhile since I've blogged but a couple of weeks ago Tim graduated from BYU-Idaho and he's been home with me ever since :) It has been great since I am so pregnant and we've been able to take Juliet to the park just about every day now that Daddy can take her on all the big slides. I've also been able to sleep in and take longer naps because Tim is awesome and knows that it won't last long! And I guess I should say that Tim will be working on campus this fall teaching one class of German 101 as an adjunct professor. Sorry family members that I never told! So, we'll be in Idaho at least until December, but we're hoping that it might last a year. Tim is super excited and it's great for me because he'll only be in class one hour a day and then just doing his preparations for class, so we will get lots of Tim Time for the next few months.

Ok! Now a baby update! At my 37 week appointment I was at 3 cm and 50% effaced. So I wasn't getting my hopes up too high or anything for an early baby. But at my last appointment (38 weeks) the doc said she had moved up and for whatever reason that I can't explain he couldn't feel the part of my cervix that tells him how dilated I am so that I was probably about the same and I should walk more. Well that was not fun to hear. So, yeah, nothing too exciting and I guess we'll just wait to see what he says next week!

Juliet update! She is OBSESSED with Barney. At first I was ok with it because it was the only thing she would watch and actually sit and watch while I tried to get some things done, but now it is getting ridiculous. Bar Bar is the first thing she says when she wakes up and pretty much the only thing she says if we are at home. It's like she forgot how to play with her toys or something. But since she will soon be getting babysat while I go have a baby, I don't know if I can ban it yet in consideration of whoever the lucky babysitters get to be. Plus, she loves it and cries when we turn him off. I probably should do something but I am really just too tired to care sometimes. Any suggestions? We've been taking her out and stuff but even that doesn't seem fun to her all the time. I think she might be teething or something because she's just been kinda fussy in general lately. We have been having a lot of fun with her though and trying to take her out as much as possible before the new baby comes. Yesterday we took her to the new pool in Rexburg and she had a pretty good time until she got cold. Tim and I loved it and we are going to go again tomorrow but without Juliet so we can do some of the other stuff without worrying about watching her. She just loves to run around and is getting soooo fast! It's hard for me to keep up with her!

Anyway, that's about it for now, but hopefully we'll have some exciting news soon! And with pictures next time!

So my sweet little baby has decided that she can climb onto about every piece of furniture we own. Usually I would try to say, "Sit on your bottom please," or something like that but she just laughs and sits and then does it again. Yesterday and today I just tried watching her to see what she would do and if she could get herself down and sure enough, she can! My question is, should I still be worried about her climbing and falling and should I try to get her to stop, or should I just not worry about it since I can't sit in every seat in the house trying to prevent her from climbing on them? She seems to only climb when we are watching, which is nice and it gives me less of a headache not to try and discipline her all day. Am I giving her too much freedom?

The other day we bought Juliet some juice boxes at Walmart and I was silly and letting her drink it out of her high chair. I was mostly holding it, but every once in a while she would try to hold it and thus squeezing apple juice all over me and the floor. About the third time she did this it got all over my shorts and I said, "No no Juliet! Don't grab that!" I wasn't yelling but I must've said it loud enough because she got really startled and started to cry. She let me pick her up and after I soothed her she walked away and came back with a wet wipe and started rubbing my leg as if she was trying to help clean me up. Isn't that so sweet?! It made me feel bad for scaring her but it was so cute to watch her try and help me :)

Why I Love (and Hate) Being Pregnant

I just wanted to write down real quick all the reasons why I love (and hate) being pregnant! I'm terrible at journal writing so hopefully I'll remember these for next time so I can be prepared!

Loves:

• Feeling the baby kick
• Seeing the ultrasounds
• Tim always treats me super super nice when I'm pregnant (he does all the time anyway :)
• Tim says I look super cute when I'm pregnant
• I have an excuse to go to the bathroom all the time
• My morning sickness doesn't last too long and I don't vomit very often
• Teaching Juliet to say "baby"
• Watching my stomach move
• Stretchy pants and big comfy shirts
• I always get a seat
• People always talk to you when you are pregnant. Even when you think you don't look pregnant yet hahaha
• Baby shopping
• My hair grows faster
• I don't swell up
• "Expectant Mother's" parking
• I always get fun cravings like candy and hamburgers
• Tim gets more sappy and cute about baby things when I'm pregnant
• You get a baby!

Hate:

• Hot. A lot.
• Can't sleep
• That fat stage where people don't know if you're pregnant or fat
• Stretch marks
• I have to go to the bathroom all the time
• Tired. A lot.
• Nauseous (not that I have much to complain about compared to some)
• I cry ALL THE TIME, but mostly just in the first trimester
• I want fast food late at night when nothing is open
• Tim's never been pregnant. I hate that sometimes hahaha.
• Pains that come with being pregnant and from very hard kicks
• Charlie horses in my calves in the middle of the night
• How my hair falls out a ton after the baby is born

I'd say that the good things definitely outweigh the bad, and at least I don't get super sick or have high risk pregnancies. Most of the time I really enjoy being pregnant and I'm very excited to have our new little baby soon! 8 more weeks!

Pictures

I haven't uploaded pictures in a LONG time so here are just a few random ones of Juliet for you all to enjoy :)

Hoppy

Juliet is so fun to listen to these days! She is starting to make a little more sense and say a few more words. The other day she started to say hi so now it is so fun taking her on walks to get Tim from campus because she will just say hi to the people passing us. Her other new word is "hoppy," which I think means happy and I don't really know why she says it but it is sooo cute! And she'll just whisper it to me and then laugh at herself and then give me a great big hug! Other words she is starting to say (or words she forgot and is saying again): bye, bath, darder (carter), daddyyyy, mama (grandma), chsss (cheese), gogurt (yogurt), yum, and she is finally saying no! She has been saying "yeah" to everything for like the past couple of months and she didn't know "no" so even when she didn't want something it was always "yeah." We haven't been super trying to teach her no but I think she is finally starting to catch on what yes and no are.

Yesterday we were having Family Home Evening and since Mark was out of town we had Whit and Carter over with us. After the lesson we decided to teach the kids ring around the rosie. They loved it! We really should get it on video because they were just laughing the whole time! Carter kept lifting his feet up and wanting to fall down but Juliet didn't quite catch that part of the game. But they both kept wanting to play so I think it was a hit :) I remember whenever it was my turn as a kid to pick the game on Monday nights, I always picked stand on one foot (which I'm pretty sure isn't a real game). But we'll have to wait a little bit longer for Juliet to want to play that one :)

Fabulous Birthday Weekend!

This year my birthday was perfect! It fell on a Saturday this year and Tim did such a great job making me feel special and relaxed all weekend. He switched days at work so that he would have Saturday off but he still had to work Friday night. I fell asleep on the couch waiting for him to come home and he brought in all my presents from the car and woke me up with them. Since it was after midnight he said I could open them :) The first two things I opened were a LARGE bag of assorted candy (I have been craving chocolate all the time lately) and a People magazine (they are my weakness and he always gets me one when I'm sick or for a special occasion). Then he had me close my eyes and put this huge pillow on my lap! Whenever Tim has class and Juliet is taking a nap, I also like to take a nap :) And I also like to sleep across the whole bed. The pillow he got me is in the shape of a right angle so I don't have to rearrange all of his pillows hahaha. It is perfect and sooo comfortable, especially while being pregnant!

The next morning I woke up and got ready to go to the spa for my mother-to-be massage. I've never gotten a real massage before, and I don't even really like it when Tim tries to give me one, but this was HEAVEN. I was sooooo relaxed! And I'm pretty much hooked and will probably want one every year now! It was so nice to be out of the house and have an hour of just pampering. Tim was great and took Juliet out and she had so much fun with her daddy-daughter time. After they came to pick me up we grabbed lunch at the taco bus. I love this taco bus! I've had some pretty sketchy experiences at other taco trailers but this one is sooo good! Then we went on a walk and met up with Sam and went to Porters to look at fabric and other fun crafty things :) We got some cute flowers to put in our window that look so summery!

After our walk we took a nice family nap :) Then we dropped Juliet off to play with Carter while we went to the store and got some things for Sunday dinner and also a cheesecake to share with friends that night. We got home, ate a quick dinner, and had friends over for cake!

Sorry this post is so descriptive of my day but it was just the perfect way to spend my birthday! I loved every minute of it and I loved that Tim was home and able to spend the whole weekend with us. Oh and I forgot to mention that he did ALL of the dishes all weekend long! What a great husband!

Cooking

I'm pretty much terrible at making regular, good, homemade meals every night for dinner. Thankfully I have Tim and he likes to cook AND eat so it's a win win for him to make dinner a couple times a week. Yesterday Tim was making something that his mom would make for him and I started looking through a church cookbook my mom gave me a while back. There were so many of her recipes and recipes of others that she would make that are sooo easy looking! It made me wonder why I always thought my mom used like 30 ingredients in every meal when she really only used like 6! I was always so impressed with her (and I still am!) but now I know I can be like her! So now I am determined to make yummy food for my family! Tonight we are grilling but I am totally making her delicious french bread to go with dinner. And then Taron's mom's banana chocolate chip muffins. And then maybe some cookies. Sheesh, am I pregnant or what?!

I just woke up from a nap and I have a lot on my mind! First, they are tearing down the houses across the street that we used to live in. I'll probably do a separate post for that because it's sad, but I'm sort of enjoying watching them just crush everything. It's really interesting and gives you that demolition derby kind of thrill.

Juliet is still sleeping! She was being super fussy so I put her down at like 10:45 and listened to her talk for about 20 minutes before she finally fell asleep and now she's still down! She has been a great sleeper lately; both at nap time and night time and it has been so great for me to be able to sleep through the night uninterrupted. I'm still nervous about when we put baby #2 in the room with Juliet so I'm getting all my sleep now I guess. Juliet was out of our room at like 7 weeks, but I hate to put a new baby in her room that keeps waking up in the middle of the night. Any suggestions?

Tim is a german TA on campus now so he works one less night at his other job. It is so nice having him home even just one more night a week to help with things like dinner, baths, and getting Juliet to bed. He really likes his german stuff too so that makes me happy that he's getting to use the language again more frequently.

I feel like his graduation is creeping up on us and it makes me nervous sometimes. I guess we really don't even know where I'll be having this baby since we don't know where we are going. I don't like knowing these things because it makes me more nervous than I probably need to be. But even not knowing when the baby will actually come is stressful because I want to utilize the time my mom comes to help :)

Juliet's awake :) She is a sweet baby and we are so grateful to have her.

New Mom T shirt

So last year around Mother's Day, Walmart was selling these t-shirts that said, "New Mom 2010." I thought it was cute and bought one and figured I could maybe do something crafty with it for Juliet. Well this year we found them again! Only they say, "New Mom 2011." I guess technically I'm not a new mom, but I am a new mom to this baby, right? Let's hope I don't need another one for awhile after this baby!

Oh what do you do with a 1 year old?

It's almost May and it snowed last night. And all my poor baby wants to do is go outside! I'm at a loss of how to entertain her all day. So I need ideas! She is 14 months old and I just don't know if I'm doing everything that I can to play with her and stuff. I'm worried that I'm not doing things that are age appropriate (mostly I think I'm doing things that are too young for her and she's bored). What did you all do when your children were at that age and you were inside most of the day?

Obsession!

Juliet is obsessed with anything wet that is like a washcloth, paper towel, or wipes. Every diaper change I have to give her a wipe so that she wont scream during the whole thing. Lately I've been giving her wet washcloths so I dont waste wipes or paper towels and that seems to be appeasing her. I just think it is so weird! I dont know where she got it from but whatever. Anyone else's kids have something they can't live without?

Quick Update

So every night, right after I put Juliet to bed, baby girl #2 starts to kick like crazy! I'm sure I just don't really notice it the rest of the day because of how busy I am with Juliet, but it is so funny how it's about the same time every night. And she kicks me so low! I swear it is right on my bladder. Her kicks are moving up though, and I'm starting to see my stomach move when she gives me a good one :)

Juliet is getting another molar! She was being kind of fussy tonight and I noticed she was gnawing on all of her toys, so I laid her down and checked her mouth and it's already starting to come through. I gave her some tylenol and ice cream so hopefully that helps :) Ice cream always makes me feel better! We bought some black curtains for her room today and that helped make it sooo much darker so when she wanted to go to bed early tonight, I just let her because she would think it's dark enough now. And hopefully she'll sleep later in the morning now too!

We finally got to go outside for a little bit today. It was still cold, but not as windy, so we bundled up and took a walk! We only lasted about 45 minutes so I can't wait until it's sunny and warm all day so we can play!

I totally forgot to blog about my parents coming last weekend! They were coming up to Utah so they drove up here for a couple of days first. It was a quick visit but still very nice to see them. And it was also very nice to get all of those diapers they brought!

I've decided today that I never again want to live in Idaho. After looking at weather.com every week since March to see if the weather would be good enough to go outside, I have come to the conclusion that it will never be nice enough. Basically for the rest of the month it will either be rainy, windy, or both! I just checked the weather for both sides of our family. VA: 78 degrees, CA: 78 degrees. Rexburg: 42 degrees. That is poopy. Juliet is so sick of being inside she has started to bring me my shoes and then bang on the front door. It's kind of cute actually, but I'm done being stuck inside with a 14 month old. Other places I would live at this point: AZ, Las Vegas, Hawaii, pretty much anywhere that is warm. I'm thinking that once baby #2 is old enough, Tim and I need to take a tropical vacation to thaw out from living in Rexburg.

Maybe something magical looking like this? Complete with rainbow and the whale :)

Last First Day of School!

Tomorrow is the last first day of school Tim will ever have, unless he goes on to get his masters. Yay Tim! We can't wait for him to graduate in July!

Juliet Advice Needed

You know how some kids get so mad that they'll hold their breath until they pass out? Well, mine likes to gag herself until she throws up. How do you stop something like that??? She hasn't been sleeping very well at night ever since she's been sick, and at nap times she has gotten so mad about taking a nap that she'll really throw up (even though I know she's tired!) so I won't want to let her cry it out because I don't want to have to clean it up. She is always sticking her hand in her mouth and doing it, even during the day, and today I finally just kept saying no and holding her arms down so she couldn't do it. She didn't like that at all but I'm hoping that I'll get my point across. What do you do to get a 14 month old to stop doing stuff like that?

But when it comes to sleeping, I'm not sure why she isn't sleeping that great but all of a sudden when she wakes up, she wants to be up for about an hour. She doesn't want to be held, she wants to play! I don't want her to get into that sort of habit at 3 in the morning so I've been wrapping her in a blanket and shushing her till she calms down and I'll close my eyes and rock her while hers are WIDE open. I'm praying that this will be a short stage but since I don't want her to make herself throw up, I'm pretty much stuck holding her until she gets tired again. Ideas???

PS. I've been blogging a lot lately! Go me! Hopefully I can keep this up!

WHAT HAPPENED???

How did we go from this...

(Our beautiful slender necks and only one chin)

...to this! Fatty!

Good grief! What the heck happened to us? I guess 2 pregnancies, eating out a lot, and two years of marriage can do this to you when you let it. I'll tell you what, though. After this baby is born I am committing to work out! And if I'm not doing it, please feel free to show me this blog post again :)

Juliet is super cute though, right?

I Zerbert You!

Tim and I have recently discovered The Cosby Show on Netflix because all of our friends started watching it. I never watched it as a kid or teenager or anything so this is all new television to me and I love it! Turns out, Bill Cosby is HILARIOUS! My favorite line in the show is when they say, "I zerbert you!" Tonight I was playing with Juliet and I just kept giving her raspberries and saying that, and she just thought I was so funny! She was giggling and rolling around and just kept waiting for more. I love doing things like that that make her life because she sure is difficult these days! How do you discipline a one year old?! Any suggestions will be appreciated because I just feel like she really still doesn't understand that much, but at the same time I don't want to underestimate how much she really knows. But do time outs or anything else work on a one year old? It doesn't help that she is getting stronger and doesn't want me to hold her when I say no, and also that I'm pregnant and don't want to hold her when she's upset because she's heavy! Right now I'll take anything and just try to keep her as happy as I can!

Only One Left!

Tim only has one semester of college left! Yay! I am so excited for this coming semester because he'll be taking less credits and we've moved next door to our best friends :) So hopefully it will be much less stressful than the 17 credits he's been doing! We still don't have any definite plans of where we are going after graduation but those plans pretty much revolve around the baby coming. But if you want us to live by you, then whoever gets Tim an awesome job gets us! Just throwing that out there :)

Oh and I LOVE our new apartment! We have a washer and dryer (heavenly!) and the layout is way better for Juliet than the other place was and I think she is happier here. It helps that Carter lives right next door, and since neither of them are sick anymore, they have just been laughing and playing so cute together! I can't wait for summer so we can all go on walks, go to the park, and go to the splash park.

Today we went to Idaho Falls and bought Juliet the CUTEST swimsuit at old navy. Here's a link to the photo since I couldn't find it on the old navy website: http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/ruffled-swimsuits-for-baby

Anyway, this is a pretty random post, but I am just so happy for Tim that he is almost done with school and I am so proud of him!

Swaddling

Swaddling is something that I have been very passionate about even before I had Juliet. I had learned about it in several child development classes and was always very excited to try it out on my babies. Sure enough, a friend told me about the Miracle Blanket and I used it every day for about 9 months with Juliet. She slept great and it helped her calm down if she was fussy. I mean really, if you have a fussy baby just youtube the happiest baby on the block and you'll know what I'm talking about.

So this last week Juliet had a rough time with double ear infections, 2 or more teeth coming in, and being allergic to her medication. I had been cuddling her all week and letting her sleep with us, and I knew it was going to mess up everything she knew about falling asleep on her own. One of the days it was just impossible to get her to take a nap. I knew she was exhausted, but she wouldn't let me put her down or snuggle her so it was impossible to know what she wanted. Since I was equally exhausted, I was getting frustrated pretty fast. Finally I told Tim that I was going to swaddle her. He said, do you think that'll work since she's so old now? I said, watch me! We got my HSM blanket, wrapped her up and literally 30 seconds after I started shushing and holding her tight, her eyes were shut! I felt so awesome! I was even able to put her down without her waking up and she slept a good 2 hours!

Since I am such a fan of swaddling and I know some people thought I was putting my child into a straight jacket with that Miracle Blanket, I thought I'd share my most recent awesome swaddling moment with you all to show you that it still works :)

Another girl!

It's a girl! And she sure was difficult for us to see! That was the longest doctor appointment I have ever had! We got there and got in pretty quickly and did all of the routine stuff but the girl doing the ultrasound was like trying to get her certification or something so they looked for about an hour. I mean, it was neat seeing everything but the whole time the baby's legs were closed so I was kind of getting impatient (which is so unlike me! hahahahahahahaha). Since I sort of new what to look for and I knew what I DIDN'T see, I was thinking it might be a girl the whole time. Then the pro took over and looked for about 2 seconds and confirmed that it was a sure enough, a girl :)

We're both really happy with another girl, and now I don't have to come up with a boy name or buy anything new!

What will it be????

The baby is kicking me a lot right now and it was making me think about how we go to the doctor on Tuesday to find out the gender! I have a tendency to forget about being pregnant sometimes and that I'm actually growing another baby inside of me while already taking care of one, so this appointment will be nice because it'll bring this pregnancy to reality again.

Anyway, any guesses as to what the gender is are being accepted until Tuesday! So hurry!

This Week

This week has been pretty stressful! Monday night Whitney and I HAD to watch the bachelor live instead of waiting for it to get on Hulu on Tuesday, so Taron and Sam graciously let us borrow their TV for the show :) Then Juliet decided at the very end (when Brad is getting ready to propose!) to throw up all over me. Twice. I had the car so Taron had to go pick Tim up so we could clean up at their apartment before trying to go home. She then proceeded to throw up another couple of times onto their kitchen floor. We quickly rushed her home and dealt with that all night. Luckily, she was fine the next day but I still gave her pedialyte and light foods all day.

Hoping that was all over, Thursday night at midnight was my turn :) ALL DAY LONG. It was awful. Thankfully, Tim is terrific and stayed home from class to take care of Juliet while I laid in bed all day. And it was his day off so he didn't even have to leave for work! Poor Tim. He is probably so behind on his homework because of me. Tim started to feel a bit icky Friday and a little bit today but he's at work now and he says he feels fine :) He never gets sick, it's always me! Now I'm just hoping we are all recovered back to 100% by tomorrow.

On a happier note, the baby was kicking me like crazy any time I ate the tiniest thing or drank gatorade while I was sick. So that was fun to feel the baby and Tim finally felt it for the first time too! Only 10 days until we find out the gender! Oh and did I mention that we're moving... again???? This will be our 5th apartment on the same street since we've been married, not counting the 5 months we lived in VA at Tim's parents house. Of course it is right next door to Mark and Whitney, because that's just how we like it :) And it has washer/dryer hookups which I am DYING for after a week of vomiting! I will also be very happy not to have to climb 20 steps while carrying Juliet. I've liked our short stay in the attic, but it will be nice to have the perks of the new apartment.

Juliet is a crazy little walker now! She is all over the place! So far we've managed to get by without any scrapes or bruises to the head, but I'm worried that she is going to be a climber. She loves climbing on our furniture and I'm sure with the right kind of opportunity she could get into a lot of trouble! But she is very sweet and adorable and we love her little (sometimes mischievous) personality :)

Yuck

Ever since Juliet started drinking formula at about 6 months I've been horrible about rinsing the bottles right away. Especially the ones from the night time when I would just feed her and leave the bottle in her room after putting her back down. So when I would finally rinse them they would smell pretty bad but I could handle it enough to put them in the dishwasher. Well now I'm pregnant and she has switched to whole milk which, turns out, is WAY worse when you forget about the bottle in her room and finally find it. Milk smells awful! And it gets all gross and chunky and my sense of smell is way more sensitive when I'm pregnant. So, I've been trying to do better about rinsing otherwise Tim gets to wash the bottles, especially since we have to do it by hand now. Yuck.

A Very Juliet Blog Post

If anyone can get the reference I'm making in the title, good job :) It really shouldn't be very hard for most of you if you are true fans.

Juliet has learned some new tricks this week! She figured out how to climb the couch! Well, it's really a futon so it is a LOT lower to the ground but she thinks she is so funny every time she does it. You can tell she likes to be a big girl and sit like mommy and daddy. I even taught her how to get down and she's only fallen off once. I'd say that's pretty good for how often she does it.

The other thing she likes to do is turn the tv on and off. We've been very fortunate it's taken her this long! She would push all the other buttons but yesterday she finally found the right one. The most annoying thing about it is that we have to push the input button on the remote every time we turn the tv on, so once she starts going we just have to wait. She eventually gets bored and she's so cute about it right now that we just let her do it.

Yesterday was her 12 month well baby check up and she is teeny! She only weighs 18 lbs 3 ozs! That is in the 7th percentile and her height is 29 inches which is like 49th or something. Her height used to be higher on the percentage but this time it seemed to drop, but I'm sure it's all supposed to slow down eventually. But I'm not worried and the doctor isn't worried because she eats and sleeps normally and is a generally happy baby. She has a little bit of dry skin so the doctor told us to give her a more cream like lotion and to apply it a couple times a day for two weeks to see if it gets better. If not, we'll let him know. Juliet cried every time the doctor and nurses got near her and for good reason! She got 5 shots! She did her super duper sad cry but she actually calmed down really quickly. We got her a toy to make it all better :) Hopefully we don't have to go back until her 15 month appointment!

On her sheet from the doctor giving us her stats, it also mentions certain milestones and behaviors that may be happening. One of them was tantrums :) And oh man am I worried! She gets so upset if we take anything away or tell her no. She'll usually calm down pretty fast and occupy herself with another toy but I am a little worried for when she gets a little older. I guess we'll see!

Juliet has started to relearn how to give kisses so that's been very sweet :) Today I was being kind of mopey and just laying on the couch and Tim told her to say mommy and she goes "Mama!" And then she gave me a kiss without any prodding! It was adorable and made my heart melt. We love Juliet and she is the sweetest baby ever :)

First Steps!

Juliet finally took some steps! She's been taking one or two steps every once in awhile, but yesterday, without any prompting, she took like 6! She's always very proud of herself when she finally sits down and I'm sure she enjoys the clapping and cheering that we do for her. Hopefully we'll get a video of it soon!

Today we went to the baby doctor and everything is great! It took a little longer than I would have liked to find the heartbeat but we did get to hear it and we loved that :) We have our next appointment in 6 weeks to find out what the gender is! Tim thinks this pregnancy is going way faster than the last one so that's good news :)

Boy names

Ok this is a little silly because we don't even know if we are having a boy, but Tim is really hoping for one so we need name ideas! I am having the hardest time coming up with boy names, especially ones that we both like! So if you have any ideas, normal names, creative names, old names, whatever they are they are very much appreciated. Except Lisa, you need to censor Daren's names before he gives me any ideas :) A big thanks to Whitney who has already taken this challenge very seriously!

Juliet Maxine

I love Juliet Maxine! She is seriously the cutest little girl in the whole world! I'm so fortunate to be able to stay home with her everyday and experience the changes in her personality as she gets older. She is almost 1 year old and sometimes she seems so grown up while other times she is still my little baby.

Juliet is starting to become very mischievous and is learning to push the boundaries. Sometimes it's hard not to laugh when she does these things but I can't! She loves to crawl into tiny places where it's hard to get her out. She's so smiley and happy and is starting to say a few words. Mark taught her how to say thanks and she says it all the time now! She also says wassat, ya, dad-dy, and mmmmmmmm. Her favorite toys are her dump truck, Fergus, books, and her sippy cup. I love sitting and watching her play because I feel like she's getting imaginative already. We love Juliet and can't wait to celebrate her birthday next week!

Waiting at the doctor's office to see the new baby

Cuddling Fergus. She sleeps with that puppy every night :)

Climbing under the table. So sneaky!

My two favorite people :)

Hey! You're in my class!

As my sister informed me earlier this week it has been 2 months since my last post. So finally I am taking everyone's hints and writing one!

Today is significant because it's the Wednesday after the Super Bowl! 3 years ago (approximately) on this day Tim and I met. I was walking down my street on my way to class when I saw this guy from my Family Interactions class waiting for someone at the crosswalk. I didn't want to do that whole awkward look where you know you know someone but you're not sure if they know who you are so you kind of smile but don't say anything. So instead I decided to just say, "Hey! You're in my class." Luckily I was feeling friendly that day!

We ended up walking to our classes together, which happened to be in the same building and from there it's history! Now the Super Bowl has some sort of significance in my life :)

I love you Tim!