39 Weeks Pregnant with Baby #2

Well, I haven't written a post here since Eli was 7 months old! That was forever ago... and now here I am about to give birth to my second baby. I wanted to just write down a bunch of my feelings and an update on our lives since we usually update everyone on Youtube but it's much more work to make a video than just type everything here.

So there are just 6 days until my "due date". I think due dates are stupid though so I've just always said the beginning of April, and now here we are. Baby girl can come any day now. I forgot how hard the end of pregnancy is. It's very hard not knowing when labor will start. I have contractions everyday and sometimes they are intense! But they always fade away and I'm left exhausted just hoping the real thing will start soon. I keep saying though, this girl will be in our lives forever so what's 2 or 3 more weeks? No big deal. I can wait. BUT I'm SO excited to meet her. I keep wondering what she'll look like. Will she have hair? Will she look Asian? How will she look in all the cute dresses I made for her?

Overall I think this is a really special time. These are the last days of just me and Eli hangin out. These are the last days of him having all of my attention, all the time. He's been very cuddly and a bit clingy to me the last few days. I know he can sense what's about to happen. He already loves his sister, or maybe he just loves my big belly :) He doesn't really understand the difference. I think he'll be a great brother but I am preparing myself for a few meltdowns and jealousy as he adjusts to getting less attention.

So how are we spending our last days before things change big time? Basically we do whatever Eli wants to do. Lots of playing ninjas and dinosaurs. and lots of cuddling. Eli is still nursing a few times a day and when he does, I always think labor is starting. Those contractions are intense! I'm sure as soon as baby is ready, those contractions will become the real thing though. Just waiting on her. We want her nice and big and healthy.
I am focusing on eating really well so I have energy and staying hydrated because I really don't want to go through labor being dehydrated again like last time. I think that made it much more difficult. Of course I won't be in a hospital this time and I will be encouraged to eat and drink as much as I can, but I want to be feeling great when labor starts.

I have really enjoyed this pregnancy. I love this little girl so much and we are all looking forward to holding her and kissing her.

7 month update

Eli is 7 months old!

This month has been fun! we are really starting to see his personality... and he's WILD!

This month Eli has learned to crawl! he still does one foot, one knee, but it works! and he gets all around the house now! He follows me everywhere! It's a LOT of fun, but he always manages to find the tiniest pieces of food or paper on the floor and eats them...

I've always sang to Eli since he was born and he's always loved music but lately I was noticing that he was talking or screaming while I sang and I thought he didn't like it anymore... and then I finally realized he's SINGING! and now he sings every time there is music!  His favorite song is twinkle twinkle little star. In fact, last night he was up at 4 am and the only thing that calmed him down was listening to that song.

He's also babbling more than ever and started spitting and sticking out his tongue all the time.

Something awful happened the other night! He fell out of bed!!! We don't have a crib, we just sleep with him, but I had put him in the bed before we went to bed and 2 minutes later we hear a big thump and screaming. It was so scary... I felt so guilty! but he was fine, he calmed down really fast. So now... he has to sleep on the floor for naps. I put down a bunch of blankets but it's kinda weird. I wish we had a mattress for him.

and... what else... he's eating more now and he loves chicken and zucchini the best lately. still no teeth...  and that's it! we still like him ;) and I'm pretty sure he likes us....

St George trip

2 weeks ago we went to St. George. We mostly went because my grandpa Ted was in the hospital and not doing well and we felt like we really needed to go see him. We were also very excited to visit my parents and my sister's family.

We loved hanging out in my parents back yard. My dad has done a lot of work back there and it's just sooo beautiful!

 we walked around the temple!

love my family/

6 months old

Eli's 6 months old now! this month was really fun because Eli gets to eat with us now. His favorite food is strawberries but he eats almost everything we give him. His least favorite food is still broccoli. He hates it!

 messy but organic and delicious

 

Eli is 18.3 lbs now and 27.3 inches long. His growth has slowed down a lot this month.

He started sleeping on his tummy this month. The first time I found him on his tummy I kind of panicked but it is now his preferred way to sleep and he actually sleeps much better that way.

At Eli's 6 month Dr's appointment he got his shots which he handled much better this time. and we also talked to his pediatrician about his dry skin and tummy issues. We decided he definitely has a dairy sensitivity so no more dairy for mama...
so far Eli is feeling better. His rash is almost gone and he is sleeping SO MUCH BETTER! Last night he only woke up once! and he usually wakes up 5-10 times a night. Then he took a nap for almost 4 hours today. I can't believe I didn't figure this out for 6 months! But I'm glad things are getting better.

This month we also went to St. George to visit family and Eli did pretty well on the drive and loved seeing grandpa and grandma, auntie holly and uncle josh, and cousin zoey.
I'll talk more about our trip in a future post.

sitting in grass for the first time in St. George. He clearly hates it...

 this is Eli's new favorite toy from Uncle John David.

So that's it. My big boy is half a year old. I'm enjoying every day with my sweet boy. We love him so much!

packing packing and more packing

I cannot believe all the stuff we have. We are moving in 2 days and the packing just never seems to end! I still have so much to do... ah!

John and I pack very differently... He's sitting here putting all his stuff in little plastic bags and folding everything up nicely. and my way is just to cram as much as I can into a box.

Eli was really fun today. He is so distracting at church now. During the first hour he is usually very quiet and sometimes sleepy. but after that he gets really excited and just wants to play with everyone around. Today was awesome though, I actually got to sit through all of relief society because he was just so happy.
The lesson today was on becoming goodly parents. It was one of my favorite lessons ever. The teacher read us this poem and I really love it.

THE CLEANING AND SCRUBBING WILL WAIT TILL TOMORROW,
FOR CHILDREN GROW UP, AS I'VE LEARNED TO MY SORROW.
SO QUIET DOWN, COBWEBS. DUST GO TO SLEEP.
I'M ROCKING MY BABY AND BABIES DON'T KEEP.

Some of my best moments with Eli are the times when I really want him to go to sleep so I can get the house clean but instead I choose to cuddle with him or play with him. It's always worth it. Being a parent is the most wonderful I'll ever do.

we're moving in 3 days

We spent the day packing and getting ready to move. We're all exhausted and there's still tons more to do in the next few days. It's crazy thinking back to the first time we moved. Everything fit in our little car! Now we actually have to get a moving truck just to move an hour away! 

Eli was awesome today. He spent a lot of time just playing by himself so I stopped to take a few pictures

socks falling off, pants-less and a drool soaked shirt. so cute :)

Cucumber!

For those of you that like to see Eli making funny faces... :)

He didn't seem to like it at first but he kept trying and pretty soon he loved it!