Pregnancy Update

27 weeks

I've had some people asking me for an update on the pregnancy, and how I am feeling, etc. Thanks for your concern, and I have good news! I started really feeling better just before Nathaniel got into town. I just kept praying that I could make it the whole time they were here without throwing up. I mean, we only have one bathroom and our place is small, so it would be no secret if I was in there getting sick all the time. No thanks. Well, the Lord heard my prayer, and I stopped the day they got here and haven't thrown up since! That's not to say I didn't have bouts of nausea, and I still do, but nothing compared to those first few horrendous months. Unfortunately, I have moved on from the sick phase and into the painful phase. I had to go to physical therapy twice a week when I was pregnant with Madeline because my hips cause me a lot of problems, and I just got a referral to head back to the physical therapist again. Oh well, I can handle pain way better than I can handle being sick.

I am a little over 27 weeks now, and things are progressing nicely. I had to get another ultrasound because they weren't able to get a good profile view of the baby's face in the first one, so that was kind of fun. Joe was in the field and had to miss it, but I got some pictures to share with him.

For some reason I am way more paranoid about getting everything we need really early with this baby than I was with Madeline. With Madeline it was a bit different because we had just graduated from college, and we knew we were going to be moving out here but Joe had about 6 months of training first, so I moved in with my brother's family about 2 weeks before she was born and stayed with them for those 6 months. It's not like we were in our own space and had a nursery to decorate or anything. Plus, they had a baby 7 months before Madeline, so I was able to use almost all their infant gear instead of buying it. She didn't even sleep in a crib; we had a little pack-n-play set up in the room we shared.

This time we don't really have a nursery, per se, since the baby will share with Madeline, but I am still able to plan out a new decor. I had given away the crib we had for Madeline, so we got a crib and have that set up. Originally I thought I would sew the bedding set, but I decided just to go online and buy it because it would be cheaper than making it, and it would be less stressful for me. So I got a set that I think is really cute, and we got a new carseat, and just a couple other small things we'll need.

The only thing left that I really want to buy is a sit n stand stroller, but I was talking to a friend today who might sell me hers, so hopefully I can check that off the list soon! I do still want to sew a few things though, like a blanket for Madeline to match the colors of the crib set, and some curtains. I purchased some blackout liners for the windows, which I have been talking about forever, so I am excited about that. And we need to paint the walls. And I have go to through all Madeline's old clothes to figure out what I want to keep and what will work with the weather here. Luckily, Madeline was born in August, so a lot of the clothes will work, but I think I'll need to get some warmer stuff in small sizes because it gets cold here much sooner than in Washington. Okay, so there is still tons of stuff to be done, now that I am writing it all out. BUT, I am moving in the right direction, and there is still time.

Crazy Madeline

Madeline amazes me more and more each day with the things that she says and does. I seem to love each stage just a little more than the last. I love that she is old enough now to carry on conversations, and relate things she has done in the past to something she is doing now. The best thing about her is that she can make me laugh every single day. Here are a few recent incidents.

Hairbrush or toothbrush? You make the call. Really, when you first get up, who can tell anyway? Luckily, I was able to extract this without the use of scissors, or it might not have been as funny.

"Madeline, please put your panties on." "Okay."

Singing time. Madeline looooves to sing. She likes to make up songs with one word, like "The Strawberry Song" in which you sing the word "strawberry" over and over and over and.... Currently, her favorite song is "Follow the Prophet." Don't you love it when kids think they are singing loudly, but really they are just kind of yelling the words?

Sorry for the poor quality on this first video. It was taken on Joe's cell phone.

I just realized this is a great blackmail post for later in life.

Girl's Weekend

My friend Holley flew up from Utah for a few days, and my generous husband agreed to keep Madeline for the weekend, and let us take the car to go visit our other good friend in Boston for the weekend. I think I had forgotten how nice it is to just spend time with the girls every now and then. Everything is different when you don't have to cater your activities to a 2-yr-old. We had such a great time laughing and eating and touring Boston.

We took a walking tour of the Freedom Trail, and the guides all dress up. They must have been roasting; it was hot that day!

We had lunch at a fabulous little cafe in the North End. I love places with great atmosphere, and this place definitely had it.

This is my "action shot." Apparently I am getting ready to jump to the river. Also a nice shot of the growing belly.


My two great friends, Holley and Katrina. So glad we got to spend the weekend together!

It's a GIRL!

I had my ultrasound while Joe's brother was in town, and we were all excited to find out what we were having. Most people were pretty convinced it was a boy, given the statistics, but I still wasn't totally convinced. Turns out my original gut feeling was correct, and we are breaking the Carlile trend with another girl! We are so happy to be having another girl, and feel like this is the best thing for our family right now. Not only do we adore the girl we already have, it will make things easier since they have to share a room for now, and we already have tons of girly stuff from Madeline, so we won't have to spend much money to get prepared.

Now to just figure out a name.... It seems like we have a "name of the week" that we like, but we haven't found The One yet. We both loved Madeline, so we are kind of waiting for a name to come up that we like as much as we liked that one when we decided on it. At this rate, I'm not sure that is going to happen. Feel free to toss out any suggestions.

It's so funny that I used to think I wanted all boys and no girls, and now I wouldn't trade my girl for anything. Hooray for girls! We'll see if I am still saying that in about 10 years.

Family Visit

Joe's brother came to visit at the end of April. He drove up here from Utah with his wife and their 4 kids, and stayed for about 2 weeks. We had a great time with them here, and did a ton of sight-seeing. We spent a day in Hershey, PA, and a day in Gettysburg, then drove back up and relaxed for a couple days before heading in the other direction to Niagara Falls and Palmyra. His brother is getting ready to deploy, so it was really nice to get to spend some time with all of them before he leaves.

The whole town of Hershey revolves around the chocolate factory, right down to the street lamps topped with Hershey's kisses.

The kids donned paper hats and got to package up some chocolate.


We took a trolley tour of Hershey, which was really fun and informative. Learning about Mr. Hershey's life and his far-reaching philanthropy made me want to never buy any candy besides Hershey's!

We went to the beach one day, just to go see Lake Ontario. Even though parts of the lake had just been frozen maybe 2 weeks prior, the kids had lots of fun splashing around in the water.

Little Erik didn't enjoy the water so much; he was content to hang out on the sand with his mom.

Joe and Nathaniel promptly forgot that they were grown men with families and spent the majority of the vacation horsing around and beating each other up like only brothers can do. It was fun to see them enjoying each other so much.

The kids stopped to check out the creek on the way into the Sacred Grove.

The whole crew inside the Joseph Smith cabin. Madeline, me, Mina, Joe, Nathaniel, Erik, Lilly, Rachael, and Cyrus. Thanks for coming to visit!

Easter

Well, the last time I tried to post was just after Easter. I had chosen the pictures for the post, but then Joe's computer stopped working, and of course I just transferred the pictures to his computer and then deleted them off the camera so they are gone. At least for now. I think we just have to get a new charger for his laptop and it should work, but now the laptop is all the way in Utah because Joe sent it with his brother to try to get it fixed by a family member down there. I got kind of discouraged about that, so I haven't posted for awhile.

Anyway, Easter was very fun. Madeline got a pretty dress with a matching doll dress, which she thought was great. We had an egg hunt at our friend's house on Saturday, and got together with a bunch of friends for a big Easter dinner on Sunday. Madeline of course loved her basket, but it was funny because she kept thinking she had to say "Trick or treat!"