St. George with Cousins

My nieces had a dance recital in St. George so my sister rented a big house and invited all her friends and theirs families to go and kind of as a last minute things told us we should come too.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to let Kailah play with her cousins and really get to hang out and give Jason a break from us since he has needed a lot of time to himself lately.
So off Kailah and I went to St. George.  Kailah does pretty good in the car especially when we have lots of snacks and a dvd player we only had to stop a few times both ways.
My nieces Mady and Mckenna did so great with their dances and I was such a proud auntie to see how fast they are growing and how great of dancers AND gymnasts they are.  Both Mady and Mckenna got to show off some of their gymnastics in their dance routines and it really made them shine.  Kailah LOVED watching the dances and started dancing and doing moves like she saw the girls on stage doing.

It was a pretty chilly weekend so we just relaxed inside for the most part and sunday and monday warmed up just enough to hop in the pool for a quick swim.  The kids loved it and everyone seemed to have a blast.

Catalina Island- 2011

We took our first real family vacation this past week. Catalina Island was our destination choice. Mostly because I found a great deal on a two night stay and it is so close to us that travel time and cost was not a big issue. Jason took a few days off work and we spend two nights, three days on this beautiful picturesque island. I have been there before with my parents but I never got to experience the whole island and the weather was so nice this time which completely set the mood and made it feel like we were a million miles away from home on a tropical island.

We stayed at an old hotel which was very quaint and cottage like. We rented a golf cart and drove around the city of AvalOn, which is the only part of the island tourists are allowed on unless you pay to go to the rest of the island or you happen to take a bus tour. The golf cart was a perfect way to explore at our own pace.

We spent a lot of time on the beach and we would walk kailah around in her stroller til she fell asleep and then jason would lay our towels out and get a half hour or hour of piece and quiet relaxation time until kailah would wake up and want to play and explore.
I really enjoyed taking kailah on vacation with us but vacations with children in tow is not what it used to be like thats for sure.
We saw a movie at the Avalon theatre and went miniture golfing and did a ghost tour one night. 3 days was plenty enough time to get to see everything we wanted and have a chance to really enjoy the island.

23months and counting!

Kailah always knows when it is Sunday because I will put on my dress and she says; "churhcy, bye bye".  During sacrament today she sat so well and she loves going through the routine of things trying to remember when to fold her arms for prayer and when to get the hymn book for music time.  She just started showing an interest in taking of the sacrament so I have started letting her take it.  It was fast Sunday today and she said Amen at the end of everyone's testimonies.  She also sang along with all the hymns we sang.  She was even able to pick out some words after we would sing them.

Kailah is our big motivator to say prayers every time before we eat meals.  We are always pretty good about saying them at dinner time but she is the first to fold her arms and say "amen?" as a reminder like hey mom and dad we need to say prayers.  And breakfast and lunch rarely get eaten without a prayer being said.  Today she even said her own prayer blessing her food and "gnika" lol!  It was the CUTESTEST thing ever.  I wish I could record those moments and have them available for replay whenever because they are the sweetest moments.

Potty training is on a brief hault at the moment.  after 3 weeks of doing so good, Kailah decided she is just too independent to be told what to do.  She really enjoys going to the potty on her own time and for a long time would just resist it even if I ask her if she needs to go potty.  She still goes potty several times a day but we are back in diapers and pull ups for the sanity of myself!  She does not like having soiled diapers and since being back in diapers has gone poop in her diaper in the morning 7 different times and took her diaper off and smeared her poop all over her crib before I have a chance to wake up and get in her bedroom to stop her.  She just hasn't gotten to the point where she tells me before the fact that she need to go the bathroom and I'm sure as soon as she does she will be official potty trained. 

Kailah is learning so many new words.  We have flashcards on my phone that she does daily and she knows almost all of the animals on it and the transportation vehicles and some other random things like foods and body parts. 

She is such a huge helper and loves to help clean up and do dishes and fold clothes and put things in the garbage can and whatever other things she can help out with. 

It's been so nice knowing most things she wants and being able to communicate so much better now that she knows more words and know how to tell me exactly what she wants.

It's a Boy!

We found out the sex of our sweet little baby this past week.  I was completely in shock when Jason first exclaimed, "it's a boy" as the ultrasound tech scanned over the private area.  She smiled and said "yep!" 

Because I only know what having a girl is like I think I was just expecting to see another little girl.  I really didn't care either way what the sex of this next baby would be, but I really have had to get into the boy mood.  I have been looking for boy clothes all week since I found out, and have realized I am more picky with boy clothes than I am with girl clothes.  Boys just don't have much of a variety and I don't like a lot of the sports and trucks, bugs etc.. type patterns... I guess I would have a hard time dressing my little boy in something that isn't his daddy's style, which makes shopping for a boy that much more difficult.  I was excited to find a few things that I could picture our little guy in and having them hanging in the closet now really gets me excited to meet our baby boy.

I like a lot of boy names which makes choosing a boy name hard.  I think this time around I will let Jason make the final decision since I like most the names the same.  And of course he will be named after his daddy.

 

Here I am 20 weeks into my pregnancy.  Half Way!  I get more and more excited everyday to have a new little baby hanging out with us.