Family Pictures and a Dog Bite

So my brother-in-law is leaving tomorrow for the MTC. We are so EXCITED for him!! And so naturally, we took family pictures on Sunday before we won't all be together for at least two years. We took many pictures and got a few good ones. It's more difficult when we put the camera on a timer, all hurry in position, and expect two one year olds to look (and smile) up at the camera with no one behind it. I don't know who was the genius, but someone thought to put a singing toy at the camera and that got the babies' attention. :)

This picture was the winner and will be hanging up at my in-laws for a while. Derrick kept mentioning how "out of place" I look in this family with my skin shades whiter than everyone else, as well as my super blonde hair. Even Aaron fits with his darker skin. Oh well, I guess. I actually thought I was more tan than usual this summer! Apparently not!

This was the best one of our little family of 3½. Never could quite get Aaron to smile, and he's playing with my hair, but at least he's looking, right? lol

The grandparents wanted to do a shot with their grandkids. I think Aaron's face is HILARIOUS in this shot. Obviously, it didn't go too well. Did get some ok ones with Ella holding keys and Aaron holding grandpa's cell phone though.

Then we decided to do some of just the babies. These ones are my favorite. :)

I don't know if Aaron understood or just liked me talking to him, but I asked if he wanted a treat. And this was his response! :) Made us all laugh.

So then I had to give the babies a treat.

And they were pretty excited about it! :)

We were just walking back to the car, and Derrick's mom took this one.

And this one, where Matt wanted to be a part of it as well. Matt sure knows how to always make everyone laugh!

So overall, pictures were quite a success considering everything that was not in our favor (namely two babies).

Well today, Aaron and I met Nicole and Ella at the park. It's so funny to see the difference between these two kids. Ella has no fear (probably more just not knowing any better) and just goes wherever she wants whenever she wants. Aaron, on the opposite hand, is very cautious and will not even go onto grass from cement. And if he does, he crawls over in case it's too steep of a step (which rarely it is steep enough to need to crawl). There was a bridge up to the playground, and this had little affect on Ella. She just walks right up and down. For Aaron, it took me holding his hand the entire time for the first time. And every time after that, he would hold the banister and take these baby steps while holding on the entire time. He looked like an old man who was afraid he'd lose his step at any moment and holding on for dear life. I should have got a video, it was so funny.

But while at this park, the babies decided to go and meet a puppy. This puppy was very cute and obedient, but jumped up on Aaron pretty quickly. She licked Aaron's face, and nipped his cheek before I could separate the two. So now he has two teeth marks on his little cheek and wouldn't go near that dog again.

As you can see, it wasn't bad at all. There's a tooth mark up by his eye, another lower (can't really see) and his cheek is pink. I'm just glad it wasn't worse as this puppy really could have gotten his eye.

I hope he's not super scared of dogs now as he really has always loved them. And I am also debating on whether I need to do more about this dog bite... As technically, there was saliva/blood contact even though it was small. I guess I'll just call the doctor and see what he says... it's not like I don't already call him every week I swear lol

It's a boy!

Yes, we are going to have another little Aaron running around our house in 4½ months! :) And there is no way it's a girl. My little man had no shame all throughout the ultrasound. I saw what he was before the nurse even told us, and we weren't even looking for the gender at the time. We were looking at kidneys and bladder and all that fun stuff. The nurse could tell that I saw (as I think I gasped a little bit or squeaked out some kind of noise in surprise/excitement) , so she hesitantly asked, "Did you want to know the gender?" I said "Yeah." And then she said, "Ok good. It's definitely a boy. I've seen it a few times but didn't want to tell you in case you didn't want to know."

I am SO excited! Derrick and I both thought that this would be a little girl, but I guess that little girl just has to wait her turn to get down here (which I can feel she is not the happiest about... she wants to come down NOW!). I was a little more wanting a boy as then I don't need to buy all new baby stuff right when we are planning on moving out of state. It will help out during that busy time for sure. I also wanted boys close together so they could be good buddies. :)

Derrick more wanted a girl as he thinks boys close in age tend to fight more, but last night he was really starting to get excited for another boy. It was fun to see him get all smiley and excited for another son. :)

The only thing I was bummed about not having a girl was my girl's nursery would be music themed. I have since been told by numerous people to still go with it for a boy (as music really shouldn't be just a girl thing, although it still kinda feels like it), so tweak a few things (like no pink) and I still get to do my music even with having a boy. :)

So Derrick and I have the hardest times choosing names... and we had a boy name picked and pretty much finalized, so when the nurse said "boy" I thought "Oh the name is easy then. Yeah!" Umm... just kidding! Derrick looked up our name to see how popular the name we liked was, and now found new names we like... Is this process hard for anyone else?! My goodness! My goal is to just have a name before we are in the hospital... finding out my husband didn't like Aaron's middle name during labor wasn't fun, as well as the pressure of turning a birth certificate in before we left. I'm determined to have a final name before that. So stressful on top of everything else to choose a name in the hospital.

Sorry this post is long with no pictures to break it up. The ultrasound pics are hard to see when I scanned them in, so thought they'd more be a waste of time to put up.

The State Fair

We went to the State Fair on Wednesday since I didn't have Young Women's that night. We went with Derrick's siblings Nicole, Nicole's daughter Ella, Jared, Jessica, and Jessica's husband Trevor. We had LOTS of fun and saw many things. It tuckered out Aaron, who fell asleep on the stroller ride to the car... to become wide awake again the whole car ride home! Made no sense, but he sure talked our ears off the whole drive home.

Aaron didn't like the animals much. He was more concerned than entertained by them. If an animal came too close, he swatted at them and tried to get away. Pretty funny.

Babies checking out the kangaroos!

The Kangaroos were the only animals he really got close up to by himself. (Well, he did poke a sheep) He did enjoy watching them. But this little guy ran up to him faster than he liked...

And he quickly ran away to not go near the cage again lol

Waiting for the hypnotist show to start!

My bro-in-law was chosen (thanks to me pointing at him while his eyes were closed!) and was by far the star of the show. This is him being Justin Bieber all throughout "his audience" at "his concert!" So funny! I was crying I was laughing so hard!

Jared was a very dramatic sleeper. He is currently on the guy next to him falling off of his seat.

Jared was told there was a smiley face on his index finger. Jared was really happy about this.

Was told the person next to you was a giant teddy bear... he is in the plaid shirt buried underneath the people next to him. He really got into the cuddling.

.

Sleeping again...

Here's one of my bro-in-law Trevor sleeping. He didn't stay hypnotized for long, for which I am sure he is grateful so that he could watch Jared

I promise there were animals in the background, but I guess they didn't show up. Did think it was a cute one of Aaron though :)

Aaron was very grateful for his blanket at the end of the day :)

Pat-a-Cake

We taught Aaron "Pat-a-Cake" a long time ago and he really only got down the fact that I'd start singing when he clapped. I still put his hands through the motions, but not much happened than that. He did "mark it" for a little bit, but I guess I kinda forgot to keep it up.

Today, while I was putting him in his pjs, he started clapping. So I thought, hey! I haven't sung that in months! And started singing. To my COMPLETE surprise, he went through all of the motions! I though his "roll" was so adorable! I ran out with Aaron to show Derrick and he did it all again! I grabbed the camera, and of course then he didn't do it as well. But here is a video of what we got, which really is lucky to get anything with this kid. It always seems that he quits whatever he's doing by the time the camera is ready and rolling.

Aaron popped a tooth!

Yes, it's a miracle. Aaron has cut another tooth. Thank goodness this one was cake. He seemed to not being feeling good over the weekend, but never stopped eating or ran a fever. Just more cuddly than usual, which really is not a complaint from me. :) But today as I was tossing him in a pile of blankets as a game, I could see his top teeth very well as he laughed. And I noticed a new tooth! It's off to the side on the top again, so it will not do much good until a bottom tooth comes in to match, but hey. We'll take the fact that this one was so easy to come on. Every other tooth he fevered and didn't eat to some degree.

I have been trying for a while now to get a picture of Aaron's teeth before one came in, but my camera was lost.. then found but dead... charger lost... charger found, but sister borrowed it...

sister moved to New York... finally got the charger and my camera reunited today! Yeah!! So here's some quick shots I got of Aaron. He is always on the move so they aren't the best of pics, but he posed in some which was fun.

This was my last picture. He pulled this as he ran to hug me. And after that, he wouldn't let me back up enough to take another picture.

He's getting so big! And sadly, our place is a mess! You wouldn't believe I've already cleaned this room today!

This is where Aaron posed. Made me laugh and I missed taking a picture the first few times he did it. Lucky, he thought he was funny enough to do it again.

This is the one where you can see his "vampire" teeth. Not way too well, and who knows once I post it, but his top two teeth are not next to each other. It makes me laugh.

So the great and dreadful semester has begun. Derrick is student teaching in Syracuse and then works in Clearfield almost everyday. He has Monday nights off, where I have to leave for my own class before he even gets home. Poor guy has 13 hour days most weekdays, and 11 hours of work on Saturday. He is going to be one busy guy so hopefully this will go fast for him. I have made a paper chain counting down the days of the semester. I also am worried I am going to be quite a bit bored being in my basement all day every day, so I put things to do on each chain. We'll see if I even stick to them. Since I made the chain, I decided to make my "dream nursery" this semester with all of my free time. So that may just fulfill all of my needs. :)

I am down 18 weeks now and cannot WAIT for our next appointment. I'm really dying not knowing the gender, which is unusual for me. I think it's just all the thinking of my nursery lately, knowing I can't really start until I know the gender. Derrick and I are also next to hopeless when it comes to choosing baby names (we actually got lucky in naming Aaron) and I think it will be easier when we only have to focus on one gender. Derrick is beyond certain that it's a girl. I've been calling the baby "he" and Derrick doesn't like it. I just have only ever had and can think about a boy, so that's what I'm use to saying. I guess now I am calling "her" a "she" but it just feels weird. I just can't wait until we know for sure.

I wish I had an updated belly shot. This was me at 13 weeks. (I had a belly at 8 weeks.. so much for keeping it a real secret. Almost everyone who sees me said they thought I was pregnant) I've been told you get bigger faster with your second pregnancy, but this has not been the case for me. I did show quickly, but I did with Aaron too. I was in maternity pants and shirts (not even the rubber-band on my normal pants fit) at about 11 weeks with Aaron. Now I'm 18 weeks and still not quite there. My pants that are usually too big for me are perfect now, so haven't busted out the maternity box quite yet. Which works because Aaron was a winter pregnancy, so I don't already have maternity shorts or capris.

That pretty much sums it up. Hopefully I will have an announcement next time!

We are Pregnant!!

So we have officially announced that we are expecting. It's been a little hard for me to hold it in for so long, but Derrick and I agreed that we'd try to get to the 16 week mark before telling everyone. And we made it! Yeah!

I am due February 1 so it'll be an interesting time for us to have a baby. Derrick graduates in December and the plan (if it so happens this way) is to find a job out of state and move Christmas Break. This will be WAY fun to do with a one year old and eight months pregnant ha ha. (sarcasm DEFINITELY implied) We will see how everything works out when it comes.

This is my 16 week ultrasound. Baby is COMPLETELY on its head. Actually looks quite uncomfortable...

It really is funny just how different I've treated this pregnancy than I did with Aaron. I was so careful and tracked and read every week and knew exactly how far along I was at every moment. This pregnancy... not even close. The weeks have actually been sneaking up on me since I've more just been living life normally. I have been severely blessed so far. I never did get sick. I would sometimes gag when I tried to do the dishes, but it was never nausea. I just simply would do them later or my sweet, sweet husband would do them when he was home from work. I've been tired, but that's more I think because I have a little guy who never sleeps. He is starting to sleep only 8 hours at night, and I am still on the schedule of staying up a few hours after he's down to get some time to myself. I think I would be just fine if I gave that up and went to bed when Aaron did... which is hard to do... grrr.

Up in the black circle are baby's feet! So cute! (Sorry it's hard to see through a scanner...)

Aaron is so sweet to any other kid, so I am VERY excited to see him with a little sibling. Hopefully his hitting will be over with by then or we may have many problems there. But usually he is very kind, helpful, and sharing of every toy he has to any child that visits.

The other day, Aaron walked right up to my belly (I was laying down on the couch watching him), looked at it, lifted up my shirt, and smiled while still staring at my tummy! Then he looked at me, giggled, and looked back at my stomach, just grinning from ear to ear. He gently put my shirt back down and went off to play. It was a very tender moment and just testifies to me of how close to the veil and spirit little children are. I am so blessed to have Aaron's sweet, strong spirit around me all the time.

Derrick and I have been debating (ok, just me debating) on whether to find out the gender or not. Derrick wants to wait until birth, and wanted to do so with Aaron but I didn't even give it a chance. I've really wrestled with this on this baby because I want to wait because it's what Derrick wants, but it may just make me go a little (or lot) crazy. I have gone back and forth since we found out we were pregnant and I'm probably already driving Derrick nuts. Well, when we went into our 16 week appointment, the doc asked if we wanted to find out. I hesitated in answering and said we weren't sure. She said, "Oh. You want to find out and he doesn't?" She knew what it was right away. Derrick immediately said, " She's going to go crazy if we don't, so we might as well do it now." I felt guilty for getting my way yet again, but it also was a relief. But then, of course, baby's legs were crossed and we still didn't find out a definite gender. But it's looking like we will know in four weeks instead of 24 weeks!

I wanted to add a recent picture of Aaron, but when I looked through my computer I don't have any since our vacation in JUNE! I guess it's time to bust out the camera and snap a few smiles, especially since Aaron has two top teeth currently that are not next to each other so his "creepy" smile looks quite vampire-ish. Gotta get that before more teeth come in! I promise to post Aaron next time!

Girls Camp

So I went to girl's camp on Wednesday and I actually enjoyed myself much more than I thought I would! And I know that's not the nicest thing to say, but it's true. Going as a leader was definitely different... I didn't have to participate in all of the activities, I got a chair whenever we sat, I could come and go (although the Stake leaders kept getting after me for doing this before I told them I was a leader...) and it was just a fun experience.

I first was worried about the hike, but since my car is wrecked I had to catch a ride. And my ride couldn't go until noon, so we missed the 10 o'clock hike! I was actually really grateful as my body doesn't do well in heat and this summer is SO HOT! And that mixing with my incredible ability to pass out, I didn't think I would be able to handle it very well. And it ended up being extra good as I heard from multiple leaders how difficult the hike was. Yea for me missing it not on purpose!! :)

But what was amazing was our evening devotional. They had a gal named Meg Johnson come speak to us. She was in an accident at age 22 and became a quadriplegic. And you'd think her talk was on trials and hardships and "if I can do it, you can do it" but no. She briefly explained what happened but then that was pretty much it on that subject. She did share some learning experiences from her accident that applied, but also ones from before her accident. I was impressed that her message didn't dwell on what happened at all. She focused on how we are all princesses of our Heavenly Father, and with that how we should act. It was AMAZING and I was so GRATEFUL that I lucked out to be in charge of the best day at girls camp. I learned so much from this amazing woman.

After that devotional, we had a "Follow the Iron Rod" activity/walk. After spiritual thoughts from the stake president, we were blind folded and told to follow the rod while people tried to get us off. The Camp Director came up to me and said "Oh one of your girls got hurt! You need to hurry and come with me!" At first I felt a little panic, but then realized what she was doing! I was surprised that they were trying to get the leaders off too and they were good in what they said. When I reached the end and they said I was done, I didn't believe her lol She basically had to take my blindfold off for me. I then lead all of my girls into a room with a lit up tree and it was so fun to see their faces as they walked in. We have many girls who have never had an experience like this and it was so rewarding to see them. I gave a thought about the tree and after they each got their fruit, we went back to camp and talked about it. One of my girls commented that through the whole time, she was thinking about all the things she was doing wrong and that she needed to repent and make better choices. Now that is BEST thing a leader can hear. We have many girls in our ward that come from hard backgrounds and struggle and it is so amazing to see them watch and grow in the gospel. Girl's camp truly was an amazing experience for just me personally and I am so grateful that I was able to go (even though I wasn't so excited in the first place).