Day 12 of 30 things

Day 12 of 30 Things: Describe a typical day.

My days are really not that interesting, so this post will probably be the same. I guess I'll just do a quick run-down.

8:00am: Bryant comes and gives me a kiss goodbye as he leaves for work. Then after he shuts the front door, I usually hear "Mommy! Mommy!" or "It's a clue! It's a clue!" from Savannah's room. She used to sleep until 10, but ever since daylight savings time, she jumped TWO hours back! Then it's out of the crib, diaper change, and Breakfast for the 2 of us. Usually fruit and milk for her, and cereal or cream of wheat with toast for me.

8:30am: Watch our morning cartoons. This usually consists of Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse club, and Blues clues.

9:30am: If I'm feeling well, then It's shower time. I stick Savannah in her crib with another cartoon while I jump in the shower, then when I get out, I stick her in the bathtub while I do my hair and makeup. If I'm not feeling well, then It's another hour of laying pathetically on the couch.

10:30am. Snack time. 

11:00- 1:00ish: Play time. We usually like to color, use the chalkboard, play with magnets, get chased around, snuggle our stuffed animals, hide behind corners and scare each other, read, sing songs, play on the iPad etc. Some days, I take Savannah to the movie theater.

1:15: Lunch

1:30 or 2:30-ish: Nap time. This means a bottle, a stuffed animal, a blanket and a cuddle. On a good day, she sleeps 2 hours. On a bad day, she sleeps 20 minutes. While Savannah takes a nap, I usually either take one as well, eat lunch, catch up on homework, read, or watch a TV show that isn't a cartoon.

(If It's Tuesday or Thursday, I leave for school at 12:20 and come home about 3:30 while my dad comes over to babysit.)

4:00: Wake up from nap and it's time to eat again. Then we sometimes run errands. Even if we don't need too. Being stuck inside all day sucks so we sometimes go to the grocery store, or maybe just the 2 of us go out to eat, or go window shopping. Bryant usually texts me around 4:30 to tell me he's getting off work and will be home by 5.

5:00: Bryant texts us again, saying that he's now on his way home from work. We try to clean up the house a bit. Key word being "Try". Savannah likes to help with laundry and dusting the most.

6:00: Bryant calls again to tell me he was supposed to leave at 5, but is just getting around to leaving. (Happens every. single. day.) We usually ask him to either pick something up for dinner, or we start cooking dinner.

7:00: Bryant finally comes home.

7:30: Dinner

8:00: Bryant and Savannah play, play, play. That little girl sure loves her daddy!

8:30-9:30 ish: Savannah gets tired, we put her down for bed and Bryant and I watch Sports Center together (even though I HATE sports center, I watch it because I love him ;-)

10:00: After dozing off on the couch, and Bryant laughing at me every time I snore, I decide I've had enough of college basketball and I head to bed.

11:00: Bryant comes to bed and I snuggle up to keep warm. And because I think he's pretty handsome.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

(This is just a typical day. I wish this schedule was more concrete, but nap times and stuff varies day to day. Most of the time, I just feel lazy. There isn't really that much going on to keep me productive. Also, my dad comes over to work everyday, so we spend a lot of time throughout the day hanging out with him. And sometimes, on the rare occasion, Bryant, Savannah and I will all go out to lunch or dinner.)

Halloween!

I have so much to do right now, we finally have every last bit of our stuff in our new house, but every time I look at all the boxes of junk, I get a little stressed. So while the baby is asleep, I thought I'd catch up on our Halloween!

All month long, Savannah has been so excited for Halloween. She became obsessed over pumpkins. Every time we went for our walk, we HAD to stop at every house and check out the pumpkins on the porch. She LOVED them! A couple of weeks ago, My family all went to a pumpkin patch to do a hay ride and pick out our Halloween pumpkins. Savannah was in heaven. I've never seen her more excited over anything. We let her wander around the patch, and she very meticulously, picked out 3 pumpkins to take home. She was very picky and specific on what she wanted. She would pick up a pumpkin, carry it around for a second, then if she didn't like it, she would put it back, and if she wanted it, she would hand it to us to put in the wagon.

Over the next couple of weeks, Bryant and I's big pumpkins sat on the porch, and anytime anyone came to the door, Savannah would proudly point and tell our guests "Wow! Issa punkin!". Her 3 little ones sat on the entertainment center in the living room, where she would pick them up and cart them around like they were one of her stuffed animals. She even gave me one to cuddle one one morning when I was laying sick on the couch!

She even picked out her pumpkin Halloween costume. We were planning on her being a monkey, and were at costco, walking around the costume rack looking for one her size, when she yelled out "Mommy! Punkin! Wow! Punkin!" So we of course, HAD to get her the pumpkin costume. When she tried it on, she didn't want to take it off!

The weekend before Halloween, I had heard that our local grocery store was doing a trick-or-treat thing, so I dressed Savannah up and we headed to the store.  This was her very first introduction to trick-or-treating and once she realized that people were giving her candy, she started going up to people and saying "more!". We had to work on saying please...

Halloween day was really fun. My parent's ward had a trunk-or-treat and I decided that would be easier than carting her around the neighborhood. Once Savannah realized that people were handing out candy, she went crazy! She had opened a couple of her candies halfway through the party, and towards the end, she was basically running sprints around the parking lot. I've never seen her so hyper and wound up! We ended up leaving a bit early because she was really getting out of control and it was hard for me to keep an eye on her. It takes 4 minutes to get from my parent's church to my house, and within that 4 minutes, she was out cold. And I mean OUT! I brought her in and laid her on the couch, I tried shaking her legs, tickling her chin, and I even scrubbed her face and hands with wipes to get the sticky sugar off of them and she didn't budge! She even slept through all of our trick-or-treaters knocking and ringing the doorbell. 

 (My sister as a Newsie, Savy as a pumpkin, and my mom as a cactus!)

(In a sugar-coma)

Finally, after about an hour, she slowly woke up. It took her about 10 minutes to realize she was home and fully wake up. Once she did, she pulled down her candy bucket and devoured more candy before I could stop her! Sugar rush #2 was just as entertaining as the first. Bryant and I were eating pizza and Bryant had put some ranch on his plate. Savannah picked it up and pretended to pour it on everything, then she got mad at me when I didn't want any on my plate. Then she kept climbing up on the couch, then yelling "Mommy! I stuck! I stuck!" Then she would smell her own feet, crinkle her nose and whisper "Eww, yucky!" I was cracking up!

The next morning, she was having a sugar hangover. She was so ornery and cranky and It was a rough morning for me because I was sick, trying to catch up on some homework, and trying to pack all at the same time. After her 3rd time-out that morning, she finally went back to sleep, 3 hours earlier than her normal nap time!

After that, we haven't given her any more candy...

I hope everyone else had as great of a Halloween as we did!

Day 11 of 30 Things

Day 11: What are 10 pet peeves you have?

1. When people (i.e. Bryant) breath on my face while sleeping. I have to face away from Bryant when I go to bed, because I hate breathing in other people's air. Even when I take a nap with Savannah, I have to make sure my face is well away from the direction of hers. I've been known (while pregnant the first time and I was constantly tossing and turning all night) to wake Bryant up and *kindly* ask him to roll over, away from me. It's nothing personal, I just don't like sharing air...

2. When you are having a conversation with someone and that someone doesn't make eye contact/texts/interrupts/ignores you while you are talking to them.

3. When people lovingly talk about their 10 cats, then, ask me to hold one of them "because they are just so sweet and you'll love him!" It's happened, on more than one occasion. Sorry to any cat lovers out there, but I'm allergic, and I'm a dog person.

4. When people ask me to cheat and do their homework for them, like that guy in my political science class... Stop please...

5. Solicitors, of any kind. No, I don't need my ceiling fan cleaned, or my lawn fertilized, I can do those myself. And no, I don't need my food delivered to me, or a new phone line, or your pamphlet on government conspiracies. But I did once have a Jehovah's witness hand me one of their pamphlets, along with a 5 dollar bill. Sneaky way of making me take your pamphlet, but kudos on being effective ;-)

6. When I take Savannah to any type of public place, such as a park, and she sees another kid and runs up to them and gives them a hug or holds their hand, then the other child's parent comes running and flailing to rip Savannah away from them. Then cart their kid off giving me the evil eye. For crying out loud Mom's! Your at a park, where there are LOTS of kids, and my child doesn't have rabies. Learn to let your kid be social!

7. This one goes back to when I was working at Barnes and Noble, but it still ranks in my top 10: When people say "Hi, I'm looking for a book..." Ok, because for a second there, I thought you were going to order lunch. Also, when people would say "I don't remember the title, or the author, or even what it's about, but they talked about it on the View this morning, and I think it either had a blue, or yellow cover..." Then proceed to get mad at you because you can't just type in "blue or possibly yellow book" into the search and find what they were looking for.

8. Bad spelling and punctuation. Sometimes, I'll get an e-mail, or see a facebook status that's 5 paragraphs long, with no punctuation AT ALL. It's just one giant run-on sentence. It drives me nuts!

9.  When I wake up because all the sheets are tangled and I'm stuck. Bryant claims it happens because I steal the blankets, but the truth is that he gets hot and piles them on top of me.

10. Wet socks. 'Nuff said...

Day 10 of 30 Things

Day 10: Describe your most embarrassing moment.

Ok, I've got 2 for you today.

So, once upon a time, there was this boy who lived in my building, who I kind of really super liked. Let's call him Bryant...

Well, one day, he asked if I wanted to come play kick-ball with our ward. I knew he was super athletic and loved any type of sport or competition. I, trying to impress him, told him that I was really good a sports too, and that I played pretty much everything (which, is false...) So off we went to the field.

I was feeling pretty confident, and kind of talked myself up, saying that I was a kickball pro (because really, no one needs to know that you were always last to be picked at this game in grade school...). So here I was, up to kick! I actually kicked a pretty good hit that went past the 2nd baseman. I ran hard, and as fast as I could, to show off my amazingly fast running skills when, halfway to first, I got ahead of myself. 

You know when you are running, and you don't trip over anything, but you are going too fast and your legs kind of drag behind your head and shoulders? Then WHAM! The next thing you know, you're literally eating dust...

Well, that's what happened to me.

I just kind of laid there, face down in red clay dust and shame. I could hear everyone laughing. It was humiliating. Especially when that's all Bryant could talk about for the next week! Needless to say, I left the game and walked home after my pathetic display of athleticism.

That boy ended up marrying me, so I guess I looked pretty cute at least.

Story #2

This summer, I participated in a neighborhood "biggest loser" weight loss challenge. One day, after coming home from a work out, I decided that I was going to take a picture of myself for a "before" photo... In just my skivvies...

This photo was meant for personal use only. Just so I could see how I looked without baggy clothes covering up my curves. So, in my sports bra and panties, I stood in my hallway and took a profile photo from my thighs up. Mind you, not only was I half naked, but I had just come back from a workout, so I was looking pretty ragged. 

I had used Bryant's phone, because It was sitting on the table and mine was charging in my room. I then decided that I would text myself the photo to my phone. Bryant had put me in his phone contacts under a nickname and I couldn't remember what it was, so I decided to just punch in my number. But just as I hit the "send" button, I realized that I had typed in the last number in wrong!!!

So yup, someone out there has a photo of me, in all my chubby, skivvy glory. I'm still mortified about it.

Day 8 of 30 Things

What are 5 passions that you have?

This one was actually kind of hard for me. I tried to think if I had any talents, or any one thing that I really liked to do, but then I realized that there weren't "things" or "hobbies" that I was truly passionate about. But more, people.

1. Family- I love my family. All of them. Grandparents, Aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, people who I'm not really related to but consider family anyways... I'm very passionate about loving my family, and always trying to be a good support for them. Whether they want it or not.

2. Being A Wife- I try with all my might to be a good wife. I haven't been doing a good job lately because I've been a big old baby with this pregnancy, but my husband still comes home every day, so I must be doing something right :-)

3. Being a Mother- I am very passionate about being a mother. I give it my all and I try my very best to be everything a mother should be. Again, lately I haven't done such a great job at this, and I've let my daughter watch too much TV and eat too many pieces of Halloween candy, but she loves me more than anyone else on this planet, and I love her twice as much as that. When she comes and wraps her arms around me for no reason other than to show me she loves and appreciates me, I realize I must be doing something right there too.

4. Being a good citizen of the world- People drive me crazy. They really do. I always feel inconvenienced by them and irritated by how they act. But I do try very hard to be kind (believe it or not). I feel that I am quick to forgive. I've been wronged by friends, but I will continue to consider them my friend and I truly pray for their well-being. There is no use for negativity and I'm passionate about being a friend to those who may need you. I'm always willing to listen to that stranger at the grocery store chat away for 20 minutes, because even though it drives me crazy, you never know when that someone was praying for a friend that day.

5. Life- I'm very grateful for my life. Its the first thing I pray about every night. Our life is such a special gift, and even though I may never be read about in the history books, and my life may never amount to more than a few happy kids with dirt on their faces and running around barefoot, I feel that my life is important, and I celebrate it every day.

(Muddy face from playing at the Narrows in Zions National Park)

8 weeks, let the morning sickness begin!

I was going through some of my old blog posts from when I was pregnant with Savannah, and I decided that I should probably start documenting this pregnancy too. That's probably super annoying to all you who read my blog, but honestly, this is for my own records. So choose to read or not too!

Anyways, I am about 8 weeks along right now and already I can tell this pregnancy is a LOT different than the last one (signs that this one could be a boy?!?!)

The biggest differences are my energy level, morning sickness, and weight gain (oh joy...).

I have been so exhausted with this pregnancy. It's ridiculous. I'm usually crawling into bed an hour or two before Bryant does, which means he is now in charge of getting Savy ready for bed too, and I sleep for HOURS. Some nights, as much as 12 hours at a time! Last night I slept from 11:00pm to 10:30am. That's an insane amount of time! I wouldn't have even noticed that Bryant had gotten up for work if he didn't pat my leg and tell me goodbye. And naps. Oh boy, have I had a lot a naps. Savannah's nap time is usually my quiet time to catch up on homework, blogging, folding laundry, sometimes just eating a snack and catching up on T.V. shows. But almost every single afternoon, the second Savannah's asleep, I'm out before my head even hits the pillow. 

I've tried everything to get some energy back. I've tried going on brisk walks out in the chilly air. I've tried sleeping less because I know that sometimes, too much sleep can make people overly tired. I've tried getting more sleep. I've even tried adding a lot more iron into my diet, since I've had to deal with anemia for years and I know when my levels are low, my energy is low. Nothing has really helped. 

I've also been having really crazy dreams. I had horrible nightmares with Savannah, but this time, they usually involve something that resembles wonderland, and they usually don't make sense. Like my dream the other night involved ships that looked like power tools. So weird...

Last pregnancy, I was blessed with mild morning sickness that didn't show up until I was almost out of my first trimester. The other day I received a text from my relief society president asking how I was feeling and If I needed anything. I told her I felt amazing, other than being tired, and that I had no morning sickness at all, thinking It wouldn't show up for several more weeks, if at all.

That afternoon, I was eating pasta for lunch and after a few bites, I began to gag. I couldn't even finish it because it made me so sick! Thankfully, I haven't had to beeline it for the restroom yet, but my stomach is constantly uneasy. I can still drink milk, and brush my teeth without gagging, so that's a good sign at least...

Last time, I couldn't WAIT to start showing! I was so excited the day you could tell I was pregnant. This time around, not so much. I would be more excited if I was small to begin with, but I still have a pooch from my last pregnancy, and it's just gotten worse. I put on a pair of pants I wore all last winter yesterday, and I couldn't button them! It was so depressing! All through class, I was uncomfortable, I wanted to unzip them and relax, but that would have been weird... Then today, I put on my shorts, that have fit perfectly all summer and I could tell they were a bit more snug than normal. I didn't even need the belt! AHHHHHH!!!!! I had better be carrying twins or something. Otherwise, this is sad... Looks like I'll be doing maternity clothes shopping several months earlier than planned... as in like, tomorrow....

My mood has been terrible. I attribute this to all of the above. Tired, sick and chubby Brooke makes for a miserable attitude. I'm the luckiest woman alive to have the husband I do. Bryant is incredibly patient. He never gets mad at me when I'm yelling at him about how the toaster over-toasted my bread, or that my sunglasses are too dark, or that the tile floor is too gosh-dang cold on my bare feet (I wish I was kidding about all those complaints. I told you I'm grumpy!). He deserves an award for putting up with me.

I think this pregnancy is different because it's my 2nd. I was in amazing shape with my first, and the whole thing was a breeze. This time, I'm a lot more out of shape, I'm busy with helping my parents move, I've got a lot of schoolwork, and I've got a busy toddler who goes a mile a minute.

Thankfully, she is more than happy to sit in her crib with a cup of juice, her stuffed animals and watch an hour of Sesame Street if I need just one extra hour of sleep...

Surprise!

Yup! Most of you guessed it!

I'm pregnant! Woo! Stokes baby number 2 is due to arrive May 25th! I had taken a pregnancy test a couple of weeks ago, and it had come back negative. I was a little disappointed, but I just carried on normally for the next couple of weeks. Then over the next few days, I was feeling exhausted. I couldn't get through the day without a nap. I thought this was because I was getting off of caffeine and my body was having a hard time adjusting. Then I noticed other little things, like my appetite changing. Last time I was pregnant, my whole first trimester I was starving! I was constantly snacking and eating. I realized that I would have breakfast, then as soon as I got to school, I would have to run and grab a water and a veggie cup to get me through class. Then as soon as I got home, I was so hungry for lunch that I would get shakey. There were other signs too, and I started to add them up. Then one morning, I decided out of the blue "I still have some tests under the sink, there's no harm in testing again!" So I did and, surprise! Two pink lines! 

I'm only about 7 weeks along, and I was going to wait a few more before I announced it, but we had told family and a couple of close friends, and then suddenly, I was getting phone calls, texts and e-mails asking if we were expecting. Then I decided to post that I had a secret a couple of blog posts ago and got even MORE messages and phone calls! I mean, I wasn't very good at hiding what my secret was, was I ;-)

I've tried to explain it to savannah, but of course, she just thinks I'm hiding one of her baby dolls under my shirt and keeps lifting my shirt up randomly asking "Baby? Is it?" She did very sweetly give my tummy a big old kiss the other day. Maybe she can sense things better that we adults can. After all, when I was 3 I told my Mom that my brother was playing in my room, before she even knew she was having a boy.

As you can see, we are pretty darn excited!

We can't wait to meet you baby Stokes!