2.28.2008

A Couple Good Days







So the last few days have actually been amazingly productive, all things considered, and I'm proud of myself.

Crossed off the To Do list:
Finish Breanne's bedding,
get out and wash infant clothing and blankets,
find the baby bath,
find the baby book,
fill out more in Breanne's book,
play with Breanne (though there's still more of that to come),
buy gifts (though I still want to get some of those foam letters or animals or something for her bathtime),
and I'm pretty sure we've decided on a name--most likely it'll be Janey Renae Kilger.

Crossed off the To Get list:
Pacifiers
Nursing stuff
Gifts for Breanne

Now I just need some diapers (but the hospital will give me at least a few of those, so I don't desperately need them yet), some desitin, and an outfit to take the baby home in. The furniture (shelves and such) should (finally!) be arriving tomorrow, thanks to Herschel and Jake, which will mean the rooms can be redone and fixed up to fit two children, once the girl's room is painted. And Cory's sisters have agreed to come help paint Breanne's room on Saturday, which takes that off the list, too, assuming the color is ok. And then we can turn it into the cutest darn girl's room ever! Or at least it will hopefully look ok, and fit two girls in it fairly comfortably. :) I have to keep reminding myself that we're almost there, and even if everything isn't done when she gets here, we'll be ok.

Other things accomplished:
Went to the screening of Forever Strong, a rugby movie Cory's work is distributing (for at least the LDS audience), which was really well done,
Actually got out of the house and took Breanne to the park, hence the (really crappy and small) pics from my phone.
Cleaned the bathroom, always an achievement,
Did all the laundry so we can move the dryer this weekend (now if only it folded itself...)
Played a game of Scrabulous (Facebook version of Scrabble) against a friend in which I scored 504 points total (a definite record for me--included two words that used all of my letters), and managed to not offend the friend in the process...

All in all, a good couple days. And I really wish I could figure out a way to just put all those pictures in a simple row across the top of this post, but I can't, so this is as good as it gets. Not learning CSS (that's what Cory says it's in) today. Maybe when I don't have so much left on the to do list.

2.18.2008

A bit to appease complainers...

So I've gotten a few complaints about the lack of posting lately... so I thought I'd take the advice of one of them and post some updates on the baby and Breanne.

The baby is due in 3 1/2 weeks... I can hardly believe it's so close. The doctors say her heartbeat sounds great, and she is definitely plenty active still, so I know she's doing well. I'm getting to the point where I really want to just have the baby (she's getting up under my ribs, and it's starting to get really uncomfortable), but I'm also terrified of the delivery process, even though I've been through it before. I just hope recovery is a little bit easier this time, because let's face it... having two kids will probably be a lot more difficult than just one! Though the adjustment to having one is also big, so... I'm just hopeful that we'll make it through gracefully. I also want the baby to stay inside as long as she needs to so that she'll be healthy, so I'm not pushing for an early delivery, as nice as that might be for me. I just don't feel like we're quite ready for her. We should (hopefully) be getting a bunch of the furniture stuff from Gamama and Boppa's house tomorrow night (assuming they're still planning on coming down), and we finally got out the baby clothes (though one of the boxes had a spider on it... definitely need to wash everything...) but there's still so much to be done! I know it isn't all that important to have everything ready before she gets here, but it sure would be nice.

And as for Breanne--I know I often say that she is a genius, and most of you probably just think that is me being a biased mother, but to be absolutely honest with you, I've never seen a smarter not-quite-two year old. She knows the entire alphabet (not in order, or the song, but the letters!), though her pronunciation is far from perfect. She seems to have even stopped confusing K with X, and Q with O, which I think is amazing. She knows all her body parts (and has for over a year) and many of the colors (she still refuses to say any variation of orange, and she thinks gray is black or blue), and can name most any animal I can think of, and even tell you what most of them say. She does think, however, that Bambi is a llama, for some weird reason. I can't seem to convince her otherwise. Maybe with time... :) She also knows the numbers, and can point them out to you if you ask her which one is which, but she doesn't say most of them yet. The craziest thing, though, is that she can read!

Yes, that's right, you read that correctly... she can read! My mom mentioned this in her comment about Cory chasing her around the house with the MagnaDoodle... she gets a little bored with it on occasion, and Cory is especially proud and wanting to show her off (and just help her practice), so sometimes goes a bit overboard... but she can read! She knows the words hi, baby, elephant, dog, tiger (though for some reason she says lion... but she does it consistently every time, and also when she sees a picture of a tiger, so she does know the word), no, mouth, nose, eyes, giraffe, owl, arms up, down, clap, cat, ear (new surprise for tonight... she picks them up so fast!), and I'm sure more that I'm forgetting. It amazes me every time I watch her read. The thing is--I think some parents think we're crazy, because we *must* be pushing her so hard or something, but we really honestly don't--Cory chasing Breanne around the house is a rarity, I promise. (We're both too lazy for much of that, I think... :). She just loves to learn, and eats up everything we teach her. Maybe it is partially genetic, I don't really know, but she is capable of so much, and I think parents sometimes just don't realize how much their kids actually WANT to learn. Or they just don't take the time to teach them, I don't really know what it is. Or maybe Breanne really is just a genius. Who really knows?

I feel like to be honest I have to put a plug in here--I try not to sell to my friends because I don't want to create any weird tensions or anything, but I've been selling Usborne Books for almost 6 months now, so Breanne has a lot of books, which we read to her regularly, and which have helped her learn to identify animals, colors, and all sorts of other words--we have a great line of educational books for babies and children. She also has our program, Your Baby Can Read, which is a set of DVDs that show kids words and what they correspond to, which she enjoys watching fairly regularly. I'm not normally an advocate of letting babies watch tv (though Breanne definitely does plenty of that...) but this program is amazing. I've seen babies as young as 9 months reading the words (though not speaking them, just doing the actions they describe, like kicking, or putting their arms up, among other things). It's hard to believe it's even possible, but it is.

Anyway, enough about my books and stuff... Breanne is just amazing. I'm sure this baby inside me will be amazing too, even if it is in totally different ways. I really look forward to meeting her, and getting to know who she is. I love the opportunity I have to be a mom, to watch Breanne grow and learn, and to watch Cory be a father--he is so great at it, and I love him all the more for it. This life is a wonderful one.

2.16.2008

Update to "Funny things Cory has said lately"

When Breanne played first the f key, then the b, all he had to say was,

"Can you say "Tritone?"

Who says that to a toddler, seriously? But he was just that--absolutely serious. (He also tried to teach her the a natural minor scale today, but that didn't go over so well, either.)

2.11.2008

Thoughts on preparing for the new baby

This is mostly a note to myself, just so you know. I've been thinking about things we need to do and get before the baby gets here, and this is my list (which was originally written down in Breanne's notebook in Asparagus Green crayon, if you're wondering, but I decided it needed a more permanent, less scribbled-on home).

To Do:
Paint Breanne and the baby's room
Move some shelves down from Mom and Dad's (gamama and boppa's) house
Finish Breanne's new bedding (just tie the stinkin' quilt, for crying out loud!)
Move the furniture around: dresser to other wall; set up toddler bed; take down crib(?); find a place for Breanne's desk and easel; put in new shelves
Figure out where the bassinet and swing need to be and where to move other furniture to
Get out newborn clothing and items, wash and put away on shelves (in baskets) and in dresser
Find the baby bath
Find the carseat, figure out if it's still useable or if it needs to be replaced
Decide if I want a double stroller, and if so, what kind
Find the baby's Baby Book
Fill out more in Breanne's book
Play more with Breanne
Find some gifts for Breanne from the baby and from Mom and Dad to try to help ease the transition...
Decide on a name

To Get:
A few more receiving blankets (so we don't have to take away all the blankets Breanne now uses for her dolls)
Stuff mentioned above
Newborn outfit to take the baby home in
Gifts for Breanne mentioned above
Nursing stuff
Diapers
Pacifiers
Desitin


That's all I can come up with tonight... I'm sure changes will be made over time, and hopefully things will get crossed off this list!

2.08.2008

Hazel is a good cat.




A Guide to Cory

This article, which Eric was kind enough to share with me, pretty much describes my husband. And since several of you are also geeks, or are married to them, like me, I thought I'd pass it along. Some of the things are not true, but if you want a quick guide to who Cory is, this is a good start. The funny part is, while these traits might drive some women insane, I love Cory all the more for (most) of them. :)

2.06.2008

Breanne has outgrown me

So I often marvel at how smart Breanne is getting--constantly doing new things, saying new words--always learning. Usually I feel like Cory and I can take some credit in it all--we work with her a lot (and by work I mean play, really). However, this past week, Breanne has passed me up. She has learned something I could never teach her to do. She has learned to whistle.

That's right, my 22 month old child can whistle. It all started while we were at Cory's parent's house on Sunday night, standing in the foyer getting ready to leave. Breanne comes strolling out of the den with her lips sort of pursed, whistling! No one taught her how to do it, she just figured it out. We all stood there, sort of amazed, sort of laughing, so she kept doing it. Now she can do it on command. If my compy wasn't so slow, I'd take some video of it and post it, but my computer really can't handle it--maybe later on Cory's laptop. Anyway, it's amazing. I can't even whistle, for cryin' out loud!

My child is a genius.