Thoughts on having girl #2

When we saw on the ultrasound that this baby is a girl, I was quite surprised. I had pretty much convinced myself it was a boy, despite knowing the power of the pattern. And yesterday, after having a day to let it sink in, I started feeling a little anxious. Jenna is my girl. She's my #1. I tell her all the time that she's my favorite, that she's the cutest girl I know and the most beautiful ballerina I've ever seen.
But I know I'll want to say all those same things to the new baby and it's almost like I'll be .... cheating on Jenna. Then I started getting overwhelmed with all these feelings. Is Jenna going to feel left out? Less important? How is it possible to maintain my relationship with her while trying to build the same kind of relationship with a new baby? Am I going to compare the new baby to Jenna? How am I even going to handle two?! Add those thoughts on top of an already fragile emotional state and you get a minor meltdown (which led to an emergency ice cream run). I know it is possible to love more than one child - it's silly to think otherwise. But for a moment, I guess I wondered how, especially when the first one is so great. And for some reason I thought having a boy would be a totally different ball game and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this stuff. But I've gotten over all that drama and I am really excited to have another girl! It will be so fun to have two of the cutest ballerinas in the world and I hope they'll be best friends just like all the sisters in my family are. So here's to pink! Now, does anyone have any suggestions for names?

No escaping the pattern.

When it comes to having babies, the women in my family seem to follow this weird pattern of having two girls, a boy, then another girl. My mom's mom, then my mom and both of my sisters have followed the exact pattern. Even my great-great-great grandmother had two girls, a boy then another girl. But I know the man decides the gender of the baby so I thought I had a good chance of having a boy this time around. Jake comes from a family of four boys and one girl and his mom is also the only girl with five brothers! But "the pattern" (or curse, as I'm sure the only boy in each family would call it) apparently trumps any genetic law and I seem to be following it as well. Here's baby girl #2!!

Check out those lips!

Jenna and I are definitely happy and I just know Jake is really excited to be surrounded by more pink, have more bows put in his hair and continue to wear ballerina aprons.

What a good sport.

You know it's time to clean out your purse when....

....you find a pair of your kid's poopy panties from an accident that happened a week ago and.... they're moldy.

(At least they were in a Ziploc bag!)

I'll spare you a picture but refer to the "Hangin' out the park" post for the event that resulted in said poopy panties.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA & LEAH!

Hope you enjoy being eleven!

Hangin' out at the park.

We've been enjoying some great weather, lunch with Daddy, playing wiffle ball with friends....

This? We didn't enjoy as much!Can't escape the poop.

I can totally relate.

Because sometimes we all need a towel, some easter eggs and a nice green table to snuggle on.

Movin' On.

Why would we ever leave this....

for this....

?

(No, we're not moving back to Rexburg!) Jake has been accepted to Kent State University's radiological technology program! And he needs to be there on May 19 which means we'll be moving in about three weeks! Where is Kent State? The only other place we'd ever consider living besides California: OHIO! Both my sisters live there and we are looking forward to living close to them. It will definitely be hard to leave the place where we both grew up. We will miss our parents and the siblings we're leaving behind but we're also excited for this new adventure! So, in Jenna's words.... we're goin' to "my hio!" Go Cavs!

Dear Danny,

Yo dawg, check it out. The thing for me for you is that there's someone more exciting who's getting my votes now. You know I'll always be a big fan but at this point in the competition, Danny, it's about artistry and, well, Adam just brings it every week. The rebel and wanna-be rocker in me is captivated by his voice and ability to put his own spin on everything he sings. He's a shining star, he dares to dance in the path of greatness and I can see him going all the way. I'll forever have a special place in my heart for you and your awesome glasses Danny, but for all head-banging purposes, Adam's the one for me.

Easter party

Easter started out a little rocky.... But we recovered and had a really great Sacrament meeting. Jake and I both sang in some musical numbers. Remember that duet I was asked to do? I survived it and I think the congregation did, too. The best part about it? It's over. After the first hour, we left for my parents house and got a nice picture of Jenna.

Jenna loved this dress from Grandma. And she looked so sweet in it. She got to wear it to church again when we went to my parent's ward. My dad gave a great talk and the whole meeting was really nice. It's always nice to go back and see people I grew up with. After dinner was Jenna's egg hunt.

Then, it was time to go home - a drive that usually takes about an hour and 20 minutes. Last night, it took us nearly three hours! We all got a little crazy.

Don't judge us. What else are people supposed to do at 10 mph for an hour?!

We finally made it home and even though the day started and ended a little rough, it was a great day. And I'm glad the next holiday that revolves around candy isn't until Halloween. Or am I?

At breakfast on Easter morning.....

Jenna: Jesus in my bed.

Jake: Jesus is in your bed?

Jenna: Yeah!

Jake: Oh! What did he say to you? Did he say he loves you?
Jenna: Yeah. Jesus double knucks.

Yo.

Story of a champ.

When I was little, I'd bug my mom each night to tell me story before bed and all I got was some made-up ditty that went like this:

Tell me a story, tell me a story, tell me a story

So I can go to bed.

Make it a short one, make it a short one, make it a short one

'Cause I'm a sleepy head.

Laaaaaaaaaaame. Then on Wednesday night I realized how much she'd actually been holding back....

My mom has been taking a storytelling class at the local junior college and it's a lot harder than it sounds! She has to write an introduction, think about her voice, hand gestures, body language, etc. and tell it from memory. But my mom is great at everything (no bias there...) and so naturally she's excelled at this too. And when the college's "Celebration of the Humanities" contest came up, she entered two of her stories and won first place! Wednesday night was the awards ceremony where she got to perform her award-winning story telling of "The Giving Tree." I was so captivated, I nearly forgot to take pictures (which didn't turn out anyway, darn it!) She did such an awesome job!

Maybe it's a good thing she didn't bust out her storytelling talent at bedtime when I was kid - I definitely wouldn't have fallen asleep!

Good job, Mom!!

IMPORTANT!

The Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis

is

May 16

at

9:30 a.m.

Santana Row, Park Valencia, San Jose

This is a great opportunity for families, Young Men/Young Women groups, businesses, etc. to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Please click here to register for a walk or to find walks throughout California and other states. Click here to read my nephew's story and why this walk is important to our family. Help find a cure. Register now.

A whole lot of love.

There is a cute little song that Jenna knows from church that goes, "I love mommy, she loves me. We love daddy yesiree. He loves us and so you see, we are a happy family." A few days ago she came up with this tribute to her cousin for the second part of the song:

"I love Andrew yesiree. He loves us and so you see, we are a happy A-andrew!"

Then yesterday in the car, she was singing about everyone in the family. "I love Amy yesiree. She loves us and so you see, we are a happy fam-wee!" Then she'd say, "How 'bout Grandma? I love Grandma yesiree. She loves us....." You get the idea. She went through about 7 or 8 people before saying, "Mommy. How 'bout singo wadies?

All singo wadies. All singo wadies. She loves us and so you see, we are a happy fam-wee!"

She'd fit right in Beyonce's video with this swimsuit she's wearing. Don't ever tell her I said that.

Calling all cuties

Jenna likes to pull up a chair and "talk" on the phone. Tonight after dinner she informed us that she had been talking to her cousin, Macey.

Jake: You talked to Macey today? How is she doing?
Jenna: She do fine.
Jake: Oh, she's doing fine?
Jenna: Yeah. She do awesome.

Here's the rest of her "phone calls" to Aunt Amy and two more cousins, Leah and Brookie:

I can take a hint.

This morning was a little rough. I was on the phone for quite a while and Jenna had two accidents and was extra whiney and demanding. Even when I got off the phone she continued to be needy and any little thing was setting her off. Solution? Go see Daddy for lunch. Jake has lunch at the perfect time to fill those hard-to-fill morning hours. We leave the house at 10 to pick him up at 10:30. We hang out for an hour and are home by noon. Jenna eats her lunch and then goes down for a nap. Today she was falling asleep in the car and when we got home I asked her if I could snuggle her in bed and she said yes. We got all comfy and she asked me to rub her tummy and she was still for a few minutes. I whispered "I love you!" and she said it back. Then repeated it a few times. It was a tender moment and all the difficulties of the morning were forgotten. Then she rolled over to face me and said, "Mommy?" I got excited for some more words of affirmation but instead she said, "Get. Out."