Baby’s Big Ultrasound!

Last week I had my big ultrasound and it was such an incredible experience. I was so sad that Rich couldn’t be there because they were short handed at the Pharmacy but I was so grateful that I got a DVD. There is no audio which is a bummer because I think the technician and I were pretty entertaining;) The technician just kept saying how photogenic and perfect she is. She was so active and perfectly positioned so we could see all of her little shenanigans.

Right away she gave us a little wave by opening her little hand so we could see her fingers. She repeatedly pushed herself up with her legs. You can see her swallowing and even her little heartbeat. The technician was shocked at how long her legs are. She measured her thigh bone and said, “Oh my goodness! Is your husband tall?” I told her he isn’t and she said she had better remeasure and sure enough, she was right the first time. She said we might just get a tall one! At around 4:25 you can see the technician poke at her feet and then a few seconds later I poked at her too:D

(For some strange reason we couldn’t get the video on my actual page so you have to click on the link)

http://youtu.be/tMgI0Qs4vKM

Driving home from the ultrasound I had the cheesiest grin on my face. I felt so completely overwhelmed with gratitude for such a perfect little girl growing inside of me. Seeing her made me so excited to meet her and gave me a sense of peace that everything was going to be ok. The technician repeatedly said, “she is so perfect” and in my heart I was hoping and praying that she wouldn’t have to come into this world fighting. The idea of having her come out with the ability to breathe had me in tears. I am so hopeful.

Making Progress ~ 21 weeks

Since I was horrible at taking pics of the progression of my first 3 pregnancies I decided that I can do better this last time around. I refused to have any pics taken of me up until now because I didn’t look pregnant, I just looked like I had put on a few pounds. Suddenly, just within the last week, my baby belly popped out!

I had an ultrasound last week that had me in tears with excitement! She has become so active and I feel her kicking me throughout the day and it just makes me the happiest momma on earth! I’m beginning to remember why we always do it again(despite that miserable 1st trimester). I am feeling great and really starting to enjoy this pregnancy. Feeling blessed.

Aidan’s First Tooth!

This is quite the shocking announcement for me to make: Aidan lost his first tooth…NATURALLY!

This is such a shock to me because of an incident that happened a few months ago. You can read about it HERE and HERE. Somehow, he has managed to hang on to both of his front teeth and they are not discolored one bit.

So, on Wednesday Aidan noticed that his tooth was loose. He was so excited and wanted it gone so that the Tooth Fairy would bring him money but was too scared to let Rich pull it out, so we just waited. On Friday night, when I sent him to go brush his teeth, he yelled for me! I ran to the bathroom and there was his tooth, sitting on the counter. Aidan was BEAMING with a mouth full of blood. He was beyond excited!

Rich was gone at a dodge ball tournament and Aidan begged to stay up until Daddy got home so he could show him his tooth. I went ahead and let all of the kids stay up and I put one of their favorite shows on to pass the time. The girls were completely absorbed in the show but all Aidan could think about was his tooth. Every 2 minutes he would ask me a question either about teeth or the Tooth Fairy. It was so cute to see him sitting there, staring at his tooth with so much pride and excitement!

Aidan had such a hard time falling asleep. The excitement was just too much for him! We did eventually have our very first visit from the Tooth Fairy that night. She brought him a gold dollar. He is so proud of his little gap and I’m a little sad that my little boy is growing up.

Easter 2013

We had a FUN, FUN, FUN Easter this year! No, we didn’t do anything spectacular but we did have fun! Our first Easter activity was egg dying.

 

Then, Saturday morning we went to an on base Easter egg hunt. All of the kids 3-5 years old, were corralled onto a baseball field and lined up against the fence to wait for the go ahead.

There weren’t supposed to be any parents so that it would be fair for all of the kids.

As you can see, that didn’t quite work out the way they planned it. Darn, sneaky parents! When we went in to find our kids Arabella was crying. We had watched her pick up 2 eggs at the beginning of the hunt but when we found her she was empty handed. Apparently, she dropped her eggs or they were snatched from her. Poor thing! Maya and Aidan shared with her. We weren’t too concerned because we live in the most awesome culdesac that arranged an egg hunt just for the kids in our culdesac. It was AWESOME!

The kids, including Arabella, got tons of eggs filled with candy!

Afterwards, we all got together and had a BBQ. I love where we live! We have the best neighbors!

Sunday morning we went to church:)

Ok, now I have to share my most awesome discovery! As much as I love taking pictures of my kids and they should be used to it, it is always soooo stressful trying to get one of them all looking at me and smiling(nicely). They just WILL NOT do it! It drives me mad! So, I was thinking, “How on earth am I going to get a decent Easter picture of them?”. When it came to me! I pulled out a whoopie cushion! It worked like a charm! So, now I have to share the pics of them cracking up because they are so cute!

What a great Easter it was. Then, just to top it all off, my sister-in-law, Amy(my brother’s wife) and 2 of her 4 boys, happened to be in town and came over for Easter dinner and to spend the night. It gave us an excuse to make a feast and I baked my very first ham ever. It came out delish! It was quite the treat to have family over for the holiday. Grateful for an incredible weekend!

Special Trip To Boise!

A couple of Saturday’s ago we made a trip to Boise. It was a trip that I had dreamed about making for the past 9 years only I never imagined it would be as special as it turned out to be. A few weeks ago I got a message from someone that is very important to me. Her name is Solmary. I met Sol and her incredible family when I was on my mission. While I was called to serve on Temple Square (the most amazing mission in the world), about halfway through our mission we receive a second call to serve in a “normal” mission because our work on Temple Square is so different from other missions. I was called to serve in the Boise Idaho Mission! There is a small corner of Oregon that is part of that mission and that is where the Boise mission president sent me! I was so blessed to be companions with the only Spanish speaking sister missionary in the entire mission, Sister Hutchinson. She was incredible! She taught me how to be a “field missionary” and to truly fall in love with the area. She introduced me to Oralia(mom), Solmary(12) and Nubia(7). I instantly fell in love with them. Oralia and Solmary were the most recent converts in our little Spanish branch. They loved the sister missionaries so much for bringing them the gospel. When my 3 months in the “field” were up I had to say goodbye to the incredible family and head back to Temple Square. I was lucky to get to see them again when they came to the Square to see me and another sister that had taught them. It was awesome!

Sister Ribeiro is the other sister in the picture that taught them. I’m wearing a Mexican flag because I was giving several Spanish tours that day:)

They took awkward pictures of me giving them a Spanish tour.

This is Fortino, Oralia’s husband who has not been baptized…yet;) The girl in the grey dress was my companion at the time.

Yes, I gained a good 15 pounds on my mission…doesn’t everybody? Maybe not…

Ok, so back to the message that I got from Solmary. She messaged me to let me know that she got her mission call!!! What?!?! Yeah, 12 year old Solmary is now 20 and has been called to serve in the Guatemala City South Mission! The same mission Rich served in! That was such an amazing message to get but not only that, she was going through the temple for the the first time and wanted me to be there! It’s incredible to think that we have come full circle. I met Sol as a recent 12 year old convert and was able to continue to teach her family and now she is going to go out and do the same thing! So proud of her!

So beautiful and so grown up!

 

It was such a great day! Rich was incredible and took the kids to a really fun kids club while I was in the temple and then we all met at Chuck-A-Rama and he got to meet a few of the members of the Spanish branch that I served in. It was so good to see everybody and to see that the little Ontario, Oregon Spanish branch is still going strong.