Sydneys 3rd Birthday party

For Sydney's Birthday we had my parents, Sarah, and Spencer come to our new apartment for the celebration. She was tired by the time everyone got here and we got started so she was only excited for about half her presents. She also helped me decorate her cake, which while showing my mother knocked the board it was on off the counter and my mom caught it while digging her hand in the cake. It got a little destroyed and Jake fixed it with cake frosting.

The Cake:

Gifts from Grandpa Walt: Princess stuff. Glow in the dark sticks. Princess Anna doll from Frozen.

Gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Arnold: Jackets and Sweat pants, a shirt, a cage and plastic bugs, and binoculars

Gift from Spencer:

Gift from Sarah:

Gifts from Mommy and Daddy:
Doll House

Closet Organizer

Train Set

Baking Set

Chalk and markers

Pots and pans

plastic jacket (to cover her clothes when she paints or colors)

bead toy

Chalk/White Board

Table and Chairs

All her toys

bead toy all put together

Gift from Grandma and Grandpa Mendoza:

below:
We gave her the helmet but since her gift was a bike we figured it would be good to give them together

Jake hid the present under a blanket

and under her Princess tent

Dear Sydney

You are 3!!!!!!

You are so big, and you try to be so independent.

You are definitely having troubling with listening though.If I ask you do something you just say "huh" and look at me like you have no idea what I'm talking about.

You love to do anything outdoors or anything out of the house for the most part. Except to watch movies. You have finally started being interested in everything-any Disney movie and kids TV show. Its kind of nice not to have to listen to Curious George all the time.

You talk all the time now, copy what daddy or I say.  For example: we we're all in the car driving home from the store and daddy and I were talking and laughing and out of the blue you said "shut up mom"..."shut up dad"....and daddy and I couldn't help but laugh and then of course tell you that saying "shut up" isn't nice.

One day i asked you if you needed to pee and you said no, but that daddy needed to pee. So you took daddy by the hand to our bathroom and walked him to the toilet and even started to unbutton his pants before I stopped you. You then proceeded to tell him to go pee, turn around walk out and shut the door. You stood next to the door waiting to hear the sound of daddy going pee. (which he faked by turning on the faucet sink and then flushing the toilet). You then told him "good boy daddy, good boy." 

Whenever the dogs are barking you always go up to them and tell them to be quite.

Today you came running up to me saying "mom I have to poop" so we went to the bathroom and while in there I was moving your dress so it wasn't under you on the potty and you said "no mom leave my dress while I poop"

You come and ask  me to put on "musik" (music). 

You are completely creative in the things you say.

You say you love things. Like we got a new couch and you told me from across the room while sitting on it that you "loved the couch".

You are really into having friends right now. Of any age. In our new apartment complex there are a lot of kids and so whenever we got the park you always says "hi kids". It's so cute.

You are enjoying many different things right now. You like to play with your dolls, but you also love to bake, to play with trains, to get dirty in the park. You love to draw. You got a bike for your 3rd birthday from grandma Lydia that you are learning how to ride.

You love strawberries. Even more than blueberries at the moment. You eat them for breakfast, snacks, and when your throwing a temper tantrum once your done you always eat strawberries.

You run really fast. You love to run on the path around the park while daddy and I walk the dogs. You also love to run away in stores and make daddy or I chase you. Which ends in a chase because we have to run to catch you.

One Sunday you woke up and started calling mom. Normally I answer right away, but I wanted to find out what you would do if I didn't answer. You called out mom for a couple minutes before calling out dad. Dad answered a few seconds later and you asked "where is mom" a couple times. You were getting worried so I finally called out that I was there and you immediately went back to calling for mom and asking for my help and ignoring your dad. (You have been getting mean to your dad lately. You never ask him for something and the second you do if I become available you go straight to me and forget you were even talking to him.)

You are so nice to everyone. But you definitely have the terrible 3's over the terrible 2's. If I say no to anything you get this look on your face or you stick your bottom lip out in a pout. And then you cry.

You are starting to understand money. But all change is a penny. And you walk around saying you can buy things with your penny now.

You're basically potty trained-you tell me when you have to use the bathroom except when you are wearing a diaper (which is at nap-time and nighttime and sometimes in  between).

The past month since we moved you have been horrible with nap time and bedtime. You have to be really exhausted to be able to just crawl into bed and fall asleep. At night you will stay awake for hours in your room til I stop answering you and you go to sleep. Its been crazy. 

You are 36 inches tall and I know that because we measured you to make sure you were tall enough to ride the ferris wheel at Scheels sporting goods store. 

You are such a joy. And I am so grateful to be your mother.

Pictures from over the last year.

March 2014

April 2014

April 2014

April 2014 (Grandpa Arnold's Funeral)

May 2014

February 2014

January 2014

February 2014

January 2014

November 2013

November 2013 (Thanksgiving)

December 2013

July 2014 (Harman Work Party)

   

July 2014

July 2014

June 2014

June 2014

July 2014

August 2013

Sept 2013

October 2013

November 2013

December 2013

April 2014

April 2014

May 2014

July 2014

Baby #2-6 Months

So I went for my obgyn appointment with my new Dr on July 11th and found out I have vulvar varicose veins. Which means i have backed up blood flow in the veins in my labia majoria. There isn't much I can do for it other than take it easy and try and lie down on my side every couple hours to reduce the pressure down there. From what I have read more than likely it will go away after the baby comes. The reason I have the problem in the first place is because the baby is sitting so low she is on my pelvic area almost 24/7. So there is no way to relieve the pressure til she is born.

Having sex has become hard, because it is now sore/painful down there most days just depending on how much I have been up on my feet. (poor Jake).

She is really moving now. Always from about 10 PM-midnight and then it varieys during the day.
Its to the point now where if I sit back and watch my belly I can see all the movements.

At my last doctors appointment I was barely 155 lbs. I am so proud of myself for not gaining huge amounts of weight with this pregnancy. Of course going up and down 3 flights of stairs multiple times a day helps.

My breasts are still really tender (even more so because they are continually getting bigger).

These last few days I haven't really been sleeping because I cannot get comfortable. And of course she has been waking me up with a lot of movement.

Sydney doesn't quite understand the baby in my tummy part, but she has felt little movements a couple times. 

                                                                   6 months

23 Weeks

                                                                        22 weeks

                                                                       24 weeks

Baby #2

March 15th:
This pregnancy has been different than I remember Sydney's.
This time my breasts have been tender from the get go. We found out right at 4 weeks. And this time we were trying to get pregnant, so no it wasn't a surprise. I still get tired, but with Sydney and working at the Home Depot getting a nap is a rare thing-still i take what i can get on lucky days.

This pregnancy I am hoping to be better with my eating habits and exercise habits-so guess we'll see.
According to the doctor (who i had to go get a letter from him stating I was pregnant so i could get on medicaid) states that we are due Nov 9th, 2014. So the kids will be a little over 3 years apart, which was more than we wanted, but life is unpredictable so we'll take it.

May 19th:
We waited until May 3rd to tell people. The first ones we told were my parents. I put the ultrasound pictures in an envelope inside a piece of paper with the due date on it and gave it to my mother. She started dancing and screaming "dan dan dan guess what". It was so funny I wish I had video recorded it.

Had my second doctors appointment on May 15th. I had only gained two pounds, but since I am still much bigger than I want to be I really need to kick my butt into gear. We were 14 weeks and 4 days then. So at this point I am definitely feeling pregnant and I feel like I look way pregnant, but Jake still assures me I could pass for "fat" not "pregnant fat" still. I'm not sure how he wants me to take that.

Only a couple of my co-workers know, and since I can hide it behind my apron still I am in no hurry to tell them.

I still haven't been sick at all. I am crashing into bed by 10:30 every night so thats kind of nice. My breasts are not nearly as tender. But i am now peeing like every two hours on the dot. I am still in my size 8-10 pants, as long as they are stretchy. No maternity clothes yet. We set an appointment for June 10th to find out the gender so we're getting close. I looked up the "size" of the baby today and thebump.com says were between an orange and a avocado (a little over 4 inches long and 3 oz big).

Also, I'm pretty sure I have felt the baby move. A little thing here and there, but I think its the baby. 

May 22:
So I fit into my size 8 jeans (for the last couple weeks my stretchy ones) clear up until 16 weeks and 4 days. But i think i might have to get my size ten jeans and maternity pants out...maybe if i exercise i can fit in my size ten jeans for the next month or so.

June 6th: we did the Ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. We are having another GIRL. To say Jake was again disappointed is an understatement because he really wants a boy. I on the other-hand was okay with either.  So now I won't have to do hardly any shopping-It's all covered.


June 10th: was our next doctors appointment and I had only gained two pounds since the last time so that has been really nice. I feel really small, and can still fit into my size 10 pants (especially if they are stretchy) but the maternity ones are more comfortable. Doctor says everything looks good with the ultrasound pictures and that the baby is growing perfectly and that the due date is still set for early november.


June 27th: was moving day and so i tried to be really helpful. But after 5 hours of moving I was so tired, I just sat down on the front porch for twenty minutes and did nothing. It felt wonderful. The next day wasn't any better because we drove up to Sandy and started moving all our stuff (in the middle of the day with 4 adults) into a 3rd story apartment. The one concern I had was when my mom pointed out that while i was 20 weeks (5 months) pregnant, my tummy hadn't firmed up yet-to where you could feel the hard uterus, it is still flimsy and when i sit it makes me look like I've got a giant fat roll because my belly squishes. So now when I go in for my first appointment with my new OBGYN this is something I am going to bring up.

20 Weeks (June 27th)