Crazy Busy!

Well, it seems as if I've fallen off the "Internet Earth" for a while! I deactivated my facebook, didn't check my email for weeks, and didn't post a blog for a month! I'm slacking, I know! But now I'm back! My facebook is activated, my email has been checked about three times just this morning, and I'm posting a blog. I still dont have pictures, though, because my computer doesn't get the internet...soooo again I'm having to use Toms! Don't worry, when my computer starts working completely, there will be an overhaul of pictures! Haha! :) So here is a brief update without pictures.

We flew to Utah on December 14th and was there for a week visiting family and friends. We even had a Vasa smorgesborg (sp??) at Karey's house, which was faaaabulous! Ella got to play with some of her cousins and we got to socialize with some adults! haha! :)

While we were in Utah, we celebrated Tom's birthday by going to The Roof in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for dinner. YUM. Soooo delicious. They have the best little creme brulees, yum yum. It was nice being able to celebrate with Tom's family. We also spent one of the nights up in Logan with Dana and Joseph and their puppy Claire. Ella loooves the puppy. She follows it around saying, "puppy! puppy!" It was pretty cute :)

Then we flew to Chicago on December 21st. We were there for a little over two weeks staying and Tom's aunt/uncles house. There were a TON of us crammed into one house! There were nine people in just Tom's family, plus the aunt/uncle and their two kids. It was pretty crowded, but manageable. We had a good time, even though we didn't do a whole lot. We saw Sherlock Holmes and the Princess and the Frog (my new Disney favorite. LOVED the music! Such a cute movie. I highly recommend it. Even Ella loved it and would dance to the songs! So cute.) We went down town one day and looked at the windows at Marshall Fields and the big silver bean, then ate at the Water Tower in this cool place called Food Life. All in all, it was a very fun trip! We ate at SOOO many good restaurants! I think I ate almost a hot dog a day! Haha! Love those chicago dogs! :)

For Christmas we just celebrated it with the family. On Christmas Eve, AAALLLL the nearby relatives came over for a big hors duevers (sp?) party and everyone just got the biggest kick out of Ella. She is quite the party stealer. :) She was showing everyone her "tricks" and how to dance. It was pretty cute. Then for New Years we went over to Tom's aunt/uncles and played poker, black jack, and ate some yummy food! Ella even lasted until midnight! We had sparklers and poppers outside, but it was FUH-REEEEEEEEZING!!!! So we were only outside for a few minutes :) Ella liked the sparklers, but not the poppers so much. She kept trying to look really close at the sparklers, though. That was kind of scary. At least we didn't lose an eye or anything! Ha!

So the trip to Chicago was super fun. We ate good food. Had good company. And had a really fun Christmas/New Years. A few downers of Chicago, though: it was SO cold. One night it was 2 degrees. TWO!!!!! I can't even FATHOM two degrees!!! Ooooh man...it was SOOOOO cold!! I texted my dad and he texted back, "I just cleaned the pool. It is 75 degrees. We are going swimming." Yeah, that made me want to cry. Hahaha :) The other downer was all the dogs. Tom's aunt/uncle have two yappy dogs and a big mean cat, plus Dana brought her yappy dog. So there was A LOT of yappy dogs in that little house. Ella liked them, but the cat and one of the dogs is kind of mean so we had to keep her away from them. The kept pulling on her clothes when she would walk and she would say, "No, puppy!" It was pretty cute :)

So now we're back in California living with my parents for a while. It is going to be interesting living with my parents. Haha :) We feel like big losers. Yes, my husband and I are living with my parents, with our toddler daughter. Oh, and I'm pregnant. Ha! Such a losers. :) Oh well. At least we are both going to be working, so we're not COMPLETE drains on society or anything. Haha :) I'll be working at my moms shop and Tom is going to either start up his airplane cleaning business again, or work at the hospital. Trying to earn some serious moolah this year! haha! :) Tom will probably start his clinicals in September, but we're not sure where. So until then, we are just living it up at my parents house! :) So far, its been GREAT!

So that's whats new with us. I'll try and keep this updated better and will put pictures up soon, I promise! I have lots of pictures to post!

Home, Sweet Home!!!

We are back in America! WOO WOO WOO!!! :D We are finished with the island for good! WOO WOO WOO!!! :D The island was definitely an experience with some highs and lows...but we're happy to be back in the U.S. So many wonderful things here! Haha! :) A few things that are going to take getting used to again:

1. Driving with a speed limit
2. Driving above 30mph
3. Wearing a seatbelt (haha :))
4. Having a reliable cell phone!
5. No pot holes or speed bumps!
6. Not sweating the moment you go outside
7. Pumping your own gas (one of my favorite things about the island was having gas pumpers!)
8. Not needing cash for anything, you can charge $1.00 on a credit card!
9. Going to the grocery store and finding EVERYTHING you need
10. Target....looooove Target.
11. Friendly customer service!!
12. Living in my parents HUGE house! I think our entire apartment could fit in their kitchen! haha! :) We need to attach some bells to Ella so we know where she is! haha!

Yep, those are just a few things that are super great since coming back! Tom and I have new cell phones, which is exciting. And we're going to be doing a lot of traveling this month. We flew in to LAX on Friday (the entire traveling was VERY uneventful, which was AWESOME, and Ella did really well on the 4 hour and 5.5 hour flights!), then Tom left for Utah on Monday to spend some time with his brother and to go to the BYU basketball game. Ella and I fly up to Utah this upcoming Monday and we'll be there for a week. Then on the 21st we fly to Chicago for two weeks to celebrate Christmas/New Years with his family (it's going to be interesting because I'm not sure how all the sleeping arrangements are going to be. I hope Ella still gets a nap at least every other day!!!) While in Chicago, we are going to drive to Detroit to see our good friends Derick and Megan, which we are REALLY excited about! We'll spend a couple days there, head back to Chicago for a few more days, then fly back to California for good! At least for a while...

I am SO excited to be living with my parents! I know that is kind of weird, but I don't care. My parents are super fun and LOVE being with Ella, which makes me happy too! Plus, since we're expecting another one, it will be really nice having them to kind of help with the transition of one kid....to two! Wow...kiiiind of scary! haha! :) We are excited to be in my home ward again, too. Everyone is so nice and friendly and excited to have us back! It's nice to feel so welcome and to be around so many nice members!!

Anyway, that's the update for now. We will be living with my parents till around September, or whenever Tom starts his clinicals. He will be taking the step in June and then we'll take it from there!

Ella is loving being around her grandparents and great-grandparents! She likes to play with Uncle Andrew, too, even if she messes up some of his room! Oops...She also likes to go look at Leo and the birds. It's pretty cute. She says "Puppy!!"

I also got Ella completely decked out for the winter! I think I went a little crazy, but I don't care! She is going to be the CUTEST little snowbunny in Utah and Chicago! I'll be sure to post pictures.

My computer is still broken and is being shipped back to HP today, which is why this post doesn't have pictures either! Sorry!

Anyway, Ella is pulling on me and wants me to go watch a movie with her, so that's all for now! But I'll keep you updated! If you would like my new phone number, email me! :)

p.s. I deactivated my facebook account for a while, fyi.

Six More Days...

We are leaving the island for good in six more days. I am pretty excited. I know I have been slacking on my blog with the lack of pictures and such, but I promise I'll fix up some posts when we get home. My computer also died, so I'm having to use Tom's computer and I am having a hard time with a Mac! So yeah, those are my excuses :)

Anyway, this may be my last "island post" before we're back in the wonderful, magnificent, U.S. of A. *siiiigh* Loooove America :) Haha!

Right now we are trying to pack up a bunch of suit cases because we move into a hotel Sunday/Monday. I can't believe that we are leaving already. It seems like it went so quickly...but then took FOREVER. :)

I also want to give a shout out to Tom who has been SO unbelievably wonderful the past couple weeks. I think I am sicker this pregnancy than with Ella. All I want to do is sit....or sleep....and not move...I'm hungry, but want to throw up when I eat....its this vicious cycle. Tom has been GREAT! He has been doing ALL the chores, watching Ella, getting up early with her so I can sleep in, and everything! I don't think I tell him enough how much I appreciate him. Thank you, thank you, Tom!!! :D

Anyway, next time I post, hopefully we'll be in America!! WOOO!!!!!

Blah

It's funny how the body and mind work. A few years after you have a kid, its like, "Aawww....I want another one....this is so wonderful..." and yadda yadda yadda. Then you get pregnant and its like, "oooooh yeaaaahhhh.......nooooow I remember why we waited three years....." BLAH!

For the past couple weeks I have been feeling really great! Not sick at all, sort of tired, but manageable, and just a little emotional. About five days ago, it got worse: really sleepy ALL the time and SUPER emotional. I mean, it was getting ridiculous. If I asked Ella to put her shoes on and she didn't (okay, she is TWO!) it would make me want to cry. It was a little ridiculous. I was getting pretty frustrated because although I may be a passionate and overactive person, I'm not overly emotional. I RARELY cry and hardly ever get really worked up about things (I've learned this since high school, that was a different story :) haha!) So, the fact that here I was as this emotional wreck, was really frustrating.

Well, now that has past a little bit...and onto full on morning sickness, which I don't know why they call it morning sickness, since CLEARLY it lasts ALL day. It's at that point where certain smells are like, "gaaaaaag" and I'm really hungry, but the thought of eating makes me want to puke...but then once I eat, I feel a little better.....but then feel sick again. It's kind of a vicious cycle? Hopefully this goes away soon...but probably not. Boo.

Now, I'm sure most people reading my blog are like, "um...okay, who cares?" Well, I totally respect if you don't care. But, I'm not writing this blog for you people. It's for me and my kids. Sooooo, ten years from now, or twenty years from now, I can say, "See??? Look what I went through for you!!" Hahaha! :) Good stuff.

Also, I'm still a little bit in denial about the whole pregnancy thing, although seeing the ultrasound pictures on Andrea's blog (shout out, Andrea!) did make me REALLY excited to have a baby :) I'm still kind of freaked out over the whole thing. People keep asking me what is there to be freaked out about...uh...HELLO!? I'm worried about the whole pregnancy thing, about something going wrong, about something being wrong with the baby, about miscarrying, about the ACTUAL labor, what if something goes wrong with that? What if the epidural is messed up? What if I have to have an emergency c-section? What if I don't like my Dr.? What if my baby is colicky? Can I really handle having more than one kid, when one is sometimes so overwhelming? What if Ella is jealous of the new baby and is constantly picking on them? What if Ella uses the new sibling as a RECRUIT?! AH!

Yes, Ella's pregnancy and labor was like a DREAM. Sooooo easy! NOTHING went wrong. Everything was predictable. It was LOVELY. So yeah, it can only go downhill from that, right?? That is what I'm a little afraid of. *sigh* Too late now, though, right?!?? :) Hahaha!!

Oh, still no pictures. My computer decided to be stupid and quit working. So, there may not be pictures for a couple more weeks. Sorry :( I need to figure out how to put them on Tom's computer...soooo, yeah. Sorry!

BIG NEWS!

Yes, yes....for those of you who have seen my facebook status - I am pregnant again! :)

We think I am due around the first week of July, but I haven't been to the Dr.'s yet. Soooo, we're not exactly sure. Oh well :)

So far I'm feeling really good. Just kind of hungry all the time...and really emotional for some reason? When I was pregnant with Ella I don't think I was that emotional, but man oh man...its making up for it now! Haha!

I think I am having a hard time accepting the fact that I am pregnant, though. I am kind of freaked out about it. That is kind of why I didn't call anyone or tell anyone face to face...I think I am still in denial, and if I just type it....then it isn't as real! Ha! I know, I know....super lame...but deal with it people :) I also had the best idea of how to tell people: get Ella a "big sister" t-shirt. So we went hunting around the island to find one....nothing. I coudln't find one ANYWHERE. So that put me in a bad mood....so I just posted it instead. So I'm apologizing to all the family members that read it on facebook first! Sorry! I still love you, but again...just a little in denial still! Ha! I think that will pass....as I get fatter!

That's another thing, I just lost all this weight! Dang it...now I get to gain it all back. Yeeeeshh....

Oh, and don't expect any belly pictures from me. I am NOT into the whole "here is my naked stretched out tummy" so sorry :) The only belly pictures you'll get is if I happen to be taking a picture anyway...not JUST for the tummy. I know a lot of people are into tummy pictures, but not me...so sorry :)

Aaaaanyway, that is our big news here! That, and we are almost done with this island! Wahoo! :) That's a different post, though. ;)

So much happening!

Okay, this is kind of going to be a lame blog entry because I don't have ANY pictures yet. My computer crashed the evening my parents left and I just put all my pictures on it. So I need to put them on Tom's computer, then I'll post some pictures :) So sorry....

A few big exciting things have happened so far, though!

My parents came down for the weekend to help us celebrate Ella's birthday. Her birthday was a couple weeks ago, but we had a party for her this last Saturday at Layla's. It was REALLY fun! :) There will be pictures coming. Ella got lots of fun presents: sparkly shoes, dress up clothes, playdoh, coloring stuff, etc. She was pretty excited :)

We also went to Anguilla while my parents were here. We went to Anguilla instead of the 5th Semester party. It was a fun little weekend getaway! We went to Shoal Bay and stayed at Island Harbour. We ended up staying at this DIVE of a hotel though! Hotels.com was definitely NOT accurate. I called them when we got back and ended up getting 40% refunded adn 10% off our next reservation. So that's good. It was such a hole! Hah! So, future reference: NOBODY stay at the Arawak Beach Inn, unless you want to go camping!Ha! We ate at the yummiest restaurant for dinner, though: The Straw Hat. Soooo yummy. Even Ella's spaghetti was AMAZING! Haha! :)

While my parents were here, we did some other fun stuff, too! We went to the Butterfly Farm (again, pictures coming), Le Galion Beach, and ate at our favorite restaurant: Bajatzu. Soooo yummy. Mmmm....that is one restaurant I will miss for sure! Haha! :) Ella loved the Butterfly Farm and liked playing at the beach. That girl is a definite Water Baby!!

So that's a brief run through of my parents visit - again, pictures coming!

Blurb about Motherhood

This is to all you mothers out there....I need you to tell me if anyone else goes through this! Hahaha!! :)

For the past month or so, Ella hasn't been eating well. She was averaging about 1.5 meals a day. She is already stick skinny, so I was getting a little worried. Then she discovered how much she likes Macaroni and Cheese.

I give her macaroni and cheese for breakfast....I've been giving it to her for four days in a row. She eats A LOT of it. This morning she had a thing of applesauce, two full starfruits, and a bowl of macaroni. Yesterday she had a bowl of macaroni and applesauce again. The day before, she had a bowl of macaroni and a bowl of fruit cocktail.

For lunch, I usually try to give her chicken nuggets or something...but she only eats them now if I give her macaroni and cheese, too. Dinner is the same.

Now, I know it is bad to just give her what she wants all the time, but she is eating so much now! What are your thoughts on me giving her macaroni until she starts eating enough again?? I was worried she was going to lose more weight, but if she keeps this up...she may just get into the average percentile!

Thoughts anyone? Macaroni and cheese is sort of healthy, right? Milk....butter....wheat....powdered cheese?