Pregnancy

If you don't care to hear about my pregnancy, read no further. Now that the baby is going to be here in a little over 9 weeks, she's been on my mind a lot more. I haven't really had time to look around for names and things like that, Donovan doesn't like it when I'm doing anything that doesn't involve paying attention to him unless it's something boring like cleaning. I am starting to get a little anxious about things though. I already have all of her clothes ready to go. All we have left to get are diapers, a mattress for the crib, and we have to set the crib up. After that we should be pretty much ready for her arrival. This pregnancy really has gone by fast, but now that I'm actually ready to take on the challenge of 2 kids, it's starting to slow down! And I still stand by the fact that I enjoy pregnancy, but this pregnancy has been a little different than Donovan's. While I feel like I'm in better shape and I have more energy, it's been a little more painful. Sometimes when she's moving around, it feels like she's scratching my stomach lining...does that sound weird? That's the only way I can think to describe it. She also likes to beat up on my ribs, hips, and the top of my pelvis. Some nights, I feel like every bone she can reach is bruised! Maybe she's just getting me back for squishing her all the time when I carry Donovan around. Yes, I carry my 3 year old sometimes, he's been so snuggly I can't resist!! On a side note: Sometimes when Donovan is tired of getting hugs from me, he'll say, "Stop, you'll squish my sister!" He tells everyone about his sister, I think it's on his mind quite a bit. He'll tell random strangers out of the blue, "My sister will be here after Christmas." But if someone asks him what the baby is going to be, sometimes he says it's a brother...I hope he's doesn't ask for one of those after she's born... Anyway, back to baby girl. I've had a lot of people ask me what her name is going to be. Honestly, I have no idea! Brad is so distracted during the season that we haven't really discussed it yet. Usually by the end of the day I'm pretty tired and it's the last thing on my mind. I'm pretty sure I have the middle name, but it doesn't have his approval yet. The first name will probably be changed 2 or 3 times at the hospital anyway so we won't have anything official until we see her. It was the same way with Donovan. We had 2 names we were thinking about and we were pretty sure we were going to use the other name. But he is definitely a Donovan! We made the right choice. Anyway...this was more or less just me getting things off my mind. I have noticed myself complaining about this pregnancy a lot more so maybe if I jot down what I'm thinking, I will complain out loud a little less.

Sick Days, etc.

While Brad was doing some networking/recruiting in Utah, Donovan and I did our best to stay busy and entertained. We bought a new game that he still wants to play almost every night and played with Addi on Monday and Tuesday.

She is starting to get very daring...I have to keep a pretty good eye on her! Donovan loves when Addi comes over, he has someone to play with other than his mommy. They play pretty well together until they want the same toy...but that's how most childhood friendships go, right?

On Tuesday night, Donovan woke up every couple of hours crying and had a fever all through the night and most of Wednesday. I thought he was feeling better and his fever was gone that afternoon so we went to a soccer game so we could get some fresh air...that lasted about 45 minutes before he came to me whining about wanting to go home, and the fever had returned. For the rest of the night, we just took it easy. On Thursday, the fever was gone by midmorning and he was acting more like himself, he even wanted to eat something! I still made him take it easy and we watched shows and hung out on the couch for most of the day. We both got a little more sleep that night and the next day we were ready to get out and play!
We decided to pack a lunch and take a walk to the park. Scott, Mason, and Addi happened to be there! It was fun running into them without planning it. Scott found a caterpillar on the playground, so he decided to relocate it and the kids were all curious.

Then they found sticks to throw off the bridge. She has the cutest little grin and such a fun little personality!

Donovan is so happy to have Brad back!! He has been all over him since he got back Friday night.
He loves his daddy. Even though he prefers his mommy to brush his teeth and read him books most nights, his daddy is the only one that can give him "hoo hoo" kisses before bed. I've tried, and he tells me, "no, that's daddy's job." For those of you who don't know what a "hoo hoo" kiss is, I wish I could explain it. You really have to see it. Donovan loves it.

We always miss Bradley when he's gone. Even when he's not sick, Donovan doesn't sleep great when Brad is gone. Those are the nights I expect to wake up at least twice. We're glad he's home and we're excited to join him at the Region Tournament this weekend, Districts will be at home, and Nationals are in Kansas this year so we'll make it out there for at least a few days. We won't be apart for more than a few days until mid-December...and we couldn't be happier!!

Utah and the rest of this week

We flew out to Utah so I could go to Tiva's wedding and so my mom and sister could watch me get fatter. Donovan loved being around so much family every day! Both Sundays while I was there, my brothers came over with their girls.

Little Faye. She's getting so cute and fun! She is a little chatterbox now, and she's not scared of me anymore! The kids thought it was really fun to have Tyler try to rope them. Thankfully nobody got hurt.

The first picture of all 4 of my parent's grandkids. We got pictures with the first 3 about a week before Lia was born. Lia wasn't very happy about being away from her daddy (brother Nicholas), so this is the best picture I could get!

Rachel and Kaylee were so good to play with Donovan while we were visiting the Silvey's. It gave me some time to make some cute flower hair clips for baby girl. I think they were trying to get the cat to come down so they could maul her.

My friend Jessica came out to Lehi for a little visit before we left. I had to make some copies at Pioneer Party (best store ever, I wish we had one here) and the bakery is next door, so she bought treats for the boys. Donovan loved his "muffin"...I know, it's a cupcake, but anything that looks like a muffin is a muffin to him. As you can see, he really enjoyed the frosting. I'm not sure if he ate any cake at all.

The reason for making the trip! I love this girl so much! She is a great friend and an amazing person. I'm so happy for her and Ryan. I'm so glad I got to be there for everything. I love sealings, they are amazing. Tiva looked so gorgeous (that's not really a surprise, she's always gorgeous) and Ryan had that same big grin on his face all day.

A few of the soccer girls. Katie came out from California, so we were the special ones that got a lot of thank you's from her family.

Katie and Me at the reception.

The day before we left, we hiked up to Timp Cave. We saw Becky up there, but I wasn't thinking and didn't take a picture with her. I had some pretty extreme, irrational anxiety while we were hiking, but everything turned out just fine and Donovan didn't run off a cliff. Even after that I had nightmares about what could have happened. I am so awful. It's like becoming a mother awakened all of my pent up anxiety! Now I know how my poor Grandma Milda feels. I was tense all the way up and all the way down, it was hard to enjoy the hike.

Grandma "Minnie" and Donovan in the cave. He had to pee for most of the cave tour, even though I made him pee at the last stop before we got to the cave. When we finally got through, I carried him halfway to the bathroom before he started whimpering, so we stopped and I let him pee on a rock on the trail. He REALLY had to go!! I'm glad I didn't try to make it to the bathroom because I didn't realize how much further it was, and we would have had to hike up another hill to get there. It was a great trip! I'm glad we got to go out to visit family before baby comes. We won't be making it out again until at least next summer.

This is what Donovan came into my room wearing the other day. He had found Mason's old soccer shirt (not sure why we haven't returned that yet, sorry Mason) and his soccer socks that have built in shinguards. I know, you can't see the shin guards in the pictures, but it was pretty funny. Oh yeah, and he wasn't wearing any pants.

He dances to his own music.

We spent Friday at the zoo. We were thinking of riding the bus to the game against Scott County with Brad, but decided it wouldn't be a very pleasant drive for a 3 year old and a pregnant lady (it's about 5 hours). We had to fill our day with other things. Donovan loves watching the honey bees.

He also loves playing on the spider web by the barn.

After spending the majority of the day at the zoo, we still hadn't had enough of the awesome fall weather so we spent some time outside drawing with chalk and playing in the leaves.

This was taken right before he threw leaves at me.

I'm 29 weeks today, that's crazy to me. In 2 more weeks, I'll be down to single digit weeks. Ridiculous. It's gone by SO fast! These are my best attempts at mirror pictures...Sorry, Brad is in Utah recruiting this week (I know, you'd think we could have planned our trips better). At least you get to see a blurry Donovan in one of them. Don't mind the mirrors, I haven't cleaned them in a few days.

I didn't think it could be done

I didn't think any child could be as crazy as Donovan. It seems this little girl growing inside me might just prove me wrong. I remember Donovan moving quite a bit, but it's almost continuous with this little one. It's like she never sleeps!! I'll wake up for a midnight bathroom run and notice that she is still squirming just as much as when I was falling asleep. This can't be good. Isn't the 2nd one supposed to be easier? One of the reasons Donovan is going to be almost 3 1/2 before he gets a sibling is because he was so exhausting! I just hope this little one isn't a jumper like Donovan. After a few weeks that's all he did. If you held him up on your lap he would just bounce nonstop on his chunky little legs. I'm sure this little girl will have her own little quirks, but I hope she figures out the whole sleeping thing before she gets here. I do love all the movement, don't get me wrong...it just makes me a little nervous for when she's actually here! This pregnancy is going by a little too fast, I guess that's because I don't sit in an office all day looking at baby names and checking my progress (during breaks, of course). It's a little different when it's not the first and you don't think about it 24/7. It goes by much faster!!

I have pictures to post from Utah and the last couple of days, but I'm not feeling very patient and I still have shows to catch up on from when I was gone...maybe I'll get to it on Sunday night since Brad will be out of town.

October...

Donova loves his new desk. When he's not running around being crazy, he's usually drawing or coloring. He loves to work on his letters. I'm doing it pretty slowly, so we're only on "little b", but he's starting to get it, and he loves to practice outside with chalk too!

On Wednesday, we went to a pumpkin patch with a group from the library. We rode school busses and got a free pumpkin. Donovan LOVED the bus ride. He stared out the window for the whole 20 minutes it took to get there.
He enjoyed the hayride.

Especially since his friend Sydney was there:)

He picked his own pumpkin, and it was actually a really good one!
When we got home he decided to color it with markers, so it's on display now.

They had fun playgrounds and different attractions for little ones there, so we were entertained the whole time we were there.

After the pumpkin patch, we decided we'd get lunch at Godfather's since it's right by the library.

It still feels like August here in good old Iowa. We're starting to get a nice breeze, but the sun still makes it pretty hot during the day. Donovan and I are still wearing a lot of summer clothes, which stinks a little because most of my cute maternity clothes are fall/winter. Oh well, I guess I'll just look silly trying to squeeze into my summer shorts and t-shirts for a little while longer.

I wasn't planning on blogging today, but figured I might as well since Donovan and I will be gone for over a week and I actually got everything done on my list about an hour ago. Now I'm just trying to stay awake while trying to get all of Donovan's energy out so he'll go to bed super early for our super early flight tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures and stories when we get back! I'm so excited to go to Tiva's wedding, I love that girl!!