House-sitting

We have been house-sitting at my parent's the last ten days. They got to go on a 30 year anniversary cruise and needed us to take care of things. Hopefully we did a good job. Their house isn't burnt down and the dogs are still alive, along with my 15 year old sister. So I'd say we were pretty successful. Noelle was confused at why Grandma and Grandpa weren't there. She calls them "Damin" and "Pa." They love it. We had lots of fun and got to watch tv on their wonderful flatscreen. It was a little sad coming home and watching tv on our little ghetto television, oh well. Plus I even got to use their car and drive wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. That was nice to have a car all too myself. Now I am stuck at the apartment again, but that's okay. I'm hoping the weather will get nicer so we can start taking our walks soon. I need some sunshine. I didn't take very many pictures while we were house-sitting but here are a few that are fun.

She loves going over to Grandma Fullmer's house but always wears herself out. We came home after church and sat down for lunch and this soon happened afterward. She never falls asleep anywhere other than her bed, so she must have worn herself out pretty bad.

Playing with uncle Tanner. She loves him :). Whenever the doorbell would ring or the front door would open while we were house-sitting she would say "Tanner! Nina! baby Egit!" (that's Noelle language for 'baby eric') She would hope that they were walking through the door to see her.

Noelle found Aunt Tay's mascara

20 weeks (almost 21)

I feel like 20 weeks is such a milestone. I've been really nervous lately and worried about things with this pregnancy. Much more than with Noelle if you can believe that. There has been a lot that has gone on around us that has contributed to my nervousness I think, not to mention my worry of having another preemie. I haven't really bought anything yet or prepared much. With all that said I actually have felt that everything will be fine, like a confirmation. Which doesn't always mean what we want it to mean. But I trust in Heavenly Father that he is watching out for our family and knows us.

Yesterday I went in for my 20 week ultra sound and appointment. Michael tried to come but couldn't get work off. I don't know if I'll ever do that again by myself. But everything went great. I love this new office I go to because I go downstairs for the ultrasound. They print me out some pictures and put together a dvd for me. Then they put together my file and give to me and I go back up to my doctor's office and have my appointment scheduled for like 15 minutes later. I love it and have a I mentioned I love my doctor. She is so fun and kind and so mindful of me. She listens and just makes me feel so comfortable. Anyway. The ultrasound went great. We still have a little boy on the way! The technician said "yeah, it's FOR SURE a boy." I'm so excited for this little guy to come. He was quite stubborn and she had a hard time getting close up of the chambers in his heart. He would move a tone, and then hold still just enough so she couldn't get what she needed. At one point he had his legs way over his head then he crossed them at his heels. Let's just say my abdomen is still suffering from how hard she pushed and prodded. It's like it's sore after a really good ab workout, but worse. He is right on track with his growth and everything is looking good. I even had awesome blood pressure. That never happens when I'm in the doctor's office. I often stress myself out too much that it always rises when I go in. But not this time. I know this isn't complete without an ultrasound photo but I'm at my parents house and can't figure out how to use their scanner. So pictures to come soon. I feel like I already know our little boy and am so excited to meet him in person!

I love it

Sometimes Noelle will just come up to us and say "hugs" and "kissyou" and then she hugs and kisses us. She does this all by herself. This happens at least once a day and just makes us smile. And really all my other cares go away when she does it. The other day she came up behind her dad and gave him a hug and just stayed there for a while and I actually got a picture of it. And it's my new favorite

p.t. attempt and a litte frustration

Wow, I didn't think I would get so frustrated over potty training. My daughter is such a cooperative, helpful girl but when it comes to potty training apparently she doesn't want to have anything to do with it. We haven't tried potty training for a while because we didn't think she was ready. But over the last few weeks she has been showing lots of signs and she'll tell the nursery leaders that she has to go potty. So today I started. After zero successful "goes" in the potty and some not so fun clean-ups I gave Noelle a choice. Let me tell you how I got there. I was consistent at setting a timer and getting Noelle to sit on the potty every 15-20 minutes. I would get so excited about it and we even had an extra potty that she had her tickle me Elmo sit on. I had plenty of delicious candy and even toys as prizes if she went. I had stickers to put on a chart and she LOVED wearing her Elmo and flowery underpants. She even showed her Elmo that she was wearing them. While she was sitting on the potty she was insistent on me "going" as well, so I did. But then an accident came. Then I guess I didn't hear the timer while I was doing the dishes and guess what another accident came. And not even a minute after I changed her, here came another one. So the next time I heard the timer and told Noelle we needed to go sit on the potty. She refused. She was very upset about it. I told her she had two choices. If she wanted to wear her big girl underpants she had to try and go potty. If she didn't want to go potty she had to put on a diaper. She really wanted to wear her underpants so she hesitated a little. Then eventually she chose to wear a diaper. I'm not going to lie, I was a little relieved. Then I got more frustrated because I knew we'd have to get there eventually. And I really want to not have to change two sets of diapers when our baby boy gets here in the summer.

Then I took a step back and thought, it's really not that big of a deal. It's going to come. She was very stubborn when it came to walking. She took a little bit longer to do it, but when she decided she wanted to, she just did it and she was a natural. I have no doubt that she will get it. I think my frustration just came from her not being motivated at all and having no desire. I'm thinking to myself (like I wish I could explain this to her) "Can't you see how great it will be to not have wear diapers anymore?" I hope my mom doesn't hate me for saying this but she potty trained me early. I was 18 months. Let's just say it wasn't a good experience for either of us. I don't remember a thing, so this is coming from her. But it wasn't fun at all. And she says she wishes she would have waited until I was ready. So I don't want to push this on her. I don't want to get mad at her for doing something that she isn't ready for. She is a very, very smart girl and I know she'll get it. And I am learning some patience in the process from a very sweet Noelle.

My question to you is do I keep trying this every single day until one day she just picks it up? Should I try it for a week and see how it goes? Should I stop and wait until she is more ready? The little trickster is giving me signs like she is ready but I don't know. And what are your thoughts on pull-ups? Okay that's all. Thanks for letting me vent a little.

"Bless you Mommy"

Yesterday and today have been wonderful compared to any other day over the last two and half weeks. I had a horrible cold and sinus infection that lasted over two weeks and I think it's actually gone. Now I'm just trying to sleep enough so I can have some energy back to do some things that I've been slacking on (for good reason). Anyway, the reason for this post...Noelle is learning so much every day. I swear she says something every day that I didn't realize she knew. She's also copying everything we are doing and saying and actually learning it. She is so cute at saying "thank you mom" whenever I give her something that she likes or wants. She is very aware and considerate when others are hurt or act sad. She's doing this fake cry that can mean one of two things: 1) oh that baby or child is crying and I feel bad for them and 2) I'm fake crying to get your attention and make something out to be bigger than it is. It's funny and we just laugh and ask if there is anything really wrong. She also has started counting to 17. Usually 13,14,15 are kind of blended together. She'll just started counting while we're in the car or anywhere. And if she sees letters she'll start saying the alphabet. She loves saying the letter "W." Today I sneezed and she said "bless you mommy." It was so cute and just melted my heart and I had to share. What a sweet girl I have. Oh I love her!

from pink to blue

So we found out today that our new addition is going to be a BOY!!! It's still sinking in and we're still both pretty shocked (in a good way). I didn't really have a feeling about having a boy but we're soooo excited! I did have a dream a few nights ago that it was a boy but the dream also included some pretty random and weird stuff so I didn't really trust it. We're trying to tell Noelle that she's going to have a little brother but I don't know if she quite understands. I think she understands that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. The ultra sound was just a gender check so they didn't check measurements or anything. They'll do that in another 3 weeks. His heartbeat was very strong and he was moving around like crazy. I've been feeling him move as well even though I'm only 17.5 weeks. We're excited for this change and soooo excited to have a little boy join our family!

and I'm excited to buy some stuff like this :)

true love

You know your husband loves you when he comes home from work and surprises you with a bag of these:


my very very favorite. mmmmmm, thank you Michael

really really random

I just saw this on a friend's facebook page. Made me laugh so I thought I would share.

1. Go to Google Maps and click on "Get Directions."
2. Enter "New York, NY" as your starting point.
3. Enter "Honolulu, HI" as your destination.
4. Go to the 31st point on your route.
(this is what was posted on facebook) - 5. When you stop laughing post this as your status so that others can laugh at it too.

hahaha!