PS

Did you notice the little countdown-ticker-thing over there on the side of our blog? It seems like it is going pretty fast- I'm almost 19 weeks along and there are only 149 days left! This is coming fast! Today I am putting all my little girl stuff in storage and it feels so good. Weird to be pulling out all the blue stuff now...

Officially Official

For those of you who doubted our 12 week ultrasound(I know I did every once in a while), we had another ultrasound today and are happy to report that we really are having a boy. He looks healthy and we think his little pot belly is pretty cute.

Wow, THAT was fast!

Our sweet little Madelyn is officially 1!(Well, in about 10 minutes.) We love her contagious smile and little giggle. We love her cuddles, hugs, and kisses. We love how much she loves to dance and her adventurous spirit. She loves being thrown up in the air, tackled, climbing on everything and following her big sister around. She loves baby dolls. She waves, blows kisses, holds up her finger to say she is 1, and folds her arms. Her favorite things to says are Mama, Dada, Yummm, Emmmmma, Cacka(cracker). She can free stand for almost any length of time, but hasn't attempted a step yet. It will probably be soon! I love when she stands at the window with Emma and looks outside and until I feel bad and take them out. We are looking forward to a fun summer and spending lots of time outside!

Madelyn, we can't believe you're already 1! Thanks for bringing so much fun, laughter and love to our house. We love you!

Splurged a little

And got some pictures taken of the girls for Easter by my friend Jenny at Jenny Esterbrook Photography! Here are a few of the ones I love most. Do you have any favorites?

Ten Things Never to Say to Stay-at-Home Moms

1. When the kids are older, do you think you'll get a real job?

2. How June Cleaver of you!

3. Oh, so you don't work?

4. Since you have extra time on your hands, could you whip up a few dozen brownies for the bake sale tomorrow?

5. All day with your kids? I can't even imagine.

6. I'm jealous. I wish my husband were rich so I wouldn't have to work either.

7. What do you do all day, anyway?

8. I'm sure you're not the only one who's ever wasted money on a college degree.

9. That explains why your son is so clingy!

10. Weird. I assumed your house would be superclean.


- Candy Kirby of thelaughingstork.com, with help from her Twitter followers and friends

One of those days

I woke up grumpy. Seriously, I haven't felt this out of sorts for a long time. I spent the morning gettting frustrated and just wishing I could rewind the clock a few hours and give myself a chance to start the day over.

Then the kids went down for their naps after lunch and I started reviewing the morning, wondering what went so wrong...

I didn't sleep very well, but that happens often enough.

Emma came into our room a little before 7 with a poopy diaper. Not a fun way to start the morning, but it wasn't THAT early.

Maddie slept in.

Jared made pancakes for breakfast before leaving for work.

Because the girls were awake before I was out of bed, I skipped morning prayer and scriptures.

And I didn't get a chance to workout or get a shower in until a couple of hours into the day.

Not only that, but I wasn't home last night and didn't really clean up the kitchen or living room once I was home, so I woke up to a sink full of dishes(among other things).

I have always prided myself on my non-routine life. The house gets tidied haphazardly, whenever I have a minute or we have company or it actually gets dirty. I work out when(or if) the girls' nap schedules align, I work a shower in and get ready for the day after the girls are up, fed and ready and can hopefully be occupied playing for a few minutes while I get a quick one in.

I always said how much I like that laid back feeling, but the last little while I have been pretty regimented with my morning and night routines. And it is amazing what just 30 minutes every morning and night does. But more importantly, the way it affects myself and my family. There is just something so peaceful about going to bed and waking up to an organized house, and having myself mentally and physically prepared for the day before they even wake up. I'm hooked.

So anyway, now that I tried out a day of what NOT taking care of myself and my house does for my family, I'll hopefully not be trying that again any time soon...

Dainty Madelyn

I have fed Maddie yogurt before, but I decided to let her have a spoon and attempt it herself for the first time. To my surprise, when she got frustrated with the spoon, she didn't resort to her hands or dump it all over herself like Emma when she was learning. Nope, she very carefully drank it.

What they need

Somedays I feel insufficient as a mother. Lately I have worried about things like colors, numbers, letters, physical skills, and other talents that Emma should be developing. It can be really overwhelming to think of the many things I need to teach her.

Then the other night I read The Family: A Proclamation to the World again. The phrase that really stood out to me was: "Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live."

I could dissect this and talk about all of the things I love in there, like the words "sacred" and "duty", but I love that when I read that, I feel like my role begins with those things, and that all of the little things I worry about will fall into place when I focus on these first.

My favorite example of this is my oldest brother, who truly disliked reading, and so struggled to learn how. My parents tried so hard to change his mind, and worried about him a lot. Then, when he was in second grade, they got very serious about reading scriptures each day as a family. Before they knew it, he could read! And they raised a family of nerds who all love to read more than anything else.:) And all they did was make a priority adjustment in their lives.

I missed several conference talks this weekend so I've been listening to them online as I can. I was cleaning the kitchen and had one going the other morning and looked over to see Emma mesmerized by President Monson as she thumbed through the Gospel Principles book that was left on the kitchen table. She truly makes me a better person everyday.