A week's worth of blog

Today my dad got awarded the Clinical Pioneer Award in Ultrasound in Medicine from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. It was in Las Vegas and unfortunately I couldn't attend (since the baby is due in 3 weeks), but my mom said it was a wonderful event. Nathan, Henry, Rachel, and Darin surprised my dad by attending and he really was surprised. He kept saying how he couldn't believe he had no clue. His good friend Larry Platt (pictured left in the photo) gave his introduction and included photos my mom had sent him, which my dad was also not aware of. Some were of him with the kids or babies, so I think it was neat his colleagues got to see the family side of him. Overall it was a great day and we are all so proud of him!

Yesterday was so nice because we got to stay home and spend some time together. Lily really wanted Jeff to work on her "Kiwi Crate" with her (a monthly box that comes with art projects) which was a safari jeep and safari animals. The perfect project for Jeff since he loves animals. They worked really hard together and sometimes when Jeff would show Lily what he had done, but it wasn't quite complete, she'd say, "that is looking really good so far, daddy." She is ever the encourager. 

The jeep is complete!

Making stamps for the animals

 Jeff ended up using Lily's stamps and Lily ended up using Jeff's stamps

Then Jeff took the kids to the park while I watched the women's conference. They loved the sand pit and Jeff said Ryan would put the sand in the shovel, stand up, then pour it out. Repeat. Over and over. 

The kids are so cute together and have such a fun time. Being dinosaurs, or something that roars, in the tub.

Lily and Ryan's new thing is to stick flowers or fish on their body and they get a kick out of it. 

 Holding hands walking to the gym. Lily likes to hold Ryan's hand by herself without me interfering. The gym staff said they played so well together this day. 

 Lily loves to read books to Ryan and have him repeat words, and he loves it too. 

The harmonica came out after being in hiding for a bit and Ryan is a big fan. His eyes get really big when he sucks the air in, but he can make some great music.

 The kids and Jeff tend to rotate between four instruments: guitar, piano, harmonica, and finger cymbols. I think we will be the next Partridge Family. 

 Ryan on harmonica while Jeff plays.

 Lily can't help but dance when she's feeling it with the harmonica.

Some people in the ward (Kari Murray, Cassie Ames, Kasey Henry, and Pepper Chapman) threw Amy Brown (who is the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency and due the day after me) and me a baby shower. It was a very nice event and I'm always impressed with people's generosity. I will say it was much easier to have a joint shower so I didn't have to be the focus. And it was fun because we got some twinner outfits so our boys can wear matching clothes to church sometime.

 Lily trying to carry all the diapers from the shower into Ryan's room for storage. She was actually successful which I was very impressed with. 

I had my OB appointement and whereas the baby was breech last appointment, the doctor thinks he turned, hooray! I will get that confirmed by ultrasound at my next appointment, but I had a feeling he had turned so hopefully there is great news tomorrow. When we arrived at the office Lily pulled up some chairs for her and Ryan and directed him to sit by her. She pointed out the fish to him and helped him play with some of the toys. She was very sweet and the perfect older sister. 

 Then we went on a shopping trip. I realized we don't shop much besides food or toy stores because Lily acted like she had never seen a mannequin. She introduced herself and had a conversation with them for several minutes. This man she held hands with and gave him a hug around the leg.

 She's not much of a shopper (it was after school though so I'm sure it felt like a long day), and she needed to take a rest before we got to the car. 

 She loves wearing my little purse and getting the money or credit cards out for me to pay.

One day Lily felt like she and Ryan really needed some reading material for the car ride. It did keep them happy for a bit, so thanks Lily, good thinking. 

Her new favorite book from Mama Baer: traditional fairy tales with Disney characters.

Last weekend Sandy and Diana were awesome and took the kids for two days while I was able to rest. Even though I couldn't sleep the whole time, just not having to do "mom" things like make food, clean up, do dishes, put kids to bed, change diapers, pick kids up, play, etc., was incredibly relaxing. While my sinus infection wasn't completely gone, not being extremely fatigued made me feel like I could face the week. 

The house was spotless, but looked like this after they kids had been home for about five minutes. Lily had to get out all her friends and show Mama Baer, Nana, Papa, and Lisa (Jeff, Ron, and Lisa got home from Utah the same time Sandy and Diana got there). 

Playing "airplane" with their new Minnie and Mickey Mouse chairs. 

 Ryan tried really hard to keep this hat on his head.

 For some reason everyone who rode this plane needed to wear a hat.

Ryan is really excited about his plush Superman and Superhero figures from Mama Baer.

 He also likes playing with Lily's Rapunzel and Anna and Elsa dolls. When he plays with these figurines (or the superhero ones), he makes little noises like they are talking to each other. It's pretty funny. And Lily likes to have the superheroes save the princesses, so they all live harmoniously in our home.

Off to Utah!

Today Jeff went to Utah with Ron and Lisa for the Baer family reunion. It was a very last minute decision, but he's happy to go and I'm happy for him to see all his cousins. They come home Sunday so it's a short trip (thank you Ron and Lisa for cutting it shorter to accommodate Jeff!), but it will be worth it.

Jeff was thinking of taking Lily to give me a break for the weekend since I don't seem to be getting better, but Sandy offered to take the kids for the weekend which is a huge blessing to me. I have been worried about them going since they have been sick and I just pray that no sickness will come to their home since Diana and Sarah go to California on Monday. They seem to be getting better though with just some runny noses throughout the day, so I hope it's okay. Sandy offered to come get them tomorrow and bring them home on Sunday which I felt was too much but at the same time when she insisted I thought it would be nice not to have to make the two hour round trip drive when I'm already so tired. Then, this afternoon, I discovered that Jeff had all the keys with him in Utah, so I'm not driving anywhere. I was so grateful Sandy had already offered to drive because I wouldn't have wanted to ask (since she was already doing me such a favor by just having the kids) so it's working out perfect. And she said (which I think I agree) that it was probably divine intervention to make me stay home and rest. Otherwise I had plans to run errands, go to the temple, and get lots done with no kids. But that of course is not very restful so I think it's better this way. The great thing about all of this too is that since I have been doing my daily goals I don't have a huge list of things to get done on this free day so I really can relax.

We played downstairs in the morning and perhaps because Ryan was wearing a Thomas the Train shirt he was really into trains today. They just watched this go around for quite awhile, a bit mesmerized by it.

Then Lily had to set up the Thomas tracks, and they played with that for awhile. 

Ryan wanting to be just like Lily.

I came downstairs to find Ryan happily sitting in the wagon, a perfect fit. 

On our way to the park (when I discovered the missing keys) and Ryan plopped himself in the bike trailer and was adamant he did not want to get out. I still don't know how I got him out. Luckily this baby will be born soon and nice weather is on the horizon so Ryan we will go out biking, I promise. 

A Big Trophy!

Wednesday night Jeff had his championship games with his rec league. He had pulled a hamstring and was concerned about how he'd be able to play, but he did well in the first game of the night and they only won by a few points so that was an important one to help out on. Then for the championship game he didn't play as much and they lost by a just a few points, but I said they almost didn't even make it to that game. So here is their 2nd place trophy (for some reason Jeff got to come home with it) and the kids loved it.

 It was really exciting for Ryan to eat breakfast with the trophy at the table. 

We had a great tea party (don't worry, it was herbal tea) and Ryan is getting much better at pretending to eat, which is really cute.

 It has been beautiful weather the last few days so we have taken advantage by having park days. I was so impressed with Lily for making it all the way across this! There is one spot where the gap is a bit too big for her so I help, but otherwise she does great. 

 Ryan and Lily love rocks and throwing rocks so of course the beach was just another venue to do this. 

 Playing the piano together waiting for daddy to come home from work. They have to have sheet music or they don't feel like they are legitimately playing, this is Curious George. 

We got out the superhero stickers and the kids had a lot of fun creating this scene with all their favorite heroes saving the day. 

 Ryan liked this Winnnie the Pooh (which I have had since I was a child) set up and when he held a character to have it walk he would make little walking noises, or maybe it was music and was the soundtrack to this play session. Either way it was cute.

 Ryan had to sit on the ottoman and be just like Lily. When she would change the placement of her hands he would too. He loves his big sister. 

Ryan's excitement was to master going up and down the stairs with the railing. He absolutely did not want any assistance, he's very independent. 

They had so much fun going down the slide together. They did this at least 20 times, they're such great friends (at times).

 Bottoms up!

Pure joy!

 Lily can still climb up all by herself!

 Watching the train.

At the end of the day I was feeling horrible so Jeff sent me to bed while he cleaned up and put kids to bed. Unfortunately, because I am so far along now in my pregnancy I can't sleep very comfortably so I had to get up and move and I think my Tylenol must have kicked in because I felt a little better. I did a little labor prep yoga before bed and Lily was happy to join me (since it meant delaying her bed time). She kept asking Jeff if he wanted to join us so he could get strong too. Lily also got down the labor breathing.