Pregs Update

So, today I went to my first pregnancy doctor appointment in Ogden.  I have to say-- my new doctor?  Totally as cool as my old one.  As in, if he wasn't my OB, I could totally be friends with him.  He's funny and straightforward and I like him so much already.

And now.

You know how you always have a plan for your life and then it never really works out that way?  We were talking about Lexsi's delivery, and why I ended up with a c-section (fatty tailbone, remember?), and he mentioned that if this baby was smaller I might be able to deliver vaginally.  I said I really didn't mind having a c-section, and he asked how many kids I wanted.  He told me the number he could guarantee me was 3.  My other doctor said probably 4, so I didn't think to much of it... but 3?  That means I could only be pregnant one more time.  Only one more baby after Mia.  I don't think I'm okay with that! I've always said I want 6 kids.  I love my little family, and I'm a little anxious about adding another little girl in 6 weeks and the madness that will ensue, but that doesn't change the fact that I want a lot of kids eventually.  The idea of only 3 kids is hard for me to swallow.  So at this point, we're going to keep an eye on how big Mia is getting (right now she's about 5 pounds), and if she's smaller than 7 pounds by 39 weeks I'll get induced and try round 2 of a vaginal delivery.  I'm really really hoping it works.  I've been complaining lately about Braxton Hicks, and how stupid it is to even have contractions when I know I'm having a c-section.  Now I'm grateful for any contractions, hoping it speeds the process along and actually helps me dilate and go into labor early.  The hospital won't let me be induced before 39 weeks, but if I go into labor on my own before then that's fine.  I'm skinnier this time than I was with Lex, and Lex was born 5 days late, so I'm hoping that being induced a week before my due date will be early enough that Mia will be small and come the way we want her to!  So here's to hoping it happens.  I really REALLY want more than 3 babies!!!  

Here's an updated preggo pic:



Okay, semi-updated.  That was 3 weeks ago.

And a cool thing about this doctor office:  You get a 3D ultrasound every time you go.  Here's the one from today, it's not great...

The top one is the 3D one--- it's her little profile :)

18 Months

There are lots of things I need to catch up on... mainly about moving to Ogden and how different my life suddenly is.  But for now, I need to talk about my Lex.

All of a sudden, my baby is a toddler.  18 months is TOO OLD, I tell ya!  She is an absolute blast though.  I love love love this phase!  Some of Lexsi's faves:

- As always, she's obsessed with reading.  She goes to her toy room, grabs books, and hauls them over to Mia's baby car seat and sits in it to read.  She thinks it's the coziest!

- Movies.  The girl is a certainly a Savage.  If I let her, she'd watch movie after movie all day long.  {I DON'T let her.}  She's particularly fond of The Aristocats and Toy Story 3.  She loves Buzz and Woody!  There's also a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode online right now about Pluto's bubble bath and she looooves it.

- Emptying the lazy susan.  She's doing it as I type this.  Cause apparently spices and pudding and all the baking supplies are just too awesome to stay away from.

- Being outside.  It's been SO HOT, so I've been avoiding being outside, but when we do go out it's so good for her.  She's happy as can be if she can just find a patch of dirt and play in it.

- Her favorite foods are spaghetti, pizza, plain noodles, cheese, toast with peanut butter, bananas, and eggs.  She's actually a pretty good eater.

- She's loving all the Disney Princesses right now.  She calls Tiana "Ana," Belle "Bawl," and Cinderella "Ella."  Other than that, she picks one up or points to one in a story and exclaims, "It's a gool!"  (I love how she says "girl."  SO cute!)

- Her language skills are really taking off.  She's doing very well, especially considering she's learning two languages.  Every liquid is "Agua," and she uses a few other Spanish words too, like "Amo," "Gracias," and "Mas" and lately she's been asking DJ, "O-sta Mama?"  {Donde esta Mama?}  In English she says a lot more things, like "Cheese," "Mama," "Baby," "So cool!" "Awesome!" "Puppy," "Minnie Mouse,"  "Car," "Store,"  "Downstairs," "Outside," "All done," etc.  She says so much more stuff than that,  but it'll take far too long to record it all. Just trust me, it's adorable.

- She loves to wear shoes.  Her favorites are a pair of little pink jelly shoes.  She loves the clicky sound they make on the tile in our house when she walks.

- She's sleeping in a toddler bed, and doing really well with it.  I was really concerned that she wouldn't stay in it, but she totally does.  The first night we had her in it (when we first moved to Ogden), she fell through the slats in the head board-- it's just one of those white metal toddler beds that everyone has. So that was a little funny, but other than that I think she's only fallen out one time.  We put her body pillow on the side of her bed not by the wall, which creates a good barrier for her since she's a crazy sleeper.  When she wakes up in the morning she likes to stand on her bed and look out the window, or she'll get out and read the books I put in her room.  When she's ready to come out of her room, she knocks on the door.  It's pretty awesome.

- She's been going to sleep SO easily and it's amazing.  When we were in Lovell she was struggling big time, and I was struggling big time.  She was sleeping in the same room as us, which was no good.  She didn't want to go to sleep at night-- it was taking me nearly an hour every night to get her down.  And if she woke up in the night she took forEVER to go back to sleep cause we were in the room too.  Now, I take her up to her room, let her drink a bottle if she wants (which is only about half the time), then hand her a binky and her kitty pillow and sing her one song and leave.  She puts herself to sleep just beautifully.  There are times, of course, where she gets up and plays, but it's rare.  For 18 months,  she's doing really well.  She doesn't cry when I put her to bed, and that's the best part!  Thank heavens for her silly kitty pillow too.  The thing is magical.

And now for some pictures of my girl!

Snuggling with me-- I seriously love that she's snuggly again!

Playing with Dad.

First day of Nursery at church-- I ended up having to stay with her the whole 2 hours cause she was melting down big time, but she'll figure it out.  

Playing in the dirt at Bear Lake-- she was in heaven!

I took her to Temple Square and this was her reaction to the Christus statue-- so precious!

Going down the slide at the park.

Hanging out in Mia's car seat.

Swinging at the park.

Hauling a baby around-- she does this everywhere we go.  I love it.

Playing with her puppy.  Pretty sure she's feeding her dirt in this picture.  Cosmo is so obliging.

In the pink jelly shoes-- they're a staple in her life.

Watching a Braves game with Great Grandpa Savage while we were in Lovell.  I love how their arms are even in the same position.  

One last thing-- I took Lex to PCMC last week for a checkup on her hips, and everything is great!  Her specialist says he thinks she'll have normal hips the rest of her life, and wants to see her again in 2 years to just check up on her.  I am so so grateful her hip dysplasia was caught so early, and the process of correcting it was relatively easy.  Having her in that harness for 2 months when she was tiny was really no big deal, especially given what COULD have happened.  I'm so grateful!

Catch Up

Remember that one month that was super crazy and I didn't post on my blog a single time?  Oh yeah, that was June.  So here's the rundown:

We sold our house in Spanish Fork, and moved out from June 14-16.  We stored the majority of our stuff in Nikki's basement, which was super convenient since she lives right across the street.  Plus, it's free.  I appreciate that SO much... and hopefully the payment of using my furniture and giving her everything out of my fridge and freezer is sufficient ;)  

From June 17-20, DJ was coaching at a BYU basketball camp, so we stayed in Provo at my mom's house.  Lex and I had a great time spending a few days with my mom!  On the 20th, after DJ got off work, we headed to Wyoming.  We took both my car and DJ's truck, since we're staying in Wyoming for 5 weeks and had to bring a bunch of stuff plus our dog.  So Lex and I made the trek in my car and DJ and Cosmo were in his truck together.  Poor Cosmo had been spayed that same morning, so she was totally drugged and sore.  We made it to Lovell around 2am.  GAG!  It was kind of awful.  Lex did really well in the car, and fell asleep easily, but then I had like 5 more hours of late night driving all by myself.  We had to stop every couple of hours to let Cosmo out to use the bathroom, plus since I'm pregnant I was supposed to get out and walk around to avoid blood clots.  The hardest part of the trip was when Lex was awake and she's old enough that she'd see a toy, snack, book, etc. that she wanted and she let me know she wanted it, ("mmmmm!")  but couldn't articulate what it was she wanted.  So I would try handing back about 5 things before getting it right, and sometimes I never got it right.  Oh well.  When we were going over South Pass, DJ and I both nearly hit the same deer-- it was in the middle of the road and got out of the way for DJ, but then turned back toward my car and I just had to hope it didn't get in the way cause there was really nothing I could do.  Luckily nothing came of it and the rest of our trip was extremely uneventful.

On June 21, we woke up and unloaded the bed of DJ's truck into his parents' living room and then piled in the truck with Cosmo in the back so we could go camping over by Buffalo.  The rest of his family had already been there for a day, so we met them there.  If you know me, you know I'm not a camper.  BUT, it was family vacation this year, and I was only there for one night, so it wasn't a big deal.  It was fun to be with the whole family (minus Vanna).  Mama Savage has a camper trailer with a bathroom, so I was really grateful for that.  Our tent ended up having a whole in it (thanks, Cosmo!) so we borrowed one from DJ's parents.  Lexsi slept surprisingly well between us-- on a queen-sized air mattress.  The best part of the night was waking up to hear Jordan say, "Kate!  There has to be room for me too!"  Apparently she wanted to lay on his pillow, but wanted him to get off the pillow entirely.  On Saturday morning, Lexsi discovered she was OBSESSED with playing in the dirt.  And she got filthy.  Like, seriously so nastily dirty: 

She was having such a great time, though, and I knew we were going home that day and would get her in the shower anyway, so I wasn't worried about it.  Did she eat some of the dirt?  Yes, yes she did.  Again, I was completely unconcerned.  That's just what happens when you camp with a baby.

After the fun in the dirt, DJ took Lex on a 4-wheeler ride.  She had a great time!  She's mad in the picture cause she wanted me to hold her, but she really did have a blast while she was out on it:

In the late morning, a storm came in so we all headed back to Lovell, and DJ, Lex and I settled in for our 5-week stay.

Since being here we have had SO much fun playing with our family!  Lex is in heaven being around her cousins, A.J. and Jax.  She thinks they're the coolest!

She's also discovered the beauty of the trampoline... she's obsessed.  Of course we had to let her experience having sprinklers under it.  I think it's safe to say she enjoyed herself:

The week after camping was Mustang Days, and I enjoyed experiencing a small town festival first-hand.  Vanna and I went to the Follies, which is pretty much a variety show.  By far my favorite act was the Dollies, who are basically saloon girls who do little can-can dances.  So silly.  On Friday we went to Family Fun Night, which was horribly lame with a 1-year-old.  There weren't any activities Lex wanted to do, so I used the tickets I had already bought for the carnival and just gave them to the people running the games so I could get the prizes.  She got smarties, and that was all she needed to be happy:

 Keesh and Vanna competed in an obstacle race, and Keesh dominated Vanna... clearly...

Later that night we went to Minchow's parking lot to listen to the Cowley Boys.  It was all very small-town-y... some people danced up by the stage---errr--- flat-bed trailer the band was playing on, the ice cream shop was open, and people just sat around in camp chairs chatting.  On Saturday morning DJ went out fishing with his dad, Levi and Adam, and I took Lex with the rest of the fam to the parade.  It was bad.  SO bad.  And so so hot.  In case you think I'm exaggerating the lameness of the situation, let me show you my personal highlight of the parade:

Yep.  That's a live baby raccoon.  On the shoulder of a kid who was a pooper scooper for a bunch of mules.  Lexsi enjoyed seeing all the horses, so it was worth it in the end.

Basically, living in Lovell has been good.  Life is really laid back.  As in, I rarely get dressed and ready for the day before noon.  Sometimes not at all.  I've become a slug.  It's been good for all of us, but especially Lexsi, to get closer to our family members here.  DJ got a golf membership and is pretty much becoming pro, as he golfs at least once a day.  We took a marathon trip to Billings (seriously, I think we were gone like 10 hours?), which was eye-opening to me.  We went and did a session in the temple, then did all our grocery shopping for the month.  If I ever move to Lovell, that's going to be real life for me.  I didn't LOVE it, but I know I could get used to it, and actually end up spending less each month since I don't have easy access to everything like I'm used to.

And now some updates on my girls:

Lex had a doctor appointment right before we left Utah, and weighs a whopping 20 pounds.  The girl is just little.  She's finally mastered walking (she figured it out in the middle of May, so she was about 15 months), and is now great at running as well.  The only time she struggles is when she's tired-- and that's super funny to watch.  She's getting way too big and smart, it's killing me.  She still LOVES to read, and particularly likes Dr. Seuss's ABC.  She picks it up and says, "A, A, A!"  She knows where her eyes, nose and belly button are.  She has recently become OBSESSED with Winnie the Pooh.  She watches the Winnie the Pooh Movie in Spanish nearly every day.  It has a bunch of songs in it that get stuck in your head, and if anyone starts singing any of them she promptly goes to the TV, points, and starts singing, "Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" and dancing.  Her vocabulary is definitely increasing.  It's funny to hear her talk in Spanish and English.  She clearly understands both, because I can ask her something in English and she responds in Spanish, {"Do you want to play in the water?"  "Agua! Agua!"} and when DJ talks to her in Spanish she often responds in English {"Lex, vamos afuera."  "Outside!"}  She is a total jabberwockey, and just jabbers and jabbers all day, throwing real words in every now and then.  She's still in love with puppies, and now thinks that Cosmo the Cougar is a puppy, since her puppy's name is Cosmo.  Didn't really think about that when we named her :)  She's been crazily clingy to me, which is mostly okay but sometimes is hard because if I have to carry her around all day AND carry Mia inside me all day, it gets tiring.  She's getting better though, the longer we're here.  Her favorite foods are pizza, pasta, grapes, raisins, Go-Go Squeeze, pretzels and potatoes.  The funny thing about her pasta eating is that she loves any noodle just plain, with no sauce at all, and she also loves spaghetti.  But if you put spaghetti sauce on something other than spaghetti noodles, she won't eat it.  So weird.  She certainly keeps us on our toes, and is such a blast to have around!

Mia is a wiggler!  She moves around WAY more than Lex did when I was pregnant with her, and I hope it's cause she's getting her wiggles out now and will be super calm when she's born.  Bahahahaha I can dream, right?  This pregnancy is still flying by (I'm officially in my third trimester already-- what the??), and I haven't been sick at all, which is such a blessing.  I haven't had any real cravings or anti-cravings.  I feel like myself, only fatter :)  

And now, after this marathon post, I'm finally caught up!!!

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!!!