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

Oh what do you do in the summer time?...

I figure I can start catching up my posts again.  I have so much to write about our trip to Europe, but I want to start with a little of what we did with the kids before we left. Derek was basically gone all day every day, but when he had that rare moment come up where we got to see him we definitely took advantage of it. Some friends caught lizards and the kids loved it! We bought a container for them and put in some dirt and sticks and made it nice for them. We tried feeding them crickets, but they must have been too big, so we did mil worms instead and Kael and Eden loved watching them eat those. Derek would help the kids hold them and the kids absolutely loved holding and petting the lizards. Eden thought poking it was petting it. We let them go right before we left, and I think we will need to go find some more for the kids again.

The kids have been loving riding bikes outside. These pictures were on Derek's phone when we left and I had to keep looking at them to see how cute these kids are while we were gone. You can definitely see their personalities in the photos. Stubborn Eden and super happy Kael. :)

 The night before Derek's big test he wanted to give his brain a break and just relax. So we took the kids to the dollar theatre and saw "The Lorax" in 3D. I was surprised how well the kids held up. I thought for sure we would leave early, but they made it through the movie. It helped that the theatre was almost empty and I could walk around with Eden towards the end of the movie. There was a short kind of scary part that Kael must not have liked because after that part he didn't want to wear the glasses anymore, but didn't want to stop watching the show. It was really funny. I think we will have to do this again. Maybe for Brave, Madagascar 3, or Ice Age 4... Hmmm.

 We love City Creek and playing on the dinosaurs there. This was after Derek took Step 1. We went out to eat to celebrate and let the kids have a little fun too before we headed out for our trip. We love doing fun things and can't wait to do more this summer!

For Elara

I finished this little project last night. I love knowing that our baby is going to be a girl! Now, I can work on stuff just for her! In case you can't tell, it's a little bear hat. Well, just a hat with ears. Hopefully it fits. None of the hats I made for Eden ever really fit right. We will see in October!

Speaking of Animals

Our neighbors above us wanted to get rid of their beta fish, so we gladly accepted to inherit it. We upgraded the tank a bit and Kael and Derek came up with this! It lights up and is so awesome! The little blue guy is in the bottom right corner. Kael has been talking non-stop about his fish. His name you ask? Fishy the fish... Kael came up with it. We are still trying to teach him about naming animals and things, and he just doesn't really get it. He was so excited to help Dad put together the tank and put the rocks and plants in and go to the store with Dad to get stuff for his fish. The only problem we have had is that coming home from Petco, Kael saw

lots of other fish there. He decided that Fishy needed a friend. Well anyone who knows fish know that beta fish like to eat any other fish in a tank with them. Try explaining this to our Kael who loves everyone and everyone is his friend. He started bawling in the car in hysterics because his fishy is a nice fishy to his friends and he is NOT a stinker fish. Our explanation didn't go so well trying to say that his fish is a mean, not nice fish.... We totally bombed that one. We ended up saying something along the lines that Fishy is a nice and good fish, and tried to distract from needing another fish after the melt down... I have to admit I did laugh quite a bit after his melt down that his fish is a nice fish. "I should mention our Fishy fish already killed another fish it lived with, so in fact he is NOT a nice fish..." Ya, we won't tell Kael this little bit of info.

So without further ado, welcome Fishy Fish to the Bradley Family!

Wheeler Farm with Village Friends

We haven't been to the Wheeler Farm in a long time so when a village friend brought up going we couldn't say no. This was the same day we found our baby #3 is a girl. Notice Eden's boots. Yup. She is stubborn. We had a lot of fun playing with friends and feeding horses carrots and seeing smelly pigs. Kael and Eden love animals and it is the cutest. Funny story. When I told Kael we were going he insisted we needed to bring carrots to feed the horses. I have no idea where he came up that horses would like to eat carrots. I don't think we had fed horses anything at this point in their lives. However, he managed to slip our entire bag of carrots in the backpack without my knowing and so when we got there he insisted we feed the horses carrots and we just "happened" to have carrots with us! The kid is too smart and so funny! All the kids were able to enjoy feeding the horses because Kael was clever enough to slip in a bag of carrots. Thanks for a fun time Kael. :)

Bubbles in the village

I'm not certain who likes doing this more, the kids, or the parents?  We always have several people stop to take a look when we bring out the big bubbles and the kids go crazy (I think I go a little crazy too). We love playing with our friends and having fun outside!

What We Did Today

Today...
Derek had an allergic type of reaction in his eye where histamine was released and caused a blister to cover his eye and make it look like part of his eyeball was peeling off. Derek, calmly went to the emergency room by himself, I freak out. He then asked someone where to go and found out he could go to the Moran Eye Center just down the road and walked down there and saw the eye doctor instead of going to the emergency room. He's a stud. I'm a wimp and balled like a baby freaking out while he was gone. They gave him steroid eye drops and it should be better in a couple of days.

Part of my freaking out was also because the cake I had been making all morning for a baby shower tomorrow totally fell apart. I blew it. I worked so hard to perfect my cake making skills and I somehow thought in my head that wax paper would work ok instead of parchment paper if I put a bunch of crisco on it. Nope. Nope. Nope. It does not work. Somehow I managed to salvage the cake somewhat, but it sure is interesting looking.

Kael found a ginormous bumble bee in our stairwell dying this morning. He insisted that I catch it and put it in a container for him. Where is Derek when I need him?! Oh ya, studying like a mad man of course. So, what do I do? I get all the courage I can and scoop that dying bug into that container and put it on the window sill for the kids to stare out all morning long and I insisted it not come into the house until Derek was home. Yes, yes I did. When I put Kael to bed tonight it was quite late, and I insisted that it was too late to read stories unfortunately. Kael then requested that we sing the wheels on the bus. Derek made up a version in the car the other day about different animals on the bus. He LOVED it and remembered it. We sang through the song and he wanted another. He then proceeded to tell me to listen Mom and made up his own song. Lots of mumbling, but mostly about his train on a bus and his bee that he caught and being superman... It was the cutest thing I have ever heard. He sand as loud as he could and Derek said he could hear him in the other room. Our last song was twinkle twinkle little star and in the middle he insisted I stop singing and listen to him again. He sang the entire song as loud as he can. When I would clap or give him praise he'd get that amazing little grin on his face and then slowly ever so slowly it would turn into the world's cutest smile! The kid amazes me and I'm so in love with him! Oh, and I let him sleep with his dead bumble bee. It's dead now so it can't be that bad right?

Eden decided yesterday to just pee wherever she felt like it whenever she felt like it. Today however she tried so hard to only go on her potty or in her diaper! It was night and day. She still pooped her underwear this morning, but that was it. This evening she decided to take off her night time diaper and sit on her potty to try and go. She went pee and then later proceeded to put the potty seat on the big potty and tried going by herself. I helped her out and then walked out and all of a sudden I hear, "I pooped Mom, I did it!" She just has to decide to do something for herself before she does it! She was so proud of herself and loved how happy she made everyone. Kael was again her biggest cheer leader and gave her a high five. He always tells her, "Good job Eden" in the cutest little way.

My family is amazing! Love them all so so much! It's been a crazy day, but so much good too.

Baby Elara

Here is baby girl's first profile photo! The tech had a really hard time getting a good profile picture. Her head was right in my pubic bone and she kept turning away.

Girl names have been so much harder for us than boy names! We keep changing our minds on what we want, but I think we have a winner! Derek came up with this princess's name all on his own and I'm in love with it and with the fact that her Daddy named her. We have 2 boy names that we love picked out, but no need now. :)

As for deciding if this baby was a boy or a girl I've had NO idea. I haven't been able to get a set feeling either way. I have been leaning more towards a boy just to throw off the groove a little. It would have even things out on the Heaton side with Elara being #18 grandbaby. There would have been 9 boys and 9 girls, but now it will be 10 girls and 8 boys! Yay for girls finally out numbering the boys!!! Then, on Derek's family I thought we would throw off the groove. By the 3rd baby there was always 2 girls and 1 boy, so I thought for certain we'd have 2 boys and 1 girl. I mean Kael did break the trend by having a boy first...
So, my mind would not be made up. I could not picture whether this baby was a boy or a girl. From the moment we knew we were having a baby Derek has told me this is going to be a girl. No question about it. I have been asking the kids what they think and Eden has been super cute and has always said it is her baby sister. I ask if she wants a baby brother and she says NO, Kael is my brother. Then finally last night after much back and forth if it was a boy or girl I asked Kael and Eden together if the baby in Mommy's tummy was blue or pink and they both shouted at the same moment PINK! It was too cute.

Last night I had a dream that the baby was a boy and then I had to explain to Kael and Eden that it was a girl and it was a nightmare! I'm glad that dream didn't come true. :)

I feel so many emotions right now and this day has been so wonderful! I feel so blessed that this baby looks healthy on the ultrasound and that she is finally kicking me and showing me who's boss! Seeing her cute face and knowing she was a girl made this so real and so perfect. I am so filled with joy and am just in cloud 9!

I am so excited for October to get here so that I can hold her and start loving on her! It can take it's time getting here, but I am excited!

As for other news the ultrasound showed that the placenta is covering my cervix, so I will need another ultrasound around 30 weeks. I'm not really concerned because Kael's was doing the same thing and it moved before delivery. I feel like it just means I get another chance to peek at baby girl before she gets here. If not, bring on the C-section.

GIRL!

Mother's Day 2012

Spoiled? Why yes. Yes, I am!

It started Saturday. Derek was gone to the school studying all day as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. He had to run some errands. He went to AT&T to ask about international phones so we can possibly use a phone while we are in Europe and he had a research meeting to get on another research project. Basically he was gone. Like I said, not unusual other than he had the car. By the end of the day the kids and I were playing outside. Derek came home and played with us for a while then said he needed to go inside and do something (I can't remember what) and he ended up going to the car with Kael and Kael came running to me across the courtyard yelling "Happy Mother's Day Mom!", and was carrying these pretty flowers! It was the cutest moment I've probably ever had. His little face was grinning from ear to ear. Derek said when they were at the car that Kael got the biggest grin on his face and just started giggling when Derek told him what to say and do. He got sooo excited to give Mom a present!

It got better. Derek brought home our favorite dinner. Czech food! Then he asked if I wanted my present tonight or tomorrow. Of course it was TONIGHT! I can't wait for surprises. So we got the kids to bed and he gave me my present. My favorite candy for a movie, we watched Thor in 3D, have I mentioned we can watch 3D movies at home?, then he wrote me the sweetest love note ever and I pretty much bawled through the whole thing, and he got me my favorite perfume which since we are medical students I have been without since we started medical school 2 years ago... I had asked for it and he sure did deliver!

It was such a wonderful day all day long, but it got better because Mother's Day was the next day.

Kael came into our room at 3 am and said that he was scared and needed to sleep with Mom and Dad. I have a hard time denying that boy because he is "the best cuddler ever!" quite literally. He sleeps in one position and doesn't move once he's asleep and he snuggles right up next to you. Derek even said he was a little jealous because he wanted Kael to snuggle him. Then at about 6 am Eden started crying and I went to get her, so I just threw her in bed with us too. She laid on my chest until about 7 and Kael snuggled up next to me. This was the BEST! I love my 2 little kiddos that made me a Mom. I felt extremely blessed as I laid next to my 2 1/2 beautiful children (#3 was in my tummy too so that counts right?)

Then when the munchkins started getting up Derek got up with them and cuddled them on the couch with a show. I couldn't miss out on that so I got up pretty early with them. He had whispered to the kids to tell me Happy Mother's Day and somehow they remembered and came up and both told me "Happy Mother's Day!" Derek then went on to make me breakfast! He is such a sweet guy! I love that he doesn't study on Sundays and dedicates the day to his family and church! This Sunday was particularly crazy for us because I have the sharing time lesson and Derek was asked to speak in sacrament meeting and had the Elder's Quorum lesson. Derek helped with everything that morning and got all the touches done for his stuff. I am sooo loved. Church was good and Kael was on his BEST behavior! Dad promised him a shiny gold coin if he was good. ($1.00 coin) Kael loved this and it worked! During primary I had the kids decorate a picture frame with stickers for their Mom's. Kael got to do his first Mother's Day craft! It was the cutest and he was so excited to make something for Mom! Eden got to color a picture for Mom. It was so wonderful to see them so happy doing something for me. :) Then, when we got home we got to take a nap and Derek had made me another favorite meal, (Hawaiian food, kuala pork and macroni noodles). We got to play outside with the kids and eat delicious food and we watched "The Muppets" with the kids during dinner. It was an amazing day! The kids have grown so much in the last year. Last year Kael was just learning to speak short sentences and Eden was just learning to walk. This year they both told me "Happy Mother's Day" and made me something! Amazing what a year can do! I feel so blessed, happy, in love, loved, and just grateful for this little family of mine!

Thank you for an AMAZING Mother's Day Derek, Kael and Eden! I love you all with all of my heart!

A Life Update

Life seems to keep moving whether you want it to or not and as tough as life is, it is sooo good.

Derek is taking his last final for his second year of medical school right now. It is an exciting time. As soon as this final is done he will finally be able to put all of his studying to step 1. He is scheduled to take step 1 on June 16th, my birthday. However, I cannot think of a better gift than to have that test DONE! As difficult as preparing for this test has been (Derek leaves for school at 5:30 to get there by 6 and study till class at 8, then when class is over at 12 eat his packed lunch and study till 5 or 5:30 when he comes home and eats dinner and plays with the kids till 7, then he either goes back to the school or locks himself in his room until 9 or 9:30 where it is then bedtime. Now that class is over it will be the same schedule except no school. Wahoo! I am so proud of him and his hard work for our family! He has been going non-stop through sickness, bad days, and anything else life has thrown at him! I should also mention that Derek is a teacher in the Elder's Quorum and has to teach about once a month and does his home teaching and takes the time to stay on top of his callings. No they aren't big, but it is amazing to see that he can keep his life flowing with all he has on his plate. He plays with the kids every chance he gets, and takes care of me as well. I'm such a cry baby, but I love him so much and I'm so thankful for him every day. He is working so hard for our family. Medical school isn't bringing in any money, but this is how he will be providing for us for our future and seeing how hard he is working to become the best doctor he can melts my heart because I know our family will always be taken care of. I love this guy more and more every day. When I first knew I loved the guy I didn't think my heart could get any more full of love for him, but it seems to every day.

After a lot of saving, planning, and tough decisions we have planned a vacation! We don't know when an opportunity like this will come up again. We are going to visit Derek's mission in the Czech Republic and Slovakia from June 17th to June 28th. My parents are going to watch the kids while we are away. We finally found tickets in our budget and then used our flight points we have saved from our credit card to buy our airline tickets really cheap! It would not have been possible to go without this. We have been saving these points for several years now in hopes that someday this trip would be possible. We haven't known if it would be possible, but this trip has been in the works since we got married. We have talked about visiting Derek's mission since we started dating and it is a dream of both of ours to go together. The only thing better would be if our kids could go as well, but I'm glad I won't have to take care of them there. We almost made it there 3 years ago in August when Kael was just 12 months old, but it just didn't work out. It was a sad day for us, and we were heart broken, but we haven't stopped trying to get there, and now our dream is coming true. :) So, anyone in Germany, Czech, and Slovakia come see us while we are there! :) And a HUGE thank you to Mom and Dad for being willing to take our 2 little munchkins for such a long time. This trip wouldn't be possible without you guys and we love you so much! THANK YOU!

Kael is growing up so fast. I can't believe he will be 4 in August. Where did the last 4 years go?! Kael is the best big brother to Eden. Always pestering her, but always taking care of her and encouraging her in all she does. He is her biggest supporter of learning to use the potty. He cheers her on when she has accomplished big things and gives her more praise than Mom does. He also scolds her when she has accidents. It's pretty funny. He is still the most friendly person I know. He is always saying hello to people at the store and making them smile. He loves his friends and Dad is his "Best Friend". He will be starting preschool in the fall, which scares me, but I think he is ready. Every day since he learned there is a baby in Mom's belly he comes up to my stomach and says, "It's getting bigger Mom!". And I always tell him, "Yes, Kael and it is just going to get bigger". He is picking out his own clothes and doing big boy things every day. He has been learning to tell the difference between boys and girls. Every Sunday we tell Eden she is such a princess in her church dress, and Kael has been getting a little jealous of the attention she gets, so he says he wants to be a princess. To recognize him a little and give him some gender difference we have learned to say he is such a strong superhero and so handsome. He has been loving being superman and spiderman lately. He goes around shooting webs from his hands to stop Dad from tickling him and quite frequently shows us his strong superman muscles. This has seemed to help and he now is understanding that Mom and Eden are girls and Dad and Kael are boys. It is so fun to see him learn every day.

Eden is still potty training. She has good days and bad days. Today was a good day. She has been running around naked since she peed on her potty this morning. As I was cleaning dishes with Kael we hear, "Look Mom, poo poo!". Kael and I both go running, thinking uh oh. However, she surprised us both and went in her potty! She is well on her way to earning her big girl bike. She loves trying to keep up with Kael. She loves all things girly and will forever be "The Princess". 

I am now 17 weeks pregnant and feeling so much better. I can't even describe how excited I am to have this next baby. October seems the perfect amount of time to get things ready and be prepared a little bit. I have been so nervous, but the excitement won't leave now. As soon as I find out if this baby is a boy or a girl I'm for certain to have my excitement stuck for good. We found out at 18 weeks with Kael and 17 1/2 with Eden... My next appointment isn't until next Tuesday when I will almost be 18 weeks and it usually takes 2 weeks to schedule the ultrasound, so this will be the longest going without knowing. I'm loving my time with Kael and Eden, but when I look at them it makes me excited to see what #3 will be like. I look at them and want another little person just like them. I still can't feel this baby move. I'm feeling like it's a blessing as I will have to be super uncomfortable once it starts. It is just weird though because I felt Kael consistently around 19 weeks and Eden at 12, so I just thought I'd feel something by now. Not worried though. 

Anyway, life has been super busy, but so amazing. I'm excited for Derek to be in his 3rd year of medical school. It will bring so much change to our lives, but I say bring it on. His first rotation starts July 2nd. It is suppose to be psychiatry, but we are hoping to switch it with pediatrics. Derek has pediatrics scheduled for when the baby is due and psychiatry would give him a better schedule and ability to be home a little more once the baby gets here. So for now his rotations look like: psychiatry, surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, neurology/anesthesia, ob/gyn, and then internal medicine. We are also hoping to do his family medicine rotation in St. George and stay with my parents for that month. We will see what happens, but whatever does happen we are excited for this next stage in our lives and so many changes are happening to our little family and life is so good! We are enjoying each day and taking it one day at a time.

I am so grateful for our amazing family and am so grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing us so much!