Baby Number 2!

I am due in two weeks exactly...so I guess I should write at least one blog post about my second pregnancy!

So I don't forget, I want to share an experience that happened before I got pregnant. 

It was summer of last year, around June 2017. I was teaching swim lessons at the Francom's pool. It was a normal day with my normal class. I was watching some of the kids swim from one end of the pool to the next and happened to glance up at the parents who were there to watch. One lady was holding a little baby boy in her lap. At that moment, I was instantly overcome with emotion and a strong feeling that my little baby was waiting to come down and be a part of my family.  I honestly started to tear up; thank goodness I had sunglasses on and was able to compose myself quickly!

That afternoon, I went home and shared the experience with Dan. I tried for a few days to convince myself that it was hormones and that another baby was not what I wanted right now. See, prior to this, we were on the fence of even having another child. We loved Elise with all our hearts, but we never really considered having more kids. I knew now that we were meant to have another baby, but as Dan and I talked, we both felt that we wanted to wait until the new year to start trying. We discussed enjoying the rest of our summer and then enjoying the holidays without me being pregnant...

Well...someone else had other plans!  I found out two weeks later, after that spiritual experience, that I was pregnant. Dun, dun, dun. I was a little shocked considering Dan and I hadn't "tried" to get pregnant.

I wish I had done better at documenting this pregnancy. To quickly recap:

The first trimester was brutal. I was so sick from about six weeks to sixteen weeks. I experienced morning sickness with Elise too, but not at this level. It was miserable, and it left me feeling ambivalent about being pregnant. I couldn't get excited about it, which left me feeling very guilty and already as though I was failing as a mother before the kid was even born. Not to mention, I went from being the most involved,  "hands on" mother to Elise, to a couch potato. She watched a lot of TV for those few months and didn't get the attention from me she was used to. I felt so much guilt for my lack of activity and energy with her. It was rough physically, but I was rough on myself emotionally, which made things worse.

My second trimester was better. The morning sickness went away, but the fatigue I have felt this pregnancy lingered. With Elise I was working full time throughout my whole pregnancy, so I think that helped distract me from the fatigue. Not to mention raising a toddler can be exhausting.  This trimester seemed to last a lifetime. But it was also an exciting trimester! We found out baby was a BOY!

My third trimester has been pretty smooth. I still dealt with the fatigue, but I think I got used to feeling so tired all the time. I have been blessed to have a very smooth pregnancy (knock on wood) and have not had any complications whatsoever. My doctor joked that he should give me some of his fee back since it's been so easy!  From what we know, this little guy is happy and healthy which is the best feeling of all. We tentatively decided on a name this trimester. Boy was that a tough process! We are 97% sure his name will be Kaden Daniel Jensen.  We also got his nursery all put together, had some awesome baby showers thrown by family and friends, and now we just get to wait out the last few weeks in anticipation!

I had my first cervical check a few days ago at 37.5 weeks, and I was at a 1 cm and 60% effaced. My doctor told me this baby will likely go over my due date as well. Elise was a week overdue, and I was induced, so I wasn't too surprised. Honestly, I am hoping he stays in there until after my due date, which is April 1st; it happens to be Easter this year, and I want Elise to be able to enjoy Easter and not be in the hospital. There are also many dates the last week in March that I really don't want the baby born on. My brother and nephew are coming to visit from California for the first time in four years, and I don't want to be in the hospital for that either. So, if he is content to hang out in my womb until after my due date, it's fine by me! Just not too long after. ha ha....

I didn't document my pregnancy selfies as religiously as I did with Elise either. I felt sick, tired, huge, and I honestly thought to myself, "I never look back on all the belly selfies I took with Elise, so why take them this time?"  In my third trimester I have tried to do better. Here are a few I did take.

16 weeks. The first bump pic I snapped 

21 weeks

28 weeks

31 weeks

36 weeks. Elise posing with her belly out too like mom's ;)

37 weeks

Now that I am so close to the end and so close to finally holding my sweet baby boy in my arms, I can say the excitement is hitting me!  The feelings of self doubt and failing as a mother are pretty much gone. I am feeling more confident to be a mother of two!! Here's to hoping the next couple weeks pass quickly!

Elise Update, 20 months old!

I have slacked on blogging about anything lately...

Being a mom is such a blessing, and I cannot believe how much Elise has changed me for the better in just the 20 months she's been here. Time goes by so incredibly fast, that I find myself forgetting certain things because she changes so quickly!! Despite blogging feeling like too big of a hassle sometimes, I know I will regret not documenting the fun or special little things about Elise that I would like to remember! So I'll just get to it and write whatever comes to mind, I guess!

First of all, this girl is SMART. I know every parent feels this way about their child, but Elise truly blows my mind. I swear she has a photographic memory. She hears or sees something once and she has got it down.

• She speaks in full sentences most of the time. She repeats everything she hears, a true parrot. It can be a struggle sometimes considering I want to say S*** way too many times throughout the day! I am still working on filtering...
• She communicates so well that I usually know what she is saying and what she needs. It's very nice. 
• She calls marshmallows "marsh-a-loops", and she calls buffalo "buff-a-loops." (If you are wondering why she even knows the word "buffalo" it's because of the Monte Bean Museum lol. We go quite often because she really loves animals)! 
• She started saying, "I love you" last week. If we tell her we love her, she will almost always repeat it back to us. Priceless.
• If you are out of her sight in another room she will hollar, "mom/dad are you?" and come looking for you.
• She calls daddy her "best buddy".
• She knows all of her colors, and she knows many shapes: circle, square, triangle, star, heart, and plus sign (thanks to the Fisher Price shape bucket toy)!
• She knows all the letters to the alphabet. She actually recognizes each letter. She also knows the "abc's" song. This was surprising to me. It started when she was about 16 months. We bought her magnetic letters to play with on the fridge in hopes that it would give her something to do in the kitchen besides get into every drawer and cupboard that she shouldn't. Well, as we would play with them, I started to tell her the letter's name and then something that it started with that she could recognize. Like, "A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for Chey-Chey, D is for daddy, etc." I would identify them, mostly just as something to do, never asking her to repeat them back or quizzing her. One day we were playing and she grabbed the "Q" and she said "Q". I was stunned. I pointed one by one to many of the letters and she could tell me what many of them were! I mean, is that normal for a 16 month old??  From there we kept on working on them until she knew every single letter, and then I started singing the song with her. She also recognizes them written down on paper, not just the magnet form.
• She has many of her favorite books memorized. She especially loves "Llama Llama Red Pajamas","Mr. Brown Can Moo", "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More", "No, David", "A Love Letter From God" (AKA The balloon book), "Bees and Wasps" (she is obessed with this bee book. I have to hide it because I get sick of reading it to her, lol!), and so many more. These are some that she always pick over and over, but she truly loves all her books. She will sit and read for an hour at a time. I get sick of it before she does ;) 
• We started reading to her around two months, and I really feel that was one of the best decisions we could have made, and a piece of advice I give to all those with newborns! I feel that has made such a difference in her learning and vocabulary, and it has helped her with memorization and recognizing letters so much!
• She counts to ten. Dan taught her this in one day! 
• We say "prayer time" and she knows to fold her arms, close her eyes, and get on her knees. She doesn't always do it because she likes to watch other people during prayer time, lol. She can fill in the blanks with our prompts. We start off with "Dear" and she will say "heavenly father" and so on, and she says "amen" at the end.  She makes sure we are praying on our knees too!  One time Dan came in and just stood with his arms folded and Elise said, "knees daddy." :) Dan and I have not been very good about praying, but now that Elise is old enough we have made it a goal to say her prayers with her each night before bed.
•  She is still such a mama's girl. I really love that we are so close. She certainly loves her daddy.  No-one can play like daddy can. He is so silly with her and I love watching them interact. It's clear to me that she has way more fun with daddy during play time than with me. BUT, that being said, mom is always the one she wants to tuck her in at night, the one she wants to go to first, the one she wants when she is sad or sick. I know it bugs Dan a little bit. I truly love it though (I'm so selfish lol) and I think my heart will break if she ever becomes a daddy's girl and goes to him for everything instead of me!
• We love to dance. She loves her children's songs, like "Wheels on the Bus" and "head shoulders knees and toes." She has many of her favorite songs memorized and helps me sing them by filling in the blanks when I stop. She also LOVES to dance to the "Elmo Slide." It's a silly dance that she has memorized, and it is so cute watching her do it with Elmo.
• She tells me when she has just pooped. Sometimes she tells me when she is needing to poop. She sees me sit on the toilet, so she has asked to sit on it a few times too. I let her just to get her used to the idea of it, but she is not quite ready for potty training. I don't want to rush it. Perhaps, around 2 years.
• She refers to herself as "you". I assume because that is how we refer to her so often, "I love you" "that is you in the mirror", "thank you", etc. She will say things like, "help you?" and "hold you?" and what she means is "help me" and hold me?" 
• She loves to help me clean the house! She is the best dust-pan holder around! She loves to hand me the silverware out of the dishwasher, and I put her up on the counter tops and hand her the light weight cups and bowls to put in the cupboard. She loves it when I call her my "big helper"! She also loves to do little things like pushing the buttons on washer/dryer and dishwasher. 
• She loves to create "art." Coloring, drawing, and painting are some of her favorite activities.

It is definitely not always happy times and sunshine. She definitely challenges me and there are some days I think I am failing as a mother. But, overall, Elise is such a confident, independent, cheerful, playful, silly, loving, energetic little girl. She is the perfect fit to our family. She is definitely our daughter, personality wise. I could go on and on...How about we end here and post some pictures, or this might never get posted at all!

Picture Time:

She loves being outside, especially going to the park.

It may be tiny, but it's still a braid!

She loves her baby cousin, Amileah

Painting project went from paper plates to body art!

So proud of her work!

She loves to play with her cousin Kandace.

Mama's best little bud

These two are 8 months apart. One day Kandace came over wearing these pants, and of course Elise owns the same ones, so I had to match them up!

Papa Jensen spoils her rotten. She fully expects treats now.

She LOVES wearing hats and shoes. She is always grabbing them from her closet and playing dress up.

YAY! Her first piggy tails. It's so much longer in the back than in front. Grow hair grow!

 She loves helping me bake. I let her stir and dump things in. She loves to watch my mixer going. She also loves licking the spoon!

Light of my life right here.



Christmas Day 2016

Christmas was amazing this year. It might have been my favorite day of 2016. 

Elise was so cute opening her presents. But I really loved watching her play with her toys after she had opened them. We decided we will wrap presents from mom and dad, but Santa will bring his unwrapped. 

She loved what she got this year: some crayons and coloring books, some playdoh, some new clothes and shoes, some Legos, some new bath toys, a doll from Aunt Ximena, a lawn mower (because she was fascinated with them over the summer. She loved to watch daddy mow our lawn, and she even liked looking out our window and watching the neighbors mow theirs. So yeah, she was exited about having a mower of her own, lol.) But most of all, she loved what she got from Santa: an activity center with stairs and a slide. It came with three balls (basketball, soccer ball, and football), and those are what she noticed first. She really loves balls. She didn't seem to notice the awesome slide, but after we pointed out that there was a slide and showed her the climbing stairs, she spent the next few hours playing on it.  She would roll her balls down the slide, and she would give her baby dolls a turn down the slide too.  Sooo cute. Gaaahhh....Dan and I didn't even rush to open our gifts. We were content just watching Elise play. BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.

We did eventually open our gifts. Dan got me a vanity, which I mostly got myself, ha ha! I love that I have an actual place to sit and get ready instead of doing my make-up all over my house!  He also got me a gift card to Sephora, and also surprised me with a Cricket Explore Air machine. He did good. I love scrap-booking and making cards, and banners for parties, etc. Now I have my own Cricket, so I no longer have to borrow my friends' machine!

I got Dan new workout clothes, a workout jacket, some whey protien, pre-workout, and some new shoes. Ha ha, see the theme there. It was all things he asked for himself, so he can get in better shape again...not like I was trying to send him a message or anything, I swear!!

I made home-made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They were the "1 hour" rolls made with instant yeast, and I had never made them before, so I was nervous. They turned out really good though!  I ate about nine of them over the course of two days...yikes!

She cracks me up! She always notices when she has toe jams and will stop whatever she is doing to get them. Silly girl!

Later on Christmas day, we went over to Lorin and Sue's. Grandma and Papa gave Elise a cute beanie, some Pj's, a snow globe, and a castle play set. It is nice because the small parts are not so small that she could choke on them. We enjoyed our traditional "yaki-niku" dinner and spent the afternoon relaxing and watching Elise play with her toys. Cheyenne got a Karaoke machine, so we also had fun singing a bunch of random tunes!

Christmas came and went so quickly. It was definitely a Christmas to remember, and I am glad I have this blog (even though I don't keep up on it as well as I could).  I love the idea of Elise, and possibly future posterity, being able to look back on these posts and by reading them know how much she means to us, and how much we love her!!!

The Jensen Christmas Eve Party, and Christmas Pj's

It's tradition that on Christmas Eve we go to the Jensen family Christmas party. We go caroling, we reenact the nativity, Santa visits, and we spend the evening with the entire Jensen family eating and visiting. It is always a good time. Elise got to participate in the nativity as an angel. She looked adorable with her angel wings and halo on. 

 She had a lot of fun playing with the "big kids" and trying to keep up with them.  She is so entertaining to watch when she is off doing her own thing and playing pretend. There was one little cousin, Addie, who is about four. Elise kept following her around. If Addie jumped on the bean bag, so did Elise. Whatever toy Addie was playing with, Elise wanted to play with too. It was pretty cute...until Addie got sick of her and was kind of mean to Elise and told her to get away...lol. Pretty typical behavior for a four year old.  Elise didn't seem to mind, ha ha.

Under the mistletoe

My favorite people

The smile I get when I ask her to "say cheese".

Elise loves her Aunt Chey-Chey

Brent and Bridge and Brenley

All Bundled up while Caroling!

She made the cutest angel for the nativity

Nativity

Having fun while we waited for Santa

She was not scared of Santa. She even gave him a hug...but I was holding her the whole time lol.

Brenley and Elise in the Christmas Jammies

Since we spend every Christmas Eve at the Jensen party, this year we started our own tradition of opening our Christmas PJ's on the 23rd, Christmas Eve's Eve. A friend told me about that tradition she has with her family, and I loved it! I wanted to make it a night we spend together as a family doing a Christmas activity, like a craft, or watching a Christmas movie. This year we ended up just putting Elise to bed after opening up the PJ's because it was late and she was grumpy...next year though :)

She was not happy about getting more pictures taken.