My Birthday Celebration

Today I finally got to celebrate my birthday. Unfortunately, having a birthday so close to Christmas means things get a little filled up with holiday celebrations so close to your day and you either have to let that be what you want or put it off. Because of Christmas, Jordyn's memorial, and New Year's (and half of those being on a weekend) it was hard to find time. 

It's also hard to figure out what you want to do when you are pregnant (massages are out since the belly is in the way. A new outfit can be difficult since you don't know what'll fit when you can finally wear it or what will look cute without a belly in the way. I can't go sledding, skiing, or anything that could make me fall, etc.). But this weekend a movie, I was really looking forward to, came out so I picked today as my day to celebrate.

I have to say it ended up being a really good day. I had a Kohl's gift card and a Visa gift card to spend so I decided to go to Kohl's and then to Sally's in the morning. I ended up talking myself out of everything at Kohl's except clothes for the kids (figures haha). Technically, it was the only thing we needed (for Cara and then I figured I might as well get an outfit for the other girls too haha). I thought I was paying attention to how much things were, but I guess not because I ended up spending both full gift cards there haha. Either way, it was worth it because Cara needed more pants and summer clothes, so it worked out. 

After that we went to Sally's. Larry took the girls to the Petsmart next door so that it wasn't too crazy in a beauty store with 3 kids. I ended up finding some good products I wanted to get and had a fun chat with the sales lady about childbirth haha. 

I wanted to get Zupas on our way home for lunch, but the one in AF didn't look open when we drove past it and the app wouldn't let me do a pickup order, so I decided to switch to Kneaders. It's just as good and at least I got to get one of their amazing brownies!

We rushed home so I could hurry and eat before I had to leave for the movie. I wanted to see Scream and was so excited to go see it during the nap time. I wasn't able to get concessions as I got to the theater 1 minute before it was supposed to start, but since I filled up on lunch, I didn't feel I needed anything. The movie ended up being SO awful!! I almost walked out on it and I was a little disappointed it was so bad. 

I got home before the end of nap time, so I was telling Larry how bad the movie was. Then the girls got up and I could tell they were still a little sluggish, so I decided to let them watch a show before we headed out again. We got to the mall/restaurant a little before 4. I went to check how long the wait was that early (I know Cheesecake Factory can get busy quickly on a Saturday) and they told me it was about a 2.5 hour wait. I definitely put our name down on the list and they took my number and told me they'd text me when a table was ready. I figured that was perfect so we had time to walk the mall (which I really wanted to do). We walked through The Container Store, which is my favorite to dream about how to get more organized. The girls definitely got restless there haha.

The only pic I got of the day...clearly the
Girls were thrilled with my choices

After that we decided to go to the Lego Store. There was a bit of a line, so we had to wait, and I started to wonder if the restaurant really had my number because I didn't get a text saying I was added to the list, so we decided to do a pickup order as it would've been so much quicker. We were able to walk the Lego Store, get the girls some fun little ones to build (I figured it would be fun to see how they do with just smaller ones). We got a text saying our order was ready and we went to pick it up. Dinner was good, but the cheesecake slices were even better! I was very happy to get it at home. 

After dinner, it was close enough to bedtime that we put the girls down and got ready for our movie night. Once again, we didn't feel up to making popcorn since we were so full, but we got our drinks and candy out to snack on and decided to watch Shimmer Lake on Netflix. I was desperate for a good movie after my horrible Scream experience. This movie did NOT disappoint. It was actually quite entertaining, and it kept us up talking for a bit about the movie and all the other things we thought of (I highly recommend this movie!). 

Even though the day didn't work out as I had hoped, it was still a really good day, and I got some really good new, fun things and even a bad movie in the theater is still a bit of fun for me! So, I'd say it was about an 8/10 day for me and I'll take that haha.

6 Months (weeks 23 - 27)

 

Compare/Contrast: Sickness, sickness, and more sickness. That's the biggest thing this time around. Shortly after the last month I got the flu (right before our Vegas Vacation too). Then, we went to Vegas and I got an ear infection. Then I got pink eye. We decided to cut that vacation short and I felt like once my pink eye cleared up, I got the flu again...it has been a super rough pregnancy with sicknesses. After the flu cleared up, I thought I got another cold. I decided to go to an ENT to get my ear and sinuses cleared up (because all my colds seemed to be all in my sinuses and that seemed to be the common denominator). They, luckily, gave me some great help. Turns out I had allergies, not colds. Apparently, you can develop new ones during pregnancy, so that's fun! 

The worst of my pink eye

Even more luckily, my doctor appointment after the ENT appointment they told me I could take decongestants or allergy medicine. My pregnancy isn't high risk and there aren't any concerns on me taking them at this point so I can get some relief. I only take them when it's REALLY bad, but it's nice to know I can. I also got an air purifier to help with sleeping at night. The cough that doesn't go away and the hard time breathing at times is really hard, but other than that it's an okay pregnancy.

I drove up to Idaho by myself on the 30th and I was nervous something bad would happen (I knew I was being crazy, but just felt a little shaken up) so I gave Larry the gender card before I left. I knew he wouldn't find it in a decent time frame if something bad did happen, so I wanted him to have it just in case. He, of course, opened it the second I left so he knows the gender, but is sworn to secrecy. He can't tell a soul, not even me even if I'm begging. 

My drive was clearly eventful haha

Best Moments This Month: Definitely the best was finding out I could take decongestant for my congestion I've had. Christmas was a good one, for the kids, so that's nice to know. 

Larry and I had to crash during vacation...this was our setup

I did get a couple coming home outfits that work for either gender so I'm pretty excited about those (both are so cute...it's so hard to decide which one I love the most). 

Celebrating a new year and being in the year this baby is joining our family! I got my new planner for my birthday and some new multi-ink pens and that's just about my favorite thing about the end of one year and the start of another one. 

Our Ice Cream Party with the girls for NYE

What I'm Looking Forward To: Honestly, not being pregnant is what I'm most looking forward to. I don't want to rush this, but I'm sick of being sick and I've been told once the baby is born all my crap will go away. I also am looking forward to giving birth and finding out the gender...it's so exciting. Other than the ending, there really isn't much to look forward to...just all the movements because this is the last time I get to feel them. 

2022 Goals

So I don't have my usual long list of goals for the year. It's probably mostly due to Larry pointing out you shouldn't wait to start goals and improvements on yourself. With that being said, this year here are my biggest ones:

• Less screen time. We resort to turning on the TV so much, especially during winter/darker days and I just feel too guilty. We have so many games, arts and crafts, puzzles, etc. that we could do instead. During the summer we tend to go outside a lot more, but I need to be better about sticking with activities at night. (So far, we've done EXCELLENT on this this year). This also inspires me to be more in the moment with the girls and soak up all these days that we have with them.
• Definitely do my masks! This is my absolute favorite form of self-care and it's SO easy to get done. Most only need to be on for 10 minutes (washing them off seems to take the most time...or at least feel the most tedious). I got SO many for Christmas, so I have no excuses not to do this!
• Get used to having a new baby and being a family of 6 (!!!). Since this is my last baby, I feel pretty confident I'm just going to take everything in stride and be more laid back about things, BUT I did think that last time and Lucy REALLY tested my limits, so we'll see what happens with this one. 
• Clean and organize the house as much as possible (while spending the least amount of money). I have such good plans for up until the baby is due - I have an area that has been driving me nuts lately and that needs to be cleaned/organized assigned for each week. I figure having a whole week to work on it after dinner time will be very easy to accomplish. So hopefully I can get those done and then after I'm feeling more used to having a new baby, I can pick back up with it for the other areas that need help.
• Be more conscious of my spending. A few years ago, I had made plans that I didn't want to diet, just be more aware of my eating habits, add more fruits and veggies instead of treats, eat real food before going to desserts or candies. It helped me a ton, even to this day, so now I want to do the same thing with my spending. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to accomplish this, but I have some savings goals for the next few years that should help me.
• Learn more coding/computer language. I signed up for a free site that can teach me SQL and I started that before getting pregnant. I'm hoping to do more of that this year!

So, apparently, I do have a long list...it didn't feel like I did. And then once I started writing them down, I'd think of another haha. This year should, hopefully, be a great one! I'll do my best to make it as good as I can - luckily, the new baby will be 6 months as the holidays start and that's when they tend to be easier for me to handle (maybe my hormones just level out at that point?) so that gives me all the hopes and motivation to start making the holidays this year exactly how I've wanted them to be! Fingers crossed plans work out the way they should.

Happy New Year!!

New Years 2022

I just can't put into words how much I really, genuinely love New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Larry convinced me last year that holding off on resolutions for the new year is silly (as he puts it, what if he said he wanted to be a better husband...why would you wait until the new year? Why not do that now?...it's a good point, I can't argue that), but I do still love setting goals I want to accomplish for the year.

I was a little nervous about this one this year. When I found out the news about Jordyn, I just felt so sad and like a dark cloud was over me. A cloud I just couldn't figure out how to get rid of. I also just wanted to sleep all day long. Even if I slept great at night, I still just wanted to sleep. I wasn't sure why I was being affected SO badly with that news, but I couldn't shake it. Luckily, they had her memorial on the 30th up in Rexburg, so I was able to go up that day, stay the night at Stace's, and then head home early Friday morning. The memorial gave me a lot of closure and really helped me feel better...the cloud had been lifted! I was so happy to have that done before the new year too.

My first 3D puzzle I did with Stace...it was hard!

The drive home was long, exhausting, and full of snow. But once I got home it was SO nice. I got to give my girls lots of hugs and kisses and just hang out with my favorite people (the second I started my drive to Idaho I just started missing them like crazy for some reason). 

New Year's Eve we went to pick up our pizza (our traditional dinner) and decided to finally break open our ice cream party box we got at Costco months prior (it has waffle cones, paper cups, plastic spoons, and a bunch of different toppings, you just have to get the ice cream). We thought it would be fun to make fun ice cream combos with the girls. They, of course, had to have EVERY topping on theirs, but I think I overdid it because Cara couldn't even finish hers. If I have vanilla ice cream, I just love sprinkles and chocolate syrup...that combo by itself is amazing to me. I did add m&ms this time as an added treat, but it was a good addition. 

Then we just watched shows and relaxed for the night. I was nervous because I was REALLY tired (I had stayed up late the night before doing a puzzle with Stace and then ended up waking up really early and then with the long drive with nothing to see made me even more tired, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to stay up till midnight) and I also had started to get a headache on our way to get pizza and by the time the girls were being put down for bed I was in a TON of pain (headaches really take it out of me). Once we got them down, I decided just to make sure I drank water and just take it easy. I told Larry I probably wouldn't make it to midnight, but I'll stay up as long as I can handle the tiredness and headache. Luckily, my headache ended up going away pretty quickly. And with the ice cream and root beers and fun games I was able to make it to midnight just fine.

We played Life (Larry won), Monopoly (Larry won, of course), Scattegories (Larry won, which was surprising), and Headbands (a tie game). We also had these table topic cards that inspire fun, usually long, conversations. I love just chatting with Larry and having those nights where we talk about so much. It means so much to me that after all this time we can still just talk about things, even if we know what the other is going to say, it's nice to just talk. 

We watched the ball drop, did our new year's kiss, and then I went to bed. It was time. Luckily, staying up so late and getting up with the girls at 7:30 still doesn't make me drag, but I did end up taking a nap today to help get me through our Saturday date night tonight. Normally we have more people with us on New Year's Eve, but one couple was in Hawaii (jealous!) and the other was nervous about driving in the crazy weather (can't blame them...it snowed like crazy) so it was just us, but it worked with how ready for bed I was haha. 

Our overnight snow!