Animal Sounds according to Chucky-Sue

Chucky-Sue is one of the most vocal toddlers I've met, she babbles all the time, even in her sleep! We've been working on the fun fun game of "What does _____ say?" Here are her answers:

Monkey: Ooh Aah.

Sheep: Aah Aah.

Duck: Waa Waa

Cat: Ow Ow

Dog: Aah. Aah.

Cow: Ooh Ooh

She is basically latching on to the main sound, and skipping over the beginning or ending of the word. Some other words that we've translated:

More: Or

No: Nonononononononononono! (add in some hand signs of pinching and hitting and you're getting close to a true Charlie No.)

Ow: Ow (She also says this for no if she's unsuccessful with her nonononononono rant)

Yes: Yah or Uh-uh

Food/Snack: Num Num

Mother: Mama

Father: Dada (more like DahDUH or DAHdee)

She signs Thank You, Eat, Me and More with accuracy, she understands Banana, Mama, Dada, Share, Sit and Down but hasn't signed those that I've noticed.

She's adorable,  she grabs a stack of her books and starts rapid-fire babbling. She then climbs on one of our laps and demands we listen to her read the books. If we don't respond with "oh really?" or "good job" she gets this look on her face that I swear she learned from Nonie and points emphatically to the page and re-babbles the whole thing.

Memory

I'm only in my early twenties but I'm fairly certain I'm losing my memory. If I ever had one to begin with, I don't remember! (oh the puns, I got a million of 'em!)

Jake is always laughing at me when I try to get ready to go somewhere. My internal thought process goes something like this:

 I pick up my phone. oh but wait, we need diapers. But where did I put my phone in between picking it up and getting the diapers? oh that's right by the microwave cause I was making bottles and I didn't want it to get wet. but where'd that bottle go? It's in the bag, good. okay. my phone? it's in the bag. It's not? oh no, I saw it by the microwave but I never picked it up! diapers? What? They are on the couch NEXT to the bag. Okay, almost done. keys, keys need my keys. Used them yesterday to get the mail... mail is on the nightstand...no keys. Keys keys keys....Aha, keys in the bathroom because I used the jagged edge to open one of my stubborn body butter jars. Let's go!

all this takes me walking up and down our one tiny hallway about seventy times with Jake laughing by the door with Chucky-Sue. Going in one room, out but back in to double check one spot, My tiny two bedroom apartment  can hide so many of my things! I'm not looking forward to when Chucky-Sue can start moving my things around along with Jake (My keys do not belong on my desk. my desk eats everything that touches it!!)

I'll soon be posting another video, this is one of chucky-sue laughing at my renditon of the mickey mouse clubhouse closing song :) Unless I forget!

I heard a funny joke today...

Uterus: Knock Knock!
Tracy: Who's there?
Doctor: A Baby!
Jake A Baby who???
Ultrasound: A Baby Girl!!!

Isn't it funny?

Bittersweet Adorableness

Nephew had this conversation with me completely out of the blue in the middle of playing camp out with him yesterday.

Nephew: Are you going to have a baby?
Me: No, not right now.
Nephew: but you had a picture before.
Me: I know, That baby had to go back to Heavenly Father.
Nephew: Oh, cause He missed her?

It's amazing how sweet and in tune little kids can be! It made me a little teary but also made me love that little guy even more :)

Goodbye 2008

So before my sidetrack to the ER I had planned to blog about the New Year and what not. Here it is!

In 2008 I was newly married, living completely independent from my parents for the first time,(well like 90%, Parents never truly stop helping their children). I learned so much more about Jake in those first few months than we ever did when we were dating. I learned that while I could cook without burning down the house, my creativity was severely lacking. I started researching recipes and calling my mom to get all the recipes I'm sure she tried to make me learn when I was a teenager. One of my goals in 2009 is to learn 5 new recipes that I can make from memory.

In 2008 I gained a very strong testimony about family. Living far away from my parents and New England relatives made me realize how much I counted on them always being near-by. I now know that family doesn't always mean blood relatives. Friends and in-laws have been my lifeline through the tough times of the past year. I want to strengthen those relationships and keep strong relationships alive this year.

In 2008 I loved Art. I had always doodled and played around with crafts- but I had never thought that I had any talent for it. Now I know it makes me happy, and if I can find away to do something I love and make some sort of living out of it, I'll be even happier! I want to start making money off of this hobby in 2009, either by giving art lessons or selling online.

In 2008 I learned how strong I was. I learned that I could deal with loss, pain and grief with my chin up. I learned that I trusted in my temple marriage far more than I ever knew. I learned I could still laugh and let that laughter keep me above depression. I can't begin to say how lucky I am to have that talent, to be happy when everything in my life wanted me to be sad. I hope that in 2009 I get to be happy because my life wants me to be happy :)

Now on to 2009, I already have a new experiences coming my way and it's not even February!

Thanks

I wanted to give a quick thanks to everyone, I can't even begin to say how much your kind words and thoughts meant to me and Jake. It is amazing to see how many people were willing to do so much for us. We're really truly blessed. I will try to get out and personally thank everyone, but I didn't want to forget anyone either. Thank you!

And yet another update, I'm doing fine, the nurses continued to be amazing throughout the night and this morning and I'm healing up a quickly as the doctor hoped I would. I have been put on a bit of a bed rest, so I don't think I'll be at church tomorrow, but I should be fine for my vacation, as long as I sit/lay down for most of it.

The hospital also has bi-yearly (one around Christmas, and another in spring.) memorial services for the babies there, and once I get information about it I'll post it on here.

Thank you again, I feel very lucky even in this not-so-fun time.

Update

I'm going to be at the local Hospital tomorrow morning, prayers and well wishes are very welcome.

Update 2: Still at the hospital, the meds are taking their sweet time, and it's looking like I'll be here for a while longer. My nurses have been amazing, but they need to let me EAT. (for those of you who didn't know, I had the flu on the day I found out, and they waited for that to pass before doing this. therefore, I haven't had real food in 3 days and I really just want a huge hamburger or a pizza. not chicken broth.) I'm hoping to not have to stay here overnight, we'll see where the day lands us.

Update 3: Apparently, I'm violent when I'm under drugs, Jake had to restrain me from hitting the doctor last night. I am probably going to be out of here around 9am, thank goodness. Every thing went well, my nurses were amazing during the night. I'm still a little loopy from all the meds I had to take. The hospital gave us a few cute little keepsakes, a memory certificate, her medical bracelets, a baby blanket etc. Now I just get to let my body and mind try to start healing.

List of Life

Here's what I have been up to since my last post!

1. Baby Shower for one very dear friend, Sarah! She was adorable, the food was good (that buffalo chicken cheese dip thing? YUM) and there was much oohing-ahhing going on.

2. Watching Nephew and Niece attempt to get their photos professionally taken. Nephew did way better than I thought he would, Niece wasn't into it at all. I now have a photo to take up to Yankee-Land and show off their cute-ness!

3. Getting Free Food cause Nephew declared we were eating at Fazolis after the photos. :)

4. Spending time with Chloe and the new enrichment committee at our first meeting! Also conning my way to get assigned the fun art projects.

5. Seeing Jake for about two hours everyday, if that. He's a busy boy! He is finishing up his first research paper, and it's just about killed him.

6. Hoping to convince Jake that I NEED to see High School Musical 3 because I am a 12 year old girl at heart and want to see Sharpay!

7. Planning our vacation to New England I get to the go to the Christmas Dove and BabysRus with Nonny and visit cousins who I have been away from long enough to actually start to miss!

8. Slowly getting more baby things, Jake's co-worker Deb has already sent me a few onesies and matching socks- mom had given me a patriots binky already :)

9. Chose Boy and Girl names for baby,  I would love suggestions on boy middle names.

10. Creating a list with 10 things on it, cause 10 is a good list number.

Edit: PS Chloe- do you have a blog yet miss? I'd love the address for it!

Camera Shy Baby

So we had a bit of excitement today at my doctor's appointment. I'm 12 weeks and a few days and the doctor was expecting to be able to catch the lil booger's heartbeat. But apparently, my own heartbeat is very loud in that area, and I was getting more nervous as it went on and my heart rate was getting faster and louder, thus not being able to make out the little baby heartbeat.

The Doctor then scheduled me for an ultrasound that afternoon (Thank you SO much Kay!) Thankfully, baby is doing GREAT. S/he has a strong heartbeat, but HATES ultrasound. S/he kept squirming away from the wand and turning his/her back to us. I did get to see his/her feet and toes. They look a lot less blobby than last time! Though it still has Jake's big head. :) It is very cool how the baby has a personality this early.

Keeping a secret is hard to do.

You guys don't know how bad I've wanted to jump onto blogger and scream this news from the rooftops! Jake and I are expecting again! It's very exciting and nerve wracking.

Last week we had our first ultrasound and was able to see the little critter. Seeing the heartbeat (a very healthy 178 bpm) and watching it wiggle around was just so amazing!! Michael and I were going to try to wait until I was 12 weeks, but with the good news from the ultrasound- we figured 3 weeks early is fine :)







my EDD is April 26th, so it's going to be a very fun 21st birthday for me! I've been feeling okay, the only hindrance so far this trimester has been my complete lack of energy. I need to sleep all. the. time. Though I feel lucky to not have inherited my mother's morning sickness.

I've been grinning from ear to ear while writing this! I love sharing happy news with my friends! :)

Post Withdrawls!

With my computer out of commission (Should be up and running next week if apple delivers the part on time!) I haven't had time to blog as much as I would like. Jake and I are at the mercy of the computer lab's summer hours. I have so much to say and talk about, I'm just gonna put it in a big mess of a post here!

We've been working pretty much 24/6 (and while we don't work sundays, we are busy!) for the past two weeks. Mostly we work the same shift (8-5) but lately, our manager has decided it would be fun to put us on opposite shifts and see me try to beg my way home. Luckily, most of the other employees live in our town, or I'd be sleeping in the Faz!

When we're not working or at church, we're sloooooowly packing up our tiny apartment (which, surprisingly holds a lot of junk) in preparation for our move soon. We're hoping we can get into the new place BEFORE our vacation, and it looks like we will, but the landlords may still take their sweet time.

Speaking of our Vacation- we're super excited for it! Not working, road trip and family time, It is shaping up to be a fun vacation. I get to show off Jake to my extended family (most of whom are meeting him for the first time!) and see one of my adorable cousins for the first time. The L side of the family is hoping to achieve one of the hardest achievements in history- a GOOD family portrait. There have been attempts before, but often end up with a child looking the wrong way, or an adult about to sneeze etc. etc. Now Gram has pulled out all the stops, a professional photographer, coordinated colors (after emails and emails of deciding!) and hopefully no colds ;) With 23 (?) people, it will be an amazing feat. I'll definitely post the results as soon as we get them!

I must profess my love of a certain TV show, in hopes to find fellow comrades. I am head-over-heels in love with Big Bang Theory on CBS. It's a very simple sitcom set up. 4 different types of geek (Science, Math, Engineering and Foreign) being best friends and living in NYC. Two of them live across from the pretty "dumb" girl and hilarity ensues whenever they speak. The quick wit, the interesting puns and smart jokes definitely put it higher than the average (*cough*2 and 1/2 men*cough*) sitcom. Yes, the storylines are predictable, and the characters are semi-stereotypical, but the constant one-liners keep me coming back. Tonight is the Season Finale, and I must admit, I have popcorn and white grape soda waiting to celebrate it.
in baby news, Jake, my mom and his mother really didn't like the name SeaMonkey for the lil fetus. Due to popular demand- it has been changed to Fishstick, or just Baby Fish. Jake was full of puns when giving me suggestions. He thinks I'll let him call the next one Popcorn Shrimp. =D I married 'im, I gotta live with it!

So if you haven't heard by now...

you've been living in a cave!! I'm sure between Facebook and  the Moms, the entire world knows.

So last Monday, Michael and I found out that I am pregnant!! It was definitely a mixed emotions moment. We're still both terrified out of our minds, happy as all get out, and nervous for everything that can still go wrong. This darling child was a a year or so earlier than we were hoping, but very very welcome :)

So lay it on me moms, Advice, tips, cautions, ideas. We need them all!