16 weeks

I'm 16 weeks pregnant now. It doesn't seem that I am that far along...this whole pregnancy has been a blur! Life is keeping me busy and pre-occupied...but when the kids are in bed and Jonathan and I have time to talk, we like to speculate about baby #3. Will we welcome a boy or girl? Will we ever agree on a name? Will Talmage be helpful when he/she arrives and will Charlotte get jealous? We also talk a lot about the delivery process. I am hoping to deliver naturally this time around for lots of personal reasons, and though I feel completely unprepared for that- I also feel really CALM. I know it's the right plan for us, and I'm pretty excited to experience giving birth in a whole new way. If all doesn't go according to plan, that's okay too. I'm trying not to put any pressure on myself, but just hope for the best! In the meantime, I've got some reading to do ;)

My next appointment in 4 weeks will be to find out the gender! We thought about waiting to find out until baby is born, but I'm just NOT that patient. I couldn't do it... but I admire those moms that can. The problem is that I want to start sewing projects and picking out baby clothes before he/she gets here...and I can't do gender-neutral stuff. It's just not me! :)

We've heard the heartbeat twice now. Each time very faint, which makes me nervous. All the more reason to be excited for the 20 week ultrasound. I'm feeling better for the most part, except I still can't bring myself to eat very much. Switching vitamins has helped a ton- the gummy chewables are much more easily digested and I've had no problems with them. I have very little energy and I'm tired pretty much all the time. But at least the really sick phase is gone :)

I'm seeing the midwives at the hospital here because I really love our hospital. Whenever I go to appointments, though, it is quite the ordeal... park in the garage, take an elevator, go through two different buildings, take an escalator, and another elevator. Haha. It's really not that bad, just different from what I'm used to. All three (or four? I've met three.) are very personal and genuine- just one of the reasons why I will always see a midwife versus a doctor. I love that they remember my name and medical history without looking at my chart, and that they cater to my delivery plan. Can I also just say that I am *really* thankful for my husband's job and the insurance we get through it. The Lord is truly blessing our family through these great but tender mercies.

As far as prepping for baby, I've not done anything whatsoever. I have ideas of projects and a mental checklist of what we will need, but we are so not there yet. Baby will sleep in our bed hopefully for the first few months, and then he/she will move to a small-sized pack and play on the opposite side of our bedroom. I want to set up some kind of baby area with a bed, dresser, and changing station. We are limited on space so it will have to do, and then depending on whether babe is a boy or girl- eventually they will "move in" with big brother or sister :)

I know it's so soon to be thinking about all of this stuff, but it hit me hard the other day when I realized that we are almost HALFWAY there- and that only a few months will remain before we meet our new child. The kids are over the moon excited- they point to my belly all the time and say "hello baby". Talmage is completely convinced that he's getting a brother- and he won't hear otherwise. It worries me a bit how he will react to having a sister if that's the case. haha. Sometimes he surprises me though...like today, he started talking about the "she" in my tummy: "She is so far from you, mom. You need to reach her and she needs to come out! Open your throat!" I kid you not.

I said back, "Did you call it a 'she'? Do you think baby is a girl now?"

"Yeah", he sais. "A she-girl."

After a few moments he realized what he had said and quickly changed his mind back to boy. Cracks me up.

I wish these next four weeks would FLY by! I really am not that patient! :)

April-May catch up: part 2

BEACH DAY-

So a few weeks ago it got REALLY hot, which is sort of rare for springtime in Salem. The weirdest thing is that even on the coast it was hot. Supposed to be 80 degrees! My friend texted me in the morning asking if I'd like to go to the beach with her and her son, Connor. Talmage LOVES Connor. And since I'll take any excuse to drive the minivan, I offered to take everyone :) We quickly got some house chores done, packed our beach stuff/snacks, picked up our friends, and we were on our way!

An hour and a half later, we were in Lincoln City (guess we didn't have to wait long before we could go back!). The beach was absolutely perfect- blue skies, blue waves, total sunshine, and even a shallow little river for the kids to splash in. It was heaven, though it certainly felt hotter than 80 degrees. I checked the temp on my phone and it was 85!!! You guys, that's super hot for Oregon springtime.

 Can you see how pink the kids were getting already? We had only been there for about 10 minutes when I took these! We put on their swim suits (that we didn't expect to use...how were we to know there would be a fun river for them to play in?) and sprayed them head to toe in sunscreen. :)

We played on the beach for a solid 3 hours and the kids were completely exhausted by the end. Our timing was awesome- just as were leaving swarms of people came to our little spot by the river. On our way out of town we stopped by Mo's for lunch, but Charlotte didn't make it...hehe. She fell asleep in her car seat and continued to sleep in the restaurant on my lap. Everyone had pink cheeks, sweaty faces, and sand covered bodies. Thankfully, none of the kids got burned because we sprayed them down really good. But I was the dummy who forgot to put sunscreen on her back. I was a tomato on my backside. Little did I realize then how much excruciating pain I'd be in for the next few days.

The entire trip was a BLAST. The kids had the time of their lives that day! Although it was hard not having Jonathan there to assist with the kids... always is. Hopefully we can go back as a family soon- and to that exact same spot because the river was a lifesaver. I didn't have to worry about the kids getting swept up by ocean waves (yeesh...bad memory!) and they could stay cool by splashing in the water.

MOTHER'S DAY-

Now to get caught up to speed :) Mother's Day was last Sunday and it was lovely. Per tradition, Jonathan woke up earlier than me and made crepes (my favorite!). He gave me some sparkly earrings that I've had my eyes on for a while- so sweet. The kids were behaving awesome for once- it always seems like they are much worse on Mother's Day...just irony slapping me in the face. But this time they were great and we headed to church all smiles :) Talmage sang a sweet Mother's Day song in Sacrament meeting with all the Primary kids. It was his first time going up there, and he stood in the very front and hung his arms over the edge. Every once in a while he looked right at me and waved. hehe. We've been practicing the song song a lot at home, and he knew it word for word. He sang LOUDLY and beamed from ear to ear. It was the best thing ever.

During church, I went in to the bishop to get my temple recommend renewed. After the interview I spoke to him about some things on my mind, and he took the time to study a few scriptures with me. It warmed my heart and comforted my soul...and honestly it was the best part of Mother's Day for me. I felt the Spirit so directly that day and that was something I really needed. After church we came home and made pizza. It was such a great day without being over-the-top or complicated.

JONATHAN's BIRTHDAY!!

My hottie of a husband turned 27 yesterday! He opened his presents from all of us the night before since we weren't sure we'd have any time as a family on his actual birthday. He wasn't going to be home until late because of meetings.

Anyway, I got him a huge bag of his favorite flavor beef jerky, a new fishing license, and a cover for his grill. Talmage got him a stuffed animal fish to keep at work, and Charlotte picked out some Chums for his precious sunglasses that always fall off into the river when he goes fishing. A month or so ago his mom got him an early birthday present that we so desperately needed- a new lawn mower. And our first lawn mower! Jonathan has come to LOVE mowing the lawn and I'll admit it makes me feel really grown-up when I see him out there sweating and pushing it along :)

Since we thought he'd be gone all day, I had him take a few hours off in the morning to have breakfast with me. We went to a place called Word of Mouth that's an old cottage turned into a bistro. The food was AMAZING and oh so good. The last time we tried to eat there, our kids were with us and there was an hour wait time. It's always so busy and they have only a few tables. It was the perfect place to go for a special occasion. And what's more special than my man's birthday?! ;)

I got ordered the creme brulee' french toast with a side of fruit and eggs. It was HUGE and yummy. We're definitely going back!

Call it birthday luck- but his super long meeting got CANCELLED and he came home at 4 pm! It worked out perfectly. I made baked creamy chicken taquitos for dinner (our mutual favorite) with cilantro-lime dipping sauce. And for desert we kept it simple with root beer floats. I'm pretty sure the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to him about 8 times.

I had taken the kids to the park earlier so that they'd be good and tired for bed, meaning Jonathan and I could do something we've wanted to do in a loooong time.....GO TO BED EARLY! hehe. Sorry, couldn't resist. We did it, too. 9 pm, people. It was heavenly. Happy birthday, indeed.

And since then, we've just been outside soaking up this sunshine. I'll admit it wouldn't be as fun if we didn't have AC inside the house....how did we live without it all these years?

So that catches me up on the ol' blog. I've felt really busy and slightly overwhelmed lately with callings, but I think I'm going to be released from one of them pretty soon. This pregnancy has also been taking a toll on me, but Ill save that for the next post.

Until next time! :)

April-May catch up: part 1

Yikes. I have soooo much to catch up on. This is gonna be a long one, folks. I should start with the wedding we attended in April.

WEDDING WEEKEND~

April 19th- Jonathan's little sister Cressa got married on a gorgeous, sunny, springtime day at the Portland, Or temple. She looked beautiful and so happy, and I couldn't help but remember our own wedding day. The weather wasn't at all comparable but the feelings of pure happiness were the same. Cressa was extra happy, because the man she was sealed to lived in London for the majority of their year-long engagement. They had only seen each other a few times, maintaining a long distance relationship. I don't know if I could have done it- but those two were extremely patient waiting for the paperwork to be done so he could come live in the US. We were all happy to see them together and married at last :)

that's our baby niece Emma on the right

The Dennett five! All brothers and dad together :) 

blushing bride Cressa

That night we went to the Chinook Winds Casino for their buffet (it was seafood night! Yum). I had about four plates of crab legs and they were some of the best crab legs I've had. All the family stayed in Lincoln City in a rented beach house, but we had to drive home for the night because Talmage had soccer practice the next morning. We went back and forth on whether it was the right choice to go home that night or not, but it all worked out perfectly. We had a family Easter in the morning and did an egg hunt with the kids, did the soccer thing, and then rushed back to the coast to be with family.

Thankfully we only live about an hour and a half away from the coast so it wasn't a big deal. (Now that we have a minivan, too, long drives are so much more enjoyable!)

When we got to the beach house, the sun was out and Jonathan and I decided to take a stroll on the beach. BAD IDEA. We saw the clouds rolling in but dismissed it, and within minutes we were running along the beach with rain pounding heavily on our backs. And the wind was freezing. It was very hard to run on the sand so we went up the hill to the street and ran down the street instead..haha. It was kind of funny later, but we were soooo cold. Of course later that evening the sun came out again and it was gorgeous. Over the weekend we had a few more opportunities to take walks on the beach and find shells.

Okay, I have to tell the story behind the picture on the right (the one where C's mouth is gaping open and her expression says "Whaaaaaa......")

So Talmage and Jonathan were chasing waves as Charlotte and I watched from the "safety zone". As I was snapping pictures, C noticed a humongous wave coming at us. Behind me, of course, so I had no idea. I distantly heard Jonathan shouting something but couldn't make out what exactly. So, I took a few more pics. These ones.

^That was the last one I took. I noticed it through my camera lens. The wave that you see in the picture was rapidly growing bigger and more powerful. Charlotte ran out to the boys to warn them or something, I'm not sure why she did that. But as soon as I took this pic I knew we weren't safe.

As the boys ran closer to us, I heard J say "GET CHARLOTTE! RUN!" I noticed the wave getting bigger and bigger, and closer to where we stood. No wave had come so close to us. But, alas, it was high tide and these waves were not kidding around. I grabbed C's hand and we started dashing away, but the wave was faster. As I felt my legs getting drenched I knew C's little legs wouldn't outrun it. My camera hung around my neck and I knew it would be ruined if I didn't hold it up above my head, so with one had I held it high and with my other I swooped up Charlotte in my arm and held her sideways- all the while running as fast as my pregnant self could. (I'm not huge preggo, but running is pretty uncomfortable regardless).

We were safe, thank goodness, but soaking wet from chests to toes. Talmage was laughing hysterically throughout the whole thing, Charlotte was sobbing woefully. I was shaking and in dis-belief. Jonathan sort of shrugged it off but I knew he was scared of what could have just happened had we not outrun the wave. A few seconds slower and we would have been swept up completely. I'm sure that J and I would have been okay but the kids....it terrifies me to think about it. I told Jonathan I was never letting the kids get that close to the water again (more on this in the next post).

My camera had some issues after that, but eventually it was working again and none of my pictures were lost. Huge blessing!!!

The house itself was pretty fun, too. Our room downstairs had big beautiful windows and a great big bed, along with a twin bed for Charlotte. Talmage slept upstairs in this cubby that was meant to look like a submarine, but with a bed inside. The house was very nautical-themed, and there was a hot tub too! Aside from our family of four, all of Jonathan's three brothers were there and one sister-in-law and her parents. Rod and Cressa stayed in a separate cottage right beside the house. It was a great setup, though the stairs in the house were really narrow and slippery. Charlotte slipped on them once, biting her tongue and scraping her chin really bad. She gushed with blood for a few minutes, , and it was seriously scary for me. A month later, her chin is still not completely healed and I've also noticed that one of her front teeth got chipped. Poor sweet babe :(

Proof!

Over the weekend, we did lots of fun things in Lincoln City but I especially liked walking up and down main street and going into all the cute little shops. Of course, being so near the waves was the best part. And all the food we made at the house was awesome, too. We love Lincoln City so much and I can't wait to go back this summer!

We did come home a little earlier than planned because our kids were both super grumpy. Too much fun in a short amount of time does that...of course as soon as we got home they were back to their sweet, chipper selves.

EASTER-

On Easter Sunday, we were still on the coast with the family. I took some pictures of the kids in their Sunday best and we found a ward there to attend. After church the kids had yet another egg hunt with eggs that Grandma brought. She put money in half of them and it was a HUGE hit. I never thought the kids would care about that, haha. After the kids had naps we walked to this great garden filled with walkways and flowers. It was a lovely, beautiful day and I loved that we could spend it with so much family.

(Fancy Easter pics are already in a few posts back, but here are the others from that day.)

Getting snuggles with "Graw-graw"

Yep, we used grocery sacks. That's how we roll sometimes. 

 TO BE CONTINUED.