YIKES

I've been feeling a little crummy the past few months.  I have felt

- nausea lots of the time

- tired all the time

- leg cramps starting again

along with the many (and I mean many) trips to the bathroom.

Sound familiar?  According to the ultrasound I had today I am 19 weeks pregnant and we're having......

......a BOY (just in case you can't read the balloon because of the lovely glare on it)!!!!!

The girls seem pretty excited.  Hannah talks about "The Baby" quite often.  I'm pretty sure she understands what's coming.  Sofia seems excited and I think she will be until she realizes the implications of a baby.  Then, it will be one unhappy little girl.

And just for major embarrassment ...here is a pregnancy photo of me.  Does anyone else feel like a complete idiot standing in front of the camera to show off your much enlarged stomach?  Anyway, I did it so I'm going to post it.  

and here's a random one of me enjoying Sofia's snuggles right after a nap:

A New Dress

The secretary at the Institute was de-cluttering her fabric stash and donated it to anyone interested.  Considering there aren't too many of us with sewing machines we had a pretty good selection to choose from.  Hannah was adamant that we make a dress for her.  

So she chose a piece of fabric and we made the easiest dress possible with a matching headband.  She was also very insistent that I take lots of pictures.

 It was a little chilly, so she had to keep her clothes on underneath....don't they match beautifully?

Getting her to make a normal face in front of the camera is virtually impossible....I've stopped trying.

Disneyland

We had some family come to Southern California and spend a few days at Disneyland.  We actually crossed something off of our bucket list and joined them for the day at the "Happiest Place on Earth."

We had lots of fun, especially the girls.  Here are a few pictures from the day.

Valentine's Day

I've decided most holidays are lots more fun with kids to get excited about them.  I never really liked Valentine's Day, but it has become lost more fun the last year or two.

We didn't take many pictures, but started out with heart shaped oatmeal and toast for breakfast.

Blew up a few pink and red balloons in honor of the day.

Celebrated lunch with heart shaped sandwiches.

Played with pink playdough using the heart cookie cutters.

 We finished the day with (you'll never guess it)... heart shaped pizza, breadsticks, and cookies.

 Here's my little sous-chef in during the making of dinner.

2 Years

Sofia recently had her birthday and I can't believe she's already 2 years old.  It's CRAZY!!

On her birthday we celebrated with pancakes for breakfast.

Then, on to the opening of presents.  

 She looked pretty happy with graham crackers, but I think she was pretty excited about a new outfit for church, too!

And, of course a book.  To replace the previous Go, Dog, Go book she has destroyed.

She has quite an independent streak and likes to do things herself.  Here she is dressing herself.  I hope this tube top isn't an indicator of things to come!!

 But I am pretty impressed she got the skirt on all by herself considering it had shorts inside of it.

To end the day we celebrated with friends by having cake and ice cream at the institute.

Highlight of the Week

Let me start with explaining my love for organization...in the kitchen.....plastic containers in particular. I HATE when you dish up some leftovers into a container just to discover you have no functioning lid to cover it with.  HATE that.  

So, a year or so ago, my wonderful, thoughtful  husband bought me a set of Rubbermaid containers - you know the kind with red lids where the lids stack together, containers stack together, and to each other.  I'm sure you probably have them or have seen them.  Can I just say....best Christmas present ever.  And I'm not being sarcastic...sincerely I think that was my favorite Christmas present.  Really!

When he gave me them, I got rid of the rest of our containers.  Now every single container I have matches and has a lid that fits.  It's beautiful......

.

....but I have been wanting a few larger containers to store a big batch of cookies, or an entire dish of food if I'm doubling and freezing.  Anyway, it's one of those things I'm always looking at, but can never bring myself to pay $10 or $12 for one piece of plastic....so I've never gotten any bigger ones until this week.

At the grocery store I happened to walk by the clearance section and saw a package of the same Rubbermaid containers on clearance.  It was some Superbowl special that they were clearancing out.  So, for $4.50 I got 2 large containers and 2 smaller ones that fit into the size I already have.  I realize the picture is awful and doesn't really show you the size very well, but that bottom one is big!

I smile every time I see it in the kitchen.  And, I'm already planning on a batch of cookies to fit inside and freeze.  

It's the simple pleasures in life, right?

Girls and Power Tools?

When I was pregnant with Hannah and we found out we were having a girl, James was a little disappointed.  I know he was thinking "What are you supposed to do with girls?"

He loves to build and create things and I'm sure he could picture himself with a son alongside helping him.....but a girl? 

Hah!  This makes me laugh, because now he couldn't imagine doing it without 2 girls helping.  Here's the latest project:

And who says power tools are meant for boys?  Look at the grin on Sofia's face!!

As a side note...the project was raising up our table in the kitchen.  We have zero counter space in the kitchen so we bought one of those plastic folding tables to give us a little space (you know, so we could at least use our microwave and have a foot or 2 to work on).  The table works great, but it's only 3' tall and my back always aches from bending over when we make dinner.  So, we (James and the girls) fixed that problem.

Valentines in the Making

 Here the girls are hard at work making some Valentines: 

 Sofia has recently graduated to painting with close supervision.  She actually does pretty good (as long as I'm watching) and seems to really get into it.  Lots of concentration!

Bucket lists

Last week I was in charge of date night.  I realize our time here in LA is coming to an end.  I can't believe we've got less than 4 months left!  So, for our date we ate yummy dessert and made 2 bucket lists:  Things to do before we leave L.A. and things we want to do in life.  Here are our lists:

Yes, that is our sand toy bucket.  And yes, I did wash it before using it!

LA BUCKET LIST:

- Hike the Hollywood sign one last time

- Tour the Endeavor (hello it's in our backyard and only $2 a ticket!!!)

- One last trip to the beach

- Disneyland???

- Graduate

- Eat hot dogs at Pinks

- Take Hannah on the Ferris wheel (James is more daring than I).

- Have a few friends from school over for dinner (we've talked about it, but it never happens)

- Take the girls to the splash pad downtown

- Go to a professional performance

LIFE BUCKET LIST:

- Hike and fly through the Himalayas

- Bike the Tour de France route (hopefully a lot slower than the real bikers)

- Visit Jerusalem

- Build our own porch swing

- Have a flower garden

- Plant/harvest our own vegetable garden

- Buy a house and make it a home

- Go on a cruise

- Go parasailing

- Serve a mission together

Resolutions

It's a little late for New Year's resolutions, but I never publicized them (or even wrote them down), and I know that will help me keep them.  So, here are my current goals/resolutions:

* Get ready every day.  Sounds lame...I know, but when most of the day is spent at home cooking or cleaning there isn't much incentive to get ready.  My exercise clothes are so comfy it's way too easy to stay in them all day.  So my goal is to actually get ready AND get dressed into 'real' clothes every day.  That being said, I know I will fail to do it everyday.  So, I'm giving myself an exception one day a week I get to stay in my exercise clothes if I want. 

*  1 date a week with James.  I heard about Project 52 at Simply Modern Mom and James and I filled out a contract that we would do one date a week.  Our plan in Friday nights after the girls are in bed with a goal of trying to do a babysitting swap or hire a babysitter at least once in a while.  Our rules are: no kids, lost cost, and a date environment (translation = no pjs for me).  We'll take turns each month planning the dates.  We haven't been doing it for long, but so far it has been fun!!

* Weight control.  I don't really care all that much what the scale tells me my weight is- I care more about how I feel and how my clothes fit.  BUT, I want to have tangible evidence that I have succeeded or failed at my goal.  So, my goal is to stay under ___ pounds!  (Hah!  And you thought I was actually going to give you a number).  Really, it is to weigh less than James, but I don't want to put his weight down!  :D

So, this is what I've been working on.  So far, so good!