Week 13

So I've been looking for a weekly pregnancy questionnaire and found one I liked on a blog. I'm excited to cover all of the bases with a few questions and to be able to go back and look at past weeks when I'm huge, and when the baby is actually here :).

How far along: 13 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 4lbs since last Dr. visit (1lb/week) yikes.
Maternity clothes: I wore a pair of maternity capris this week, they were so comfortable. Most of my maternity clothes are still way too big though. My jeans our feeling more and more snug, even with the rubber band trick. I'm loving jersey knit skirts and dresses!
Stretch marks: I really wouldn't know if another one was added to the mix ;)
Sleep: Super sucky. I have crazy dreams when I'm not pregnant but these have been nuts. I'm talkin' murder, whole entire funeral services including the talks and songs, etc etc. My mind is a scary place to be during night time.
Best moments this week: Spending the week with Tyler. I love when he's home from work. He couldn't believe how my body changed in just two weeks. OH, and going to Sweet Tomatoes, I've been craving that for weeks!
Movement: None yet, I've heard you feel it sooner with the 2nd, but I'm not sure how soon that is. I can't wait!
Morning sickness: None, I just get really sick if I don't eat first thing.
Cravings: Cheez-its (yeah, I just looked at the box sitting next to me for the spelling), root beer floats and tuna/lettuce/pickle sandwiches.
Food aversions: ALL Mexican. To test me, Tyler asked "if we went to Vegas, you're telling me you wouldn't even eat Macayos?" No. ah. gag.
Gender prediction: Girl. I thought I wanted a girl last time but KNEW it was a boy. This time, I want a girl, and feel like it just may be.
Showing yet: Yes. How is this fair? My friends who are weeks ahead of me have flat bellies still. This 2nd baby thing is no joke.
Labor signs: No
Belly button in or out: In
What I miss: Dr Pepper, good sleep, fitting in my bras
Milestones this week: I went to the Dr. today, everything was normal, and baby's heart beat was at 165. He said he's still optimistic for a girl since it's still on the high-side. We'll see!

We make cute kids, I can't help it.

So I know the world (or my couple hundred friends/family on facebook) probably already heard, maybe more times than they wanted, BUT here's another. We're pregnant. Yeah, no one saw that coming, did they? We were so back and forth about having another, but it's just like Mormon law. Kids two years apart, I didn't want to upset anyone. ;)
But in all seriousness. It was actually kind of a surprise to us. Let's face it. I see my husband one week a month, the numbers weren't on our side for this one. Good thing the Lord was. We couldn't be more happy, or feel more blessed. This one could be our last. Tyler wanted one kid, I want{ed} 4, this is somewhere in the middle for both of us and I just can't see being pregnant again with more than one toddler running around. How do you ladies do it?!

Tyler really wanted to wait until we knew what we were having before telling the world. Our parents, my brother and a couple friends knew and he thought that was plenty. I, on the other hand can't keep my own secrets for the life of me. Seriously, I tell on myself all the time. But as this little nugget grew, and as I was proving to be one of those 'you show way sooner with the 2nd than the first because you didn't work out a day after having your first and you have no stomach muscles'.. ok, I added that last part. But really, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that there's really no where but out that this thing can go, but I KNOW I wasn't looking like this already the last time. So, I begged enough, maybe made a good trade in return and he agreed to let me spill the beans.

Anyway, I'm 12 weeks as of yesterday. I'm pretty sure I made it through the worst bits. When I was about 6 weeks we went to a mexican joint and I was up the whole night revisiting my dinner. I had never experienced morning sickness with Ryder, it was awful and I'm more than grateful that it was a one-time deal. Biggest problem? I haven't wanted anything to do with Mexican food since. Worst.food.aversion.ever. I love mexican. It's all I wanted, breakfast/lunch/dinner while pregnant with Ryder and now I can't stand it. What am I supposed to eat now? Tough life I have. My biggest worry is food.

As for foods I've been craving lately:
Pickles, typical.
Jack in the Box chicken fingers with ranch/franks red hot. (there may or may not be an embarrassing story about how I ordered, paid then had them refund my money after telling me they were out of Franks and going to another Jack in the Box.. But I won't tell you about that.)
Sub sandwiches
Cry baby bubble gum
Mashed potatoes
& Braums orange sherbet

I say, and hopefully I will follow through with a weekly baby blog update so I'm not blowing up every one's News Feed with baby and pregnancy mumbo-jumbo, but I'm not promising anything. I'm really excited, it will show and I may very well get annoying, I apologize in advanced. :)

Love y'all.

PANcakes. Duh.

These deserved their own blog post. I feel guilty depriving the world of the deliciousness I experienced this morning.

I decided to make pancakes, which happens often, but not usually when it's just Ryder and I. I ALWAYS use an electric griddle and swore by it... Until today.

Simply because, I'm lazy and didn't want to get it down, and have to clean it for a few pancakes. So.. I just used the smallest fry pan I have.

I filled the pan to right before the edge starts to round-up, one at a time and cooked them on med. heat.

Here's what I did:
Made the desired amount of bisquick. BUT add the 'melt in your mouth pancake' ingredients. {written in small letters under the 'original recipe'} there's two options: fresh lemon juice, sugar, baking powder. OR sugar, baking powder and vanilla. I did all of the above. Why can't I have vanilla AND lemon?!

While I was making up the cakes, I sliced some strawberries thin, added a handful of raspberries mixed with some sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, mixed them together and put in the fridge to get happy for a while.

Once they were done, I buttered those bad boys up, and poured over the, now syrupy berries.

For some reason, cooking the pancakes in the pan, made them so tall and fluffy. I don't know if it was because I was only focusing on one pancake at a time; and babying it to adulthood, and not a whole griddle full, or if today was just my lucky day... But it was heaven in my mouth. You HAVE to try them. Ready-Set-GO!

"No obstacle too great"

Lots of changes coming for the Willards in 2012. Most recently: trying to become homeowners. Exciting right? Not entirely.

Before we moved to Texas, we were pre-approved, had an offer in on the best house we found in our price range and were patiently waiting (5 months later) on the Short Sale to go through. Then, Tyler got laid off. We had to pull our offer, and all of the stress, happiness, relief emotions kicked in. We were forced to move to TX where it was hard to go back to renting when we were SO close to owning.

Anyway, we signed a 6 month lease, knowing {if} we still liked Texas, if Tyler still liked his job, and if I wasn't still a complete wreck, we'd try to buy again when our lease was up.

Those 6 months flew by. What an adventure it's been! And now we're here, rushing to buy/get in a house to avoid another lease signing.

Tyler was home last week and we were able to go look at some possibilities on his very last day off. Someone beat us to the punch on what we thought was 'the one'. We looked at one more right before Tyler had to leave and fell in love.

It's beautiful, the model home, brand new, and everything I would ever want in a home, including having the option to buy the lot next door to avoid a cookie cutter sized yard.

It seems like everyday is different, one day things go great, the next EVERYTHING goes wrong. Days that make you wonder if you're doing the right thing for your family, financially,
etc.

Tonight it hit me.
I'm stuck in Texas if we buy a house. Can we do this? Do I want to be stuck here? Is this even the right house? Sometimes I want to go home so bad, is it right to raise my family here, away from all other family? Is that fair?

I found a quote that helped me tremendously. It certainly didn't give me all of my answers, but it's helping me get to that point.

"There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, if we have faith."
Gordon B. Hinckley

Simply said, have faith. Faith in what we're doing for our marriage, our family and our future. But most importantly, faith in the Lord.

I love night night time.

Ryder's love for books continues:
A few weeks ago, he threw his fat chicken leg over my stomach and sat down on my lap, leaned back, with book in hand. When we were done reading "Wheels on the Go" {for the 36384947 time} he started chewing on the corners.. Which lead to:
"we don't eat books, we eat babies"
I love this little nugget.
Ps. He just brought me a book to read, shocker!

I live for little moments, like that.

Lately, I've felt so fortunate for this adventure, we call Texas. As much as it sucks to be so far away, it has been one of the biggest blessings thus far in our marriage. We have been able to identify ourselves as our own family and have to rely on each other so much more.

I've been able to spend day and night with my son, without having to hear that I "do nothing" all day. {yeah, I've heard it plenty. YOU try keeping a house spotless, without a maid, while watching a toddler. Be my guest.} I'm pretty sure, I have the best husband ever. He always makes sure to let me know he could never do my 'job', and on days like today, its nice to hear.

If nothing else comes out of moving here, I'm content in knowing we've grown as individuals and even more so a couple. Having an understanding and appreciation of each other and the duties we each hold that we didn't have before.

This week has been one to remember. Ryder has discovered his love for books. He brings me books all day, and puts his chubby arms up for me to pick him up to sit on my lap. He snuggles into my arm and lays back while i read. As long as I keep reading, he'll keep snuggling.

Every night we have the same routine. Diaper change, lights off, TV on, and a blankie on the floor with a bottle in hand.
Usually, he'll roll around after he drinks his milk and I pat his back until he's asleep. But, the other night as soon as his bottle was gone he stood up and walked behind me.

I tried to ignore him, so he'd come lay back down. But he didn't. I felt his little hand on my back and thought for sure my hair would be pulled any minute. But it didn't.

He started rubbing my back, for at least a minute. I started crying as soon as he started. I didn't want to look back, because I didn't want him to stop. It's like he knew that it comforted him to sleep and just wanted to do the same for me.

When I did look back he got the most adorable, bashful smile.. Then gave me the biggest hug he's ever given me, followed by a long "awwww". Knowing, he did something really great. He fell asleep in my lap that night. It was the most amazing feeling in the world.

I wish my husband was home every night, and knowing how much Ryder adores his 'Da-ee', I know he does, too. It's hard knowing he has to miss those cute things. We miss him like crazy. I know he misses us, but I see the love that it must take to work for 14 days straight at 100+ hours per week to support and give your family everything they need. I'm truly blessed. I never thought this would be my life, but I'm so glad it is.

My baby isn't a baby anymore.

Ryder's cute boots that FINALLY fit!

I often find myself wondering where in the world did these last 12 months go!?
I know, all moms say and think the same. But now I get it... And it's so dang bitter-sweet! Why do they grow so fast? It doesn't seem like there's ANY way that was a year ago. It's still so fresh in my mind, wasn't he just born?! I've looked at the calendar a few times today in disbelief.

He's walking, yeah WALKING, yesterday I counted 14 steps. He gets so excited, and knows he did something really great.

He's talking, Dad, Dada, Da-ee being his favorites and STOP, the most recent and always in his 'yelling voice'. Kid's got some lungs. Still no 'Mama'. I totally feel gipped, I remind him who bathes, feeds, changes and snuggles him all day, but he doesn't seem to mind. Or knows, that I'll do them regardless.

Playing independently is a new one as well. It's AMAZING. I can get things done, or just watch his genius little mind work. It amazes me what he has figured out after just a year and it literally makes me teary eyed... {Which may have something to do with the fact that moving to Texas has made me an emotional wreck, but whatever...} It's sweet.

Today is his birthday. But not just any birthday.. His FIRST birthday. It's an accomplishment for all of us. Being a parent is hard work, but so incredibly rewarding at the same time. We wanted to take advantage of the fact that Tyler had 1/2 day left at home to celebrate the day as a family!

my identical boys.

We woke up, set up all of his presents, and waited for him to wake up. We made sure to video the whole thing {which we've been really bad at lately}.

It felt like Christmas. We decided to make it a tradition to wake up to presents, and not have to wait until night time, or a party on a different day etc. etc. And it was awesome! His face was priceless. Definitely one of the best things about having your own family is creating new traditions.

lunch time!

After getting ready, and doing a couple last minute loads of laundry for Tyler, we headed to lunch. We just picked our favorite Mexican place, since 1 year old's don't really have a preference to restaurants yet.

Ryder's only preference is: food.
We headed over to Peter Piper Pizza since there's one super close to our house. Again, what is a 1-year-old's birthday requirements? Luckily, he really enjoyed it!
We got $2 worth of tokens and that was PLENTY. He didn't really like the ride-ons and he was really too little for the games but he had a blast on the playground! One of us, took him up, and the other took pictures. He had a blast crawling through the tubes and going down the slide with us! We were glad we took him.





We knew we needed a cake, but I didn't make one today {stay tuned for Pirate P-arrr-ty pictures in a few weeks} so we took him to pick his own! We wanted a small cake, but not a cupcake.

so.many.choices.

a chubby kid's dream

 We thought it was cute to take him, and he seemed to enjoy it.
We had cake, a much needed bath afterwards and then little man went down for his nap!

thosssssse cheeks!

Tyler had to leave to go back to work. His shift starts at 12am and the shop is 6 hours from our house. It was so much harder to let him go back today than it ever has been before. Maybe it was because Ryder was asleep, and I knew he would wake up asking for him, maybe because it was our son's birthday, or maybe it was because each time he has to go back we realize more and more how much we miss eachother. Either way, we shared a good cry, hugs and a prayer before he left, and hope these two weeks fly by.

I pulled myself together before Ryder woke up from his nap. We spent the rest of the day playing with all of his new toys and sliding down his slide! He fell asleep by thunder rolling across the family room floor with his silky blanket in hand, until he passed out. I love my blankie boy.
 


It was a really good day. I'm glad we took the time to capture it with pictures and video. I know those are things we'll never regret.


Favorite of the day. My handsome boy.

 

I sure do love you, Ryder. Happy Birthday, buddy!