Week In Review

This was a very up and down week, I swear. Monday was one of those days for me. Jilly hadn't gone to sleep until close to 12:30am Sunday night, so I was less than thrilled when she woke up at 6am, crying. I knew she had a cold, so I felt bad for her. I let her come into my bed, since Steve had already left for work. Normally she calms down quickly and goes to sleep with me, but not this time! She ketp whining and moaning, and grabbing my hand. She clearly wanted me to do something for her, but I had no idea what she wanted and she wouldn't tell me. I wsa so frustrated! After like an hour and a half, I got up and took us out to the couch so she could watch TV and I could doze. That worked faily well and she calmed down for the most part. After a bit, she got down off the couch and started playing with her toys. I was very in-and-out for a couple hours, so it's all kinda hazy.

At some point, she climbed back onto the couch with me and cuddled up to sleep. It was rather cute, so we snoozed there for a little while. Of course, while I was dozing, I'd turned it to the Disney channel for her and she ran away with the remote. So as she goes to sleep, I start to wake up and am stuck watching Disney cartoons, because she's cuddled up with me and I didn't want to risk moving her. It was during this time that I looked down and noticed this cute little baby bum was out for all to see. She'd gotten her diaper off, left it on the floor and was running around without anything on her bum. Oops! Hahaha. She slept there for 45 or so minutes, then woke up. Unfortunately, her attitude had not improved that much. She kept whining and complaining most of the day. I was going insane with her, because I couldn't figure out anything to make her feel better! I was never so glad to put her down for a nap, take a shower and escape to work. But just my luck, she slept most of the time I was gone and her attitude did not change once I got home and she woke up. The rest of the evening continued to be frustrating. I was trying to make dinner and she kept coming in and whining at me and crying when I'd send her out. It kept up for hours. Finally, Steve put her in the bath and that seemed to cheer her. I decided that I was way too disgruntled at the day, so as soon as 24 was over, I dashed to Safeway for ice cream and hot fudge. Sure, I had cookies at the house, but it was one of those days that required all three. And I was much happier by the time I went to bed!

Tuesday was heaven, compared to Monday. Jilly slept way in, which means I got to as well. We just had a lazy day at home, then pretty soon after Steve got home, I had to dash off to pick up some food for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner that night. By the time I was leaving Costco, it was still 2 hours until we'd be doing dinner, so I decided that I needed a snack. Mmmmm.... Costco Polish Dog... SOOOO GOOD! The Relief Society dinner was lovely. It was so nice to chat with all the ladies, the food was good, and the presentation about the history of Relief Society was fascinating. I ended up not getting home until about 10 minutes AFTER Steve's meeting started, because I had to clean up after the dinner. Oh well. He only had to drive like 3 minutes. ;-) I put Jilly to bed while he was gone, and it was a quiet evening.

Wednesday was a bit more exciting. I meant to wake by 10 or 10:15am, normally I hear from Jilly by then. But for some reason, she slept way in again! So I woke up at 10:45am! Normally, not an issue, but my mom and sister were taking us to the Zoo and I need to be up and at it. Turns out Mom was running late, so it ended up being okay that I was too. In fact, by the time Katie got us back to Mom's house, we still waited for like 20-30 minutes for Mom to finish getting ready. Then it was off to Woodland Park Zoo! Now, I LOVE the zoo. I would go all the time if I had a car. I went a bunch last spring (as my loyal readers noticed) so Regan got me a membership for my birthday present. Sweet! Well, that was back in August and I still hadn't gone. Oops. So this was the first time I was using it. And it was AWESOME! I get in for free with the membership, Jilly is still free since she's under 3, and I get any guests in for half off. Plus, until May 1st I get free parking. Score! So to get all four of us in the Zoo and park there, it was only $11! Major deal if you ask me.

So we spent the next couple hours wandering around the Zoo. We checked out the elephants, tiger, hippos, the Day/Night exhibit, orangutans, and much more. Funny story, we had just come up to the tapirs and they seemed to see us and walk towards us. Cool, right? They walked right up to the glass, facing us, then alongside it as well. As soon as the first one turned, to have his back facing us, it peed right on the glass, right at Jilly's face level! It was rather explosive too! Made us all jump back and start laughing hysterically. Well, not Jilly. It didn't scare her, but I don't think she quite knew what to do. Hahaha! Way funny. Quite a few of the animals that we saw were actually out and active, rather than sleeping in the back corner, so that was neat to see. I think we ended up staying the longest at the flamingos (no one else was there), and they seemed brighter than the last time we saw them. It was a lot of fun, but all too soon we had to leave so I could get to work. Mom & Katie ended up keeping Jilly for the afternoon, so Steve had an evening all to himself while I was at work. After work, I picked up Jilly, dinner and then we headed home. Soon enough the Birdie Girl was in bed and we watched Lost. What a nice way to end the day.

Thursday was another lazy day. Katie came over sometime that morning and we just hung out. We ended up watching Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. It was so cute! Neither of us had seen it before. My mother-in-law gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago, and I hadn't opened it yet. I knew Steve wouldn't want to watch it with me, and I'm bad about watching movies by myself. Anyway, Katie and I thought it was a hoot, way silly and fun. :-) That afternoon, I had to make a couple visits for Primary, but after that, we all just hung out at home. Steve started feeling kinda crappy, I could tell he was catching Jilly's cold. Poor guy.

Friday morning, he did not feel any better, so he stayed home from work. You'd think staying home from work would mean he'd lay around in bed all day and do nothing, right? Not quite with Steve. He was up long before Jills and I were, even showered and dressed. Katie called at like 11am, while I was still in bed, though awake. She ended up coming over again, because she'd mixed up the time of her hair appt. It was at 2pm, not 11am. Hehehe. So she came to kill time with us. Steve made us tidy up the house, and then he made us pancakes and bacon for breakfast. He even had to wake up Jilly at 11am! Lazy baby. Later, us girls made a trip to Safeway so we could get some groceries, then it was time for Katie to leave. The rest of the day was spent alternately cooking, cleaning, and chilling out.

Today has been fairly boring. I've been at work since 6:45am. We had some weather issues this morning, but I think things are getting back on track. Tonight, we're going over to my friend Tatiana's place for dinner. I'm not sure if Steve will be coming, it depends on how bad he feels, plus we don't really want to get her whole familu sick, especially right before they have to move! But Jilly and I will be going for sure. I even made Fudge Sundae Dessert to take with us. Yum. Tomorrow, we'll have church and afternoon naps. Fairly standard and low-key for us.

So ther you have it, our excting week! It started out pretty rough but got much better as it went on. By the way- if any of you want to go to the Zoo, I'll make you a fantastic offer. You provide the transportation (since I don't have the car during the day) and I'll get you in for cheap. Seems like a sweet deal to me. Let me know if you wanna take me up on it! I could go once a week and not get bored. ;-) Have a wonderful Saturday!

Four Years!

Four years ago, we ate this, and trust me, it was delicious!

Before we could eat, though, we had to do this:

Do those doors look a little familiar? They belong to this:

Yep, the beautiful Seattle temple on a gorgeous March day, was where Steve and I were married for time and all eternity, four years ago!

Right from the start, we knew who was in charge:

And lots and lots of people came to celebrate with us:

We were officially husband & wife!

Yesterday was our anniversary and it was a lovely day. We were asked to do sealings at the temple with other members of our ward. It seemed like a perfect way to spend our anniversary, remembering those vows and covenants that we made. Michelle & Kurt were wonderful and babysat our little Jilly Beans (Wildcat had to come with us ;-)) while we were gone. They even took her early, so we could have dinner at the temple first. Yum, temple food is the best! The sealings were very nice and I only almost passed out once. ;-) That's what you get for kneeling for 10+ minutes when you're 5 months pregnant. Hehehe. Luckily, I stopped before I actually did pass out, and everyone was very understanding. After our service at the temple was concluded, we picked up the Beanster (who had a fabulous time with her buddies Maya, Lincoln and Natalie, as always), chatted up Michelle and Kurt for a bit, then headed home. Once at home, Beanie went to bed and we stayed up to watch ER. It was a very nice evening by all accounts.

We are certainly grateful to have enjoyed such a fun and loving marriage for these past four years and look forward to the next fifty or so! :-) I truly know that marriage is one of the best things ever, and there is no way I would trade mine for anything. I love my Moozsh man!!!

Bath time

It's always fun to discover a new trick Jilly has developed. She LOVES baths and this is just one of the reasons why:



When I first saw her doing it, I ran to get the camera, but the battery died as I tried to click the picture! By the time I got the new battery in, she was all hamming for the camera, so I didn't get the shot I wanted. But soon enough she was up to her tricks again, and I was able to catch this fun moment!

This kid cracks me up!

Silly day with Jilly and Mama

Today was a fairly low-key day for Jills and me, but there were a few funny moments that I just had to share. We were all up late last night, so she and I slept way in this morning. She woke up somewhere around 11am, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I left her in there until closer to Noon. When I finally went in to get her from her crib, she greeted me with a very enthusiastic “HI!” which was fun, because she never really says Hi. :-)

But of course, goofing with her and then lifting her out of bed totally set off my empty stomach, so I made a quick dash for the bathroom. While the toilet and I were renewing our acquaintance, she first stood in the doorway giggling at the sounds I was making. Then she proceeded to come in the bathroom and imitate me, leaning over and everything. It was hilarious. It’s actually something she’s done the entire pregnancy, and it cracks me up every time. She’ll often pat my back and ask, “You okay?” as well, but today we just got the mimicking. Hehehe.

Later in the day, she was wandering around and started barking randomly. This is a new thing Steve has taught, but often with things like this, she’ll only do it when we start it. Somehow barking has stuck with her really well and she’ll just launch into it at odd times. We’ll be watching TV or whatever and then hear this “Wuff wuff!” Too funny.

One very sweet thing she did today was climb up on the couch and cuddle with me for a little bit. Then she wanted to give kisses. After giving me a couple, I asked if she wanted to kiss the baby. She lifted up my shirt (she insisted on that) and gave my tummy some good smooches. I told her to pat the baby and say Hi to the baby. She smacked my stomach and say “Hi!” It was quite sweet to see her so enthusiastic about the baby. Now, we just need to work on being a little more gentle. ;-) Good thing we have a few more months!

Well, wouldn't you know?

Well, I guess it's about time for us to spill the beans here. As many of you already know, Baby #2 is on it's way to Hall Manor! "Wildcat" is due to make its appearance sometime about Independence Day. I'm about 22 weeks along now and finally feeling human again (well most of the time).

I was seriously ill when I was pregnant with Jilly for the first trimester, needing medication every 8 hours in order to tolerate moving out of my bed, never really felt good. We were anticipating a repeat performance of that and it has mostly happened. I had about 3 weeks (between 8 and 11 weeks) that were pure hell. I was so sick, some days it was all I could do to lift Jilly out of her crib and maybe hand her a cup of juice. There were a few days where I couldn't even change her diaper until later in the day, because I was too sick to move. Luckily, I have some awesome family and friends who gladly came over and helped get us through. Not to mention an AMAZING husband who picked up all the slack and more, while I was feeling crappy. Since then some things have gotten better, but nausea still lingers if I don't eat every couple hours. So I have to express some bottom-of-my-heart gratitude to Michelle, Stacey, Jeanne, Nikiy, Heidi, and my mom and family for all the astounding help they were in either taking care of Jilly, bringing me something to help me feel better, bringing us dinner or kidnapping Jilly and me and nursing me back to health. Not to mention everyone at work and church who picked up the slack when I couldn't be there, and did it cheerfully. :-)

Now, things are getting fun. For a few weeks now (since around 15 weeks) I've been able to feel Wildcat fluttering and moving around. That's about 2 1/2 weeks earlier than I felt Jilly. But I know what to feel for now. It's such a funny feeling, because it's still in the butterflies-tickling-me stage of feeling. Of course, along with the baby being big enough to feel, means there is more pressure on my other organs. There has been more than one night lately, where I've woken up to immense pain from a very full and compressed bladder. Yep, already starting that. ;-)

My belly started popping out almost as soon as the "+" showed up on the test, which necessitated maternity clothes right away. It grew fast, then slowed down a little, so it's more in line with how much I was showing this far along with Jilly. We'll see if I get that big again, and whether I carry super low again or higher. Not sure what I would prefer...

We're not sure if this will be a boy or a girl. I was convinced it was a boy since before we got pregnant. But as Steve's mom pointed out, it's the pattern on both sides of the family (his and mine) for it to go Girl, Girl, then Boy. Then my mom started talking about how it would make things easier to have a second girl (getting to re-use most of the stuff, etc). So I started thinking, yeah, maybe a girl. Steve has no inkling either. Jilly however has said "Baby Sis-uh" on several occasions, but never Brother. But now I'm back to vacillating between thinking it's a boy or having no clue. So there you go. ;-) We are planning on finding out the gender through ultrasound, probably in the next couple months. We'll let you know.

So that's our news. Everyone get why I've been a little off my blogging game the past few months? ;-) I am trying to come back to the real world now and will hopefully be keeping things up to date a little better. But if not, just blame it on Wildcat. :-D

P.S. We're pretty darn excited, in case you couldn't tell!!!

Here is the belly shot at 8 1/2 weeks:


And here we are today at 22 weeks: