Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I made our Christmas stockings!

I tend to be quite ambitious when it comes to sewing. Surprisingly, I've been mostly successful. I was given a variety of christmas fabric this summer. I decided to take on another project. It has been the last item on my to do list before Christmas. But I promised myself if I didn't complete it there was always next Christmas and I was not allowed to be angry with myself. Gimme a few snow days and voila! Each is different and backed with a different fabric. I'm not usually a patchwork kinda girl, but I'm really pleased with them. From left to right is David's, mine, Lilia's and baby boy. The boys have a red sparkly pom-pom and the girls have green. The top is a soft shaggy fleece that is quite forgiving, which is a bonus when you sew. They're all lined with a solid white muslin. My next step is to embroider our names or initial on the top, but probably after Christmas. And bonus I cut enough random squares and have enough fabric and pom-poms for our future children (however few or many that may be). Let me know what you think!

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

SNOW DAY and travel tips

We'll be having a white christmas here in South Jersey! Lilia loves the snow, which kinda surprised me. She doesn't like the cold or the wind. We got hit pretty hard, so hard David has no school tomorrow! Here are the photos of our adventures in the snow.hehe, its snowing :)

helping clean up the snow
adding more snow to that tree
The wall of snow is up to her shoulders.
Look its snowing!
I want to taste it.
Two snow bunnies!

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LILIA'S TRAVEL TIPS FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASONBe sure to accessorize during your holiday parties.All christmas travelers must have their luggage, their handbag and their hat. Yes her gettysburg hat is on backwards :)
When you get tired while traveling make sure your luggage is large enough for you to rest on top of it.

Have a very Merry Christmas! If you are traveling, be safe. and if you're staying at home, be warm. May you feel the love of Jesus Christ in your lives at this special time.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Christmas Carol Tribute to the Broughs

The Brough family has taught me many things. One of them is a Christmas carol parody. We are expecting snow this evening and this song must now be sung. I dedicate this to Larry, Joy, Brad, David, Jennifer, and Kathryn.

(to be sung to the tune of "Let it Snow!")

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
and my dog is getting spiteful,
so I open the door to let him go
YELLOW SNOW, YELLOW SNOW, YELLOW SNOW!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Dance 'til you drop


This is Lily and her cousin Ellie dancing at Thanksgiving. Ellie wanted to show me her new tap shoes. I taught her how to shuffle and that's about all she does the whole time. Lily had to then put on her black shiny shoes and do some of her own dancing. She's a natural! Check out Lily trying to shuffle along with Ellie.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Our baby is a...

BOY! That's right! A little baby boy is headed our way. I think everyone I needed to personally tell has been informed, if not, sorry, now you know. I had 2 ultrasounds in the last week. The first technician kept saying, I want to say boy but I can't tell for sure. Well the second technician said without a moments hesitation "This is a boy!" Actually she typed it before she told me, she thought I already knew. She was typing "M A L" when she asked "do you already know the sex of the baby?" when I responded "No" she stopped in her tracks and looked worried, "did you want to find out?" I already knew the answer at this point but calmed her with a resounding "YES!" And that's when she typed the "E" and pointed out what I could already see in the ultrasound as a boy. He was not shy or modest. He is all boy! My mom surprised me at the hospital and showed up to support me or be there for any bad news. I insisted on going alone thinking no one else needed to waste their time there. It was great to have some to cheer with as we talked excitedly about our precious male child. He will be the first grandson on David's side. There are 6 beautiful girls and now there will be a handsome boy to chase and annoy them.

My family was pretty shocked by this. Throughout generations on my mother's side the woman all have 2 girls followed by 2 boys after that is wildcard. This is true for both of my sisters, my mother, my grandmother (well we think, my mom was an only child but still a girl first), both great grandmothers. Notice a trend. Well I've now broken that trend! There is shopping to be done. I've already begun!

In other good news, both ultrasounds declared me farther along than originally anticipated by one week. My new due date is May 31, 2010. My mother hopes her birthday present next year will be her newest baby boy May 26. We'll see. I would love to go early. Lily was a week late!

And in even better news, I LOVE my midwife. She is kind, patient, full of explanation. I've already made her aware of a few of my requests at the birth and she is fully supportive (let's just pray she delivers me.) And she is very complimentary. She makes you like her. She has already told me I have beautiful long eyelashes, I'm gorgeous, and I have small hips. Everything a pregnant woman needs to hear. Scratch that, everything everyone woman needs to hear! And she grouped me with the "tiny girls" she delivers. She is definitely a keeper!

P.S.- she thinks my bloodclot was due to a low placenta. It is apparently attached low in my uterus meaning more likely to have small bleeding should anything disrupt the cervix. She listed many causes. Nothing to be too concerned about. I'm off bedrest and she expects a healthy pregnancy.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Bed rest for me

Sadly I'm on bed rest for a few days. Yesterday afternoon I passed a small blood clot. My midwife's office instructed me to head directly to the ER. After 7 hours they sent me home calling it a threatened miscarriage and an upper respiratory infection. I had no other bleeding or pain. I think they were just scratching their heads at me. So they put me on bed rest until I see my midwife again next week. They also gave me some antibiotics to get rid of my coughing and everything. I had another ultrasound and the baby is active and happy. We also found out the gender of the baby but I won't be sharing that yet until I get in touch with all our immediate family first by phone.These are photos of the first ultrasound. Hope you can see the baby in there.Here's the baby sucking its thumb.
The baby measured more than a week ahead but probably not enough to change my due date.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I'm thankful we heard the heart beat!

That's right I'm almost 13 weeks pregnant! Baby Brough #2 is due June 5, 2010. I don't like to post the exact day because if and when that day comes and goes I will be sad. I remember it all too well when Lily came a week later than anticipated.
I visited Midwife Jeanne yesterday and was so excited when she pulled out her music maker(ultrasound machine to listen to the heart). It sure was music to my ears. I've been worried that I was crazy and just had the stomach flu for a few weeks. Or I'd show up and they'd say you're not pregnant just early menopause. But its not. I'm creating another perfect baby to join to my eternal family. I've never been so happy to be a woman in all my life as I've been as a mother. My angel Lilia is better than I could have imagined.
I was honestly worried I wouldn't feel the same way about this little one. And sadly up until now it has seemed unreal and I haven't felt very connected. I'm thankful for the technology that has given me the opportunity to connect with my baby. I'm crying as I type all of this and I know now with certainty that this baby will have every bit of my love as Lilia has. I didn't understand as other mothers said "you're love isn't divided, its multiplied." I understand.
I know I'm not a talented writer, but this post was written for me to draw even closer to my new child. But if you've taken the time to read it, I hope you enjoyed it.

Monday, November 2, 2009

We ran away to Utah back in October.



We went to Utah to visit and help out my sister in October. We had a fabulous time minus the week of sickness that we all shared. Mom and I walked around temple square one morning. Lily mostly wanted to get in the water.
Having so much fun with Joshua! They made me want twins some day. Too CUTE!
Cute bums!

He would stop at the bottom of the slide each time so she could slide down and hug him.

Being silly with Grandpa!


We had so much fun with cousins and family! Grandma and Grandpa drove up to visit us for the day! We went to the Mayan for lunch and saw cliff divers and a firework in our dessert. We sure miss them!

Lilia Lately,

It has been awhile since I dedicated a post to my little sweet heart. Here are photos from the last 2 months. She's so big now! She talks and does silly things to make us laugh. She can say her animal sounds, label the face with words, she eats well with a fork and spoon and has many opinions. She has gone potty several times and loves to be outside. And she loved Trick or treating, she said "reet reet" and wanted candy!

Quack Quack (means Trick or treat in duck)
Lily insists on sitting in the bouncey seat while we have Nina over.
Fall Fun!
I asked her "Where's Daddy?" This is her "I don't know" expression.
playing in the leaves is not something I had to teach her how to do.
this flower is tasty
water!!
I love to see the temple!
She loves playing with my old troll dolls. She was very concerned about their hair and was trying to fix it.
playing in the kitchen drawers, "now how do I get out of here?"

She has a new fascination with stickers.
her "house" is where the portable dishwasher sits unless its being run. She loves to play inside!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Our dog Peanut!

So yesterday we got a dog for about 3 hours. He was a chihuahua. Normally, I'm not a fan of them, but this was the sweetest dog ever! Lilia is actually quite afraid of dogs up close but she chased it around and had a ball. Well, this dog was hanging around our car yesterday afternoon and we're pretty sure it barked a lot the night before. It is not from our street, we've never seen it before. But it took a liking to Lilia and our front porch (when we finally let it on the porch). It had been a bad rainstorm the night before and we think it had been lost outside our house that long. So we called animal control and they were coming by later to pick it up. In the meantime we had a blast with "Peanut". (we were also never sure what gender this dog was.)Lily feeding Peanut, and then eating the bread herself.
Lilia loved feeding him some bread and cheese. Peanut was super hungry. We're also pretty sure he's an indoor lap dog. He snuggled right in and went to sleep, loved to be petted and never once barked. Anytime we let it off the porch Peanut would follow me around and run back to the porch. I was sad to give it up. They said I can call the animal shelter and see if the dog was claimed (most likely it will be, I'm sure he was very expensive). If not, I just might have to bring Peanut home to us.

Monday, October 19, 2009

My little helper

I made apple crisp and Lily was interested in helping me. First she washed the apples in water. (meaning Lily ate one apple.)then she stirred the apple peelings in a large bowl of water. She took this very seriously. (don't tell her but it wasn't actually part of the recipe, just keeping her busy.) She would pick up any peel that went into the sink and force any that came up the sides back into the water. And this morning she was very eager to stir the eggs for breakfast!Don't touch my apple peels!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Do you play house?

I picked this little house/tent up at a yard sale for $2. Lily adores it. One side is a grocery store, one side is a post office, another side a puppet theater and the last side is a door. She loves it, especially as a hiding place. Run and hide is a favorite game of ours. It involves a great deal of growling, squeals of delight (fake fear) and tickling.

What can I get you?
How can you resist kissing those cheeks?!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Nursery or Bust

Lilia is 18 months old. She can officially go to nursery now at church. (She's been attending since she was 12 months, but we always were in there with her to help out.)

Well, that last two Sundays she has been free from us. She did awesome! Sister Jill said she's even better without us. Lily sits for their 15 min. lesson, she dances when they sing and she behaves well. WOO HOO!

And even cooler.... SHE SAYS "JESUS". She recognizes His picture. When asked at home or in nursery she says "Jesus". And according to Sister Jill she said "baptize" twice on Sunday. I have not heard that myself.

We are excited for her to gain her own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Thanks Sister Jill for your patience and love, (and of course all the M&M's Lily receives as incentive.)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Lily Tumbles!

Lily started doing this herself. She'd put her head on the floor and look through her legs at you. A little while ago I helped her by pushing her over. She thought it was great! (This is the one and only time I think I'll publicly admit to pushing my child, except on a swing.) She does it all on her own now and loves it! She's 18 months now!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Elton John look-a-like