Ruby's Christmas program and 24 weeks

On the 18th Ruby had her School Christmas Program. It was so fun to see her singing all of the songs and seeing what they had learned in the past months. Ruby was the second one from her class there and it was so cute to see her greet her friends as they came in, it always involved a big hug. These are Ruby's really good friends, Summer and Jackson. Ruby misses school and asks everyday if she gets to go back to school tomorrow. But as for myself I am enjoying having her home for these two weeks and not having to rush to get the girls out the door.







I had my 24 week appointment on the 15th. Eli's heartbeat was 137. I'm not really sure what my weight gain over the past 6 weeks is because my Dr. was on vacation so I didn't get the usual update on all of that jazz. I am however measuring at 26 weeks, and again they checked me twice and asked if I feel concerned about anything. Should I be? It will be nice to go to my 28 week appointment and get to meet with my Dr.



We got snow yesterday and I shoveled the drive way twice. I was exhausted and went to bed at 9:20 which is very early for me. Jed didn't get home until 10:20 because he was up watching BYU in their bowl game. Jed wasn't happy when he found out that I shoveled the drive way and made me honor bright that I wouldn't do it again. He doesn't have to worry about that. I have learned my lesson as I am feeling it today.

Jed has Christmas Eve off for the first time in our marriage. I am so excited! When we were talking about what to eat for Christmas Eve dinner since we don't have a set tradition Jed said "I think I have only cooked dinner twice since we have been married. Can I cook our dinner?" Jed cooking dinner also comes with him doing the shopping and doing the dishes. It was his finest idea yet. I am looking forward to this.

The catch up

Now that I have my pictures it is time to do a wee bit of postage. Ruby's birthday was very fun. She absolutely knew it was her birthday and thrilled when she would receive phone calls, before she would put the phone to her ear she would ask "What do you think they are calling to wish me?" She enjoyed every minute of it and would also ask, "Can we do this because it is my birthday?" And just for the record, I hate hearing myself on these interview video's. But it is for posterity sake. So just ingnore my annoyingness. Oh how I wish I was Barbara Walters.



During Emma's nap, I shoveled the drive way and Ruby built a big hungry bear and fed him strawberries and even got our 15 year old neighbor to come over and help her for 15 minutes. It was very nice of Sarah to come assist feed the bear. Ruby loves the snow and I thought it was so fun that she got to enjoy the snow on her special day because the night we went to the hospital it snowed like crazy and we had to be up there by midnight for my induction. I told Suzanne that I wanted a snow baby while I was eating them out of house and home because I was worrying that I would be hungry while I was in labor. I had nothing to worry about.



We played lot's of game and watched Snow White while the pigs in a blanket were cooking (Ruby's request) When Jed got home he brought her gift in, it was still in the box because he was a bit grumpy that she found it and was informing my cousin Lanette and her husband Shaun that the bike was her birthday present. Not that she could ride it anyway with all the snow. So it is still sitting in our garage and every day that she goes to school she looks at it and asks when daddy is going to set it up.





The girls had their well checks last Friday, Ruby was a bit unnerved when the told her she had to undress down to her panties. So the nurse gave her to option to wear a gown, she agreed until she saw the gown and told me that her panties were fine.

Emma did very well this time and wasn't scared in the least like she has been in the past. They both got their flu shots and Ruby got her kindergarten shots. I was impressed how well she handled it, everytime they gave her the next vaccination we would see who could make their mouth the widest to take her mind off the shot. After they put bandaids on she asked "Am, I immune now?" I think she got that from Sid the Science Kid. Got to love PBS.

We also schedule Ruby an early appointment with her Opthamologist because her glasses don't seem to be helping with her eye wandering. Sometimes she is fine and her eyes are straight and other times not. I worry that somehow 2 months could make a difference, and I don't want to let it go. I also worry about her having to have her eyes patched, and how she would handle it. So we will be up at PMC in January to see what we can do to help her. Her vision has improved immensly though. And I keep reminding myself not to worry until I have something to worry about.

Here are there stats.

Ruby:

H: 42 in.
W: 44 lb.
She is in the 90th percentile for both, and Dr. Ramsey said she was very well proportioned.

Emma:

H:33 1/4 in.
W:25 lb.

She was in the 30th percentile for both.

I also found this little gem. The girls were in the kitchen playing ring around the rosie with their dolls while I was cooking breakfast.

Since...

I my ms pro driver isn't working, I can't upload pictures and videos this will just have to be a wordy post.

-Today I took Ruby to preschool and she walked into class and saw her friend Jackson (who has been sick for the past week) and turned to me and said "Mom. my boyfriend is here!"

-I bought groceries to roughly last 2 weeks minus needing more milk and a refill on fruit. It turns out that it will indeed last me for 3 weeks. I am very happy about that. We have had a lot of invitations for dinner, or have gift cards to go out to eat.

-I just finished reading The Christmas Sweater and loved it. I wish I had more Christmas reading material to devour, or really just something to read.

-We played 6 games of Candyland and 3 rounds of Disney Princess Memory. Ruby is really good at it.

-Emma is having a hard time keeping her hands off the last three pieces of my Nativity (The rest were broken by well intentioned hands last year.) And has been entertaining herself by dancing with Joseph, and saying "Come on Jesus, it's ok." , putting them down for naps and hiding them so we have to find them.

-While we were playing Memory, we had a little conversation:

Me: "Are you ready for your snack, Beetle?"

Ruby: "I am not a beetle!"

Me: "What's wrong with being a beetle?"

Ruby: "Because I am not a beetle who pushes poop."

Me: "How did you know beetles push poop?"

Ruby: "I saw it on Dinosaur Train."

Me: (Failed to suppress my cackle.)

Ruby: "Don't laugh! Poop is not funny."

I called Jed as soon as she told me that so he could share in on the humor that Ruby was taking very seriously.

The Festival of Trees 2009

Yesterday we got to go to The Festival of Trees with my mom. We had so much fun! I loved getting to spend some quality time with my mom and support such a good cause. For those of you that don't know, people decorate and donate Christmas trees, gingerbread houses, quilts and other items that go on the auction block, and all of the proceeds benefit Primary Childrens Hospital. It is such a wonderful event. Many people or groups that donate trees do it in memory of a loved one who has passed away. Each tree has a theme and sometimes a story as to why it was decorated in a specific way, and many also have a picture of the person it was donated in memory of. I started to get emotional as we started our pathway through the tree display and my mom told me to stop it or I would get her crying. Indeed she also ended up in tears. There we so many trees made in memory of small children or infants. It was such an emotional thing as we walked through, one thing that was an unexpected surprise to us was a tree donated by a family we knew who's son is Spencer's age that is a cancer survivor. I love the festival and how it blesses the lives of so many. I am always touched as I see how many people volunteer and how much they give. I heard a stat on the radio this morning that the Festival raises 1 1/2 million dollars for the hospital. It was a wonderful afternoon.

The girls enjoyed seeing trees that were decorated in Fancy Nancy fashion, snowmen, Disney characters and they always pointed out ones that had a nativity that went along with with the sale of the tree. Ruby commented at one point to my mom as we walked passed one with a Nativity that Christmas is the night of Jesus birth.

As we finished walking through the trees we stopped at the kids corner and did some activities.
Our first stop was at the fairy wand station. Ruby picked a red one, and Emma picked a purple one.


We also hit the fishing pond and Ruby started out with a purple rod and then when she saw they had a red one she asked if she could switch.


The other stop that is a must on our list is the bubble machine. Ruby was a little scared last year and hugged herself as it came over her but this year she really enjoyed herself. Emma wanted to try but I only had one ticket left so my sweet mom got one more so she could have a turn, and yes you can always count on my to pull an utterly ridiculous face at any given time.



Also we got good news at Emma's endocrinology appointment, her body is being consistent with the test results! Yesterday was our last visit with Dr. Swinyard. That puts big smiles on our faces.

Happy Happy Birthday Emma Dear

On the 27th Emma turned two. I know this sounds so cliche but it really does seem like just yesterday that we were at the hospital and we got to hold her for the first time. This past year has been a fun one for us as we have got to watch her go from baby to little girl. She has so much spunk and personality. She is also a good friend to Ruby and is very good at sharing, occasionally she has to be coaxed. Oh, how I love this little girl! She used to be very anti-cuddle/hug. It has become a more recent thing where she is content to be held, and she now gives the sweetest hugs. We call it "the wrapper" because she wraps her little arms around your neck and gives you a tight hug. Truth be told, she has Jed wrapped around her little finger.

As is custom, we did our birthday interview.




For Emma's birthday she got a red Radio Flyer tricycle that makes music and has blinker signals. I didn't get any pictures but I did get video. Jed had "fun" assembling it in our walk in closet that morning.

We got ready to leave the house around noon, and headed up to Sandy to do some Christmas shopping and go to the movies with the girls. It was a wonderful afternoon. We took the girls to see The Christmas Carol at Jordan Commons. This was my first movie with the girls, Jed however is a seasoned pro at taking them to the theater. As we walked in the door he said "As long as the girls both have their own popcorn and a drink it is smooth sailing from here on out." He even had down there popcorn eating styles. Ruby scarfs for the first 5 minutes and then doesn't touch it for the rest of the movie and Emma will every few minutes reach into her box and pull out one kernel at a time. It was so funny to see how right he was. The movie was a little scary at times and it made Ruby very nervous and need to put her hands over her glasses. Emma however laughed during the scary parts and would say "silly" I ended up taking Ruby out the last 10 minutes for a bathroom break and then I just stood in the entrance while I held her for the last few minutes of the movie. We had lots of fun and then headed over to Jed's parents to visit for a few minutes and help get the Christmas village down. (They actually had it done by the time we got there.)

Emma slept on the way home and when we got home to have cake she cried the whole time we sang until I told her to blow out the candles and she got to eat some cake. That seemed to settle her emotions.










Such a fun day for all of us and we are so glad that we got to celebrate Emma's day with her. So grateful Heavenly Father sent her to our family. She is such a joy.

Here is just a little demonstration of her personality. She likes to try new things and make others laugh. Oven mitts on the feet are all the rage around here.

Indeed, a great day!

Yesterday morning we had to leave our house at 7:00 a.m. to drop our girls off and make our 8:20 appointment. By the time we got there at 8:00 to my mom's I desperately had to make a pilgrimage to the lavatory. But I knew I had to hold it. It is most difficult when I have a weak bladder. Anyway we headed up to the Dr.'s and had to wait until about 8:40. A little bit before that, I decided that I couldn't take the pain anymore and waddled hunched over to the bathroom because I was so uncomfortable. Jed just laughed at me.

At 8:40 we got called back. It is always so exciting to see that baby on the screen and see each little bit of anatomy and watch the baby move even though I couldn't feel it. We told the tech that we had two girls and that our oldest wanted a brother. So we went through all of the routine checks and then the tech asked "Now, what did you say you had at home? Two boys, or two girls?" We said two girls and then she shouted out that we were having a boy. She said she wanted to say it about 5 minutes before because she saw the gender when she wasn't really looking for it, but couldn't remember what we already had and didn't want to make a fool of herself. So we are having a little boy. We are very excited but would be just as excited if we were having a girl, because a baby is a baby.

The girls couldn't come with us because my Dr.'s office is in the hospital and due to swine flu concerns children aren't allowed in the woman's center. So it was nice that we got sent home with a DVD of the ultrasound.

We called all of the siblings, and would like to make a formal apology to those we woke up early because they are on Hawaii time. Jed had to go merchandise really quickly and then we headed over to Brent and Suzanne's so Suzanne could see the DVD.

We took the girls to lunch and went back to Jed's parents to put the girls down for a nap. Right as we were about to leave Jed's dad got home, so it was fun to show him the pictures and visit with him for a minute. Not as long as we would have liked, but we only had a few minutes to make it to the babysitters and get ready for our date.


Once the girls were settled at my mom's we got dressed and headed to the Jordan River Temple. It was such a wonderful experience! We had a wonderful and uplifting time. I am so grateful for Temples and for the work that we are able to do there. I don't think we could have spent our anniversary in a better place.

After the Temple we headed off to The Cheesecake factory. So delicious! It was so hard for me to choose what to eat because it seemed like they had about 200 items on the menu. Jed got the orange chicken and I got the Hawaiian pizza. But not before we ate two baskets of bread. I was so hungry and it came with real butter, how could I resist? It was such a fun restaurant with a fun atmosphere. I really enjoyed watching Jed move to the music at our table. It reminds me that I need to get that boy on the dance floor. We ordered our cheesecake to-go.

On the drive home, Emma was feeling cranky and was setting her spot as the older sister, and if something happened that she didn't like she would say "Stop it brother." So funny, we had a fun visit with our girls. They never fail to make us laugh.

Another highlight of our Anniversary and it happens to be one of my favorite parts is our letter exchange. I love it! A few years previous, Jed forgot his letter to me at work for 3 consecutive days so I had to wait to read it. This year however he set up a secret e-mail account and e-mailed it to himself so there was no way to forget it. So cute. We had a fantastic anniversary. Love you so much Jed!

(Sorry for no ultrasound pictures, I don't know how to use the scanner, and Jed hasn't given me a step by step to walk me through it. I will see if I can get some up this weekend.)

It's picture time!

Here are some of our pictures from out family photo shoot, and I feel justified in calling it since our photographer took 155 pictures of us. We are really pleased with the outcome. My friend from Oakcrest, Biph (Kathrin Paul Photography) took our pictures for us. My girls really liked her, but for the life of us we couldn't get much of a smile from Emma. I decided to cut her some slack since it was 8:30 in the morning.

So here are a few favorites






I call this one the Papa special. My girls learned this signature face from none other than Papa Romig.





As for the all together family picture, which is my favorite, you will just have to wait out in the cold by your mailbox to receive your Romig family Christmas Card. Or for a select few individuals who live close enough will get a personally hand delivered card. (As for myself, I love recieving Christmas cards. Please put us on your mailing list.) :)