Flood Season

Well Hannah and I are experiencing our very first midwest flood. Hannah thought it was pretty cool, and of course just wanted to play pooh sticks. I can't believe how much water there is...I am glad that we live at the top of a very large hill.

We are at the baseball stadium here, and the river is supposed to stop behind those light posts clear in the back of the picture.

This is the rock Hannah sat on last time we came down to the river, and where she was playing pooh sticks. The water is now taller than she is.

We had a pretty uneventful week, hence there being no posts. Everything is looking good with the pregnancy. We are down to four weeks!! Hannah and I have been having fun getting all of her old clothes out and ready for the baby. I can't believe that it's almost time. We are all pretty excited. My friend is having her twins this week and I think that getting to see them and hold them will get us even more excited for our little girl! Russ and I are pretty sure that Hannah is going to be a great big sister. A lot of our friends have younger children that she just loves to play with, and mother. It is pretty cute to watch her interact with them. Hannah has also started her official "Grandma Countdown." We have made some calendars and are puttting stickers on them every day until each Grandma gets her. It is pretty much all she talks about now. We are more than ready for some family to get out here!




Hannah has been begging us pretty much every day to go and see the temple, so on Saturday we decided to finally take a trip down there before life gets too crazy. I have never seen a two year old show so much interest in temples. She was so excited the whole drive down and then we get there and...the temple was closed. All of the gates were locked all of the way around it, so we couldn't even get in to walk on the grounds. Hannah started crying when she realized we couldn't get the gates open. She just kept saying, "Oh no, the temple is locked." So heartbreaking. Then she snapped into problem solving mode and started making suggestions on how we could get in. She first told us to use our keys, then she said to call Grandma because Grandma could get us in, then finally she said "I know, maybe someone can come help us." How do you explain to a devastated toddler that none of those will work? It was too sad. We ended up having a great day despite that drama. She loved walking around everywhere and loved going on the carriage ride. We are glad we made the trip!

How I feel...

I found this cartoon and I thought that it did a great job of describing my state of mind right now...

Random

Well...Cindy tagged me to let everyone know 6 random things about me, so I will try and make it interesting!

1. Some already know this, but my dream is open my own dance studio someday. I miss dancing tremendously and am anxious for us to settle down somewhere so I can make this a reality.

2. I actually really enjoy living in Iowa...during warmer weather anyway:) The people out here are amazing. I have made more lasting friendships out here than I have had since high school. I DID NOT want to move here at all and pretty much begged Russ to pick any other chiropractic school just so I wouldn't have to move to Iowa!

3. I am terrified to have more than a couple of kids. I grew up the oldest of 7 so you would think that the kid gene would be planted in me. Not so...I don't think I am equipped to deal with more than a few. Who knows...things may change.

4. I love and am completely comfortable dancing in front of huge crowds, but pretty much have a nervous breakdown if I have to speak in front of even five people. Seriously, just saying a prayer in church or at a meal with more than my family gives me a panic attack.

5. I am the luckiest wife in the world. I have a husband who stays up until three in the morning studying just so he can come home after school and spend that time with Hannah and I. He plans his work out and even some of his social/school events around Hannah's nap times. He also has amazing friends who love Hannah and are so amazing with her. They are all her best buddies out here! He has made us his priority since the day we were married and not a day goes by that I don't feel so blessed to have him as my hubby. Cheesy...but I blame it on my hormones!

6. I miss my sister. Okay, that's not random but she is my best friend and I hate not getting to see her every day and spend time with her. This prob surprises a lot of people who knew us way back when, but after we both grew up our relationship completely changed and I love it!

ok, hopefully I didn't bore you. I now tag Keara, Crystal, Kyla and Sandra!

A Shower and a Gate!

What a fun couple of days we have had! This past weekend some of my fabulous friends threw me a baby shower! It's not traditional for your second baby, but they insisted on doing this for us. I am so grateful for that. We had a great time, and it was fun to just relax and be around friends. On that same morning Russ and Hannah went on their first daddy-daughter "gate." They were both so excited about it, and Russ is excited to start this tradition. Every time Russ and I go out Hannah tells us that we are going on a gate, and has always wanted to come with us so we figured now was a good time to start this with her. I got her dolled up that morning and her and Russ dropped me off at the shower then headed to the children's museum for some fun. It is a good thing she has a fabulous, patient dad because he spent two hours there with her and probably 200 other children. I have been having some horrible guilt over having another baby, and the changes it is going to bring for Hannah, so it is so nice to know that Russ is always so willing to step up and be there. I have said it before but he is an awesome dad!

Here they are getting ready for their big "gate!"
My fabulous friends Cindy and Kim at my shower.

We finally had have some beautiful weather and have been taking advantage of it. Yesterday we took Hannah down to the river for a walk, and to let her run around for a while. The water level is so high! We couldn't believe it when we saw it. It made me a nervous wreck to have Hannah running around, but she did surprisingly well at listening to us...not her best trait lately :)

She insisted on playing her own version of pooh sticks even though they just kept floating down the river because there was no bridge...



I finally decided to get busy getting stuff ready for the baby, and that involved a project I have been wanting to do for a while. A friend of mine out here re-did an old dresser in a really neat way so I decided to copy her idea and totally redo Hannah's 26 year old dresser. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, and I have confidence now to take on some other home projects!

The finished project. I am not the most creative person so I am proud of how this turned out!

We love conference!

These are some fun shots of Hannah sustaining President Monson as our prophet!

We had a great conference weekend. It is always so nice to just be able to relax, and listen to our church leaders. I have such a deep respect and love for Pres. Monson, and his counselors. I don't know what it was about this session, but it seemed like all of the talks were directed right towards me. They were all pretty great!
I am sad to say that I think my pregnancy sickness is back. I have been having a pretty rough go of it since last week, and it makes me even that more anxious to get this baby here! Only 47 days to go. woo-hoo! We are also getting really excited to have Mike come and live with us for the summer. We are going to fix up one of the rooms upstairs for him, and Russ can hardly wait. He hardly ever says anything about it, but when he does he is just like a little kid he is so thrilled. I think it will be great for him to be able to spend time with his little bro! We are going to have a full house for the first part of the summer with all of the fam coming to visit and help out with the baby and Hannah, but we can't wait. It's too hard sometimes to be this far away from everybody.
Well, we hope everyone has a great week and hopefully spring starts showing up for more than a day at at time!

This is my...shake your booty?

Hannah loves to sing primary songs, and this one is "I love to see the Temple," but instead of saying "...this is my sacred duty" at the end she thinks it says this is my shake your booty! Gotta love it!

Potty training woes

Well, we finally decided to get serious about potty training Hannah and I don't think it's such a safe endeavor for a very pregnant mom, or her child. We started trying a couple of months ago and she was doing wonderfully....then we went home for Christmas and it all went to pieces. Now she seems to be terrified of our grown up toilet, even with her seat on it, so I bought her own "big girl potty" and she loves to sit on it and play with the flusher, but has a meltdown every time I try and tell her to try and go. Seriously, she looks at me like I am out of my mind to even suggest that she do such a thing. AAhh!! Two year olds. She has always been a very low maintenance child, no major tantrums, etc. I think she is making up for it! Not so great timing. I have all of the patience of a 33 weeks pregnant woman, and she has all of the patience of a two year old. Not a great combination. I am trying to savor each "precious" moment with her before the new baby gets here, but who wants to savor meltdowns?
Ok....the real reason for this post was to ask for tips or suggestions on potty training. Shouldn't it really be called child training? You don't really have to train a potty to do anything....it's just there, right? My mom has given me great advice, which I can get to work sometimes so I am open to any and all suggestions!

This is how excited I wish she would get to go potty!