The Pfeil Family

6 Months

2012-02-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

It's been almost two weeks since Mikey hit 6 months but I wanted to put up his updates anyway. I can't believe he is 6 months. His personality is just coming out more and more every day. First the doctor visit:

Weight: 20lbs 6 oz - 90%
Height: 27.1 inches - 78%
Head Circum.: 75%
His shots were really sad this time. He has such a good sad face.

He's definitely my big boy and such a joy in my life. I've just decided to call him Mikey. I still call him Michael once in a while, but Mikey has sort of grown on me. Plus that's what my family calls him and what Noelle calls him, mostly. Mikey is just the happiest ever. He has just a calm, sweet, happy way about him and I just love it. Here is what he is doing now:

~ rolling over, all the time. He can get himself to the other end of the room and will get stuck and get a little upset because of it.
~ almost sitting up on his own.
~ can move himself in a circle or short distances with his strong arms
~ eating lots of baby food and cereal. So far he loves sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce and pears. Pretty much everything. Although I'm scared to try green veggies still.
~ loves to watch his sister and loves when she reads to him.
~ having a tough time sleeping past 5:30am. We're working really hard on this one, but I don't know what else to do.
~ hes's a cat napper. Once in a while he'll take a long nap, usually just once or twice a week. This drives me crazy.
~ can't eat or sleep when there is so much going on around him.
~ has the cutest spikey reddish hair
~ screams all the time-usually if he is happy or wants attention
~ hasn't been sick at all since he's been born. I feel really grateful for this cause it seems that a lot of kids around us are getting sick.
~ if Noelle is close to him and she is being loud he puts his hand on her face and kind of waves it around, almost telling her that it's bugging him.
~ so patient with his crazy sister and busy mommy an daddy
~ loves taking a bath and splashing
~ every time he is laying down he lifts his head as if doing situps cause he wants to sit up himself
~ loves to go on walks and doesn't seem to mind the cold
~ is really getting into his toys
~ loves his jumperoo (which we call a jumper sometimes)
~ doesn't like the vacuum. It's sad.
~ He responds to Mikey, Michael and "handsome" (this is my nickname for him)

I can't believe Mikey is half way to a year. Wow! Time has flown so much faster with him than it did with Noelle. I love having two kids. It's been quite the adjusment but I love it. I can't imagine our lives without our little guy. My days certainly seem to go by faster with two kids and it's kind of hard to balance everything. But I wouldn't change a thing.

A sweet story: I'm realizing I have to vacuum a whole lot more lately because he can get around. The only bad thing like I said above is Mikey doesn't like the vacuum. It's sad to watch him. His little lip comes out and his eyes start to get red and he has the saddest cry. Well I don't know what it is with the vacuum and my children but Noelle has never liked the vacuum either. Even at this age. She sits on the couch and watches me and won't go near it. Well the other day I put Mikey in his jumperoo and Noelle was on the couch and I started to vacuum. And this was the first time Noelle saw Mikey cry when I vacuumed. She didn't like that. As soon as he started crying Noelle got upset and started crying herself and kept telling me I needed to stop because Mikey was upset. It was sad but so sweet at the same time.

Noelle is always looking out for her little brother and making sure he is happy. She loves to give him kisses and hugs and loves to play and read to him. I got so lucky. I have the sweetest kids and I'm so grateful for both of them in my life.

Hallelujah!!

2012-01-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

It finally happened. Noelle. Is. Potty. Trained.!!! What a different world this is. Here's the story: For several weeks we told Noelle that after Christmas there weren't going to be any more diapers. Telling her things way in advance really works, for other things as well. We also told her once she is fully potty trained she gets her Jessie doll. So we displayed it near the toilet as a reminder. She was really excited about that. We also told her after Christmas we were going to potty train her. So the weekend of New Years Eve (Friday-Monday), we decided to be hermits and stay inside and focus on getting this girl trained. Michael also had all four days off so that is why we chose that weekend. She had a few accidents on Friday and at the end of the day she said in a very sad tone "I'm all done." So I asked her if she wanted to try a diaper on. Little did she know that I had saved one of Mikey's size 2 diapers. So we had her try it on and she realized that it didn't fit her. Well that totally worked because after that she went potty like three times before bed. Seemed that she had held it for quite a while. After that she did so well. A few accidents here and there but pretty much she was potty trained in like two days. I'm so glad I didn't push her earlier. It's been WONDERFUL! We also did this potty prize board that totally has worked. She goes a number of times, puts stickers on a chart and then gets a prize. Although if she wasn't ready I don't think anything would have worked. Also lots of prayers probably helped a little :). I really had hoped that she would get potty trained before she went into sunbeams and it happened the day before. I'm just grateful and want to let any moms out there know that being three and not potty trained is okay. It will happen when they are ready. Thank you everyone for your advice and comforting words about the whole situation. Phew, glad that one is over.

Our potty training magic tools. Noelle has been a potty training rock star.

Potty Prize Board
Directions: Put one sticker on a square every time child goes #1. Put two stickers on the squares every time child goes #2. Once all squares are filled up, give child prize. You may adjust number of squares from five to ten. :)

Homemade Christmas

2012-01-21T21:17:00.000-08:00

I got a little ambitious this Christmas. I don't regret doing any of these projects at all I just wish I would have started earlier so I didn't have to work on them up until the day before Christmas Eve. Noelle sure loved them and that made it worth it.

Princess Felt Mat.This was way fun to do. A friend and I had a craft night once a week and worked on it. It took a while but probably wouldn't have if we didn't talk and watch tv. It was fun!

the tutu I made Noelle. Wish I would have done darker, brighter colors but oh well. You live and learn right? She needed a tutu.

We did not make this from scratch. This used to be my old cabinet/cupboard when I was a little girl. My Grandpa O'driscoll made it for me and it's been in my parent's basement for a while. I was really excited that it was there and really wanted to redo it for Noelle. This is how it turned out. It's a little tall for Noelle but she still likes it and it will last her for a while. I love that Noelle is playing with something that I did as a child.

I made two of these watches. One for my mother-in-law and one for my mom. It took a while (those tiny, deceptive beads). But I liked how it turned out. Although the morning I gave it to my mom, it broke. So I guess I have to figure out how to make it a little more durable.

The Best Part About Christmas

2012-01-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

Tanner and Nina came to visit and we loved, loved, loved seeing them. Especially little Eric ;)! He's gotten so big and is so cute. He is so much fun and I couldn't get enough of holding him. He preferred to move around though, rather than be in my arms. We wished we lived closer but we couldn't have asked for anything better then seeing this amazing family that we love so much.

cute little studly Eric

Noelle loves giving hugs and kisses and couldn't stop talking about how Tanner, Nina and Eric were coming to visit.

The grandkids (so far) Eric, Noelle, and Mikey

Even More Christmas Festivities

2012-01-15T21:31:00.001-08:00

Last year my mom bought this gingerbread house kit for my sister Taylor. She didn't care for it so she put it away. Well this Christmas my mom brought it out and thought Noelle would enjoy it. Well she was right. Noelle really had fun with it. And the candy wasn't even that stale ;). We started it at my parent's house and then finished it at ours. So fun. Maybe next year we will try to make ours homemade, we'll see. Thanks mom for the kit!

I still have little cousins around and my grandma has a bunch of great-grandkids so we still do a " little cousin" Christmas party. This year we ate some yummy pizza, decorated sugar cookies, played musical chairs and opened presents. I only got pictures of Noelle decorating her sugar cookie and I'm so glad I did. She really had fun with it. She was so in to it and I just let her do whatever she wanted. Everyone draws names and Noelle got a barbie and barbie purse from her second cousin Taven. She loved it!

This year we spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family. And we had tons of fun. First of all this year we decided that we were going to dress up in ugly Christmas sweaters. We went to the thrift store and couldn't find any Christmas sweaters. So we made our own. This was quite the adventure but we did it. I made four of them thank you very much. Although I just added little touches to Noelle's and Mikey's. Anyway, on to Christmas Eve. So we got there and had fun with everyone commenting on our sweaters. We took pictures and almost everyone changed their sweaters. Although I didn't get the memo that everyone was going to do that, so I walked around for a bit in mine. Then I felt awkward and changed into my lazy byu-i hoodie. We ate some yummy food and then had the annual Christmas Even program that my grandparents put on. I love this and it really brings in the Christmas spirit. Noelle was Mary in the Nativity but she refused to wear anything on her head. But I think what got her to do it was that she got to hold the "baby Jesus." It was so cute. Then my family does this crazy 12 days of Christmas. Let's just say there's a lot of noise and actions for each day and everyone is standing up and I'm not surprised that someone doesn't end up with a broken limb. But it's super fun and a tradition that's been going on for a while. Then there is the opening of the presents, which are pajamas for everyone under 18. It was such a fun night!!

Our awesome sweaters. Unfortunately you can't see three of the four that I did. I'll have to put a picture of them up later.

Noelle as Mary with the rest of the nativity.

with her second cousins and their new Christmas Eve pjs

Aunt Nina and Mikey. Mikey is such a drooler.

Christmas morning came and we actually had to wake Noelle up. Mikey was sound asleep so we didn't even bother him. This year was so fun for Noelle. And we loved it. We just couldn't wait to see Noelle's face. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Noelle opening up presents at our house but that's okay because I really enjoyed being a part that morning with her and Michael. Mikey has really been enjoying his new toys as he's been so much more into everything. Before we headed out we got to skype with Michael's mom, dad and sister. So grateful for skype. We all sure got spoiled by them. Noelle had so much fun opening her presents from them and seeing them. Later we went to my parents and spent all day there. And again we were spoiled by my family as well and Noelle loved opening her presents from everyone. It was such a great day! I know it's late but I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.

"Damin" Fullmer reading with Noelle and Eric

Temple Square

2012-01-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do around Christmas time is going to see the lights at temple square. It was especially fun this year because there were four of us. Noelle is at such a fun stage and really enjoyed it. Well mostly she enjoyed the trax train ride there. She couldn't stop talking about it. And will still bring it up to people and tell them "We went on a train to see the lights." It was pretty cold but the kids and Michael were bundled up pretty well. I don't like bundling up all that much because I always go overboard and get too warm. I wish I would have bundled up a little more on this trip. But it was still fun and will continue to be an annual tradition of ours.

in the visitor center

my pictures outside all turned out dark but this one didn't, of course

all bundled up

she LOVED the train ride

my happy little guy just enjoying the ride. This little guy never seems to get cold, but we bundled him up anyway

sweetest kids, Michael just stares at Noelle sometimes

Festival of Trees

2012-01-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

This year (December 2011) my mom invited Noelle, Mikey and I to go to the Festival of Trees in South Jordan. I went when I was really little with a friend but haven't been back since. I'm so glad we went. There were rows and rows of beautiful trees.

First off, if you don't know what it is, it's a Christmas Festival and 100% of the money earned goes to Primary Children's Hospital. The trees are decorated and sold at a silent auction. The trees are pretty awesome. Some are simple, some come with ornate decorations, others come with actual furniture and toys. There is just a huge variety. And you just go up and down the isles looking at them. There are also elaborate wreaths decorated and auctioned off as well. There was also a few small boutiques and fudge and treats and activities for kids. It was sure fun. Very crowded however. So I'm glad my mom was there with me or there is no way I would have gone by myself.

a little unsure

my favorite Tangled tree

my cutie pie

my kind of tree

whoops

2012-01-11T00:04:00.000-08:00

Really I promise. An updated post coming very soon!

4 months! and other stuff

2011-11-30T20:41:00.000-08:00

My little Michael is 4 months. On the one hand I can't believe it's gone by so fast, on the other it feels like he has been a member of our family for so much longer :). Before I go on to other updates here are the percentiles:

17lbs 6 oz - 90-95%
26 inches - 90%
Head Circumference 75%

Yep, my big, tall boy. I'm thinking just like his daddy. Once Noelle got out of her preemie stage she also was in the 90% for length. Definitely not this early. Our little Michael is such a joy in our lives and he's changing so much.

He's such a happy boy. But when he is concerned about something his little brow furrows and it's so cute.
He rolled over for the first time a week or so ago. You can tell he just wants to move.
When the doctor saw him she said he was pretty strong. He's definitely not a flimsy baby, is what she said. She said he was pretty sturdy too :).
He's so alert and curious about everything. And he has the most bright blue eyes. We're trying to get a good sleep schedule going because he would stay up forever if we let him, he seems to hate missing out on anything.
Noelle is so sweet with him. She's always hugging him and saying things like "It will be okay baby Michael" or "Good job bud."
Michael and Noelle look so much alike. And some days he looks exactly like his daddy.
He's starting to love putting things in his mouth.
He loves it when I sing to him.
Today we tried rice cereal and he LOVED it. Besides getting just a little messy he swallowed every bit of it. He is eating a lot lately so I was pretty excited to start the cereal. I think he will love baby food.
He loves to sit up (with our help still) and whenever he is lying down he does "crunches" to try to sit up himself.
His favorite toy is a burp rag. He's so happy holding one and just brings it right to his mouth.
He doesn't take a binkie, although Noelle still tries to give him one every once in a while.
Sometimes he sucks his thumb.
He's sleeping a lot better lately.
I know I said this already but he is just happy and content with things. I'm not saying he doesn't get fussy once in a while but his whole demeanor is just happiness. He certainly makes our lives happier and I just can't picture it without him.

Other stuff:

Thanksgiving was great. My dad's side of the family got together this year at a church. There is TONS of food and afterward we just have fun and hang out. Oh and play dodge ball. I didn't play this year which I kind of regret but no big deal. I do regret not taking any pictures but oh well. Noelle didn't eat a whole lot, no surprise there. Damin (Noelle's Grandma Fullmer) was there and during meal time she didn't care about anything else except being with her. Noelle had lots of fun. This day is always so exhausting but it was great also. I also made some very yummy sweet potatoes, eggnog pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cheesecake. That night Noelle went to bed pretty early and I headed over to my parents to look at the ads for black Friday. To make a long story short I actually stayed the night at their house and my sister Taylor and I watched a couple episodes of Walking Dead. Yep I stayed up all night and totally regretted it the next morning. But I got some pretty good deals so I guess it was worth it. It was fun to go with my sisters. I came home and even though Michael (husband) had a rough night with the kids he let me sleep about four hours uninterrupted. He is my favorite. Rebecca, Michael's sister also came up from Provo and stayed with us for a few nights. It was fun to have her here and Noelle LOVED it!

Noelle is doing pretty good. Just growing up so much. She has kind of been pretty clingy and has been following me all over the apartment. I think it's sweet sometimes, but other times I really wish she would just play by herself. She got really good at playing by herself then it changed. I think it's still a little bit of "I'm not the baby anymore and I want mom's attention." I think some Christmas presents will help with some independent playing. She doesn't nap very well lately but she still needs them. Even without a nap we still have quiet time. Usually it's me making her sit on the couch to watch a movie so I can rest or get stuff done. Sometimes she falls asleep on the couch. But the no nap transition hasn't been too bad. When she doesn't take a nap I put her down earlier for bed, so that's nice. She is a sweetheart but has certainly shown some attitude in the recent months. Sometimes she doesn't hesitate to hit me right in the face if she doesn't like something or just because. I don't like this so much. It's getting better I think. She remembers everything lately so we have to really be aware of what we say around her ;). She came up to me today and (without any prompting from anyone) said "Thanks for being my mommy." This was accompanied with a big hug and kiss. It just melted my heart. She kept saying it. And I would reply by saying "You're welcome. Thanks for being my daughter." Moments like those make me forget all about the hitting in the face moments. Oh my Noelle. We love her.

Michael and I have been pretty good. Michael is pretty busy these days. The semester ends soon so that will be nice. He could really use a little break. I could use him home during the nights also. But I'm so grateful to him for sacrificing his time and relaxation to better himself and our family. We're excited for Christmas and Noelle loves the tree. Her and I will just sit in front of it and we'll talk about the different ornaments. Since three years ago we started this tradition where we get an ornament for each child every Christmas, also an ornament for the family. And this year Noelle knows which ornaments are hers and she loves it. We also played The First Noel and she realized they were saying her name and she just lit up.

I'm taking more pictures these days with my new phone then with our camera (because it's so much more convenient) so most of these are from my phone. I have some cute videos that are on my phone but haven't figured out how to post them yet.

cuddling with mommy

Go BYU!

Michael was getting his picture taken, so of course Noelle had to as well.

The cutest kids ever! Uh, yeah, they are obviously siblings. They look EXACTLY the same.

our little Christmas tree. Every year there is just less and less space for it.

Go UTES!

Enjoying his bumbo

trying rice cereal for the first time

unleashing my creativity

2011-11-09T22:05:00.000-08:00

All of sudden I feel crafty. Maybe it's because I have a friend who wants to do crafts with me. Maybe it's because I haven't created something in a while. Who knows. But today I felt I needed to change a little element in my bathroom. Now I really don't have anything that coordinates. One day I will. But there was this 90's looking frame in my bathroom that I kind of hated. Now it had a good message but I hated it in there. I found it at the thrift store and just put it up and never liked it, ever. So I found something I wanted to use it for. Which was inspired by my crafty friend mentioned above. I love all her ideas so I hope she's not annoyed by me copying her or getting the idea from her. I turned this frame/whatever it was into something really cute I think. My camera is not the highest quality (especially in the first photo) but it shows what I did. So here's the before and after:

Before

After

This doesn't quite fit all the bows I have for Noelle but for now it's just great and really brightens up the bathroom.

Thank You Very Much!

I've added a new little list to the side of my blog. My project to-do list. Things I am doing or want to do in the future. Right now the ones I have up seem pretty doable. Some of the ideas I got from this boutique I went to today with my friend. I'm excited to do them. I enjoy doing these things more than I thought I would and it takes my mind off of the stresses of the day.

I'm currently working on something like this for my daughter for Christmas. It's coming together and I'm so excited for it to be done. Noelle will love it I think.

Princess Felt Mat

And I want to do these in the near future:

I Spy Bag
Cookie Sheet Magnet Board
Yarn and Felt Wreath

puts a smile on my face

2011-11-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago before bedtime I asked Noelle what she wanted to watch. She said "Harry Potter!" I didn't know if I heard her correctly. I kept asking "Are you sure you want to?" With a smile on her face she would say "Yes!" We've been having a rough couple of weeks with some disobeying and defiance and sometimes I feel like I'm not on her good side. But she knows I love Harry Potter and it's almost as if she was saying in her own way "Mommy I know you love Harry Potter, so I want to watch it to make you happy." She watched a good 20 minutes. The next morning she asked to watch it again and then again tonight before bed. Hmmmm....Is this the start of a new favorite movie trend? Whatever it is, it puts a smile on my face :). At the beginning part of HP 1, when you first see his lightning scar Noelle looks at me and says "He has an owie mommy." She looked concerned for him. For the last little while we have been playing with her and we've taught her to point a "wand" and say "wingardium leviosa" and "stupify," and those are just a couple of the many spells she has learned. So today when we watched the part when they were learning the spell "wingardium leviosa" she said it out loud and quite clearly I might add. She was so proud and so was her mama!

Here is a picture of Noelle enjoying her Harry Potter

Noelle's Birthday and Halloween 2011

2011-11-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

First I love that Noelle's birthday is around Halloween. It will make for some very fun future birthday parties and events. Second I don't think I will ever throw a three year old birthday party and invite kids to it again. Unless maybe there were only three of them. But there were eleven. Quite the event. And not super fun in a little apartment. But I think the kids had fun and I know Noelle did, so that's all that matters right? Plus they got to all dress up in their Halloween costumes. See what I mean by some very fun future parties? Anyway. We did the party the day before her birthday and then Thursday the 27th was the big day. I can't believe I have a 3 year old. It was a very fun day and she totally understood that it was her day. She got some very fun things as well. Here are some things that she is doing now:

She talks and talks and talks.
She asks a lot of questions.
She helps a lot with her baby brother and is very sweet with him.
She also whacked him in the head the other day for no reason.
She's getting quite the imagination.
She still has a sweet personality but she is showing lots of her attitude.
She pushes other kids sometimes. I'm trying to have patience with that. I HATE when she does it and she knows it. Maybe that's one of the reason's she does it so much.
She loves to hold hands with friends.
She is much more outgoing.
She still loves the outdoors.
She'll wipe away my tears if I am crying.
She still isn't potty trained.
She is very sensitive and moody sometimes. Poor daddy has to deal with two sensitive women now.
She loves Tangled.
She loves to dance and sing.
She is still taking one nap a day. But I think that is going to end soon.
And she is still one of the lights of my life, even when I get frustrated and could scream at times.

So we had a very fun Halloween. Noelle LOVED it this year. She really understood trick-or treating and had a blast doing it. We go to my parent's neighborhood. We also enjoyed my mom's delicious cheese soup in bread bowls-it's a tradition ever since I can remember. And we very much missed everyone who wasn't there (Tanner, Nina, Eric, and Alyson). Noelle was Jessie from Toy Story and Michael was a frog. Some people called him Kermit.

Enjoy some photos!

She wanted pancakes for her birthday breakfast and she devoured them.

Thanks to my friend I had a princess castle cake mold that I used for her birthday cake. With such a busy week I needed something simple but also cute. I really like how it turned out.

She has been asking for scissors for her birthday and she got them. So she gave them a hug.Princess pjs

Cute girl in her Halloween shirt

She LOVED the makeup I put on her to be Jessie. I used liquid blush, brown eye liner (for the freckles) and lip gloss.
With Aunt Taylor, the witch
our cute Jessie. Don't you love the pumpkins? Taylor has an obsession with U2 and Bono. Top: U2. Middle: Bono with sunglasses. Bottom: Bono(heart)
p.s. My mom made her awesome chaps.darling cowgirl. Some people thought she was a cowboy.

My cute little froggy. He slept the whole time in the stroller while we trick-or-treated with Noelle.

smiley Michael in his pjs
Silly Noelle in her pjs

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2011-10-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

I love this day. I love it even more now that I have a 3 year old to enjoy it. I kind of wish I would have done something fun for breakfast or lunch on the "Halloween" theme. But I didn't oh well. I did put my kids in Halloween shirts and pjs though. I'm so festive. But we are very excited for our trick-or-treating tonight. Should be funner than last year, since it won't be raining and ice cold. Have a Happy Halloween!

Crazy Week

2011-10-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

This coming week is kind of a crazy one for me. I have lots to do. I'm excited for parts of it, like Noelle waking up on her birthday with the family room decorated and eating her Rapunzel cake that I am going to attempt to make. But other parts I'm kind of stressed over. I'll let you know how it goes and hopefully I will put up some new pictures soon.

weekly (almost daily) tradition

2011-10-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

My very favorite drink is Dr. Pepper, but as I've been trying to eat healthier lately I've discovered Diet Dr. Pepper. It's taken me a little bit to like it, but now I do and it's kind of a treat for me. I didn't really want to try this drink cause at first it tasted completely different than the original. However when our friends invited us to go on a walk to a gas station around the corner I decided to get some. And now I'm hooked :). Probably not the best thing, but sometimes it's the one thing that keeps me going during the day. We've gone on more walks lately with our friends and it's been a lot of fun. The mom's get their drinks, the little girls get a sucker, and the little boys just lay happily in the stroller (not always happily). We sometimes get a red box or two as well. And we usually go more than once a week. We only have the one car right now and I just get so crazy staying inside all day. So this is something I look forward to every week. And it's fun to talk and hang out with our friends. I'm going to be very sad when it gets too cold outside to walk. I'm sure we'll find some way to get there though. Anyway, one day last week my friend wasn't able to go on our walk. But I still wanted to go. It was a very cold day but I bundled the kids up and we went anyway. I took pictures and thought that I would share. Noelle got to push her own little stroller with her dolly in it as well and she really liked that. I wish I had a picture of it.

My bundled up kids. Such good sports for helping me satisfy my addiction

I finally got one of Michael smiling. I love this picture of the two of them.

Michael holding his binky in. He likes his binky but isn't obsessed with it. It doesn't comfort him when he is really upset. Usually it only works when he is kind of tired. My kids just don't do the binky thing well I guess.

Halloween is coming

2011-10-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

I just love Fall and Halloween. It's even getting funner as Noelle is getting older. And I love that Noelle's birthday is four days before Halloween. I hope as she get's older that she will continue to like it. I'm excited for her little party we are having. I put up some Halloween decorations today and Noelle has been running around with a bright smile saying "decorations!" It's so cute. Noelle is going to be Jessie from Toy Story for Halloween. She'll be a cute little cowgirl. I love dressing up. It's probably a good thing that my husband really has no desire to dress up. Or we might match every Halloween. We're going to dress little Michael up in something green. Green makes his red hair pop :)! I'm just excited and I always feel like a little kid around this time of year.

p.s. Today Noelle got her stitches out and was such a brave girl. She was just so happy afterward eating the popsicle that the nurse gave her. She also got a frosty afterward, which she totally attacked.

letter to food

2011-10-03T15:56:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know, I'm really trying to eat healthy and lose weight right now. This time in my life it's been really hard. Harder than ever before. Maybe it's because I have two kids instead of none or one. Maybe it's because this time I feel like I really want to get rid of the weight for good. I don't know. But it's been hard but I'm not giving up. Today I wrote a letter to "food" because I thought it would help me to see why I'm trying to eat healthy. I shared it on our Fullmer family blog and on facebook and thought I'd put it here as well. Just to give me yet another reminder.

My Dearest Food,

I'm at a loss of what to say to you today. You've been one of my best friends for so long. You've comforted me when I've been so sad and stressed. You've helped me to not feel so alone. You've made all the fun and special occasions in my life that much more wonderful. But I think we've come to a crossroads. As much as I love you, our relationship needs to change. You can be so good for me at times. And I absolutely need you to survive. That's why it makes it so hard to say this. I need a break. A break from the parts of you that aren't good for me. A break from the sweetest parts of you, that are usually my favorite. A break from all the stuff that is so not good for my physical and mental health. I need something to change or else this body of mine is just not going to last as long as I would like it to. Although I'm not giving you up. And on those special occasions I know you will be right there. I'm just going to try to get to know the parts of you that are good for me.

I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to you. You're like a drug for me. And that's not good. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? I want our relationship to change forever. I know that I will fall sometimes and give in to your tempting ways but I cannot stay in that place or else my physical and mental health will be in jeopardy again. Please do not think I am intentionally using you. I'm just trying to get the good parts from you and not the bad. I love all your sides. I just need some of them in moderation. I have to break this bad habit that is you.

I am doing this not only for me but for my family as well. I want to be able to run around with my kids for a long time and if I continue on the path that I am now I won't be able to do that. As much as I love you, I love my family and my health more. I need you to stay healthy and to have energy. So thank you for that. Thank you for all the fun times we've had. Thank you for comforting me when nothing else would. Thank you for being my constant friend. But now it's time to say goodbye to our old relationship. I'm looking forward to our new one and know there will be some bumps along the way. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. Please don't be sad. I'll miss you a lot.

Love always, your devoted friend,

Lindsey

stitches

2011-10-03T08:10:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning we went to our church building to help clean it. We got there and there wasn't much to do because a lot of people were there and so we both got to clean the chalk boards. Well we started our third room and Noelle started running around. There is not much for her to do when we clean except follow us around. She was running back and forth in the room and suddenly I hear her crying. I knew she had fallen but I didn't think much of it. Michael picked her up thinking the same thing that she just tripped, then came the blood. And then we saw the cut between her eyes, on the bridge of her nose. She was crying really hard but wasn't hysterical like I thought she would be. It was sad to see her so upset. So we called around and they told us because she is so young and it's on her nose that we needed to go to Primary Children's Hospital. So we did. They got us in right away and were trying to be really cute with Noelle. She was a little shy but responded well to the nurses and doctors. Then they told us she needed stitches and that she needed to be made unaware of it. This meant getting some drugs either through a nasal spray or through an iv. The doctor recommended the spray so that's what we did. They said 9 out of 10 kids that get it just become "drunk" and forget the whole procedure. They stay relatively calm and just act a little loopy. 1 out of 10 become what they called "an angry drunken pirate." Where they just flip out and scream and become really really angry. Lucky for us Noelle was not that. They did have to wrap her up in sheets and pin her down but it was just because she was a little scared. Michael was touching her leg the whole time so she knew he was there. One of the nurses kept trying to talk to her and distract her. It worked a little bit. She kept saying "we're all done," and "make Noelle's nose all feel better." It was so sweet and sad at the same time. They finished relatively quickly and ended up putting 5 stitches in. A little while later they gave her a cherry popsicle and she loved that. They also gave her a little bear that she has named "Bearsy." She came out really well from the medicine and we got to go home pretty soon afterward. Although we had to make sure that for the rest of the day she didn't walk on her own and take it a little easy. She has to wear a bandaid on her nose as much as possible to keep it moist, until it heals. They don't want it to dry out. And we need to put sunscreen on her nose every day for a year so that it won't get sunburned. If it gets sunburned during the first year it could make the scar look really white and stand out. Not a big deal to a toddler but it would be a big deal when she is a little older. The whole experience was a lot less traumatic than I thought it would be. I wasn't nearly as freaked out either and Noelle has been so good about everything. I'm just glad it wasn't something much worse.

sporting her shrek bandaid

holding her bear "bearsy" that she got at the hospital

2 months

2011-09-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. My baby Michael is already two months. I can't believe it and he's getting quite the cute little personality.

Here is what we found out at his doctors appointment on Monday:

Weight: 13lbs 15oz - 95%
Height: 22.75 inches - 50%
Head Circumference - 50%

~He's been growing SO SO much lately that my guess for his weight was between 12 and 14 lbs. Well I was right. He just eats a lot and very much enjoys it. He must be my son :). He's on a pretty regular schedule as far as eating goes, every 3-4 hours.
~His sleeping is pretty good. He sleeps a good part of the day but is also awake a good part of the day. At night he is sleeping between 6 and 8 hours stretches which I am so grateful for. Last night it was 8 and was wonderful.
~He seems to love watching Noelle and I and gets so excited to see us. Me and Noelle sometimes dance around the family room and he seems to get excited when we do this, it's so cute.
~Michael is still sleeping in our room. Mostly because I don't know how to transition him and Noelle yet into sharing the same room. With Noelle she was in our room forever. But I learned my lesson and we would like to get him sharing a room soon. I fear that Noelle may try to get in bed with him or wake up all the time. We had to get rid of our old crib so I think as soon as we get a crib we'll do the transition I just don't know when that will be.
~Little Michael is a cuddler. I love it. He just cuddles in to you when you hold him and it's so sweet.
~He is obsessed with the wall behind our couch. There are a bunch of frames and other decorations and he could stare at them forever. This is helping him to hold his head up on his own as well.
~The smiles are starting to come and they are so so sweet.
~A lot of the faces he has look just like Noelle did. I'm still amazed how much they look alike sometimes.
~He still grunts but not nearly as much as he did at the beginning.
~Michael very much enjoys the walks that we take and he LOVES being outside. He's just so happy out there. It seems like both my kids love the outdoors. I'm hoping that he will enjoy camping more than Noelle. Well Noelle loves it just not the nights.
~Noelle loves her little brother. She always is showing everyone her little brother and saying how cute he is. When she gives him a hug he turns toward her and opens his mouth for a kiss. I think it's so sweet.

Anyway. I just love my little guy and cannot imagine our lives without him.

His almost smile.

watching football with Grandpa Fullmer

Michael just laid him on a pillow one day and he fell asleep

Picture Overload

2011-09-16T09:23:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted pictures in a while. And I kind of thought that was a little unfair to those certain people that are so far away who need to see updated pictures of our almost 8 week old and almost 3 year old. So here ya go :)... (the most recent are towards the bottom of this post)

Noelle and her second cousin Brookelynn

I just love the little faces he makes while he's sleeping.

She loves putting her sun glasses on in the car.

my sweet children

My little model posing for the camera

Just wait I have lots of these kind of pictures. I can't resist taking them. They are so cute.

my cute boy

I just love to watch him sleep.

Noelle will often lay down my Michael whenever he's on the floor. She is so sweet with him.

Just daddy sleeping this time. Aren't they both so handsome?

my michaels

Blessing day. Don't you love his hair? It seems to be getting redder and I love it.

ahhhh, how cute

Some tummy time

He's mad at me here for putting a girl big on him. I don't blame him. I'm kind of mad at myself every time the boy bibs run out and I have to put him in purple or pink.

Michael with my Grandma Fullmer

I just love this one. They look so much alike sometimes, it's crazy.

love his big blue eyes

More recent tummy time. He's getting to be quite the big guy. A friend of mine in our ward asked me if I was feeding him pure butter cause he's getting so big :).

sweet boy in the girl bouncer. One day he'll forgive me

And last but not least, another sleeping picture of the two men in my life.

Family Update

Little Michael is doing great. The last couple of nights he's only woken up once. It's like he is already starting to put himself on a good schedule. He eats every three to four hours. Always between 4oz and 6oz. He sure likes to let me know when he's hungry. He kind of scream/grunts is what I call it. He's still a little noisy. He's starting to give little smiles and it just melts my heart. He follows me around with his eyes wherever I go. He usually follows Noelle too. He tends to plan his nap around when daddy will be home. Because Michael has work and three out of five nights has school there isn't as much time to see him. And he's usually awake or ready to eat when daddy comes home. He always has his head to the right or left. He rarely lays his head in the straight, forward position. Hopefully this will not lead to us having another helmet situation. He gets so excited when we talk to him or kind of tickle him. He'll wave his arms and make grunting noises and it's so cute. He's been on a few walks with Noelle and I and has done great. We're so happy to have this addition in our family and we feel more complete.

Noelle is doing really well. She is playing with more friends and being more social which I'm happy about. She still loves nursery. She's still not potty trained. So I kind of hate changing so many diapers. She's so ready for it but up until today actually hasn't shown any interest. I think today she showed some interest because we had one of her friends over yesterday and she went potty in the toilet. So we'll see. I'm trying not to be discouraged about it, cause she is almost three. I just am out of ideas on how to motivate her without pushing too hard. Noelle is great with Michael. She is so sweet and always is concerned for him. She's sure got some attitude at times which results in her seeing the time-out corner more often. She's also a little emotional, probably gets that from me. She loves Toy Story and is going to be Jessie the cowgirl for Halloween. She loves dogs and I can't wait until one day when we can get one for her.

"Big" Michael is doing good. He's very busy working a full-time job and being a full-time student. This has been a big adjustment for all of us but it's been good as well. Even though he is completely exhausted he comes home happy and is so excited to play with his kids. He's a ward missionary and takes turns teaching the Gospel Principles class.

I am doing pretty good. My emotional rollercoaster is starting to come back to normal and that feels great. I've started working out and eating better although this week has been a hard and stressful one, but that's okay. I'll do better next week. I'm feeling pretty positive and good these days even when those stressful times come. I was released as Primary 1st counselor and am now compassionate service leader. So that's keeping me pretty busy.

Things are going great in the Pfeil home and we feel really blessed. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Visitors

2011-08-30T10:50:00.001-07:00

We just recently had some visitors from Indiana. Michael's Mom and sister, Becky came to visit. Also it was time for Becky to return to BYU. They didn't stay with us this time, mostly because we had a newborn and there just wasn't enough room. We love when they come, especially Noelle. She get's spoiled. They hadn't met little Michael yet, so that was especially great. We went shopping, played, visited and just spent time together. They both had the flu at one point so that wasn't too fun. And we really couldn't see them during that time, so we could prevent little Michael and Noelle from getting it. Becky headed off to Provo and Michael's mom left yesterday. We wished they lived closer. We're so happy they came to visit. Noelle fell asleep in the car on the way to dropping grandma pfeil off at the airport. I was kind of sad that she couldn't say bye. When she woke up grandma was gone and Noelle asked where she was. I told her that she was gone. Well Noelle was very sad about that. I didn't take very many pictures and I feel really bad about that. But I did have these two:

Here I Go Again...

2011-08-26T15:42:00.001-07:00

If you are interested I started another blog. It's basically my way of journaling how I do with getting healthy and losing weight. It's a work in progress and I actually am not starting my "program" until early September. But I have started posting my thoughts and stuff on it. Go here if you want to see my latest attempt at making and accomplishing a goal.

noisy

2011-08-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, we have one noisy baby on our hands. He is fairly mellow right now but often cries just to be held. I feel like he does it more than Noelle did. Anyway, on to the noisy part. Little Michael just grunts and squeeks so much. He's always making noises and sometimes it's so funny and sometimes sad because I don't know if some of the noises suggests that he is sad or uncomfortable. When he wants to be in a certain position is when he makes the most noise. Or when I wrap him up tight to go to sleep, he grunts like you wouldn't believe just to try to get his arms free. He's pretty good at it too. Unless I really concentrate and wrap him up tight like a mummy. I thought Noelle liked to try to wiggle free but he does it much more. Right now he is in a bassinet by my side of the bed and keeps me up even when he's not eating. Michael (the husband) of course sleeps right through it all. He probably won't be staying in our room as long as I thought he would. I never realized this with Noelle but Mikey (this is what some people call him) hates to get his diaper changed. Unless he is completely content he just cries through the whole thing, poor little guy. Maybe it's a boy thing. And right now he doesn't like getting a bath, I think it's because he get's kind of cold. I hope that changes. But he is so sweet and just likes to cuddle. He also likes to just look around and move his head whenever he gets the chance. We have to really watch him or he'll fall out of our arms cause he's trying to move his head so much. I'm looking forward to him watching and following Noelle around all day. Noelle just gets sweeter with him every day and I love to see and hear her express her love and concern for him. She hates it when I try to clean out his nose and often starts crying when he starts crying (he's been congested a little since he was born, which makes it very hard to eat and breathe sometimes).

I'm feeling great and starting to get the hang of things. Juggling two kids is quite the task and I don't know how people have a clean house. I hate housekeeping anyway, but to even find the time right now is so hard. Michael is starting school next week! Yay! It's been quite the long road to get to this point of him starting school again. We didn't have a very good experience with the last school and we feel really good about how things are working out now. I'm very proud of him and all he does for our family. He'll be working full time and going to school full time and I know it's going to be a challenge for all of us. All I can say is I think we both will be really looking forward to Saturdays and Sundays. But we know we have been brought to this point in our lives for a reason and I'm so grateful and happy to be going through life with my wonderful husband.

After wiggling his arms free

I just love this picture of Noelle. She actually gave me a smile and she looks like such a big girl. I can't believe how big and smart she is getting. Where does the time go?
Noelle wanted to lay by "Baby Michael." This is what she calls him and right now and won't leave the "baby" part out.

So sweet

2011-08-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

I just had to share some sweet things that Noelle has done lately. Recently I was released from my primary calling, which I'm kind of sad about. Anyway, yesterday we had one last activity and I decided to bring Noelle with me even though she's in nursery. A little boy fell off of a table onto the gym floor and Noelle felt really bad for him. A few minutes later I see Noelle coloring on the floor and then this little boy walks back in to the gym with his mom, still a little upset from the fall. Noelle stops what she is doing, gets up and goes right over to this little boy and gave him a hug. It just melted my heart. Sometimes Noelle is really shy and shows no aggression to other children. When someone takes her toy she either just lets it go or crys and comes and tells me. I was like this and I sometimes wish she would fight back. But I know along with this shy, non-confrontational personality comes a very sweet and loving disposition and I am so happy Noelle is the way she is.

After we got home from the hospital a bug seemed to hit our little home. Michael got sick and so did Noelle. Luckily I really didn't get anything and neither did little Michael. Well she's been fighting this bug off and on for a few weeks now, some not so fun stomach/other issues. We were over at my parent's house last weekend and Noelle pulls one of their table chairs away from the table and sits in it. Then she says something like this "I want some medicine for my hair." It took us a minute to figure it out, but then we realized she was talking about getting a blessing. And the oil that you put on someone's head when they are sick. Right before my c-section I was given a blessing by my husband and dad and Noelle was there. I know that she has also seen other blessings given. It was just the sweetest thing. She's been feeling sick lately and decided to ask for a blessing in her own little way. Michael and my dad gave her a blessing and I kind of cried a little. I know the spirit works through these pure, sweet children and I'm so grateful for this little experience.

And I just love the next picture. Little Michael is gaining weight and lately he has been crying purely so that we pick him up and cuddle with him. He is my little cuddle bug. Noelle has been lots better this week and is always asking to hold him and if he is ok. They are so sweet together.

photoshoot

2011-08-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't pass up getting these pictures taken in the hospital. They are so cute and perfect. We never got them with Noelle and I really wanted them this time around. I'm glad we did, I only wish we could have got Noelle in them with us. We will be doing a family photo shoot in the fall though, I think.

Baby Michael is doing great. He is such a mellow baby and just very laid back so far. Noelle has her good and bad moments with everything. We're trying to give her lots of attention too. And we love being a family of four.

my sneaky make up artist

2011-08-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Looks like I need to get some new mascara...

My little make up artist wanted to be sneaky so she went by the front door where I wouldn't see her. She makes me smile.

Our little Michael

2011-08-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Our little Michael Eric Pfeil was born Monday, July 25 at 12:28pm! He weighed 7lbs 14oz and 19 inches long. Let me start from the beginning of the day. We had to be in the hospital by 10am and the c-section was scheduled at 12noon. We dropped Noelle off at my parent's house. It was completely different than last time and it made all the difference. Things were very relaxed and there was no worry. I even got to walk down to the operating room without a wheelchair or being already on the bed. My blood pressure was great too. We got in the operating room and they were prepping everything. The only thing that I was honestly dreading was getting the spinal block. And for good reason. It was horrible. I won't even go into detail about it except that I'm surprised I didn't squeeze Michael and the nurse's hand off when the guy was giving it to me. And I was just in tears. Other than that the procedure went great. The doctor pulled little Michael out and he started to cry. I couldn't help but start crying myself. It was such an awesome thing to experience and I really felt the spirit close. After the procedure I was able to hold my baby and they put us into a room. Which I might add was quite spacious and very comfortable. We got to come home the following Thursday. We had the option of staying until Friday but I did not want to stay, at all. I would rather deal with my emotions at home than at a hospital. The nurses were really great but by Thursday they weren't doing anything for me that I couldn't do myself and plus the bed was getting really uncomfortable. My stay at this hospital was much better than at the last one. Everyone there completely helped me with everything I needed and it was just an overall better experience. A big contributing factor to that was probably because everything went so well and I didn't have a baby in the nicu.

It feels so nice to be home. Just being with my family and experiencing everything together just helps so much. Cuddling with my little guy is so wonderful and I can't believe that I love someone so much, again. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for answering our prayers. For bringing us a little baby that's so healthy. And for my wonderful husband and sweet children.

Noelle is doing good, all things considered. She's really been cute with baby Michael and wants to hold him all the time and takes pictures with him. She is a little jealous and is definitely doing some things to test our patience, more than she ever has but she's a good big sister. I'll ask her to help me get something for baby Michael or help me put something away and lately the answer has been "No" or "no mom, I don't want to." We're giving her a little bit of time before we are too hard on her. It's been an up and down week. She is still such a sweetheart and we love her. She has been so good while I have just been trying to rest and heal.

Little Michael is doing good. The nights have been rough but that's not a surprise. Things have gotten better since we've been home. The name thing might get confusing for some people. So for a while I'm going to be referring to our new baby as "little Michael." My family still hasn't decided what they are going to call him. But to me I just look at him and he's my little Michael :). I love cuddling with him and just love him so much. He is a very good sleeper right now. I don't know how long that will last. I usually have to wake him up to eat. I, however, am not getting that much sleep but that's okay. We're so happy that he is here and that we get to be home enjoying time as a family.

Michael started a new job on Monday. He really likes it so far. It's pretty physical so he's been coming home pretty tired. But even with that he's been great and so helpful with everything. Our house is pretty much a mess and Noelle will say sometimes "It's a mess" or "what a mess." She's right but right now I don't care and some things just need to be put on hold.

Enjoy some pictures!

This is a rare photo. I don't have any pictures of me being pregnant. So here ya go. I was getting pretty big.

Holding my baby michael right after the c-section was over

He looks pretty big in this one

He has my toes

LOVE this one

first family photo of four

kissing brother

He sometimes will get this grip on his pacifier and just hold it there

Going home!

Noelle is always asking to hold her brother

actually awake. Don't you love the girly bouncer? We got this for a gift when Noelle was born.

aww so cute. My kids in yellow :)

Full Term and Camping Attempt #3

2011-07-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well I made it full term! I'm so grateful and feeling very relieved. Every doctor's appointment has been great. I always want to say to the nurse and doctor afterward "Are you sure everything is okay?" or "Are you sure you're doing my blood pressure correctly?" Everything is scheduled for this coming Monday and I'm getting pretty anxious and excited. Wow, do we still have a lot to do though, mostly just cleaning. With me being very pregnant and Michael's different schedule, not as much has been getting done as I would like but oh well.

We attempted to go camping for a night recently. It's the annual Clayson camp that's happens every year for a week. We were originally going to go up just during the day but we actually went up the first day and stayed over night. We used our little tent. Thank goodness my family volunteered to take Noelle in their tent trailer because our tent barely fit me and Michael. It barely fit one queen size mattress and we couldn't stand up in it. Michael slept pretty good but I had a horrible night. I maybe got 3 hours of sleep. Noelle was having a hard time with my family as well (to say the least). I could hear her crying every time she would wake up. Baby Michael was moving a ton and I was just plain uncomfortable and in pain, did I mention I have been an emotional roller coaster lately? All of this combined made for a very bad, tear filled night. Noelle has not done well camping at all. The first year we went she had her helmet on. Second year she was getting over some asthma and doing nebulizer treatments. This year she had a cold. I'm really hoping that these were the reasons why she hasn't done well at nighttime. We love camping and plan on going whenever we can so hopefully she'll grow into it.

Our computer has been pretty pathetic lately so I feel like I haven't been posting as much. I'm sure the next post will be of our new little guy. Wish me luck!

I've made it

2011-07-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

I'm 36 weeks. And my energy is pretty much gone. I won't be going to 40 weeks, so for all of you that have gone that far (or further, especially in the summer) I admire you, but I'm not going to be taking that same route. And originally I kind of felt bad about that. But not any more. At the beginning of the pregnancy (and actually up until very recently) I was really wanting to do a vbac and I thought that would be how it would happen, no problem. But as I've been talking to my doctor, reading and watching things about it and praying a lot we've decided that it actually isn't the best way to go. My doctor said she would be with me the whole way if that's the way we wanted to go but she also said to go with "our gut" on what we feel would be the best for both me and the baby. Here are some things that we have considered:

1)Last time I had an emergency csection and my blood pressure sky rocketed out of control and that was the only option. We were both in danger and I could have had a stroke or seizure at any time. My blood pressure has been good this time around but there is always a chance that it could rise especially under the stress of labor. And because technically I have hypertension. I don't want that to happen because if it did we would have to do another emergency csection and I'd like to avoid the "emergency" part this time around.

2)They won't induce someone who has had a csection. The contractions would come on too strong and that could tear my previous incision and could cause a whole other set of emergency problems. My mom was induced for all 5 of her children and if that's at all how I am then I would rather not go that far if I don't have to. Plus it's not even an option.

3)I just want a healthy baby. He's growing and doing great and we feel that this is just the better option in keeping him as healthy as possible.

I have felt a peace about this decision and it won't escape my mind that this is what Heavenly Father wants us to do. Those feelings have never failed me and so more than any other reason I'm going with that and trusting in Heavenly Father.

My due date has actually changed a couple of times. Sometimes he's measuring bigger, sometimes he is measuring right on track. But he's still coming on July 25th. He'll be full term and I'm so so grateful about that. The good thing about being a little high risk is that since 31 weeks I've been going to the doctor every week which means I have also been getting an ultra-sound every week. I love that part. It also means I've been getting a non-stress test every week. Which hasn't been so fun. I just have to stay in a chair hooked up to a heart rate and contraction monitor and push a button every time I feel him move. It sounds kind of fun at first and then after you're there for more than a half hour it just gets tiring and hot. The appointments end up being at least two hours and it's just long. I think I only have two more to go to. But my doctor has been wonderful and SO on top of things. Baby Michael was estimated to weigh around 6 1/2 lbs last ultra sound. He's still moving and twisting a ton. I just feel so grateful that I've made it and am ready to have this little guy here.

Noelle's Personal Photo Album

2011-07-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some of Noelle's pictures that she has taken with our camera. She understands what to push to take a picture she just hasn't gotten the whole aim thing down. So for your viewing pleasure :):

This one was taken with a little help from me

Just for fun and other info

2011-06-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

We've been very busy this week. It was kind of nice at first until today hit and we just got worn out. I didn't mention that Michael started a new job last week which has made his days a little more exhausting than normal. It's not a lot but it is something and we are very grateful for that. He's training for it right now and so he works the night shift. It's been different and a little bit of an adjustment for all of us, but so far it's been a good experience. Other than that not much has been going on. We're getting ready for our little boy to come. It's less than 4 weeks away and I have so much to do. I really want to get it done, in fact all I talk about these days with Michael is baby this and baby that. I just don't have very much energy right now and can't move around very fast. So we're just taking it one day at a time and I'm learning to not stress over what I can't control. Hopefully all that needs to get done will get done by the time he is here.

Monday we went to Liberty park. This is the greatest park. I didn't really know how cool it was until I went last year with my sister-in-law Nina and Noelle. There is a little splash pad but Noelle is very hesitant to just run through water squirting up from the ground for some reason. Michael ran through some of it while holding her and she did not like that at all. Some of her hesitation may have come from there being so many big kids around. I don't mean just 4 and 5 year olds, I mean 12 and 13 year olds. Anyway, she just wanted to play on the regular park. Which again is pretty big and very fun. They also have this mini replica of some different canyons here in Utah. They fill it with clean chlorine water and you can just walk around in it and get wet. Noelle LOVED this. She just wanted to walk everywhere and loved the fountains. The park also has tons of places to sit down and have a picnic, some amusement park rides and a place to buy food and drinks and a duck pond. The heat really wore on Noelle and she was so tired by the end of our little outing (so was I). It's free and that's something that we were really happy about.

The next several pictures are from the canyon replica area. It's so cool and fun.

Up in the "bigger canyons"

just wading in the pool

Some of it seemed a bit steep and slippery for her but she wasn't at all hesitant and didn't slip once.

loved the fountains

My handsome, good sport of a husband. He pretty much walked around with her the whole time. I was kind of afraid that I might slip and fall being my clumsy, pregnant self.

Noelle doesn't really like when I vacuum. So when I do we put her chair on the couch and she just sits and watches. And sometimes afterward she'll clap for me and says "yay mommy, you did it!" :) (probably because I don't do it as often as I should)

Noelle has quite the glare. Sometimes we'll do this to each other and just laugh

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

2011-06-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Noelle has really been enjoying books lately and we found her reading this one all by herself. This was the second time reading it so we didn't get as much but it's still super cute :). She's got a great memory, not at all like mom, but just like dad.

33 weeks 6 days

2011-06-24T18:08:00.001-07:00

Are you guys sick of my baby posts yet? There sure are a lot of them. Things are looking good still. I'm so so happy about that. He's measuring in at 33 weeks 6 days and his estimated weight is 5lbs 4oz. Which I guess is the 52% for weight right now. I just love that he's over 5lbs. The ultra sound tech predicts that he will be around 7lbs when he is born (if he lasts until 38 weeks that is). The first thing that the tech saw on the ultra sound was that he had lots of hair. And he even kind of had a mohawk. I'm so excited to see and meet my cute little boy. This week was the first week to get really hot, in the 80's or more. And I sure can feel it when I go outside. We've been spending a lot of time in the pool lately which does 2 things for me 1) keeps me cool and 2) takes all the pressure and pain away from my body. It's pretty much my favorite place to be while moving around so I'm going to keep going as long as I can walk from our apartment door to the pool. A little over 4 weeks or less and I'm going to be holding my sweet little baby Michael, can't wait.

Sound of Sunshine

2011-06-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is totally random but I don't care. Today was a great start to the week. The sun is shining but it's not hot, it's a very nice day. This morning Michael, Noelle and I went on a walk and fed the ducks. Long walks are getting harder for me but I enjoy them so much. We went home and were kind of tired so we relaxed a little. We were about to get lunch for Noelle when she brought Michael her swimsuit and said she wanted to go swimming. She was sick for a few days and so we couldn't go. We told her once she got better we could go swimming. She obviously remembered :). We were going to go tomorrow but we couldn't say no. Our apartment pool was empty for a bit and I love that, when it's not crowded. Then some friends dropped by and we played with them for a little bit. Noelle loves to be in the water right now and so do I! We went home and had some lunch. Can I also add that Noelle ate a ton of grapes, strawberries and oranges. This makes me very happy because sometimes she is so picky. I love fruit during the summer. And I just heard this song called the Sound of Sunshine and it just fit perfectly for today. Sometimes Mondays can be a bit of a bummer, but once in a while when we have a good one I like to remember it. Here's the song if you want to hear it:

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Michael is really hard to buy for sometimes. So buying a Father's Day gift wasn't much fun this year. We went to Target yesterday and he picked something out that he wanted. I really had no clue, but I wish I could have been more creative. I usually look forward to making him breakfast in bed on this day but for certain reasons we actually stayed the night at my parent's house. My sister Taylor made my dad breakfast in bed and she made extras, which was very sweet of her. But because we were there I wasn't able to follow through with my plans of making Michael breakfast. Noelle woke up a couple times in the middle of the night and Michael kept soothing her and convincing her to go back to sleep.

Like I've said before I sure am more uncomfortable than I was last pregnancy. All day I was super tired, my back was killing me and I was emotional. I really tried not to be because of Father's Day but you can only control so much. He was just sweet and patient as usual. Noelle is still in diapers and Michael took that over today as well. It is so hard for me to get up and down off of the floor and usually I don't even want to try. He helps me up when I feel like I can't on my own. He was jobless for a little over 5 weeks and has had a large amount of stress placed upon him. He deals with Noelle's whining much better than I do right now. And even with all of this he is still so loving to Noelle and I and treats me like a queen. I wish I could have made his Father's Day better. I wish I could have given him a little break. But being the wonderful man that he is Michael said to me today with a smile "You don't take a break from being a dad." The card that I got for him said this:

front: Happy Father's Day, Honey! Today belongs to you.
inside: No, really. 364 days are plenty for me.

I thought it was so funny but Michael really has been so wonderful and has always put me and Noelle first.

I just love him so much and I am so blessed to have him in my life. I'm so grateful to go through this life with him and all eternity. He is a wonderful Father and a day doesn't go by that he doesn't express his love to Noelle and I. Michael, We are so lucky to have you in our life! I can't express how much I love you and I can just see it by the way Noelle is with you that she feels the same. Happy Father's Day!!

my big girl

2011-06-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

Lately two of Noelle's favorite songs just happen to be church songs. In nursery she has been learning "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home" and she just loves singing it and doing the actions. One she has liked for a while is "The temple song" (this is what she calls it). She sings this song so cute and I can't believe that I haven't gotten it on video yet. Hopefully she'll let me get it soon. It makes me very happy and proud to hear her learn and like these primary songs. Of course the nursery leaders are doing a wonderful job but it also helps me to realize that as parents we are doing a good job also. The other morning before I woke up Michael told me that Noelle went and got the scriptures and said to him "I want read scriptures daddy." This has been something we have really worked on as a family, to read every day together. We haven't done perfectly but we've done a pretty good job. And I really can feel the spirit in our home as we've done this together. And it just makes me happy to know that Noelle is remembering and getting something out of it.

She is just getting to be such a big girl too. She is just picking up everything and is so observant. She sings along to songs on her favorite shows and movies. And I love when Noelle says things like "I like this song" or "It's kinda spicey." This is when something is too hot or has a different flavor. She says that about her toothpaste sometimes. And lately she tells me that baby Michael is taking a nap and she'll say "oooh I love you baby Michael" and hug and kiss my belly. I just love it. Along with all this big girl stuff she is also getting a little more whiny and has more attitude. But that's okay and we deal with it when it comes along. She is such a big helper. When Michael or I ask her to put something away she usually does it without question. I'm only hoping that this will last into more of her childhood. We'll see. I'm just grateful for Noelle in my life. When things seem so hard and I just want to be down she helps me to feel happy. I can't fake it around her. She is just the light of my life and I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father to be her mother.

Noelle loves to dress up and be silly (just like her dad). This is her raincoat from last year. And even though it's way small on her I can't put it away cause she loves to put it on. She's also really good lately at letting me take pictures.

Last week we watched cousin Eric and Noelle wanted to take a picture with him. I think watching him has helped her a little to get used to having a baby around.

I know I have a lot of pictures of her sleeping on the couch, but I think they are so cute. This was after a very long walk and swimming. She was exhausted.

Being silly again like her daddy. Funny thing is Michael had this same stuff on just minutes before.

Baby update: I made it past 32 weeks! Monday marked that day and I was just a little anxious. But the day came and went and no high blood pressure. I went to the doctor yesterday for another ultra sound and non-stress test and it went great. He's actually measuring 6 days ahead, which instead of 32 weeks I guess I'm 33 weeks. And he's grown, because his estimated weight is 4lbs 15oz, ALREADY. I can't even believe that. He's almost 5lbs. Last pregnancy I was far from carrying a 5lb baby, but I'm so grateful that he is growing and is healthy.
Here are some things I'm experiencing at this point in my pregnancy: Still having cravings. My latest: nacho cheese doritos. I can't get enough of them. I don't know why but they are delicious to me. Another one is fruit. Especially strawberries. My appetite has certainly increased so I've really got to watch it. I'm still hating to touch any type of raw meat. I'll do it if Michael isn't around but if he is you won't find me near it. I'm a sweat machine. I'll get all ready for the day and then do Noelle's hair and by the end of doing it I'm sweating and have to blow dry my hair again, gross. I sleep with a fan on me all night because if I don't my night is even more miserable. You've all heard this but my body is aching everywhere, all the time. I've been fairly active though and go on walks and do water aerobics. Swimming is my favorite activity to do while I'm pregnant. It's probably because I feel so light. Anyway, that's enough for today. We'll see how big our little Michael is by the end of next week, I'm really excited to find out.

a little more relief

2011-06-09T14:00:00.001-07:00

Doctor's appointment today went great. We had an ultra sound to measure the baby and all the amniotic fluid. He's doing great and is about 3 days ahead of schedule. He is in a breech position. His estimated weight is 4lbs 8oz, which is only one ounce smaller than when Noelle came home from the hospital. I can't believe that. No wonder I feel bigger. We also did a non-stress test and everything went well with that. No signs of preeclampsia yet. My doctor is happy with how well everything is going and even said to me today "Your ankles look great." That's always good to hear :). I really think this water aerobics class has helped with swelling and my blood pressure. Other than the fact that I am sleeping horribly these days and am so sore everywhere, everything is going great. I'm wanting to do a VBAC but if that doesn't happen before July 25th than we will be doing a c-section. So if everything goes well in June our little guy is going to have a July birthday :). I really can't believe that because it is just a little over 6 weeks away. Wow!-I have so much to do. But I am so grateful everything is going well right now.

oh and I changed my baby ticker thing. Technically I guess my due date is still August 8th but my doctor doesn't want to go that long and like I said above if he isn't born (naturally) before July 25th than that will be his birthday. :) So excited!

Moab

2011-06-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

This last weekend our little family took a road trip with my side of the family to Moab. I love this place. We went a bunch of times when we were kids and it just brings back a lot of memories for me. My dad got a condo that was so nice and we just relaxed, did Moab stuff and had fun. We needed this little vacation so bad. And although it was a little crazy with Noelle it really lifted my spirits. I shouldn't really complain about watching Noelle. Cause mostly it was everyone else watching and entertaining her. She really doesn't care about mom and dad when other people she loves are around, especially "Damin" (this is what Noelle calls Grandma). I was advised by my doctor to take it easy and drink plenty of water which is what I did. But I did get out and saw some pretty sights at Arches National Park. One of the "walks" was a little harder than I thought, and was uphill a lot of the way. I think it was called the Window Arch or Double Window Arch. But Michael stayed with me and we took our sweet time. We also went to the Sand Dune Arch which was very short and simple, but you had to walk in sand which took some balancing. Something I am not good at lately. It was a lot warmer than what I am used to which is why I think it felt harder than it was. But at the same time it was great to have nice weather. The sight seeing day really wore me out and I was so tired after that. I even got a little sick I think from the heat. My mom said something like this to me at the end of the day: "How are you going to survive any longer, you look miserable." I didn't dispute what she said. I was feeling pretty bad. Not to mention I'm feeling huge. It's just going to get warmer and I'm going to get bigger. But we had so much fun. Michael had never been and he was in heaven with his binoculars and hiking backpack (that he took everywhere). Which is so Michael-ish. It was wonderful to be away, be with family and just relax and not worry about anything. We really needed it. Thanks to all those who made it so great for us!

Just a warning, there are a lot of pictures.

We went swimming almost right when we got there. The weather was so nice. Noelle is still a little afraid of the water but she is getting used to it and always asks to go swimming.

One thing about swimming though is Noelle gets so cold afterward. Her feet get a little blue and around her lips. Uncle Tanner wrapped her up nice and tight after she got out of the pool.

The grandkids after a tiring day

a view from our condo at sunrise. I love all the red rock and mountains that are Moab.

Michael had never been to Moab and was excited to go. Everyone but me, my mom, Noelle and baby Eric hiked to the famous delicate arch.

Getting ready to see some of Moab

She was so tired from the sun and was really being a good sport about taking pictures.

Aunt Taytay and Noelle

Michael and Noelle in front of the balancing rock.

Window Arch. This was my first hike/walk. A little hard for me but I made it.

Noelle hiked all the way almost all by herself. Towards the end she needed someone to hold her though.

A view of a different arch

Aunt Aly and Noelle at the Window Arch. A little scary to have Noelle up there. Some places were kind of steep.

Michael and Noelle at the Sand Dune Arch, Noelle's favorite. She loved playing in all the sand. And for some reason thought it was funny to throw sand on people.

Running in the sand. It felt so good to sit in the sand that was shady.

Hiding her feet in the sand.

Part of the kitchen in the condo

Right outside the condo. We ate breakfast out here the last morning.

The condo. So nice! Thanks Dad!

On our way home we stopped at another place called Dead Horse Point. It was beautiful!
Noelle and Grandma Fullmer

More of the view from Dead Horse Point

And this is just one of Noelle. She took this all by herself :)

Unexpected news

2011-06-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Don't worry. Not too unexpected. I went in for a doctors appointment last week and everything was looking good. Blood pressure-great! Protein-none! Gestational Diabetes-not even close! I guess I was just preparing myself for the opposite. Maybe that will change in the next few weeks, maybe not. Baby Michael's heartbeat was good and the unexpected news was that I was measuring bigger than 29 1/2 weeks. I was surprised to hear that but not at the same time. I feel huge and I'm expecting this little guy to be tall like his daddy. At this time last pregnancy Noelle was measuring a little small and so I guess I was expecting the same thing. However next week we'll get an ultrasound done and really see how big he is. My doctor sure has been on top of things. My doctor was wonderful last time and obviously he caught all the danger before it got too bad, but this doctor has been a little more on top of it. Plus I have definitely been more active this pregnancy (even though I'm physically more sore) and I've tried to not eat too many salty foods (which helps a ton with the blood pressure). Last time I had a c-section and this time around I've expressed to my doctor that I really want to try the "normal" way. I'm not opposed to a c-section if that is the best option for me and the baby but I would really like to feel a contraction and labor. I didn't feel any of that AT ALL last time. And I know some of you are thinking "why?" but that's just what I want. Because he is measuring big she's not going to let me go to my due date which is August 8th. So if he hasn't come on his own by the end of July she is either going to induce me or we'll be getting the c-section. That is if everything keeps going the way it's going. So that means he's coming in 9 weeks or less. That is crazy to me. And I still have so many things to do and get ready for. Right now I'm just trying to be positive and not stress. So many things are going through my head right now, not just with this pregnancy but with a whole lot of other stuff as well. Anyway. That's the update, in case any one wanted to know :).

Happy Birthday Michael!

2011-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so grateful you are in my life. There is no one else in the whole wide world that I would want to share all these memories with and spend forever with. Thank you for working so hard and for caring so much about our family. You are my strength and my best friend and I couldn't get through this life without you. Thanks for ALWAYS, ALWAYS making me smile and laugh! You are such a wonderful father and I'm so glad our kids have you as their dad. They sure are lucky! Noelle has so much fun with you and she is always going to you for hugs and kisses because she loves you so much. I know things have been hard lately but I'm so glad we get to go through it together. Thank you for loving the Lord and for honoring your priesthood. I hope you have a GREAT day and I love you so much!!!! Happy Birthday!!

Love, Lindsey

Weekend

2011-05-23T12:56:00.001-07:00

We really needed this past weekend. The week was just a mixture of emotions and the gloominess of the rain didn't help. Although we love when it rains we really needed some sunshine. So thankfully Saturday had some sunshine and we took advantage of it. First off I was able to go get a prenatal massage Saturday morning. Michael got this for me for Mother's Day . Months before though I had mentioned what I had wanted and referred him to a few different websites. He got the hint ;). It was an hour long and was wonderful. The first thing to make it that way was that I got to lay on my stomach. They had these cushion things propped up so it supports a pregnant belly very well. And it did a great job. I could hardly even feel that I was pregnant. Which is saying a lot because I am constantly feeling aches and pains and the weight of my pregnant stomach. It relieved a lot of built up tension and afterward I felt relaxed and not sore at all. Have I mentioned how I can't wait to sleep on my stomach again? This is my sleeping position of choice and I very much miss it. But I'm willing to wait as long as I need to to get this little guy here safely.

So anyway, later that day we went to wheeler farm and had a picnic. Afterward we went to feed the ducks but they weren't very fun. I think they get very spoiled there. There were almost as many seagulls in the pond as there were ducks. Then we went to see the rest of the farm animals. Noelle kept wanting to go see the pigs but they were hiding in their little pens. On our way out we saw that they were giving pony rides. At first Noelle didn't want to ride them but as we were leaving she said "I want to ride the horsies." So we went back and she got her little ride. I think she liked it.

After Noelle's nap we went to Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer's and she helped them do a little yard work. Well mostly she was just a distraction. We have to go over to their house later in the day or else they never get anything done :).

She has this little wheelbarrow there and we try to get her to push it around. But I think it's just easier for her to carry it :)

It was nice to get away from our apartment. We have a good amount of space but it's just nice to be away from all the things we had been doing all week. Noelle definitely needed a break. Plus the apartment is kind of a mess as we're trying to organize better and get things ready for baby Michael.

1st Dentist trip

2011-05-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday we took Noelle to the dentist for the first time. She has been talking about it all week and has been asking to go there. I showed her a video that the dentist office prepared for you to watch and I showed her lots of pictures. Finally we went and she was fine waiting. Then we went back to get some pictures taken of her teeth. She did not like that part. Thank goodness Michael was there. She was very upset at the thought of putting that vest on. So they decided they weren't going to do that. They want her to enjoy coming and there was no need to press it. After a little anxiety, some tears and a very sweet nurse and dentist, Michael laid Noelle down on his lap and the dentist was able to count her teeth. She has 19 of them. Her last molar is taking a little longer to come in. But that's normal he said. She has an underbite which we were very aware of. He said that it probably won't correct itself on it's own because it's a pretty big one. So when she is around 4 or 5 she will get it corrected. Not looking forward to all that. But we'll deal with it when it comes. They gave Noelle a gold coin and she got to put it in a machine that gives you a toy. She was very excited about that. She was also happy to leave with a new toothbrush :). As a bribe all week we were saying "If you're good at the dentist then we'll take you to go get some ice cream." Yes I know ice cream probably isn't the best reward after getting your teeth checked, but it sure kept her wanting to go to the dentist. Since then Noelle hasn't stopped saying that she went to the dentist. I think she is very proud of herself.

One of those "what just happened?" moments

2011-05-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

So we've been pretty exhausted today. Last night Noelle woke up with the croup and it wasn't a very restful night for any of us. I was up at 6:30am with Noelle. And then later we went to the doctor. She's feeling much better but has been very moody and tired. Noelle went down for a nap around 1:00 and soon after that I fell asleep and then Michael did as well. Earlier that day I had called my doctor's office to make sure it was okay with her that I got a massage, because I'm a little high risk. As usual no one answered so I just left a message for the nurse. Well during our nap when both of us were asleep I got that call back from the doctor's office. I remember Michael handing me my phone and I remember the nurse talking and (I think) telling me it was perfectly okay to go get the massage. But I have no idea what I said. I remember saying something but I couldn't tell you what it was. I was pretty out of it. I've done this a couple of times with friends and family and afterward I'm always surprised to learn that I actually made sense or had a conversation with them. Lets hope I did with the nurse. If not she probably just laughed to herself and hopefully remembered that my memory is a little mixed up due to me growing another human being. Michael and I both had a good laugh, which is something we needed after a very long, hard and emotional day for both of us.

Baby and other news

2011-05-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Baby News:
I'm 28 weeks today. Part of me is breathing a little sigh of relief while the other part is getting nervous and scared. Last pregnancy in about a week or so my blood pressure started to rise. At 30 weeks we had an ultrasound and Noelle was growing a little behind schedule. At 31 weeks I had to go on full bed rest and I started to get protein in my urine. And at 32 weeks the protein level was extremely high and dangerous and I had preeclampsia. On that same day Noelle was born via emergency c-section all within a few hours of finding all this information out. So yeah, I'm a little nervous. If things went how they did last time I will have a baby boy in the NICU in 4 weeks. I have to say that I thought about all of this today and just started crying. A lot of feelings and emotions were brought to the surface and I just couldn't hold it in. I don't think things will go the same way but you never know. And if anyone knows me really well I am a worrier. But I've been pretty calm this pregnancy so far, it just hit me today. We've prayed A LOT over this and we know that whatever happens is according to Heavenly Father's will and he'll take care of our family. On a more positive note: My glucose test went great and I'm not even close to having gestational diabetes or being anemic. My blood pressure the other day was wonderful and my doctor is very positive about everything. Last week I went to a prenatal water aerobics class and it felt so good and I should be getting a professional massage this week or next. Yay! Baby Michael is moving a ton and it brings me so much joy to see and feel him moving. I've grown really attached to this little guy. And I really hope that things will be different this time.

Other news:
I'm not trying to get any sympathy but maybe letting others know will be a way of getting some job help. About a week and a half ago Michael lost his job. It's a very long story. In short Michael has been with this company for about 2 years and it started out great. He started off with one job and about 6 months later he was promoted to an engineering type of job. He had that job for over a year and there were no problems until recently and it was just time to leave. So that has been a little hard on us. And I've been worrying a little about insurance stuff. Michael has been non-stop applying for jobs and he's been going to different workshops that the church offers. The good news is, just today Michael set up two interviews for this week. Even if nothing happens from them at least he knows his efforts are paying off. We know that we'll be taken care of because we have been doing all the right things spiritually. It just takes some faith and patience, which I am again trying to get more of.

Last week was a rough one and this week started our hard as well. However I feel very blessed to have what I have in my life. A wonderful, dedicated, loving husband who loves us and Heavenly Father. A bright and beautiful daughter who really is the light of my world. An extended family who are so supportive and who I love so much. A testimony of the true church of Jesus Christ. My list could go on, but what I just wanted to express is how grateful I am for a mindful and loving Father in Heaven. I found a dove wrapper that has been in my wallet for quite sometime. I forgot about it but Michael found it this morning and showed it to me and it says "Count your blessings, not your worries." So again I'm trying to do that, because I really have so many.

And today is my brother Eric's birthday. He would be 21 today. Happy Birthday bud! We love and miss you so much and I wish I could give you a great big hug today. Love you!!!

And some random pictures

This is a funny one of Noelle but notice that flower in her hair, well she has loved putting flowers and bows in her hair lately. She is very good when I do her hair anyway. She just sits still almost the whole time but lately she has just been so excited when I tell her I'm going to do her hair. She insists on picking out a flower or bow lots of the time as well. And this morning after she got dressed she even said to me "do my hair, mommy." :)

We went on a picnic a little while ago with Tanner, Nina, baby Eric and Alyson and we had so much fun. It was a perfect day to fly a kite and Tanner and Nina got her one. She was very curious about it and she even held it for a little bit, but it didn't last that long. Uncle Tanner does so many fun things with Noelle, it's so cute.

Goofy one of Michael wouldn't you say? Those two are always dancing together and Noelle LOVES it.

Noelle has been waking up a lot earlier lately and it's been a little frustrating. But this also means she will take an excellent nap. Well this was her today after some playing, watching tv, and a visit to the library. She was exhausted.

Our Walk 2011

2011-05-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Our March of Dimes walk was on Saturday and it was so much fun. We actually met our goal so thanks everyone who donated! It meant a lot to us. This year we did the walk in Salt Lake and it was at This is the Place National Park. There were so many people there. We registered, I got my t-shirt and we headed off to the pavilion with music, sponsor stuff, and food. One of the local news stations was there and there was just so much enthusiasm in the air and it was contagious. Noelle LOVED the music and just wanted to keep dancing and dancing. There were so many families there who had had loved ones in the NICU and it was very touching to be around everyone that in some way experienced a little what we had. Some of the children had far bigger problems than Noelle did and some didn't. It just made me grateful for this wonderful organization who gives so much love and support to all these babies and their families. There were so many people on the walk. Half of it was uphill and that was a little challenging for me but I did it. It was a great day and this is for sure going to stay one of our family traditions for years to come.

Here are some pictures from our walk

She just couldn't stop dancing to the music

The beginning of the walk

Of course I had to find a restroom

Here are some signs that were along the walking route

Quite the group of people!

She really enjoyed eating her creamie at the end of the walk

I made up some pins with Noelle's NICU pictures in them and we put them on everything, including our clothes

They had a big blowup slide there for all the kids, Michael went up with Noelle. This was the steep steps going up.

And this was the best I could do with them going down the slide

5 more days!!

2011-05-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post this photo book again that I did of Noelle's adventure in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit). It helps put in to perspective a little bit of what preemies and their families go through when they are born so early. Noelle didn't have very many problems but she was in there for 5 weeks and it was still very hard and scary to have her away from us. We got a lot of support from the March of Dimes and we felt that we weren't alone. The day we got to take her home was the best day ever! I couldn't wait to hold her in my arms whenever I wanted. Please take a look at it and donate a little to help babies like our Noelle get a healthy start in life. Go to this link here to see the NICU book and go here to make a donation and help little babies and their families. I have 5 more days, help me get there!!!

One more week!!!!

2011-05-06T07:11:00.001-07:00

Only one more week until our March for Babies walk. I'm excited to be taking Noelle along with us this time. She is such a blessing in our lives and has the sweetest heart. I know I've written this a lot but she inspired us to do this walk and continues to inspire me every day. Here's one last try at convincing you guys to donate ;) (wink, wink). It's important to us and that's why I'm posting so much about it. Thanks to all the donations we have already received and all the support from friends and family. Help me get a little closer to my goal! Again, thank you all so much and it really means a lot to us. Click here or go to the right side of my blog for the link to donating :)!!

Moms

2011-05-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

I read this on a friends blog and thought it was so cute so I had to share.

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine..

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Sunburn in May

2011-05-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Noelle and I took about an hour or so walk on the parkway that is by our apartment. We did this all spring/summer/ and fall of last year and we love it. I wasn't feeling the greatest yesterday because of this cold I'm getting over. But my body was just craving some sun and a little exercise. And Noelle was going crazy inside climbing in the stroller and just needing some sun herself. We even fed the ducks. After we came home I actually felt a little more energized. But my cold is still around. Anyway, later that night after Michael got home from work he pointed out that we both had gotten a little sun from the color of our skin. Sure enough our arms and face had gotten a little burnt. I got it worse than Noelle and it actually is a little painful. It just makes me happy that now when we go outside we need to start putting sunblock on. Oh sun and warm weather, will you please stay around?

a little of everything

2011-05-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

You know I really don't have much to write about today. I just wanted to post something new for the week. The last 5 days haven't been very fun. I have come down with a horrible cold (or something worse). I feel a little better today and I'm hoping that my health will continue to improve. I have a busy and fun couple weekends ahead of me and I would like to be as healthy as possible.

Baby Michael is moving around a ton. I'm only 26 weeks but I sure feel much bigger than that. I think he has some long legs like his daddy because I am feeling him all over. I'm getting used to the fact that I am uncomfortable all day long. And I think I'm actually sleeping better. It's more like I'm just used to not sleeping well with this pregnancy so my body has just given up and said "you need to sleep."

Noelle is 2 1/2. She is becoming such a big girl. She's not potty trained yet but I'm confident that will happen when she wants it to. She loves going to nursery and talks about it all week. She is just talking and talking and talking. Talking in sentences and saying new words every day that I didn't even know she knew. She has been waking up more often during the night and I'm not exactly sure why. But hopefully that will come to a stop soon cause I am not ready to get up in the middle of the night yet. Getting up with a baby is a necessity. Getting up with a 2 1/2 year old is ridiculous. She loves outside and hopefully we'll be spending more time in the sun since it is May.

Our March of Dimes walk is less than two weeks away, May 14th. It's usually around a 3 mile walk. I don't know how long I will last but Michael and Noelle can finish it if I don't. I'm excited for this walk. I love going and meeting and seeing others that have gone through similar experiences as I have. It just makes me feel good about being a part of something more than myself and just the daily things in my world. I'm still taking donations and am hoping others will understand the importance of this cause and donate just a little. Come on guys $5 is really not that much to go towards something important that helps little babies and their families :). This link will take you directly to my team page, go here.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Noelle putting on some of my thick winter socks. She is loving doing things on her own these days.

Fun Visit and Easter!

2011-04-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is a long post, just a warning.

Last week we had a visitor at our home and it was Noelle's Grandma Pfeil! She was coming to pick up Becky from BYU so she decided to come a little early and stay and have fun with us. Noelle had so much fun with her and the time we spend with her is always so special. It was nice relaxing lots of the time and Grandma played with Noelle a lot. That's always the best. We also had a fun dinner and Easter egg hunt while she was here. Grandma and Becky had to leave on Saturday but we enjoyed every minute that we got to spend with them. We're going to see them again in August and hopefully we'll get to see Grandpa Pfeil as well. By then we'll have a new addition to our Pfeil Family :).

Noelle dying Easter eggs. She really had fun with this. I don't know why the pictures are so dark.

Easter Egg Hunt #1 with some of Michael's side of the family. This year was so fun and Noelle loved finding her eggs. It's too bad it wasn't just a little warmer.

Playing and dancing around with her second cousin Kailey. She has so much fun with her.

Grandma Pfeil, Noelle and Becky.

This year we couldn't make it to the big Easter egg hunt that my Grandma Fullmer does but my parents did their own with Noelle. She probably had around 24 eggs to find and some prizes. She got so excited with each one. Towards the end she started getting distracted and wanted to play with some new toys. We also had a very yummy Easter dinner at my parents and everyone was there. Cheesy potatoes are my FAVORITE! Noelle didn't eat much of course. Have I mentioned that she is still very picky. And she does this thing now where she chews and chews on something but doesn't swallow or spit it out. It drives me crazy. Well because she hadn't eaten all that great of food and had so many treats in just a few days she got a little sick. She also had been running around so much that the combination did not agree with her and we didn't have a very fun experience towards the end of our visit. It was so sad to see her so sick. We finally went home and she slept almost the whole night. Today she is almost back to her old self. Lets just say she won't be having many treats any time soon.

Our church doesn't start until 1:30pm. We don't like that but we're trying to make the best of it. Yesterday morning before church we were listening to some music about the Savior and it really brought in the spirit. It helped me to focus on Him and the gift that he gave us of His resurrection. Our ward did an Easter program as well and I felt the spirit stronger than I have in a while. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and His love and His life. He did so much for us and I know that He lives. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Michael holding little Eric. So cute

Noelle helping feed Eric. Such a big helper

Noelle in her Easter dress
Easter Egg Hunt #2
She got a jump rope and loves it. She's been using my tape measure at home as her jump rope. She can't quite jump over the rope but she loves to pretend and try.
I got an awesome picture of Grandpa Fullmer using Noelle's jump rope
Playing cartwheels with the aunts and uncle
Noelle last night sick in daddy's arms. Thank goodness that's over.

25 week update

2011-04-25T09:10:00.001-07:00

Today I'm 25 weeks although I look and feel like more. I had a doctor's appointment last week and it went really well. Our little guy was moving around so much that my doctor had a hard time finding his heartbeat. But she finally did and it was great. My blood pressure has been awesome and I'm soooo grateful for that. This medicine seems to be doing a better job than last time I was pregnant. Plus I haven't felt nearly as stressed and I feel more able to control my stress. I don't really know what has changed except for praying and just feeling content with everything in my life. Baby Michael has been moving around a ton and I had forgotten how much I loved that feeling. I can't be on my feet for very long before I start getting sore all over, especially in my lower back. I'm trying to nap when Noelle does, and luckily she still takes about a two hour nap every day. I know that napping will change once the baby is born but I'll take advantage of it while I can. We'll point and ask Noelle who's in mommy's tummy and she'll say "baby Michael." It's so cute and sometimes she will kiss it. My parents have gotten her to also call him "bob." Hopefully this will not be the case when he is born, although it's pretty funny now. Except for the soreness and being tired most of the time, I feel pretty good. And I'm just hoping and praying that we can get past 32 weeks. I think every week we make it after that we're going to have some kind of celebration. We'll see what happens but I'm feeling optimistic and am so EXCITED to meet our boy!

March for Babies Event: COMING SOON!

2011-04-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to do another March of Dimes, March for Babies post. I haven't posted as much this year about it but it doesn't mean that it isn't still very important to me. I've been a little absent minded and I have had a 2 1/2 year old to chase around. I'll be walking on May 14th in Salt Lake City. So it's coming up pretty soon! There is something about this event that gets me so excited. I like to be a part of something (even if it's a little part) that helps support a good cause. I love to walk and see all the other people there who have been touched by some way by the March of Dimes or who are supporting others. This year Noelle is going to be walking with me and Michael. Noelle is the reason that I do this. She is my inspiration every day and brings so much joy into my life. When she was born so early we had many people (near and far) who supported us. The March of Dimes organization was also one of those supports. Another reason I am walking is to help those families who may not have as much of support as we did. I know I can count on my friends and family to be a part of this with me even if it's just a little. If you would like to donate or find out some more information about it please visit my website March for Babies Website: http://www.marchforbabies.org/lindseypfeil1 . A little goes a long way and it means so much to me and my family. Thank you everyone for your support and love.

watching baby eric

2011-04-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun week so far. We started watching my nephew Eric on Tuesday and he came over again on Wednesday. I'm so happy we get to do this. He is so cute and just such a good baby. It's so fun to have a little baby around again. I sure miss it. Eric will smile at me and Noelle and he'll do his little cooing back to me when I talk to him. I just love it. Noelle likes having him over too I think. She calls him "baby Ergit." She asks to hold him and she even wants to try to feed him. She tries to force him to take his pacifier sometimes and thinks he is sad every time he makes a noise. Sometimes I'll say to Eric "hi buddy" and Noelle is starting to do the same. I've noticed when Eric is sleeping Noelle tells me "Mommy, I tired." and lays on the couch or floor. She tries to get in his car seat and has been asking for a lot more milk lately. I think this is good practice for her and I. Although I know it will be different when I have our baby 24/7. It's just been fun and I'm so glad Tanner and Nina wanted me to watch him. I'm already getting attached and as happy I am for them to be going off to medical school in the summer I'm going to be very sad and probably cry a lot.

I've noticed that Eric likes to follow Noelle around with his eyes and by turning his head in the direction she goes. It's so cute. This is Noelle showing Eric her jack-in-the-box.

Two weekends ago Nina got some very cute pictures of Grandma Fullmer, Noelle and Eric. So I had to use them too.

nothing much

2011-04-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

Not much is going on with us lately. So this is a pretty random post. Noelle is cute and learning and growing a lot. She's playing with friends and being more social, so am I. Well I'm trying to be. Last week we went to the library near us and they have this little thing called "Baby, toddler and me." You go into this room with your kids and a lady is there and she sings songs, reads and plays with your children. It's so much fun. Noelle took a bit to warm up but she loved it. She's still a little shy when she is unsure about things but when the lady brought out the toys Noelle just started playing and joining in. This makes me very happy because I was SUCH a shy child. I mean like painfully shy. Noelle is shy when she is unsure about things but then usually just starts to play after a while. She doesn't mind when others take away her toy or push her a little. I'm sure one day she will. But I DO MIND. This doesn't make me a very happy mom when other children are acting this way towards mine and their parents do nothing about it. But that's another story.

This past weekend as we tried to watch General Conference something funny happened. At the end of one of the sessions someone started to say the closing prayer. I didn't fold my arms right away but Noelle did and she looked at me and said "fold arms." So I smiled and listened to her. It was so cute and I was a little humbled by my 2 year old. I'm happy to know that she is learning something from us and I learn something from her every day. I really enjoyed conference and am again reminded of how much I have to be grateful for. How grateful I am that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. I'm grateful for my testimony and for my wonderful family.

Noelle is still loving her stuffed animals and cuddling with them. Her new thing to say is "ohhhh (something inserted here) so so cute." For example "ohhhh baby, so so cute." That's usually when she refers to her little cousin Eric. Speaking of Eric, next week we get to start watching him once a week. Yay! I'm so excited to watch and hold this cute little guy. We got to see him this weekend and I couldn't get enough of him. He has the cutest smiles and makes the cutest noises. Plus it will give me some practice on how to change baby boys diapers and I think will help Noelle get used to having a baby around.

Pregnancy update: Nothing super exciting. I'm 22 weeks along and I'm feeling very tired again lately. Doing things has just taken a lot out of me. Our little Michael is moving a lot and I love that. I'm pretty sure he is pretty low. I'm sure showing a lot more than last pregnancy. I feel like I look 10 weeks bigger than I actually am. That's okay and doesn't both me (usually). My back (and the rest of my body for that matter) is aching a lot and I have heart burn at different times throughout the day. Some days I sleep well, others I don't. But my blood pressure has been great and that is what I am most grateful for. That's a good sign that maybe I won't have preeclampsia again, we will see. I actually haven't felt as stressed lately. That has made a difference for sure.

I haven't been very good at taking pictures lately. I think it's just laziness. And I'm kind of ashamed of it. My mom reminded me that I need to start being good at it again because she doesn't have very many pictures of Noelle. I realized she was right. There were some cute pictures taken over the weekend by people other than myself and when I get those from them I'll put them on here. For now these are the most recent pictures I have taken.

One day Noelle just got this blanket and just laid down on the couch. It's probably because she has seen me do this a lot lately. I've been tired again and as embarrassing it is to say that I have been doing this a lot, it is the truth.

We took a very long walk one day last week when it was nice weather. We haven't taken a long walk like that since last summer/fall so it wore both of us out. This is what Noelle did afterward. She took a nice, long nap that day.

This last Sunday it snowed a lot here. And after Noelle looked out the window she went and got all of this winter stuff to put on.

Outside our apartment the day it snowed. A couple days before the blossoms came out on the trees. I shouldn't be surprised that it snowed in April. It does every year here. I was just hoping that the nice weather was going to stay and we weren't going to have any more snow.

House-sitting

2011-03-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-03-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-17T05:58:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

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"

2011-03-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

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

2011-03-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

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

2011-03-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-03-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

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!

some photos

2011-02-28T05:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos that I think are cute and silly that I wanted to share. As much as I want it to be spring we've had fun times entertaining ourselves as we've been stuck inside during the winter.

One of Noelle's favorite activities to do indoors.

This happens a lot and she would sleep with more of her stuffed animals if we let her. The dog to the right of her face is "ricky" and she HAS to have him sleep by her EVERY night.

I love her curly hair. And I wish I had just a little bit of it.

listening to my ipod

feeding her baby. getting ready for her little brother or sister, maybe.

Noelle is constantly getting out books for us to read to her. But I also find her reading to herself a lot.

taking her blood pressure. She did this all by herself. She watches me do this almost every morning.

putting her baby in timeout. A little sad but even funnier I think.

First Photo Book

2011-02-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

I have really been wanting to do this for a while. In fact I even have my own software to do it but I just haven't gotten around to it. I've never been one who scrapbooks. So I thought digital scrapbooking was the way to go. Honestly I haven't tried it. I think I will one day. But I've really been wanting to make a NICU photo book for Noelle and one for her first year. And finally yesterday I got around to doing the NICU book. I thought I better try to get these finished before baby #2 comes around. Because I probably won't do them afterward. So if you want to see it go here. I think it turned out really well and I can't wait to actually get it in the mail.

Valentines Day

2011-02-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

This Valentines wasn't too exciting for us. Noelle had a hard night last night and so we both woke up a little later. But I did make pink, heart shaped pancakes. This is a first for me. I'm not very good at making pancakes to begin with. I always make Michael flip them because I always seem to ruin it. But I have to say that with a little patience I was able to successfully make yummy pancakes that Noelle actually ate. Then I took a paper stencil and cut out the shape of a heart in the pancakes. The two below are the ones I am proudest of. Then we just had a normal day. Grandma Fullmer came to visit Noelle and brought a little purse full of goodies. Noelle loved that. She also got a visit from her aunt Alyson and our friend Kat. It was very nice to have company. After Michael got home from work we gave Noelle her little "Valentine basket" that had some stickers and chapstick in it. She's obsessed with chapstick lately. I made some cupcakes to take around to some neighbors and we took a couple of Noelle's friends a sweetart valentine. She really enjoyed giving it to them herself. She just gets this light in her eyes when she gives someone something. It makes her so happy.

my pink pancake creations

Noelle dressed in pink and red

And of course, Happy Valentines Day to my love, Michael. I am so grateful for him in my life. He knows me so well and he means everything to me. He puts us first and I love him more every day.

Cousins

2011-02-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

Last week Noelle got to meet her new cousin Eric for the first time. I thought it went really well. She wasn't so sure at first but she kept giving him kisses and calling him "baby Tanner" (my brother's name). I didn't want to stop holding him it was addicting. He is so cute and it makes me so emotional just holding him. Anyway, Noelle has been the only grandchild and this is going to be so good for her. I'm afraid she may be a little jealous in the months to come but she is a really sweet and thoughtful little girl and I think it will pass. I'm hoping it will give her a little practice as well as she will be a big sister this summer.

Not so sure at first

smiling at little Eric

Holding Eric, I love this one

I'm in heaven

Pregnancy update:
I'm 15 weeks. I'm feeling much better lately. My energy level has certainly changed. Although I still get super tired at the end of the day. My blood pressure has been low :). Since I've been pregnant some of the cravings I've had have been:
Pickles (this was at the very very beginning, never thought I would crave that)
Cafe Rio Salads
Mint chocolate chip ice cream
hummus (weird)
apple juice
orange juice (this is my current craving, it just tastes so good to me and it seems like the baby likes it)

I got a little bug a couple of weeks ago and since then there isn't much that actually sounds good to me. And that's saying a lot. I get sick if I don't eat so that's what's kept me eating. Chocolate does not taste the same. It doesn't make me sick it's just not very good to me. We're going to be finding out the gender of the baby in two and half weeks. About three weeks earlier than last time. I feel a little more anxious about knowing the gender this time around. Last time I felt I was having a girl but I couldn't tell you that this time I've had a feeling either way. Plus then we can know if we need to buy a whole new wardrobe or not.

Go Me!

2011-02-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

So this may be a silly post to some but it's really a big deal for me. My blood pressure has been good for over a week now! It's actually been low. Not on the border between high and low but LOW. Lower than it's been in a long time. I've been taking my blood pressure every day and I'm glad I have been because it's kept my motivation up to eat well and exercise and it's helped my worries lessen. That's all, go me!

New Recipes

2011-02-08T07:03:00.001-08:00

Just in case anyone wants to know I posted 9 new recipes on my recipe blog. I've been having fun trying new recipes and I just want a place to keep track of them. Check it out if you want any of the following recipes:

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Dip
Oreo Cookie Balls
Banana Banana Bread
Creamy Tomato and Chicken Spaghetti
Crepes
Chicken Rice Casserole
Hamburger Rice Hot-Dish
Teandra's Pizza
Taco Pie

There are also other yummy recipes besides the ones posted above.

Something that inspires me

2011-02-07T09:37:00.001-08:00

Little Eric

2011-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

My little nephew Eric Robert Fullmer II was born today and he was 6lbs 9oz and 20.5 inches long. We're so excited that he is here and his mom sure did a good job at bringing him here. I look up to you Nina. Michael and I got to hold him today for a little bit and I was in heaven the whole time. Congratulations you guys! He is one handsome little guy. We call him little Eric.

For those of you who don't know he was named after my brother who passed away 2 1/2 years ago. I already see a little of Eric in him and I can feel his perfect little spirit. So good to have him here.

a little update

2011-01-31T10:22:00.000-08:00

I have been a major slacker in taking pictures lately, with me being super exhausted and just not remembering to take pictures. But Noelle is growing so much and is such a smart and cute little girl. Here are some updates with her:

~She talks so much and is repeating everything.
~She loves nursery.
~She is so good at somersaults.
~She is starting to love watching this show called Caillou, which we are grateful for because this means not as much Sesame Street.
~She is continually so helpful.
~She is showing much more interest in potty training. And she even picked out her own potty. Hopefully that will start soon when I get back a little more energy.
~She loves to say "hi" to everyone.
~In the morning when we get her up she says "see you" because sometimes we say to her "it's good to see you"
~She is obsessed with wearing her belt with everything.
~She is also obsessed with band-aids and puts them on herself and her doll. She also will kiss everyone's "owies."
~She loves her stuffed animals more than ever. She has this one doggy she has named "ricky." That's my parents dog's name. Most of her dogs she calls Ricky.
~She loves playing with stamps and stickers.
~She also loves playing with play food.
~She has a major sweet tooth.
~She is still good about taking one 2 hour nap a day. Thank goodness.
~She is very very stubborn and likes to say "mine" about everything.
~She can count to ten and sometimes skips the number seven.
~She is very good at identifying colors.
~She can also identify a lot of the letters in the alphabet. And she surprised us one day a little while ago when she started telling us the letters out of nowhere.
~She loves to be outside no matter the temperature.
~She is much less picky about food lately.
I can't even keep up with all the things Noelle is learning and doing. She certainly keeps me on my toes.

Pregnancy Update
A few weeks ago we had a scare and I had to go to the hospital. I had a threatened miscarriage and so I took it easy for a little while. Today I am 13 weeks and feeling less nervous. Although I'm a worrier so it never seems to stop. My blood pressure has been pretty stable. I'm going to the doctor's this week and will ask her some other things I can do to keep it down. I really want to make it to 35 weeks or more this time. I'm trying hard to not stress over things that I have no control over. And even not stress over things I can control. This is going to be a huge goal for me and something I really need to get under control. All in all I feel optimistic and more than ever right now I know that everything is in Heavenly Father's hands.

Here are a few pictures that I actually managed to take:

Noelle really likes her toothbrush

It was snowing one day and Noelle really enjoyed watching it outside and wanted to touch it

Noelle did this with her animals. I love how much she loves animals. I can't wait until it is warmer so we can go to the zoo.

Snuggling with daddy one night

There is this other fast food place with a little playground called Arctic Circle. Noelle loved it there. Without me even asking her she will finish most of her food before playing. Here she is enjoying her mini ice cream cone. She was in heaven.

happiness quote

2011-01-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

"Happiness comes from unselfish service. And happy homes are only those where there is daily striving to make sacrifices for each other's happiness."

Harold B. Lee

I read this quote on facebook and it really touched me and was what I needed today. I haven't been feeling the greatest over the last week and Michael has really helped me to feel better and made me smile. I definitely don't say it enough but "Michael, I appreciate you more than you know."

March for Babies Walk 2011

2011-01-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

I know it's a ways off but I thought that I would get an early start on it this time around. I'm walking again for March for Babies this year. This will be my second year doing this and it really has a special meaning for me and my family. It's not until May 14th but I'm hoping that by posting early people can have advanced notice if they would like to donate. Last year I reached my goal of over $200 and it really meant a lot to me and my family. Thank you everyone so much for donating and to those who thought of us. Here is my personal page if you would like to donate and make a difference Team: Ins pired by Noelle or you can just go to the right side of my blog and click on the "Sponsor Me" icon. Every little bit helps. You can also walk with me if you're interested in that. I'm not going to write Noelle's story because most of you already know it. But if you want to read it from the very beginning go here and then read the posts following that. Every day I thank my Heavenly Father for Noelle being in my life. She has changed me from the moment she came in to this world and she is our little miracle. I know that without the help and support of March of Dimes/March for Babies my little girl wouldn't be where she is today. Noelle is the light of my life and I can't wait for her to be a big sister. I'm hoping that I won't have a premature birth this time around but if I do I feel very blessed and confident knowing that they are in good hands.

Noelle with Daddy in the N.I.C.U.

2 year old Noelle with Daddy

*I know I post a lot pictures of how Noelle has changed since she was born but I'm very proud of her and have a lot of gratitude in my heart.
*If you will be in Utah on May 14th and would like to walk with me and our team and help raise money there is an icon for that too on my page . Michael and Noelle are the only ones so far that will be walking with me in case you were wondering :).

1st appointment and update

2011-01-13T05:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went in for my first doctor's appointment. I was a little nervous because I was going to a new doctor but I was pretty excited too. Turns out I really like our new doctor and she is really comfortable to be around. She seems to care a lot about my concerns and addresses them. My blood pressure was a little high so she really wants to catch that early and hopefully not have a repeat of my last pregnancy. The goal is 35 weeks but I'm still hoping for longer than that, we'll see. We went and had a little ultrasound too and I was really happy about that. I didn't have an ultrasound with my last pregnancy until I was about 20 weeks so this was great. The little baby was even moving and the heartbeat was great. It made it real for me and I was just beaming. I'm right on track to what the estimated due date was, which is August 8. So I'm 10.5 weeks along. I'm looking forward to getting out of the first trimester because maybe this exhaustion will lessen a little. I've been so very tired lately.

kid friendly recipes please

2011-01-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

I know that Noelle is just in a picky food stage right now but I'm really in need of some kid friendly recipes. Besides the hotdog, mac-n-cheese, chicken nuggets stuff. Noelle tends to try something when Michael does and doesn't always do it for me. Plus I'm just looking for new recipes anyway that maybe Michael and I will enjoy too. I am not a picky eater usually and neither is Michael. I would just like Noelle to enjoy her meals, is that too much to ask? So any ideas, recipes, websites, whatever would be very much appreciated! Thanks friends and family!

Indiana Christmas

2011-01-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

*Just to warn you this is a long post with lots of pictures

We just got back from Indiana, where we spent Christmas and New Years with Michael's side of the family. We haven't been back since our reception about three years ago and obviously have never taken Noelle, so it was about time we went. We had so much fun! Here are some of our adventures...

Let's start out with the plane ride to Indiana. All I'm going to say is that it didn't go as well as I hoped but it could have been a lot worse. I can tell you one thing Noelle does not like to sit and she didn't watch the dvd player much at all. Oh and going through security they found a pocket knife in our diaper bag. Yes, it was ours and yes, I completely forgot about it. Luckily we didn't get in trouble and we even mailed it home.

Michael letting Noelle get some energy out before we got on the plane

in her airplane seat

We got in to Indiana on Thursday (dec. 23) night. We were all pretty tired but very excited to be there! Christmas Eve we made food, relaxed and just spent time together. Noelle warmed up to everyone and just loves to be the center of attention. She is also very helpful and loves to show everyone her new discoveries. She loved their dog, Sandy and Grandpa's fish. We had an delicious dinner and ate around mom's formal, dining room table. Teandra (sister-in-law) is an excellent cook and everything was amazing. We then got to open some presents and read the Christmas story. We felt so much at home there. And we LOVE their house!

Noelle trying on Grandpa Pfeil's shoes

Christmas morning started around 8:00am for us. Noelle actually slept until then. Then we all sat in a circle and opened presents. Noelle loved opening presents this year. She wanted to do it herself and loved unwrapping. She got so many fun things. Some presents we had to keep in Utah as well. And we did an early Christmas with my parents before we left. She is kind of spoiled and she currently is the only grandchild on both sides of the family. However that will change this year. Michael and I also got very blessed from both sides with some things that we both needed and wanted. Thank you so much everyone!!

This little Elmo was one of Noelle's favorites!

helping Grandpa open their gigantic present

trying to ride her little alphabet caterpillar. I think she's a little too big

Teandra, Noelle and Mark. Noelle LOVED playing with them and saying their names :)

Another activity we did was go to Lafayette and visit with some of the extended Pfeil side of the family. We've never done that. We went to Michael's Grandma's house and had really good food and company. It's about an hour drive from Fishers (which is the city Michael's family lives in).

Michael playing with the rubiks cube

playing with Grandma. She loved singing songs with Grandma too!

The ten days we were here were so much fun and so relaxing. We didn't really have a schedule and that was nice. We went to Steak -n- Shake which is one of Michael's favorites and they don't have those here in the west. It was yummy. Noelle played liked crazy with all of Grandma Pfeil's cool toys and books. She also met a neighbor's cat and loved it. (We're not cat people) Michael read his over 800 page book while we were there. I don't know how he does it, but he's a maniac when it comes to a book he likes. Michael absolutely loves playing games so he tried to get a lot of games going there. I enjoyed reading, cooking with Teandra and watching movies. We just had fun being there and around everyone. Michael's other brother Martin surprised the family and flew in from Austin, TX on Christmas day. He wanted it to be a surprise but most of us suspected it. This is the first time since our wedding that EVERYONE has been together and it was wonderful! We got family pictures taken also and we'll have those to share with everyone soon. We wish we would have gotten better sleep. Not one night did Noelle sleep all the way through. She even slept in our bed a few of those nights, which NEVER happens when we are at our home. This pregnancy has brought with it a LOT of exhaustion. I feel it more this time around. Thanks everyone for being patient with my moods and also with all the naps I took. It was just really therapeutic to be there and we're so grateful we got to go.

The Pfeil siblings: Martin, Michael, Mark and Rebecca

The brothers

Noelle watching a movie with the girls. Too bad it didn't last very long

Grandma playing some primary songs on the piano and singing for Noelle. Noelle loved this and kept asking for more.

sitting out in the cold
Noel and Noelle
The very friendly cat that Noelle loved

It seemed liked while we were there Noelle's vocabulary increased SO much and how she communicates. It's crazy how fast it happened. She is getting to be such a big girl. Without the details I'll say that Noelle was sick the last day we were there and our last night was pretty bad but she got a blessing and did great on the plane on the way home. She is still getting over it but hopefully it will end soon. We're so excited for her to be a big sister. She is so sweet and helpful and loves babies.

When we got home we rested for a bit and then went over to my parent's house. We were happily welcomed by everyone, mostly wanting to see Noelle ;). We are so blessed to have such amazing family. We wish we were closer to ALL OF THEM though. But we're hopefully going to make it out to Indiana more often than in the past. I know this post is kind of everywhere but a lot has happened since we left. We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and New Year. I'm excited for 2011. We have a lot of different things happening and some changes are coming. We're excited and anxious to see what else it brings!

We started this tradition where each Christmas you sew one or two things on your stocking that represent that year and what you did. I finally got caught up this year and I think they turned out really cute

Before we left for Indiana we went over to Michael's aunt and uncles house and some of their grandkids were over. So we did a little fhe where they did the nativity. I think Noelle was a shepherd.

Don't you love the big Elmo face right in the middle of her shepherd costume

News spreads fast...

2011-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

So we were going to wait to announce this but word has gotten around to our extended family already. We thought through facebook that it would spread really fast and plus I'm getting anxious anyway. So...Noelle is going to be a big sister around August 8, 2011!!! Which means I'm only about 9 weeks along. So I'm really not that pregnant but I'm sure feeling the exhaustion and the morning sickness. More the exhaustion than anything else. I feel like I'm a mummy walking around sometimes. We're so excited and hoping that this pregnancy last a little longer than last time. But I actually feel really good about it.

p.s. We just got back from Indiana, where we spent Christmas and New Years with Michael's family. So that post to come soon :)

Temple Square

2010-12-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to Temple Square to see the lights and had a fun time. It wasn't nearly as cold as when we went last year and I'm very grateful for that. Michael and I love this tradition and Noelle seems to be enjoying it too!

We rode TRAX downtown and Noelle was very interested and liked it a lot

She enjoyed looking and talking to herself in the window

We went and bought a harness/"leash" for Noelle. I never thought I would buy one but I am now a huge believer. She loves it and has so much fun with it. She didn't even run all over, it was good though in case she decided to go somewhere that we didn't. I highly recommend one of these for your on-the-go toddler.

her "cheese" face for the camera

This was taken without the flash and turned out pretty cool looking for our old camera

I love the Temple

Part of the nativity on the reflecting pool

Noelle loved the pools of water the best. She kept trying to stick her hand in and get a drink. She also loved throwing coins in them.

Me and my little girl

One of the cool nativities

Another fun, random picture of the Salt Lake Temple

I know I've put pictures already of Noelle playing dress-up but Snow White is the current favorite dress up and she'll walk around all day with this on. She is very good in her high heels. Unlike her mom.

She wanted to show off her bow. This, I think, is her favorite part of the dress up.

Our little outing

2010-12-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

We only have one car right now. I really want that to change but right now it can't and that's okay, so we make do. It's just hard staying cooped up in the apartment all day. So now I'm getting the car once a week, I think that is reasonable and keeps me from spending more money. Michael works about 5 minutes away so we take him to work at about 6:30am and then we have the car. Last Thursday we had the car and so we went out and had a little fun. Like I have said before I do not enjoy shopping with Noelle. It's just miserable for the both of us. But I wanted to go to the mall so we were there for about an hour and Noelle was getting so anxious and ornery. So right before we left she rode this Bob the Builder car and she loved it. $1.50 was definitely worth spending, on two rides, so that my daughter could have some fun and do something that she has never done.Noelle has got this new obsession with wipes. She loves holding it in her hand and wiping her nose. She decided to wipe Bob the builder's nose.

After that we went to McDonald's play place. This has become an almost weekly thing. She loves it. She's still too young to climb up the big slides and everything but they have this little toddler area that she plays in. If you ask me it's a little too small for her, but she has fun. I really need to get a group to go with us because it's just Noelle playing. Although she gets other kids to come play with her sometimes. When she wants the kids to come over by her she'll say "duys, duys!" Which is "guys, guys!" I think she learned that in nursery.

After that we went over to my parent's house where I tried to get her to take a nap. That didn't work because my mom got home from work and Noelle could hear her voice. She found this hat and just put it on herself. What a cute girl.

After a long day and being up since 6:15am we went home and Noelle crashed. We had lots of fun though and we love the days we can get out of the house.

some fun photos

2010-12-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last year Noelle didn't really understand what was happening when we went and saw Santa. This year we've been trying to tell her who Santa is and that he's so nice and brings toys and candy. When we were in line we even showed her Santa and she looked excited. She has started doing this cute little gasp (in a good way) when she is excited about something or she likes how it looks. She did that when she saw Santa. Then we put her on his lap and the picture explains it all...She looked at us like "How could you? Who is this guy and why are you leaving me here?" I felt bad taking a picture but I had to capture it. The Santa however did smile for the camera.
- - - - - - - - - -

Noelle has a lot of stuffed animals. Lots of these are mine and I could never get rid of them. Mostly because they all mean something to me in some way. But she loves ALL OF THEM and cuddles with them and gives them all kisses and hugs. So we got a net for them and it's pretty huge. Michael stuffed them all in it. I'm afraid they may fall on Noelle in the middle of the night. At least they are light and soft...

Here's our Christmas tree this year. We've bought an ornament for Noelle each year and this year she knows which ones are hers and likes to constantly look at them and take them down. I love our Christmas tree. I think it turned out really pretty.

Noelle's Uncle Tanner and Aunt Nina took her outside my parent's house to make a snowman and play in the snow. I came a little under-prepared so we used some of her extra socks as gloves. She didn't seem to mind. She loves being out in the snow. She had a TON of fun too and was a big helper. Thanks Nina for taking the pictures!

Here my brother Tanner is trying to convince Noelle to go through the tunnel he made. Apparently she didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Snow Fun

2010-12-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

Noelle loves to be outside and normally I do too except in the cold, wet snow. I can play and stay out there for half an hour to an hour but then I start getting sick of it, mostly because I am freezing to death. Maybe this is because I never seem to wear all the right clothing for going outside in the snow. I'm learning my lesson because Noelle would stay out there all day if I let her, even if her face were red and freezing. Tuesday we played outside in the snow. It was super deep so Noelle had a hard time trying to walk through it. She didn't mind though. We even swung on the swings and because the snow was so high Noelle could get right off of it without my help. I made a snow angel and Noelle enjoyed eating the snow. She calls snow "no." But it's different than your normal "no." When she says it I can tell that she means "snow." She's so cute. She's saying a lot more words lately. One of my new favorites that she says is "ick" for things she doesn't like to eat or when she or something is messy. She'll also put her hands on her cheeks and say "oh no." She's definitely my favorite! Enjoy some snow pictures of Noelle!

our camera has been weird lately and is giving us some weird lighting and color in our pictures so some of these aren't the best quality.

I call her my little marshmallow, in a good way of course :). I love all her snow gear, she's so cute with all of it on and I just want to give her a big hug.
Getting ready to go outside

giving me her "cheese" face

she wanted to swing, so we did

"hi mom" The snow was really deep, for her anyway

The playground right outside our apartment complex. She really wanted to play on it but the snow and ice were packed on so tight I couldn't get any of it off.

"I have a cold and red face"

Taking a break under the pavilion

SO FUNNY!

2010-12-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

I love to laugh but there are few things that make me laugh until I cry. This was one of them! I found this on my friend's blog and let me just tell you it was worth watching hers and then making my own. Watch this and you will not be disappointed :)

Click here for me and my family

Click here for me, my mom, and my sisters

I hope my sisters and mom don't mind. I just thought it was fun to do it with all five of us!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we went over to my Grandparent's house and even though it was very crowded it was very fun to be there. Noelle did a little better during the meal than last year. She ate a little bit more but still wanted to be the center of attention so she didn't last long. Whenever it's time to eat (wherever we are) if there are other people around, besides me and Michael, she'll hardly eat anything. It's like she thinks it's a waste of time to eat when there are all these people around to play with. Afterward Michael headed to the "football" room and stayed there for the next couple of hours. Noelle hadn't gotten a nap yet and was doing surprisingly well. The rest of us that didn't watch football stayed in the living room, looked at some ads, played a game, and just talked. Noelle would make her way from room to room and would find some toys and other kids to play with. We headed over to my parent's house around 5:00pm and seriously as soon as the car started Noelle was asleep. My sister, Alyson, came up from Provo along with Michael's sister Rebecca. She stayed with us and we're so glad she did and we had so much fun with her.

This year I actually did some black Friday shopping. Honestly there wasn't anything too amazing for me to get. But I wanted to go cause I had never been. So me, my mom, and Alyson went to Walmart at midnight. I actually got some really good deals and it was fun to go. Friday we also went to see Harry Potter again and it was fun. I love seeing movies the day after Thanksgiving. I also wanted to write down some things that I am grateful for. I have so many blessings...
*The gospel,the peace and joy that it brings me. It's true!
*My husband, for his selflessness and love and sense of humor
*My daughter, the light of my life, who makes me smile in all she does
*My parents, for their never ending kindness and willingness to do so much for me and my family
*Michael's parent's, for raising such an amazing son and for being so patient and loving
*The rest of my family, just for all they do and who they are. I love my family very much!
*My calling in Primary, for Heavenly Father knowing exactly that I needed it and that it makes me SO happy.
*The Book of Mormon, the peace it brings and the spirit it brings to me and my family

I have a lot more but that would really take up too much space. I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Here are a couple random pictures and a video of Noelle doing somersaults

Noelle loves to wear her hat and gloves around the house and we have a hard time taking them off of her.

I put the boppy pillow around her and told her to feed her baby and she did. It was so cute. She's never seen me do this but I think it just comes natural to little girls.

Noelle and Family Photos

2010-11-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

My cousin Alyssa took these photos of us and she did an awesome job! They turned out great and really capture so much of Noelle's personality! I couldn't pick just a couple to post so you'll have to look at them all :)

wish we had a dog

2010-11-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

Noelle loves my parents' dog Ricky. She calls him "Rick" (really emphasizing the 'k' sound). She always wants to play with him and give him kisses. She brings him dog food also when he's just lying around. It's so cute. I like Ricky too (even though he's little and sometimes annoying) and if we had a house of our own we would totally adopt him. Michael says that we should call him "football."
I love to go to Kid-to-Kid. My husband knows this and sometimes I can spend more than I plan. Well most times. But last week me and Noelle were there and they have this little area for kids to play in. I found Noelle playing with food and pretending to eat it. So cute.
Noelle loves playing with her baby doll. She has a carseat and stroller for her. She even has pretend bottles. She seems to really want to take care of it (except when she sometimes throws it on the floor). Looks like she could be ready for a brother or sister. I really wish this was an announcement but it's NOT. I repeat it's NOT. It's just to say that we really want another addition to the Pfeil family and we're all ready for it.

Wordle

2010-11-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

I found this Wordle website on a friend's blog and thought I would have fun with it. I did this with Noelle in mind :)

New Bed and Sick Again

2010-11-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

We weren't going to put Noelle into a big girl bed until after Christmas but we ended up changing our minds for a couple of reasons. First we found this bed on ksl for a steal and we couldn't pass it up (they go really fast) and second because Noelle's crib wasn't in the greatest condition. It's been safe for her to use but it was just totally hammered. It was given to us by my aunt and uncle and got a lot of use out of it. Anyway. Noelle didn't get out of the new bed at all last night. That's probably because she was sick. Poor girl has had a little cold all week and overnight it developed into that viral/asthma thing that she's had before. Ugh, I just hate this. At least the bed is good enough for her to sleep in while she's sick. I'll let you know how it really goes once the sickness has passed. I hope she feels better soon, she's not the same when she feels like this.

my little sleeping beauty

something sweet

2010-11-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last night after I had changed Noelle in her pjs we went in to the family room and watched some football with Michael. Noelle had her comb in her hands, gets up on the couch by me and starts combing my hair. I had to remind her a couple of times to be soft but it was the sweetest thing. It went on for about fifteen minutes. She would even kiss my hair sometimes and hug me. It just melted my heart.

Halloween Fun

2010-10-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

I was really excited that Noelle was going to go trick-or-treating this year. Last year she couldn't walk yet, had a cold and could really care less. I love Halloween and all the excitement. I love that Noelle gets to experience it and I can with her. Saturday night came and unfortunately it was cold, windy and wet. At one point the rain stopped for a few minutes and that's when Michael, Noelle and I headed out. We went to my parent's neighborhood. Within about ten minutes it started raining again and so we put Noelle's rain jacket on her. She loved the idea of getting candy and putting it in her basket. She didn't really say "trick-or-treat" but she loved saying "bye" and "thank you" to everyone. After about a half an hour we decided it was time to go inside. Noelle's face and hands were cold and red and she was done walking. We went back to my parent's house and got warm and ate dinner and enjoyed our evening with them. Today (Sunday) we went over to my parent's again and ate cheese soup in bread bowls. Yum! This has been a Halloween tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Everyone was there and we had a great time. Can't wait for next year!

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2010

Noelle was tinkerbell and loved her pretty green dress. She wasn't the biggest fan of the wings though.
This was the only picture we got while trick-or-treating. Too wet and windy outside.

Noelle with her second cousin Taven

The pretty fairy and studly cowboy

This is what happens on a busy day without a nap. She RARELY sleeps anywhere but her bed.

Noelle is 2!!!

2010-10-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe that Noelle turned 2 on Wednesday. It really does seem like yesterday that she was in the NICU and we couldn't wait to take her home. She is the light in our lives and has truly blessed mine more than I ever thought possible. I am so grateful that I get to stay home with her and see her grow and learn and try new things. I couldn't ask for anything better. She is so sweet and giggling all the time and she is quite the little helper. We love you Noelle!

and in case you were wondering Noelle is:
25.8lbs - 40%
36 inches - 97%

A few weeks after Noelle was born

around 6 months

1 year
18 months
2 years
We got her a little bike but unfortunately she doesn't quite reach the pedals but she still is excited about it and scoots it around the house.
We made her an Elmo cake (thanks to a friend for the idea)

We tried to get her to use her hands but she refused and had to use a fork this year
I think she's enjoying herself

One of her gifts was princess dress up and this is her as snow white :)

I like to decorate the family room for everyone's birthday. My mom did this for us as kids and I loved it!

Noelle loved the balloons

Getting the hang of unwrapping

Thanks to everyone who came to her little birthday party and those who weren't able to but wished they could. She loved all the gifts and had so much fun and I know she loves (and misses) all of you!

2

2010-10-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

Today is Noelle's 2nd birthday and I just wanted to announce that!! I can't believe how fast time flies. photos to come later...