Mud Run

The high school was holding a 5k mud run, so Ryan thought it would be fun to participate. It was a loop, so Willa and I positioned ourselves to watch him cross the climbing net. We snacked on water and pretzels.

Sadly, he had to wait a few minutes because two girls were stuck at the top and too scared to come down. "I seriously think I pulled a muscle. You guys, I pulled a muscle!"

Ryan still got first in his heat and age group and second overall. Go Ryan! He tried to get a picture with Willa, but she wasn't interested.

It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. I realized it was the first race since we've been dating that we haven't both run! I've never seen Ryan cross the finish line before, so exciting! Actually, he got there a little sooner than Willa's wandering legs were carrying her. So he crossed, and I came running with Willa to bestow a winner's kiss a few seconds later. I was a little sad not to be participating with him, it has always been so much fun doing the races together. When I say "together" I mean that we drive together and he cheers me on as I cross the finish line 20 minutes after him.

23 Weeks

I haven't really taken pictures of the pregnancy until now. They are kind of awkward to take and a little embarrassing, but I think I will want them in the future. Yesterday at church and today.

For a thankful post, I will say that I am thankful for Ryan. He is a great husband, father, and priesthood holder. I depend on his advice for almost everything (including, or especially, clothing and accessory choices) and he is usually spot on. All those dateless years paid off, because I think I found a real winner and still feel like Heavenly Father held onto Ryan just for me. Ryan's favorite food is his mom's stew recipe. He has an inherent Daniels' family weakness for snacking and treats. He likes to indulge my pregnancy "cravings" to go buy us candy, sometimes. "If you want, I'll go to the store and buy xyz" (always candy). "Really, I don't mind. I will go. Do you want me to?" Ryan especially loves orange-flavored treats: oranges, orange candies, etc. It's nice to have someone to pawn off the orange starbursts to.

Some pictures from lately

 First, Willa LOVES to watch Baby Einstein on the computer. She also recently became adept at climbing up on the computer chair by herself. After we go running in the morning, I carry her upstairs and then run back down to get the stroller and bring it up. A few days ago, when I got back with the stroller, she had climbed up and started Baby Einstein all by herself! The photo makes me laugh, but I also get a little nervous about how addicted she is!

The famous and well-loved rain boots, worn here stylishly on the opposite feet as she tries to beg a snack.

I couldn't get her to look at the camera, but she just had a warm chocolate chip cookie. Having consumed a large portion of the bag of chocolate chips before I ever added them to the cookie dough, I was surprised that there was enough chocolate to make such a cute messy face and fingers.

And, I suppose I should list something I am thankful for.

* I am thankful for sonograms. I got the big sonogram on Monday and everything is looking well. I'm grateful that sonograms can tell you what you're having - we are now 100% sure that this baby is a girl. I'm grateful that they can identify potential problems - the placenta is sitting a little low, hopefully it moves upward before d-day. This whole pregnancy has been a bit of a blur for Ryan and me. Every time I go to the doctor, it is almost shocking to see a real baby swimming around in there.

"Oh my goodness, there is a baby in there. When did this happen? That baby is going to come out sometime! Uh oh, it looks bigger than at the last appointment. Time is a tickin' way too fast!"

I'm not sure if it's just because it's the second baby, or if it's more related to our instability in life right now, but being pregnant and actually having a baby seems so surreal. Maybe it's a subconscious coping mechanism so that we don't have nervous breakdowns just thinking about the upcoming months. Still, it's not all bad. Seeing the baby also helps me feel a little more excited to realize that we're getting a new baby and growing our family. It should be an exciting and joyous time.

On one of the ultrasounds, it looked like the baby was sucking her thumb. I really hope this is the case. I would love to have a thumb-sucker. It's a built-in soothing mechanism for less crying and longer naps!

On two different occasions the doctor and then the ultra-sound tech both said that this is an active baby. The first time was while the doctor was trying to tell the gender. It took him forever to get any type of good view because that baby kept flipping and flipping around. The second was during the sonogram. An active baby worries me. I feel like during Willa's ultrasounds she would just calmly lay there like she was laying on a big float in a swimming pool. This baby must be part of some pre-natal water aerobics class.

Other than that, the pregnancy is going well. I'm still running and feel great during the run. The rest of the day, however, I often feel like a 90-year old woman. We are paying cash for this baby. Texas doesn't require private insurance to cover maternity costs, so none of them do. Basically, the self-employed who are less-likely to be able to afford things like private insurance and saving for retirement (15% since there is no employer to match or double) - are also the ones who have to pay a premium price for the services. We have budgeted and saved to have another baby, so I don't want people to worry about us. It just annoys me that life has to be this way, that something as natural as having a baby has to be so expensive. Life is what it is, though, as my mother-in-law would say, and we really don't have too much to complain about in the overall scheme of things.

Grateful: Day 5

I am grateful for the weather right now. Houston finally comes into its own somewhere around October. It's still supposed to be 84 today, and I'd prefer it a tad cooler - mainly because Willa has outgrown her summer clothes and her new clothes are all for cooler weather. Still, it is so pleasant to run in the mornings. It is so pleasant to go outside any time of day and not be worried about feeling miserable. We have been spending a lot of time outdoors just walking around and exploring and it is a great way to burn through a couple of hours and a lot of toddler energy.

Grateful: Day 4

The Video Monitor

I know that I often talk about having a video monitor, but I just love it so so much! I'm not really worried about not hearing Willa, I just like to know what's going on.

Why is she crying? Is she just readjusting and not really awake? Is her leg caught in a crib slat? Is she asleep yet or just laying there looking around?

My love for the video monitor was reaffirmed about three weeks ago. Willa woke up suddenly around 9 pm and she was crying pretty hard. This was not normal, so I ran into get her. Unfortunately, I think she wasn't quite awake yet, so she cried even harder once I picked her up. Ryan calmed her down and we cuddled her for almost an hour. She was VERY sleepy, but she really has a hard time falling asleep outside of her crib. She kept squirming and squirming and we could tell that she just really wanted to fall asleep, but couldn't while we were holding her. Since she didn't seem sick or otherwise hurt, we decided that we just needed to put her back in her crib. It was the most merciful thing to do, because she was just exhausted.

Well, she didn't think it was a good idea and started crying pretty hard again as soon as I laid her down. She cried and cried and I almost went and got her again. She didn't seem sick, but maybe something was wrong. I had the good sense to look at the video monitor before I went in to get her for the second time, however. It was hilarious, I started laughing. She would cry several loud and pitiful cries, then stop completely to turn around and look at the door. Then, she would cry again, stop, turn to look at the door. She kept doing that! This was not an instance where a baby is so distraught or out of control that they really need help being soothed. She was TOTALLY in control and trying to milk it for all she was worth! She was calm enough to lay down and go to sleep, but she was testing and trying to get us to come get her again. 

Without the video monitor, her cries sounded totally real to me, and I would have gotten her up and gone through the whole process again. But, when I could see that she was actually faking (and kept faking for 45 minutes!!) it allowed me to relax and to let her figure it out. I wasn't trying to be punitive or to sleep train because she is normally an amazing little sleeper, I was trying to give her what she needed at that moment: sleep. If she was the type of baby who would fall asleep while I held her, I would have happily done that that night. However, she isn't. She has to put herself to sleep in her bed. In the end, if I don't allow her to do that, then it actually harms her because she becomes so sleep-deprived and loopy.

I love our video monitor so much. I think having one is definitely worth the cost. I thought we would have stopped using it months ago, but two years later and we are going strong.

Grateful Day 3

I'm grateful for my jobs teaching harp and teaching at the community college. I'll admit, I don't always love going to the CC and marking up papers for fragments, but I do love that I can do it. A friend was talking to me about her husband's school teaching job and how it just wasn't very much money. She was thinking of going back to school to get a degree so she could get a job. I just became so grateful that I have at least two sources of additional income for us that don't take me away from being a mom, but that do definitely help us out. I also love teaching this semester since it's the first semester that I haven't had to completely revamp my syllabus and lesson plans - much easier preparation this time around! When we're settled somewhere, I'd like to have more harp students and maybe some nice piano ones as well.

Thankful 1 & 2

A few of my friends are keeping a thankful list for the month of November. I'd like to play along, writing down what I'm grateful for is something I have been wanting to do for a while.

1) I'm thankful that Willa can be very silly. Yesterday afternoon she was running around the kitchen completely naked except for her pink rainboots. It was very silly and made me laugh. I got pictures, but I shan't post nude baby pics on the blog.

2) I am thankful for Netflix and the Roku. I don't know what we did without it; I told Ryan that if we would have had it during law school, life would have been so much easier for me when he was gone studying all the time. It's cheap and easy entertainment.