Check List

Let Kenny sleep in a little later than usual and make him a delicious brown-bagged lunch...check

Pick up my reading of breaking dawn, and don't put the book down even to eat breakfast...check (I'm almost done with it thankfully)

Notice that my face is even rounder today and my chin grosser than yesterday, if possible...check

Get Ty ready for the day and sneak in a movie for him so I can continue reading...check

Go to the library for another "toddler time" and get a few more books...check

Say heck no to PB & J for today, and treat myself and Tyler to a yummy lunch at Chick-fil-a!!...check (I have been craving fatty, greasy food for days now and I gave in, thus contributing even more to my already-too-big-cheeks and chin. Oh well, it filled me up, and nothing really fills me up these days as much as I hate to admit that.)

Come to my parents house even though no one is home and let Ty nap here so I can use the internet. Yes, I am a loser....check

Go to the park with Tyler and enjoy this cool, even chilly, weather...scheduled for after his nap

Have the bishopric over at our house to get to know us better...scheduled for 6:30

Attend my baby shower and feel awkward that so many people who don't know me are buying me gifts, but be so grateful at the same time...scheduled for 7:30

Go into labor...scheduled for anytime after 8:30!

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go"

Yes I did just do another sleu of posts. Sorry, but it's easier for me to keep it organized in the long run, rather than one big long post.

Last night I was up a lot with contractions. But then they stopped, and here we are still...waiting. I have another appointment today in a couple hours and she'll check me. Hopefully it's all good news and that this baby is coming SOON.

By the way, my hospital bag is packed, and I really am ready to go.

What we've been up to

This is Tyler's newest obsession--rolling down the window! He loves to hold his hand out there and feel the wind, but it looks like he's halting traffic. He also enjoys saying "hi" to each person we pull up next to, in parking lots, etc. (which is sometimes kind of embarrassing).

Dressing up, making faces, and decorating the house (and himself) with stickers.

Along with that we recently got a membership at the Library and I LOVE this library. It is so nice and they've got lots of play areas in the kid's section. We went to the "Toddler time" they had the other day where they read books, sing songs, did a puppet show and a craft. It was so great. It's fun to have community things like that to shake up your day to day activities and get out of the house.

Our ward also does play group every week so we've joined that and it's been wonderful getting to know other moms in the ward, and helping Tyler get used to the new kids too. Hopefully if he makes some friends he won't be so traumatized by nursery every week. We are having some major issues with that at the moment.

Saturday night I had a girl's night with some people in my ward. It was SO fun. We went and saw the movie "Mall Cop" then went to one of the girl's house for Blue Bell ice cream and ended up talking for hours!! I can't even explain how happy I am to be living here right now. Everything feels so right and I just know this is where we're supposed to be for now (who knows how long, though). I am so influenced by the people that I meet, and it's like everyone is teaching me different things and helping me to be a better person. There are so many wonderful women in our ward and they all just unite so much more and welcome everybody so willingly. That's the great thing about being outside of an area where everyone is LDS, the ward is so much more tightly knit and we depend on each other that much more for friendship and company.

A note on Tyler: He has more attitude and more energy than he has had thus far in his life combined! Every day I pray for patience and knowledge of how to handle him. The energy is one thing, that's expected. The tantrums, extreme independence, and yelling, and very picky eating, I struggle with daily. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.

Look what I made

My mom has totally convinced me of the greatness of Buggy Barn! This is my new table runner. Still debating about a border, it fits perfectly as is...

Aren't you in love with my gorgeous table and chairs? You can put another leaf in it, and it seats 8! We love it! It was a graduation/Christmas present from my parents.

37 weeks

the hardest thing about not having internet...

is not being able to blog. Obviously. We're still trying to decide if we should just suck it up and save the 40 bucks a month, or give in to my addictions and pay for my beloved internet. I have been trying to be so much more productive with my time. No more wasting it away with blogging, e-mails, shopping, etc. And it was all going rather well, what with being so busy unpacking, organizing and just getting settled into our new place. That was up until last night when I started reading Eclipse. My productivity level has shot way down, and every spare second is spent in that book. Not only that, but I'm busy making a beautiful heart table runner thing for Valentine's day. I can't wait till it's done. (I just started today.)

I have another appointment tomorrow. Every Tuesday, in fact, at 2:30 until this baby decides to come. I had an ultrasound this past Friday to check on her because people keep telling me she's SMALL! Although that would be the very last word to describe this bulge in front of me, it's true that I was bigger with Tyler. I certainly don't mind her being smaller. She is still looking fine and healthy, and she weighs (according to their fancy computers) about 5 pounds, 12 ounces and still growing. I'm not complaining about having a smaller baby, I love the idea of that. I think about her all the time, but I'm getting strangely nervous about the whole ordeal. Not just delivering the baby, but being a mother of two. How do people do that? I guess I'll have to figure it out.

to my unborn daughter:

Dear child without a name,

On Tuesday I went to my 36 week appointment to check on you. I met my new doctor for the first time and immediately fell in love with her. It turns out she is even a member of our church! That was very unexpected but it comforted me so much.

Dr. Peterson said your heart beat is right in the range it should be, but it sounded quiet and you were measuring small...again. Although she said it was probably nothing to worry about, and that I might just be carrying you more in my back (which would also contribute to the quieter heart beat), she had me schedule an ultrasound appointment for tomorrow just to double check on you. I sure hope you're healthy. I don't mind having a petite daughter, your brother is heavy enough.

Your head is very low, and my body is preparing quickly to have you. She said you would probably come a little early, and that made me happy. Because although I really can't complain about this pregnancy (allow me to for a moment), I am getting tired of being fat, disproportional, and uncomfortable. My stretch marks are really not cute, and I'm anxious to meet you. I will bear these marks of motherhood for now, but please don't wait too much longer to come. Your brother has a runny nose, but we will make sure he's healthy for your arrival.

See you soon,
Mom

p.s. You have some darling clothes that I can't wait to put on you and dress you up in! Shopping for pink is new to me, but I got the hang of it REAL quick.

Happy Are We

This morning Ty looks at me over his big bowl of Chex cereal that he eats like a grown man and says, "Mom happy. Ty happy."
It almost made me cry. Yes Ty, we are very happy, and you are one of the biggest reasons for my happiness.

I just posted a few times, in case any of you are interested. We don't have internet at our apartment, so I haven't been able to get on for quite a few days. I'm at my parents right now and Ty is napping. My mom's going to keep him here while I go to my doctor's appointment. I'm so excited to go and see how everything is coming along. I'm so lucky to have found a good doctor so quickly. Well I guess I don't KNOW if she's good, I've never met her, but she came highly recommended by my mom and friends.

Last night we had FHE with the Carey's. We were in the same ward up at BYU-I, and they live here now, too. It was so fun to catch up with them. They have a daughter who's almost 2 1/2, and she's expecting a little girl a couple months after us, so we're like in the same boat as them! It's nice to have friends down here.

Our apartment is coming along nicely, and almost everything is unpacked and put away. Still waiting for a washer and dryer. Pictures of that to come later. For now, here's a random shot of Tyler wearing "papa hemoot" (translated as Grandpa's helmet, for his motorcycle).

One Big Mell of a Hess

For now, you can't hardly walk into any room. But soon, this place will be home.

Weekend of Luxury

We had a problem with our stuff. The problem was, it kept getting put on hold, and so it never came. Thank goodness we were able to live with my parents because our lease on our apartment began January 4th, and the movers came with all of our stuff on Sunday, Jan. 11th. Lame. But it actually turned out ok because we called and sort of complained about it not being here after like 3 weeks of them having it and so they said they would pay for any hotel stays and half of our food costs. So we decided to live it up for the only 2 nights we could.

Friday night: after Kenny got off work we dropped the car off at a car place (the power steering went out) and went shopping. Had dinner with my fam, then went to a hotel and went swimming in the hot tub that was outside, and was no warmer than a bath tub. Tyler loved it. Here he's jumpin on the beds.
We don't have a swimming suit for him yet (he's obviously grown out of his other ones) so he just swam in his little swimmers diaper. Here he is cheering because he's so excited about going in the pool. (Originally we were going to swim in the "heated" indoor swimming pool. Turns out it wasn't heated very well.)
I realize no one should have to see a woman 8 months pregnant in a swimming suit, but I did it anyway. I went and bought a big fat maternity swimming suit.

Then we walked next door to McDonalds to indulge ourselves in Mcflurry's, french fries, and their 2 for $1.00 apple pies! I know, we're fatties.


Saturday night: Went out to eat at Cici's pizza! I hadn't been there in years! It reminded me of every soccer league I ever played on here in Houston when I was a youngin. At the end of every season we would have a team party at Cici's. Gotta love that place.
That night we stayed at a nicer hotel, but didn't go swimming. Side note: their breakfast was delicious, and their waffle iron was in the shape of the state of Texas!! I loved it.

Sunday morning the movers called and said, "we'll be there at 10". So since one of us had to be there the whole time, I went to church with Ty and Kenny stayed home. FINALLY we have our stuff.

Enjoying the morning sans pants

The weather is just too nice to be indoors. So this morning the pool toys and buckets of water came out, and the pants came off.




Good news! Our stuff should arrive tomorrow (FINALLY)! I'll post a few pics of our apartment once we're more settled.
As a final note:

BA BAM!

My First Baby

Thanks Maryanne! All you moms out there are welcome to participate and do this on your blog! Consider yourself tagged if you so desire.

1. Were you married at the time? yes, for about 10 months when he was born.
2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? SO happy! I cried I was so happy and so grateful.
3. How old were you? 19 when I got pregnant, 20 when I had the baby.
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? pregnancy test I picked up at Wal-mart
5. Who did you tell first? Kenny, of course
6. Did you want to find out the sex? yes
7. Due date? Feb. 13th
8. Did you deliver early or late? 2 days early (Feb. 11th)
9. Were you sick? yes, very very sick. After a couple months of it, my mom saved my life by telling me about the combo power of Unisom and B6 and I took that up until the 5th month or so. I recommend it to everyone now!
10. What did you crave? nothing really. I don't think I craved things anymore than I do when I'm not pregnant. Random food just sounds good sometimes.
11. Who irritated you the most? Probably Kenny because I was around him the most, I don't know.
12. What was your first child's sex? boy
13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? I can't remember exactly. Probably around 35
14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? no, I was very lucky
15. Where did you give birth? Rexburg, Idaho
16. How many hours were you in labor? about 24, I don't know when you say labor "starts". I was in the hospital for 13-14 hours until he was born
17. Who drove you to the hospital? Kenny
19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? eventually I got an epidural
20. How much did your child weigh? 7 pounds, 11 ounces
21. Did your child have any complications? no--he was awesome at eating and everything
22. What did you name him/her? Tyler Kenneth Weston
23. How old is your first born today? 23 months
24. Who does your child look like? His dad for sure

"I Want to Be Somebody New"

I was reading this book (written by Robert Lopshire) to Tyler the other night at bedtime and I about died at how much I thought of myself when I read these words:

Elephant: "Now look and tell me what you see."

Children: "An elephant is what we see! Why, you are as big as big can be!
But being that big cannot be fun. Say! You must weigh at least a ton!
You cannot walk up on this fence...
or squeeze between these circus tents.
The door of your house is now too small.
You can't get through that door at all!
You can't go here.
You can't go there.
You can't go much of anywhere!
You cannot sit in your old chair.
Your new rear end won't fit in there.
You're very big.
You're very fat.
We do not care for you like that." (I don't care much for myself like this either)

Elephant:"Every word of what you say is true. Okay. So I'll be someone new. Ready? Get set now. One, two three..."

Oh how I wish it were that easy for me.
I do feel quite like an elephant these days.

Overwhelmed

Lately I have just been feeling so overwhelmed by how wonderful life is, and how much I have to be grateful for. Sometimes I think that something really wrong is going to happen soon because there's no way life can be this wonderful and easy for this long. It's like that "this is too good to be true" feeling, but it is true.

This move has been SO easy because we've had movers, and we haven't had to stress about housing or anything too much. We finished school, went to stay with Kenny's parents for a while, and now we're bummin around at my parents, where we could stay for as long as we needed. We are just totally easing into this "real-world" life that it's almost unfair to everyone else! We're moving into our apartment this week and I am so stoked. Who knows when our stuff will get here--hopefully Wednesday. But our apartment is only like a 10 minute drive from my parents house which will be so fun and so nice to have help when this baby comes in 5 weeks (yet we still managed to be in a different stake...weird). To continue the list, we are in the process of buying a Ford Explorer from Kenny's parents (at about half the price it should be) and so we're a 2-car family now which is a huge blessing to not be stranded at home while Kenny has the car at work! And it's a big car that will last us forever. We also keep finding awesome deals on things like couches and paintings, and we have a beautiful new dining table with chairs (my dream since we got married) from my parents as a graduation/Christmas gift. I feel so spoiled and so grateful. Plus we went to our new ward today and everyone is SOO nice. I have never been approached by so many people-friendly people-in all the wards I've been in. We are so excited to get to know everyone better. I am healthy, fat, but healthy nonetheless and we are so anxious for this little girl to come! Kenny starts work tomorrow which he's really excited about, and Tyler is healthy and happy too!

Another weird little thing is the fact that I'm delivering this baby here. It might be trickier to work out insurance and doctors and stuff as we're switching at the end, but I totally get depressed in those Rexburg, Idaho winters! I had cabin fever so bad, and especially after I had Tyler I really needed and wanted to get out of the house more but it was too fetching cold! I think I got slightly seasonally depressed and I needed the sunshine! So I know that's a weird thing too, but since I'm having another February baby, I'm so grateful I'm in a place where I can get out and go walking every day without it being such a big stressor and worry how cold my baby is! I'll get back into the swing of things a lot quicker I think.

Anyway, I really just don't know what to do with all of these blessings. Where much is given much is required I guess. I better step it up. I know this is kind of a weird and rambling post, I just feel so grateful and so humbled. I hope that I can give back just as much and help out people around me to every extent possible. I just feel the Lord's hand in my life so strongly, and in so many ways that it has really helped my testimony to grow. I am overwhelmed with love for my Savior, and I know that he is mindful of me and my family.

Bath Time

One of our most favorite times of the day. He loves to give all his animals a bath too.




Wish my daily cleansing was this much fun :)

I could have sworn it was January

But it must be June because those are my sisters out washing the truck in their bathing suits.
And that's my little boy wearing shorts and a t-shirt (which my mom picked up while she was out, because we certainly don't have summer clothes for him in 24 months/2T).


Me and my sweaters were not prepared for this kind of winter. Looks like we need to go shopping.

Ring out the old, ring in the new

HAPPY NEW YEARS! Hooray for the beginning of 2009!!

Without writing down all of my goals and resolutions for this new year, let me just say that my 2 areas of focus are as follows.
1. Charity: no more judging, criticizing, comparing, or selfishness. Just love. More whole-hearted and Christ-like love for the Lord, for my husband and children, and everyone else too! My new favorite scripture, and theme for the year, is Moroni 7:45-48.
2. Creativity: not just in crafty projects that help me to feel happy, but creativity in mothering. I want to keep my days with my children full and lively. I don't want to get stuck in a rut and hate being at home all day with them. I have no more excuses of not enough time, etc. so I will focus on being more creative in our daily activities and the ways I teach them.

I just love the fact that we get so many opportunities to "start over". I think we have a lot of beginnings and ends so that we can continually re-asses our lives and see where we can improve and what we need to work on. Progression is what this life is all about. You can bet this year will be better for me and my growing little family.

Last night was one of those nights that we pretty much just stayed up to toast in the new year for the sake of tradition, not because we had some wild party going on. :) I'm still glad we did it though. Kenny and I finished reading the Book of Mormon again yesterday, which was a great way to seal off 2008.