zip. nada. none whatsoever.

Today was a very full day.  And the whole reason that I am making a note of today is for two reasons:

1. I had a whole list of things I wanted to accomplish while Lily napped today and I had to continue working on a lesson I have still not learned, which is that some days, you just have to let it go and not worry about it.  The dishes will be there later, the floor can be mopped tomorrow, we are blessed with enough clothes that if I don't get it all washed, dried and folded TODAY we won't have to go about naked.  And I had to continue learning this lesson today because

2. today was the first day that Lily didn't take a nap.  At all.  Normally she gets at least a 15-20 minute nap as a minimum as we drive from point A to point B on the days she doesn't take a good, long nap, but not today.  She was awake from the time she got up (745a ish) for church to the time she finally got to lay down in her crib when we got home (815p ish).  It was not the most fun of days for me, as it added some stress to my already annoyed state of not being productive because she was clingy and I REALLY hope this doesn't become a habit, yet.

Also, I finally updated my pictures, go check 'em out!

a good day

In true weekend and Lily fashion, she was ready to get up and begin the day a few hours before I would have chosen.  While I was already awake, this doesn't mean I felt it really time to get out of bed.

Since we were up, I figured we should eat. Partially because Lily kept going through the signs she knows best: all done, more and please until she remembered that she wasn't "all done" and just wanted "more, please" of some sort of food.  So I stumbled out to the kitchen with her and decided that we would have eggs and toast for breakfast.  Now, there are few foods she doesn't like.  Eggs would be one of them.  I have tried them in several different forms, and she just won't eat them.  But I thought today could be the day, so I went about making a pair of over-easy eggs while she started on eating a muffin.  Thinking I would be really awesome and impress my 16 month old, I figured I would forgo the spatula and just flip them in the skillet with the flip of the wrist trick.  Which I CAN do with omelets, and I knew I'd break the yolk but thought I'd give it a shot anyway.  I forgot I had two eggs in the skillet.  At least I tried this over the sink, because one of the yolks saw it as a chance to escape and jumped out of the perfect arc and down the drain.  And the other yolk broke, too.

And today was not the day that Lily would find that she enjoys eggs.

So a little while later, I decided that I was still hungry and wanted some coffee.  While we waited for my coffee to brew, I also decided a bowl of cereal would be pretty good, so I sat on the floor with Lily and shared my bowl of Frosted Shredded Wheats with her.  A few bites in, I began to reprimand myself about the sugar and how if I'm going to be sharing a cereal with her it should be something ridiculously healthy and probably cardboard tasting to set a good example.  And then I further decided that you know what?  Forget it.  I'm only going to have her as an only child for a few more months before she has to share me with a little brother or sister.  And as much as I hate to think it, I know there is going to come a point in only a few short years she won't want to sit on the kitchen floor and split a bowl of Frosted Shredded Wheats with me, so I'm going to cherish these little moments as much as I can.  And if the moments that I will remember best are the ones where we're eating food that's not the healthiest?  I'll live.  When she's a teenager and dying to get out of the house-- aka the years between the wonderful time when I'm her rock, safety, and she has absolute trust in me with out question and the time when she grows up to be an adult and realizes that hey, Mom is pretty cool and knows what she's talking about-- I will be able to remember how we used to split a bowl of cereal on the floor when she was our only child and it was just the two of us awake while her daddy slept.  And if Jesse wants the same special memories with her over a bowl of ice cream, or chasing her up and down the hall to tickle her right before I was planning on putting her down for the night, no big deal.  Life will go on and we'll have some smiles to look back on.

Moving on..

After we finished the cereal and coffee, I decided it was high time Jesse was up because we had things to do today: pick up Bob's bedroom furniture!  YAY!  We weren't planning on already having this done, but a friend from the Y offered to sell us her daughter's bedroom set and we just couldn't turn down the deal she gave us!  So when we get around to it, Bob's room will be green, orange and yellow with dragon flies :) I'm really excited and have been scheming of how I want to paint and further decorate.  Jesse just keeps nodding and agreeing, and pointing out the parts that really are a bit ridiculous, so I'm looking forward to getting his/her room all set up.

While we were off galavanting, Chanell had bravely offered to take in Lily for the afternoon.  Since we were childless for a few hours, we celebrated by going up to the mall to get really unhealthy food for lunch before grocery shopping.  Don't say we don't know how to have a good time..hah

And because I promised that I would, yes, Lily really and truly DID say "dog" tonight.  Chanell told me she did this a few months ago, but I didn't quite believe her, since all dogs, cats and animals in general were "zzzz"...but yes, she did say dog tonight.  Happy, Chanell?  ;)

That's about it from here I guess!  I will post this picture of Lily..unfortunately it's a little blurry, but cute anyway.  She pulled Jesse's boots out of his closet and tried to put them on, so I had to help her out for the sake of photographic evidence.

aaaaaaahhhh...

That happy sigh in the title is supposed to indicate how I feel now that the second trimester motivation and energy have finally caught up to me.  Not that I've been [im]patiently waiting since the day I found out I was pregnant...now, I've only been here twice, but it's my favorite.

Additionally, the weather here has been beautiful.  As far as January goes.  60+degrees yesterday?  Yes please.  It was gorgeous, I opened my windows and let the house air out a bit and started in on my spring cleaning.  Ok, not really.  Just the cleaning I got behind on with the first trimester lack of energy and the holidays.  But the house is shaping up, slowly but surely.  Almost ready for company [and will be in February!  I'm talking to you Nikki and Rick...].

With my energy/motivational kick, I've been experimenting in the kitchen again with various odds and ends, from new dinners, delicious home made bread and tonight's adventure, muffins.  Crazy, I know.  Watch out.  I've been working on my grocery list, so we'll see what else I decide I'm in the mood for to randomly want to make.  But anyway, we'll start with bread.  Ever since we've been married, Jesse has...requested...on a regular basis...that I bake bread.  No problem.  I like putting some muscle into my baking when I knead the dough, so I enjoy this.  However, when I bake just a regular loaf of bread, he tends to turn his nose up a little before gobbling it down with me.  What he ideally wants is a nice loaf of 100% whole wheat bread [aka no white, easy to use all-purpose flour], using flour that we ground ourself with our grain mill.  Have you ever tried to bake bread that meets this criteria?  It's borderline impossible unless you want little bricks instead of loaves.  Over the years, I have learned some of the sciences behind baking bread, getting it to rise and why baking with just whole wheat [loaded with good for you brans, fibers and glutens] is difficult.  However, I finally stumbled on this recipe.  I love this lady.  She breaks it down for me and adds an extra step to further break down the gluten for a nice fluffy loaf.  And it turned out fabulously and I'm really excited to bake more!

Now the muffins.  Oh, the muffins.  Divine.  We had a tragedy tonight, and realized that we're out of ice cream.  And by "we," I do mean "I."  So as we were trying to decide on a snack for this evening, Jesse suggested muffins, and I knew just the recipe I had been wanting to try: Morning Glory Muffins.  When you read the recipe, you'll see why I wanted to try it.  Who puts some of this stuff in a muffin?  We do, apparently.  Exactly the type of muffin you would want to eat for breakfast.  Which I probably will tomorrow morning.  

2 1/4 c flour

2 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1 1/4 c sugar

3 large eggs

8 T butter, melted and cooled

1 t vanilla

4 carrots, peeled and grated (2 cups)

1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained and pressed dry with a paper towel

1/2 c sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 c raisins

1/2 c walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped

[see?  weird stuff]

1. Preheat oven to 375degrees and coat a 12 cup muffin tin with oil spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter and vanilla until smooth.  Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mix with a spatula until just combined.  Fold in the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins and nuts.

3. Use a large ice cream scoop or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among the muffin tins.  Bake 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

De.lic.ious.  And, since everything tastes better made from scratch and without using a box mix, you know I'm right.

Ok, enough food talk.

Lily is doing great.  She was ridiculous yesterday and took a 4.5 hour nap.  You read that correctly.  I have no idea what is going on with her, I'm hoping it's a growth spurt.  All last week she was super clingy, her naps were much shorter than normal and she had been waking up in the middle and then yesterday, ridiculousness.  She woke up so happy and playful; I think she laughed all evening.  Jesse and I had a blast playing with her and watching her spin in circles and "dancing" to the music one of her bears plays.  And trying to tackle Zeke, stand on him, hug him, etc.  Poor dog.  But she was so much fun!  Probably one of my favorite days so far as a mom.  I've decided she grazes all day [like me] and still wants to eat 3 solid meals.  She has all 4 of her first set of molars, and who knows when she will get any more teeth to fill in between.

walked into the bathroom and found this..just imitating momma!  and the bathroom is done being painted now, as opposed to the nice half white, half green look..

Daddy sat down with a Klondike bar and Lily climbed right up on the couch and sat down next to him with her mouth open.  she knows better than to try and mooch from me...

look familiar, Mom?  we were playing and she climbed up on her chest and laid down.

Bob is...hanging in there.  Not too much to report with that one.  I'm feeling movement much more regularly now and that's about all you can know until I go to the midwife and she says that "yup, everything looks good!"  I will be able to post pictures of him/her in February when we go for the next ultrasound!

18 wks, 1 day.  either I'm bigger than I thought I was or it's the angle of the camera and how I'm standing.  *shrug* please disregard the wall paper, we haven't gotten to redoing that part of the house yet. 

and now, I'm going to bed.

Ugh.  Long.  Day.

I woke up reeeeeeeeeeally early this morning so I could go help with an election.  My boss had told me on Wednesday that the school board was looking for more people to help today, and I would get paid, so why not?  Except I had to get up at 415 so I could leave and be at the voting place by 530...and it wasn't over until 730 of course.  And since I'm really not the most awake that early, I missed the thermos I was pouring my boiling water into and poured it all over my hand.  So that was a great start.  My hand is pretty sore.  It was an interesting experience to say the least, and I'm glad that it's over and I will be going to bed soon.  I crocheted a lot, read a lot, ate a lot...and ignored the old ladies who gossiped the. entire. time.  They were precious and all, but they had all clearly lived in the same town for the majority of their lives, gone to church together forever and knew everything about every body.  And I was the youngest by 50 years, at least.  But as long as I ignored the one lady who was definitely did NOT share the same political views as I did, I enjoyed myself.  Just to clarify, I don't mind hearing people's opposing views: what I mind is when they just spout off random "facts" and opinions with no background and basis for such statements and when questioned, they just have a response of "well, just because."

Anyway, working with some 70-80+ year old women all day was really neat (minus politics).  They told and compared stories of growing up on the farm and going to school in a one room school house, and moved into topics about what they did during WWII.  I sometimes love just listening to that generation with their experiences!  My favorite lines of the day was when they were discussing how our oldest volunteer's TV wasn't working.  So another lady was trying, without any idea of the terms to use, to explain how she might resize the picture on the screen.  A third lady chimed in that this could solve her TV issues too, and the describer said my favorite line of the day: "Well, I can't remember what the function is called, but the button is on the left side of my remote..."  Since this was incredibly helpful, I hope the other ladies trotted right home and took care of their problems :)

My second favorite line was when we were all discussing how cold we were in the room the voting was taking place in.  "Oh, is that a heater below the tv?"  "No, that's a tape player" as they all pointed and discussed the CD player.  With no tape playing ability.  I know since I grew up with all this stuff there's just no way I can fathom what it would be like trying to keep up with it all when these ladies grew up in homes with no electricity or running water.

All in all, I enjoyed myself I suppose.  Got plenty of reading, crocheting and eating done.  Jesse and Lily survived, though it sounds like Lily wasn't the most cooperative little kiddo today...but they did it!

Sorry this was a boring post, I'll try and get something more exciting sometime soon.  I just wanted to tell my boring stories, and mostly the TV remote story for my family, particularly my brother.  Thought you would enjoy that, Joel.

just some ramblings..

In keeping with my attempt to do better with my blogging (and avoid the dishes and laundry that needs done), I have some random thoughts for today: 

1. Teaching your almost 16 month old to eat with a spoon is messy business.  This is why God invented bibs, even though I haven't used one in several months (laziness on my part, and Lily hates them).  It can involve 3 spoons at a time, a dog to clean up the yogurt off the floor and a stack of napkins to clean up hands and faces of all those involved.  But she's getting pretty good.  Both with holding a spoon (in either hand, depending on her mood) and with picking up yogurt with her fingers and forgetting the spoon.

2. It's best to remember what you've done with your dog.  Especially if he's a short haired weenie of a Boxer who doesn't do best in the cold for extended periods of time.  Example: if you let him outside, it'd be best to remember he's out there before you go get in the shower, especially when there is a few inches of snow on the ground.  

3. When the whole family is sick, or recovering from sickness, it's ok for all members to lounge around in pajamas all day and eat whatever sounds good.  If it is ice cream for dinner, it's ice cream for dinner (ok, that was just me last night..).

4. It is also okay for the laundry from last week to still be half folded, half strewn across the floor.

5. Hot chocolate with whipped cream on top is always a good idea.  Even if you have to make two mugs because your sicky husband stole yours because that was the only thing that sounded good..

6. I am 16 weeks and 6 days pregnant with Bob (aka Baby Joel).  When I was about this far along with Lily, I ran the Go! St. Louis half marathon.  I'm glad I haven't been training for one this pregnancy.  Plus, it's cold and snowy out!  Not ideal for running.  And even though I really want to, I'm glad Jesse and Betsy said "NO, absolutely not" to running the Capital City Half (Columbus, OH) in May..you know, at about 33 weeks pregnant..

I guess that's it for now :)

16weeks, 4days

Since I am hopefully going to be home for a few weeks now, I maybe will get my life caught up.  But, I'm not counting on it.

Last Thursday-- which doesn't seem like just a week ago-- Lily and I took off for CO for a wedding we were both in.  Dad H drove us to the airport where I met my parents.  And for those of you who haven't done it, walking to check in with a large tote/carry on, roller suitcase, umbrella stroller with a small child in it and a car seat can be done..but not something I would want to do every day.  Fortunately, Mom was going to the wedding with us, and she was a huge help.  I was actually able to enjoy myself, knowing that someone I trusted was keeping an eye on Lily.  And in hindsight, I guess I could have attempted everything by myself, but having an extra person to help entertain a 15 month old on the plane, and during the wedding and everything was incredibly helpful.  So thanks Mom!

The wedding itself was beautiful, and as I previously mentioned, I was able to relax a bit and enjoy myself, too.  The day was gorgeous and sunny, though a bit chilly for some of us.  Well, I'm sure everyone noticed the temperature, but they handled it much better than I did.  I'm apparently just a wimp-- and I'm sure the rest of the bridal party would agree with this statement-- and I blame living in Phoenix for this.  Mom has more pictures than what I was able to get of Lily, so when I get those I will try and share some, if she doesn't mind.

owning the airport

bachelorette party

camped out in front of the food.  typical.

cake topper

Mr and Mrs!

We left CO for Ohio on Sunday morning.  Dad H came and picked Lily and me up at the airport and we discussed how Grandma Brennan (my MIL's mom) was doing very poorly and it probably wouldn't be long before she passed away.  Monday morning, we received a text followed by a phone call that she had passed.  Grandma had lived a wonderfully full life and been battling several different health issues for several years so I believe we are all glad she is no longer suffering, though it is still hard for the family to lose a loved one.  Please keep Jesse's family in your prayers during this time.  I began making arrangements Monday for Jesse and me to head to Ohio again for the visitation and funeral and to spend time with family.  We left Tuesday after dropping Lily and Zeke off with the Partin's to watch for us overnight.  Not much can be said as far as funerals go, though it was so nice to see the love and support the family had during this difficult time.  The priest had some wonderful things to say about Grandma's life, and Aunt Melony read from a diary of sorts that Grandma had written.  I unfortunately didn't get to know Grandma before the health issues had started cropping up, so I enjoyed hearing more about her and the spunk she had when she was younger and healthier.

Unfortunately, I woke up Wednesday morning sick, so I was beyond miserable all day yesterday at the funeral.  I'm incredibly thankful Jesse and I shared a hotel room with Matt and Erin because Erin was a champ and helped me out after I had puked my guts into the toilet.  Jesse doesn't do so well with the puking.  Which he didn't get a choice on when I lost it in the car on the way to the graveside..it was a pleasant day, to say the least.  

We carefully headed home after the funeral services were over and pit-stopped at the in-laws for a few hours so I could rest and Jesse could eat dinner with his parents before heading to pick up the kids from Betsy's.  We are incredibly grateful and impressed that Betsy (and Trey) was able to take care of 5 kids while she was also puking her guts out.  Super mom.  I told her I'm not there yet.  When I'm sick, I don't want to do anything and want to lay on the couch and let people take care of me, not have to worry about taking care of kids.  Ah, the joys of motherhood..Thanks Betsy!

Bob is doing fine.  I have definitely begun to feel him/her move now on occasion.  I've had to keep reminding myself up until now that all kids and pregnancies are different and not to expect the same things this time as when I was pregnant with Lily.  With her, I had smooth sailing and probably one of the easiest pregnancies ever.  Now, while I wouldn't say it's been difficult by any stretch, it hasn't been as pleasant.  First with the morning sickness, and secondly all of my joints have been randomly hurting like I'm an old lady or how I feel after a 8+ mile run.  Which I have NOT been doing recently.  While I felt Lily move at 12 weeks, I haven't been feeling too much movement from Bob, just a random occasional flutter I assumed was baby, but I felt a definite kick or somersault or something yesterday and some this morning.  And no, Bob is not going to be the name of our child, nor is it even an option for those who are concerned.  I had a midwife appointment today, and everything sounds fine apparently.  She was more concerned with my sickness and dehydration but let me go without a fuss when I promised I was drinking gallons of water.

Other than that... Jesse and I had discussed finally getting a chance to celebrate our anniversary next weekend, but we are so over traveling and having stuff going on that we'll probably postpone it for a few more weeks and try and get some stuff done around here.  Who knows, it's always an adventure with us...

New Years and New Baby

First and foremost: we had a blast in PA over the New Years weekend.  I love spending time with Jesse's side of the family, and even though some of the usual crowd couldn't attend, we managed to have a good time anyway.  We stayed up late-- one of us ridiculously late because he forget he ISN'T in college anymore and 4a is NOT a good bedtime-- ate a ton of food, did some shopping, ate some more, celebrated my MIL's birthday and celebrated the New Years very quietly because of a sleeping Lily.

New Years Eve was, as usual, busy for us.  Once everyone was ready, Mom/Dad Hildebrand, Uncle Don and Aunt Patty headed down to Bass Pro Shop while the rest of us went to the outlets and then the King of Prussia Mall.  At the outlets, Nikki and I of course spent some time in the Dooney & Bourke store while the boys perused the Black & Decker store.  Which, conveniently enough for married couples, are right next to each other.  Jesse found a killer deal on a set of power tools he has been wanting (half off an outlet store price?  Yes!) and after we were all done, had to stop at home to drop off our loot before heading to the KofP mall.  

One of Aunt Patty's favorite (if not THE favorite) New Years tradition is to bang pots and pans LOUDLY at midnight.  Because I'm a party pooper and don't really want this happening while Lily is asleep, this didn't happen last year.  But THIS year, we made some noise before Lily went to bed, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves.  Then, struggled to stay awake until 1210a so we can celebrate the beginning of 2012 and Mom's birthday.

Onto other news.

Jesse, Lily and I are expecting another baby June 25!  We're incredibly excited.  After my miscarriage in August, we feel incredibly blessed and fortunate for me to be pregnant again and so quickly.  We found out October 25, but I'm pretty sure we both had gut feelings before I took the test but didn't want to voice our opinions so we wouldn't get each other's hope up.  Anyway, the doctor that had performed the surgery told me that as soon as I discovered I was pregnant the next time, I needed to make sure to get into another doctor quickly to make sure this baby was in the right place.  And just throwing this out there, you really can't see too much on an ultrasound at 4ish weeks.  However, the next one at 8 weeks showed a little blob in the right location and a strong heart beat.  Betsy has loaned me her fetal doppler, so I have been listening to that little heart go on occasion.  

I'm 15 weeks along today, and am finally feeling better with the second trimester, but am still searching for energy and motivation.  The first 8 weeks were awful and I was incredibly nauseous and no food sounded appealing.  I was prescribed some medicine for nausea that helped, fortunately.  So, if you've seen me since October and had no idea I was pregnant..this is the only reason why.  A good friend of mine and I were discussing recently how with the second pregnancy, I don't have time to sit and feel awful all day, which I think helps me feel worse.  When I was pregnant with Lily and felt nauseous, I took a nap.  Now, I have a little silly to chase around and am working every morning so I can't just sit around for hours on end like a lump.

Telling our parents was really fun this time.  We had waited so long to tell anyone because we wanted to make sure everything was progressing normally before we made an announcement, and we decided Christmas would be a good time frame.  We cleverly disguised and wrapped arrows for both sets of parents and had them open them.  Jesse's parents were very excited and both had a bit of a chuckle at I'm sure how clever we were in the disguise once they saw what they were holding.  The significance of the arrow goes back to Psalm 127:3-5a:

"Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.  Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

And so, we gave our parents each a quiver and an arrow when we told them we were expecting Lily.  When they opened their presents of an arrow, they immediately knew what it meant.  

My parents found out Christmas morning when we were celebrating and opening presents with Jessie, Richard, Joel, Mama and Poppy.  I don't know how anyone else reacted because I was taking the pictures, but I think this pretty well sums it up:

I don't have a picture from today..I didn't like how I looked in it hah

9 weeks

13 weeks

That's about it for now!  Sorry this was so long, but, well, I've been waiting since October to blog about this!  

8 week old kid we're affectionately calling "Bob"