My Cutest Things Ever

How group shots go these days. :)

Aren't they so cute?!?! I was trying to make a cute new picture collage for the top of my blog since the current picture is anything but current, but alas, I lost the will to do so after a few minutes of trying. But, I still wanted to share the cuteness that is my family. These are very real pictures... Sometimes I think the real to life ones are the very best ones. :) These pics capture the daily routine of welcoming dad home from school followed by everyone loafing around in the kitchen waiting for me to make food appear before them. Oh, my life its pretty good with these three! ;)

Nesting

I have officially diagnosed myself as being in the nesting phase. Isn't it a bit early? I am only six months along. Well, early or not it has arrived. I keep trying to plan out my days and get the most important urgent things on the top of my to-do list but I don't want anything to do with them. I just want to get ready for the baby. Forget Super Saturday preparation for this weekend and glazing my stupid ceramics, no, I want to buy a dresser so I can dig out all our old baby clothes. I want to wash them and fold them perfectly and place them in their designated drawer so they are all ready for him. I want to establish his little corner in our house. I want to organize my closets. I want to set up his crib. I want to be let lose to nest until my heart's content. But alas, it is rather soon and with our budgeting I need to spread things out so its a little each month which is no fun at all!!! :(

So I am left trying to talk myself out of most it.... it would all be undone if I did do it now anyways. Bridger and Angeli would need to investigate the new dresser and pull out all the clothes and get them all gross, Angeli would think the tiny diapers and diaper cream were her greatest new toy, and I would end up cramming stuff in the closet all out of order so that I'd just have to redo it all over again. I miss how it was with Bridger. I could nest for the last three months and obsess like I wanted to. I will just have to be patient. Oh, I am so not good at that! :O)

My dream nursery:


I know this isn't the most exciting set but it's weird how my tastes have changed. I just want a slightly masculine, soft, cozy room with billowy curtains, a fluffy carpet, a soft pillowed rocking chair, and warm lighting so my baby can be a cuddly little baby in a very new baby space. Oh, to dream is torture! He'll be in our room for months in a pack'n play...no such space in store of us. :O)

BOYS

I love boys and I really liked what this article had to say about them. Some study hit the media today saying that 1 in 5 boys in America have some level of behavioral problems. I know what it is like to wonder what on earth is wrong with my littlest man :) but I really had to agree with what this News Week article had to say about it. We should be careful to let our little guys be just that - active, hyper, rambunctious, playful, testosterone fueled, creative, sweet, and wonderful little boys! I would absolutely hate living in a world without them! :O)

Imposter Coco Puff

My kids like coco puffs. They like them better as a snack then as a breakfast with milk and the whole bit. So lately they have been snacking on them as they cruise all over the house and thus dropping them all over the house too.

A day ago Bridger would not go down for his nap. He has been doing that most every day lately. So sad! When I went into his room for the millionth time to see what his deal was he was standing there naked pointing to his poop on the floor saying how yucky it was. I cleaned it up and it was gross. It was rabbit-ish poop, ummm.... think coco puffs. I thought I got it all.

So this morning I got out of the shower and heard Bridger screaming "Yucky! Yucky! Mommy!" I hurried to his room and there he was with brown stuff all over his mouth and cheeks. It only took one breath to realize he had accidentally eaten some poop. He was spiting and screaming "yucky" over and over again....he was totally traumatized. I think he must have thought it was a coco puff because he never puts non-food items in his mouth on purpose. I quickly took him to the bathroom to wash out his mouth and wash off his face and hands but I could not take the smell. I kept on gagging. I called for Stew and informed him what happened and that he had to take over or I was going to lose it. It was traumatizing for all of us. :) I have been sick to my stomach all day long because of it. Bridger has been pointing to every brown thing that happens to be on the floor and informs me that it is very "yucky" and promptly brings me toilet paper to pick it up with.

My poor guy. He thought he was going to get a coco puff....but he didn't.

Reno's Great Balloon Races

Today we went to Reno's Great balloon race. We got the kids up super early and headed down town to watch the balloons take off on their rather slow paced race. We met up with some friends from our ward and had a great time eating, watching balloons and hanging out amongst the 100's of other people there. Angeli was more into her balloon she got to hold then any of the hot air balloons. Bridger got to touch a balloon getting blown up right next to us and watched in amazement as they blew it up with hot air. The Kid's favorite was the Nemo balloon blown up at the very last. They love "Nemo Fishy!". Here are some pics we took.

Oh, as a side note never park on Virginia just south of McCarran. We saw two cars totally plow into the parked cars there and then take off. I guess because there is a bar right there? But honestly who is drunk before 9 in the morning!?!? Crazy people!

Bridger is Growing Up!

Today was the kick off for Bridger's preschool. Angeli comes too, but she sort of just wonders around and does her own thing so it is mainly a Bridger and his buddies school. It went really well. It was so cute to watch him and his two little friends review the rules. Bring a smile - all the little boys smile, listen to teacher - all of them point to their ears....it was cute. I am excited for them all. By the end of class (in which I hardly did anything even) I was certain that doing this school is going to make my pregnancy go pretty fast and probably send me into labor early. :) It's a busy two hours!!! We are going to have some activity almost everyday of the week between play group, speech therapy groups, preschool, and so on. I am so grateful my friends were willing to do this little preschool too. It is no small commitment to prepare lesson to teach these little guys. I hope they learn and become even better buddies with all their exploring together.

This past week Bridger has really been growing up. He has started to talk in complete sentences! Such wonderful progress! He has started to color in coloring books.... he actually tries to colors certain objects - usually their faces, eyes are his favorite. He also tries to color certain things on his own and he even tries to write his name. His imitation of writing is really cute. And though he has always, and will probably always, prefer gross motor play he has started to really love imagination play. We have been having dinosaur battles every day this week. He loves when the jumping dinosaur gets his toes. I decided that each dinosaur has it's own fighting style. :) I will hear him in his room talking to his little toys imagining all sorts of exciting things. It usually is something like this, "bomb, bomb, jump, ahhhhh. oowwie. jump. jump. zooooom." I think they are some sort of action sequences. Such a boy!

I think he is starting to understand that mommy is going to have another baby now that my tummy is getting very big. He'll point to my tummy and tell me exactly what is going to happen with very animated motions, "get bigger, bigger, bigger, boom! Baby all out." Then he pretends he is rocking a baby in his arms and says, "mmmmm, baby." When I first started to try and tell him I was having a baby he was really worried mommy was going to get hurt when the baby had to come out. But with lots of reassurance he has decided that the "boom" part, as he calls it, wont hurt mommy. We'll, let him think that. :)

So, yay for my Bridger and all his exciting achievements and his new little preschool. The next two weeks I will teach them all about bugs. So great! :) They'll get to dig through slim to find bugs, build a little bug habitat and find a buggie to put in it, build their own spider webs and catch flies with them, finger paint bugs, make Bee puppets, make worms out of old socks, and have a sponge bug water fight. So much fun!!!

Bridger's First Non-Surgery Surgery

I am sorry I have been writing so much and have had no pictures to cutiefy things up lately. I totally forgot my camera this morning and I am so sad I did because Bridger in his little surgical gown was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

My BaBa, as we affectionately call him, had two little cavities due to a babyhood of never having his teeth brushed regularly (I totally take responsibility for that). When it comes to 2 year olds the only way to get cavities taken care of is under general anesthesia. So this morning at 5:30 am Bridger and I drove down to the surgical center and he had his first, and hopefully last, non-surgery surgery. He was super sweet about the whole thing. When the nurse took him from me and he started to cry his groggy cry (they gave him some sedatives before they took him from me) I almost cried too. Then I almost threw up... what happens when you get a pregnant women up too early in the morning and don't feed her enough. :) He did great and when I was able to come get him he was so very sweet in an overly medicated toddler sort of way.

It was nice in some ways to be reminded how much I truly adore, love, care, and worry for my little guy. He was so helpless and needing so much reassurance. I realized that no matter what he will always be my baby. I will always want to be able to hold him and make his oweeies all better. As I prayed for him during his surgery I felt the Spirit so strongly. It was as if it whispered to my heart that what I felt was like the love our Savior and Heavenly Father have for us. It was a really tender moment for me. I am so grateful for my babies and their health. Nothing brings me greater joy then all my family and knowing that someday we will be together with our Heavenly Parents again. There's no sweeter joy.

I believe in Omega-3

I am not a naturalist.... I do not hit up stores' health supplement isles but this thing is truly great! Omega-3 is an oil found in many fish and some plants/seeds as well ( I know my research is astounding). It helps our brains function better and all sorts of things like breaking down the plaquey fats in our blood stream. Pregnant and nursing moms should take it to help their little ones' brains develop even stronger. In the old days they'd give their kids all sorts of oils including Omega-3 fish oils. Anyways, if you want to read up on it then I recommend you simply Google it -some stuff is really factual and reserved and other stuff swears it heals everything- a bit over the top.

Here is my personal testimonial...Angeli started talking really early on and she was saying her words really well. But then it all sort of stopped. Looking back it was when she stopped taking her DHA, aka omega 3, fortified formula. Months and months went by and her speech continued to be at a stand still. At her 18 month doctors appointment they said if she doesn't get more words soon then we should take to be evaluated at the Early Intervention Services. I was so annoyed. I was not going to have to take both of my kids to speech therapy and I knew deep down that she was just fine. I was complaining to my sister about it and she told me I needed to start giving her the Omega-3 supplements. She said her son did the same thing; he was an early talker but then it totally dropped off until she started giving him the Omega-3 supplements. So I broke our budget and bought a bottle of kids chewy Omega-3 "candies".

They smell like fish but it has worked like a charm!!! She is learning so many words all of the sudden. Her speech is so much clearer. It is like night and day. Studies have shown that it also really helps kids with behavioral problems...well, Bridger really has been so much more behaved. When I took Bridger to his speech group last week his speech therapist was in awe with his speech progress.

So anyways, there. I have born my testimony about Omega-3 and my conscious can be clear that I told people about the wonderful thing I found in my life so that if they are so inspired they can put it to use in their lives too! :O) I know I am such a dork!!!!

P.S. It's supposed to help varicose veins too! who knew?!?!? If only it took care of bad skin, flat hair, and weight gain. :)

Woe Is Me!!! :)

I just need to complain. Here is a list of my physical woe's that I have suffered through today. I usually have two or three of these at a time:

- TERRIBLE Varicose VEINS!!!! It is so bad that sitting doesn't even bring me relief. Laying down with my legs elevated is the only thing that makes them stop hurting. And you can imagine how often that happen for me during my day.

-Heart Burn! I have terrible heart burn. Hate it!

- A Very Sharp Hip Pain. It is caused by my wiggly hip bones pinching a nerve. It hurts when I lift things (like my children), sometimes when I walk or attempt to walk- its more of a limp, and when I lay down is when it hurts really really bad. Thus when I lay down to relief my veins my hip kicks in double time! ugh!

- Shin Splints. If you have ever had these before then you know how terrible they can be. I remember the first time I got them in high school I started crying...and I am pretty dang tough.

- Braxton Hicks. I started getting these last week. Whenever I am doing a little heavier activity I get them and these aren't the worst pain ever but they certainly are not comfortable. Plus they make me have to pee. :) Which is annoying to be running to the bathroom every 15 minutes.

- A Sore Knee. I walked a little too intensely the other day and my knee has been really lose and tender ever since. It hurts most all the time. I will be happy when all my tendons start to work again!

Needless to say I am pregnant and not getting through it with the most grace. In this moment I have hip pain, heart burn, and shin splints. But I guess nothing very wonderful ever came free. Now you can all say poor Emily and make feel a little better. ;) LOL

Busy and not much to say...

I feel like I should post something but I have nothing to really say so feel free to skip my rambling efforts to try and create a post. :)

We are alive, busy, and happy. Stew is back in school. Stewart's load will be heavy and well, it already is. I think he is glad to be back but a little overwhelmed at the same time. The looming Board exam seems to make everything more stressful. He is also starting an ambitious gym regiment with his buddies and that should help him break up the "longness" of school and study. On the side ;O) he is a wonderful husband, part time Timeless Treasures employee (he is my glaze assistant. he is so dang good at it he really is better then me.), doing all his church duties (giving a talk this Sunday even), champ home maintenance man (it seems like everyday I have something broken for him to fix - today it was the blinds) and of course a terrific father.

I am busy growing a baby, raising two kids, planning and going to play groups, running my business (tomorrow is my first day this week without a client, it will be a nice break), doing my calling, trying to be a good neighbor to my sickly neighbor across the street (she fell again yesterday and she was too embarrassed to call me because she was in the bathroom not fully dressed, thus the entire 911 response team was there to help! I wish I could do more.), starting a pre-school with some gal pals, trying to exercise so I am not obese by the time I have this baby, getting my children to their doctors (Bridger is going to have to get some dental work done and they have to sort of put him under for it...it adds up to a lot of hoop jumping for insurance), getting myself to the doctor, re-applying for welfare (so fun!), trying to keep up with my family members who are as busy as me and twice as hard to get a hold of, and getting Bridger to his speech stuff. Oh, and on the side I try to keep us fed, clothed, and my house clean enough for my clients to see. Yup, that is what we are up to. Life is busy, at times quite stressful, but all of it is very happy worthwhile stuff. Wish us luck, it is going to be one crazy semester!!!

Happy Day for Bridger

We have been battling the bureaucratic under funded system called "Nevada Early Intervention Services" for months to try and get Bridger some speech therapy. Today I felt like we finally had some meager success. We had another at home meeting today. Oh, heaven bless the speech therapist who came who actually seemed like she wanted to help my son. It went wonderfully. We now have a plan, we have goals, and we have some home therapy for our little man. It's not enough, but we will take it. It was all very positive and Bridger couldn't have been more behaved, charming, and an all around cutie. We are so grateful for all the state and government services that are making it possible for us to survive. From government subsidized school loans to the NEIS we are so grateful to our country and the help it offers people like us who need it while they struggle through school.

Just wanted to share my relief!

It's a Wonderful Life

That is my favorite movie of all time, It's a Wonderful Life. It's the story of a man who lives a life very unglamorous and yet so very important and blessed. He realizes in the end that he really has lived the life he really wants after all. He finds that he is living a Wonderful Life.

Those are my feelings about my life these days. I really am living such a wonderful life. I have everything I really want despite all the things I don't have. :) It's a happy place to be. Why am I writing this? The other day I was at Tahoe with some friends and as we watched our children playing on the beach one lady introduced me to her sister who's husband had just finished his long haul of med school, residency, and fellowship. I told her we were just starting out in med school and she looked at me with the most tired look on her face and said, "I never would want to be where you are at again. Good Luck." And then turned away looking even more tired and board then before. I am sure she is a great lady...this is not a slam on her, but it got me thinking.

What a depressing sentiment. I silently promised to never say that to anyone when we are done. It may very well be true but I hope I can at least appreciate the journey and joys along the way. As I sat there deciding what to make of her feelings I took inventory on how I really felt about my life and I decided I was pretty darn happy no matter what other's might think of my state. I like to think I am not one of those annoying people that gush all the time about how great their lives are... no, I rather like to think I am more like the man in It's a Wonderful Life. Grateful for the humble things. Lets face it, I am a extremely worn out pregnant mother of two very hyper toddlers, with almost constant ailments like terrible aching legs, a sore hip so every step is painful, nausea, heartburn,.... facing a budget of $100 a month to spend on my family's needs, trying to run my pathetic home business, trying to serve in my calling and feeling a little lame at it, and facing the looming threat of my husband starting a very challenging second year of med school and board exams! BUT, darn it, I am very happy! ;) I could be sad and live with my challenges or I could be happy and live with my challenges. I think it's evident which side I have chosen. Ultimately I believe in having dreams set in our "somedays", but I also believe in today.

And with that little tirade here are some 20 week pictures of me and my belly. I am getting excited to meet this little man growing inside me. I think he is going to be a beautiful little fatty. :() ) I thought his legs looked really chubby on the ultrasound, or maybe that really is just my hoping he is sharing more of my weight gain! ;) Anyways, there I be.