A visit from my mom and the 3 littles.

We were lucky enough to have my mom come visit for 5 days a week ago.

It was Michael's spring break and since my mom didn't get to see him at Emerson's farewell she decided she would just make the 14 hour drive up here.

(Crazy if you ask me:))

But I definitely can't complain.

It was so nice to have her here. She is always such a huge help and it definitely is nice to get to sleep in a little bit!

Olivia absolutely loves my mom and always wants her to read to her and put her to bed. And the first thing she does in the morning is call "maaaa" to come get her to cuddle.

I love that.

She was able to bring me up some things I needed from home for the new baby as well as take a bunch of things back to her house that I don't need here.

As you know, I've been in nesting mode for coming up on 3 months and I'm still going strong.

We were able to have a lot fun despite the mass organization that also took place.

We seriously spent an entire day shopping at the Woodburn outlets and Washington Square in Portland. (Mostly H&M, love that store!), went shopping here in Salem for other baby needs, painted a dresser, organized and prepared Olivia's room for another little person, ate delicious food, went on walks to get pop, went to the merry go round, my mom enjoyed a nice golfing round with Michael, played lots of basketball while Olivia played on the playground, watched movies and talked, sometimes in to the night. It was wonderful.

Sometimes I feel like I am so darn good at taking pictures of the going ons in our little family. Other times I seriously want to kick myself for not taking enough pictures. This is one of those times. At least,  I did manage to take a few.

 So we were in the outlet store Janie and Jack freaking out over the stunning clothes for Olivia and Clara.

Meanwhile, Olivia is freaking out by the door begging to go see the Easter bunny.

So we take her outside and go right up to the Easter bunny. 

She just stares not saying anything or smiling.

So I go sit down right next to him while holding her.

She immediately burst out bawling and latched on to me like a little monkey!

I think it's safe to say that she preferred the Easter bunny from inside the store:)

 Shoulder ride from Elizabeth!

The before.

And the after of the lovely dresser!

I still have some decorating to do on top as well as finding some cute knobs to put on.

Waiting to go on the merry go round.

Olivia was a bit skeptical at first but as long as the twins and Harrison were doing it she wanted to!

 I love how she is holding her little token. She wanted to give it to the guy all by herself!

I love this picture even though it is a bit blurry.

This is right as it is starting to move.

She's so very excited!

Totally loving every second of the ride.

Every time she would come around she would look for my mom and I and wave to us all while dying of laughter.

It was the cutest thing to watch.

She loved playing at the park with ma.

It was a little on the cold side and we weren't planning on going so my mom let Olivia wear her sweatshirt ha!

Having so much fun going down the slides!

She looks absolutely adorable in her oversized sweatshirt.

I just want to squish her!

We had such a fun few days and I was definitely sad to see them leave.

Olivia always has such a hard time saying goodbye. Which is sad because she obviously doesn't really understand.

Maybe someday soon we'll move back to Utah:)

It's weird and exciting all at the same to think that next time we see my mom will be when Clara's born!

Which luckily is not too far away:)

30 weeks.

Yay for the BIG 3-0!

This week, I think it is safe to say, that my morning sickness has returned.

Luckily after a quick throwup in the mornings, a nice breakfast with a half a zofran. I'm feeling much better.
Or at least good enough to make it through the day having a little fun:)
I've also been increasingly tired.
Some nights I sleep 10 hours, take a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day, yet still feel like I haven't slept in days.
But that's how it goes right?!
One thing I absolutely love is how active our little one is.
She is moving all the time!
Luckily she seems to calm down at night so she isn't keeping me up.
Yet...:)

This pregnancy has been extremely hard on me physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Definitely a lot harder than Olivia's was.

During my entire pregnancy with Olivia I received constant comments on how small I was and how I was going to have a small baby and blah blah.
Then, it just made me mad.
But the same thing has happened with this pregnancy and I'm not going to lie I feel like I've let what people say affect me much more than I should.
I've been told that I'm unhealthy, the baby is going to be unhealthy, that the reason Clara's been measuring small is because I don't eat enough.
And I'm sick of it.
It's not so much the actual comments that get to me but the fact that by them saying them they are implying that I'm not being a good mom or something.
And that I care more about how I look rather than the health of my baby.
It's extremely hurtful and has been something that I've really had to work through.
My doctor has told me numerous times that I am perfectly healthy, that our baby is perfectly healthy.
And that yes, I carry my babies different than most but that doesn't matter.
I've gained the recommended weight and definitely do everything I can to take care of myself and the baby.
I try to remember that and not let what people say get to me.
It's hard, but I've come to realize that those comments come from people that don't know me well, well enough to make such judgements.
And so after a lot of anger and tears I've decided that people can talk, they will talk but that doesn't matter.
I instead want to focus my attention on this precious blessing we're about to receive.
I couldn't be more excited to meet my sweet girl and to have the special honor of being her mom.
It's such an incredible feeling to know that Heavenly Father is trusting us with another one of His special daughters to love and cherish forever.
Our family is truly blessed.
So here's to 10 more weeks.
Maybe a little less:)

We were able to see our baby girl again last week.

She's so perfect I can hardly stand it!

She is still measuring small...in the 15th percentile. And her stomach is measuring in the 5th.

She is weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds 3 ounces.

None of this is concerning yet, but they would like to continue watching her closely and make sure she is still growing and receiving enough nutrients from the placenta.

My doctor said that sometimes placentas get to a certain point where they stop providing adequate nutrients to the baby.

And that this happens whether or not I'm eating 1000 or 10000 calories a day.

And so there will be more ultrasounds in the future which is perfectly fine with me!

This exact same thing happened with Olivia and I ended up having to be induced at 37 weeks.

So that puts us just 7 short weeks away from meeting our baby.

If she follows in her sister's footsteps:)

We'll see..but for now I've got to finish her baby blankets and burp cloths!

Oh and sorry about the venting.

This is my journal and I want to remember those kinds of things.

Our very sick baby.

I am so sad to have to say it, but I do.

I really really hate nursery.

Those of you that know me know that I am a complete germ freak.

When Olivia was born I hardly let anyone hold her and if they did they did they had to scrub up and put hand sanitizer on every time they touched her.

I did not want anyone kissing her unless it was Michael or me.

And really so much more, but I'll spare the details.

I may have been a tad bit over protective but I definitely do not regret it.

And I know I will be the exact same with baby Clara.

It's just me.

Anyways, as Olivia turned 18 months old (nursery age) it never even crossed my mind to allow her to go.

I mean there are like 20 kids in there that slobber and drool all over everything.

And there's no way to know if they are sick or not because no offense people but parents send their children regardless of whether or not they are sick.

That being said Olivia attended nursery one time this last summer.

Got sick (like I thought) and didn't go back until two Sundays ago.

Michael and I figured that since flu season was coming to an end and her being 21/2 and just really quite a distraction to us when we keep her with us, decided to give it another shot.

I mean there was a sign on the door that said don't bring your child even if they have the sniffles.

So reluctantly I let my baby go.

And what do you know, Tuesday morning she wakes up with a runny nose and goes to bed with not only a runny nose but a cough complete with wheezing.

Words cannot describe how mad I was.

I mean seriously parents is it that hard to keep your child home if they are sick?

Here's our cute girl feeling so sick.
Yet, still  trying to enjoy watching The Lion King.

Well over the next few hours things went from what looked like just a bad cold to she seriously needs to see the doctor now.
Her wheezing got a lot worse and I could just see her little chest moving up and down as she tried so hard to breathe.
My pediatrician was out of the office for the day but luckily there was another doctor there that was willing to see her immediately.
The second we walked in they took us back and the doctor came in and took one look at her and said that she needed a breathing treatment.
So they hooked a little mask up to the oxygen tank and I just held the mask up to her nose for 10 minutes.
Luckily it didn't have to go over her face or anything so she was pretty relaxed.
Except for at the very end when she randomly started throwing up.
It was bad.
Especially with my heightened sense of smell and overall grossed outness with barf since I'd barfed well over 100 times in the recent months.
It was all I could do to not join in with her.
Luckily, I caught a lot of it in my hand and blanket so I just had to take her shirt off.
When the doctor came in to check on her again he seriously looked at her for 5 seconds and then said, "excuse me" and walked back out.
Okay, by now I was freaking out a bit.
She still sounded the same and was just really having a hard time breathing.
A few minutes later he came in with another doctor who immediately said that she needed to go to the hospital and spend at least the night there so that they could give her breathing treatments as needed.
They told me to take her straight there and not even to go home to grab her a change of clothes.
I called Michael who was at school and was planning on being there in to the night because he was debating cases from a recent paper in front of judges.
I planned on taking her there myself and him walking over when he could.
(His school is literally right down the street.)
When we got there they got us all checked in and had a room right ready for her.
Michael showed up and said that his professor told him to not worry about the cases and to get over to the hospital.
It was very nice to have him there, so I'm definitely grateful to his professor.
She immediately started receiving a breathing treatment and sadly had to have her nose suctioned as well as a RSV test.
For those of you that don't know they stick this extremely long cotton swab like thing up their nose and apparently it stings them a bit.
I had to help hold her down during this process and it was all I could do to not burst out bawling.
I wished more than anything at that moment that I could take her place.
But we survived and when the test came back an hour later it was negative.
Meaning that she had caught some other random virus going around.
When I told the nurses about everything we had done a few days prior they definitely agreed with me on the high possibility of her catching this from nursery.
I could not stand the thought of leaving my baby girl so I decided to spend the night rather than Michael who had class early that next morning.
I mostly just sat in the rocking chair and held her.
And when it came time to go to bed Olivia refused to go in the crib, she wanted to "seep mom chair" (Sleep mom chair) so the nurses were nice enough to roll us in a twin bed so that we both could sleep in it.
It made me feel so happy to know that she wanted me and only me.
We got little sleep since we were being disturbed often for breathing treatments and checkups.
Luckily, we began seeing improvements throughout the night and I could definitely tell that she was breathing easier.
When morning finally came, (it seemed like an endless night) her pediatrician came in and said that she sounded so much better.
He wanted her to have a few more treatments as well as some oral steroids but that she would be able to go home later on.

Isn't she precious?

Then, daddy came to visit.
And Olivia decided that she wanted to play in her crib.
Meaning bounce around like a wild banshee and fling herself face first on to the mattress.
She especially love playing ring around the rosies with herself.
I'm telling you, between the breathing treatments/medications and her lack of sleep she was a bit loopy to say the least:)
All she wanted to eat was ice cream.
Which was totally fine with me because I personally think it doesn't get better than a nice chocolate shake!

She was so cute in her little gown and all.

Getting dressed to go home!

We were able to go home and all get some much needed sleep.
I am so grateful that she's all right.
Many prayers were answered and I know without a doubt that our little family was definitely being watched over.
When we first got there the nurses and doctors were so worried and thought she'd be there for days.
They were all very surprised at her quick recovery.
But our little girl is a fighter.
We've always known that.

We've had a follow up appointment and she is completely back to normal.
We have an inhaler that we give her whenever she starts coughing/wheezing.
Her doctor would like to keep a close eye on her because there is a possibility she may have asthma.
But other than that we have a perfectly healthy, crazy, cute as can be 2 1/2 year old.
Who we love so dearly.

Oh and she's never going to nursery again:)
Seriously.

"Can you feel the love tonight" (Olivia style).

This is by far the cutest thing I've ever seen.

She's so much like her daddy it's not even funny.

I'm just grateful I get to hear that sweet voice of hers all day every day!

A few pictures from our weekend.

 On Saturday Olivia and I decided to tackle the huge chore of getting our car cleaned.

We seriously hadn't cleaned it since summer. So you can imagine how bad it was.

Luckily it ended up not be too much work for us since we sat inside enjoying a peach smoothie while other people did all the work:)

Although, I will say I wasn't completely impressed with the service and ended up doing a few touchups myself when we got home. 

It seriously looks like a completely different car.

And this time I plan on keeping it that way! 

 Here's our cute girl on the way home from the grocery store getting ready to go pick up a couple sandwiches from the very yummy Jimmy Johns.

She's quite excited about this:)

 And what's a Saturday night without a yummy dessert of cinnamon rolls.

 The past week or so I've been sewing like a crazy person trying to get all of Clara's nightgowns made.

4 down, 1 to go.

Oh and 4 blankets and 12 burpcloths ha.

I've got a ways to go.

Of course there is nothing better than homemade bread.

It is a little bit of work but SO worth it.

Seriously I refuse to buy bread anymore unless of course I'm too lazy to make my own:)

Recipe found here.

And just incase you want to see our happy hyper little girl in action.

Watch this.

Things are so crazy around here right now.

I feel like I have a zillion things to do.

Taxes, bills, cleaning, getting the oil changed in our car as well as installing a new headlight,  LOTS of baby preparations,  3 doctors appointments, making our blog books,  plus all the other usuals. 

We'll just say by the end up the day I am completely wiped.

And did I mention I now have an Iphone?

I'm truly in love with it and have no idea how I lived without it.

Thank you Emerson (Elder Farr) ha!

My 28 week baby bump!

 (27 weeks)

(28 weeks)

I am extremely excited to say that I have made it to the third and final trimester of this pregnancy!

So, we figured out that if baby Clara is born at the exact same week as Olivia was she will be here in just 9 weeks!

Of course it may be a little longer, but the end is definitely in sight.

I feel like there is still so much to be done to prepare for her arrival so the next weeks will be quite busy.

Of course a lot of that time will be spent playing with my cute Olivia.

I really can't wait to have 2 girls.

It will surely be the best!

So, I had my 28 week appointment.

The one where you drink that nasty glucose drink, get vials and vials of blood drawn and then if you are me and have the RH factor you get a nice big shot right in your hip.

It was a pleasurable appointment to say the least:)

So, as we were discussing baby Clara and her small size the doctor decided that since on my last ultrasound she was only measuring in the 20th percentile and now I am still measuring small (via the tape measure) that it would be good to have another ultrasound to see how she is growing.

The doctor said most likely I either just have tiny babies (which was the case with Olivia and most likely the case with Clara) or that there could be something with my placenta that causes the baby to not grow. 

Although I carry my babies a bit differently (I swear it's in my back), I have definitely put on the recommended weight. So there is nothing I can do but just hope she's doing fine in there.

My ultrasound is in a week so we'll see what happens.

I'm mostly just excited to see my cute girl!

I also wanted to write down a few things I've been experiencing just so I'll always remember.

Sadly, I still experience a bit of nausea ESPECIALLY in the car.

Oh my gosh, I am definitely prone to car sickness. 

It's bad.

My back and legs are always aching.

(I now officially use a body pillow to sleep)

I may shortly become a waddling pregnant lady:)

I have that sciatic nerve issue where I get a shooting pain down my leg that literally makes it impossible to move.

I get extremely bad heartburn.

(Thankfully I discovered tums)

But it's all okay because my hair is so luscious and full, it's amazing:) And my bra size has increased two sizes already. Which is a big deal for someone like me who literally normally wears the smallest bra known to mankind!

Oh and in just a few short weeks I will get a perfect baby girl.

It definitely makes this whole 9 months of barfing/nausea, constant aches and pains so very worth it!

The Carousal and Portland Zoo.

We've been having some fun together.

Me and my girl.

I want to be sure to soak up every second I have left with just the two of us.

First, we went to ride the carousal at a local park and then played on their super fun mini playground.

Olivia was very hesitant to ride the carousal and did not want to sit on the horses.

Well I take that back, during the middle of the ride she kept pointing to this gigantic horse and saying "ide" (ride).

I felt so bad because there was no way in heck I would be able to lift her up on that thing.

Seriously who puts that big of a horse on a children's merry go round.

Luckily, she seemed quite content sitting on the little bench right next to me.

As you can tell by her face she is not sure what to think about the whole experience.

It's okay, I'm sure she will grow to love it because we plan on going back many more times:) 

 On Tuesday, my cute and only friend here in Salem invited us to go to the Portland Zoo.

Apparently it is only $4.00 a person (Olivia is still free) on the second Tuesday of every month.

Of course we said yes.

Olivia was beyond thrilled and would not stop talking about all the animals she was going to see.

Sometimes she got a bit confused about the types of animals they have at this zoo.

For instance, she would tell us that she was going to see sharks, octopuses, and dinosaurs.

Ha I just love her!

When we got to the zoo she immediately began asking if we could see "simby" (the lions).

They were kind of far away from the entrance so I wanted to see all the other animals on the way back there. 

She loved the "huge huge snake" (python),  the sheep that were seriously pooping nonstop, the                "moneys" (especially the ones with the blue butts), the hippos who were so nice to show us their teeth, the elephant that looked like it had makeup on, the turtles and "big big bish" (fish), the tiny "ah ah dator" (alligator), the black bears and of course the "simbys."

We had so much fun and definitely plan on going back one of these upcoming special Tuesdays!

Probably in May so that we can bring dad!

Olivia and her little friend Mary!

 Cutest girl ever!

 Eating a yummy lunch.

 Finally getting to see her "simby!"

Taking a little breather.

I'm such a germ freak but after some serious begging on Olivia's part I finally let her sit on this very small elephant.

She loved it!

Me and my girl watching the hippos play.

I'm so grateful for super fun times with my cute girl!

Matt & Stephanie.

In case you haven't noticed, I have a fabulous new button on the right side of this page!

Please please click on it and read about my beautiful friend Stephanie and her husband who have been trying for 4 years to start their family.

I know you will be so touched by their story and want to help them in any way you can.

I know without a doubt that they will be the most amazing parents ever!

They are doing a race in Southbend, Indiana on April 27th and even if you are unable to participate in that, there is a place where you can donate money.

Every little bit helps.

Thanks everyone!

Playground fun.

This cutie absolutely LOVES the playground.

She wants to go every day.

Which we try to unless it is rainy. (Which it tends to be quite often around these parts:))

She is getting so grown up and can pretty much climb and slide down everything all by herself!

I can't believe my little baby is old enough to run around the playground.

So strong!

Little kissing breaks:)

Laughing like Lumpy (from the Heffalump movie) all the way home:)

Don't you just die over her?!

We sure do!

A few randoms.

Olivia is always trying to pull my rings off to wear and play with.

I'm always a bit hesitant to do this, after all she is only 2 and can be a bit wild.

Luckily, I remembered that I had a tupperware with some play jewelry in her dress up box.

The second I pulled it out, she freaked!

She insisted on trying everything on and even let me put little sticker earrings on her.

She's definitely the cutest thing ever!

Here's my sweet girl before her bath.

I love her little hair swoop and the fact that she is smiling and crying all at the same time!

She definitely was ready to go to bed.

One of my favorite parts of the day is reading to and rocking this precious girl.

We read two books, talk about what we did that day and what the plans are for the next, and then say a prayer and give like 10 kisses.

It is important that we do every single one of these in order or she will not go to sleep:)

After watching some Gossip Girl and seeing these little cuties all over the place I decided to try one.

They were pretty good but I don't think it was worth the buck twenty five that I paid for it:)

This little one is a huge fan of ice cream treats, walks, and feeding ducks.

So lucky for her she got all of them in one day!

We decided to go with dad to his school and wait outside while he had a meeting.

The weather was perfect so we were able to just sit on the steps and watch the little ducks swim around.

When dad was done, he brought us a yummy cookie ice cream treat!

As you can tell, Olivia loved it.

And was even nice enough to share a small piece with the ducks:)

Too funny for words.

I'm sure you all have heard the song "I knew you were trouble" by Taylor Swift.

And I'm sure many of you have also see the youtube version with the goat.

If not please watch below.

And then watch my hilarious baby sing it.

I seriously can not handle how much I love this girl.

Riding Riverbellsissy.

 As you probably already know, Olivia is obsessed with horses.

To say the least.

Well mostly just her aunti phop's horse and his friends.

She talks about that trio literally all day long.

Every morning when we ask her what she dreamed about that night,  she replies, "Riverbellsissies."

She is always asking to "I Riverbell sissies." (Ride River, Tinkerbell, and Sissy)

So every time we visit Utah, seeing these horses is a top priority.

We put on her little skinny jeans, boots, and gloves and shes ready to ride for hours.

Soph is so nice to ride with her endlessly around the arena.

I swear Olivia would never get off if it was up to her!

While on the horse she is so relaxed that her little head just bobs back and forth.

Ha, it's hilarious. (I tried to get it on video. See below.)

Part of me wishes so badly we could move back to Utah just so I could take Olivia to riding lessons every week with her aunti!

She'd be in heaven that's forsure:)

We had an amazing 9 days in Utah.

A lot of those days were hard.

But it's days like those where I try to really focus on how blessed our family really is.