Numerous November Gratitudes

The other day at the store I made a return and when the transaction was finished I turned to walk away...right into a puddle of soda on the floor. I slipped but I caught myself. As I walked away I realized how much I hurt below my belly (and yes, there were witnesses; employees and shoppers alike. I know they cleaned it up after I left). The next day at my pregnancy check up my doctor said I could have torn a ligament in my pelvic area but there's not much I can do about it.

Preschool at Robin's house

Donny, Sam, Kallie, Emma

The other night I asked Brad to start praying with me that this baby will arrive before my due date because everything gets so hard for me (walking, getting up, rolling over in bed...) and I have constant pain in certain areas of my body. Taking care of two little kids makes me yearn for the end!

Fresh out of the bath

Kallie finally figured out how to open her bedroom door even with the child proof knob cover and I'm happy because I no longer have to get up just to let her out for the bathroom. She's old enough now to know to go back in her room and wait for me to come get her. And I'm glad I can still keep on the doorknob cover so Jayda can't get out.

Free Bloomin' Onion at Outback Steakhouse. Had to hit that up.

One night, after the kids had been sleeping for a couple hours but I was still awake, Kallie came out and went to the bathroom. I helped her since she was so sleepy. Before she went back in her room I pulled her to me and held her above my belly so she could lay her head on my shoulder like when she was really small. The only reason I don't do it much now is because I'm pregnant and she's heavy. But I know we both miss it. I rubbed her back and cuddled her and as she walked into her bedroom I heard Jayda whimpering and saying "Mommy" so I went in, picked her up and put her on my shoulder the same way. When I laid her back down in bed she whimpered again so I stroked her hair and held her hand. I asked if she had a bad dream and she said, "*Sniff* yeah". I stayed there until she fell asleep. I can't believe how big Jayda is getting. Her personality is sprouting and showing how different she is than Kallie but she's still young enough that I can't imagine what she'll be like at three and four years old when she can really talk. I can't imagine her being Kallie's age and being a big sister to a different two year old.

35 Weeks

Kallie was born in Idaho but Jayda was born here in Florida, in this home and it's surreal to think Jayda is not a baby anymore. She's gonna be a big sister in a couple weeks. I will have had two babies in this home. My friend brought up the fact that Jayda will soon be a middle child and there are commonly issues that arise. I hadn't even considered that yet. When I think of Jayda I think of how she tries new things more willingly than Kallie does. She's sassy. My friend also thinks Jayda is more needy and I had never thought of her that way before either but it's true. She's more needy and whiny. The whiny part has to do with my laziness in teaching her sign language like I did Kallie so we have more communication problems. I always assumed Jayda would adjust to a new sibling even easier than Kallie did (and Kallie adjusted quite well) because they have each other. If Jayda is feeling a lack of attention at least Kallie is too and vice versa. But I really have no idea how it'll go.

Preschool at our house

This will be my third child but I'm just as curious as I was with Kallie what her personality will be. Now that I have two chunky, strawberry blonds I'm expecting her looks to blend into the family. But ya never know for sure. I know Kallie and Jayda (though I'm constantly mystified to see two human beings sprout from infants into actual people). Who will this person be? I'm also insanely curious how the birth will go because there are so many possibilities. Will she come before or after my mom-in-law arrives? Who will watch Kallie and Jayda? (That's right, we still don't have a solid plan). How long will labor be? Will this birth be drug free or will I get an epidural? I hope it doesn't end up being a C-section. As excited as I am to not be pregnant anymore, to sleep on my back and bend over to paint my toenails, I'm so grateful I still feel this little one kicking away inside me.

The first half of this month my mind was constantly preoccupied with planning things like my friend's baby shower, teaching preschool, teaching sharing time, and Kallie's birthday party the following week. Here are pictures from the shower:

Britton, Kipin, me, Molly, Steph, Daxton

me, Molly, Robin, Jill

I need a lot of practice planning parties. I had an easy contribution to the baby shower because it wasn't at my house. But obviously Kallie's birthday was here and it's very interesting to me how I imagine the party will go compared to how it actually turns out. There are always certain things I over-plan that end up not being necessary and other things I don't even think of. No matter how clean I have the house right before it starts, it looks like tornado wreckage within 15 minutes of toddlers running around. Kallie didn't wear the little princess crown I bought her. I served chocolate milk to the kids but forgot about drinks for the adults. The kids didn't really care about the game I prepared. For me it feels like chaos the whole time. I'm usually running around hot and sweating. And oh mylanta I am DONE buying Little Ceasar's pizza. I have discovered the pizza is different at each location and the one near us tastes like cardboard.

Kallie's birthday interview

The day after Kallie's birthday Brad and I left the kids with some friends and drove to Orlando for a short getaway weekend and alone time before this baby comes. First on our agenda was a visit to the temple. I was really nervous that I'd have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the session but instead I was dying of thirst the whole time. But it was a wonderful temple date with my hubby. After checking into our hotel we headed to Downtown Disney and Brad informed me he had dinner and activities planned for the night but I wouldn't know what until we arrived.

Nativity at the back of the temple

We ate dinner at a Cuban restaurant with live dancing and torches near the tables on the patio. Afterward we walked around Downtown Disney (crawling like turtles may be a better way to put it). I had to take about eight breaks that consisted of Brad giving me back massages because walking was so hard and painful. At one point I guessed that we were going to a movie and as we walked by the theater Brad said not to look at the times because he didn't want me to guess which one. A few minutes before we were supposed to be there Brad left to put our leftovers in the car and I went into the theater to use the bathroom. I sat on a bench in the lobby to wait for him. When he got back I saw him through the door gesturing for me to come out. I thought he wanted to let me choose between a few different movies but he said, "We're not going to a movie, we're going to Cirque du Soleil!" and I was shocked. We had talked on our way to Orlando about how we had never been there and I really wanted to go. He had been all, "I don't know, tickets are like $100. I don't think it's worth it". But I said I still wanted to try it at least once in my lifetime. We also talked about Blue Man Group and any other shows/concerts we want to see.

So we went to Cirque du Soleil and first of all, tickets were half as much as he said they were and all the seats in the house are great so I'm glad he got the cheapest tickets. There was even a whole empty section near us so after the lights dimmed we got to move over and have our own little area of seats to put up our feet and spread out. It was so fun! We had a great time. Brownie points to Brad for successfully surprising me.

I guess we could have taken a picture while the performers were actually on stage...

Our hotel was great and the next day we headed to the mall for some Christmas shopping. I had to walk so slow from the car to the doorway, I realized we weren't gonna get anything done. Until Brad said we should rent a wheelchair! I was really hesitant at first. I knew I'd feel super weird riding in one but Brad convinced me it would be fun and the only way to get shopping done. So yeah. Brad pushed me around the mall in a wheelchair. It was an interesting day. I absolutely love that mall. It was my first time there and it was decked out with Christmas decorations but I love the design of the building because there's SO much natural light with all the windows on the ceilings.

Brad traveled to Georgia for work so I was a single mom for another week but the kids kept me pretty busy. The day Brad got home he took Kallie and Jayda to the Father/son campout while I had a girls night. We went to dinner at a place called BB's. It was my first time eating there and it was awesome. I'm pretty sure every single person (there were 10 of us?) LOVED their food. They had a display of desserts at the front so we crowded around trying to decide what to try. I was one of the last ones to order my dessert and when I turned to go back to my chair it was covered with gifts! My dear friends surprised me with mountains of diapers and wipes for the baby and I had no clue they were planning that. I still don't know how they did it because I didn't spot anyone with a gift coming into the restaurant. I have such great friends here in Florida; I'm so grateful for them. After dinner a few of us went to see Mockingjay and when the movie ended I could not put my shoes back on. My feet were so swollen I had to walk barefoot to the car. I always figured my feet swelled with Kallie because I worked on my feet full time during that whole pregnancy. It didn't happen with Jayda but it's back with full force this time around. My feet and ankles have literally been three times their size. It's awesome.

I hate when this happens but Jill and Steph left before we took pictures:

Kipin, Erin, Jennifer, Heather

Lacey, Britton, Molly, me

Camping with Daddy

I love Kallie's hand on her face. Reminds me of a teenager.

The kids and I went with Brad to a Thanksgiving "lunch" with his coworkers at the office. It felt so good to eat Thanksgiving food (pumpkin pie: nom nom nom) and then everyone there gave us diapers and wipes too! I didn't expect anything since it's my third baby girl but so many people in our life have reached out and celebrated with us. We are really touched.

37 Weeks

Our friends Ian and Heather hosted Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of friends (most of us don't have a lot of family nearby) and it was great fun. My brother's family lives here but his kids have been sick so they stayed home this year. Big thanks to the Lovelands for hosting because it's hard work that I've still never had to do. I have yet to cook a turkey (Brad did last year though) or make certain parts of the meal from scratch. I've usually been in charge of deviled eggs, stuffing, mashed potatoes and basically all the easy stuff. One of these times, about halfway through the year I'll practice turkey, candied yams and homemade pies. I don't think I'll ever do stuffing from scratch because I honestly like the taste of Stovetop better. It's the kind I grew up on.

The only picture captured on Thanksgiving was of the men cleaning the kitchen

I think when it comes to Black Thursday shopping our family has decided to only participate under strict conditions. We'll never go before 8pm because that's when the kids go to bed so it doesn't impede on family time or traditions. We stopped at a couple stores on our way home from dinner. We let the kids stay up late and come with us to make it a fun family activity. We planned on doing more casual shopping for clothes and stuff the next day but we ended up relaxing at home the whole first part of the day. We put up our Christmas decorations, got some cleaning and organizing done (I'm even a nesting procrastinator. I put off preparing for a new baby until a couple weeks before my due date) and just hung out as a family. To top off the night we got a sitter and went to Cheesecake Factory with friends. Thanksgiving weekend is crazy awesome. It felt so weird to have a third day with Daddy home before our regular Sunday routine. So we took the kids to the mall and Brad took Kallie on a date to see Big Hero 6.

Creepy, I know.

Kallie obviously thinks it's funny.

Kallie's wearing red sparkly heels and underpants to help Daddy make dinner.

While Brad and I cleaned out the closet and played Christmas music...

Jayda with our friend Lacey

Kid Quotes:

K: When I was a grown up and Daddy was a baby, I threw him up in the air.

K at the mall: Can I stand far away from Santa and ask for presents?

K on her birthday: I'm still four.

Me: You'll be four for a whole year.

K: And then I'll turn back to three.

At a clothing store Brad and I chatted with a young male employee with a long beard. As we walked away to leave Kallie asked, "Was that Jesus Christ"?

J: Onay! (Okay)

According to Jayda "lots of stickers" = honk.

Me (while the kids are bathing): Jayda, don't put toys in your bum.

Outrageous October

So Jayda turned two in September but it wasn't until October that I remembered she was probably due for a doctor check up. She's been scared of the doc for the past few checkups and nothing changed when the nurse called us back to measure her height/weight/temp, etc. Jayda screamed as per usual. But when the doc came in, he asked Kallie if she wanted to show Jayda how everything was done first. He checked Kallie's heartbeat and then turned to Jayda and she was totally fine with it. It was awesome.

Jayda's 2 year well check

When I lost my Galaxy S5 I used my old S2 for about a month and man, that camera was bad, as you tell from these first few pictures. I ended up buying an Lg G2 from Craiglist and I'm pleasantly surprised that most androids are pretty similar nowadays. Before I bought it I almost couldn't imagine having anything but a Samsung Galaxy but really, there's not that much difference.

Bo On The Go!

Brad accidentally left his tablet on the stage at church this month. After calling around for a week without success I was like, "This is a horrible, tragic month for this family and electronics!" Eventually someone from another ward told our bishop they had a missing tablet and hallelujah! It was Brad's. We were so happy to have it back because Brad has a lot ideas/inventions/brain on that thing. However a couple days later Brad said, "I think it's time I upgrade my tablet." I asked how much he can get for this one and he said, "Not much." Hmph.

I decided to get our carpets professionally cleaned for the first time. I can't emphasize enough how much I hate the people that decided to put white carpet in a dining room. Even if I knew no one would come over the rest of the time we live here I still had to get it cleaned just for myself. I can't live in a place that looks dirty after I've vacuumed and cleaned everything else inside. I got the cheapest, most basic package they offered so it cost the same as renting a carpet cleaner from the store but they did all the work and it only took 10 minutes! It was great and I'm a happy mama.

Our family had a neat experience recently. I was feeling like I needed to really practice patience with my kids. I had gotten into a bad habit of getting annoyed every time they did something that was inconvenient for me but totally normal for kids their age. I was expecting too much of them and I found myself feeling constantly aggravated and unhappy. Some of this was probably because I'm pregnant, tired and achy all the time while chasing two littles around, but I was yelling at them more than I should and even defaulting to spanking Kallie more than I should. I decided to try not yelling or spanking at all so I could learn to be more creative in disciplining them. I wanted to teach with love and build up their confidence more than I had been. After about a week of making this effort I noticed a huge difference in Kallie and myself. I was happier, more fun and Kallie was more obedient, helpful, and confident. I was a little horrified when I noticed this change in her but for months she had been biting her nails and I didn't think she'd ever stop. After a week of trying to be a better mom I looked at her nails and they were actually LONG. I hadn't needed to clip them in forever but now they needed a trim. I still don't know for sure but the possibility that Kallie was biting her nails because I was tearing down her confidence breaks my heart. The weird thing is that Brad had apparently been feeling the exact same way and was making the same changes at the same time as me but we didn't really talk about it until after we noticed the results. We've since tried to build up Kallie's confidence more by expressing to her often her good qualities and traits. Instead of saying she's being a bad girl we try to say she's a really good girl but she made a bad choice and that (particular thing) is not something good girls do. She has definitely reacted differently (in a really good way) to that change. I can't believe how easy it was for me to fall into bad parenting habits when I wasn't paying attention or putting my whole heart into raising my children like Jesus Christ would. I'm so glad I learned this while they're young because the older they get the more detrimental it would be. 

Haircut! About 8 inches went in the trash.

Family date night. Tried a restaurant with an Edgar Allen Poe theme. Go in the bathroom and you'll hear a creepy voice reading his poems.

She often dreams of being a superhero.

The lopsided belly. My right side is bigger during every pregnancy.

Awesome pumpkin patch we found while garage saling.

If you think Jayda's gonna spill that snow cone all over her white shirt...you're right. I thought it was ruined but even though I didn't wash it until 4 days later it all came out!

One of their favorite activities is playing in our ottoman filled with blankets.

Went in the bedroom because Kallie was crying and the door bumped into this...

I don't make crafts or sewing projects nearly as often as I'd like to, mainly because I'm lazy and don't wanna put all the work into it. So when I do actually get around to making something I'm very proud and want to show everyone. Here's a car seat canopy I made for this next babe! I love it and can't wait to use it.

PC, Steph, me, Molly, Kipin (Britton should be last but we couldn't find her)
That makes 5 preggos in Hendricks Ave ward! Which is pretty rare as this ward is fairly...established ;)

Lots of things happening in our family.

Jayda and Caroline. Check out THAT photo bomb.

Ever since we've lived in Florida we've gone Trick-or-Treating with our friends The Hills in their neighborhood. It's all townhouses so it's perfect for toddlers because the houses are close together so there's not too much walking. This year we wanted to try Trick-or-Treating in a real neighborhood with houses so we went to our friend Savin's, along with my brother's family. It was so fun! It's a new neighborhood with lots of young families and it was exciting to see tons of trick-or-treaters up and down the streets. There were lots of people to talk to and the houses are pretty close together so it wasn't a marathon for the kids.

The only picture we have from Trick-or-Treating

 I'm not sure why but our kids are still really naive about holidays and traditions. For example, most kids beg their parents to wear a particular Halloween costume but Kallie doesn't seem to realize yet she can dress up as anything she wants and ask for that. We just tell our kids what their costumes are gonna be and they're like "Ok!" and even more odd is by the morning of November 1st our kids had completely forgotten they had bags of candy from the night before. Sometimes I think we need to talk to our kids more throughout the month of these holidays and teach them all about what happens but then I realize we should really drag out their clueless-ness as long as we can. Sounds a lot easier not having to fight over costumes and deny candy for days on end.

Kid Quotes:

While watching General Conference Kallie says about Elder Oaks: He's grumpy!

And then she says about Elder Hales: He doesn't have hair.

Jayda doesn't say the "k" sound yet so her words sound like this:

Boot (book)
Fote (fork)
Aye-ee (Kallie)
Iss (kiss)
Nat (snack)