Annabelle--26/27 Month Update

1. I asked you if I could be your best friend and you always say, "No, Daddy is my best friend!"

2. After we are done saying prayers at night and Dad reads you your books you are always so quick to rush him out of your room and close the door on him. You say, "Bye Dad!"

3. You said your first prayer tonight, all on your own! {10/23/13} You made sure to bless your mobiles (movies), to help you be nice, to go potty, and said that you love President Monson.  You say "Heavenly Fawdder" at least 3x during your prayer.  At the end I swear Dad and I were looking into the eyes of an angel. Melted our hearts.

4. I ask you where baby brother is and you always point to your tummy, you get upset if I tell you he's in mommy's tummy! You always tell me you're going to help change poopy diapers.

5. When you keep your undies dry you come up to me and say, "double high 5!"

6. The other day I saw you trying to teach Minnie the ABC's.

7. We still constantly get compliments from other people of how well you speak for being 2, you pick up and remember new vocabulary very easily and can talk in complete sentences.

8. You were making barking noises and so I said, "Are you a dog Annabelle?" Then you said, "No, I a Annabelle!"

9. Your favorite movie by far is Wreck It Ralph. You could watch it all day long. You get all emotional when Ralph wrecks Venelope's car and say, "Mommy, Ralph is not being nice, he wreck her car!"

10. When you count you say..."1, 2, 3, 4...9!"

11. You are at the stage where you demand to do everything on your own, you are so independent. And although I want you to learn it drives Mommy bonkers sometimes!

12. Today you told me, "Mommy, I like your pink eyes!" And then I let you wipe some of my eyeshadow off to put on your eyes. You are so observant.

13. You told Dad tonight you didn't want him to go to work.  Then he told you he had to work so we could go shopping, and so that Mommy could buy clothes and things for you, and to also pay for the house, then you chimed in and said, "and to buy choket (chocolate)!!" It's so cute when you always want to add to our conversation.

14. We were driving home from Mesa after our Thanksgiving trip and you said you had to go potty and I told you to hold it and you could go at home. You then said, "I go potty at the gas station!"

15. Everytime I tell you to stop doing something so we can do other things or leave somewhere you always say, "5 more minutes ok?"

Corbyn cut your hair again and gave you the cutest bob! I loved all the volume you got from how she stacked it in the back! You were so good about sitting still while she cut your hair but sometimes you would just start giggling because when the scissors 

touched your neck you said it tickled you!

Holding baby Molly together at Peaches house.  You 2 girls are the only grandkids on the Shaver side!

In your new pj's from Costco.

This picture makes my heart so sad because you look so grown up standing on your little stool and brushing your teeth all by yourself. 

In your new kicks that Mommy bought you from Ross.

We went to story time at the Library and you guys made turkey's for your craft. 

Showing Minnie her ABC's.

You love to help Mommy cook and wear her apron. 

Sitting on the stairs at Grammy Schaub's house. 

Ghosts, Witches & Pumpkins of 2013

{HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2013}

This year for Halloween we weren't sure what we were going to do because unfortunately our ward was not doing a trunk or treat.  Annie Skommesa and Desiree Johns put together this fun halloween party at Annie's house the Saturday before.  You enjoyed decorating your pumpkin, eating cookies and jumping on the trampoline!  I had dressed you up in a hello kitty halloween shirt and orange pants, good thing I did because there was dirt everywhere and of course you being a toddler you want to dig your toes into it.

I wasn't sure what costume to put you in this year so I turned to Grammy Shaver to make you one!  She of course did an absolute perfect job at constructing you a fairy costume, it really turned out beautiful.  It even included the wand, flowered hair piece, a belt with ribbon and sparkly wings.  You were the fairest fairy in all the land of Kingmania!  Grammy had been stressing about your costume and wanted to make sure we got it on time, we did and every detail on there was made with love.

We ended up going to another ward's Trunk or Treat at the stake center, there were a lot of cars there and people handing out candy.  You were so goo about saying "Twick or Tweet" when you would go up to someone.  For the most part you kept all your accessories to your costume on too.  We hung out with our friends Stephen, Kristen and Ella Poe.  Happy Sugar High!!

Drumroll please….

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

20 Weeks:  I've been horrible at documenting things about this pregnancy. I can't believe I'm halfway there already, time has been going by pretty fast and it's crazy to think come next year 2014 I'll have a little baby boy in my arms to hold.

We found out the gender on 10/28/13. There is only 1 ultra sound tech here so she is pretty booked and busy. The morning of Jeff stayed home from work to go to the appt with me and we got breakfast burritos from Donut Deli to start the day off.  Thankfully Kali Marzley was willing to watch Annabelle because she wasn't allowed to come with us. She is a great friend who just lives down the street from us so it was convenient to drop her off there and plus Annabelle loves playing with her little boy Swayde.

The ultra sound tech Nan was super nice and always has relaxing yoga music playing in the background. The uncomfortable part was that I had to drink 30 oz of water 2 hours before and hold it so that she could do some testing. The test was to check my cervix and to measure it and make sure that it could stretch when the time came. After that part was done I literally ran to the bathroom to release the flood gates, and I don't even think my pants were zipped up!

She did some other measurements on the baby and asked if we wanted to find the gender out and of course we did.  A little part in my heart was aching for a little boy, but would have been so happy for another girl to doll up. I just have been feeling this whole time that it was a boy and that's who was next in heaven waiting to come down to our family. Plus we already had his name picked out and it just seemed right. She saw the "boy parts" and confirmed that it definitely was a little BOY. When she shared the news I did get teary eyed from my heart being so full of gratitude that we would have another chance to raise a child of God. She said the baby was healthy and measured right for everything and was on track from growth. After the first ultra sound she had put my due date a little bit further than what I had thought, but said she might be a bit off because he was curled up a bit. She did confirm that my due date would still stay at 3/16/2014.  I knew my Mom would be extra excited to hear this because she said before I had told her I was pregnant she had dream with a little boy in it.

I still have been feeling really well, but have the occasional cramping and back pains. I would take those over feeling queasy though.  I feel like I'm showing a bit more but my chubby tummy that I had before makes it hard to see the pregnant bump! My back especially aches if I sit a certain way or sit at the computer for too long.

I have quite the addiction to waffles and pancakes, that's usually all I want to eat all day long. I have been liking cereal and popcorn too. I try to share my waffles though whenever I make them so then I don't feel as guilty. I think I have Annabelle addicted to waffle pies! I also enjoy the taste of chocolate milk and croissants! I'm still able to wear all my normal clothes and haven't had to bust out the maternity clothes yet, my jeans still are buttoning up.

I'm anxious to start feeling little guy move, I think I have felt him a little bit, but it's not very prominent movements. I've been really tired lately and can just fall asleep on the couch easily after Jeff gets home.  Annabelle is so cute and already talks about her baby brudder and how she is going to help me out with him and change his poopy diaper. I know already that she will be the best big sister, she loves to help with anything we ask her to do.

Thankfully I don't have any stretch marks and still sleep well at night with only waking up once to pee. Best moment in the last couple of weeks during this pregnancy was when Jeff and I were finally able to attend the temple in Vegas.  When we were sitting in the celestial room all I could picture was you and Annabelle running up to us all dressed in white and leaping in our arms to give us a huge hug.  That made my heart happy. I'm thankful for the gospel and that we get to be an ETERNAL family, knowing that and being able to feel the truthfulness of such a profound covenant is the most beautiful image to me.

Annabelle--25 Month Update

What Annabelle has been up to...

1. You have a memory of gold. You always remember things I tell you that we are going to do and keep asking about them until we do it. You also have a good memory for houses, when we go to a certain place you make yourself right at home and know what to touch and what not to touch. You have an amazing memory for names too, you like to look at pictures and point out who everyone is.

2. You are very polite and well mannered and always say, "Thank you, you're welcome, sure Mom, I'm fine, excuse me, I'm ok!"

3. You absolutely love singing primary songs and learn them quickly.

4. You carry your little pink chair everywhere around the house to reach things you are not supposed to touch. You especially like to turn the lights and fans on and off.

5. You are so dramatic sometimes and it's funny! You love to talk like you are so sad. When we were in Sierra Vista visiting Grandpa and Grandma their little dog Rocky had a pretty bad red eye and so now whenever I bring that up to talk about you say in your saddest voice, "Rocky...red eye..."

6. You still are talking so well and can repeat any word that we tell you. One of your new things to say is, "That's my faborite..."

7. You are so sweet about your prayers. At night when we pray as a family you always ask to say a prayer on your own afterwards and you like to say, "I love Jesus."

8. One of your favorite things to do is to come to our bed early in the morning and play "Tato" which is Potato Head.

9. You're doing so well at pedaling on your bike and can do it all in your own now. You also learned how to steer your handle bars and how to turn them.

10. Every noise you hear outside you associate with the trash man.

11. We were driving home from Vegas and you were in the back and said, "Hi Mom! Hi Dad! Hi guys!"

12. We finally were able to break you of your habit of drinking milk while falling asleep at night. But in return I had to go back to sitting in the room til you fell asleep. It's funny bc when I just sit here in the chair you always whisper things while just laying in your crib and you make sure to say hi to me at least 10x before you fall asleep.

13. You are getting to be quite the boss around the house. If I tell Dad to do something you always repeat what I say and keep telling him to do it over and over again until he does.

14. Sept. 13, 2013 I finally took the dive and told myself I had to be 100% committed and potty train you again. You have just been showing so much interest that I couldn't miss this window of opportunity. I had your underwear ready and you did so well today. We hung out in the bathroom most of the day bc I didn't want you to have accidents on the carpet. By the end of the night you were saying, "I go pee!" and I'd rush you to the toilet and you would go in there. We were so proud of you and I'm hoping you'll continue to catch on. Now your pooping is another story, you've been holding it again and we are having a hard time with you going.

15. You were in my room and got my nail clippers and said, "I need to cut my fingers off!"

16. You were playing with dads hair and you asked him about his trademark mole on the back of his head and what it was. After he told you, you said, "I lubb your mole!" Haha!

17. You are so considerate and will just randomly come up to me and Dad and tell us you love us. Today you came up and hugged my leg and said, "I lubb you Mommy!"

18. At night when you are in your crib trying to fall asleep you'll always go through a list of people and say you miss them, "Mommy, I miss Jammer. I miss Grammy. I miss Rocky and Zoey."

For your 2nd birthday Rachael got you a pass to the kids museum in Vegas! They had just recently remodeled it, so Rach and I decided to take you girls for a day of fun.  They had lots of hands on exhibits and you girls loved it.  They had so many interactive displays for kids that we could have spent all day there!  It was a bit challenging because I was still in the process of potty training you so every couple of hours I had to take you to the bathroom, but you did great and had no accidents while we were there.

We also took you girls to the Lake Havasu Aquatic Center.  You are fearless in the water and loved to just splash around.  It was such a nice facility too.  You especially loved going underneath the mushroom that was a waterfall and also down the water slide, I couldn't keep up with you.  Afterward we went to grab lunch at Schlotzsky's, you girls shared pizza, chips and a cookie and I had their roasted turkey sandwich on sourdough bread…everything was so yummy!!  Everyone there thought that you two were the cutest things! 

: This is you at your first dentist appointment, their office was so kid friendly and had lots of things for you to play with while we waited to see the dentist.

: You still love to play in your little froggy pool outside on the back porch.

: One day while I was babysitting you and Charlotte it started to rain so I just had to let you girls go out and play in it!  You both were so entertained by just splashing your hands in the mud puddles.

: You and your friend Swayde Marzley sitting on the bench at his house and sippin' your water bottles.

: You and Charlotte loved to ride double style on your pink bike that you got for your birthday.  You both would take turns sitting on the back and pushing, it was so funny!

: We took the Adams to our favorite hamburger place in Laughlin and you and Char Char had fun walking around looking at the water.  You two girls make the cutest KBF's! (Kingman Best Friends)

: You had made a big improvement with your potty training so I told you that you could get a book bag.  We found this one at Cracker Barrel.  You always called it your "pack pack!"

Trip to Sierra Vista with Uncle Jammer

Uncle Jammer finished his semester at BYU and was on his way to Sierra Vista to visit Mom and Dad but pit stopped in Kingman first.  I thought it would be fun to road trip with him to SV, unfortunately Jeff couldn't come because he had to work.  We all piled in his little red Toyota and went on our way.  Since living in Kingman we don't go to SV as much because it's just too far away, so any chance we get I like to go because I think it's good for Annabelle to be familiar with Grammy and Papa Shaver's house too.

Lots of time was spent outside in their backyard playing catch with the dogs and just enjoying the cooler weather!  Every chance you got you would want to play out there!

1. Pit stop at DQ to get some ice cream!
2. This was Jocelyn's old doll and it's kinda creepy, but you love to play with it when we go to Grammy Shaver's house.
3. Sporting your early morning bed head outside.
4. Found a fun park in SV for you to play at.
5. Coloring at Grammy's.
6. Selfie with Mom in the living room downstairs at Grammy's house.

Every time the sprinklers went on at Papa Shaver's house you wanted to go and play in them, so Jarom thought of a good idea to make you guys your own slip n' slide while the sprinklers were going off!  You had such a great time and could play in the water all day long.  Uncle Jammer is the best and he loves to play with you.

I was craving apple pie so I knew Mom would be the perfect person to make one with, it turned out amazing and was exactly what my taste buds were wanting.  I liked learning how to make the pie from scratch with my Mom, she is such an excellent baker.

Headed back to Kingman…

We were especially excited to head back to Kingman because Phil and Nicki welcomed their little girl Molly MacKenzie Shaver to the world on August 23, 2013!  We were so anxious to get to the hospital to meet her.  It just had worked out perfectly that Jarom was in town and that Nicki had her in time for us to see her on our way back to Kingman.

Nicki had a scheduled c-section so it was nice having an idea of when Molly would be born.  Things went well and although she was a little small she didn't have to be admitted to the NICU.  I was so happy for Phil and Nicki to start a family of their own, I knew they would both be incredible parents.  We were missing Amber, Jeff and Paul and wishing they could have been there to meet her too.

That night we did an Oregano's date with Peach and Jocelyn, it was really fun to meet up with the fam and as always there were lots of jokes shared!

Thankful for the time we got to spend with Jarom on the road, it was such a fabulous trip!