30 Weeks. :)

I'm 30 weeks as of yesterday. :) I can't believe how fast the 7 weeks went between these pictures...I usually try to take a belly picture every four weeks and it just flew! Probably because of the holidays and things, but still, my heavens.

 23 weeks. :)

30 weeks. :)

An update on this pregnancy...

• I crave MINT. I want to brush my teeth like 8 times a day to get the full effect, nothing else quite does it. But I also craved Breathsavers (until I realized they have aspartame and I had to stop that), then there are these little red and white striped mints that are sort of like pillow mints that I can't get enough of. What is funny is that I loved toothpaste with both of my other pregnancies! ha ha. Maybe that means it's another boy? I have no idea!
• I have also wanted a Sonic slush with ice cream...but I have not allowed myself to indulge because I have had so many other treats with the holidays! I had like thirty of those with Beckham, I craved them like crazy with him too. Jeremy is really sweet and offers to get me the slurpees from the gas station since Sonic is so far away, but they just aren't the same. :l ha ha.
• I also don't really like popcorn...if you know me well, you know that I used to LOVE my air popped popcorn (I had it everyday for like the last 10 years, no joke), this pregnancy it just doesn't taste good to me. So weird. 
• This little one's heartbeat has been in the 140's and 150's the whole pregnancy, and he or she really likes to be active around 4 AM. :)
• Bridger and Beckham (especially Beckham) love to put their hands on my belly and feel the baby, Beckham even lays his head on it and talks to the baby and kisses my belly. He shares his cars by driving them all over my belly and has even tried to share his binky (with my belly button, which I think he thinks might be the baby?? ha ha). I love it, he loves babies SO much. He always "so, so cute little baby!" With his hands up by his face. :)
• I was working out pretty good, but I have this thing called Pubis Symphysis Dysfunction where basically all my ligaments in my pelvic area (and even my lower back) get really loose, really early, and it basically hurts to lift your legs or even walk sometimes. So whereas a lot of women will feel the ache in the last couple weeks of their pregnancy, mine has started earlier with every pregnancy. This time I started feeling it between 19 and 20 weeks, so I workout when I can, but not everyday because it seems to aggravate it. My back has started clicking when I go up stairs, ha ha, I remember that with Beckham. 
• I also get restless leg syndrome when I'm pregnant! Mostly at night, but I drink magnesium calcium supplements and extra calcium supplements and use lavender essential oil on my legs every night, it helps me get to sleep, which is usually the hard part. 
• ...because of the previously mentioned things and my growing belly, sleep has been harder to come by! Well, that and I have to pee like four times a night, ha ha. It's ok, though, it's worth it for these sweet kids of mine. :) 

We had another ultrasound at 24 weeks, it was so much better than our 17 week ultrasound. We were able to get much better pictures, so I am really grateful we got another one. :)

 

Christmas!! :)

First of all, give me high five because we actually decorated this year! ha. Last year we didn't even put up our tree because we knew we wouldn't be here before or during Christmas. Then this year we felt a little guilty about that and decided we needed to do it, and now I'm glad we did! We had the whole family up here for Christmas, lol.

These first couple are just random pictures from the few days before Christmas.

The first snow of the year!

They LOVE to wear these Santa hats.

Our tree didn't stay very nice and organized for long, the ribbon was skewed, I found toys hidden in the branches, bulbs were all around the tree on the floor, the tree skirt was all wrinkled...but as I was looking at our tree one night after the boys were in bed I smiled and I didn't even want to fix it because it reminded me of them. They made it more meaningful and beautiful than if I had fixed it every time, they made it perfect. :)

The past month has been crazy. Not just because of the holidays, but a lot of other things too. A little over a week before Christmas our 4 year old nephew, Calum, was diagnosed with Stage III T-Cell Lymphoma, which is cancer. They thought he'd had pneumonia for three weeks before that, and when they finally realized that something more was going on they life-flighted him to Primary Children's where he was in the ICU for 9 days. It was very scary. At first, none of us could believe it, how did it go from pneumonia to cancer in a matter of a few minutes?? It was very overwhelming.

I'm super close to my family, and Bridger is best friends with Calum. They are only two weeks apart in age and always talk about each other and always want to play together, they really are best buds. I tried to help Bridger understand, somehow, in his little 4 year old world, what was going on. He told me that he hated that Calum was sick and that we needed to say lots of prayers and he would get better. The faith of a child. :,) He has been so good to always remember to pray for him in his prayers. This last weekend was Calum's first few days out of the hospital, he's not really himself, he doesn't feel good and he is on a lot of different medications that mess with his moods, besides the fact that he is on chemo and is still very weak. We went down for drill and Bridger got to see Calum for the first time since Calum had gotten sick and I think it was really good for both of them. Calum won't talk to anyone except his Mom and Bridger now, lol. Calum would just lay there and Bridger would just talk and talk and talk, and show him his LeapPad and watch shows with him and Bridger and Beckham would play in the same room and it entertained him. Jen told me about a cute moment she found, Calum had a rice krispy treat in a wrapper by his bed and Bridger said, "is that yours?" Calum nodded his head yes, and Jen mentioned that maybe he could share it before she left the room. When she went back upstairs the rice krispy was gone, Bridger said, "we ripped it in little pieces and shared it!" I guess Calum gave a TRUE smile, which is rare nowadays. Those boys have a sweet little bond.

Anyway, back to Christmas, so Jen and Calum were up at Primary Children's still in ICU during Christmas. We decided we should have Christmas at our house here in Eagle Mountain so that their seven other kids could see their parents on Christmas. My parents had to pack up THREE families worth of Christmas gifts to haul up here, it was a lot of work, but worth it. The kids needed to see their Mom. :) I am very grateful to have plenty of space in this new house so that everyone fit comfortably, we had, I think, 17 people staying here that weekend! lol.

Christmas Eve they got here really late, but we still did our Christmas Bingo and short Nativity movie before going to bed. Then the rest of us adults stayed up until like THREE in the morning getting things ready and organized. It was fun, though.

These are the cake balls we made earlier in the week as neighbor gifts, they turned out super yummy and the boys loved decorating their own. :)

Jingo!!

All the kids got mugs, cute little reindeer hot cocoa, a small toy and their Christmas PJ's from Grandma and Grandpa. :)

Christmas Eve...all ready to go with four families gifts under our tree! lol. 

We got a TON of snow over Christmas! This was just one night.

The Paw Patrollers...my boys were asking for these like crazy! They were both so happy to get one. :)

I got my waffle maker!! Whoo!! My kids ask for waffles like three times a week, I needed this. :) Jeremy also got me a new set of Corelle dishes that I have been wanting ever since we got a water softener. :D He has good taste, I love them!!

My big gift to Jeremy was a gift certificate for a custom holster. My parents got us some super nice knives, we are talking like CutCo, baby. Two of them! We have needed knives ever since we got married, so that was amazing. We also got a roasting pan (which I have needed), some pajamas and some things for our 72 hour kits. We got spoiled!!

The rest of the day we just hung out, it was pretty chill. It was a little strange being home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year! We usually aren't home for ANY holidays, lol. We made waffles with our waffle makers (my Mom got one too!), and had a yummy breakfast. The kids got to go up and see their parents and Calum for a little bit, but for the most part it was low-key. :)