B6 and Unisom

This pregnancy certainly has been different then my others.  With previous ones I NEVER got sick.  I mainly felt tired.  This pregnancy, I have been nauseous this entire time (12 weeks).  It really hasn't been bad but it gets to the point that I simply can't stand it anymore.  I'm not 'sick' with this nausea, but a very sick tummy.

Yesterday a neighbor told me about taking 1 B6 vitamin and 1/2 a Unisom at night and that will help with the next day nausea.  After a very sick stomach all day yesterday I decided to give it a try.  Naturally these pills are not something I typically have around and of course Ed was in class last night.  I put out a plea on facebook in hopes that a neighbor would have these pills that I could take.  Thankfully someone offered to head to the store for me.

One and a half pills later I was completely out to the world last night.  Man, I slept great!  Once morning came, I continued to sleep.  I eventually dragged myself out of bed only to doze on the couch.  I lay listening to Olivia hum 'Sweet Hour of Prayer' while coloring for an hour, and Lucy playing with Ed.  This went on until 2p.  Through this all I am grateful that Ed was home.

So perhaps the B6 and Unisom are not a good combo for me.  My stomach feels great today (a little sick after lunch) but I need to function.  With all the sleeping I've done today, hopefully I can sleep tonight.

Cowgirl and the Bad Guy

This morning Olivia came in very excited that she finally finished her book or screenplay that she has been working on for a few days.  It's funny, but she wants to send her book off to the people who make DVDs (movies) for them to act it out.  I have no idea where she came up with this idea, but I give her a HUGE high five for creativity.

Now for Olivia's story:

It's a sunny day and then a large red cannon came and turned the cowgirl land to fire.

The water turned to fire but there was a green island.

I was hiding behind a rock and the bad guys didn't know I was behind the rock.

Then the bad guy captured me and there was no leaves on the tree.  Then the bad guy was killed and the trees had leaves again.

The End

Reclaim Me!

I've had a bad attitude lately.  Not only have I been blaming it on pregnancy, but to make it worse I've done nothing about it.

I certainly don't like having a bad attitude which you could also call  no motivation, depression, or even a lack of faith.  I love feeling positive and good about life!  I miss feeling that way so I'm going to do something about it.

I've known for a while that I need to make some adjustments but I am finally ready.  I am going to take baby steps to reclaim things that I love about life.  The first thing is waking up before 9:30 am.  (Gasp!  I know.  You're thinking, she doesn't get up until 9:30!  Yep, I know.  Sounds like a luxury when Ed gets up with the girls, but over time it actually begins to eat on you.)  So tomorrow I will I will get up early and I will not complain about it!  This is the first baby step in many to get me back to my organized, routine loving, outgoing, entertaining woman.

Even though things have been a little rough around here with the move (two months ago), pregnancy (11 weeks along) and Ed starting graduate school (only 1 year to go!), I have to stop feeling crumby.  I will have a better outlook on life.  I will have faith that everything will work out.  And most important I will reclaim ME!

My Graduate

Today Olivia graduated from Preschool.  Oh, it made me feel so proud seeing my baby girl graduate.  She really worked hard and learned SO much.  Come on, she is reading and doing math.  She is working on a first grade level and only entering Kindergarten this fall.  I couldn't be more pleased!

The preschool that I did with Olivia is Upstart.  Upstart is available free for children in Utah.  It is also the same program as Rusty and Rosy.  If you look at the price of it the program is very pricey but VERY worth it!  I hope that I will be here so Lucy can take advantage of this great program!  A huge thanks to Utah legislature who has made it possible for some children in Utah to do this program for free!

Countdown is On!

So last night after a very emotional talk with Ed (everything is emotional right now with being pregnant), he helped me realize something.  Well actually two somethings.

First, is our LONG journey pursuing the Foreign Service.  It has always been at least 1 to 2 years out that we would have a clue if this would even be a possibility.  In my mind it seemed that it was still far off in the future and that we might not reach it.  Well Ed helped me realize that in a little over 3 months we'll know if he passes the final step.  Wow, 3 months!!  And we'll know if he is put on the register (like the job waiting list.  They go off of this when offering jobs.) after security clearance and such in roughly 6 months.  So in 6 months, I might actually know which path in life we are taking!   This made me feel so much better last night.

Second, is that this semester at the University for Ed is practically over and that means that if all goes as planned he only has 1 year of school left!  1 year!  I can totally handle 1 year!

So my countdown is on.  In 3 months we'll know if Ed passes the final step in the Foreign Service process, 6 months if he is on the FS register and about the same time I'll have a new baby, and 1 year graduation!

And for fun, here is a picture of my girls, sucking on ring pops pretending to be babies.  

Passing the PN's

Before we moved, Ed received some very unexpected news that he passed the second step (PN's (Personal Narratives) which are 13 mini essays about yourself) in the Foreign Service process and has been invited to Washington DC this fall for the OA (Oral Assessment-- Day Long Interview).

I am very proud of Ed for this achievement and truly hope the best for him in October.

I have to admit, I have days where I think that if the FS (Foreign Service) doesn't work out that I would be happy about it.  I could FINALLY settle down somewhere, have my home and a huge yard with a greenhouse.  And possibly Olivia could get a horse.  I hate moving.  Although a benefit of the FS is that they move you!  Now that I could do.  But it is more than that.  It always takes me so long to make friends.  I've been here for 2 months and still feel like an outsider.  I will not say anymore because the mere thought has me in tears again.  (It's totally the pregnancy hormones.)

Then I have moments and days where I want the FS SOOO BAD!  We've been talking about the FS for the past 11 years.  We waited until Ed had his bachelors degree to even start to pursue it and now that he is starting his Masters, he's gone further in the process than ever before.

I LOVE to travel and I want to experience cultures and life outside of my sheltered life here.  I want opportunities to serve and give back to people who truly need it.  I want my children to realize how much they have and that they do not need worldly things to be happy.

When it comes down to it, whatever happens is meant to happen.  Ed and I went through a long process of studying the FS out.  We read books, emailed families in the FS, and really thought it out.  Once we had our decision, we fasted, went to the temple and finally prayed.  We are suppose to go on this journey, whether it is experiencing the process or actually living all over the world we'll wait and see.  


So until October, there is hope!  

Baby!

I have never been this nervous to announce a baby but I simply can't keep it to myself any longer.

Baby #3 due February 8, 2013

We are super excited for this baby!!

This TOTALLY explains my lack of motivation!   

Happy Independence Day!

We had a great Independence Day!

Olivia is a very traditional person, much like me.  She likes her traditions for holidays and looks forward to them.  This year she really wanted to go on a picnic.  So off to the Gilgal Garden in Salt Lake City, a hidden garden if you don't know where to look, to have lunch.

The girls picked at their food, but this is typical for them and something we're working on.

After lunch we explored this unique garden filled with rock carvings and statues.

This was our picnic location, under a weeping willow tree.

It was quiet and peaceful so I decided to lay down.  Soon enough I had two little girls in a tickle fight.

On our way home, we passed a cemetery near the University which had several deer in it.  Not being in a hurry, we stopped by to see these deer.

At home, Olivia was determined to make cupcakes.  We did this last year and she greatly enjoyed it.  You certainly can't celebrate America's Birthday (as Olivia calls it) without a birthday cake!  (Yes, those are Halloween cupcake liners.  We ran out of the Patriotic ones and had to use the Halloween.)

And naturally, you can't have cake and not eat it.  I think the girls at way too many cupcakes!

In the evening we headed to my mom's house so the girls could do pop-its and sparklers.  With all the wild fires, fireworks were banned where we live (on the mountain bench) so we had to head into the valley.

After the first sparkler, Lucy wasn't too sure about them.  Plus, to be honest they kind of make me nervous for a 2.5 yr old to do them.  Olivia did great, but Lucy I was afraid that she would burn herself.  Thankfully we got through the quick event without any injuries.

The girls really wanted to see fireworks and we really didn't want to deal with the crowds at the parks.  Our local baseball team had a game that night followed with fireworks so we headed to a neighborhood outside of the stadium to watch.

Yep, we pulled one of the seats out of the van to use.  We had a great spot to see the fireworks and not a single crowd!  It was perfect!

My lame attempt at trying to take pictures of the fireworks.

Utah Natural History Museum

Thursday was a very rainy day, but rain that was very much needed.  It seems that half of our state has been burning with the wild fires so we all welcomed the rain.  We headed to the new Natural History Museum on the University campus and thought it would be a welcomed change for us.

We arrived early and had plenty of time to explore the museum before it became too crowded.  We thought for a mere moment about going to the free day this coming Monday but since all the tickets were sold out and considering that I HATE crowds, I was willing to pay the $15 for the 4 of us to go.  I should clarify that Ed was free because he's a student and Lucy was also free since she's two.  We only paid for Olivia and I.

Exploring with Dad.

In the water section, Lucy and Olivia were 'fishing' for fish and bugs.  Lucy was terrified of the plastic bugs.  She tells me that she fears are having to kiss spiders or beetles.

Olivia loves rocks.  She has a pretty good collection at home so naturally she would explore the rocks and fossils.

In a few places there were these window floors where you can see right down into an exhibit.  This was dinosaur bones.  The girls were afraid of falling and to make it worse they were afraid of the dinosaur sounds in the background.  All of our talks about the dinosaurs being extinct did no good.

Lots of dinosaur bones.

We stopped for a lunch break at the Museum cafe.  I really didn't think the food was very good.  Lucy was super hungry and actually ate her entire sandwich and bag of carrots.  She asked for a chocolate doughnut and ate around the outside of the doughnut.

Ed examining butterflies and moths while Lucy plays with various animals puppets.  She really enjoyed the skunk and bald eagle puppets.

I'm glad that we went when it first opened.  By 2p when we left it was VERY crowded.  There were so many exhibits and things that I hope to visit often when Olivia is in school studying these things.  It's so nice to have this new and fantastic museum!

Summer Plans -- FAIL

I had all these plans for the summer.  I wanted Olivia to continue doing school-type activities before she heads out to play, but that hasn't happened.  I even made sure that I got all of the school books unpacked and put away in a place that we could use them often.  I feel guilty that we really haven't done many school-like activities, with the exception of her online preschool, since April.  We're talking about 3 MONTHS!  I can't believe it.  First it was the move and everything was being packed, then it was unpacked and now....I don't know what the excuse is this time.  Actually I do.

I had also planned on using this move as a reset time for myself.  I was going to work on new goals and really use this time to build the home life that I want for my children.  Okay, life at home certainly isn't bad by any means, but I wanted to work on some new habits and such.

Plus, it is so tempting to be able to go out our front and only door to play with several kids and have plenty of other mommies to talk to.  There is no need to stay inside and do productive things like cook, clean or school for the girls.

I need to get myself into gear, but I'm afraid that isn't going to happen soon.

Even now I think that perhaps tomorrow I can fit in a little more reading or pull out the math books.  I know that she is only entering Kindergarten in the fall, but she is reading, doing basic math and some simple spelling.  I don't want her to forget these things and have to start all over again.  I want to keep these things fresh in her mind.  It's really not too much to ask for, right?