Conference and Morning Sickness

Dear Jessa ~

Well, I decided to make my news public, so I'll state it here, just in case my other readers don't already know.  I'm pregnant!  Due June 6.  Which is Kessa's bday.  Which humors me because she was due on our anniversary.  Combined with Father's Day, it looks like June is going to be a busy month around here.

Now Jessa, I know you needed time to process my news.  I hope you're feeling a little better about it today.  I know you're sad that you won't be here for the birth this time.  I am too, to be honest.  BJ pointed out today, though, that I'm definitely paying for my "crime."  Haha.  So maybe that makes up for it?  Today has definitely been the worst day of all.  Maybe of all of them combined.  But largely because I had a headache of death and couldn't take anything for it.  Tylenol didn't touch it.  And peppermint isn't good in pregnancy (it could cause menstruation, which is no good while pregnant), so I couldn't take my normal oil concoction (peppermint, lavender and frankincense).  Church was miserable, BJ ended up skipping tithing (bless the ward clerk and bishopric members) to nurse me, and I was pretty much out on the couch All Day Long.  I tried frankincense rubbed into my scalp and ice on my neck.  Both helped a tiny bit.  But not nearly enough.  I threw up twice.  I finally learned about acetaminophen and caffeine and tried that and it was bliss.  It's not perfect—I still feel a little gross—but death is a long way off.  Hooray!  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to blog at all, but here I am.  We'll see how long I last.  I plan on an early bedtime tonight.

It actually hasn't been too bad so far (minus today).  I've found that if I rest (a lot.  I'm talking most of the day on the couch) and eat frequently, I actually do pretty well.  Kessa has been great about it because I can just tell her that my body needs a lot of energy to grow a baby, so I have to rest a lot.  Today was a little more rough.  She's said several times, "I just want the baby to come out now!" and "I don't want to be sick when I'm a mommy."  We've talked a lot about how I do it because I love my kids a lot and it's worth being sick for a little bit.  We've talked about how sick I was with her, but how I'm glad I did it, because I love her so much.  So hopefully we're nipping this fear in the bud.  :)

Abby loves to swing

Things I posted on Facebook:
Well, we think Abby killed her first fly today. By kneeling on it. #rightofpassageinLehi

Guy sitting in Joann's parking lot, windows rolled down, listening to a football game. Classic.

BJ: What does a missionary say when they get hurt? "Mission-owie!"  Yes folks, he made that up all by himself. He'll be here all week.  In case you're curious, we've also got these:
- cats say meow-y
- Frenchmen say oo-oui
- dogs say bow wowie
- flowers say flow-ie
- fox says Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow Ow Ow!
- tables say "silly, tables can't talk"

Confession; I love French fried onions. I eat them straight out of the can. As many as I can justify and still leave enough for dinner.

After a prayer, Abby throws her hands up in the air and yells, "Amen!"


Other Kessaisms, which is just kind of a continuation of the last section, really:

• Kessa: Do you know what the rules of our house are? Don't throw toys; they could hit us in the head. Don't break toys. And don't stand on the little chair.
  
• Me: Say thank you.
  Abby: Thank you welcome.
  (Note: Now she just responds with "You're welcome")
• I opened a Google image search for “flower” on my computer and listened for the next minute as Abby, sitting on my lap, pointed to different flowers yelling, “Flower! Flower!” She loves flowers. A lot.
• Abby is convinced that the bear in the book But Not the Hippopotamus is a dog.
• Kessa: Oh look! It's a baby fly! I wish we could keep it, but we can't. But it's just a little baby fly! [pause] Daddy! Get it!
• We were walking by the big family picture at the Homer's when Abby yelled, “Papa!” so we stopped and looked. She pointed out Papa and Mama and then… “Jessa!” Looks like we're keeping your image alive!
• Kessa, in prayer: Please help the flowers to grow everywhere. And please help it to snow soon, because I like snow.
• Kessa: I can't finish watching my show; my pinkie feels like it has a bandaid on it.
• Me: Do you think this baby will be a boy or a girl?
  Kessa: A boy. Because I remember when I prayed to Heavenly Father and asked him for a baby brother.
• Abby loves to jump up, stick her legs straight out in front of her, then fall on her bum. I'm sure she learned it on the trampoline, but I have seen her do it on the couch, the floor, and concrete. I feared for her reaction on concrete, but apparently diapers are sufficient padding, because she laughs every time.
• Me: Do you want a cow-duck?
  Abby: Pig! Moooo.
• Preface: I decorated as Hogwarts for Halloween.  So we have a wand out.  Kessa likes to point it at the lights and yell Lumos! or Nox! While we surreptitiously turn on and off the light.
  Kessa: Daddy, I want to use the magic to turn on the light. I need you to stand there and turn on the light and trick me.
• Kessa, referring to her toothbrush: Hold on. I have to get all the dirty air off first.
• Kessa, praying over breakfast: And please help Mommy to have a newborn baby really soon who can crawl very well.
• Me: Hey Abby! I love you!
  Abby: ok.

Which reminds me.  Abby says "Ok" all the time.  It's the way she says yes.  "Do you want to go on a walk?" "Ok."  It's adorable.


(BJ's taking over here, because Tianna's out of energy and going to bed.)

I really enjoyed General Conference. We watched most of it up in Riverton, but came back for Sunday Afternoon, because Tianna's parents were coming over right afterward, where we hosted a mini mission reunion for them and a few of the members who were in town from their mission in South Carolina. To me, it felt like there was a strong emphasis on Home Teaching; I'd been feeling that emphasis even before President Monson spoke about it in the Priesthood session. I don't know if that's just a reflection of what I needed to hear, or whether everyone else felt that was a big topic too, but it sure spoke to me. More generally, I love hearing from our modern prophets and apostles. I can feel my spiritual batteries recharging, my testimony growing more firm, as I listen to them.

The kids did pretty well with Conference; Kessa actually watched most of all 4 sessions. She had some coloring pages she got at Primary, but she was definitely listening; she'd occasionally repeat one of the phrases used by the speakers. Abby was less interested, but she mostly just wandered or slept.

Kessa watching Conference.

I've been trying to share the Gospel more online lately. I'm fairly active on Twitter, and have almost 500 followers. But, I know most of them follow me because I post interesting stuff about programming. If I just started posting about religion non-stop, I think most of them would be disinterested and stop following. I do think, though, that it's important for me to make my beliefs part of what I talk about. It's an important part of my life; I shouldn't have to suppress it when I post things online. So far, I've had mostly good feedback. A couple people asking questions, or sharing their own differing opinion. Nobody has acted highly offended.

Kessa had a fever for a few days this week. When Kessa is sick, she is grumpy. She was crying loudly and dramatically over any disappointment or inconvenience. She screamed for 40 minutes in the bathtub because she didn't want a band-aid to get wet. It's hard as a parent to see your children sick, because on the one hand, you really want to take care of them and help them get better, but on the other hand, they can be maddening, and sometimes you just need a break. Poor girl, though, she had a fever of 102 degrees a couple times. She's better now, and we're hoping she'll avoid getting sick for a while.

Tianna's brother Damian and his wife Kim came down for the BYU football game this weekend, so we watched their four kids for the evening. The oldest, and the only girl, desperately wants a little sister, so every time she comes down, she's thrilled to take care of Kessa and Abby. She loves doing hair and holding crying kids… it's great! Even though we had six kids in the house, we enjoyed having them; they mostly just played with each other while Tianna and I did some work outside to clean up the garden.

Speaking of the garden… we were supposed to be getting a large delivery of mulch on Saturday afternoon, so we were trying to clear out the garden so we'd have room to put the mulch in. We pulled out most of the plants, as frost has started coming. It's amazing how much plant matter grows out of those little seeds! Unfortunately, a bunch of the cherry tomatoes fell off while we were pulling it out, and before long we had hundreds of flies swarming around the smashed (and slightly rotten) tomatoes. It took a couple hours to clean all of those up, but I think we got most of them now. It's looking much nicer now. Of course, after we did all that work, the mulch delivery guys got running slow, and now we won't get it until Monday. But at least we got the cleaning work done; getting the mulch in should be much easier now.

Kellie Johnson got married down in St. George this week, so Mom, Dad, and Resa went down for that. We couldn't go because we'd already agreed to watch Damian's kids, so we ended up babysitting Jax too. It's funny; even though it's been years since we lived up in Riverton, he still knows exactly where to sleep: on Tianna's feet. Kessa and Abby loved having him here. Kessa especially loves to take him on walks. She's getting strong enough that we don't have to worry about him running away from her, but sometimes they get into a tug-of-war over where they're going to walk next. :) It's cute.

And finally, a couple more pictures of our kids, just because they're adorable.

We love you!