It's getting close

Last night, my sister-in-law threw a baby shower for our little guy.  All but one of my sister's were able to come, and an aunt, a cousin, and several members from my ward showed up.  My mom and sister came over to help me clean up the house before hand, and it was a very nice night.  A couple of months before we found out we were pregnant, we finally decided to get rid of all of our baby stuff.  Many people have donated their baby stuff that they no longer need, and we got a bunch of cute clothes last night at the shower.  We are pretty close to set.  It still feels very unreal that in a month, we will have a new little boy to hold and cuddle.

Hubby took the kids out to eat during the shower, and they got back a few minutes before it ended.  I had them all come in to the living room to show them the cute clothes and things we got for the baby.  After we had checked everything out, I sent the kids to get their pajamas on.  Allen continued to sit on the floor, and look through the piles of clothes.  And then, he said, "If this one dies, I'll be pissed!"  It took a minute for me to realize exactly what he was talking about.  Allen never talks about the babies we have lost.  My heart broke as I realized that he has been as anxious about this baby as I have been.  Because he keeps so quiet about it, I forget that he needs to be reassured and comforted.  I told him that I would be upset too, but that the chances that this baby will be fine are very high.  I'm excited to see my kids have a little brother again.

Our Garden

I stop enjoying winter by January first.  This winter has seemed especially long, and I really was looking forward to starting our indoor Garden.  We decided to get our garden started the first Monday of March.  We planted our seeds for our Family Home Evening activity.  This year, I will probably not be able to help out much when it is time to move all of our plants outside.  Allen has decided to be in charge of the garden as part of one of his merit badges for his Eagle.  I am hoping that it will all work out.

Last year, our plants seemed to sprout in just a couple of days.  This year, it has taken a lot longer.  We haven't had too many days that were fully sunny since we planted our little seeds.  We have been so excited to see each plant come up.  We decided to plant some flowers for our front flower bed.  I have never been successful starting flowers from seeds.  Hopefully, this year, we will finally get it right.

One of our "splurges" for this year is a new folding table for our garden.  Last year, our garden got a great start, but we used our dining room table to hold it all.  We ate at the kitchen counter for 3 months.  It has been a good investment.  I love getting a head start on spring.  We hope to get our springtime outdoor plants started this week.

Valentine's Day Cards

This year, we decided to print off our own Valentine's cards.  The main reason is to save money, but I'm not going to lie, I love the fact that it makes me look crafty.  It was also so much fun to see my cute kids get excited about them.

Makenzie had to have the girliest card she could find.  I love having a daughter!

The original template for Michael's card had a heart before his name.  That had to go!  He also refused to have anything that said, "Be Mine," or anything mushy like that.  He settled for Happy Valentine's Day.

Morgan's card is my favorite!  I love it!  He is very worried that his friends won't like polka-dots, or that they will want their card to say, "Happy Valentine's Day," instead of, "Be Mine!"  I'm pretty sure they won't care what it looks like, as long as there is candy attached.

 The entire time I was taking pictures of Allen, he insisted on shouting out, "Cookies!!"  This was the most normal picture I could get of him.

I'm guessing most people have already bought their Valentines, but in case any of you happen to be procrastinators you can take advantage of the cute templates at Florabella, and MCP Actions Blog.  I have a cute friend who always blogs with ideas for upcoming holidays.  She always blogs in plenty of time for me to take advantage of her good ideas before the holidays roll around.  Someday, I might be that on the ball, but not today.

I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day!

Ticket Saturday

I got this idea from a friends blog.  I planned to take pictures, and share our experience, but our movie night turned out to be so hectic, that I never got around to it.  (My friend has some great pictures if you want a visual.  :)

My kids struggle to get jobs done.  They act like I am torturing them if I ask them to do anything on the weekends, so we decided to try a Ticket Saturday.  Originally I was going to just start giving them tickets for the jobs they did, and then have them find out later what the tickets were for, but I ended up advertising the whole thing to get them motivated.  We made a list of all the jobs that needed to be done on our white board, and organized them into one ticket and two ticket jobs.  I let the kids know that for 6 tokens they could get a little of everything at the movie night.  It took a little while for a couple of my kids to get going, and I even heard from a couple of them that they would just pass on the movie night, but eventually they all worked very hard and helped to clean.

We set up a little concessions stand, and let the kids buy popcorn, soda, and candy bars with their tickets.  We turned off all the lights and watched "Despicable Me."  We had a great night, and I now have a new way to motivate my kids to get their jobs done.

Dr. Appt.

I'm almost 23 weeks.  At my doctor's appointment today, they suspected that I have a bladder infection.  They said that that could be the reason I am cramping.  The nurse sent a sample off for a 4 day test, so I should get the results later this week.  It would be great if that were the case!  Then hopefully I can get some medicine and the pain can go away.

The doctor also said that I am dehydrated, and my calorie intake is too low.  Both of these causes also can cause cramping.  Hopefully, I can take care of myself, and things can go better.

Uneventful Hospital Visit

Just a quick update.

After being in quite a bit of pain for several days, I finally went into the hospital today to get everything checked out.  All the tests came back fine. 

They basically told me that I will probably feel like this for the rest of my pregnancy.  It hurts, but it is nothing to worry about.

Good to know!

Genes

There are many traits that are passed along through family lines.  In my family, we are lucky enough to have detached earlobes, autism, dimples, red hair, color blindness, and celiac disease.  Another trait that my dad, and many of my siblings have is the "hold your tongue just right" syndrome.  (Unfortunately, this can be viewed most easily when I am playing the piano in public.)  Apparently, I have passed it on.  This afternoon, as Morgan was working on his homework, I decided to catch this trait in action (with my new lens :)    

Man, I love my kids!!