An Eden Update 28 Months Old

My dearest oldest daughter,

This face totally describes your personality right now. From the time I brought you home from the hospital you have been my stubborn child. I have written about it countless times. It's something that drives me crazy, but something that makes me love you sooooo much! Ever since February you have been taking off your diaper and going potty. You made up your mind and did it. So, I thought why not try and potty train the girl? Well, as soon as it became something that Mom wanted and not what Eden wanted you immediately asserted your independent stubborn little self and decided it was not what you wanted to do anymore. I only wanted to do it because I thought it was what you wanted. Nope, I was way wrong. We have struggled back and forth and back and forth for month. I would give up and throw in the towel and then start over a month later. Well, ever since Dad started taking the car to school I decided that maybe you really were ready. You still have been going on your own and have thought it is pretty cool. We've been stuck at home a lot, so it was the perfect time. No more distractions! And guess what? You did great on the first day and that stubborn little girl came and showed Mom who was boss. Days 2 through 4 were miserable! I wanted to throw in the towel, but Dad kept my hopes up with Elara coming and you somehow pulled through. The last 3 days have been such a change and I am so amazed by you!!! You have only had #2 accidents and knock on wood I think you might have this potty thing down! You have been so excited for your stickers, your treats and your butterfly wings! You have decided "finally" that this is what YOU want to do for you! Since this moment that you made up your mind you have been a rock star! You get so sad when you have a #2 accident and you go and hide in the corner and feel so sad. It makes me want to just hug your little self. Kael took 4 months to learn/decide to go #2 in the toilet, so I'm giving you LOTS of credit. You are doing great! You are such a champ and I am so so proud of you! I love who you are even though I want to pull my hair out sometimes, but it is YOU and YOU are AMAZING! You do hard things and you are only 2! You insist on doing everything yourself! You are always telling me, "No Mom, I do it myself!" And then proceed to get mad if I try and help. You love being a big kid like Kael, and truth be told you are a big kid like him. You are going to be a great big sister! Elara is going to be so lucky to have you. I never got to be a big sister and I always wanted to. However, looking back I have learned how hard it must be, but I know you are going to be great and when you decide it for yourself Elara is going to be the luckiest little sister ever!

Kid, you are so smart, funny, happy, stubborn, persistent, fun, and a little crazy! I LOVE YOU!

I really love you with all my heart!

Thanks for being your stubborn self! You are going to make an amazing woman because of your personality and I am so lucky to be your Mommy!

Love you little lady!

Love,

Mom

3rd Trimester

27 weeks with little Elara.

Photo cutesy of Kael. 

I have to use a Nacho Libre quote when thinking about the second trimester...

"It's the Best"!

Little Elara is such an active little girl already. Being in the 2nd trimester was perfect for traveling to Europe. I'd go go go seeing everything and then we'd get back in the car and I'd fall asleep until we got out again. Now that I'm in the 3rd trimester I'm starting to really feel big. The 3rd trimester has brought an extra wiggly girl, no more lap room for Kael and Eden, heart burn (thankfully resolved by prescription medicine), and a sense that time is running out.

My to do list is only getting longer and it makes me nervous. Derek was suppose to be on outpatient internal medicine, but the school was having a hard time with their contracts with doctors and switched him to in-patient. Instead of a 7 to 6ish schedule Mon through Friday he is back to 6 days a week, a call day and an unknown schedule... This isn't helping my hunny do list. Not to mention when this is done he will be in surgery until I'm 36 weeks. Medical school is not very considerate of the pregnant wife. However, I cannot complain although I just did, because Derek is working so hard to find us a car and help me get ready for Elara in all that spare time he has you know, and still play and love on Kael and Eden. He is AMAZING through all of this and I'm so glad I have him. 

We are getting excited to meet Elara and see our little family grow. We are loving our family of 4 and where we are at, but know it will be great to have Elara. The count down is on. My next apt is August 7th and we will then schedule an ultrasound to see if my placenta has moved. I'm trying to be as patient as possible and give it lots of time to move. So, hopefully in about a month we will have some good news.

Kael and Eden sure are ready to meet Elara. They go around telling people, baby Elara is in Mommy's tummy. And people keep saying, "What?" I then have to explain Elara is the baby's name, and they get it. They are so excited to tell the world about their new baby sister coming in a couple months. Kael is always coming up to my stomach and yelling, "Wake up baby Elara". Yup, that hasn't stopped... I'm hoping I can put an end to it when she is born, or there will be serious consequences...... Eden is always trying to pull up my shirt so she can see baby Elara. And a couple nights ago I was taking Kael to the bathroom around 2 am and he ran into the door. The poor kid... He kept crying and was going to wake everyone up so I sat him on the toilet and said quick feel Elara kicking you! So he did and sure enough she kicked him for the first time. He was so excited and stopped crying and was so happy! He kept saying her foot kicked me! I love that Kael and Eden are so excited. It has made my excitement double since I get to share it with them. Kael is going to be a great big brother to another little sister and take just as good care of her as he does Eden. And Eden is going to love having a little sister. Of course they will all have their moments, but man they are the cutest siblings right now. I hope they still love each other this much always.

It takes a village to raise a family.

It has been kind of rough having Derek have the car every day. I'm not quite used to it and was ready to get out for a bit. We are still looking for a second car that will work for our family, but in the mean time we have been doing a lot more with our village family. This ward has been in a word, amazing. We've had so much help with car problems, baby sitters, and any little thing we might have needed including toilet paper, we have just had so much help. 

This day in July was no different. I realized how much I like to get out with the kids and not be stuck in the house. After talking to some of the other Mom's we got car pool rides to the free swim day for the village and got several families to the pool and we got a free car ride and a fun day hanging out with friends swimming! I'm so grateful to live here in the village and to have so many people watching out for me and my family. The saying is true that it takes a village to raise a family. We feel so blessed!

The Nyberg's Visit

Aunt Shelly came to the rescue the other day and helped me in a tight spot. We decided we needed to do something fun and free after that adventure! We went to City Creek and walked around, watched the water show, walked around temple square and the visitor center, went to the church history museum and let the kids play, played at the food court, and just had a great time being together. Only thing better would have been if Dad wasn't at the hospital.

 The mini water show.

 The Salt Lake Temple from the visitor center.

 The Church History Museum Children's Center.

Eden and Megan. We like to refer to them as mini Sharice and Shell. We just needed to throw cousin Rebekah in and then we'd have a mini Shannon too. We discovered that these 3 girls are just about the same age gap as me and my sisters and they all kind of look like their Mom's. Kind of silly, but cute!

We sure had fun with the Nyberg's! Until next time!

Happy 4th of July!!!

The Beginning (Europe June 2012) June 16 - June 18thish

I guess I should start with my birthday. Derek left super early to go and take step 1. It was Saturday morning and I remembered, "oh ya, we need to pay rent before we leave for the rest of the month". So, to kill time that morning I packed up the kids and we walked to pay rent. Well, being super stressed about leaving, step 1, or just plain foggy brain we get to the main office and I remembered, "oh yeah, it's Saturday the office is closed"! It was hot and exhausting. I guess we killed some time though. We didn't have the car so we had to come up with things to do. So, we got home and we finished cleaning the house like mad people and packing our bags, and making a "Way to Go" poster for Derek complete with candy and all. I went a little over board on the cheesiness, but hey it was worth it. Derek didn't take long on his breaks so he was able to finish a little early, shortly after nap time! He came home and decompressed for a little while with kids jumping on him and we decided it was time to celebrate!!! We packed up and headed to "The Cheesecake Factory" for a celebration/birthday dinner. The kids did pretty well thanks to the ipod and kindle. Then, we let them go play at the City Creek food court where the dinosaurs are. We came home and let the kids play outside for a while and just tried to spend as much time with the kids as we could as we were about to leave them for the longest time ever the next day. After lots of snuggling and excitement about going to Grandma and Grandpa Heaton's the next day we got the kids in bed and started packing like mad people again. We tried to get to bed early because we had a HUGE day ahead of us, and that was the birthday. Happy 27th. :)

Sunday mornning we packed up around 7, grabbed some McDonald's greasy breakfast and were on the road. We go to Grandma and Grandpa's early and the kids loved playing with all the new toys. Grandma came home from church early, and we ate and played and then it was time to say good bye. The kids hugged me out the door with have fun Mom and waved their cute little arms at me. I think I did good holding back the tears until almost to the car. Then, we were off to Vegas. The flights were good, but long and we were exhausted already from driving about 7 hours and getting all checked in. Luckily I didn't get motion sick for pretty much the entire time! We got to Dresden around 6 PM German time and got our rental car and headed straight for the hotel. We made good time and were able to get some food (my meat jello meal) and then get to bed early. I don't think Derek slept the entire flight there... Oh, and welcome to the world of  no air conditioning... Welcome to Europe!

Europe June 2012

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Finally I have it posted. I don't want to take a lot of room talking about this because I made a photo book for it and it is it's own book in and of itself!!! This trip was AMAZING! I'll write more later, but for now, know that Derek's mission was AWESOME!

My Kael

Dearest Kael,

You are so fun! I can't wait for you to turn 4! Only one more month! You have been such a joy today.

First, when I was getting dressed you came up to me and patted my stomach, then put your face really close and then all of a sudden yelled, "Wake UP baby Elara!!!". I laughed for a good while.

I took you to get your hair trimmed and it was the first time at a salon and not Mom butchering your hair, and Aunt Shannon was unavailable as she lives far away... You were AWESOME! I wish I could have filmed it, or at least taken a picture. You held so still. You were such a big kid! The only time you would move was to brush the hair off the cape you were wearing. It was pretty funny. You wanted to impress everyone with how good you could be. We were lucky because Eden had a sucker to keep her occupied and after 10 minutes we were done and you look sooooo handsome! No more crazy long hair! Really I feel horrible for no before and after picture, but oh well.

Then, we went to the store to go shopping. You pushed your cart around all by yourself and helped me the entire time. No melt downs or anything, just a trip to the bathroom all by yourself!

You have been super excited for fireworks which makes me excited.

Then, while going to the bathroom (you still like to sit) you started scratching your little bum. Ew. So, I said, "Kael we don't scratch our bums", to which you replied, "Mom, it's itchy, I have to scratch it! Grandpa's arms are itchy and he scratches!"
Yes, Kael, but arms and bums are totally different things, especially while sitting on the toilet... I'm glad you are observant though. ;)

The coolest thing today was playing outside I convinced you to try and ride a bike without training wheels and you did it! I let go and off you went for a good 10 feet! I was so impressed! You did this 2 times before you wanted a break. Then I convinced you to try one more time and you did it two more times!!! Buddy you  got this! You are super nervous because you have to make the bike go fast to balance and you really don't like going fast, but you can do this! I'm so proud of you! Even though you were nervous you tried something new and you did it!

You aim to please! You love people so much and want to make them happy! Doing this makes you happy! I hope you don't forget this. Your natural gift to love and give is amazing and I hope to be like you one day buddy!

You take care of Eden, you protect her, you play with her, and are the best big brother! You tickled her and cuddled her after nap time and I know she knows you love her.

You are seriously one AMAZING kid!

I love you with all my heart Kael!

Love,
Mom