April 15th

It's official! If I haven't had the baby by April 15th, I have a C-section scheduled for that day at 7:30 am. I love having a final day I can count on! It's nice to know that I will have another daughter by April 15th. It's coming!! Can you believe it?!

Smarty Pants

I can not believe how smart my little girl is sometimes! I forget she is not even two yet, when she is doing and saying so many things. I often think she is older than she really is. I just had to write all of this down, so I don't forget where she was at 23 months.

Kalianna talks almost constantly! I love it! And I would make a list of the words she knows, but she knows way too many to keep track of. She has got the most amazing memory. Back in December when we went to tithing settlement, the bishop reached in a drawer behind his desk and pulled out a piece of candy for Kalianna. A couple months later, when we were in his office for Matt to be set apart, she walked straight over to that same drawer and pulled out a piece of candy. Matt and I just looked at each other and laughed. She had earned it! She remembers where things are, things I've said, people she meets, places we go, it's just incredible to me to watch how her brain works!

She is also an incredible observer! She has learned so many things just by watching other people or listening to things that are said around her. And she picks up on things so fast! Kalianna already knows several colors! (which is really quite incredible for a not-even two-year-old). She knows blue, purple, pink, and is starting to point out red now. She loves to point out these colors anytime she sees them, and is so proud that she knows what they are. She also can sit down and with no help at all can put all eight shapes in the correct slots of her shape ball. She knows the names for stars and hearts, and points these shapes out any chance she gets as well. She loved Valentines Day! Pointing out all the hearts around us! She knows the numbers one and two. The other morning for breakfast, I was eating doughnut holes. I was down to my last two when she pointed to them and asked, "What's that?" I said, "Doughnuts, do you want one?" Her response was, "No two!"

She learns so quickly! I am constantly amazed at how fast she picks up on new things, and then she remembers them weeks later! She is also understanding a lot of opposites and will point out when things are light or dark, big or small, up or down, etc. She will tell me when she has gone poop or potty, so I can change her diaper, and she will tell me "booger" when she needs her nose wiped. She still loves animals and knows tons of animal sounds! (even more now than when I made the video) She knows all her body parts and can point to where everything is (even eyebrows and moles). She also knows all her clothes and names them while she is getting dressed. "Diaper, pants, shirt, socks, shoes, jacket, or dress, tights, coat."

We read a lot, but most of the things she knows, she has picked up on herself. We read scriptures every night and she loves to point out the pictures of Jesus. But she also always says, "Jesus. Dress." We try and explain that he is wearing a robe, but she knows what a dress looks like. She loves pointing out pictures of the temple too. I love it! And she knows all of her family members by name. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I've never sat her down and tried to specifically teach her colors and shapes and things, she has just learned them from our reading and playing together. I love how smart she is, but I know I'm in trouble with this one. She can not be out-smarted! She is way too clever already, and she's not even two yet!

My absolute favorite thing about Kalianna right now (okay, one of them) is whenever she completes something or gets something right, she holds her hands up and says, "Ta da!" Not sure where she learned it, but it's hysterical! And she loves to give hugs and kisses now. So sweet!

Mission Rewards

Last night was truly amazing! Matt was able to baptize one sweet sister while he was on his mission in Latvija. Her name is Olga Frolova, and she was baptized just a week before he came home. Talk about the best going-away present! Well, 6 years later, Olga is now getting ready to serve a mission herself to Moscow, Russia. She flew in last night to the Salt Lake airport to report to the MTC and we were able to go and see her. As we were standing there, waiting for her flight to land, Matt said, "It is going to be so hard not to hug her!" Thankfully I was there and able to take on the hugging duties for him. =)

Olga is such a sweetheart! And it didn't take long at all to see what an amazing missionary she is going to be! We visited for a minute before finding out she had planned on just taking the shuttle to the MTC. We said, "No way!" So Matt called the MTC and got permission to drive her down himself, with me along as her companion. It was a dream come true for Matt! We thought we would only get to spend a few minutes with her, but suddenly a few minutes turned into an hour car drive. We took Olga past the Salt Lake temple so she could see it and picked up some dinner for her on the way. Wendy's. Can't get much more American than that. It was awesome to hear how Olga has been doing, as well as how the branches and people out there are doing. Olga was amazed as we pointed out several more temples from the freeway as we drove past. Back home, her nearest temple is in Finland and here we were, pointing out five temples within an hour drive! It was emotional as we said good bye to Olga and wished her well.

(Kalianna decided she wanted to drive us home. I was so proud of her! We spent a ton of time in the car yesterday, and because of the unexpected trip to Provo, she didn't get to bed until 11:00 pm! But she was such a trooper all night!)

On the drive home, Matt was practically glowing! He received the best reward in the world for his missionary service in Latvija. Watching his one baptism serve a mission of her own, and simply knowing the lives that she is about to affect. It's amazing to watch the gospel move forward! We were truly blessed to get to spend so much time with Olga! Good luck Sister Frolova!

Sunday Fun

One of our favorite Sunday activities. Making something chocolate for dessert! Kalianna is always my little helper. Helping stir: (this is the face we get when we ask her to smile. Goofy girl!)

Pouring it into the brownie pan. She kept pointing at the batter and saying, "I want that":

Finally all her patience pays off and she gets to lick the spoon:

After a bath and some pjs, enjoying the fruits of our labor:

February Fun

Valentines Day

The Friday before V-day Matt arrived home from work with a dozen pink roses. I was very surprised! He said he didn't want to wait until Monday, because then the flowers would be more picked through and he would have less options. Plus, receiving them on Friday made it a huge surprise! Then, valentines morning, Kalianna and I came downstairs for breakfast to find a big teddy bear with a pink bow sitting on Kalianna's chair. She was ecstatic and immediately attacked him with hugs! He is so good about making sure to give our daughter a special day too. Kalianna and I had a good day together and were even able to go out with a couple other moms to the mall for a much-needed break. But we couldn't wait until that night, when Matt arrived home!

Matt and I never go out on Valentines Day. We have sort of made it tradition to get crab legs and steam them at home for our own fancy little dinner. They are definitely not something we normally buy! But it's fun to splurge once in awhile, and we also like avoiding all the crowds. So we sat down for a nice romantic dinner...just the three of us. We bought Kalianna a happy meal, so she could have her own special dinner too. Then she enjoyed her chicken nuggets and fries while Matt and I enjoyed our crab legs, shrimp, and potatoes. So yummy! For dessert, Matt picked up a chocolate chip lava cookie from Red Lobster. My favorite dessert in the world! Even if you don't like seafood, this cookie makes a trip to Red Lobster worth it! After our bellies were all happy, we sat down together and watched a little bit of a movie and then played until bedtime. It was such a wonderful, relaxing evening at home with the two people I love most!

My Birthday

I've decided birthdays have improved since the invention of Facebook. It's really fun to receive texts and e-mails all day wishing me a happy day because Facebook reminded people to do so. My birthday was last Thursday. Wednesday night Matt got me a yummy double cream lemon pie from Marie Calendars. After Kalianna went to bed, he had to do homework. So I decided to start celebrating on my own. I ate some of that yummy pie and snuggled up in bed while watching "27 Dresses". (Totally not on purpose because I was turning 27. Matt pointed it out to me).

Thursday was honestly kind of a boring day. Not much to report, but I did get lots of birthday wishes from my friends and family, which made me feel special! And Matt did give me my gift that night. The new Taylor Swift CD, which I have been wanting. He also gave me a very nice, long foot rub. Fridays Matt gets off earlier, so we had planned to celebrate then anyway.

Friday Matt came home and surprised me with another dozen roses, this time red. We went out to dinner at Outback and enjoyed some yummy steak. We had some time to kill before our movie started, so then we went to the mall and walked around. We bought a cute little newborn outfit for our daughter to come home from the hospital in. And we also bought Kalianna a new outfit. (I never, ever buy clothes! 99% of what Kalianna wears are hand-me-downs, so it was really fun to splurge for once and buy each of our girls a new outfit!) After our fun shopping trip, we headed over to the theater and saw "Just Go With It". It was really funny! We both really enjoyed it! I was very pleasantly surprised at how well Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler worked together. We came home and were told that our little girl had been great and went to bed without any problems at all (lately she has given sitters a hard time at bedtime). It was the most perfect evening! Matt definitely made my birthday wonderful!

Girl's Day

The celebrating continued on to Saturday, where we had our quarterly family girl's day. I hadn't actually slept well the night before, so I enjoyed the day of not doing much at all. We sat around and talked, and painted toenails (thanks Ricci!) and watched Gilmore Girls. That evening, we met up in Centerville at Chilis for dinner. We had a really yummy dinner, followed by free dessert to celebrate mine and my aunt's birthdays. Awesome! Then we went to the new Centerpoint Legacy Theatre (used to be Rodger's Memorial) to see Hairspray. One of my best friends from high school, Breezy, was the lead so it made the show even more fun! I love Hairspray! It's such a funny show. And Breezy was amazing, as usual! The kid who played Seaweed was incredible too! If you get a chance, I highly recommend seeing it. (Just make sure you go see the T/Th/S cast)

It turned into a really fun birthday weekend! And the celebrating continues on. Tomorrow night we are going to dinner with Matt's family to celebrate mine and both his parent's birthdays. I just love February! (it's just a bummer I didn't get pictures of any of this)

Snow Day

Yesterday Kalianna was playing in the yard in bare feet and no jacket. Today she is playing in this:

65 Days

I realized I have blogged a lot less about this pregnancy, and with only two more months to go, I should probably take advantage of it while I'm still preggers! Any woman who has ever been pregnant can agree, you have your good days and your bad. But even on the days that I feel sick, I still love being pregnant! With how much we struggled to get here, I'm just so grateful to be pregnant! Every movement my little girl makes is precious. I love feeling her and I feel her A LOT! The placenta is apparently right up against my back, so I feel every little thing she does. It's so fun!

I completely agree with what I've been told, my second pregnancy has been so much easier! With Kalianna, I was fresh from surgery, lost about 20 pounds, and was pretty sick through most of it. I did get to enjoy my third trimester with her though. I was definitely sick in the beginning with this one, but I started out my pregnancy in such better health, that I felt it was easier to deal with. With Kalianna, I was working full time. Sometimes working 11 hour days. Which really wears you down when you're pregnant! But with this one, I get to be home all day. When I need a nap, I can take a nap. When I need to rest, I can put on a movie and rest. It's been so great! I still get to chase my rambunctious soon-to-be two year old around, but it is so much easier than taking care of 12 men who act like two year olds. =)

I'm still pretty small. People tell me all the time I can't possibly be due in two months. Well, I am! I'm basically the same size at the same point as I was with Kalianna. I expected to be bigger with my second, but I seem to be carrying this one the same as my first. I just have a very long torso, and wide hips. So the baby has plenty of room and doesn't need to poke out much.

Matt and I have been having fun getting ready for our new little addition. We completely re-did our bedroom (hurray!) to make more room for the rocking chair to move in with us, so we can fit a second bed in Kalianna's room. With Kalianna, we only had her in our room for about two weeks, while I was recovering from the C-section. It's going to be weird having her in our room longer this time. I don't want to put her with Kalianna until she gets a little older, so she doesn't keep Kalianna up at night. It will be an interesting adjustment.

It's hard not knowing how this delivery is going to go. With Kalianna, I was all ready for a regular delivery, and then was surprised when I ended up having to have a C-section. I'm planning on trying to go for a vaginal delivery again, but as Kalianna proved, you never know what's going to happen! For instance, once you've had a C-section, you can never be induced. So if she doesn't come on her own in a timely manner, I will have to have a C-section again. Or if there are any problems, I will have to have a C-section again. I don't mind having another C-section if that's what it comes to, the only downside is too many can limit the number of children you can have. And once you've had two, you can never do a vaginal delivery. So everything depends on this little girl and how she decides to come! She gets to decide how all my future deliveries will go.

Matt and I still feel the same way about names. I know some people have names picked out for their kids long before they are born, but that just doesn't work for us. We had a name picked out for Kalianna. It was so definite that we almost started telling people what it was. Kalianna was our backup. Then, once we saw her, the name didn't fit at all! She looked like such a little Kali that we couldn't name her anything else. We knew in that moment what her name was supposed to be. With this one, we are less sure about a name. We have a list of our favorites, but we definitely won't settle on one until we see her pretty face.

As each day passes, I am getting more and more excited to meet her! But in the meantime, I am having lots of fun enjoying each moment with Kalianna as my one!