Birthday Celebrations

On my birthday I was surprised with toaster strudels for breakfast. Jeremy gets up for work at 5 and he offered to make me breakfast in bed. I told him I would pass and would rather sleep. :)

On my birthday Jeremy and I were able to go out to dinner. We went to Zeppelins. It was delicious. I got the Blackened Chicken Alfredo and Jeremy got the Fresno hamburger with parmesan fries. Both were delicious. We also got a dessert! This is a big deal because we never get dessert. Since it was my birthday we did though :) We got the Chocolate Brownie Delight: Filled with raspberry sauce, topped with chocolate syrup, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and toasted cashews. 

We always take a picture together on our birthdays :)

Oh yeah. Presents! From Jeremy I got 12... Yes 12 candy bars! I am definitely enjoying those. mmm. He was trying to find a card for me and Carly kept barking at something in the store. He turned around and she had found a card with a dog on it. haha. He got it. He also got me an SD card for my phone because I take so many pictures and videos of Carly. I already really appreciate this present. 

Jeremy decorated the living room and kitchen with white and purple streamers. It's cute. He said that it was a tradition growing up that they always hung up streamers for birthdays. He said he will never buy me balloons because he can't stand the sound they make when kids play with them. haha.

Tonight (Saturday) we were able to have a few friends and my brother and his family over for some cake and ice cream. We also made apple crisp because Anton and Breanna gave us a whole bag of apples and I needed to use them. We had chocolate cake with chocolate icing made by Jeremy. 

Thanks for a great birthday Jeremy :) I appreciate you spending two more dollars on the cake mix because it was delicious! 

24 at 24!

Yes. I am 24 years old at 24 weeks pregnant. haha. 

I was up at 4 this morning because I heard Carly crying for a few minutes. She fell back to sleep. Just when she fell back to sleep the baby started kicking. I don't ever get mad by staying awake when the baby kicks. It's my favorite part of being pregnant. Feeling this baby kick! So I sit here and say goodbye to Jeremy as he heads off to work. I am catching up on my show Dancing With the Stars and updating our blog. 

I had my 24 week checkup yesterday afternoon. I got another ultrasound because last ultrasound my placenta was really low. The doctor said everything looks great now. The placenta has moved and so has baby. Yay! Good news. She gave me more pictures of baby from the ultrasound and baby has a little bit of chub on her cheeks now! :)

Sleep: If I don't take naps during the day I have found that I sleep so much better at night. Some days, I just need a nap though. We have been going to bed at about 9:30-10pm! It has been so nice. 

Eat: I like to eat pretty much about anything. Some days I can't get enough salty foods. Other days all I think is 'chocolate! chocolate!' 

Best: Best part of being pregnant right now is that people are noticing I'm pregnant and that I don't just have a belly. haha. For a few weeks people just stared. Now they are asking when I'm due. Or they look at me like I'm crazy as I carry out my kicking and screaming toddler from the store in one hand and bags of groceries in the other hand. haha. Oh how I love my life. 

Worst: I want my cute normal clothes to fit. But they don't. Mostly my church skirts. I finally just packed them all away so I don't even have to see them. 

Energy level: I feel some days I can go go go. Other days I could sleep all day. I remind myself, I am growing a baby... Don't feel lazy. 

Weight: I have gained 23 pounds. 

Baby Size: She is the size of an ear of corn.

normal schedule..??

How I have loved Jeremy working days! Oh my goodness. I didn't realize how different this made our lives when he worked late.

We actually sit down and make a weekly menu together. We actually go shopping for that menu and eat dinner together every night. We got a membership to the ymca and enjoy working out (they have babysitting). We enjoy going to bed early. I mean like 9:00!! Jeremy gets up at 5 and I get up at 7 with Carly.

I usually don't take naps anymore because of this. I get so much sleep at night!!! I sleep so much better at night when I don't take a nap too. I fall asleep faster and don't wake up as much to go to the bathroom.

It is a downer that he works on Saturdays. But we do enjoy him having Mondays off! We usually used Monday as a recoup day from the weekend. This is nice we can just relax all day with daddy.

Carly and I enjoyed decorating for FALL! Her new word is 'uh oh'. She would put the window clings on and it would fall right away. She would look at it and say 'uh oh' haha. I showed her how to pat it after you stick it on the window.

We decorated on Wednesday and Thursday it was cold! Like 45 degrees. I am in love. Carly and I went to Bath & Body Works and found my favorite smell. I mean I am obsessed. I bought the three wick candle last year and they sold out so fast. Pumpkin Caramel Latte. They have the plug ins for this scent. I love the smell of our apartment. We have been enjoying or new lotion Pumpkin Latte & Marshmallow Comfort. Delicious. Carly loves to put lotion on. haha.

Jeremy told me I am on a craft high. I bought a new pattern to make a baby dress. That's done. I have been sewing some baby things. I just love sewing right now. :)

little person

This past week Carly has looked like a little person.  I have captured a few of these moments in some pictures.

Carly was 'talking' on her fake phone and I told her that we were ready to go. She threw her cell phone in this .xyz bag and ran out the door. hahahaha. 

This is how she eats her cereal every morning. On her tray in the living room. She eats a ton by feeding herself. 

We are definitely going back to this HyVee. It has little carts. She was in heaven. The whole time she just followed me pushing her cart. 

Best $10 from KOHLS!!!
Last week we were in Kohls with daddy. He showed Carly the toy section and she carried this baby around the whole time. Before we left we put it back. I took her back on Thursday by myself to spend the $10 I got in an email from Kohls. She went straight for the toys and kept saying baby. I was so confused until she went and grabbed this baby and headed for the front. I had already looked for clothes three separate times and couldn't find anything. So why not make her happy??!!! Carly carried this all through HyVee and Joann Fabrics. haha. 

Definitely love her high chair! It comes apart like this so she can sit and eat and use it as a table. We use it for her to color. She can climb up on the chair all by herself and pull the table close to color.

We got a package in the mail. She wanted to carry it. haha.

Sometimes we match shoes :) I paid 59 cents for her's and $1 for mine! score. (Michaels and Old Navy)

This was the day at Kohls with daddy. She carried both babies around just saying baby the whole time. haha. We didn't buy either baby this day.

Another day we matched shoes. She got her's from Aunt Kellie :) 

J & K update

This past week we have enjoyed Jeremy working early! Wahoo. This is a huge deal for us. For the past YEAR Jeremy has worked evenings. This meant no dinner, no bedtime routine with daddy, no goodnight kisses from daddy, no normal Friday night dates, nothing really on a week day night because Jeremy would be working. And nothing in the morning really because we would be so tired from staying up so late.

Anyways, I feel like we see him a LOT now. He works from 6-2:30p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. He has Sunday and Monday off. It is so nice to have him home for the night and for Carly to spend so much time with him!!! I feel like a normal mom now and can function during the day with Carly when she wakes up at 7a.m. Carly and I get up at 7a.m. every morning and she has been taking two naps for me this past week. I have a reason to make dinner now and we can actually go do things when he gets home from work. For instance, on Friday we went to Costco and was home by 5p.m. (Costco is a half hour away).

We have enjoyed doing more games nights with friends. Before we could only do things on the weekend nights because of Jeremy's work schedule. Now we can do it whenever!

Jeremy and I actually feel human now. We get to bed early and wake up early. And don't feel like sleeping all day long. Okay, I don't feel like I need to sleep all day long.

I have a goal to make baby #2's blessing dress. It is the white dress that they wear when they get a name and a blessing into the church. Carly wore mine that I wore when I was blessed. I want to makea new one for this baby's haha. I laugh because the only sewing projects like this I have ever done my mom is there to pretty much explain everything to me. I don't understand all the sewing terms so I am figuring things out. I did a practice round with the pattern I bought to make the dress. The dress turned out fine! I just need to add buttons. I am also in the process of making Carly a matching skirt with this pink flowered fabric. Super excited about that. I don't think I will always have the girls match. Maybe just occasionally have them match or at least wear the same color. cute cute.

I have also enjoyed preparing my sharing time lessons for Primary. I teach children between the ages 3-12 years old. The lesson topic is already given to me. I have had fun trying to find things to do with the kids to teach them the gospel principles. Today our theme was "I show my gratitude by offering thanks for all my blessings." We discussed the parable of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19). We talked about how only ONE came back and thanked Jesus for healing him. We then made a Grateful Tree. Each child wrote something they were grateful for on a leaf and taped it to my branches I had in a vase. I used these two websites I found on pinterest for ideas to teach my lesson. http://daniellesplace.com/html/rr_samplelepers.html 
 http://honeywerehome.blogspot.com/2011/09/feeling-blessed.html 
I love being able to prepare my lesson. But really, the kids are the ones teaching me! The answers they come up with are just eye opening. I asked them what they were grateful for to give them ideas to write on their leaf, some answers were: legos, house, car bed, food, pizza, toys. Normal answers right? But then some were grateful for family, Jesus, The Atonement, Agency, Church, Book of Mormon, scriptures, Heavenly Father. I love my calling!

Peanut butter.Dress up. Summer

These are all random pictures taken from the last few weeks.

We need new furniture for Carly in her room. The rocking chair is being moved to the baby's room. I scored with this cute little chair at Joann Fabrics. She can crawl up in it by herself.

Pool day on Labor Day. We definitely enjoyed the pool and sunshine! It wore her out! :)

Carly is a huge fan of peanut butter on a spoon with a banana. 

I like this picture because it shows how long her eye lashes are! They are beautiful.

I turn around from putting clothes away and this is what she looks like. I could not stop laughing. My purple hat, her sunglasses, and a basket on her arm. Cracks me up! Blurry picture because she was just running around. 

I love her fluffy pigtails in this and how BIG SHE LOOKS.

Her favorite toys for outside. Bubbles, sand toys that she digs with in the dirt (thanks Aunt Franki), and chalk!

Yeah know, just getting ready for the day. I need my chapstick on!

Some days this girl is an eating monster! She ate an entire banana and then shared some toast, bacon, and eggs with me. (I sent this picture to Jeremy at work). Of course her eggs had to have ketchup on them.

The horrible trip to Walmart is forgotten when I get moments like this! She just got up from her nap and just wanted to sleep on my shoulder some more. I am totally okay with this.

I love being this little girl's mommy. She makes me laugh and she is just so precious.