Life Happens

You know, the beauty of bloggin' is that if I remember, I can post date or pre date, I guess is the better term, my entries, to reflect correct chronology in our life. NOT that life has much in the way of chronology lately, but nonetheless, life goes on.

Chris is busy working, and I think enjoying working at home. It has given him great flexibility, and the excuse to exercise his inner night owl. That I enjoy too, because when a portion of his work is done in hours that I am sleeping, I get more of his day time. He was called as 1st counselor in the Elders Quorum this week, which will be a great thing for him. Not only will he stay busy, but he will get to know other guys in the ward. I am really happy for him. Maybe he will find someone to go golfing, or to the batting cages with, because I am not apt to do either one of those any time soon.

I am keeping busy being pregnant, and trying to stay that way for a few more weeks. About 8 actually. The doctor said that he would induce me at 38 weeks, and I am going to hold him to that promise! : ) He said if necessary we'd do an amnio at 36 and if lungs are mature, we could induce then. I am struggling between really wanting an April baby, and wanting this baby here, not that either is in my hands at the moment. I just hang around, doing as little as possible, which can frustrate other parties in the house at times, and do what I can as I can. I have actually felt pretty good the past couple weeks, and have spent some much desired time in my craft room. Of course I have to battle a strong-willed 3 year old for position and supplies, but I have done a few more name frames, and have a couple projects still to go. The Relief Society has asked me to do a class for enrichment, and have wanted to see some of the work I have done. Well funny thing, in all of the various frames I have done, I have not done one for anyone in my family. They have all been given away. I guess I will have to work on that.

Aynsli is busy being a rambunctious and wild 3 year old. I vividly remember my mother telling me sometime in the last year that 2 year olds are strong willed and want to do as they please, but when they turn 3 they are much more eager to please, and perhaps the word "obedient" is a stretch--a great big one in our case, but that is what mom said. NOT!! Aynsli is a wonderful little girl, and a great kid, and perhaps it is my growing girth and raging hormones, but lately she is just pushing me to the limits. Between "shhshing" me when she is watching Barney and I am talking on the phone, to having picnics on the kitchen floor with all kinds of accessories that mom ends up picking up, to spending 40 minutes "doing dishes" in the sink, and running to the bathroom to get water when mom has said that if she turns the water on again she'll go to her room, she is just one whirlwind after the other. I suppose soon I will laugh, but not always yet. Her latest accomplishment is to call grandma, and dial all of the numbers on the phone by herself. We have done that multiple times a day for the last week or so, and she always thinks it is great fun. Tonight she was sitting here with me at the computer, and pulled out the keyboard and said, "look mom, there is the 8. And the 5. There is the 6, and the 1." She was so excited that she found those numbers somewhere other than the phone. Tubs are also a great love of hers these days. She likes to tubby in mom's big jetted tub--I think she has taken 2 tubs in her own bathroom since we moved in; and she likes enough water that it is like a swimming pool for her--look mom, I am a fish she says. Lately she asks 2-3 times a day if she can take a tub. The other day, shortly after she had gotten out of the tub, she got the soap, rubbed it on her hands, and then into her hair. Proper for being in the tub, but if I thought she was able to be so calculating, I'd think she did it just to get back in the tub. Well, instead dad just stuck her head in the laundry room sink and sprayed her head down. Probably in her mind just as good as a tub. I am grateful for her, and for all of her antics. She has quite the creative imagination, and I am thoroughly surprised at times the things she comes up with.

And thus is January ending, and we are heading into February. One day at a time closer to spring, and I can't wait. This winter has been incredible. The storms just haven't quit, and the snow keeps piling up. I am grateful that it is beautiful, that I rarely have to go out in it, and that someone else comes and shovels our driveway. How's that for a positive spin on a crazy cold snowy winter. The weatherman said the other day that this is like the snowiest winter they can remember in the 11 years they have been reporting here. That's just great! Maybe if I were a skier, but since I am not, I long for the sunshiney days when I can open the windows and smell spring!!

Some Random Thoughts

I often sit down and check for comments on our blog. I love reading what others have to say. And I often check in on my friends' blogs, and frequently find myself clicking on links to their friends, even though I have not a clue who they are. Through doing so, you can learn so much about the nature of people, and the commonalities they share. We have mostly used our blog to post events that have occurred in our family, which are certainly important, and the reason we started this. We want it to be a family journal, but I am thinking more and more, that I just want to add thoughts and feelings to it as well. Maybe that is weird, maybe it is not, but life is certainly more than just events. I used to be a great journal writer. I have a written record of every day of my life from my first day of high school, until the day my first child was born. Fortunately that was several years worth, unfortunately, since then writings have been too sporadic, and I am sure many memories lost and forgotten. I found this website, www.blurb.com where you can have your blog made into a book. I thought that was a great idea, and hope to utilize it soon. With that ability, I started thinking that maybe we need to write our family story, and the trials and struggles and good times that have made us us today. Some times we don't realize how common some of our trials are to others. We have no reason to, until some one shares, and you know you've gone through similiar things. Maybe sharing will help someone else...

Happy Birthday Aynsli

Can you believe you are already 3? It doesn't seem possible to me! I am quickly learning that the older you get, the faster time goes. We were looking at pictures of Aynsli the other night, she wanted to see when she was in mom's tummy, and we looked at those, and then went through a whole bunch of her next few months. It is hard to believe that she was so little. When she was born, I thought it was forever that she spent in the hospital. Three years later, those 25 days are just the blink of an eye. Friday night we took Aynsli to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday. She had a great time playing games, and riding rides. She and dad had a competition who could use the most tokens. Grandma Weaver came, and her present was the Princess tutu, crown and wand. Aynsli loved it. We made her cake when we got home, and of course Ayns had to help.

I decorated her cake early Saturday morning, because I knew if she was around, it would be a much larger mess. She wanted a pony cake, so this is what we came up with. My skills are extremely rudimentary, but it turned out quite nice. I have to admit, I am no expert, but over the last 5 years, we have come up with some pretty cool cakes for Wesley and Aynsli. Maybe one of these days I'll post all the pictures.

We were trying to think of something special we could do for Aynsli's birthday, and decided to go to Build A Bear and let her build an animal. There were so many choices for her to choose from, and she loved touching all of them, but she ended up choosing this monkey, which she named Taffy.

You can tell she is just the tiniest bit spoiled, as we let her pick out an outfit, shoes and a purse to dress her. She had a good time though, and I think it made it special for her.

This isn't the greatest picture, you can't see most of the decorations we had, all My Little Pony stuff, and in corresponding colors, but we had a little party for her. She got some great presents, and we had cake and ice cream. It was a good time, and I think Aynsli had a great birthday. She has told us we can't take down all the decorations. We'll see if she wins, or dad wins on that one!

One More Update.....

I am sure that most of you are tired of our little pregnancy updates, but you will have to just bear with me. This is also my attempt to journal for our family, and for this new little one, so here we go.
We saw the doctor again today. It was the lovely drink the sweet sugary glucose drink and have your blood drawn day. I actually had the fruit punch option, which seemed much less sugary than the orange stuff. I was a little anxious, because with Aynsli my results came back like 2 over the "normal" range, so I had do the 3-hour screening, etc....which was no fun. So we are hoping things are just fine. I had another ultrasound, because this child has been so uncooperative about sharing information. We were specifically looking to see what the lips and chin look like, to see if there are any similarities between Aynsli and this one. From what we could see, everything looks fine. We were also checking to see if we could get any more definitive answers about whether she really is a girl. As the doctor was looking, he said, what did I tell you last time. We said a girl. He said, "Really?" in a rather shocked voice. For a minute, I guess really I didn't know what I was feeling. I guess I had adjusted to the notion that we were having a second girl, and all of a sudden he was injecting quite a bit of question into that thought. Not that a boy would be bad at all, we will love whoever this turns out to be; but I think once you are used to the idea of one, to have that turned around just takes some adjustment time. A few more minutes of looking and trying to get baby to cooperate, and he is still pretty sure it is a girl. I guess we are also going on that assumption, and will just have to wait and see for sure. We are down to about 10-11 weeks. He said he would induce me at 38 weeks, earlier if need be, but then we would have to do the amnio to see if her lungs are ready. We know what that is all about....if I can make it 10 more weeks we will be doing great. That is what we are planning for. We are down to the every two weeks visits now, so we are getting close....

Aynsli's first "official" haircut

Aynsli has had her bangs trimmed a few times in the last year, which is really when she started to get hair, but this was her first "official" haircut. Her hair went nearly halfway down her back when wet, but was several lengths in different places, so we had aunt Katie cut it and even it out. We trimmed off a few of the longest curls, but now she is all even, and looks so cute.