Thursday, December 22, 2011

Holiday Fun

I am so glad that I started feeling better a few weeks ago, just in time to enjoy some holiday fun!! (But not soon enough for me to justify putting up the Christmas tree....oh well).

We kicked off our Holiday Celebrations with the Garden D'Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens with my parents. My family has done this for many years and I introduced Eric to it the first year we were married, so I guess it's something of a tradition. We didn't take many pictures because we have tons of pictures of the lights from previous years. All of the lights on display are flowers or animals, they literally make a garden out of lights. Brooklynn was a little put of by the cold at first, and possibly the big puffy jacket we made her wear. But she eventually warmed up and enjoyed running around looking at the lights. Her favorite part of the night? I have no doubt that it would be when P-Pa took us to Dairy Queen for blizzards! Our little girl loves her some ice cream, or "mymeam" as she would say.





Last weekend we took a trip into the city with my parents and rode the monorail and then went to see the giant gingerbread houses they have on display every year. Again, this is something that my family has done for years (according to my Dad, it's was our 15th annual trip) and something that I introduced to Eric when we got married. This year the theme was "Holiday Express." As always the displays were wonderful. This was the first year that we went on a Saturday afternoon and encountered a huge line...lesson learned! It was also naptime so B got a little unruly, but she was outnumbered 4:1 so we were able to keep mostly her in control!
Waiting for the monorail....she was definitely  P-Pa's girl that day!
so excited for the train to come!
SO.MUCH.FUN


she entertained herself in line by dancing around the poles.....
...and trying to hang herself? She really loved the velvet rope dividers!
Minions!! 
King's Cross Station....
....and of course, it was platform 9 3/4 complete with a flying Harry.
I loved the flying kangaroos pulling Santa's sleigh.
Island of Misfit toys
(no one told me my hair was crazy!)

Yesterday we had a playdate with 3 other families in our ward to decorate sugar cookies. B decided that it would be fun to wake up at 4:30 yesterday so at 10:00 when we are driving the 10 minutes to our friend's house she falls asleep!! I tried so hard to keep her awake. I sang "If you're happy and you know it" and "Old MacDonald" and even tried shaking her leg and yelling to her. It was definitely a losing batle! So B spent the first 20-30 minutes of the playdate asleep on the couch while the kids played around her! Fortunately she woke up soon enough to decorate some cookies (read: eat all the frosting off the cookies while I decorated) and play some. 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Coming soon.....




That's right!!! There's a new baby on the way! The babies due date is July 2. My mom is really hoping for a July 4th baby, but that is definitely NOT going to happen. Because I had a c-section with Brooklynn when she was in the right position and wasn't a huge baby I have only a 10% chance of a successful VBAC. Not very good odds at all! And the worst case scenario is that my uterus could rupture (which doesn't sound like fun). So we will be scheduling a c-section  for this little bundle of joy. C-sections are usually scheduled in the 39 week, so we will most likely be picking a birthday in the last week of June. I really like the idea of having a July baby, but I think I am going to have to get over that!
I am really glad to be at the end of my first trimester and finally feeling better. I have been SOOO sick. With Brooklynn I would start to feel sick around 3:00 in the afternoon and I don't think I was throwing up every day. With this baby I was waking up feeling sick, throw up a few times a day, and feel sick all day long. I could not get anything done. It was literally all that I could do to feed my child and make dinner. I've logged a lot of couch time the last few weeks. Thankfully the nausea has subsided and I am starting to feel like a normal person again. And most importantly I have been able to take care of my house and family much better than before. (In fact, because I was so sick we decided that we had to speed up our timetable for our announcement. Our original plan was to announce at Christmas, but we spent Thanksgiving week at the Compton's and knew we wouldn't be able to make it through the week without suspicion. So we told family a month early).
We have told Brooklynn that we are having a baby and that the baby is in mommy's tummy. If you ask her where the baby is she will lift my shirt up and give my stomach kisses, it's pretty sweet. And sometimes if you just mention the word baby she will do the same. But she definitely does not understand what exactly it means! She loves babies, so we'll see how she does when the baby finally comes!

Friday, December 16, 2011

18 months old

Our sweet baby girl is now 18 months old (last Wednesday)! How did that happen? I cannot get over how much she has changed in the last 6 months. She really is like a little person now. She has all of her teeth now, so gone are the tooth gaped baby smiles. Her hair is getting so long, which means all her baby fuzz is gone. And she is talking a TON, which is definitely not baby-like at all!
She continues to be very active and will climb anything she can reach, her little legs don't always make this the easiest, but she always manages to figure out a way. She has almost no fear whatsoever, so it's good that Eric and I have strong nerves. It is a very rare sight to see her actually sit down and stay there for more than a minute (usually this happens at night after dinner when we are winding down from the day). She is very social, especially if there are other little people around, and loves to be the center of attention. But she is also really good at playing alone and entertaining herself, which is really nice for me!
While we were in Utah she became obsessed with TV for some reason (it was really weird because it was like never on). She now is constantly asking to watch a "doh" (show). She loves Sesame Street, Curious George, The Backyardigans, Arthur, and Super Why. She is so obsessed with her shows that she knows how to turn on Netflix on my phone and start her own show!
Brooklynn loves to help her Mommy and Daddy, and most of the time she really is a good helper. She likes to help me load the laundry, she'll take Eric's lunch tupperware and put it in the sink and will even put her own dishes in the sink as well, and she loves to push in her chair when she is done eating. While I am making lunch or dinner she will often go to her play kitchen and say that she is cooking as well.
Brooklynn loves to put her own clothes on....they just aren't neccesarily where they belong and she usually has other clothes on already! But she is getting really good at putting on socks and pants and getting a shirt over her head.



We have struggled with her solid food eating and milk drinking, but she is starting to get better with both. She will eat most of anything I give her, as long as it doesn't have meat in it. The only exception to that is chicken nuggets, fish sticks and sometimes hotdogs. She is even starting to drink some milk, the most she'll drink in one day is about 8 oz.
We are definitely in the "terribles" phase. Lots of little breakdowns throughout the day, usually the result of having to share or being told that she can't have my phone. When it comes time to fix dinner is when she has the biggest meltdown. As soon as I go to make dinner she has to have me right the second! She is really struggling with sharing right now and doesn't really want anyone to play with her toys most of the time. Her favorite words right now: Mine and No. Good times!
Some other new fun words she is saying:
*ight= light
*mote/momote= remote
*unch= lunch
*ninner= dinner
*dekfas= breakfast
*milk
*diader= diaper
*pease
*dank you
*dorry
*up
*all done
*bite

**Sometimes she will say please, thank you, or sorry without being prompted! Such a proud moment to see that she understands manners on a small level!**
***Funny story: last night Brooklynn was force feeding me fish crackers and after she hard core forced on into my mouth she told me to say "Thank you." When I didn't say thank you she put her hand to my mouth to sign it for me as she say said thank you.***
I love my sweet little girl!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Fall Catchup

I was looking at my blog the other night and I can't believe my last post was in July! The biggest shock to me were the pictures of Brooklynn. She looks like a totally different girl now! It is definitely time to get back on the blogging bandwagon!

Our summer was filled with days playing at the park and backyard sprinklers. We even had a few opportunities to get together and play with cousins, which is always a favorite. I am still surprised at how fast the summer flew by!
ALL of the Compton grandkids. It's not very often
that all 9 of them are together at one time.

In August Brooklynn and I took her first plane ride to visit Aunt Ali and Uncle Kyle in Utah. We don't get to see them nearly enough so it was great to have a week to spend time with them and for Brooklynn to get to know them some more. We had a great time visiting with family and old friends. The worst part of the trip: the HOT weather (and being away from Daddy for a week). This mommy does not like hot weather!!
Getting her energy out before our flight to Utah.
Meeting Jennie's baby Adeline. Brooklynn LOVES babies!
More from our trip: a visit to the aqaurium, playing at the park, and hanging out on BYU campus while Aunt Ali was in class.









Life has been pretty busy and sometimes hectic the last few months. I started watching my nephew full days instead of half days twice a week. Luckily I can get him and Brooklynn to nap at the same time! I also started watching another little girl a few times a week. The first month it was full days like 3 times a week, now it's half days like twice a week. I definitely like the the new schedule much better. Our house is sometimes crazy during the day and it's hard to get things done, but it's nice to be able to bring some extra money in.
My full house!
We had a great Halloween as the Flintstones. I made all our costumes, without patterns, and was super happy with the outcome. I literally finished my dress when it was time for us to go to the trunk or treat in my parent's ward! We were definitely a hit trick or treating at the mall. People were asking to take our picture and everything, it was crazy!

For Thanksgiving we spent a week with Eric's family in Wapato. It was so nice and relaxing. (Except for when we braved the crowds for Black Friday shopping, what a crazy night!) I love when Brooklynn is able to spend time with her cousins. I love seeing them all together and watching them play. It is pretty much non stop play at Grandma's house when we are all there! While we were there we took a train ride to "the North Pole" and met Santa and Mrs. Clause. Brooklynn barely tolerated them this year.


At the train depot checking out the trains before taking our train ride to the "North Pole."