Pregnancy Pictures

So I figured I should take a picture of myself sometime this pregnancy. Wednesday night I went out with some friends and actually did my hair and stuff, so I took Brian to take my picture since it was the one time I didn't look like I was chasing around a toddler all day long. Here I am at 26 1/2 weeks.

Here I am about 26 weeks with Joshua.

I feel like my stomach is bigger with this baby, but I have gotten less big in my hips and thighs. I have also noticed this baby moves more than Joshua did. Sometimes I wonder if she sleeps enough, or if she will let me sleep enough when she is born. She kicks more than Joshua did, but he used to press on me with his head, or butt or something. It is interesting to me that they act differently already.

Also I was always worried with Joshua that he would kick me when I got a shot. He was usually pretty calm, and never kicked me when I got the nightly shot. This little girl seems to come alive every night when Brian gives me the shot. One time she even kicked me right where he gave me the shot. Fortunately it hurt less than I anticipated. Brian will sometimes bang on the other side of my stomach from where he is going to give me my shot to distract her. I don't know if it works or not though.

Also she is already a Daddy's girl. Brian got to feel Joshua kick maybe 3 or 4 times before he was born. Joshua would always stop whenever Brian would try to feel him. This baby will let Brian feel her kick at least once a day, if not more. I can't believe she could be such a Daddy's girl before she is even born.

Joshua getting dressed and other stuff

Joshua has been developing like crazy lately. His vocabulary is expanding as is his desire to do things. He has gotten a few jobs lately like putting his bibs and clothes in the hamper which he does really well at, except for when he gets confused and puts them in the trash or in his giant diaper box. But he tries and he has a good attitude about it. He also likes to try things for himself and if he wants to do it himself he says "I try". That means bug off Mom or Dad I am going to do this. That is great some of the time, but when I am trying to get out the door and he won't let me help him put on his shoes it can cause some conflict.

One of the things a child is supposed to do by their second birthday is be able to put on a simple article of clothing. Joshua has been trying for months but has not succeeded. I figured this milestone might be late, but wasn't too worried about it since he was trying. I was thinking about that the other day when I was driving home, and opening the garage. I went back to the car to get Joshua out, and he had put his hat on. He did it at exactly the same time I was thinking that he couldn't. He proved me wrong. The next day he went to work getting on his sister's jacket. Joshua ended up getting it on, upside down, but on. Here he is looking so proud. Brian zipped it up for him if you were wondering.

Joshua also likes to put on his apron and have me put on my apron. Here we are together in our aprons. (Joshua's face is cut off because I was trying to take the picture myself, and this is the only one the lighting worked out).

Here is Joshua in his apron.

Now for the random stuff, first off I have been finding tons of crazy deals on diapers and stocking up like crazy for both Joshua and the baby. I have been using the boxes to pack up stuff for when we move, and put all the diapers in a giant box. I probably have 600-700 diapers in this box. Joshua helped me put them all in, and now he loves to sit on top.

Yesterday we had a primary activity on missionary work. Here is Joshua with his name tag [Missionary Activity]. We wrote letters to missionaries, learned about exercise, made a healthy snack, learned a scripture, then we went and listened to someone talk about their mission. Joshua listened to Brother Barzee talk about his mission in the Baltic States. Joshua was so interested he sat there for over 30 minutes. He never sits still that long. Then we got to sample foods from all the different countries, they were all really yummy.

Lately Joshua has had to be super brave. Last night Brian found a tick on the bottom of his head. (I am such a great mom, that I saw it two days earlier, but didn't recognize it and thought it was just a scab from one of his many falls). I had to hold Joshua still while Brian pulled it out. Joshua sat there so good and didn't fight at all. But part of it was stuck in. So I had to hold Joshua still to try to get it out, and Joshua held perfectly still and only whimpered. When Brian was done Joshua kept telling us "All Done" to make sure we were done picking on him.

Then tonight we cut his hair again. Joshua was super good and held still, especially for the scissors. He didn't fight at all. He is so brave. So that is Joshua's many adventures for this week.

Joshua loves Jesus

The other day my visiting teachers came over and one of them mentioned doing scripture study with the kids. I mentioned that I hadn't really started with Joshua, tried a couple of times but he didn't seem interested. She said when her oldest was Joshua's age they went through the gospel art kit. So the next night Brian and I tried it. Joshua loved it when we showed him the first picture which was Jesus.

The next night Brian was gone and I went to the next picture which was of Adam and Eve. Joshua looks at it and goes "No, Jesus". So we had to go to the New Testament part and look at those pictures instead, the whole time Joshua kept saying "More" and "More Jesus".

Last night I was trying to get Joshua to come sit down and fold his arms for prayers. He likes to stall at prayer time so he can stall his bedtime which follows right after. He will run around his room and make sure everything is ready for the night like 3 times for each item. I told him to come pray so then we could look at Jesus pictures. He was still running around so I told him to come pray so we could talk to Heavenly Father and Jesus. Within 10 seconds he was sitting down with his arms folded ready to pray.

This morning he was excited to go to church and kept going to the door and saying "GO", but when I got out his jacket he ran away screaming and when I caught up with him he wanted nothing to do with his jacket or going to church. Finally I told him that we need to go to church to learn about Jesus, immediately Joshua held out his arm to get his jacket on.

It is really exciting to see how early children can understand and start to appreciate the gospel. Now with his understanding we will try to be more consistent with doing the things we should to teach him like have family scriptures and family night more than just occasionally.

Beginnings of Spring

I don't have any pictures with this post because the weather has been so beautiful and I have been too busy playing with Joshua to take pictures.

Most of the winter the temperature stayed below freezing, but then suddenly it was in the 40s. Joshua and I basically ran outside after being cooped up so long. The melting snow created giant puddles and Joshua couldn't resist stomping in them. He would also put his hand in them and splash and grab things out of the puddles. He didn't care that the puddles came from melting snow and were freezing cold, they were so fun to play in.

After several days of bringing in a soaking wet child I sent Brian to the store to buy goulashes for Joshua. I guess normal people whose children are Joshua's size don't let them splash in puddles because Brian couldn't find any goulashes in his size, so we too big ones on the child. It took Joshua a minute to figure out how to walk in his giant boots but he soon got the hang of it. Joshua especially loved it when Brian put on his work boots and went puddle stomping with Joshua. But between having new puddle boots and Brian going with him, Joshua got brave and went in a giant puddle that went over the top of his boots and he still came in soaking wet. But he had tons of fun.

Since it has been warm we have also spent several days at Congress Park. Joshua loves following the ducks around, running in any which direction he pleases, finding sticks or leaves or other treasures, and going up and down the steps of the war memorial.

Another fun place we have been is the local elementary school's playground. Joshua loves going up the stairs and down the little slide. The bigger slides don't have normal stairs to them, so Joshua tries to climb up the slide. I am too big to help him go up the scary stairs, and so I just try to push him up the slide as he climbs, but the slides are too tall. Whatever we both get our exercise. Joshua tried out the big swings and did really well, except when he would tell me to swing next to him. He would take his hand off the chain to point at the swing, and then he would fall off. After a couple of times he figured out how to put his elbow around the swing to hang on while pointing at my swing.

We are loving spring and can't wait for more outside adventures to come this year.

Walking pneumonia

I tend not to take Joshua to the doctor unless I have to. Before his adnoids were removed, his nose was running all the time, so it was impossible to really tell if he was sick. (Joshua always sleeps really well at night and is always very energetic). Also I don't want to go to the doctor and have them tell us that its just a cold so run a humidifier and give him fluids. I can come up with that on my own. Last winter Joshua did get sick and I thought it was just a cold and I took him in for his well baby check-up and instead of giving him his shots they sent us home with a nebulizer.

Well this winter Joshua has had a cough ever since it got really cold, and so has half the kids we see at church and at library. This last week I developed a cough and thought I just got the same cough that Joshua had. Well a few days later the cough got deeper and Joshua's cough became deeper too. I started keeping us inside and we started watching movies to rest, but I was sure it would just go away. Monday night I started coughing so much I kept Brian up half the night and he called in to work to take a day off to take care of me. Thursday night Joshua woke up screaming and uncomfortable, Brian was able to get him to go back to sleep.

The next morning I woke up still coughing and Joshua had a fever. I finally decided to call the doctor. Joshua's appointment was first and they said he had walking pneumonia. I felt like a great mom I waited so long to take Joshua to the doctor he had mild pneumonia. Lovely. When I went to the doctor I found out I had bronchitis borderline walking pneumonia.

Fortunately there are lovely antibiotics and we are feeling much better now. We also watched Cars, Finding Nemo, and Winnie the Pooh about 85 times each in our healing process. Maybe I will take him to the doctor sooner next time, but probably not.