Reasons to be Happy and Thankful

This fall, we have been on a survival mode to say the least. Troy's school and work schedule has left me feeling like a single(working) mom and Troy is getting less and less sleep each week. On top of this, Saku has entered the stage in toddlerhood of knowing what he wants and wanting it NOW. And when he doesn't get his way, he lets you know.

When I got pregnant, Saku was only 11 months and he was really easy. Fast forward six months and he is quite the handful, so it will be interesting to see how we will handle two kids. I still think he is the best little thing that has ever happened to me, but he does demand a lot.

Tonight, I am feeling great and thankful.

Maybe it's because...

the end of semester is only 4 weeks away and I will get my husband back as he graduates December 18th.

I got to enjoy my youngest sister for two weeks. I got to know her better and appreciate and love her more.

She is truly a babe!

The fact that no matter how many temper tantrums and time outs take place during the day, this handsome face melts my heart each time.

I slept 12 hours last night. Yep, I went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 9 am. It wasn't all continuous since Saku woke up TWICE crying hysterically. I'm wondering if he has nightmares or night terrors. Does anyone have experience with this?

I spent all afternoon with Camry and Rachel as we were sewing as much as our three little toddlers allowed us to. Camry is one of my favorite people and I loved getting a chance to get to know Rachel better. Plus their amazing sewing skills helped me as I started some Christmas projects.

Good news about my job situation. I get to change to a per diem position after baby girl arrives. This means that I am required to work once in 30 days, which is practically nothing. I am so excited to be able to keep up my skills while staying home with my kids. This was the goal that I had in mind when I decided to go to work this past year, yet I wasn't sure if it would happen so soon. I always felt strongly that I was supposed to be with this unit and work under this manager and they have been so supportive and flexible with me. So every once in a while, I will put on my scrubs, take care of my patients and use my brain in a non-mommy way and rest of the time, I get to do what I love the most, be a mom.

What is making you happy this week?

Oh how I wish you were closer

Aino,

Thanks for coming to stay with us for the last two weeks.

We sure love you and appreciate your help.

Saku will miss having his play buddy around all the time and mom will miss those extra few minutes of sleep when you helped out with Saku.

Mostly, we will miss your smile and laughter.

Cant wait to see what happens this spring!

Love,

Saku, sistah and Troy

"Are you a little bit pregnant"

This baby girl's pregnancy obviously has not been documented as well as Saku's was. I am 27 weeks and 6 days along. The baby girl never, ever stops moving. Each night as we sleep and Troy cuddles me, he is amazed at all the rocking and rolling that's going on in my belly. He keeps asking me how I am able to sleep at all.

There are few things that seem different this time around.

I could eat sweets all day long. I crave donuts, candy, cookies and the list goes on. It is really hard for me to stay away from them and all the Holiday sweets don't make it any easier.

I am still running few times a week. Last Saturday I actually ran almost 3 miles. I didn't have my watch with me so I'm not sure how fast I was going, but I think it was around 10:30-11 minute/mile.

With my first pregnancy, I got so excited about each doctor's appointment because it meant that I was that much closer to my due date. This time around, I wish there weren't so many.

I am obviously more tired since I work nights and have a toddler at home. There have been few nights when I have started to feel dizzy and really weak around 5 am. I guess I am prepared for the sleep deprivation that comes with a newborn.

Baby girl at almost 28 weeks

I think my belly is about the same size with this pregnancy as it was with Saku. During my first pregnancy, I got lots of comments about how big my belly was and until this week, people kept saying how tiny I was. However, on Monday night my co-workers said that my belly really had popped out since last week. Most of my patients love talking about the baby and how I'm doing. A 81 year old, sweet little man requested that I sent him a birth announcement.

I have to say, this week I am feeling fat. Until now, I have felt really good about my weight gain and how I look, but this week has been little bit of an emotional struggle. I am also tired of maternity clothes. I am too cheap to buy a huge selection, so I recycle through the same shirts week after week. While I can't wait to deliver the baby and have my body back, I am not looking forward to that stage where you are just floppy and jiggle rather than pregnant or skinny.

I have a small collection of baby girl clothes and I am so excited about her arrival. I feel like I need to start preparing for the birth again. I am excited and nervous at the same time about how things will play out this time around. I am praying and wishing that I won't have back labor again.

I cannot think of any girl names that seem right for her. So this baby might not have a name for a while and we are keeping it to ourselves like we did with Saku, which isn't hard when you don't have one.

Goodbyes and Hellos

Since we will be a family of four in few months, we decided that it was time to get a bigger car. We bought our own first car three years ago and absolutely loved the little Scion Xa. While it worked beautifully for two people and we learned to pack it efficiently once Saku joined us, it just wasn't going to be a big enough car for two car seats and all the extra stuff that comes with kids. We do have our second car; however, we don't feel like it is reliable enough for longer drives.

So a week ago, we sold our Scion to a young couple who fell in love with it like we had few years before.

We had been doing research on possible SUVs and looking at prices for months now. We even spent 4 hours at a dealership two weekends ago, but we lucky enough to find a private party who were selling their Chevy Traverse. I have to admit that I feel slightly spoiled to drive this nice car. It is way big for us now. We obviously dont need a 8 passenger SUV; however, we figured that we would buy a nice, big car now and drive it for the next 10+ years. By then we will hopefully have more kiddos to fill the seats. Though at the moment, I feel like two kids will be enough for few years:)

Saku enjoys being higher up so he can see more of the road. I am still trying to adjust to the fact that my car is twice as wide and twice as long as the old one. Troy drove it to work the other morning and when I called him, he said "I have bad news for you, you'll have to drive the Mazda from now on, I just love the Traverse". It feels good to be happy with our decision after spending a lot of money on car. You know me, I am such a frugal woman, so it took me few days to get over the fact that we had spent that much money on a car, but I love it and I love the color.

The old owners didn't wash the car before we bought it. On Monday morning after our morning run, we decided to do little scrubbing on it.

Saku loves helping and cleaning, so he was more than happy to play with sponges. After he got tired of cleaning and wanted to run to the street, we put him inside the car and let him "drive" while we finished washing the car.

Yes, Aino was lucky to come on a vacation and get recruited for baby sitting and house chores right away.

Infiniti G35 used to be my "dream car", but I have to say that I am perfectly happy with the Traverse. While cars are mostly for boys, do you have a car that you really like?

Pumpkins, Lion and Baby Sister of Mine

Last weekend, we drove to Phoenix for a Halloween party that Troy's parent's ward puts together. It is quite the show, so we went to help out and enjoy the party. Saku did a little round of trunk or treating. He wore his pumpkin PJs, which got covered with his sweatshirt when it got cold.

He quickly learned to get the candy, put it in his pumpkin, say thank you and wave good bye--and then moved on to the next car.

Saku is checking out what he scored. He liked M&Ms, but we really didn't go to many cars since he doesn't need too much candy.

One of the fabulous attractions of Grandma's house is the piano. It's an electric one, so you can turn down the volume; however, Saku figured out how to use that button so it doesn't help us much.

Another perk is Grandpa's love for football. All the boys enjoyed watching it. Saku has started to say "ball", but only when you sort of whisper it to him. if you ask him to say "ball" in a normal voice, he signs it.

Saku has loved the Halloween season and all the decorations; especially, all the Halloween lights in the neighborhood get many "wow" remarks from him. I can't wait to decorate for Christmas since it is my favorite holiday and I think Saku will enjoy the decorations.

Last night was our ward's Halloween party. I made and frosted some cookies and Saku was happy to lick off the frosting.

Thanks to Camille. Saku made an adorable lion. He even kept the hoodie part on until it just got too hot.

Saku "tossing" some bean bags.

The balloon was a hit until it popped and scared him:)

After the party, it was time to pick up Aino from the airport. Saku was already in bed, but this morning they became instant friends. Aino supplied us with TONS of candy. Few adorable clothes for Saku and the baby girl and this sweet soccer ball for Saku.

Saku is more into cars than balls, but he was in heaven as Aino and I kicked the ball around in the backyard and he got to chase it.

We are thrilled to have Aino with us for the next two weeks. Right before she went to bed tonight, she said "just wake me up whenever you need me in the morning". Oh, the joy of sisters and having extra pair of hands around the house. This means that momma will probably get to sleep a little more in the next two weeks and I will get to do fun things with my baby sister.

Our goal is to take pictures every day for the next two weeks, so I hopefully I can finally do a pregnancy update with pictures. One of our friends commented how I have exploded in the last few weeks, which is ironic because people at work keep making comments about how tiny I am. I'm thinking that I'm pretty average this time around, but I'll let you decide once pictures come up.

Today Aino informed me that I have been lazy about blogging and I agree. I just don't have the energy to do it...is anyone else feeling unmotivated to blog as well?

Success!!

Today was such a good day. So ordinary and so good. Saku had a rough night last night so we brought him to our bed. I have no idea how such a little body can move so much and take up so much room. Troy went to work little later than usual, which meant that momma got sleep in until almost 8 am. I actually woke up with a smile on my face even though the night had been rather restless for all of us.

Saku and I made banana pancakes for breakfast and went on our usual walk to the park. Since it was much cooler today, I even dressed up for today and received compliments from Troy. I know some of you super moms look like fashion models every day, but I am not one of them, so little fashion made me happy today. While Saku napped, I talked to Anna and enjoyed an episode of "House".

We took Troy to school as we do each day and shopped at Sunflower Market while he was in class. I love to get a treat there when we shop. They have delicious muffins and candy bins, but my self control was solid and we only bought produce.

The afternoon was filled with playing, a 1.5 mile run and another stop at the park. I vacuumed the whole house and folded laundry. Saku and I took a shower together and cooked dinner.

Troy and I finished watching "Robin Hood", which we had started last night. It doesn't get much better than snuggling with your hottie hubby while he rubs your round belly while baby girl is rocking it.

So ordinary, yet my heart is so happy right now.

Saku found his floating device and wanted to put it on. After about 45 seconds, he got sick of it:)

This is my big boy who is eating a ham and cheese sandwich.

He is 90% angel and 10% little monster. Though some days it seems that those numbers flip:)

Also good news about my job--but I will wait until things are finalized to post anything! I am so blessed.

Fun Happenings

I have not been in the mood for blogging lately, but I better catch up before too much time goes by. We survived, I mean enjoyed, this year's General Conference. It is not quite the same when you have a 15 month old running around. Brian and Alia came over on Sunday and we ended up using Baby Einstein as a baby sitter for Saku and Cameron during the second session.

This is my view when I attempt to check out my toes.

It has finally started to cool down and I even put on SHOES instead of flip flops last week as Saku and I went to the park.

I sat on a blanket and read my book while Saku wandered around and enjoyed his freedom. The reading isn't too efficient since I can only look away from him for 15 seconds at a time. He is so quick nowadays.

Saku enjoys eating spaghettios and usually one of his cars accompanies him for meal times. We tend to take multiple showers each day due to his love for smearing food on his hair.

On Saturday night, we went out to Downtown Tucson to enjoy a cultural festival called "Tucson Meet Yourself". This was our third year, but first year that some friends were able to come with us. We enjoyed some eggrolls, swedish meatballs and Indian fry bread with honey and powdered sugar. So delicious!

We found a grass area next to a band playing some music so Saku was able to dance. He gets to excited about music and thinks he is pretty cool when he dances.

Brian, Alia and Cameron

Steph, Mike and Maddy

Do you like how none of the kids wanted to give a smile at the camera.

I know the receipt is difficult to see, but I scored the deal of the year at Frys on Saturday. I was able to get 141.06 dollars worth of food for no money at all. Yes, free groceries. Thanks to coupons and two transferred prescriptions, my weekly groceries were free:)


We are awesome parents and have introduced soda to him. He LOVES dr. Pepper, but enjoys coke as well. We cooked some Cafe Rio Pork on Sunday so we had a little treat of Coke as a left over.

Saku is really strong. He has learned to hang from things such as the handicap bar in our bathtub and the monkey bars at the park. He is able to hold himself for a good 10 seconds. Obviously we are right there in case he would slip.

Saku loves drawing, but he still tends to want to eat the crayons, which makes drawing little bit of a battle. Too often we have to be "all done" after he decides to chew on the crayon instead of drawing with it.
Every day with Saku is an adventure. He still doesn't say any words, but we have learned more animals sounds. We can mimic a cow, a chicken and a fish. He loves to say "wow" when something cool happens and "yay".

Few nights a week, he seems to have a difficult time going to sleep. So Troy or I go and sing to him while rubbing his back. If he is not a sleep and we stop singing, he sits up and makes the "more" sign because he likes to singing so much.

Friday night, Troy was singing to Saku while he was drinking milk from his sippy cup. No more bottle for the little man:) He stopped drinking and turned around and planted a huge open mouth kiss on Troy. Saku is more than happy to give kisses, but this was the first time, he just gave one without being asked. You can bet that his dad was beyond happy.

Saku is such a restless sleeper that we can not have him in our bed because he kicks and tosses around all night. However, on Friday night while mom was at work, he woke up at midnight and ended up sleeping next to Troy all night long.

For the longest time, Saku was a mommy's boy and I kept telling Troy that there will come a day when daddy will be the coolest thing in the world. I think we are there now.

While we love him, not every day is all fun and games. We have started to do time out since Saku has a tendency to want to throw things. I honestly don't think he means to be hurt anyone, but it is not a habit we want to encourage. Yesterday he hit another kid with a toy, so we had to do a time out during Sunday school. Any tips on how to tame a wild boy??? A friend of mine was worried about her daughter pinching other kids and make a comment that it made her feel like a bad mom. I assured her that I would never think that it was her parenting; however, now that Saku has started being rough with other kids every now and then, I start to wonder if people will think I can't discipline my child. I know it's not rational since I can't control my child every second.

I am way due for a real belly update for baby girl. We call her "Eavan" as a nickname for now. It is a Celtic name that Troy found few weeks ago.