February Feelings

I have a two-year-old daughter. While I feel like I should say I can hardly believe it, part of me has felt like she has been two since Christmas. She's definitely mature and smart for her age, though she is still short as far as percentile goes. Paige is so full of life, and I love watching her do things. She is so funny and fun and just straight up adorable. She sings and dances to music, she plays pretend with her toys (Stephen has officially had his first tea party with Paige), she loves being a helper and doing chores and cooking with mommy, and she is a chatterbox and wants to learn new words all the time. She knows all her letters and numbers, but only has about half of the colors down (everything is either blue, green, or purple). She says her own prayers now without much, if any, coaching from us. 

For Paige's birthday, I hosted a Frozen themed party. We invited a few of her nursery friends from the neighborhood to come play on a Saturday morning. I had fun decorating our basement with streamers, banners, and snowflakes. I served a few snacks that I tied into the theme, like Sven's Snacks for carrots, and the Fjords for blue jello. The kids played with "snowballs" made from crumpled paper, did a pin-the-nose-on-Olaf game, and danced with streamers to "Let It Go." We had cupcakes and Paige opened presents. Overall, it was a great party, and a special treat for Paige to have so many friends over at once.

Stephen and I also celebrated a nice Valentines Day. We've decided to try splitting the holidays so that one of us is in charge of V-day and one is in charge of our anniversary in August. I was the one that planed Valentines day this year. I kept things pretty simple though. We stayed home and had a nice dinner together as a family. I attempted to make steak, and it turned out pretty well. I also made a chocolate berry cobbler (delicious). Once Paige was in bed, Stephen and I rearranged our living room furniture to be able to play games on our TV and have the controllers reach. We played a game Stephen likes called Overcooked.

Stephen indulged me for Valentines day by joining me in facials. We made a promise not to take pictures, and the charcoal seaweed junk we had all over our faces really didn't make us very photogenic anyway. It was a fun, relaxing night. I also surprised Stephen with a commissioned artwork of dragons which he really loved and was meaningful to him and me. He's not an easy person to shop for, so I was proud of coming up with the idea.

I'm still sick with this pregnancy for baby boy. I vomit most days. I haven't gone more than three days without vomiting since September. I also get strong heartburn and indigestion, and the symptom known as "round ligament pain" is now a part of my existence constantly. Also, I'm practicing getting up several times at night, but right now, it's just to go to the bathroom.

I don't know why my body really struggles with being pregnant, but I get a lot of the really bad side effects that are unfortunately normal. Whoever is in charge of this whole Women's Rights things really ought to focus on getting medical help for pregnant ladies, because there's so little done to treat any discomforts. My midwives are sympathetic, but say that the cure is labor and delivery. Some days, I feel like we're going to have a small family due to the roughness of the nine months on my body. But I know it's temporary, and that the end blessing is eternal and very much worth it. It would just be nice to not vomit anymore. 

Stephen is doing well at work. He got a nice bonus for the end of the year that is just now coming into our bank account (most of it goes to paying for baby and paying off my student loan). He also talked with his supervisors and got a nice raise, which most of is going to saving for a second car. However, the need for another car has decreased since Stephen found out a neighbor on our street works in the office building next to Stephen's. He also has the same 8-4 schedule, so Stephen has been able to get rides with him. It's very nice for all of us. I get to have the car now most days, which allows Paige and me to get out of the house more. 

Lately, since the weather is still cold, I've been taking Paige to play places at McDonald's or Chick-fil-A. She absolutely loves it. She thinks she's one of the big kids and loves to go down the large slides all by herself. She plays well without much supervision, which is really nice, and I feel like she's much safer since she's indoors and contained. I also love that she can get some energy out without me being her only source of entertainment, because, let's be honest, I'm far more tired than she'll ever be.

Overall, life is pretty routine now, which is good. I'm both looking forward to the end of my pregnancy and enjoying the time I have left with Paige as my only child. We still haven't decided on a name for baby boy, but we do have a few more months left to think it out. I'm personally ready for Spring to come, but seeing as it snowed all day today and is predicted to do so again tomorrow, we'll have to settle for more Winter. Meanwhile, I'll continue to work on growing a human, and maybe one day, my body will actually look pregnant rather than just extra fat. And maybe one day, if I'm really lucky, I won't be sick anymore.

Happy Holidays

Oh hey there, blog. Nice to see you again. No, I haven't forgotten about you. I've just been putting off writing for way too long. Last time I wrote was November. We've had Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Years, and three months of Paige growing up in the time between the last post. I could write full blog posts on each subject, but I don't want to, so I won't. I will, however, devote a paragraph to each.

Thanksgiving was fun this year because I hosted my family at my house. I wasn't very nervous because I had made every component at some point before, so I knew what I was doing, though the stressful part was planning the correct amount and figuring out the timing of everything to have so many dishes ready to go at once. I was grateful for the help my family gave, and it was a delicious dinner. We had a fun weekend playing games and spending time together. Paige enjoyed having so many aunts and uncles to play with, and I was grateful to not be her only source of entertainment. It was nice not needing to travel, and I'm grateful I have a house large enough to host my family.

Stephen spoiled me for my birthday. He was very thoughtful beforehand to come up with gifts I would appreciate and honestly kept most of them a surprise from me. We went out to eat at Red Robin for our first time, and then he took me to see Moana. It is such a cute movie, by the way. It was fun to look at where I am in life now that I'm 25 (is that how old I really am?). I feel like I've achieved way more than I thought I would by this point, but I'm super grateful for how my life is now for the most part.

Christmas break was spent in Idaho with Stephen's family. We had almost two weeks with them, which was great for celebrating so many things, including Christmas, New Years, and a wedding for my brother-in-law Nicholas and my new sister-in-law McKenzie. It was very snowy the whole time we were there, and it turned out to be the most snow for Boise ever recorded. But white Christmases are pretty, so it all works out. Paige loved spending time with family and would play for hours with Elise, her cousin, and Jacob, her 4-year-old uncle. Again, I loved her having playmates and new-to-her toys to play with.

Paige enjoyed Christmas this year much more enthusiastically than last year. She caught on quick to the idea of unwrapping presents, and she was excited about a lot of her gifts. She got a baby doll from Santa, doll accessories (stroller, car seat, high chair, and crib) from Grandma and Grandpa Hutchins, Frozen themed cups from Grandma and Grandpa Rollins (she's obsessed with Frozen), and a small indoor slide from Stephen and me. She got some other small gifts too, but those were her big ones. She has loved all of them since she got them, and we felt like it was a success. Stephen and I also got some nice gifts from each other and from family, and we are very appreciative of them.

A few days after Christmas, Nicholas and McKenzie got married. Their Boise Temple sealing was beautiful and reminded me of the day I married Stephen (best day ever). It was fun for our family to dress in the wedding colors of navy and silver, though I stressed too much finding a navy dress for Paige. I found a perfect one for her though, so it payed off, and she looked really cute. Their reception that evening was beautiful, and it was nice that we took a lot of pictures indoors due to the weather. I'm so happy for Nicholas to find a great girl, and McKenzie already felt like a sister to me, even before they were married.

New Years Eve was fun with the Rollins family. Paige and Elise were cute as they dressed up in party gear at 7:30 and celebrated hours before midnight. She didn't know the difference, and still got all the sleep she needed, so I felt like it was a win-win. When it was actually midnight, Stephen kissed me, marking another year of him making my dreams come true. We drank some sparkling cider too, but my stomach didn't like that, and almost immediately rejected it. Oh well. Though the best part of the new year is probably switching from 9:00 church to 11:00 church.

After we returned home from our vacation, Paige and I got sick. It's hard to be a mom to a sick toddler who doesn't understand what's happening and why she feels the way she does. It's also hard to be sick as a mom trying to take care of a sick child. It is even worse being pregnant and sick and taking care of a sick child. It wasn't the best week in our home. Paige threw some really bad tantrums (banging her head on the wall and floor, thrashing, scratching Stephen and me, and crying/screaming uncontrollably). I was worried it was the beginning of the terrible twos, but as she got healthy, her tantrums went away, so that was a blessing. We did a lot of gentle home remedies to overcome our sicknesses, but they finally went away, and we both are just fine now.

My pregnancy with baby number two has gone by both fast and slow. We found out just before Christmas that we're having a boy! We shared the news with everyone Christmas Eve, so that was fun. I'm intimidated by the idea of having and raising a son, but I'm sure things will be fine. It's probably be just like having Paige, but with less bows, ruffles, lace, and pink, right? Stephen and I are not sure on a name. We've gone back and forth on a lot of them, but hopefully will have the perfect one chosen by the time we leave the birth center.

I've been considerably more sick this pregnancy. I am currently 25 weeks along and still haven't gone more than three days without vomiting. It's pretty much a daily occurrence. I've become so use to it, I'm not phased anymore, which is both a good and bad thing. I have strong heartburn often, and my body aches as it stretches. I definitely feel him moving a lot, and the other day, Stephen felt and saw my stomach move for the first time, though I've been feeling him for months now. Paige doesn't have much concept for a baby being in mommy's tummy, but I feel like she'll adjust alright.

Paige is growing up so much. She communicates a lot better and has become a chatterbox. She likes to repeat words until I say them back to her. She also repeats me now, but luckily, I don't have any really bad habits in my language for her to copy. She is really cute most of the time. She has this little prancing walk she does when she's happy and it's adorable. She absolutely loves watching Frozen, and I'm pretty sure her best friends are Elsa and Anna. We transitioned her to a toddler bed a few weeks ago, and it's been better than I expected, though she doesn't nap nearly as well as she use to. But baby brother is going to need her crib soon enough. She is showing interest in the potty, though I'm intimidated to cross that bridge and attempt to potty train her. We'll see when that happens. She very smart and social for her age and loves going to nursery and playing with kids of all ages. Her birthday is in a week, though it feels like we've had a two-year-old for a while now with all of her advanced skills.

I can't promise I'll be better at writing blog posts, but I'll try not to get so behind again. A lot has happened in our lives, though our day-to-day routine is pretty simple. We have our ups and downs like everyone, but overall, we're doing really well!