Little Things

We don't have very exciting lives in our little household. Most days it's the same routine and not much changes. But between all the chores and school and work there are a million little things that happen that never get recorded. I'm constantly trying to find things to write about on this little blog and usually end up only sharing the BIG events. But here is a list of "little things" that happen around here:

It's been beautiful weather this year. This is by far the warmest spring I have ever experienced in Rexburg in the 6 years I've lived here. Claire and I soak it up every single day that we can!

She loves playing in the water. We do it every single day.

Love this sweet little face! She loves to eat apples. It can't be cut up though, it has to be whole.

She picked some dandelions and daddy put them in her hair. She was showing me how pretty they were behind her ears. 

She loves to sit in our camping chairs even though she has one of her own.

She is never happier than when she is swinging. My mom says she is a lot like I was in this regard.

Claire loves to go around the yard and say hi to all the animals. Usually we visit the dog first, then the llamas, then the horse, and occasionally I'll walk her up the lane to see the cows. She loves it! She knows how to say all of their names and even makes animal noises for each of them. It's pretty dang cute if I do say so myself.

Walking up to go see the cows. She insisted on carrying this huge rock that she found.

Daddy and Claire

All three of us, soon to be four of us!

She loves to watch the cows. In this fence they had all the pregnant mama's. They looked so uncomfortable. We had over a hundred baby calves born this year.

Just found out a little while ago that the name Peyton is actually a gender neutral name. I've never been a huge fan of gender neutral names but Peyton just sounds too feminine to be a boy name (and all the Peyton's I know are all girls). Apparently it means "male warrior". Ha! Too bad baby girl, that little fact does not change my mind.

My mom, sisters, and I all made a trip to the nursery in Hibbard. I love that little place. Their prices are affordable and their flowers are gorgeous! My mom bought each of us girls a flower pot for our front door for mothers day a few years ago and every year she tries to buy us flowers to fill them. I love when I have beautiful, colorful flowers to care for and look at each day. They make me happy.

The day before Mother's Day we had Kayleen and Rex in town. So our family planned a Mother's Day party on that Saturday. We had fun letting the kids play in the backyard and helping our brother Adam get ready for his Junior Prom.

The kids all taking a "nap". We don't have enough room in our little apartment for all of the cousins to nap at once, so we made a bed in the living room and let them watch a movie for quiet time. 

We pulled the baby pool out because it was such a hot day. They loved filling up the buckets to dump into the pool.

Little cousins trying to figure out who got to use the water next.

Adding more water to the pool. Silly kids. They filled it up all the way but only Claire and Sammy were brave enough to sit in it.

Little Seth or Bubba as we all call him. Isn't he just the sweetest?

Savannah brought Sammy's baseball stand and extra bats. I think they ended up hitting each other on accident more than the ball. :)

Sammy strutting around shirtless.

We took the kids on a walk and Claire totally passed out. She was so tired.

Looking at the cows and llamas.

End of the day: dinner was done, kids were bathed and dressed. Bubba using our remote as a phone.

Just chilling with Uncle Stan and watching a movie.

Uncle Adam and his date, Jordan.

I had a pretty laid back Mother's Day. Joe let me sleep in, made me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we stayed home all day because I've been fighting allergies and Claire was just getting over bronchitis. My feet and ankles swelled up out of no where so I sat on the couch with my feet propped up, holding a cold glass of lemon water, and watched the last episodes of One Tree Hill {uninterrupted} ALL. DAY. LONG. It was glorious.

Joe bought me a steam mop for mother's day. I got it a month early because it was just too hard to get on my hands and knees and mop it by hand while pregnant. I hate mops. Like really hate them. Every time I use one I just feel like I'm pushing the dirt around. Not with this mop! It is amazing! My floor has never been cleaner and it doesn't leave that grimy, still dirty feel behind. I raved about it so much that both my sisters and my mom each bought one. Plus, I figure it will be really great for when Peyton gets here. I can just strap her to me and go to town. :)

Claire has started to take naps again! Hallelujah! She was on a no nap strike for months. Nothing I did could get that girl to sleep. I even let her cry it out once for two hours straight. Apparently her new toddler bed is magical or something because she takes two hour naps, no problem now. I love a little "me time" everyday. Helps me get through the day. :)

I am addicted to lemon water. At first I started drinking it because I read online that it helps with seasonal allergies. Turns out it does help with allergies and it's super addictive to my pregnant self. Now I can't drink water without it.

Joe felt Peyton move for the first time last week. I love feeling those little kicks and wiggles.

There is a place here in town called Karie Ann's. It is by far our favorite place to go for a frozen treat. We used to go to the Snow Cone Shack but their prices went way up and I haven't been super impressed with their service or their snow cones. Karie Ann's sells italian ice and ice cream for a very affordable price and we love it! Italian ice is ten times better than snow cones and their ice cream comes from G's Dairy so it's really good! I was sad when we first found out that Claire was lactose intolerant because I always had this vision of being able to take her out for ice cream. So instead of ice cream I take her out for italian ice, and she loves it!

She loves their raspberry flavor. I love how red her little lips get. 

Daddy and Claire enjoying their Karie Ann's.

We finished planting our garden this week. This year we planted carrots, onions, peas, cucumbers, red  bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, and green bell papers, corn, roma tomatoes, regular tomatoes, and four cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and green beans. We are super excited for the produce we will be getting in a few weeks and feel super blessed that our landlords are generous and allow us to use part of their garden. I love garden fresh vegetables. Our landlords also have a huge raspberry patch and allow us to pick as much as we want. Claire and I thoroughly enjoyed that last year.

Claire helping Joe dig the rows. 

She was having a blast!

This is the whole garden plot. Our area is the back end. On the far side of the garden is the raspberry bushes. Seriously cannot wait for those! 

Our garden goes from this tiny little zucchini plant all the way back to where Joe is standing.

Claire had her first "older sister"experience the other day. She was laid back on my lap watching a movie (something that is getting increasingly difficult. My stomach is getting bigger and my lap is getting shorter.) Peyton is always super wiggly when anything is pressed up against my stomach, so she started kicking and Claire could feel it against her back. She turned around and with this really annoyed look on her face she said, "Stop it." and then turned back to her movie. Again, Peyton started kicking like crazy and Claire turned around, "Stop it, ppplease!" While Claire settled back into her movie, Peyton started kicking again, and Claire with this very exasperated look on her face did this huge sigh (one that I have heard several times directed at me from my older sisters), climbed off my lap and sat on the floor. I couldn't help but giggle because it reminded me of times with my sisters. I was always the annoying little sister, one that was usually more a nuisance than a help. But I never doubted that my sisters loved me. We have always had good relationships, but I'll admit I was pretty pesky as a child (although they may argue that I am still a pest). I look forward to the relationship that my two girls will have and the exasperated older sister moments that I'm sure Claire will endure. :)

And on a very random note, I realized today that I never posted about Easter. We were supposed to go to Kayleen and Rex's house in Utah for Easter but their whole family came down with the flu the day before we were supposed to leave. :( So we stayed home. I didn't have anything planned for her: no easter egg hunt, no dying eggs, nothing. Just an Easter basket that I FORGOT to give her until after church. (Who forgets that it's Easter?! Apparently I do.) She wasn't feeling too good so I didn't get any cute pictures of her in her Easter dress that I got the day before (because I forgot!). But she did have fun opening her basket.

Claire's Easter basket. 

I got her a whole bunch of books from the dollar store. Who knew that they had such a good selection?

She loves jewelry and had so much fun putting on and taking off her necklaces.

So that's us lately! We are looking forward to all kinds of things this summer. Joe's grandparents are coming for a visit this weekend. We were invited to Joe's cousins birthday party in Boise in July. They rented out a water park for the day and since we haven't been out of Rexburg in months we are thrilled to take the opportunity to get out of town for a few days and have fun with family. I think our little family needs a break from being home, from school, from work, and a break just from life in general.

What's in a name?

We picked a name out for baby girl. This time was much harder than it was with Claire. When Joe and I were newlyweds he took me to go see the movie, The Time Traveler's Wife. I fell in love with the character Claire Absher. I loved everything about her and the movie. So naturally I fell in love with the name Claire. The first time I mentioned it to Joe he said it sounded like an "old lady name". Gee thanks.  But I waited a few weeks, mentioned it again, and he LOVED it. The day we found out I was pregnant with her I knew she was a girl and I knew her name was supposed to be Claire Marie (Marie also being my middle name). It felt right to both of us so for the entire pregnancy she was Claire. We never changed our minds or had any "back up" names just in case she didn't look like a Claire at birth. She just simply was going to be Claire.

When I found out I was pregnant with baby #2 we were totally stumped on baby names. I pulled out my handy-dandy list of baby names I've kept in my journal since I was in high school, added a few names to the list but none of them worked. We thought Cameron Carter for a boy would be nice since both names were family names (Cameron is Joe's Grandma's maiden name and Carter is my mother's maiden name). But we also had a few other names like Colton or Lucas that we were discussing. Girl names were even worse. I wanted a traditional name to go along with Claire. I am very particular about the feel of a name and am definitely not a fan of trendy or made up names. So our conversations usually went something like this:

 If it's a girl should her name be Alice? 

No, how about Eliza. 

Nope.

 Uhm, how about Lydia?

Definitely not.

Isla?

No!

Sophia?

NO!!!

Ugh! Round and round we went. We finally decided on a few top choices. One of them was Aubrey and I thought Aubrey Ann would be a perfect name...until I said it out loud. If you say it fast enough it comes out Aww-bree-ann. Ha it would be like my name hidden in a name. Haha we laughed for a long time about that one and it was instantly crossed off our list. Eliza, Jane, Alice, Lacey, and Lydia were all names that we kept bringing up over and over again only to be rejected by one or both of us. 

Well as has been the norm so far I found my perfect name in a movie. Well, a tv show actually. Netflix has been my best friend this pregnancy while I've been sick and I started watching a show called One Tree Hill. I was totally sucked in to the drama and the characters, one of my favorites being a girl named Peyton. It wasn't until I made it through about 5 seasons that I started to love the name as well. I mentioned it to Joe once and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders, "I don't love it. It's kind of different from the names we've been deciding between." Exactly. That's why I liked it. It was different and for some reason I could NOT get that name out of my head. So I mentioned it to my mom. As soon as I said it she went ballistic! She LOVED the name and insisted that I use it if this baby turned out to be a girl. I was relieved that she loved it as much as I did. For me, it confirmed that it was that perfect name but I still didn't have Joe's approval. I thought Peyton Elizabeth would be the perfect name I had been looking for and it kind of added to that "feeling" I had that this baby was to be another girl. 

So I waited a week and casually mentioned the name again to Joe but this time adding on the middle name. I was so nervous he would say no again but you know what? He loved it! Haha it felt like deja vu. But the name just felt so right, so perfect and my sweet husband agreed. When our ultrasound was over and we found out our sweet baby was a girl, the ultrasound tech asked if we had a name picked out for her. Joe proudly announced her name would be Peyton Elizabeth Reed. And it has definitely stuck. 

I seriously can't wait until September to meet our little Peyton.

Oh Boy! It's a...

We are so excited to announce that our sweet baby is a girl! 

Love her little profile! I think she looks a lot like Claire already, Joe says it's too soon to tell. :)

We went in for my 20 week ultrasound on the 29th. Baby girl is doing great. She is right on track with all of her development and is in the 60th percentile just like Claire was. 

Definitely a girl!

Our doctor office now provides 3d ultrasounds. So amazing how far technology has come. Here you can see her little arm, leg, and side view of her little belly. Cool huh?

She looks so sweet with her arm all cuddled up next to her face. If you look closely you can make out her eyes, nose, mouth, and ear.

I was so darn excited for this day. I am definitely a planner and just wanted to know what we were having so that I could prepare for our little one's arrival. I felt like 2 pm would never come. Once they called my name in the office it was all I could do to keep still long enough for the blood pressure and weigh in routine (Apparently I was so excited that I made my blood pressure go through the roof! Ha oops! They took it again after the ultrasound was over and it was back to normal. I gave my doctor quite the scare though. :)). Once we were all situated in our exam room and the ultrasound tech arrived she asked if we would like to know the gender and I excitedly shouted a "Yes!" I may have been a little over enthusiastic. :)

But as soon as I saw our little girl's images on the screen, I immediately relaxed and just enjoyed the moment. The 20 week ultrasound is always one of my favorite moments during pregnancy. I love seeing how much they have changed from the last ultrasound. I love seeing my little baby up on a screen and getting the good news that all is well. I LOVE hearing that perfect little heart beat. I could feel that this baby was a wiggler from the beginning but seeing her move on screen was priceless. The ultrasound tech was having a hard time getting some pictures of her because she would not. stop. moving! One second we would see her face and the next we would be looking at her little bum. 

It took us a few minutes to guarantee that she was a girl. At first she had her umbilical cord right between her legs but when she finally showed us her gender, there was no denying she is 100% girl. When the ultrasound tech finally let us know she was a girl, I just turned to Joe and said, "Oh boy! We're having another girl!" He just laughed and said, "No it's not 'Oh boy!' It's Oh Girl! We're having a girl." Haha corny joke honey but I still love you! Half way through the ultrasound when we had confirmed the gender for like the millionth time I turned to Joe and said, "Sorry, maybe we'll get a boy next time." He just shook his head and said, "Why are you sorry? I love my girls." Aww! Totally melted my heart. 

I loved our ultrasound tech. She was really great at explaining what was on the screen or what she was measuring or looking for. She played around with the 3d ultrasound so that we could see her sweet little face and body. We never felt rushed or like we were asking a stupid question. It was a really great experience.

We brought Claire along to the ultrasound and even she could make out the little images on the screen. She kept pointing and shouting, "Baby! Baby, Dad!" She will be a great big sister. It just feels so right to be welcoming another baby girl into our home. I can't wait to buy them matching outfits and see them together as sisters. In the words of my husband, I love my girls! I am so excited for this baby to get here. I already pulled out Claire's old baby clothes to see what we need to get. These girls are on completely different season tracks. I have a ton of newborn and 0-3 clothes but they are all really summery. Baby girl is going to need fall/winter clothes because her due date is at the end of September. But other than a few baby clothes everything else is pretty much ready. It's amazing how much easier it is to prepare for the second baby, especially when they are the same gender. And lets just say that I am so relieved that I don't have to change Claire's room to accommodate a boy! Ha I was not looking forward to changing a lot of stuff in there. Thank goodness it's a girl! 

Big Girl Bed

Claire is officially moved into her big girl bed! Call me crazy but I'm relieved that one more "big girl thing" is crossed off my list. Next comes potty training, but I think we will wait a little longer for that one. :) 

We weren't planning on moving her into her big girl bed so soon. Originally I was planning on buying her a twin sized bed. I already had the twin size sheets and comforter and I felt that Claire is so tall that she would grow out of a toddler bed too fast (not to mention toddler beds and mattresses are expensive! Especially when you factor in how long they actually use it.). I figured we would worry about getting her a new bed a little later because I wasn't in any hurry to switch her. But I joined a garage sale page on Facebook for my area and someone had posted a toddler bed AND mattress for sale for just $40! I was sold! Not only was that an awesome deal but it would save some space in her tiny little room. The gal I bought it from dropped it off to me the next day and just like that I had a toddler bed taking up half my living room space.

And just like any normal toddler, Claire was curious about the new "toy" as she called it. She is very cautious when it comes to climbing on things or trying something new so I brought out her pillow and blanket and showed her that it was a bed that she could climb into herself. She was ecstatic! She laid in it all day and would tuck her baby dolls in with her. At one point Joe gave her a movie to watch on his phone and she laid in there for a full hour. That night we kept the bed in the living room so she slept in her crib just like normal. But after a few days of having to maneuver around the bed I decided it was time to rearrange her room and move it in there officially. After moving the bed to five different places in her room, I finally settled on this arrangement. I still can't believe that I got everything to fit in there!

(Do you see why I NEED this baby to be a girl? It's all pink in here! Don't get me wrong I LOVE pink but for a little baby boy you have to add some boyishness to the room. It's way to frilly in here. Ha! Oh well, guess I will have to get creative with the decorating if it is a boy.)

The same day that I moved her bed into her room was the same day that she decided she was not going to sleep in her crib anymore. I thought we would let her get used to it being in there, maybe switch her to her bed for nap time and then work on bed time. Nope! She decided she was ready for her big girl bed. As soon as her bath was over, teeth and hair were brushed, jammies were on, stories were read, and family prayer said, she hopped right into her big girl bed, pulled the covers up to her chin, and shouted, "Nigh-nigh!" Joe just grinned and laughed at her and I thought why not? If she wants to sleep in there, then let her. So we did! We kissed her good-night, I turned off the light, and told her we loved her. And the crazy part is that she STAYED in her bed. I half laughed and half cried as I watched her on the video baby monitor. She sat up a few times and looked around. She would get out of bed and drink from the sippy cup I placed on the chair next to her bed or pick out a book from her basket and then climb back in to read it. And slowly but surely she fell asleep with her gray cat and purple blanket clutched tightly in each hand. It made me sad that she wasn't a baby anymore but at the same time it was amazing to see just how much she has grown up. I only had to go put her back to bed once and that was at 4 am when she woke up crying not knowing where she was. But as soon as I calmed her down again she went right back to bed. The only not so great part about it was that she knows how to open doors and she's a morning person just like her daddy. You can only guess who came running into my room at 6 am yelling, "I'm awake! Mamaaaaa, I'm awake!" Ha there's a great way to be woken up in the morning. :)

We went through a little rough patch where she figured out that she COULD actually get out of bed if she wanted to. But now we are back to her going to bed and staying in bed. She sleeps in a little sometimes too (which is nice for me) or she will go to her room and play until mommy is a little more awake. We put up a baby gate in our hallway so she can only go between our bedroom and her bedroom. It helps to keep the mischief contained. :)

 Recently her bed has become her favorite place to play. She will tuck her baby dolls or stuffed animals into her bed and "read" them a book, after which she will give them all a kiss. Then she runs to the door and closes it while shouting, "Nigh-nigh! Wuve you!" A few seconds later she opens the door and starts yelling at them in her own little language, inserts a few words like "no-no!" or "stay!", and shakes her finger at them. Haha it cracks me up every time and I often wonder if she really perceives me that way. I do scold her for getting out of her bed, so it must be a pretty accurate portrayal of me. :)

All ready for bed! I love how cozy her room looks and feels with the lamp on.

She LOVES her new bed! Can you tell?

All in all, I'm so glad that this transition went much smoother than I was anticipating! I was worried that she would be super attached to her crib but she now calls that the "baby bed". I think it's a perfect name for it since there will soon be another baby to sleep in it. :) Love my big girl!

Pregnancy Diaries

Oh golly, this pregnancy has been going by so fast! I am 18 weeks today, almost half way. Crazy. 

16 weeks...not the most flattering picture but there you go! :)

I forgot how much I LOVE being pregnant. Sure, it's not fun being sick all the time. It gets old feeling nauseous all day and dealing with headaches/migraines and not being able to keep food down. It's hard and I'm sure that I complain about it more than is necessary. But there is something so special about watching your belly grow and feeling that baby move for the first time that makes all of it worth it. I love that for 9 months that baby is all mine. No one else can hold it, just me. 

At the beginning of this pregnancy I kept asking Joe, "What were we thinking?! Being pregnant sucks!" Most of the time he would just shrug his shoulders and wonder why himself. I was so sick for the first little while that it felt like I was going to be miserable forever. But over time I learned to cope with the sickness just like I did when I was pregnant with Claire. Most days my little Claire Bear was the only thing keeping me going. She would do something funny, cute, or sweet and it would answer my question why. SHE is why I am doing this again. It's because we have this beautiful baby girl that I wanted to try for another. I love her for that. She has been so sweet, helpful, and patient with me this pregnancy. I know she will be an amazing big sister.

Now, I am feeling much better. I still feel nauseous and throw up occasionally. This pregnancy is so similar to Claire's that I can't help but think it's another girl. :) Every time I think about Claire having a sister I tear up. I have two amazing big sisters and hope that if it is a girl they have an amazing relationship together like I do with my sisters. Truthfully, I don't care if we have a boy (brothers are pretty awesome too!) or a girl but I have a feeling it's a girl. We will find out for sure on the 29th (just one week away) and I can hardly wait! We have a girl name picked out but are still struggling with boy names. 

I've been nesting since about 10 weeks. I feel this urge to have everything ready for the baby RIGHT NOW! Ha! It's driving Joe nuts. I have been going through everything we own and most days I feel like we just own too much stuff. I joked with Joe that I was going to put a sign outside our apartment that says, "Clearance Sale! Everything must go!!!"' He didn't think that was very funny. But seriously, these little babies take up more space than you give them credit for. I need to make room for all the baby stuff, right? 

I thought I would do a little break down of the details and comparison from my pregnancy with Claire and this baby:

 Little baby: 

Got pregnant within 3 months.

Found out I was pregnant on January 15th. I was almost five weeks at that point.

Started getting sick the day after we found out and have been that way ever since.

I am still taking zofran every eight hours to help with nausea and I take half a unisom with a b6 vitamin at night to help me sleep. For a few weeks I would wake up every half hour to throw up. I was borderline dehydrated (and beyond exhausted) to the point I almost went to the hospital. But unisom has seriously been a lifesaver. It helps with the nausea and keeps me asleep so I don't have any late night episodes.

I haven't gained any weight, just lost 15 pounds.

I am due on September 19th. Praying that I go into labor either on a weekend or a week early because Joe starts a new semester the same week I'm due! Ha! Great planning, huh?

Felt the baby move for the first time around 15 weeks and boy is it a wiggler! But I love it! Feeling those little kicks and jabs are one of my favorite things about pregnancy.

So far I love being pregnant during the spring/summer time. I love getting the fresh air and the extra vitamin d helps a lot to lift my mood.

Claire Bear:

Took us 9 months of trying for this little angel.

Found out I was pregnant on October 3, 2010. It was Sunday morning of General Conference.

Started getting sick about a week after and threw up everyday until the day after she was born. That's right, I threw up through labor and a little bit after I had her. But eventually it ended. ;)

I took zofran when pregnant with Claire too. It was the only thing that helped.

I lost 25 pounds when pregnant with Claire and gained back about 10 pounds.

I was due June 11, 2011 and went into labor June 14 at 4 am. She was born 36 hours later on June 15. (hopefully my labor this time around will be MUCH shorter. ;))

I felt Claire move for the first time around 18 weeks.

I was pregnant through most of the winter and it was not fun being trapped inside all the time. :)

Now, I'm just anxious find out if this little baby is a girl or a boy. Just one more week! :)

Opportunities

Another semester of school has ended for Joe. Boy were we all relieved when he came home and announced he was completely DONE with this ridiculous semester. It has been by far the hardest and longest semester we have ever gone through.

He assured me before the beginning of the semester that it was going to be "an easy semester". Ha! There was nothing "easy" about it. On his first day of classes he came home a little anxious and overwhelmed. He wasn't going to have a lot of homework just a lot of time spent outside of class. One class required three hours a week for tutoring high school students, another required that he observe classes at the middle school once a week, another was an ankle wrapping class where he would have to volunteer at the Hart once a week and sometimes attend games to help injured players. And that was only the beginning of it all. On top of school he was working full time at the Marriott and had two callings at church (one of them being a Stake calling). A week after school started I found out that I was pregnant and started in on the hellish nightmare that is morning sickness. Overwhelmed at that point was an understatement.

Most days he was gone from home from 6 am until 11 at night. It made for long, exhausting days for him and long, miserable days for me. We took it one day at a time though and somehow we made it through! I don't know how we did it but we did!

This semester (no matter how horrible) was a big turning point for him career wise. Ever since the day we met he always talked about one day becoming a Seminary teacher. We thought it would be something he would apply for once we got settled with his math teaching career and we were a little more established. Come to find out, there is a lot more to it than just applying. He talked to a religion teacher on campus and found out that there is a whole series of classes and interviews you have to go through, not to mention the countless qualifications you have to meet. His teacher warned him that it was a very "cut-throat" program to make it through. The good thing was that they prefer their Seminary teachers to have a degree in something other than religion, so there would be no need to change his major.

 The first step is to take a Seminary teaching class in which near the end of the semester you have to take the Seminary practicum. The practicum is a week of teaching an actual Seminary class where a board of Seminary teachers sit in and evaluate your teaching. After the practicum there is an interview to determine if you made it to the second step which is a paid Seminary internship. At the end of the internship, if they liked your teaching, then you have another interview. If you pass both the internship and the interview then they send an apostle to your home to evaluate your family and home life. The down side is that the Church decides where you are to teach. Apparently that can be anywhere, including out of the country. The Church will not hire a male Seminary teacher who is not married or  even divorced. They prefer that you have children and they look into your membership with the Church as well as your spouse's. When Joe explained all of this to me, my mind was completely reeling. That is a lot to go through in order to have a career but at the same time it's quite understandable. The Church pays their Seminary teachers VERY well and it only makes sense that they would want someone who was a worthy member and a perfect fit for their program to work for them.

Joe completed the Seminary class this semester. It was hard and very trying for him, but he loved it. He was so ready and prepared for the practicum. The dress code for Seminary teachers is a suit, white collared shirts only (no colored shirts), and a conservative tie. He panicked at the beginning of the semester because his suits where completely hashed from three years of wear. So I took him to get a new set of suits and dress clothes when our tax return came. He looked so handsome and was so ready but at the same time extremely nervous. I've never seen him nervous about getting up in front of people but he was so worried that he wouldn't get the internship. If you don't pass the practicum there is no second chances. That is the end of your Seminary career.

The week of the practicum was a super stressful one. He would stay up all hours of the night coming up with activities and lesson plans, all of which were tried out on me. Ha I don't know how good of a student I am when it's 10 at night and my eyes are barely staying open but it helped him feel better. He felt good about his week of teaching and positive about the outcome. All along I told him it didn't matter to me what happened. One way or another he would get to be a teacher whether it be for Seminary or math and either way I was super proud of him. He always just kind of brushed me off, saying that's what a wife is supposed to say. But the night before his interview he came home from school with a different outlook. He told me, "For some reason, I feel so at peace with everything right now. I'm not worried about the interview and I'm not worried about whether I get the position or not because I just feel that everything is going to be ok." I just smiled and told him that I felt that way the whole time, peaceful because the Lord has a plan for our family. The next day he came home from his interview with a big grin on his face. I took it to mean that he had gotten the internship but he shook his head and said, "I didn't get it. But I feel good about it." My heart broke a little for him, I knew how badly he wanted to be a Seminary teacher, but the confirmation that there is something bigger planned for us was still there.

He said the interview went pretty well. His teacher was so nervous to meet with Joe because he was so borderline close to getting the position. His teacher felt that he needed to tell him not to accept a job where he sits in a cubicle or office all day. He was very forceful when he said that Joe needed to be a teacher. Maybe the Seminary position wasn't for him, but he needed to be a teacher. That was to be his work.

It was only then that Joe told me he had been offered a Marriott General Manager position when he graduates. He had been contemplating it for weeks, trying to decide what was more important: doing something that he loves (teaching) or doing something that he likes and also earning more money (Marriott). In my mind there wasn't even a doubt that he should be a teacher. I've always known that's what he should do. His career will make up about 80% of his life and I want it to be something that he loves. But I'm glad that we have finally come to a mutual conclusion and a direct answer about what career choice to make.

 So we are planning on plowing through the last two semesters of school. He will be taking one class this spring semester (Because this class is only offered in the Spring. Why do they set things up like that? He's a fall/winter track. Ugh! So annoying!) and then he will complete his fall 2013 semester and winter 2014 semester. He will be doing his student teaching in the fall of 2014 and will be officially graduated December 2014! Seriously, can't wait to watch him walk at graduation and accept his diploma! I've been with him since his first semester here. It feels like it's been a long time in the making but soon it will be over and we will be moving into the next stage of our lives.

2+2=4

It's true! I'm pregnant again! We are so excited to welcome a second baby into our home! 

We had our first ultrasound yesterday and everything looks good so far. The baby is healthy and I'm due September 19th. (Just a few days after Joe's birthday!) So far this pregnancy has been a re-run of Claire's. I'm super tired, nauseous ALL the time, and I throw up a lot. But thankfully I have my zofran during the day and unisom at night to get me through. This might be too much information but I've gone from throwing up 12+ times a day to about 2-3 times with my zofran (I'm telling you, that stuff is GOLD!). I'll take any relief I can get! 

Joe has been a lifesaver for me. I could not do this without him! He is my comfort when I cry. He is the dishwasher and cook. He is my personal grocery shopper when I get a craving. And he does it all in between working full time and going to school full time. He is pretty much the best husband ever!

It's been a little harder this time around since I have a toddler to chase after and keep out of trouble. Claire and I watch a lot of movies and have a lot of cuddle time on the couch. Most days she is very patient with me. Other days...not so much. On those days, there is a lot of tantrums (her), a lot of tears (both of us), and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy (me). Sometimes I freak myself out and think, "I can't do this! I can't even take care of one baby, how will I take care of two?!" Hopefully I'll get a little more used to the idea as the time draws closer.

The day we found out I was pregnant, I was in such denial. I KNEW I was pregnant two weeks before I finally took the test but for some reason I was not ready to find out yet. Joe went and bought the test on his way home one day and practically forced me to take the test. It didn't even take 5 seconds before the two little pink lines appeared. I went into pure panic mode and immediately ripped open another test. A few minutes later I was sitting on the bathroom floor staring at three pregnancy tests with two perfectly clear, pink lines on all three of them. Joe stuck his head in and asked, "So? What's the result?" He was practically jumping up and down with excitement and all I could do was lift up a test for him to see and barely whisper, "It's positive." His whole face lit up, he was so excited. Me on the other hand, I burst into tears and had a total melt down. Yes, we were trying to get pregnant but we didn't expect it to happen as soon as it did. With Claire we tried for 9 months before finally getting a positive result. This time it didn't even take three months. I was prepared for a long trial run so when it happened I was completely caught off guard. Ha I guess the joke was on me! 

I think all along it was a really hard decision for me. We weren't even sure that we wanted to try for another baby so soon but I kept getting a really strong impression. For a couple of months it was all I could think about...more babies. I kept pushing it away, telling myself, "Not until Claire is two. That's what we agreed on. " But no matter how hard I tried to push the feeling away it would just keep coming back. I asked Joe how he felt about it and he said we should go to the temple and pray about it together.   I have never had such a direct answer. I still think it's amazing that we both got the same answer. We both felt that we should not wait. But even with my confirmation I still continued to pray about it everyday. And the answer was always the same...don't wait. 

 Now, I'm 11 weeks and getting more and more excited about this tiny little baby. Hearing the heartbeat for the first time yesterday was exactly what I needed. It all finally feels real to me...I am having another baby! We will become a family of FOUR! I love my little family!

Claire gets excited when we talk about the baby but when we ask her if she wants a brother or sister she either gets really mad and shouts, "NO!" or she starts to cry and looks like this...

I think it will take her a little time to get used to the idea. I know she will be an amazing big sister!