From Brazil and Japan with love!

On June 21st, my dad and his wife, Neiva, arrived from Brazil. It had been over 2 years since I last saw them. It was so fun to hang out with them and take them places! We went to the Red Butte Gardens, drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon, took them to Millcreek Gardens (they own a flower shop in Brazil), and did all sorts of touristy things.

Then on June 25th, we headed back to the airport to see my brother coming back from his mission in Japan! We were so thrilled! It was actually kind of a funny story of what happened at the airport: we were all at Terminal 2 waiting at the bottom of the escalators, as well as some other families that were waiting for their missionaries to come home. Since it was a straight flight from Tokyo, we knew they had to go through customs, and that would take a while. His plane landed around 11:30am. By 12:15, still no missionaries. Then all of the sudden we hear screaming from another family- there was one missionary coming from behind us! What in the world was going on?! We then overheard him saying they were at the International Terminal, so we all took off running to the other terminal to see the rest of the missionaries. As soon as we got there, some of the missionaries had come out already, but Victor hadn't. It wasn't even one minute until he came out! It was so exciting!

Then on July 1st, my dad and his wife wanted to go see the Bellagio water fountains, so we headed to Vegas. We stayed at Bally's (center strip) for next to nothing (avg $51/night)! It was way too hot there, around 110F each day, so we got out mostly at night, but still sweating bullets it was so hot! Vegas is too busy and makes me feel uncomfortable, but the smile on my dad's face while he watched the fountains was worth the whole trip :)

 

We heard Nathan's had the best hot dogs in the country, so we had to eat there. It just happened to be at the mall inside Bally's. They were okay, I guess. Not that good.

Then on friday we were supposed to go to the Grand Canyon because my dad wanted to see it, but everybody voted "NO" to the 6 hour drive to get there. So we hung out in Vegas. We headed to the pool at Bally's. I couldn't get in the water because of my heart monitor, so I just sat out in the sun sipping on some cold water until I thought my monitor was going to melt - it was #$%^#%$^& hot!!!!

It was a great vacation and it was awesome to see my parents :) We'll miss them!

I'm pregnant. Shoot me now.

Yeah. I guess I jinxed myself when I kept saying we were done having kids. Turns out Heavenly Father had some different plans for us.
We found out we were pregnant about a month ago but we kept it a secret for a while because we were supposed to announce it when my brother came back from his mission on the 25th of this month. Apparently with your second child you start showing a lot earlier, so we had to say something before people thought I was growing a tumor. Our family is thrilled. The only person that isn't happy about this whole thing is me.
Think of the hardest thing you've had to do in your life. Maybe something that you wouldn't dare do because it's just too difficult. That's how I feel about motherhood. Preparing for med school is a BREEZE compared to being a mother. I don't like being pregnant, but it beats having a newborn in the house. I don't deal well with sleep deprivation. I'm gonna need some Valium once this kid comes.
As far as what happened when I found out... well, I was trying to rule out pregnancy with a pregnancy test so I could call my doctor to test me for hypothyroidism: I was tired, gained weight, and missed my period. Yeah, didn't make that phone call. I FREAKED OUT, and Jacen came in to see what was going on... I kept saying, "Oh no, Jacen, oh no... oh no... oh no...." I waited until Elijah came home from work to tell him. I had Jacen write him a card saying something along the lines of "I'm sure you'll be a great daddy to my little brother and sister". Elijah laughed for a straight ten minutes... apparently he laughed for 2 hours (I had to leave for work).
Some stats: I'm 9 weeks pregnant, due Jan. 12th. So overjoyed by the thought that it's going to be RSV season. *sigh* And school starts, like, on the 10th. Not sure how I'm gonna pull that off, but I've had a kid through finals, so I'll probably figure something out with this one as well. I've been sick like a dog, but nothing that Phenergan can't do. I've been very fatigued (this is a new symptom for me, last time I didn't have this) as well. It just plain sucks.
Not gonna lie: I'm TERRIFIED of having two kids; I'm already overwhelmed with one. Sign me up for a tubal on D-day.

Lord help me.

First movie outing!

Last night we took Jacen to see the fourth Shrek movie at the theaters.

At first we were hesistant as to whether we should take him in the first place since he's only two years old, and we were worried we'd be one of those parents everyone frowns upon for bringing little kids to the movies while they're screaming their lungs out for not getting the candy they want. However, Jacen has been watching Shrek at least twice/day for the last four weeks so we thought..."What the heck... let's just take him on opening night."

And we did.

And it was AWESOME.

We got him started with a hot dog, and a big drink. He loved eating his hot dog. But we decided to eat in the lobby because the movie wasn't starting for a while and I didn't want him to make a huge mess. Once he was done with that, we went in. He got to eat his junior sized popcorn bag, and he was doing really good. After six previews (*sigh* how I hate previews; they are so useless, and honestly, to put that many in there, they're lucky none of the families left with their kids. It took forever for the actual movie to start. Stupid previews). Anyway. Enough on that rant! After six reviews, and him being slightly annoyed, and having to reassure him that Shrek was coming, the movie finally started. He would point to and say "Shrek!", "Donkey!", "Kitty!", "Nona!" (Princess Fiona), and dance whenever music came on. He was so cute. He did so well! We were shocked at how well he did. He survived the whole movie without one whine or tear. The movie was hilarious, we highly recommend watching it. It was great!

Next month we'll be taking him to watch Toy Story 3... but we gotta get him hooked on those movies first :)

$13.95 + tip

 (before haircut)

I've always cut Jacen's hair and every time we cut his hair it's such a battle. He screams at the top of his lungs and cries the whole time. We've tried playing with him, letting him suck on a lollipop, and even have just plainly held him down and tried to hurry as he kicked and screamed some more.

So I decided it was time for someone else to do the work. I heard from friends that Cookie Cutters did such a good job and that they had cool things in the salon for them to do, and because one opened close to my place recently, I took him there yesterday. I thought for sure he'd be such a good boy and not cry, and then he could play in the playground before and get a treat before he sat in the little car, and he could watch Shrek and the haircut would just go smooth.... Totally worth the $13.95 plus the hefty tip for having him stay so quiet, right?

No. I sat him in the little car and he immediately began freaking out. The stylist did her best to keep him happy but he just would not have it. Even with a lollipop in his hand, he would still wail at the top of his lungs. She tried putting a cape on him, but he took it right off; there was hair all over him. I had to sit and practically hold him the whole time while she cut his hair. He got hair all over his lollipop and got lollipop stickiness all over the car. It was such a mess. Then as soon as she gelled his hair, he goes "All done." Gets out of the car, gets his balloon, and life is good again.

Why does he think haircuts are so scary?! She did just as good of a job as I do with him at home, so I'm not gonna take him out for haircuts anymore. It'll save me $13.95, the tip, and embarrassment from happening ever again.

At least he looks good.

End of semester fun!

If any of you know me well enough, you know that I don't do "motherly" things. Like, I don't usually do much with him that consists of taking him out or doing something out of the ordinary.

Towards the end of this (long!) semester, and as the weather was getting warmer, I started to take him to Sugarhouse Park to go play at the playground. He LOVES it. I've tried taking my textbooks there to study but it doesn't work out so well. He always wants me around. But anyway. After my last final on wednesday, I took him out for a picnic at the park to celebrate the end of the semester and as a "thank you" to him for putting up with mommy being cranky all semester.

We tried playing soccer but it didn't work out so well. He'd kick the ball once then he'd just pick it up and grab my hand so we could go on the playground slides. Funny kid.

Then yesterday I had my friend Nikki over (we've grown closer in the last two years since my brother is gone; she's waiting for him- YAY!!!) and we baked cookies together. She's a fabulous baker and I wouldn't trust myself rolling out cookies on my own, so she supervised my work. She taught me a lot about baking!

We got Jacen involved. Usually that's out of my comfort zone since I knew he was going to be making a mess, but the only mess he made was on the cookies. He emptied out the whole container of green sprinkles on the first two sheets of cookies; and he used the majority of the pink sprinkles on the next couple of batches.

And here I am rolling out the dough. It was fun, I have to admit!

Some of the cookies had WAY too much sprinkles on them... but at least Jacen had fun :)

Who would've thought that two years after having a child I finally start being a mom?!