Spanish

My mom is in Colorado right now, and apparently she just heard this conversation between my two nephews, Ty (almost 6 years old) and McKay (4 years old).  It NEEDED to be written down.

Ty:  Some people say yellow like this: 'Armadillo.'

McKay: What?

Ty repeats himself and adds:  They say it in Spanish.

McKay:  We should go there.

Ty: Where?

McKay:  Spanish.

Ty:  McKay, Spanish is not a state.

McKay:  It's not?  What is it?

Ty:  It's a language.

McKay:  Oh.

Ty:  They speak it in California and Mexico.

McKay:  Ty, if we had a map, we'd have a better idea how to get to Mexico.

Ty:  You're probably right.

I love love LOVE those boys.  Watching them together and listening to them interact makes me VERY excited to have 2 little girls only 20 months apart!  Kids are the best!

What's In a Name?

Ummm... hi.  Worst blogger ever here.  Forgot to mention on here that our new baby is another girl!  Wahoo!  And now, let's talk about her name.

Amilia Mae

So cute, right?  DJ and I decided before we had kids that we want their first name to be whatever we like and their middle name to be a family name (with the exception of our first son, which is another story).  So Mae is both DJ and my grandma's middle name, which is cool.  It's also Keesha's middle name, so even better!  

The reasoning for Amilia is this:  when DJ's mom was pregnant with Savanna, his dad really wanted to name her Mia.  Robyn put the nix on that.  The first time I heard that story, I proclaimed I'd name one of my daughters Mia-- cause really?   Mia Savage is just too funny to pass up.  I don't know if anyone believed that I'd really do it, especially when I had the chance with Lex and passed it up.  Rather than just name her Mia, we decided we really like the name Amilia-- spelled unusually of course.  Nothing traditional for us, thanks!  With her name as Amilia, she can go by so many different things -- Mia, Millie, Lia-- that if she doesn't like being called Mia, she doesn't have to be.

When I told Grandma Savage that we were naming her Mia, she exclaimed, "I feel like we've already been through this!!!"  She was against the name Mia for Vanna too.  My sister thinks I'm crazy.  My parents think I'm a little mean.  Personally, I think we're good parents for having a sense of humor with our kids. And I really really love the name Mia, and her last name won't be Savage for the majority of her life.

One of the reasons I'm obsessed with the name Mia is that in Spanish, "mia" means "mine."  And let's be serious, that's adorable!

So Mia Savage it is!

Church Escapades

Ashleigh Savage's Church Rules:

- Alexsi is allowed to play with anything in the diaper bag during sacrament meeting, as long as she stays in our pew.

- Alexsi is allowed to empty the ENTIRE diaper bag if she so chooses, as long as she stays in our pew.

- Alexsi MAY NOT leave the confines of the pew and wander the chapel.

- Alexsi MAY NOT leave the pew to go up to the stand to sit with her dad.

- In the circumstance that Alexsi is throwing fits and needs to be removed from the chapel, she will not be allowed to leave her mom's arms and wander the halls.  Leaving sacrament meeting is a punishment, and will not be rewarded with wandering free, playing with toys, etc.  If she can't handle herself in sacrament meeting with all the toys her mom brought, she certainly isn't going to be allowed to play in the halls or mothers' room.

- Alexsi goes with her dad during the second hour of church so her mom can teach Sunday School.

- Alexsi can wander the Relief Society room to her heart's content during the third hour of church.  It's past nap time, and it's best for everyone if she's given a little freedom.


Seems pretty reasonable, right?  Most days it works out just beautifully.

Today was not one of those days.

I think I took Lex out of sacrament meeting 5 times.  IN ONE HOUR!!!!  That's ridiculous.  I don't take her out of the meeting when she's reading or playing with her babies a little too loud... only when she throws fits. She threw 5 fits today.  So ridiculous.  True to form, I did NOT allow her to get down on the floor and play when I took her out.  I refuse to allow her to think that throwing fits is a good idea so she can do what she wants out in the halls.  It's simply not going to happen in this family.  But man, sometimes it's hard to hold that line!  It would be soooo much easier just to give in and let her have her way.  I won't do it, because I believe in setting boundaries and keeping them.

Sometimes it seems like it would be easier to just take her home and put her to bed.  But I want her to know, from the time she's tiny, that this is what we do on Sundays.  We go to church.  For 3 hours.  Whether your tired and grumpy or so happy to be there.  This is just what we do.  Some day, she'll be grateful for it.  Some day, I'll be grateful for it.  Doing the right thing today even when it's rough is always the best option, even when it's not the easiest.

That Darn Cat Pillow

Let me let you in on a dark secret of mine.  When I was born, my Grandma Kaiser made me a blankie.  You know the kind that you buy in a pre-quilted panel and you just have to put the binding on?  That's what it was.  The front had a scene with a sheep jumping over a fence and a second sheep running away from the fence, and the back was covered in little sheep.  I loved that blanket, and at some point in life it was referred to as my "Sheepie Blankie," and it remained named that ever after.  I used it so much that my mom put several new bindings on it when the previous ones wore out.  When I moved to Illinois for school (at 18 years old), that blankie came with me.  When I went on vacations, the sheepie blankie always came along with me, tucked safely in my pillowcase.  I slept with that thing every darn night until I was married.  I'm not even kidding.  It's **possible** that I've even slept with it a couple times after my marriage.  It's just SO COZY.  I should mention, there is no longer any sheep on the blanket, or a binding, or stuffing inside... it's completely white and see-through.  That thing has been loved to death.

Fast-forward a little.  While I was pregnant with Lex, my Grandma Kaiser bought her a fluffy cat pillow.  We all laughed about it at the time, cause it was just a funny little pillow.  After she was born, we would lay Lex on it and she'd burrow her cheek into it.  It was clear she loved it.  She now sleeps with it every night, and I'm not even kidding, this is her version of the sheepie blankie.  She sleeps so well when it's in bed with her, and on nights where she's thrown up on it or something and it's in the wash, it's always a harder for her to sleep.  When I put her to bed, I have the pillow at the top of the crib and lay her little head on it.  However, this girl is a WILD sleeper, and moves so much in the night.  I really don't even think I'll be able to move her out of a crib for a long stinkin time, cause half the time she's pressed up against the rungs--- I'm sure she'll end up on the floor frequently when I do move her to a toddler bed.  The funniest part is, when she moves in her sleep, she drags her cat pillow around with her.  I took some pictures over the course of about a week of her sleeping at night with her kitty:

I'm going to be in serious trouble if/when that thing wears out.  I've created a little mini-me!!!

13 Weeks

I seriously can't believe I'm already done with my first trimester.  I still forget I'm pregnant half the time... I've hardly been sick at all, and I'm so busy with work and a 1-year-old that time is flying!  For the past week or so, I've been feeling this little baby move!  That's seriously THE BEST part of being pregnant, and I'm excited I'm feeling movement earlier than last time.

Today I went to the doctor for my routine checkup.  He tried to pick up the baby's heartbeat on the normal little monitor in the exam room but wasn't able to get it, so I had another ultrasound.  I wasn't worried at all, because like I said, I've been feeling this baby move.  Sure enough, that tiny little kid is a wiggler!!!  The ultrasound was fun, because I could see the baby flinging it's arms and legs around and turning over... seriously, it's an active one!  My doctor gave me a couple pictures from the ultrasound:

The top one shows the back of the baby's head and it's teeny-tiny spine.  The bottom one is a profile with a little arm up by it's face.  So cute!

My next appointment is in 5 weeks, and we'll find out if we're having a boy or a girl!!!  We're excited to have Grammie there with us, and hopefully Mammie too :)  

The Deets

So since I went public a little over a week ago with this second pregnancy, I should probably document it on my blog.  If you want the short story, it's this:  This pregnancy is a completely different than my last one.

And here's the long story:

On February 4th, it occurred to me that I was a day late for my period.  I didn't think much of it, cause I hadn't been tracking my cycle too closely so I didn't know how regular I was.  I had to take Cosmo up to the vet that day, cause she'd gotten into some burrs the day before and and we couldn't get them out.  I dropped Lex off at my mom's house, and while I was on my way back to the vet to pick up Cosmo I figured it wouldn't hurt to pick up a pregnancy test.  I stopped by Wal Mart and bought a 2-pack, then I was too anxious to wait so I went and took the test in the Wal Mart bathroom.  It immediately showed a plus sign, but I thought I was reading it wrong (I hadn't looked at the box yet, and it had been a long time since I took a pregnancy test).  When I realized I was pregnant, I just kind of stood there in shock and trying not to laugh.  Since I was already at Wal Mart, I bought a Captain America onesie and I put it in DJ's truck with my positive pregnancy test while he was at school.  He was pretty excited when he found out :)  The timing is pretty much perfect... I've always wanted my babies between 18 months and 2 years apart, and these two will be a little less than 20 months apart.

On February 16th, after a tough workout, I started bleeding.  I never even spotted with Lex, so I was positive I had miscarried.  I was bleeding quite a bit, but it happened to be a Saturday night and Monday was a holiday, so I knew I couldn't go to the doctor for several days.  I was certain it was a miscarriage, but for some reason I felt so calm about it.  I just knew that whatever happened, Heavenly Father was in control and I'd be fine.  The next morning we went to Kennedy's baby blessing, and while we were singing the opening song in Sacrament meeting (I Know That My Redeemer Lives), I had a little meltdown.  I tried to keep it together and not make a scene, but I couldn't stop crying.  It just made me so sad to think Lex wouldn't get her little brother or sister so quickly.  I know Nikki saw me crying, and maybe Jill, but I pulled it together pretty quickly and moved forward.  On Monday I started feeling really sick, and on Tuesday I called my doctor first thing in the morning to let them know what was going on.  They had me come in immediately and they did an ultrasound to see what was going on.  The baby was teeny tiny and 100% okay!  I was really relieved, needless to say! 

Two weeks later I went back to the doctor for my routine 8 week check up, and again everything was fine.  Two weeks after that, we told everyone I'm pregnant.  We were going to wait until this week when we were in Disneyland with my family, but last Sunday at church a lady came up to me and asked if I was having another baby.  I was like, "Ummmm... yes!"  It was super funny cause I hadn't told anyone else yet so I felt a little bad telling a random lady in my ward, but I couldn't lie to her!  So I told DJ we needed to tell our families that day.  I figured that if a Latina was asking me about it, white people were thinking it. (Just one of the many reasons I love my ward-- people aren't afraid to say what they think!!!)  We made Lexsi a onesie that said, "I have a secret," on the front and the back said, "I'm going to be a big sister!"  She wore it over to my parents' house for dinner and that's how we let them know.   We also sent a picture of her in the onesie to DJ's parents, and called the rest of his family.

This pregnancy has seriously been a breeze.  Like, I barely even feel pregnant!  I'm not sick (SO weird-- last time I was sick for like 30 weeks!!!), which may be the pregnancy, and may be that I'm on Zofran.  Either way, it's awesome.  Last time I wanted sugar All. The. Time.  and this time around all I want is fruit, which made me sick last time.  So I'm much better off-- I've actually been losing weight cause I'm eating so healthy!  I have heartburn like mad again-- looks like we have another baby with a head full of black hair on the way. The bad news is, I can't drink milk.  Last time I drank SO much milk and it helped with the heartburn, but this time it makes me so sick.  It's super weird, cause I can eat cheese, yogurt, ice cream... any other dairy but drinking milk.  So that's dumb.  My stomach has already popped out a little, thanks to my previously-stretched tummy muscles.  I'm okay with it, cause, well... that's life.  

All in all, this pregnancy rocks.  I'm so excited to have another tiny baby!  I think it's a girl, but we'll find out in about 7 weeks :)  

Alterations

Last fall, I discovered Wal Mart sold some really cute, cheap colored skinny jeans.  I was in love, and went a little crazy, purchasing 5 pair.  They looked adorable paired with boots all winter, but I discovered an unfortunate truth:  My calves and ankles were far too skinny in comparison to my hips for the pants to look good without boots on:

 I decided today to convert my pants to capris for summer time!  Since the bottoms of the pants were the parts that didn't look great, I just chopped them off and re-hemmed them:

MUCH better!  I did two pairs shorter, and two pairs a little longer:

I'd say I'm ready for Spring!!!