At work with Joseph

Joseph came to work with me. It has been fun. He is awfully whiny because he has a runny nose, dry cough, and is tired. The humidifier helped him sleep last night. We will turn it on some more and see how it helps.

It is also snowing a lot. :( I am so not in the mood to drive in the snow. I would prefer to be at home, cleaning and cooking in preparation for Joe's family arrival on Thursday. Joe has been painting and I have been trying to keep up with how fast he is going.

I am tired right now. I wish that I could sleep in, but I don't sleep that well these days. At least it is lots of fun to feel the baby moving around. He kicks a lot and seems to enjoy sticking his elbows, feet and knees out in any direction he can.

Well, we left work and found our car buried in 4 to 5 inches of snow. I am so grateful that we have a garage that we can park our car in. I had to clean off the snow. We don't know where our long scraper and brush are, so I used a hand scraper to get the snow off. It came off easily. We had problems getting out of our space because of how deep the snow had gotten. Joseph enjoyed walking in all the deep snow. I did not enjoy driving in it. It was scary and took me twice as long to get to Joe's work. I am just glad that I didn't slide or crash. It is still snowing outside. We are getting lots and lots of snow. We will have a white Christmas for sure.

I went to the doctor and have gained about 4 pounds in the past 2 weeks. Yikes! If I am not careful, I will be huge...actually too late for that.

Mommy, who am I going to marry?

Tonight we dropped Alison and Ryan off at the airport. On our way back, Joseph and I were looking for the Oquirrh (?) temple. I think we had passed it. I decided to explain part of what the temple means for marriage. Joseph then said that he was going to marry Alison. He said, "when I get bigger, I marry Alison and carry her." This is from a conversation that happened on the way to the airport. Joseph wanted Alison to carry me to the car. Alison said she couldn't carry me, but that Ryan could carry her.

After I told him that Alison was marrying Ryan, he paused and said, "mommy, I marry you." I told him that I would love him for always, but that I was married to daddy. He said that when grew up and got married, daddy and I could get married and dance (something he associates with marriage). His 2 options gone for marriage, he asked me, "mommy, who am I going to marry." I said that after he was in college and after his mission, that he would meet a beautiful young lady and they would be married in the temple. That is when he said daddy and I would dance.

On the way back, he was falling asleep and he didn't want to stop anywhere. I needed to change his diaper so that I could be sure that he wouldn't fall asleep in anything that would give him a rash. Well, we got him changed (no thanks to the person who almost hit our car parking in the stall next to ours outside). We made it back into Utah Valley and then started to listen to Christmas music. Joseph enjoys it. Well, he had not been talking for a little bit, so I turned the stations to regular music. I turned it on to 94.9 the Blaze and they were playing GNR's "Sweet child of mine." I had only been listening for a few seconds when Joseph pipes up from the back, "that sounds like guitar hero." He went right back to sleep afterwards. I thought it was funny. One of our sure fire ways of getting him to nap is to play "Guitar hero" or "Super mario kart." He watches for a few minutes, makes himself comfortable on the couch, and then falls right asleep with a chorus of whatever song happens to be playing.

This morning, he woke up and crawled into our room as he let out tiny roars. I saw my "baby stegosaurus" and went to pick him up. He was happy that "mommy stegosaurus" was there. He is excited to go to work with me on Monday and Tuesday. I would take him tomorrow, but I have an appointment and will be taking the biology advisor's students since she is on holiday (lucky Kim).

My gold medal runner

We cleared out the furniture in the big room and Joseph has discovered the joys of running around and around. He runs with all his might and laughs as he does it. Yesterday, when he was running, he said, "I running fast so I can get gold medal." I guess he enjoyed the Olympics as well. The other day, he and Joe were running in circles for a long time. Little Joseph was flushed and sweating. As he produces more spit, he says that he is drinking the water to help him have energy. It is his new pasttime. I need to be sure to have my camera so I can record him.

Nursery trouble

Joseph is excited that he starts sunbeams in a few weeks. Of course, he really doesn't want to go to nursery either. This is not the first time he has wanted to skip out on nursery. We asked him why he didn't want to go. He said there were mean boys that liked to push him in nursery. Well, we talked to him about that a little and I said that I would talk to his leader. When we were taking him to nursery, he said that he would tell us if anybody pushed him again.

I spoke to his leader and asked how Joseph behaved in nursery. She said he was very good. I asked her if there were any kids that Joseph got into fights with. She asked if Joseph was saying something and I repeated what he had told me. She said that a couple of weeks ago, there was one little boy that was really aggressive towards all the other kids, Joseph being one of them. She apologized and said the situation was taken care of. Well, Joseph stayed and we went to Sunday School. When Joe picked him afterwards, he said that he had fun. I did visit him between Sunday School and Relief Society. They were having snacks. He had 3 animal crackers left on his napkin. I asked why he wasn't eating them and he said that he didn't like them. One of the nursery leaders brought him more goldfish and took the animal crackers away. I waved goodbye with one finger and he did the same. He is so cute!!

I decided that I didn't want to stay in the k-z class because there are a couple of people that really interrupt and get off topic easily in class. It really bothers me, so I felt that it would be better for me to attend the a-j class. Joe agreed. This is the first time I was able to listen and enjoy the lesson in a long time.

A sister yesterday met Joe for the first time and she kept smiling and staring at him. It weirded him out a bit, especially because she told me, "Your husband is very handsome." It reminded me of when a sister in a different ward came up to Joe one Sunday and said, "You have the most gorgeous eyes, you should let me paint them sometime." She was an artist. I have to agree, I do have a very handsome husband.

Joseph loved that it snowed and wanted to walk in it before and after church. He wants to build snowmen with Joe, because Joseph and I are too small. He also wanted to wrap lots of presents with the excess paper we had. He know has lots of presents from himself under the tree.

This morning, as I was dropping him off at Grandma's, I said, "I am going to miss you little one."
He said, "I am going to miss you big one." I love my little boy!!

One big thing down...

Yesterday was Alison's bridal shower. As of Friday, when I was leaving work, I didn't have that many people that had RSVPed. I had a lot more people do it later that day and that night. Thanks to Ryan and Alison who helped me clean. Also, a big thanks to Joe for cleaning and moving furniture and fixing things. We now have a good jumpstart towards his parents arrival. Now I can take a couple of days off and try to get refueled for round 2 of cleaning and organizing. Of course, right before the shower started, I was getting the vegetable tray ready and to my horror, my ranch dressing was rotten. I about started to cry then and there. Thanks to my mom who saved the day.

Alison's shower was nice. We played a famous couples game. I had one half of a famous couple and people needed to write down the 2nd half of the couple. I had a list of 25. For those who would like to try, here it is:

Here are the names of one half of a well-known couple. Name their significant other. Some of the couples are real and others are fictitious.

1. Gordon B. Hinckley
2. Elizabeth Bennett
3. John Lennon
4. Lucille Ball
5. David Beckham
6. Emma
7. Angelina Jolie
8. Romeo
9. Buttercup
10. Adam
11. Beatrice (Shakespeare)
12. Johnny Cash
13. Cosette
14. Alfalfa
15. Arnold Schwarzenegger
16. Lucy Honeychurch
17. Helena Bonham Carter
18. Tom Hanks
19. Han Solo
20. Bella Swan
21. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
22. Hermione Granger
23. Queen Victoria
24. Eleanor Roosevelt
25. Lois Lane

Our winner got 19 out of 25. She got her choice of chocolate. Our next game was having Alison answer questions that I had recorded Ryan answering the night before. I didn't have time to transfer it to my computer and burn it to a dvd. It was fun. Alison only missed 10 out of 30. She had to put a piece of gum in her mouth everytime she got one wrong.

I wanted to shower to be low key, so we finished off with snacks and writing advice to the bride. I guess before the snacks, Alison opened her gifts. She got a nice array of things. She received some things for the honeymoon night and also other things to start setting up her household. At least she didn't get duplicates of anything.

Ryan's bachelor party was last night, so Alison hung out with us and graded papers. Adam was also here. He and Joe played soccer and guitar hero. Joseph had fun because he had the kids here to play.

Dear Santa

Joseph remembered tonight that we hadn't written his letter to Santa Claus. We went and found some paper (actually a Christmas card) and started to write the letter. The letter said:

Dear Santa-

I have been a good boy this year. Please get me a treehouse, and a snimming dinosaur, and talking cars. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

your friend-
Joseph

Yeah. He has a lot of toys from Santa, but the treehouse and snimming dinosaur are lacking. I feel kind of bad because the treehouse is what he has been asking for for 5 months and every month, I tell him we need to wait and see if Santa will get it for him. Not that he will be disappointed with his Christmas loot by any means, but he has only asked for 3 things. Now the question is, do I spend another $60 to $90, or do we just wait. Joe says wait. I am trying to decide if that is best. I might have to side with my husband on this. Hmmmm...what to do?

Letting mommy rest

Last night I was extremely tired. I had a long day at work (nothing compared to Joe's work). When I got home, I just had no energy. I went upstairs after dinner and "watched" Joseph play with his toys. I started to fall asleep. Joseph would talk to me and then I finally did fall asleep. I kept waking up because I felt badly that my little boy wanted attention. At one point when I opened my eyes, Joseph was pulling some toys out of his shopping cart, and he looked my direction. He immediately apologized and said, "I sorry mommy, I make noise." I think he thought he would get in trouble. He let me rest for a little bit more and then I started to really wake up and he came to lay down with me. he lay in my arms. It makes me want to cry because all in all I have been blessed with a sweet, thoughtful little boy. I only slept half an hour, but it helped me finish those things that I needed to for the night.

Joseph stories

This is a picture of Joseph with Kayla. My parents have been guardians over Kayla since she was 5 months old. They are also guardians of her 3 older siblings as of 2 years ago.

• I have a tendency to forget cute things that Joseph says, so I wanted to post before I forget. Last night Joe picked Joseph and me up from work. My mom was close by, so she brought him. When we were in the car, Joseph started to fall asleep. I tried talking to him, and he said, "I a tired boy, I just need a little nap." I then said, "but I thought you didn't like naps." He said, "I like naps." Well, I tried to keep him up till we got home, but he finally whined in desperation, "I just going to sleep for a little bit!" So, Joe and I let him sleep. He probably got a 40 minute nap because I had errands to run.

• Apparently, when he was with grandma and the kids, he started to sing a song about all the dinosaurs. He sang about them for a long time, and when he was done, he exclaimed, "Whew, that was a long song." When they asked him to sing more, he said, "I don't know any more songs." That is not exactly true. As of late, he likes to sing. He sings "Jingle bells" a lot as well as other random songs that he makes up. The other night, he showed me a crocodile and shark and said, "These animals are dangerous." I asked why and he explained, "they bite other animals and people too!" After that, he walked around singing a little song that had a chorus of dangerous in it. Daddy asked him to sing the dinosaur song last night, but he said he was too tired.

• He did tell me that he spilled orange juice all over his pajamas in the morning and that made him sad.

• Last night, I decided to expend what little energy I have to cook rice and gravy and make a pseudo-hawaiian haystack. Joseph was tired, thirsty, hungry and really cranky. He was whining every few minutes that I needed to "hurry, hurry." I lay him on the couch and then started to cook. When I was done, I went to get him and that made him sad because he wanted to lay down on the couch and nap. I got him to the table and the gravy and rice he had wanted became unappetizing. He only wanted a plate of cheese to eat. I explained that we could put cheese on his rice. He started to bawl. Then he said he was full and that he only wanted apple juice. He then shows me that he is full by trying to push in his belly and then telling me that he can't make himself skinny, so he must be full. I told him he needed to eat some dinner, and I would give him apple juice. He started to cry and say, "that not nice!" I know he is mad at me when he starts to say, "I want my daddy!" Well, I finish my dinner and proceed to start putting things away, except for his food. After a few minutes, he decides that a tantrum won't work, so he will try to talk me into it. "Mommy, I ate eggs at grandma's. I super full. I thirsty and want only drink." He then explains why he doesn't need the food and so forth. I tell him that he is welcome to have a drink when he eats.

• Daddy saved Joseph's day! He went to McDonald's and bought a chicken nugget kid's meal with apples (no apple dippers), and an apple juice. Joseph devours the nuggets and drinks the juice and has a great rest of the night. I am grateful Joe brought food because it got him to eat, unfotunately, the rice went to waste.

• Joseph was in a good mood the rest of the night. He only took two toys into his bath because it is a small tub. He splashed and played and then we got him out and dressed. He wanted to do a puzzle before bed, but I told him there was no room. We had built a race track out of his blocks on Sunday, so he wanted to clean his room. He ran around putting everything away with my help and then he punched the race track. We put all the blocks away and he said, my room is getting cleaner. He put his books back on the shelf. When the floor was clear, he got the puzzle. It is a 48 piece dinosaur puzzle with jumbo pieces. We put it together and then he broke it apart. We read two books. He counted to eight by himself and then started to be silly again and randomly say a number. We brushed our teeth and he took a vitamin and his fluoride pill. We said our prayers. Lately we have been working on making his prayers a little more than, "Heavenly Father, thank thee for good day, in name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Now he adds, "we thank thee for Jesus," and on occasion, other things.
  

• This blog has turned out a lot longer than I expected. One last story, after Joseph stopped crying and knew he wasn't going to win, he started to talk to me about Batman. He told me, "Batman scary." He then told me that, "Boys like Batman because Batman cool." He then said he wanted a Batman costume because he thinks batman is cool. I said, "I thought you wanted to be a dinosaur." He said, "Apatosaurus cool."

• I love my little boy. He is so much fun even when he is crying and whining. I just pray that I have the patience I need to not give in and completely spoil him. I am excited and feel blessed to be having another little boy soon. I just hope I can handle two kids and give them the love and attention they deserve. Before I end, this morning I went to get Joseph ready to go to grandma's house. He whimpered and said, "Mommy, I a tired little boy."

The prognosis

Well, I had my 33 week check up. I am up a pound and a half. The baby is doing well. The ultrasound shows that the obstructino is gone. Yay!!! All looks normal from there.

Tonight Joseph felt the baby moving and I said the baby was giving love taps. He then proceeded to tell me that when he was in mommy's belly, he would give daddy "hug taps." He came with me to the doctor's office. More to report later.

Toad's halloween party

Well, still no sign of our toad. Joseph has told me that the toad is having Halloween. Apparently, our toad is trick or treating and hasn't come back because he is getting lots of candy.

I have talked to Joseph about the possibility of us moving. He told grandma the other day that we are going to move and when we do, mommy, daddy and Joseph get to be together more. Insightful kid.

When I say, "I love you little one!"
Joseph says, "I love you big one!"

He has helped me wrap presents. All he wants from Santa is a swimming dinosaur (preferably dinosuchus) and a treehouse (both Melissa and Doug and Maxim have them). It costs $90, so that may have to wait. He will have a great Christmas! Already he is saying that Christmas is tomorrow morning.

I have made some progress cleaning, but I still have so much to do before Saturday. At least I am almost done with all the laundry. Now I have to sweep and mop the kitchen and huge room, and vacuum our basement and bedrooms. My mom has given us her expensive couch and chair. They are not necessarily our taste, but they are comfortable. She also gave us some dishes. She doesn't like the couches or the dishes we have, so she gives us the things that suit her taste in hopes that we get rid of our "junk." It is nice of her to give us the items and we are grateful for them.

December already!!

It is crazy to think that today is the 1st day of December. Where has the time gone? I have 12 days to get the house in some semblance of order for a bridal shower and 24 days to get the house in order for my in-laws. I figured if I spend 2 nights per room for the next 2 weeks, I will have the semblance of order and with that semblance, I can create order. Of course as order increases so does disorder (dang entropy!). How to do this and still accomplish all my familial duties? I guess we shall see.

There is still no sign of the toad. We decided to ask Joseph to see if he had some unknown details. His story keeps changing, so I don't know if he took the toad out or not. He mostly says "no" that he didn't take the toad out, but on occasion he states that he did. He says the toad went down the vent (or multiple vents) to the place where the spiders are. He also tells us the toad went to a Halloween party to get candy down in the place with the spiders, the ghosters, and the bats.

We decorated our tree this weekend. Thanks to Alison and Ryan for helping. Thanks to Joe for working on completing all 3 bathrooms. Thanks to Joseph for providing cute comments and helping decorate the tree. Now Joseph wants to nap by the tree and wrap his toys so he can open them. I had forgotten to give everyone candy canes to put on the tree, so Joseph did that yesterday. I need to take a picture of all the candy canes at the bottom of the tree. We couldn't put our "star crystal" on top because the tree is just tall enough that it won't fit. Joseph wants to have a star crystal in the tree like Huggly does in his story.

Here is Joseph helping aunt Alison with decorations. In this one, I think he is actually asking me to help him hang the ornament. He had just turned around.

The mystery of the missing toad and other thoughts

Today I decided that we needed more crickets for our toad. I decided to check on it, but unfortunately, it was not anywhere in its enclosure. I have looked throughout the day in and around its habitat, but to no avail. Our toad is missing!! We don't know where it hopped off too. More than likely, it has fallen somewhere that will decrease its chances of survival. Joseph is sad and says that he wants another toad. So a fond farewell to our amphibious friend who provided many hours of enjoyment. May she be happy wherever she is and not be dead in a vent where we can smell her and not reach her.
Today was black Friday. I got a few gifts, but mostly stuff in preparation for our guests in December. Joseph was good as we went from place to place. After a couple of hours he told me he was ready to go home. Joseph has decided that his name is only Joseph. Grandpa Nunez calls him Jose and he says "no, I Joseph." We call him by his full name and he tells us that he is only Joseph. He also has decided that he is scared of the toilet and refuses to tell us when he needs to go to the bathroom. He is also afraid of the bathtub because there are bugs in it (from the one time a beetle made its way into his bath). He is starting to throw a lot more tantrums. It is frustrating. Normally we could tell him no and he would be fine, now, tears and whimpering, laying on the ground. I thought the terrible twos were over. Not that he was ever bad. He isn't even bad now. It is just hard to hear the whining and the crying when you tell him no.

Thanksgiving was nice. We ate at my parents. Alison and Ryan were there. Those are Joe's hands. I managed to get everyone else that was there. We had lots to eat. What am I thankful for?

• My husband. He is amazing. He works full time and gets home and works on our home. It looks AWESOME. I love him dearly and am grateful to have such a handsome, smart and handy man in my life.
• My little Joseph. He makes me happy everyday. He likes to say that he loves me so much and when I respond in the same manner, he says that he loves me "big, stomp so much." Today it was "apatosaurus, stomp, big so much!" He tells me that he is growing up but that he is still a little boy. I am grateful for such a loving and tender boy.
• Baby Brother and second son. I am starting my 8th month of pregnancy and am grateful that we can almost meet our second child. It is crazy to think that we will no longer just have one, but two. How will I manage?
• Being cancer free for 2 years and counting.
• Our home. Our house is nice. I am sad that we are going to sell it, even though the prospects of what will be are exciting and scary. It has a huge yard and it has a nice layout. Too bad we have to move.
• Our car. We have had a running car for the past couple of years, for which I am grateful. It is gas efficient, what more could you ask for right now.
• Our jobs.
• Family. We have such a supportive family on both sides. We are grateful for their prayers and concerns on our behalf. Crazy how fast time flies and how our family keeps growing.
• Friends. We have a good group of friends that I know we can count on for just about anything.
• The gospel. Life isn't always easy. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who provides for us and a Savior that can help us return home to our Father one day.

I could go on, but I will leave it at that. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Waiting for Joe

Right now I am waiting for Joe to get out of our 1 working bathroom. I need to get ready for bed. Today was a good Sunday. Joseph has had quite the appetite lately, so I think he is growing. I want him to be a lot taller than me and at least as tall as his dad. Of course, with my genes, that may not be as easy as it sounds.

After church, Joseph and I found some seed pods that rattled. He liked them because they made music and were soft. We brought some home to be our instruments. I also let him know that on Wednesday he can come to work with me. Students won't be at UVU, so it will be a good day for him to come. When he heard the news, he drew in an excited breath and then said, "mommy, you made me happy!" What a sweet boy.

Joe is out, I have got to run!!

Well, BYU lost. I was disappointed, but at the same time, it was to be expected. Utah has a great team this year. It is good that they will get lots of money and it will be spread around the conference. I left during the second half and maybe that is why we lost. Of course, I have a hard time watching any game involving a team that I am rooting for. I usually feel that I will jinx them in some way.

I am ready for Thanksgiving break. I have lots to do to get the house in order. Joe has been working hard. He tiled the shower last night and has grouted the kitchen, the bathroom and I think he is doing the shower right now. I have been washing clothes all weekend and I cleaned the kitchen. Joseph has been wanting to play all day. We raced cars last night, and this morning. He watched dumbo this morning. He thought the pink elephants on parade portion was scary, but he enjoyed it. We have also made 3 thank you cards. We still need to make 6 more. The baby is moving a lot and likes to move on my bladder. Joseph got a kick out the baby the other night. I was putting him to bed. The baby was moving a lot, so I asked Joseph if he wanted to touch his baby brother. The baby put on quite a show. He kicked, he moved, he wiggled and Joseph found it to be hilarious. He loved it and laughed for a long time.

Just because I have it

Here is a picture of me at 30 weeks. I swear I look a lot bigger in person. Man, I hate my double chin! The baby moves a ton. He is quite active. Our next ultrasound is December 4th at 9 a.m. Hopefully all is better. It is fun to feel him move, I just dislike the acid reflux that I have nightly that wakes me up. I will be glad when I don't have that any more. Oh, and stretching is painful, as is turning from side to side at night (I look forward to sleeping on my back and on my belly in the future).

The long walk

Last week I was super sore, and Thursday was a day that I just wanted to sit in my office. Of course, it was the day I needed to walk the most. I walked to the new library for a seminar. I had a hard time staying awake. I got back to my office and sat down, happy to be off my feet for a few minutes.

A man brought an elderly couple to my office and asked if I knew where they needed to be. I said that I could try and help them, so the man left them. The woman was upset because they were late to a photo shoot. After a few phone calls, I found where they needed to be. I asked their names and they told me they were Bill and Margaret Pope. They were being recognized for their generous contributions to the university. The event takes place on December 5th, but they were taking pictures now. I thought the name Pope sounded familiar, after all, my office is in the Pope Science building. They needed help finding where they needed to go, so I walked with them through a maze of hallways to the opposite end of campus (I think it took us 20 minutes to get there). On my walk, I realized that they are the Popes who contributed to get the building I work in built. There is a huge portrait of Bill Pope across the atrium from where I work on the wall. I decided to help walk them where they needed to go because I couldn't very easily explain the way to the building. Luckily, they arrived safely and the person that greeted them said they would drive them back to their car. Thank goodness because I felt bad they had to walk so far in the first place. I was just happy that I could help.

I forgot my camera...Dang!

Joseph wanted me to take lots of pictures of him today. He was playing male model. "Mommy take a picture of me like this." Joseph was in one of his vintage Joe shirts. I also recorded him telling the camera what dinosaurs he has. I will try and post it later.

We have had an eventful weekend. I didn't accomplish nearly what I wanted to, but I did do other things. Friday, Joseph and I went to the Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Joe was working on the house, so he didn't come with us. I had some tickets for half-off admission. Joseph and I were there for 2 hours. When we first arrived, he asked me to take a picture of the dinosaurs. I looked in my camera then and realized that I had forgotten it at home. It was disappointing because there were fewer people there than daytime hours. We spent a long time playing in the sand and water table. I built a small lagoon for Joseph to play in the water. We also spent a lot of time uncovering fossils in the sand pit. Joseph swam in the sand. All in all, it was great fun. He liked seeing the big dinosaur skeletons. We went into the gift shop. They had miniature skeletons, so I bought some for Christmas. Joseph would love to go more. Now that he is 3, his admission price went from free to $8.

Yesterday we took Alison to pick up her wedding dress. She looks so pretty. Joseph enjoyed the cat that was at the home. We got home and I tried to clean a little. I was exhausted and wanted to stay home, but Joe convinced me to go the Real Salt Lake game. It was the Western conference title game. RSL was playing the NY Red Bulls. I only wanted to go if Joseph went. He came too. I was happy. It was really cold, so Joseph spent most of the time wrapped in a quilt. He kept me warm. I also bought hot chocolate and popcorn. Joseph was not in the mood to be there, so I had to distract him. Joe helped him get into the cheering and the game.

I asked Joseph if he had fun at the soccer game. He said no. I asked why. He responded that he was sick. I asked what made him sick. He said that he was just tired and that the music was too loud and it made him sick. There were 7 of us at the game (including Joseph). It was a fun night out, but yet again, I had forgotten my camera.

Joe has been working on cleaning our yard. Joseph was helping him. Joseph would take his wheelbarrow wherever daddy was working. When Joe would go and dump it, Joseph would go with him and play in yard. It was cute. My two men hard at work.

Before I forget...

Joseph likes to parrot things that are said to him. He also likes to say, "goodnight mommies, goodnight daddies!" When I say, "goodnight Josephs," he says, "I only 1 Joseph."

29 week check-up

I had my check-up yesterday. I weigh 149.5 pounds. The baby is active and the heartbeat is strong. Everything seems okay thus far. I do have to go in for another ultrasound in about 3 weeks. The baby's obstruction is still there. There is not much more to say on that.

Joseph was kissing and hugging his baby brother last night. Joseph would put his face on my belly and say that the baby kicked him. He even tried to tickle his baby brother. He wants the "2" babies to come out right now. I told him that that 1 baby would come in January. He keeps insisting on 2 babies: a boy and a girl. Still no name for the baby.

I have said that I make up songs that I don't remember. Last night Joseph requested the spider-web song I had made up. It took me a minute to realize what song he was talking about. He described it to me. I remembered that a few nights ago I made up a song about a little spider that needed to find a place to spin his web. He went all over the place till he found a little boy named Joseph. Then he built his web from his nose to his toes, from his toes to his mouth, and so forth. The "spider," my hand, would then crawl to each place that was name and in process tickle him. He laughed and laughed and then said he wanted to sing it for me. He copied my actions and tickled me for a bit. It was cute to see him smile and laugh.

Joseph has taken to singing as he does things. He sings a going to the door song or other random diddies that come to mind.

Mishi Tag

4x6 - go to your fourth picture file and post the 4th picture, and then repeat with your sixth file, sixth picture.

#4

This is the day that we went to the Museum of Ancient Life. We were taking Alison and Ryan to look at reception halls and we took a little break here. I guess it is one of the largest (if not the largest) dinosaur museum in the states. This is a picture of supersaurus. Joseph loves dinosaurs at the moment. Also, he likes me to sing him "scary" songs about Halloween that I make up. He remembers them and I typically don't, so I have to remake up songs often.

#6

This a a picture of Joseph eating calamari. He really likes the "little octopus" and asks us to get it for him on occasion. He won't eat some ordinary foods, but calamari is a must with him. We are at Carrabba's in Orem. On this night as well, we had asked for a fruit bowl. The waiter forgot it and one of the assistant managers (who we know fairly well) gave Joseph a huge bowl of fruit that he prepared himself. Joseph truly enjoyed all the attention and the great food. I can't say enough about their sirloin marsala. It is the best steak ever!

I tag Meredith, Alison, Amy, Ernest and Lydia, and Danika (I don't know how often she reads this). I know Brittney reads this, but I remember her doing this on her blog.

Before I forget, last night as I was putting Joseph to sleep (which took 3 hours), he told me that his tummy hurt. I asked him why and he said that daddy had gone into his belly and eaten all his food. He also said that his heart is still broken. I asked him why and he said that daddy had eaten part of his heart. What an imagination!

Weird

Today has been a long day. I stopped by to say "hi" to Joseph after a meeting. He wanted to come to work with me. I was in and out all day. At 3 today, the biotechnology club opening social started. One of the speakers coming (we had 5), was my old chair at BYU. He saw me and gave me a big hug and talked to me. When he left, he kissed my cheek and gave me a big hug. It was unexpected. Maybe he still feels bad for what happened a few years ago. Oh well.

Joseph, as he was going to bed, said, "mommy, I want to keep you." It makes me sad that day after day I have to drop him off and by the time I get off, I am so tired that I can hardly function. Maybe it will be easier after the baby comes. ;)

I am very grateful for my little boy and my husband. I am still waiting to hear back on the ultrasound results. If the doctor hasn't called by noon tomorrow, I am bothering him again. I called yesterday, but haven't heard anything. They said they would have it in 24 hours and that was completed as of yesterday morning at 9:15 am.

I got the results. So it looks like the babies obstruction is still there. It is measuring a little bigger to not that much bigger than before. They need me to have another ultrasound at 32-33 weeks (so in 4 weeks or so). If it is still there, they will start talking to a nephrologist to determine what needs to happen when the baby is born. The baby will get an ultrasound after he is born. Depending on what the nephrologist says, the baby may need surgery to put in a stint or they might wait. That is the latest update. There are a lot of "if this, then that" scenarios. The doctor did say that a lot of babies are born without their right kidney and they are just fine. Should I take solace in his statement?

Of doctors and needles

Today I had my second ultrasound. It looks like the obstruction is still there, but I have to wait to hear from the doctor's for the final prognosis. It makes me sad to think that my poor little boy is going to have to have an ultrasound a day or two after he is born, be on antibiotics and who knows what else. I was impressed with myself for recognizing the kidneys and being able to see the obstruction without aid. I wish the doctors had called me today.

Joseph had his 3 year check up today also. He is short and skinny. He is doing all right with developmental things. I asked about his tendency to say that he "just doesn't feel good." The doctor wants me to keep tabs as to when he says it. I told him that he says it every day. He thinks it is probably just mimicing. I mentioned to my mom that he says this a lot. She doesn't think that it is her, but it is. What really worried me and concerned the doctor was the fact that he said that he was dying. He wants to know where he would have heard that, seeing that he is so young. I have my opinions, but my mom would never agree. She doesn't hear what she talks about all the time. Now I have to watch and monitor my son to see if he is lagging behind when he plays and any other symptom that may require testing.

Joseph is also excited about Halloween. He wants to go to daddy's work some more for the scary stuff and candy. He told me he likes scary stuff but not scary music. He is a cutie. He was so excited that I didn't have to go into work today. I love it when he says, "mommy, I love you."

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! It is hard to believe that October is over. Joseph learned the meaning of trick or treating. I tried to get him to try on his costume last night, but he cried. I was afraid that he wouldn't wear it today. When he woke up this morning, he wanted to come to work with me. I told him to wait till grandma dropped him off at about 3 p.m. He got to my office and was very excited. All day, he had been telling everyone that he was going to be a shark and go trick or treating. I tried to put on his costume, but he started crying again. It took me half and hour to convince him to wear just the head portion of the costume.Joe's work was having a trick or treating day for all the families. I explained to Joseph that we were going to Joe's work but that he wouldn't be able to get any candies unless he was in his costume. We talked on our car ride. I asked if he was going to wear his shark costume. He said "yes." I asked if he was going to cry and he said, "no." We had little pep talks the entire time (10 minutes). When we got to Joe's work, he was excited to put on his costume. We got a bag for candy and he was ready to go around the office. We went to the bathroom and he didn't cry at all. As we went around, he kept saying that he liked his costume.

They had little games and haunted houses. Joseph made it part way through the first haunted hall. He said, "let's get out of here." He didn't even attempt to go in the second one. I don't think I would have liked the second one either. They did have some carnival games. Joseph golfed and did a bean bag toss to knock over skulls. He did well. He got the first 2 on the first 2 shots and had to take a couple of shots on the last one.

When we went trick or treating tonight, we went to a house that was playing spooky music. I think that they had someone there to scare people in a costume. Luckily they didn't do it with Joseph. He kept saying that he didn't like the house with scary music. I don't blame him. He liked the other homes we visited, till we got to a house that had a very tall man dressed as Frankenstein. It scared him. They had a mini graveyard set up in their yard. We walked a couple of blocks and Joseph wanted to come home. He liked all the candy he was given. As I put him to bed, he apologized for not wearing the costume at my workplace. He is so cute.

Cat naps

Joseph fell asleep last night before dinner at about 7 p.m. I was afraid that he would wake up and think it was time to play. He did wake up last night at 2 a.m. He wanted his toy trucks that he received for his birthday. I put them on the bed with him. I was trying to help him fall back asleep, but his little tummy was hungry and he was thirsty. I took him downstairs and he ate a little bit and drank some apple juice. We went back upstairs. He was asleep again by 2:30 a.m.

I am just grateful he fell asleep again. After I got out of the shower this morning, I started to sneeze lots. I hear a little voice yelling, "Bless you mommy!" Like I said, I sneezed a lot and he kept saying it. It was so sweet. He was in a great mood. I think the almost 12 hours of sleep helped him. When I exited the bathroom to our bedroom, Joseph was next to his daddy. I gave him a hug and kiss. He then said, "It's cold. I lay down next to daddy. Daddy's warm." He cuddled up next to Joe. I wish I had had my camera. I love the men (both big and small) that are in my life!

Freecycling is awesome!

Can I tell you how much I love Freecycle! It is a free group that you can join. People list things that they have to offer and give it for free to other people. I have some things I plan on listing in the next little while, I just want to list as much as possible all at once. Some of the things that I have gotten are:

A baby travel swing (it looks so nice)
A baby playmat (it is cute)
A baby bouncer chair
Some boy's clothes and shoes

It is fun to see what people are giving away. I have a whole list of things to offer: speaker stands, picture albums, clothes (mine and Joe's), and so forth. I already freecycled some clothes that I decided I didn't want for Joseph. The woman who gave me the swing and playmat also gave me some sleeper blankets, some new pacifiers (still in the packages), a couple of books on breastfeeding and eating well in pregnancy, and some breastfeeding material (new in package). It makes me happy to get free stuff!!

"I'm not 2 anymore. I'm free. Yay!"

Happy birthday last night at 11:33 p.m.!! Our little guy was so happy with all the extra attention he got for his birthday this weekend. All weekend long he kept singing happy birthday to you. We had to explain to Joseph that his birthday meant that he was no longer 2 years old. The quote in our title was his reaction upon the final realization that he is "growing up," like he likes to remind us.Joseph was excited to see his cousin MacKenzie at his birthday party. He insisted that he needed to wear his dinosaur t-shirt because he thought we were going to the dinosaur Bean Museum (the Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi). He wasn't disappointed at the Bean. He loves to run around and look at all the animals. He does want to go to the Earth Science Museum near the stadium.

Saturday was Joseph's birthday party. It turned out better than I anticipated. There was plenty of parking at the museum, the day was sunny and relatively warm for our outside adventure at the park. Lots of people came. It was fun to see Joseph interact with people he has met and is acquainted with through my work, as well as family and other friends. We had a reptile show at the Bean Museum. They brought out a live tortoise for the kids to touch, a live gecko named Brewskie, and a little corn snake. Joseph was happy to see the animals. I had a hard time keeping him still because he wanted to run off and play with his friend Bryan.

Joseph and Bryan examining the wildlife up close. They wanted to play with it, but I could tell the worker was nervous about having them so close.

After the show we went to a park. I couldn't have asked for a sunnier, nice autumn day! Joseph, Bryan, and Ammon (my friend Emily's nephew) tromped and stomped through the leaves and threw them at each other. Bryan ran to hug Joseph, but Newton's laws were not proven wrong on this occasion. Law 1: An object in motion continues in motion till acted upon by an outside force, and an object at rest stays at rest until acted upon by an outside force. Moving object: Bryan, object at rest: Joseph. Law 2: force is equal to mass times acceleration . Force: Bryan running towards Joseph with all his weight. Law 3: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Stationary Joseph hit by the full force of moving Bryan, causing Joseph to fall backwards, with Bryan on top. Joseph smacked his head hard enough that we could all hear it. Reaction, Joseph starts to cry. That ended the nice romp in the leaves. We finally calmed Joseph down by saying we were going to sing happy birthday and have cake and ice cream.

The cake and ice cream portion was fun. Afterwards, Joseph opened his presents. He loved all the toys and books that he received. Joseph and I will be busy with thank you cards in the next couple of weeks. On Sunday, they made a big deal about Joseph's birthday in nursery. He didn't want me to leave him. In fact, this whole weekend he has been saying "I love you mommy" lots. He is so sweet. I wonder if this is Heavenly Father's way of trying to appease my guilty conscience for having to work full time and leave him with grandma.

Our little guy dressed up to go to nursery on Sunday. I thought he looked so cute. He is getting so big. I can't believe it. Too bad his shirt doesn't ever want to stay tucked in.

Call of the wild

We are still working on getting Joseph potty trained. He just says, "no thanks." Well, he is also a very modest kid. He doesn't like to walk around in the buff. Sunday we were going to go for a walk and he was wearing underwear. I discussed that if he needed to go to the bathroom, we might have to stop and he would need to go behind a bush or something like that.

I was surprised at how excited he got. We were ready to leave and I decided that we would go outside and pick some of the apples off of our tree in our backyard. We hadn't tried them and I was curious to see if they were good (they are really good and we picked 4 grocery bags full). Joseph refused to go to the toilet in the house because he wanted to go outside. I took off his pants and underwear and I placed him on the sidewalk. I was amazed at how excited he was to go to the bathroom outside. While I picked some of the apples, he started to yell excited, "I peeing outside!" My liitle modest boy was standing free and easy on the sidewalk in our backyard going to the bathroom. Must be a boy thing.

He did well the rest of the walk. He did want to go poops outside, but I had to draw the line somewhere. He wore underwear for 7 hours without incident. Too bad he has to go to grandma's where he feels that he doesn't need to go to the toilet or even try underwear. He says that he doesn't have to at grandma's. It may be a little longer before he decides on his own that he is completely ready.

Joseph gets a haircut

Well, it was high time to cut Joseph's long hair. He had lots of little curls, but they needed to go. Here is the before picture. You can't see the curls in the back, but they are posted on an earlier blog. Here are a couple of after pictures. Joseph has socks on his hands like Huggly. He likes it when we call him "a goofy monster" just like Sleepyhead's mom calls Huggly in the story.

Joseph is concentrating hard on his maze. This is right after his haircut.

I came to the realization that his birthday party is the same day and almost the same time as the BYU game. That means lots of traffic going to the Bean Museum, we won't be able to go home for cake and ice cream because we won't have a place to park or places for anyone else to park. We are going to the park instead after the reptile show. I will probably have to drive Joe home because he wants to work on the house and drop him off and return hours later, when game traffic has cleared. I am irked at myself for not thinking of the BYU game before I planned the party. At least he will have fun no matter what!

Etc., etc., etc...

Tuesday I had my blood glucose levels tested. They had me drink the glucose. It was orange flavored, carbonated, and nasty. The expected level is supposed to be under 130 mg or less, and if it isn't, then you have to do a 3 hour glucose. My levels were at 137. So, like with Joseph, I had to do the 3 hour glucose test. I decided to do it on Saturday. Today I went in at 9 in the morning and had my finger pricked. I had to be fasting. My levels were okay. Each hour for 3 hours I had to be at the doctor's to have my finger pricked. One of my fingers bruised. In total, I was pricked 5 times (they gave me a flu shot). Luckily, my levels were okay. I don't have gestational diabetes! Woo hoo! I was worried, because with my luck, I would have had it and had to have been on a special diet the rest of my pregnancy. I am grateful that is not the case.

I was given a flu shot to help the baby, but the doctor told me that everyone that plans on being near the baby for an extended period will need a flu shot as well. They didn't tell me this with Joseph. So now Joe and Joseph for sure have to get one. Joe is not pleased about this. Joseph started whining about the shot. He told me that he doesn't like shots. Who can blame him.

I was starving after the fast and nearly passed out, but I bought some food and sat down with Joseph. We ate and then came home. I was exhausted when we got home and decided to lay in bed. I thought I could get away with just napping for 10 minutes, but that turned into an hour. It was nice to rest, but I didn't get everything that I wanted to done. I did get Joseph's room organized again. I am trying to get the big room done.
Joseph likes to smile like this for camera shots. It is his new thing of late. My little boy is getting so big. It makes me happy and sad...

Here are some pictures from our fall break yesterday. Joseph enjoyed playing in the leaves for a bit. He made "snow angels" in the leaves and crunched them. He was really good throughout the day. Today he was in an exceptionally good mood. He must have benefited greatly from the almost 12 hours of sleep that he got.

On Monday, Joseph and I visited Meredith and MacKenzie. He was excited to see little MacKenzie. He was happy to see the little baby. He kept exclaiming how little the baby was. He is excited to have a baby brother. He is still calling MacKenzie a him instead of her. Now all he talks about is wanting things for little MacKenzie. If it were up to him, we would play with her everyday.

Fall break

Today I brought Joseph with me to work. He was so excited. As I was dressing him up, he exclaimed, "I get to stay wif you!" We were running a little late, but we got here. He was excited to step on all the leaves that have been falling from the tree. Walking through the hall to my office, he said, "mommy, I love you." He then grabbed my leg to hug it and kissed my hand. It was so cute! The sun was coming through the hall of flags and it created what he calls puzzle pieces on the floor. Because no one is really here, he could run down the hall by himself. He was winded so he told me that he needed to walk. He has been really good today. A couple of random times today, he has said that he loves me.

Our weekend

This weekend has been really busy. I have started to go through boxes (after almost a year of living here) and am unpacking. I decided that my books can stay packed because I don't know how soon we will put the house on the market. All the book boxes, Joe had to move. Actually, I had him move a lot of the boxes. I could hardly lift anything. Needless to say, by last night, I was sore and tired. I made a lot of progress, but it doesn't look that way right now. It might get worse before it gets better.

I also packed away Joseph's 2T clothes. Most of them are getting short, even though 3T are still a little too long. I have also began collecting clothes for the next couple of years. I have a 4T box of clothes and a 5T box of clothes. I am mostly lacking in shorts in the 4T category. In 5T, I could use a few more pants. After packing the 2T, I realized Joseph has 1 pair of jeans that are 3T. He has a ton of khakis in that age, not jeans. I left out some of his 2T long sleeved shirts, though the arms are getting a bit short. I also finally got him socks that fit his feet. I realized a couple of weeks ago that I was putting socks on him that were for 18-24 month. Yeah, they were a little tight. I bought him a lot more fun pairs. Some have pirate ships, others gorillas, others have rhinos or other random animals. He also got some sensible socks in colors like green, blue, red and orange. I don't think that he has any white socks. Oh well.

This is Joseph before our walk. I had taken other pictures of him and by this point, he said, "mommy, that's enough." Joseph was wearing his BYU sweats with his BYU socks. Of course, BYU didn't move up in the rankings as much as Texas did. I bet Jeff is very excited.

Yesterday after breakfast, I was working on cleaning something or other. Joseph decided he wanted to go play outside. Of course, Joseph doesn't always ask nicely, and we have a large house, so he was yelling that he wanted to go and play. Well, I was ambitious and decided that we could go for a walk. It was really cold outside, and Joe had told us that it had snowed on him on his way back from class. We walked in a large circle and took a break halfway at D.I. Good ol' DI. I take Joseph there to look at toys and books. That is what we look at. Joseph found himself a powerwheel tractor and he wanted me to get it. Fortunately, I explained that we walked and it was way too big to carry home. He said okay and I then put it back. We didn't find any books, but I was exhausted, so I didn't look too hard. After our walk, we came home. We ate some lunch. I asked if he wanted to watch cartoons, He said yes, so I put some on. Within minutes, he was out cold and slept for over 3 hours. It was my way of tricking him into getting a nap. Meanwhile, I worked on laundry, unpacking boxes, and whatever else. I may have sounded busy, but it took me forever to do even the simplest of tasks.

This is Joseph after our walk. While he was napping, his hair curled up lots. The picture doesn't do justice to how nice and poofy his curls were.

As for potty training, it is still a work in progress. I was finally able to get him to go poops in the toilet after a long hiatus. He is using the toilet more readily, he is just not quite ready for underwear. He wore some glow in the dark ghost underwear for about 5 minutes on Friday. Today he wore a pair of Elmo underwear for 30 minutes. It is a good thing we were having a snack in the kitchen because we were snacking when he commented, "I am peeing in my diaper." Unfortunately, he had no diaper on, only underwear. I still rewarded him for at least trying to wear underwear (he got 3 gummy sharks).

The baby is moving lots more each day. If I watch my belly, I can see him kicking. A friend of mine had twins a few days ago, but she and her family were surprised because she was only expecting one baby. The ultrasound didn't see the second baby. Yikes! I hope that doesn't happen to us. As it is, I will have another ultrasound to check the baby's renal dilation at about 28 weeks. Tuesday is my next appointment. I have my glucose test. I hope it isn't high this time like it was with Joseph. The baby is also sitting lower this pregnancy, so he literally pushes on a nerve that causes pain to shoot up and down my right side. I can't move for a few minutes after he does it. I spent 2 weeks solid in pain, waddling and limping. It has eased up, though I still struggle to pick up my right leg. I shouldn't complain. I don't think anything is as bad as what my sister-in-law, Michelle, went through. Kudos to her for having such a positive attitude about everything.

Joe has been working on the house. He has been busy trying to get our bathroom done. Joseph told him that he needed to clean up the mess so that he could take off his shoes and walk in the bathroom to take a bath. He has almost been with his company for a year. His year mark is November 5th.

I work with some of the nicest people in the world. They are great! I just love that I have been blessed to meet them. A couple of my coworkers love Joseph. They think of him all the time, which reminds me that Joseph and I need to make them thank you cards. They have given him books (which he loves) and toys (which he loves as well). This week, Jim, my supervisor gave him a box full of packing peanuts. They are made of starch, so if you get them wet, they stick together. Joseph was so excited. Instead of calling them peanuts, Joe kept calling them nuts. Well, my son is 2 (almost 3) and was very excited to share the news with his uncle Ziggy. Imagine Joseph in little blue footed pajamas, clean from a bath, his really long curly hair on his head. Now picture a large box of green packing peanuts. Joseph has been sticking his toys in the box the past couple of days. Joe, Ziggy, and I were at the kitchen table. Joseph ran to the hall where his box of peanuts are and yells to Ziggy, "Come look at my nuts!!" Now picture Joe and Ziggy choking on their food, laughing and turning red in the face, especially because Joseph keeps yelling it over and over again. In walks Esteban. Joseph is telling him about his packing peanuts and then says, "Come play with my nuts." More choking, sputtering, laughing and red faces from the 3 "men" in the kitchen. Poor Joseph doesn't know why they are laughing at him. He just wants someone to play with him. I laughed because they were cracking up. I would have grabbed the camera, but I didn't want poor Joseph to be blackmailed the rest of his life. Of course, writing it down will have the same consequence, but a much lesser one...hopefully.

Joseph typically puts socks on his hands and says that he is Huggly. Two nights ago, he took one sock and put it on one hand. I asked if he was being Huggly again and he said, "No. Like sleepyhead." Tonight Joseph helped me prepare instant mashed potatoes. Can I tell you that I have no energy after work whatsoever? Cooking is so hard to do. Joseph sat at the table and ate a lot of mashed potatoes from the bowl while I was preparing the gravy. He also ate a lot of roast beef, cold, from the night before.

Tonight we went to buy crickets for his toad. I made up a little song that had a chorus of "I have a handsome, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute little boy!" I said why we love our handsome cute little boy. I sung lots of reasons. The smile on Joseph's face was so wide. After I stopped singing, he asked me to sing it again and again. Each time I sung it, I changed the words and added more things. He kept wanting to hear the Joseph song. Boy do I love that kid!!

It seems like Joe has formulated a plan. If we can sell the house in the next few months, we will move to an apartment, possibly in Pennsylvania. That means that we will drive cross country, visit our family in Texas for a week, drive to Jersey and spend a few weeks there, and then head to our new place. Joe will then go to graduate school while I take care of the little ones. The plan is based on lots of factors that are out of our control. I just hope and pray that Heavenly Father will bless us to know the path that is right for our growing little family.

Wedding dress shopping

Yesterday morning we went wedding dress shopping with Alison. She found her dress. After trying on many, many dresses, she found one that fit her well and looked beautiful on her. Of course, she looked good in lots of dresses, but the one she ended up purchasing is perfect for her. I won't post pictures so as not to ruin the surprise. This is Alison in one of the dresses she didn't get. She looked so beautiful in so many of the styles. It is hard to believe that Alison is getting married. She was a miamaid when Joe and I got married. She used to hang out a lot with us her freshman year, now here she is a junior and engaged and on top of that, soon to be married.
Joseph handled everything fairly well. I had a mini pack of nerds and told him to eat them one by one. That kept him occupied for quite a bit of time. Towards the end, he found the dresses to be a nice buffer for running and then throwing himself against them. He liked that they were like big pillows and cushioned him. He even took to hiding under some of the dresses. Luckily the lady was very patient and said it was no problem.

We stopped at D.I. and I found Joseph a bounce and spin zebra. We got home and cleaned it. He is very entertained by it. Joe asked me to run and get my camera, so we missed some really great footage. This morning we could hear him riding his zebra again. I need to start planning his 3rd birthday party. It will probably be at the Bean Museum again. He enjoys it there and a big bonus is that it is free. I thought about changing venues to the Museum of Ancient Life, but it cost a whole lot more.

Joseph meets his cousin

Wednesday night we went to visit MacKenzie, Joseph's only cousin that is close. We talked to him about how he needed to be careful with the baby. When we got to the room, Joseph was so excited. He was nice and clean after his bath and he was happy to be out. He was in a great mood.

We got into the room and Joseph had brought a rattle for his little cousin. Meredith's mom was carrying the baby, so we started to chat. Meredith looked like she was doing well, tired, but well. The happy father also looked tired. Meredith asked if I wanted to carry the baby and I said sure. I forget how tiny and helpless babies really are right after they are born. I still look at Joseph as being so little, but looking at a newborn, I realize just how tiny he started out life. MacKenzie weighed less and was 2 inches longer than Joseph. One big difference (other than I had a boy and Meredith had a girl) is that MacKenzie's head looked so tiny. Joseph's head was in the 75th percentile at birth and has been in the 95th to 100th percentile since his first week of life outside of the womb. Little MacKenzie looks just like her mommy. I didn't get to see her with her eyes open, but she could be Meredith's twin that was born over 20 years later.

Joseph was fascinated with Mackenzie. He kept looking at her and saying, "Baby so little!" in his high pitched little voice. We tried to record it, but there was an error in our video taking. Joseph loved to touch her little face and little feet. There were a couple of times that he made everyone jump because he rushed towards the baby and seemed to be heading for her with force. He was always really gentle with her. He also said, "This is my baby brother." We explained it was his cousin MacKenzie and that she was a girl. He still persisted on saying, "Him so little." I guess we will work on pronouns later. Joseph loved the baby, especially her little feet. He would cup his little hands around her feet and just repeat over and over again that they were so small. Meredith's mom, Joy, asked him if he had little feet. He stated frankly, "My feet are bigger." Meredith asked if they were smelly feet, and he said, "They are smelly feet. He need a bath." All in all, I think Joseph will be a great big brother. He really seems fascinated and really seems to love babies.

I told you about Ruby in June. Joseph was exclaiming earlier in the week that he missed Ruby. Last night, after having met his cousin, he said, "We forgot see Mackenzie!" This was as we were getting ready for bed, as he was brushing his teeth.

I will have to get a picture with him and his little cousin. He asked if he could carry her, but we said that she was too little right now and that when she got bigger, he could hold her.

Reception center hunting and dinosaur hunting

It has been a busy weekend. I have had very little time to take a break. Yesterday, Joseph and I took Alison and Ryan reception center shopping. We looked at 3. I think Alison liked the last one best, but we will see what she ends up choosing.

Because Joseph has had very little play time the past couple of weekends, I asked Alison if it would be all right to take him to The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. One of the reception areas was at Thanksgiving Point, so I figured we could spend a couple of hours at the museum between reception center appointments. Joseph was so excited on Friday when I told him, that first thing on Saturday he woke me up saying that he wanted to go to the "dinosaur skeleton bean museum." He wanted to wear one of his dinosaur t-shirts for the occasion.

Here is Joseph riding on the back of one of the dinosaurs. His current favorite dinosaur is the pteranodon (formerly called a pterodactyl). He looks at his Schleich models of dinosaurs and points out that we still need it. Maybe I can find a Schleich pteranodon model for his birthday. Joseph made sure that when I took a picture of the T-rex, that I took a picture from the mouth side.

We had a hard time getting him away from the sand and water play area. He wanted to play there and probably would have lasted there for over 30 minutes. He didn't want to leave. I finally convinced him that we would go and dig for dinosaurs, but that we had to leave. After a lot of coaxing and arguing (Joseph kept saying, "just one more minute."), we got him to leave.

Of course, he didn't really want to leave the excavation area. Getting him to walk in the sand was a challenge. He didn't like the way it felt, so I had to go in with him. He was still very reluctant and cautious as he stepped into different sand areas. I was sad that I didn't think to record it.

Once we did leave, here are the boys in the car. All tuckered out after playing for so long at the museum. They slept until we got back to Provo. Alison was being nice and trying to get Joseph out of the car for me, but she ended up bumping his head on the ceiling of the car. He cried and didn't nap again after that.

Joe was nice enough to set up the baby crib. It didn't have instructions, so Joe pieced it together. It looks pretty nice overall. When I get crib bedding, I will take pictures and post them. The crib is currently in Joseph's room. I also came to the realization that Joseph has way too many toys. I need to decide which ones to get rid of, but it is hard because he seems so attached to all of them. I will focus on big items first. I managed to get rid of some at the stake give and take, but 1 bag of toys does very little to counteract the toys that, I swear, must be breeding in his toy cupboard. Either that or mommy and grandma have a hard time saying no to the cute little face that you see all over this blog. :)

Another Friday

Well, we have a new water heater so all is well. It feels so nice to have hot showers again. Joe is really wanting to take a long hot bath, so I need to clean the tub for him.

Tomorrow I am going to take Alison and Ryan to look at reception centers. Most are booked for the the 30th of December. Alison told me they were thinking of having the reception on the 2nd of January. So far every place has that date available. I called a ton today and yesterday to set up times to view. I spoke to Sundance as well. They usually have a $9000 dollar minimum for their space, but are willing to let Alison, if she wants it, have it for $3500 plus $100 for labor and clean up. Considering there is another place that offers you everything but the dress for less, this may not be the way to go. We will see what they want.

Joseph gets to go along with us. He likes to talk and talk. When people ask him how old he is he says, "two" and holds up his 2 pointer fingers. He then tells them his birthday is in October and that when he turns 3 he will take "snimming" classes with mommy. He will also say that when he turns 4 he is going to go to soccer practice and that mommy and daddy are going to watch him play. He likes to wear his cleats that are size 11 (he is barely in a 6.5). He then says that when he is 5 he will go to school.
Right now he takes different books and says that he needs to do his homework, since that is what he sees the kids doing when they get back from school. Tonight we ran into one of Joe's coworkers whose baby is 12 days old. Joseph got so excited to see him and I told him that his baby brother would bet that little. They asked Joseph if he was going to give his little brother a big kiss and he said yes. Then he told them that the baby had to wait till January.

I am doing better in my pregnancy. The nausea is pretty much gone, but with that gone, my appetite has come back in full force. I am always hungry and feel like eating a ton. I like to say that I have gained 30 pounds so far, but that is because I was already 25 pounds overweight for my height. I went to the doctor this week. In 3 weeks I go back for my glucose test. I just hope my levels aren't high, considering that chocolate is high on my cravings list.

What to do?

So our water heater hasn't been functioning well...again. On Tuesday, the water heater repair guy came and said that it worked just fine. He left; it went out again. I called on Wednesday. They couldn't get anyone to see us until Friday, meanwhile, no hot water for baths, showers, etc. Friday came and I was planning on missing half a day, as I did on Tuesday. I had to wait from 9 to 1. I waited and after 1 p.m., no one had come or called. I called the contractors and the home warranty company had decided to get another company for a second opinion. I called the home warranty company and they said they would have someone for me to contact later that day. Well, I waited and called several times, each time being told that they were working on it. 7 p.m. came and went and we were told to wait till Saturday for a call. Did a call come? Of course not. So I am sitting at home tonight, irritated that we don't have hot water, that Joe or I will need to miss work again, and that we still have no hot water. I had better get a call from them by 9 a.m., or they will have a big piece of my mind. Why did the home warranty company wait until Friday to decide they needed a second opinion? Could they have not done it on Wednesday or Thursday?

At least on the days I have waited, I have had Joseph with me. He is cute and has enjoyed the time. We played, cleaned his room (again and again), read books (he loves Huggly books), went to the doctor (he has a virus), ate, cooked (jell-o, eggs, and so forth). He has been using the toilet more often, but still no underwear. Now he uses the excuse, "I need to go to the bathroom, let's hurry!" to get out of taking a nap or going to bed. Smart kid. He knows that we want him to use the toilet. That is also the only time that he says that he wants to use underwear (he knows I won't let him till he is more trained).

Yesterday at church, Joseph was singing to the hymns. It was more muttering/humming, but he was trying. It is cute to watch him anytime a prayer is said. He starts to say the prayer as well, but his are shorter, so he always ends with "amen" before the person does. He really enjoys nursery, but because he was sick yesterday he couldn't go. After we left church, he pretended that there were little crocodiles all around us. We talked to them and even rolled down our window so one could come home with us.

Saturday was our stake give and take. I went on Friday to drop off some stuff, including some of Joseph's toys. He cried and cried, until he found a replacement. I found a few baby boy things, but the predominant clothing type was little girls. I did buy some baby clothes off of someone on Craigslist and I think that I am set for the first 6 months. Now I need to find the rest of my baby clothes. Joseph likes to get the liitle beanies and say, "I wore this when I was borned."

Yesterday, Joseph had daddy's hat and put it on backwards. He said, "this is like Huggly." He said this as he sat on his toilet. He likes his daddy's hat.

I can feel the baby move a lot more. His kicks are more visible from the outside now. Still no name, but maybe one day we will get around to thinking of one.

Joseph and his comfort zone

Joseph has decided that he really doesn't like underwear. I had him wear some for the first time on Tuesday while we waited for the water heater repairman to come. Well, he had two accidents. He does well in a diaper and tells us in time, with the underwear, not so much...hmmm. My mom said that I traumatized him by making him wear underwear. He seems to want to make me happy, so he went along with the underwear.



At the thought of pushing him a little to hard, I talked to him and said that he could tell me when he wanted to wear underwear. In the past few weeks he has gotten better at using the toilet at home. I don't think he goes often at grandma's. I told him this last night as he was going to bed. He said that he wanted to wear underwear then. I explained it would be better to wait till the morning.



Last night he woke up and was up for a little over an hour. I am tired. Fortunately for me, I have to wait for the repairman...again. They didn't fix the problem. Joe has had many late night meetings and he is stressed because our water heater is acting up again, or rather, shutting off again.

To quote Joseph

Yesterday Joseph and I were driving in the car. I asked him if he was excited to have a little brother. He said,"yes." I asked him, knowing that he never comes up with names, what his little brother's name was. Usually he makes a sound or repeats the word that you were asking him to name. Last night he actually said, "Jonas." I was suprised. I said that was a good name and that I liked it. I told him that I would let his dad know. He then said, "Daddy going to say he no like it." He then asked if I like it. I told him yes and he said that he liked it too. Of course when I did tell Joe, he said that he didn't like it.

Yesterday I actually got Joseph to go to the bathroom 4 different times. He is determined to finish his race track. Last night he finished and then said we needed to make another. This new race track has spaces for wearing underwear. We'll see if that gets him to use the toilet. Today he wasn't so good about going to the toilet. He peed before getting in the tub and then he asked to be taken out of his bath to go poop. He did that as well. I bought him some new underwear, hopefully he will want to start wearing it. It will be different for him. Joseph thinks that all stickers are for when he goes to the bathroom. Today I went to the bathroom and he came with a sticker to give me. I now have a Minnie Mouse sticker on my shirt for going to the bathroom in the toilet. :)

I also organized clothes that I can give at our stake give and take on Friday. I have one small box, but am hoping to have more to give. We bought a crib this week. It was only $25. It is not my dream crib, but I can't justify spending hundreds on a crib when this crib was solid and looks good. Plus the sides go down, a benefit which most of the cribs that I liked don't have. We also have a car seat and a swing. I found some of my baby clothes and am preparing to wash and organize them to see if I need anything.

The baby has been moving lots lately. It is fun to feel him. I just hope that he is okay and won't come till January. I also pray that his problem will heal itself before he is born. I do kind of like the name Jonas, but I don't know if Joe will like it. Jonas Zachary Rankin...hmmm, has a nice ring to it. Joshua Asher Rankin. I guess Joe and I will have to discuss it more.

Finally Friday

Today is Friday, to state the obvious. I am happy the weekend is here. I have had a cold and am ready to get our house in a little more order (at least our rooms and kitchen). I left work early because Joseph needed to be picked up from grandma's. He was napping, so that is what I did also.

Joseph is starting to assert himself when the kids pick on him. I told him he needs to tell grandma. The other day we were driving back from grandma's and he was talking about things that are not nice to say. "Dumbhead not nice." "Stupid not nice." Of course, he also says that "nap" is not nice and tells us not to say it.

I am waiting outside the bathroom while he sits on his toilet. He wants to go poop. He has already gone pee in the toilet today. We put on Diego training diapers. I am trying to get him comfortable with wearing underwear. When we try to put some on him, he says, "no thank you. I don't like them." If he is in the tub for a long while, he won't come out till he needs to go to the bathroom or we threaten to pull the bath plug. If we give him a choice and ask if he wants to get out of the tub, he says, "no thank you mommy."

A couple of nights ago, I was working on my project. I was working in Joseph's room. He heard me sneeze and said, "mommy, don't wake me up again." A few minutes later, as he was trying to get comfortable, he said, "mommy, I way super tired." What a cute and expressive little boy. It was cute last night because we were kneeling as a family to say prayer with him. He said, "Heavenly Father, we thank thee for good day. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." Joe asked if he needed help with making the prayer a little longer. As Joe started to help him pray, I felt the bed moving. I peeked and Joseph was slowly climbing to kneel in front of his dad, cradled by him. It was cute to watch as each part of the prayer was uttered, he would slowly get more and more in position. By the end of the prayer, he was kneeling in front of Joe.

He also tells us that he doesn't like dogs, only puppies. He likes cats and baby crocodiles and baby lions and baby anything. Big animals scare him, even though he likes them too. Tonight he got to pet a little dog and a cat. He thought the dog was a puppy because it was tiny. He liked petting the cat.

We don't know what we will dress Joseph as for Halloween. He says he wants to be a monkey, but we haven't had a Halloween where we have dressed him up. This will be his first official one.

He is done, so I have to go now. He went poops and pee in the toilet!!

Rambling

I just finished working on a project for work. I have worked a ton on the project at work, but have spent about 4 or 5 hours at home working on it. Hopefully the end is in sight.

I came home early today because I have a cold. I was feeling awful, but knew I had a ton to do for a meeting that I missed today. I left at about 1, came home with Joseph, and then slept after we ate lunch. We slept till 5:30 pm, which meant a late night for Joseph who was not tired at 8 or 9 pm. We cooked Joe's favorite, rice and gravy, for dinner. Joseph helped pour in the corn starch, but as soon as daddy walked in the door, he said he didn't want to cook.

Joe has been assigned a lot of projects as of late. It is too bad with the increased amount of work they require him to do, they don't increase his pay. He is also finishing the big room downstairs. We are looking for carpet that is relatively inexpensive because we need about 600 square feet of it or so. That basement is huge. It is 22'x24'. Now to decide what projects are necessary and what can we leave off, if we try to sell.

Joseph is learning lots everyday. He was so excited that I came home early today. He also "carries" around a little lion that he has named "Roar." Tonight he carried his lion in a bag that contained videos from a coworker for him. It was his lion's house. He also pretends to be a cat often, a horse, and lately, a dolphin. He uses his little hands to mimic how a dolphin swims and then he calls for mommy dolphin to come and play with him. Before we ate dinner, Joseph and Joe stomped around the kitchen pretending to be monsters. Joe told Joseph they needed to give me monster kisses. Joe came over to where I was sitting and roared a lot. Joseph looked at him and said, "dinosaurs go roar, monsters go yar, yar, yar." He proceeded to march around the kitchen yarring and then stomped over to me and gave me monster kisses. It is fun to watch Joe and Joseph interact. Joseph is starting to say his own prayers at night. Sometimes they make sense and other times, we are left wondering what we said "amen" too.

It looks like the ultrasound results are in. The baby does have the renal pelvic dilation. Normal is 4mm and one of our baby's ureter is measuring 5mm. I get to have another ultrasound in 8 weeks and after the baby is born, he may need another ultrasound, depending on what the results are of the next ultrasound. Our little one may also need to be on antibiotics for 6 weeks or so. They were telling me the baby may weigh about 8 and a half pounds at birth. Scary thought.