Drum roll....

Today Matt and I went in for our ultrasound, and discovered we are having twins! HA! Just kidding! But we are having a girl!! She is looking very healthy, and everything is developing great! She was pretty active, the technician sometimes had a difficult time getting images, but we worked through it. I don't think she likes having something rub all over my tummy, I have never felt her move that much! Because of the placement of the placenta, I rarely feel her (MUCH different than Lucas), but I felt her a ton during the ultrasound. We had a great technician, she really took the time to show and explain everything. We didn't get that with Lucas. It was quite fascinating to see all the parts of the brain already developed, and to see all 4 chambers in her tiny little heart. Matt just finished an anatomy of speech and hearing class and they studied the brain, so for him to see it in his own child was really cool. And Matt was able to understand exactly what the lady was talking about. It was really amazing! Although it makes it a little harder for Lucas, since he doesn't have very many boy friends, we are excited! Matt was hoping for a boy for Lucas, but we are happy! And all I can say, is 'I told you so!' I have been telling everyone it is a girl, very few believed me, including Matt. When the technician confirmed it, I turned to Matt and smiled huge, and said "Told you!". He, of course, just rolled his eyes at me.

What we've been up to...

It has been busy at our house, with Luke's birthday, Matt's schooling (finals coming up), and Thanksgiving, but it has been fun. For those who are wondering, Matt did well on his GRE test, his score was in his range, so we are happy! Now hopefully he can get in the program for the fall!

For Thanksgiving, we had dinner with Matts family. It was a small group this year, but it was really nice. Of course the food was excellent, and it was a nice intimate meal together, that ended with everyone showing the best youtube videos. Not what you would expect for Thanksgiving, but it sure was funny. Thank you Sandi for all your hard work! Sorry we missed most of you though. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, so we have no pictures. After dinner with the Andreasons, we went and ate pie with my family. Lucas had so much fun with both families, he loved it! Thank you everyone who made it such a great day! In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to express my gratitude for my husband! Matt has been working so hard lately. I don't know how he does it, but he manages to work, go to school full time, and be a wonderful father and husband. Matt has done so much for our family and we love him for it.

Lucas and I have been enjoying our time together at home. We have had to get creative with some of our activities, and it has been fun! We do a lot of art projects, and play in his tents quite often. Lucas is such a funny kid! I love being able to stay home with him.

As far as the pregnancy goes, it is going. I think I am starting to get better. I have only gotten sick one time in the last 2 weeks. There are times when I get "sick-spells", but they don't last long. I have started cutting down on my prescription, and I am still functioning, unlike the beginning. I find myself eating more and sleeping less now. I am so happy! This pregnancy has been so much harder than Luke's. We have our ultrasound scheduled for Dec 21, we are so excited. I really think it is a girl, just because I have been so sick. But I don't care what it is, a boy would be nice for Lucas, and we already have the stuff. But a girl would be fun too. So, either way, I am happy!

Matt and I are big into Christmas decorating, though we don't have much money for it, or space. But it is tradition, the day after Thanksgiving -we decorate. Lucas loved it, he enjoys the lights on the tree. As soon as we pulled out the tree, Lucas started putting ornaments on it, and had so much fun. Daddy even let Lucas help with the star. We are excited for this Holiday season, and hope you are too.

Luke's two-year stats

So at Luke's two-year check-up, we found out that Lucas weighs 24 pounds and 14 ounces, and that puts him in the 15th percentile. As far as his height goes, he is 34.75 inches, which puts him at 55%. Lucas is doing very well developmentally. He is talking so much, but he is picky about who gets to hear it. He is very smart and is learning new things everyday. Lucas used to be kind of a difficult baby - he wouldn't sleep ANYWHERE but his crib, and he would cry every time we would go to one of our families houses. But now, he is great! He loves going bye-bye, and gets so excited to see both Grandmas and Grandpas. He used to be so shy and wouldn't go to anyone but us, and would just cry, but now he just marches right in like he owns the place. People have always teased him for his picky sleeping habits, but I will tell you, I will take a picky sleeper as a baby any day if it guarantees that the baby will be like Lucas now. Lucas asks to go to bed, sometimes he asks as early as 5, but we keep him up til at least 7. Usually he goes to bed between 7-8, and loves his bed. He has even started asking for naps! Lucas sleeps for a solid 12-13 hours every night, and then has at least an hour and half nap every day. You can make fun of his sleeping all you want, but I think I am the luckiest parent! How many parents have their 2 year old asking to go to bed? I don't think many.

Lucas has learned to jump, and is loving life doing it! He makes us turn on music (if we don't he figures out how), and gets on our bed and just jumps forever! He loves it!

I could go on forever about what a good kid Lucas is, and how smart he is, and how lucky we are, but that gets pretty boring. So now I am going to talk about some of the difficult things. Lucas is two. That pretty much sums it up. He is throwing tantrums now, and hits, and screams. We are still trying to figure out how to deal with it, since sometimes it seems like enjoys time out. Actually, he will do something bad, and then with a big smile say "time out", like he is asking to go into time out. Another issue we are having, is potty training. I have been working with him, and he gets really excited one week, goes in the potty several times, and then the next week, decides he doesn't want to take off his pants. When I try, he screams. I want to get him potty trained before the baby comes, two kids in diapers does not sound fun, but I don't know what to do or how to do it. And one more, we got Lucas a toddler bed for his birthday (courtesy of my sister), and Lucas was really excited that day. He wanted to go to bed at like 4, but then when bed time actually came, he wanted nothing to do with the new bed. Now he doesn't show any interest in it, and I don't know how to get him in it. Again, I want him well transitioned before the baby comes, but I don't know how to do it. If anyone has any advice, I would love it!

Well, this has turned out to be a really long post, but in short: I love my boy! He is getting tough because of his age, but I love it! I feel so blessed to be his mommy! Below are some pictures of Luke's birthday - we didn't do much to celebrate, but we had fun!

Busy day!

Thank you everyone for your comments and your support about this new baby. We are very lucky to have you guys as family and friends! So tomorrow is a big day in our house: Matt takes the GRE test! Matt is very nervous, but I think he will do fine. Matt always gets nervous, and it usually ends up being for no reason. Either way, please keep him in your prayers! If Matt does well on this test, it will really increase his chances of getting into the speech pathology masters program in the fall. So keep your fingers crossed!

Also, the next big news in our house, is it is Luke's birthday on Friday!! I cannot believe my baby is two! And he is so smart! Lucas knows shapes (circle, square, heart, star, triangle), he knows some colors (red, blue, yellow, green, sometimes pink), and he knows a few letters (A,B,E,O,K,Y, sometimes R). The kid is amazing with music! I don't know how he does it, but he knows tunes to so many songs!! He can sing so many songs and is so good at them. Now I know I am biased, but I think my kid is so smart! I know this is kind of cheesy, and it is mainly for me to look back and maybe cry a little, but here is a slide show of Lucas from when he was born til now. What a cutie! Next week Lucas has his 2 year appt, so I would be putting his stats up then, along with pictures from tomorrow. Happy Birthday Lucas!!

Surprise.....

Surprise to all of us, baby #2 is on his/her way!! Most people know that Matt and I have been at a disagreement for several months, I keep saying it is time to have another baby, and Matt keeps saying no. After months of bothering and pestering, and any other form of begging you can think of, I decided to cool off a bit (just a bit). Turns out, it was pointless, I was already pregnant! Now, I know what many are thinking "she tricked him", well let me set the record straight, I DID NOT!! We found out the day after Labor Day, and we were totally shocked. To be honest, I had mixed emotions, I was excited, but scared to death, I still am. Matt is doing very well considering he wasn't ready to have another one yet. He is still very nervous, but I think we will both be that way clear until the kid is all grown up. I don't think the nervousness of parenthood ever goes away. At least it hasn't with Lucas.

I am due May 15th, and am 11 weeks along. As you can tell it has been awhile since I have posted last, now you know why, I have been very sick! This pregnancy has been a lot harder than Luke's, I am not sure if that is because now I have a 2 year old to take care of along with myself, or if it is just harder. I have been taking some medicine to help (which I never even considered with Lucas cause it wasn't bad), and yesterday and today I have finally been able to feel a difference. I am hoping to get over this sickness phase soon. I have learned to admire all mothers who go through this multiple times. I will most likely have more kids, but I don't know how I will do it. I think of women I know who have 3-5 kids and are pregnant! How do they do it?! Poor Lucas has had to watch so much TV because I don't feel well enough to play with him, or even to get up off the couch. How do women do it with several kids? They amaze me. Lucas is doing well with it, well as good as he can at 2 years of age. He points to my tummy (yes I am already showing, no surprise since I was showing at 8 weeks with Lucas) and says "baby". We had our first ultrasound done, and unfortunately Lucas couldn't go, but he likes to look at the pictures and says hi to the baby. Though we are very scared to be parents of two children and we both feel really young to have two kids already, we are very excited for this new phase of our lives. We just adore Lucas and we are so excited to welcome another sweet spirit into our home.

As Matt and I have had to come to grips with all of this, I feel like it has strengthened our testimonies. A few weeks ago in church we sang hymn #169 'As Now We Take the Sacrament.' There was one part in particular that stuck out to me, it is verse 3 "...And silently we pray for courage to accept Thy will, to listen and obey. We love Thee, Lord, our hearts are full. We'll walk thy chosen way." As I have been praying to our Heavenly Father to help me prepare for this, I feel comforted. It is obvious to me that although we don't always see it, and sometimes we might never understand it, God has His own plan for us.

HELP!

So I need ideas. The last 3 days Lucas has skipped his nap. And that's a problem in of itself, but I think he is skipping them because he isn't getting all of his energy out. Usually we play outside every morning and every afternoon. I like to wear him out so he will nap. But with the cold weather, we have been inside. I have been trying to do activities but he doesn't have a long attention span. So I am wondering if anyone has some ideas of games and activities for a 2 year old? I need things we can do inside, and I need things that are cheap, but fun for a 2 year old. If anyone can help me, I would appreciate it! :)

How do I react to this

This morning Matt called home from work, and told me to check my email. He said he wanted to hear my reaction so he stayed on the phone while I get things settled with Lucas before I even turned on the computer. Once I started reading the email, I realized is was written to Matt from his brother Bruce. I kept hearing Matt snicker on the phone. I hope Bruce doesn't mind me putting his email on our blog, but it was too funny to pass up. My only question is, how do I react to this??

Matt,

I helped someone move last night and returned home at around 8:00. I was tired after a long day of work and some physical exercise and decided I should sit down and watch some tv, you know, to unwind a little. Without looking for it I found I Robot on FX and began watching it. As the story moved along I began to remember how much I liked the movie. Then I saw him…you know…the robot, Sonny. The individual one. And something about him kept bothering me. He looked so familiar to me and I couldn't figure out who he looked like. Take a look, anyone come to mind?



As the movie moved toward its conclusion I found myself thinking about who he looked like instead of enjoying the action scenes that are now so outdated. And then it finally hit me. Look below and tell me what you think. I don’t know if it’s the strength of character in the face, the ponderous look, or what but I think they bear a striking resemblance. I hope this isn’t an insult as it certainly isn’t meant as one but I think they actually look alike. Perhaps even more so now as Luke has gotten a little older since this photo was taken.