Not what we expected!

 So today Dale and I finally decided to get Riley's ears pierced!!! It was SO not what we expected it to be! Riley is such a stubborn child... If she doesn't want to sit through something she will do everything in her power to NOT sit through it. I have NEVER seen a baby to match her will power! Most kids can be talked down, calmed down or distracted but not the Bug! She has a one track mind and she is freakishly strong. So we expected her to freak out quite a bit and throw enough of a fit because of what was happening that we would end up leaving without having accomplished our goal...... We were SO surprised! We let her help pick out the earrings (Pink of course) and told her she was gonna get them put in her ear and they would be so pretty! She was excited!!  Then the lady started to touch her ears.... She started to get suspicious! She kept eyeing her like this............

While the Lady marked her ears. It was so much funnier in person! The the Lady put the little white gun to her ears and she was SURPRISINGLY calm...... Until After. Then it looked like this......
I thought that it was cute that they had a little bunny for her to hold onto to love when she started to feel the pain. After that the lady waited a little and Dale was able to calm her down a little and talk her into letting the lady do the other side! AMAZING! Dale did so good at talking her through it! I am so glad he was willing to be the one to hold her on his lap and that he was calm enough to try to keep her smiling and trusting! This is her after........
If this picture had any subtitles it would be "I hate you Mom and Dad for tricking me into this and making me think this would be fun!" She didn't want to look in the mirror right away, she was to angry, but then we took her to go potty and she was happy enough to check herself out in the mirror and be glad she had cute "Pinks" in her ears. We thought maybe she would be crying all night just because she wouldn't be able to let it go but as soon as we told her she could go play at the "playground" in the mall and get a treat she was fine! She ran right into the playground and didn't skip a beat! She was as happy as could be! It was as if nothing had happened! I tried to get a happy picture afterwards but I couldn't get her to old still long enough! She was too excited to play! She brought up the fact she had "hurts" in her ears a couple times but she didn't notice or remember enough to bring it up constantly. It wasn't until it was time for bed and I had to treat them that she got defensive. She told me she didn't want to wear the earrings to bed but forgot about it quickly enough when we went into her room to read her bedtime story! I will have a better after picture when I can get her to sit still long enough! They are so cute and I am so happy we got it done! Our little Bug surprises us all the time!

This....

Is what I have to look forward to today............

YUMMM
At least I don't have to taste this one! 

Why did I get out of bed this morning?????

Not for us!

Nope! Who needs blankets and pillows when you have nice hard boxes and newspaper ads?!?!?! Comfort is for the birds!And just because.... Here is me at 25 weeks!

WHAT??

So I just thought this was weird.... I keep telling Dale (and he agrees with me) that I think I am getting super big! It feels like a lot for my body to handle. Like I have said before I didn't get as big as I am right now when I was pregnant with Riley until I was about 8 months and then I didn't have to suffer so long but I still have three and a half months left and I don't know how my body can get any bigger. I know it will, obviously Baby Mak has to get bigger and so I will, but it just doesn't feel like my body can handle much more! I thought maybe it was just me. I was starting to think that maybe it was just me being a wimp, that I just didn't remember being pregnant well enough. Apparently its not! I had a doctors appointment on Monday and to my surprise my doctor told me that I had gained more weight in the past month than I should have and that we will have to keep an eye on my weight gain!!!! WHAT????? That is the strangest thing to hear! It makes me happy to know that Baby Mak is growing and healthy but I am just not sure that my body can handle much more!! Its all in the belly too... My clothes are actually fitting loose everywhere else. It just doesn't make sense to me but I guess I wont complain.... My baby is growing and is healthy and that's all that really matters! My comfort will have to be sacrificed! ha ha

Short lived

So this might not be post worthy but I am SUPER excited about it although nobody else might want to read about this! As it tuns out I had no need to get so frustrated and stressed about a diaper bag! It might sound dumb but really that was the one thing on my list of things to get, to be prepared for Baby Maks arrival, that I was MOST stressed about!

The day after "Frustrated" posted her rant about diaper bags and the stress it was causing her, Dale sent me a link through the chat that him and I have while he is at work. I open it up thinking its probably a link to some car on sale or some house he found that he wants to buy..... Nope! He had found a diaper bag on craigslist that was like one of the bags I had shown him that I wanted. It was a different brand that I had never heard of and the picture was a little blurry so I wasn't quite sure about it but it was CHEAP and I thought it was worth looking up and calling the lady about. So I looked up the bags brand and found out that they were normally just slightly less expensive than the original brand that I had been looking at. I decided to call the lady to talk about the condition it was in. (I couldn't tell from the picture) She said it was in fabulous condition and still looked brand new! She said she got it on a deal and that's why she was willing to sell it for so cheap! So off I went to pick it up. It really is so cute and everything I was looking for! The lady was super sweet about it all. She was really understanding when it ended up that I didn't have as much cash in my wallet as I THOUGHT I had. (of course I didn't check like the brain dead girl I am) I felt like some scum bag trying to rip her off for 5 bucks! But she was really nice and understanding about it. I got so lucky! I am so excited about this diaper bag and I cant wait to use it!

Signed, FRUSTRATED!!!

Hi, Its me, Frustrated! You know me right?? I am Cajsas 2nd personality! (alter ego, if you will)
I surface (mostly) when I feel like the only way to get what I really want is to spend WAY too much money on something that in NO WAY should cost as much as "they" are telling me it should cost!

I have been surfacing a lot more lately than Cajsa likes me to. Mostly because shopping for Baby stuff STRESSES HER OUT!!! Its not like she doesn't have enough on her plate making sure that she is doing everything she can so that the beautiful baby girl that is growing inside of her is growing and healthy!

Right now her problem is diaper bags! Do they have to cost so much?? Does she have to spend almost 200 bucks on a diaper bag that is everything she wants it to be! Is she too picky? Does she ask too much? She has been through a few diaper bags and has not been completely satisfied by any of them.

She looked for a cute one and had to sacrifice convenience. She tryed for convenience and had to sacrifice eye appeal! Not to mention that the "convenient" ones weren't convenient AT ALL!! Too bulky, always in her way and never holding what she wants it to without everything falling out. The pockets not closing. Nothing ever being able to be reached without digging through the freakin Grand Canyon to find it!!! She doesn't want it to look like everyone else on the Planet Earth! Same patterns, same brand. She doesn't want to look like a couch that's covered in plastic just so that it wipes clean! Apparently though that might be what she has to settle for because that's what is affordable! She doesn't need a name brand to make her happy just something that will last be cute and will hold what she wants it to without costing her so much money! Also Cajsas husband has a say in all this too... After all he does have to carry it too and it cant be too girly. Pink is "O.K" as long as its only in the trimmings. The patterns cant be too fru-fru because NO MAN should have to carry that around when its his turn for diaper detail! Also he is the bread-winner so he is the one fronting the money for this endeavor.

Is Cajsa the ONLY person to have these problems??? I have never heard complaints from anyone else... Maybe everyone else can afford the things she cant which wouldn't bother her, to each his own, except that they are the only ones that seem happy with their choice! Money never really has equaled happiness for her but apparently in this case they go hand in hand?!? Is there a compromise or is settling my ONLY option???

Signed,
Totally and Completely FRUSTRATED!!!!

A Kicker and her Name

This is for mostly my own journal purposes so don't feel like you have to read it!

This pregnancy like I have said before is just a completely different experience from the last one. I have gotten much bigger much faster than I did when I was pregnant with Riley Bug. I am about as big now as I was with Riley at 7 months or so! I am already feeling so big in the belly! It took me until I was nine months to feel big the first time!

I have been feeling Baby Mak (her nickname) move around in there for a while! She is much more violent than Riley was which is a total surprise to me.. (Riley was quite the kicker) But Baby Mak has no mercy! I honestly can feel her most of the day and they aren't just tiny movements either. Most of the time I have to adjust my position so that I can let her roll away as she pleases without making me too uncomfortable! Even this early you can actually see her movements from across the room sometimes! I have heard stories about babies that have kicked so hard they have actually broken ribs! I was sure if that was gonna happen it would have happened with Riley, (I am sure I had a few bruised ones at some point with her) I wasn't sure it could get much worse... I thought wrong!

I have felt a few of the "fake" Braxton Hicks contractions which they say is normal at this point as the baby and the body are preparing for what is gonna happen in a few months. Its just weird to think I only have a few more months. The first part has gone by pretty quickly, now that I have said that out loud it is gonna start dragging.......

The "Mommy Flu" is mostly gone by now! There are sometimes, mostly in the mornings, when I feel not so hot but I just have to eat something pretty quickly and I feel fine the rest of the day. Although I am hungry all of the day I don't really have "cravings." Different foods sound better to me at certain times than others but I can basically eat anything and be ok. There has only been once where I really couldn't eat anything else but what I was craving because I wanted it so badly. Going to the grocery store is a nightmare though! I have to make sure I don't spend time lingering in the isles or the whole store would be sold out I just look for what is on my list and then spend my time in the produce section! Then all I give myself time to think about are the apples, grapes, watermelons and salads. I guess though that I spend a lot of time in the cereal isle! I am always wanting some sort of cereal. I couldn't have any at the beginning of my pregnancy because the thought of milk would make me hurl but now I could eat it all day! I have to force myself to eat other foods sometimes.

We have decided on a name! I wasn't gonna post it on here until after she was born but now I just don't care! We have decided to name her Makenna Rose! Dale loves the thought of Calling her Mak and we have started calling her Baby Mak. Kenna seems to roll off my tongue more easily ( I have a hard time using any ones full name... I think its some sort of a condition I have) but either way we love it! We are getting very antsy and cant wait to meet our Baby Mak! Like I said the last few months are gonna drag on!!

Our Easter

We had a very fun Easter this year! Riley was able to color eggs twice! We did it once at Mom and Dad Whipple's and once at Mom and Dad Dents. She loved watching the eggs go in white and come out really pretty colors. At My parents house she found a paint brush and she was determined to PAINT the eggs! Ha ha She kept dipping it in the colors and trying to color the egg! The eggs she did that with actually turned out really cool! All the colors were mixed by the end of the fun but luckily no one else needed them after her! (Of course I didn't take pictures. And I am very mad at myself for that!)

She was very excited to get her Easter basket on Sunday morning and had tons of fun with her little toys that were in it and OF COURSE the candy! We bought her stickers to play with during church and that worked like a charm! I have never seen her sit so still and be so quiet for so long!!

That afternoon we went to Mom and Dad Whipple's to have Easter dinner!! We had Brisket and mashed potatoes and it was DELICIOUS!!!!! Riley had a blast being able to play with her cousins and to spend some time outside! Hope everyone had a great Easter!

This is me at 21 weeks ( I look dead!)

Happy Birthday to.....

ME! I had a great day yesterday! I started off my day getting my hair cut! I LoVe when I don't have to do my own hair! Doing my hair is the one thing I dread most everyday, so I loved having my day started out by having it done for me!

Dale took the day off for my birthday and that was really the BEST part of my day! If I had received NO other presents all day that would have been fine! I loved just being able to have Dale all to myself ALL DAY!

I got to just hang out with him at home for a couple hours and them my WoNdErFuL SISTERS took my out to lunch at Rosas! We don't all get together very often with just us sisters unless one of us has a birthday! We live all over the place so its hard to get together especially when all of us have kids so its really fun to just be able to just sit and talk for a while! Since it was Good Friday my Mom had the day off work so she was able to Come along with us which doesn't happen very often either! We had LOTS of fun!

After spending some fun Time With Dale Riley and I we dropped Riley off at Mom Whipples house and Dale and I were able to spend some time with JUST US!!! We went to dinner at Julios Too (YUMM!) and then we went to the mall and I was able to spend my birthday money!!! A mall trip without a baby is WoNdErFuL!!!!! We were able to have WHOLE conversations without having to worry about making a poor child stuck in a stroller happy! And having to take a MILLION trips to the bathroom for our POTTY TRAINED child! I had a blast being able to spend alone time with Dale! PLUS I bought a SUPER cute dress and some REALLY cute sandals! I had an AWESOME birthday!

Thanks EVERYONE for the great day! And thanks Dale for taking off work and spending the day with me! That was the BEST part of my birthday! I love you! Thanks for everything!!!!!!

Monday Funday!

Monday is an awesome day here at the Whipple's! Most people detest Mondays but we LOVE them! Dale has Mondays off so its just a continuation of the weekend.! So yesterday we went over to Mom and Dad Whipple's house to do our laundry (Which isn't so fun) and Dale brought along his soccer ball. He wanted to take advantage of the wonderful space Mom and Dad have out back and kick the ball around with Riley! She loves to be out there running, and kicking the ball with Daddy! There is no other person she loves to play with more! Honestly , I think Dale would say the same thing about her! He loves that she loves to run around with him gettin' dirty and sweaty! They are an awesome pair! I got to sit down and watch it all happen! I enjoyed being able to play around with my camera a bit and capture the fun moments!



Just look at how much fun they have together! All smiles!
















This was me relaxing.












This is Dale enjoying some alone time with his soccer ball while Riley was busy giving Izzy some attention!












And this is Izzy! She doesn't look happy.... (ever) but she was glad to have even a little attention!
She was scared of the soccer ball though! I thought that was funny!






Later that night Dale and I decided that we needed a date night! We hadn't had one with just us for a couple weeks so Mom and Dad Whipple watched Riley while Dale and I enjoyed ourselves walking around the mall and getting some yummy Dairy Queen/Orange Julius! YUM!!!! I love Mondays!

Who guessed GIRL on the poll???

You are soooooo RIGHT! We had our appointment yesterday and we were so excited! We took Riley with us and as the doctor was looking where he needed to look to find out what he needed to find out he didn't turn to me and He didn't turn to Dale... He turned to Riley and said.." You are gonna have a baby SISTER!" It was so cute! I will forever be grateful to my doctor for making Riley a special part of finding out! She got all excited, her eyes got wide and she said "A SISTER??!!" She was all smiles for about 5 minutes! The minute we walked out of the office I asked her if she was excited about a baby sister and she said "NO, NO SISTER!" Every time I said the word sister she would scream "NO!" at me HA HA She has gotten very protective of my belly since then! Lana went to touch my belly and Riley yelled at her "NO, THAT'S MINE!" She now will admit there IS a baby in my belly! I am glad that this appointment is what she needed as conformation that there IS a baby in Mommy's tummy! ha ha

I have to admit, I was completely convinced it was a boy! This pregnancy has been so different that I was sure there was no other option! I was totally surprised when the doctor said GIRL but I knew when I looked at it that there was no other option! There was NOTHING to tell us otherwise! We are so excited to know what SHE is and we cant wait to meet her! We have thought of a couple names since then but nothing is set in stone! We DO have quite a few months to decide! ha ha We would like it though if we could just make these next few months to go by faster! It would be nice! I will keep dreaming!

Here is me yesterday. 18 weeks and counting!!

Being positive!

I tried to post about this yesterday but no matter how good the news nothing I said yesterday came out in a positive way because of all the pregnancy hormones taking over my body! I was grumpy! But Now I can think about this and be happy so here we go!

DALE GOT ACCEPTED TO ASU! YAY!

On to the next step in schooling! Its taken us a while as a family to adjust to school and this is gonna be rough, especially with Baby number 2 on its way but we are willing to sacrifice what we need to so that Dale can get his degree. He excited that he will never have to take another English class again and he probably wont have to take a math class again (as long as he CHOOSES not to!) Its taken 4 years (and its NOT all Dales fault either, I wasn't very supportive at first- oops!) but we are excited to get this new chapter started!

Dale is very talented and very smart and I have no doubt that he will do great! I am very proud of all he is! I am thankful for all the sacrifices he makes for our growing family! Love ya Dale! Thanks for being YOU!

P.S. Isnt he H-O-T?!

What makes me Happy- 2

3 posts in 2 days! WOW! So here is another couple crazy cute things Riley does that I HAVE to document! ha ha It makes me happy when The Bug gets the hiccups (which are just as bad as mine! Poor girl) she will simply say "Hiccups!" She just says that one word after her first hiccup its like she is naming it for everyone to hear! It is just so cute! Maybe you have to hear it to understand how cute it is! Its just funny I will be getting her dressed and she will be talking to Just stop say "Hiccups" and then keep going with her conversation! She even notices when I have them before I even notice it myself. I will be so concerned or into what I am doing with her whether its getting her dressed or playing toys with her. She will just say "hiccups" and I will wait to hear hers and then I notice that she meant that I had them and didn't even catch it! I I LOVE it! She is so perceptive! CUTE LITTLE BUG!

Whenever we go through the drive through window at fast food places she has to have her window rolled down in the car so she can say "Hi" and "Thank you" as they are handing me my food! Today she had a full conversation with the Arbys lady about getting the "bouncies" (curly fries) and the drinks and straws she was handing me. The lady had a lot of fun talking to her! Then as I was pulling away she must have yelled "THANK YOU" a dozen times! She is so polite and so social. Oh Man I love My little BUG!

What Makes Me Happy

I am so happy that I get to have full conversations with Riley about the frog in her pum every time she passes gas. It makes for a VERY interesting and entertaining day! It gives me little times to laugh randomly throughout the day! These are the Joys of motherhood that make it ALL worth it! hahahahaha

Ramblings.....

Not much going on here but its been a while since I posted so I figured I could spare a minute to refresh the page a little! Ha ha Feel free to NOT read this. Its just rambling and ventings and journal writings. I don't expect any of you to actually finish this! lol

Well Dale FINALLY got his "NORMAL" schedule back...as normal as it can be. All normal means is that instead of getting home at 10:30 every night he gets home at 9:30 every night! It doesn't seem all that great but that hour makes such a difference! We are able to put Riley to bed a little earlier and that means Dale and I are able to go to bed a little earlier. If we go to bed earlier I am not so tired the next day. I need all the energy I can get right now! Of course its easier on the Bug so she isn't so cranky the next morning either! Two cranky girls does not equal a happy Dale. Dale also kind of likes a nice clean house and now i have a little energy to help him out a bit. Again that makes for a less cranky Dale! YAY! We are all less cranky!!!!

Riley had her first bout with the flu bug on Tuesday..... It was a first for both of us! I have never had to try to play nurse before. I had no idea what I was doing! Mothers instincts- I have none!!! Everything I thought would help BACKFIRED!! Poor girl was my little flu bug test dummy! Luckily Mom Whipple gave me quite a bit of advice and of course she knew what she was doing. It worked well and Riley was better by the next morning. Poor girl was Miserable i felt so bad for her. Although, I have to admit it was kinda nice........ The Bug is very independent and is not a "Cuddle Bug" by ANY means and all she wanted to do was sit down on the couch and cuddle with her Mommy! I soaked it up knowing that it probably wasn't gonna happen again for a very long time! Or until she gets the flu again (which I DO NOT want to happen ever again) As much as I loved to cuddle with her for once it was not worth it to see her in tears every time she needed to puke! Miserable Bug= Miserable Mommy. I am grateful she was able to kick that flu to the curb as fast as she did! GO IMMUNE SYSTEM!

On baby news... Nothing to exciting to report. We DO find out what kind of plumbing the baby has on the 23rd!!!! YAY! It is just coming too dang slow! We just want to know already! I am starting to pop out pretty well. This experience has been sooooo different for me. I didn't show ANY signs of pregnancy until I was 6months with Riley. Unless of course you count staring into the toilet all day a sign, but luckily no one really had to witness that except for me! I lost so much weight with Riley that I wasn't in pregnancy clothes until about 6 months. I have never hated the words "WOW! You are so tiny" until they were talking about how pregnant I DIDN'T look. Thank you everyone.... but you spend 4 months staring at the inside of a toilet all day long and then I will harp on you for 5 more months telling you how "You CANT be pregnant, there is no way, you don't LOOK pregnant." I might not look it but I FEEL it! Can you tell I have some built up frustration. I would rather be told I look like a whale than that I don't look pregnant! I am already having to adjust my wardrobe and try to make some clothes work in aways they haven't had to work before. I am not excited to have to purchase maternity clothes but the trade off will be nice. Watch me regret all of this when I am so lopsided that I can barely stand up at 9 months! HA HA That's about all that has been going on.. Our lives are EXTREMELY exciting! I know all of you are jealous and you should be!