July Wrap Up

Just a few pictures from the end of July

Rex Moved On

After a few more repairs we sold Rex. We got $1000 more for it than I thought we would. I'm ridiculously sentimental about things, so although it was nice to get rid of a car that has caused us so much trouble and stress, I was still sad to see him go. Hopefully the next owner treats it well and doesn't have as much trouble with it as we did.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

 One of Robert's colleagues gave us a couple tickets to an Oakland A's game. So we got a babysitter for the day and off we went. It was a ton of fun. A laughable moment of the day was when a worker that was in his 70s offered me his hand to help me up a couple stairs then said, "You looked like a senior citizen coming up those stairs." What do you even say to that? Especially when it's coming from a man who is well into his senior citizen years? I didn't think I looked that cumbersome and not graceful pregnant yet. Guess I was wrong. We've been laughing at it since.

Monday Fun Day: Finger Painting

I love the noticeable developmental and personality difference between Mary and Lydia's rainbows. 

Mary's

Lydia's

Still a month left of summer fun!!!

Ramblings By Me

So, as the title implies, I'm going to ramble for a bit about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. And I'm not even sure how to best say it all, but I'm going to try.

Several people from many of my different circles (friends, neighbors, ward, family, etc) and from all walks of life have made 2 of the same comments to me recently. Those 2 comments, or variations thereof, are "You are the definition of a SUPER mom" and "You and Robert have the most perfect, happy relationship as a married couple and as parents." I've noticed, especially lately, a big increase in this, and I think it is directly linked to what and how often I've posted on here, Facebook, and Instagram.

First of all, thank you! I'm glad you think that of us. We try extra hard to do our best, and I'm glad that in some ways it shows. But I want to make one thing very clear...

My/Our life is NOT just what I post online.

A few years ago one of my Facebook friends said on Facebook that she had made a New Year's resolution of only posting positive statuses on Facebook for the whole year and challenged others to do the same. I took the challenge and have tried to continue it ever since. I'm not perfect at it, but it does help me to make an extra effort to look for the positive things that are happening throughout my day versus the negative. Even on this blog, which is basically my journal, I try to not post the negative or heavy things that are happening until I am able to see the humor or lesson I've learned from it that I can post with it as well.

That being said, I could list to you exactly reasons why I'm not a Super Mom, and why Robert and I don't always have the perfect relationship, but that would be super negative and in reality pointless. But I will say that there are a few things I feel we do right and I think it is, in part, because of two realizations I've come to.

First, women are ALWAYS comparing themselves to others and feeling like they are coming up short compared to everyone else. There was one night that I was telling Robert how I was feeling like all my friends were doing better at being moms or just at life in general than I was. And he said, "I bet right now they are saying the same thing about you." Literally 2 days after we had this conversation I was talking to a couple of my friends while Robert was in the room and they started going on about how they wish they could be as patient of a mom as I was and how much they love mine and Robert's relationship, etc. etc. Robert and I looked at each other and just laughed at the irony. I think we are all doing better than we think we are.

The second realization happened a couple of years ago. I was going through an especially rough time and thinking that no one had it rougher than I did right then. I was talking to one of my sisters about this and she told me something that she had heard somewhere before. She said that if we were somehow given the offer to exchange trials with any person in the world but first we could put all of our trials in a pile and compare them with the other person's, we would immediately scoop our trials back up, glad and thankful to have them versus the other person's. I learned then to never assume that someone is having an easier time than I am. The flip side of that is to make the most of the hand you are dealt. Be thankful for the life you have, it's the only one you are going to get. Might as well find a way to be happy with it and enjoy it as much as you can.

And that's really all there is to it. I'm not perfect - no one is, but I do the best I can. Robert and I do the best we can. There are plenty of days that are admittedly not my or our best. I accept that they happen, dust them off, and try again tomorrow.

Because when all is said and done I am doing better than I think I am, and I am thankful for the life I've been given.

Boardwalk Dollar Nights

The Santa Cruz Boardwalk does $1 nights every Monday and Tuesday through July and August. Every ride is just $1 a person. (Normally it's $3-$6 per ride) We loved them last year, and we finally were able to go this year for the first time last week. It was extra fun that Mary was able to enjoy it this year. Last year she would just stay in the stroller the whole time. This time we didn't bring the stroller because both girls just walked on their own the whole time. Let me tell you... it was LIBERATING. My BIG grownup girls ;)

First stop, the Carousel.

Mary did a bit better this year. She lasted halfway through
the ride before crying for Robert to hold her.

Lydia loved it as always.

The Bulgy ride aka whale ride.

Mary wasn't a fan. She clenched on and cried "Ma ma. Ma ma!" the whole time. Haha!

Lydia, on the other hand, was in heaven!

As soon as the ride was done, Mary was all smiles and saying it was fun. Silly girl!

The boat ride was more Mary's cup of tea.

The Convoy too.

My failed attempt at a selfie pic of all of us on the Cave Train. Better luck next time!

And before leaving we had one more go around the Merry-Go-Round. Mary enjoyed it much more when I rode it with her :)

We plan on going again this Tuesday! We love it and love summer!!!!

Going Private

It's time folks. I've been debating for a long time about doing this. Then with an increase of sketchy sites showing up on my "Referring URLs" and my kids getting older, it's time to change my blog to private. So starting in August this blog will be invite only. PLEASE! Anyone and everyone who wants to be invited to read this blog you are more than welcome. Just comment on here with your email address. If you'd rather send it privately, message me on facebook or email me at hwilcken@gmail.com. You have 2 weeks. On your mark, get set, GO!!!

This and That

Mary's First Urgent Care Visit of the Summer

Mary was at the neighborhood park with Daddy and a 4/5 year old neighbor girl tried to pick Mary up, with Mary facing forward, and walk with her. Before Robert could stop it, the girl tripped and fell making Mary smack her face on the concrete. She bit the inside of both cheeks, chipped a tooth, bit her lip, and gashed her chin open all in one foul swoop. I didn't even notice the gash on her chin until we started cleaning up the blood pouring out of her mouth (and onto Robert's shoulder). I could tell as soon as I saw it that it would need stitches. So off to Urgent Care we went.

As always, Mary was the perfect little patient and just sat still and quiet through the whole thing, and after 7 hefty stitches we were on our way. The doctor even said she was easily in the top 3 easiest munchkins he's ever had to stitch up.

The stitches come out tomorrow. Hopefully she's just as well behaved then. I label this the "first" urgent care trip, because knowing Mary's track record, we'll have another trip or two before the end of the season.

Home Beautification Project
These flowers were on sale at K'Mart and I had been wanting to plant some for a long time, so I went ahead and got them. As much of a blessing as our living in family student housing has been for us, they aren't the prettiest apartments to look at. So I thought a flower garden in front would be the perfect thing to liven up our place a bit. I also got a mini-picket fence to put around it to make it even more cute and so the girls and other young kids in the area wouldn't try to walk straight through it.

Doing the manwork and breaking up the ground for me.
It took a while. It was rock hard.

Lydia helped me plant and thought it was the funnest thing ever.
She was so proud of all of "her" flowers.

The finished project.

If I had finished this post yesterday as I had planned I would have talked about how all of the flowers were already starting to grow and thrive and how excited I was about that. But alas, last night the deer got them! All but 3 or 4 are eaten all the way down to the root. Sad day!! I'll continue to water them to see if they will grow and bloom again, and maybe the deer will spare them next time. I think I'll also go see if I can find a flower that repels deer (dianthus, echinacea, etc.) at one of the local nurseries and plant that as well. We'll see.

First Monday Fun Day
I decided that this summer I wanted to do "Monday Fun Days." Where I would pick a couple of the 100s of toddler friendly kid crafts that I have pinned on pinterest and actually do them. So far the summer has been too busy between visitors, girls camp, and the trip to Arizona, but this past Monday we finally had our first official Monday Fun Day. Lydia came with me to buy the paints on Saturday and had been beyond excited ever since. A couple of friends joined us for the fun. We did sticky salt painting which was a HIT and milk rainbows which wasn't as great. It was fun! Lydia has been asking me ever since how many more nigh nights until the next Monday Fun Day. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up :)

How the babies enjoyed Monday Fun Day. Apparently, the blue pieces taste the best. ;)

I'm almost caught up guys!! Yippee!!

Robert Had a Birthday, Shout HOORAY!!!

My amazing hubster is now 26! Last week was the special day. It started off with the usual craziness... SPAM!

He had his usual request of one eyed jacks topped with spam for breakfast. I always eat some too, and when I first start I always think, "Maybe this isn't so bad." But by the end I always think, "Nope, definitely don't like this." That's okay though. I love him. So if that's what he wants for his birthday breakfast, that's what he'll get! We normally do breakfast in bed for birthdays, but since Robert wakes up at least 2-3 hours before me and sleep is too precious to this pregnant and recovering from brain surgery Mommy, I opted to just make it when I woke up. :)

After breakfast was done with I surprised him with the activity of heading to the batting cages. He LOVES going to the batting cages.

She wants to be just like her Daddy someday :)

Then back home for nap time. After that we dropped the girls off with some friends and headed off to our evening/night fun. It worked out really great that another couple, some of our best friends here, the husband of that pair also had a birthday the day before Robert's. So we took their kids the night before, and then they took our kids for Robert's birthday. Babysitting swaps are the best!

Robert rarely requests anything specific for birthdays, Father's Day, Christmas, etc. So when he said, "Heidi, I know what I want for my birthday" I wanted to sing praises! And his request... "I want to waste money on a bunch of the carnival games at the Boardwalk." Done!

First, hot dogs and garlic fries for dinner.

I love him!

Then it was off to the games.

The most ridiculous of the games - try to catapult a rubber chicken into a pot.
I got closer than Robert :)

This was the one Robert was most excited for - the milk bottles. You get 3 throws. His first try he knocked them all down with 2 throws winning a small prize.

The second time, he kind of blew it, BUT the third time he knocked them all down with the first throw, winning me a BIG prize!

That's my man ;)

There were several games we played that I didn't take pictures of - throwing darts, breaking plates, etc. But I couldn't not take a picture of him doing the classic hammer game.

He won 2 prizes from this one. We don't have to mention
that you win something no matter what ;)

The birthday boy with his winnings.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream Boardwalk style - funnel cake and Dippin' Dots.

Dumbo protected the candles from the wind

I sang a very loud and embarrassing rendition of Happy Birthday before he blew out his candles and thought I videoed the whole thing... but I didn't. Turns out I didn't press record, and I wasn't about to do it again. Too bad so sad.

We then went back to our friends' house and, since the kids were all sleeping anyway, played games til past midnight. It was a very fun day and night. I love my husband and making him feel special. Happy birthday Robert!!

Pregnancy Update: 20 Weeks - Halfway!!!!

How Far Along:

July 2nd, 2013 - 20 Weeks

Halfway!!!

Maternity Clothes:

Starting to pull out a few things and put away some of my smaller things. I need to go shopping for some new maternity things. Most of my things from the past 2 pregnancies are worn out.

Best Moment This Month:

Finding out the baby is a BOY! James Alan Richardson. We're SOOOOOOOOOO excited.

Movement:

All of the time, but he's more of a wiggler instead of a full out flipper like the girls were.

Food Craving:

Anything sweet, please!

What I Miss:

It's getting hard for me to bend over. Good were the days when that was easy :)

Sleep:

Half and half. Some days I will sleep just fine. Others, I will lay in bed wide awake nearly all night long. Insomnia much?

What I Am Looking Forward To:

Shopping for and/or receiving baby boy things :)

Symptoms:

This is what I call "The Glory Time" of the pregnancy. I feel good. I like that I look pregnant instead of feeling fat. I'm not so big that I'm uncomfortable yet, and I just get to be excited for the baby. I love it! My back occasionally goes out of whack but other than that I'm doing GREAT! :)

And now some pictures from the ultrasound from my doctor's office

First time I've ever seen a 3D scan of any of my babies in utero. I teared
up a little. He was sucking his fingers the whole time. Too cute!

Cute profile :)

So even after the first ultrasound 2 weeks ago, I couldn't fully believe
that I was having a boy for 2 reasons: 1 - I've never had one before.
And 2 - I've had 2 friends that surprise birthed girls after having multiple
ultrasound techs tell them they were having boys. But I'm pretty sure you
can't get much clearer than this :)

Still sucking his fingers :)

So excited for Baby James!!!!!!

Trip to Arizona

As soon I had cell service on my way home from girls' camp, I got a text saying that Robert's Step Grandma Becky had passed away. She had been suffering for a long time. This meant we'd be heading to Mesa a couple days later for the funeral. Robert's mom had a few buddy passes that were about to expire so we were able to fly there. Good thing too because the Blazer gave up the ghost the day we needed to go to the airport and we had to get a ride there from a friend.

Lydia loved having the window seat. Mary loved having the DVD player.

Robert's uncle is a radiologist, so, just like he did with Lydia, we got to get a little ultrasound sneak peek of our baby 2 weeks before the official ultrasound with our doctor's office.

It's a boy!!!! I love Uncle Randy's description, "Leg, leg, other one." He will be named James Alan Richardson. James after James E. Faust - past apostle a member of the first presidency of the Mormon church who also was my grandma's first cousin, and Alan because that's Robert's middle name. We can't wait!

We told Lydia that when we came home we would bring pink balloons if it was a girl and blue balloons if it was a boy. Here's a video clip of the big reveal! :)

Lydia (if you can't tell) is so excited to have a brother! Mary is starting to understand a little bit more too. It's going to be fun. :)

Wednesday was the funeral. It was a very nice service, and great to see so many of the Johnston (Robert's mom's side of the family) together for the first time in a long time. It's sad to see Grandma Becky go and for Grandpa Coy to be alone, but at least we have the knowledge that families are forever!

The next day was the 4th of July. It was fun to be there and BBQ with some of my family.

Cute 4th of July outfits the girls got from Great Grandma Richardson

A lot of the remainder of our trip revolved around this van.

Her name is Rhonda

It was Robert's Grandpa and Grandma Richardson's. When we announced that we were pregnant when we were down in March, they mentioned that they were looking to give their van to someone they knew. It's too big of a car for Grandma to get into since her stroke last December, but Grandma still has a lot of sentimental value attached to it so she didn't want to give or sell it to just anyone. We didn't really consider it when they first offered because we were hoping for something slightly newer and bigger, but since we flew to Arizona, we borrowed it to get around while we were there and were amazed at the condition it was in, and the idea of being able to pay cash for a car versus financing sounded better and better. So we talked to them about it, and they tried to just give it to us. We talked them up to $1500 (BEST.NEGOTIATORS.EVER! ;). Spent the next couple days making sure it was long trip ready, and drove it back with us instead of flying. I have to say, I LOVE being a minivan mom. It's going to be a great little "starter" minivan for us. We're hoping it won't give us too much trouble for at least a couple years and then we'll get something newer when we're not a starving student family anymore. In the mean time we're making the necessary repairs on the Blazer to make it sell-able and then we'll get that car out of our hair.

And that was our trip. It was less packed full than normal because nearly everybody was out of town. My family, Robert's family, our friends - so many were out of town for the week to celebrate the 4th. It was kind of strange to be there when so little was going on. But also kind of nice to not be too rushed all of the time. We missed the family we weren't able to see while we were there and hopefully will be able to time a trip better next time. :)

Girls' Camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little over 2 weeks before our stake girls' camp was going to happen the camp director sent out a plea saying that one of the leaders was no longer able to go so they needed a last minute fill in. I thought about it, talked to Robert about it, and volunteered. I'm so glad I did!! I was asked to be tent leader (aka cabin mom) for the 3rd years of our stake. As it got closer, I got more and more anxiety about leaving my kids and Robert for the first time for several days, but Robert was so supportive and encouraging and off I went the last week of June. As always, I didn't take enough pictures, but here's a fun few.

Ready to go

How many Banana Slugs do you see?? There were SOOOO
many all over the place, especially the first couple of days
while it was foggy and rainy

The theme for camp was "Survivor: Out Shine Out Serve Out Love" (Survivor, like the reality show) And they gave each of the years a type of land to use as their theme. (Desert, Jungle, etc) The 3rd years were the Forest. The first night each year does a skit to go along with their theme. This is what my girls came up with... (please excuse my obnoxious laughter)

The AWESOME YCLs

Minute to Win It

Aqua-Zumba. It was such a workout!

Rifle Shooting

I didn't do too bad myself :)

The ward skit for Bishop's night. Basically our Bishop is a goof ball.

The last night, the first years crashed in our room wanting to
play games. The chaos lasted for a whopping 10 minutes
before the camp directors broke up the crazy party.

Unfortunately I couldn't find 2 of our YCLs before one of the girls left, but here's pics of all of us minus 2 YCLs

And then all the YCLs and girls minus 1.

P.S. Our YCLs were A.MA.ZING!!!

Back: Payton (YCL), Tana (YCL), Richelle, Audrey (YCL)
Front: Sophie, Annie, and Audrey H.

Two other memorable moments - I performed on my guitar in front of people other than Robert for the first time EVER. I sang while playing too. Gold Star for me!!!!
Robert hid a homemade card with pictures of us and the girls in my suitcase to help me not miss them too much and a video on the camera of him telling me how much he loved me. He's too awesome!

And then I came home EXHAUSTED. I slept all afternoon, woke up and ate dinner, slept til 10 the next morning, and then took another 4 hour nap on Sunday. Robert took this picture after I woke up from my nap the first day back.

Supermodel material right there ;)

Another shout out to Robert, I had no doubt that he would have no problem tending the girls while I was gone, but I fully expected the apartment to be in complete shambles when I got home, but everything was spotless! He's amazing!!!

And there you have my girls camp adventure. I'd definitely go again. Whether or not I go next year will probably mainly depend on if I'm nursing or not, so we'll see.

GIRLS' CAMP ROCKS!!