19 Weeks and 4 Days

This will be a pregnancy update and soon we will reveal the gender. At 15 weeks I had the doctor pull my picc line out. I was able to start keeping the oral medicine down and I hated being tied down to Cedar City because I had to go to the IV clinic twice a day.... It was miserable. With the oral medicine I was still miserable, but it soon started getting better. I think the stress of the IV clinic was causing some of my sickness. I am doing much better. Some days I'm still throwing up and feeling nauseated, but for the most part its completely different than the pregnancy with Dawson. 

Also, we learned that some of the sickness was heartburn- I had no clue what that was, but I'm more than familiar with it now. We had to try a couple different medications to actually get the heartburn under control, but we found the good stuff. I soon found that Pepsi was a cure for keeping things down. There have been days that I've tried all day to keep something down... and then I drink a Pepsi. All of the sudden I can keep it down and food as well! It's magical and soothing.

Around 17-18 weeks I started feeling movement...which I thought was muscle twitches. It was really cool to feel the baby move and it was a reassurance to me that everything was okay.  I haven't been craving ANYTHING except COLDNESS! I don't even have hot flashes .. my mouth just wants to be cold all the time and my body wants the coldest AC blowing on me. It's really weird, but it's a good thing popsicles are easy to find with the summer being around.

Here I am at 19 weeks and 4 days (6/12/2012). I haven't gotten much of tummy, but it's more than I had with Dawson. I didn't show until 26 weeks with Dawson. 

 Dawson wanted to show his tummy side shot too!

  This was the day 6/12/2012 that we went to do the official ultrasound to find out the gender. Up until this point I want to document how involved and attentive Dawson has been towards me and the baby. Anytime i don't feel good he will give me a hug, pat my head or back and say, "It's going to be okay mom." He still tells the baby good morning every day! He will put his ear up to my tummy and listen to the baby. He always says, "The baby wants to go swimming mom." I tell him, "the baby is swimming 24/7 right now..." haha! It's so cute! He sings to the baby, and talks to the baby. He even tickles my tummy pretending that he's tickling the baby.

4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we went to Kanab. We've been rotating between Kanab and Fillmore, and this year it was my family's turn. We had so much fun! I didn't get hardly any pictures sadly! I forgot the camera for most of the day. :-( 

For the parade, Dawson was a champ! I told him that if he waves to the floats that they will throw you candy.... he learned SO FAST! He was waving so much and he was definitely loaded with candy, beads, hats, flags, and all sorts of treasures by the end of the parade. He even stood with arms wide open to get sprayed by the fire trucks at the end! It was SOO much fun! 

J.D. textured the living room of my parents house, and then we headed up to the park for dinner, entertainment, and fireworks. The only thing Dawson really wanted for the 4th was fireworks! He talked about it for days and kept asking if it was the day for the fireworks yet, and it finally was here. He played and played and played on the park slides and swings. The entertainment was amazing because they had a polynesian group come perform! One of the dances they invited anyone to come up and perform...so our little niece Rylee (who we least expected) ran up. 

 The fireworks were pure AMAZING! they were right above our heads and we didn't even have time to look away because we were in awe! Dawson was definitely satisfied!

We then went to St. George and on our way there Dawson put on all of this and said, "Mom! I'm like Oscar the Shark Slayer!" I had to get a picture!

  And then as we waited for Grandma to get home, Dawson posed on the back of the car as she pulled up! It was so stinkin cute! Notice he's trying to cock his leg! I love it!

 Dawson did have the camera for some of the ride to St. George and he snapped this. :-)

It was a great 4th of July! We want to start a tradition of going to Lake Powell every year....so hopefully we can make that start for next year!

Playing with Mommy

Lately I've tried to become creative with playing with Dawson. I made the aprons/super hero capes, the chef hats, a corn drum, a puppet mask, and now together Dawson and I built this!

 We played with all of his cars and it really was fun. Dawson made a slide so the cars could get down from each level! It was so cool!

Then he played with these....Not much i can say. :-)

Outside Camping Again

Dawson has a love for camping...or the mountains. He always wants to go camping, so if he can't go up in the mountains to get it, then he fixes his own problem with this alternative. I think its a pretty good, but uncomfortable solution. 

J.D. is good enough to go out and lay with him for a bit! If it were up to Dawson, he'd stay out all night. 

 Dawson is definitely my son as you can see him play with his own hair! It's so cute! He made this bed all by himself!

Hunting

For the pheasant/turkey hunt, J.D. was SUCCESSFUL this year! He even managed to take Dawson a couple of times- which you could tell how much fun Dawson had! It's fun to see J.D. teach him how to hunt and watch the love for hunting grow inside Dawson. I think for Dawson he just loves going out in the mountains and being with his dad- which is the best part for J.D. too. 

Here is the pheasant! Dawson didn't watch J.D. clean it or anything, so when J.D. walked back inside with meat in his hands Dawson kind of had a break down. We had to teach him that it's just like chicken at the store and that's what you do after you hunt. We made orange chicken with it and Dawson did end up eating it. After he realized it tasted good, he stopped having his break down and I think he grasped the concept. 

 Here's the turkey! J.D. was stoked to get one! He clean it up and we were going to eat it.... but J.D cleaned it in an apartment he was working on (dust and chemicals), so afterwards when we realized the place he'd cleaned it probably wasn't the best idea we ended up chucking it. I was totally fine with it. lol!

I love knowing that if anything were to happen in this world where I couldn't get meat from the store... I have a reliable hunter on my hands who would never let me starve! Thanks hunners! You are so amazing!

Father's Day

We didn't do much for father's day this year. We mostly relaxed and took it easy because I still struggle with being sick some days, and it was stake conference. Dawson did manage to snap some pictures of J.D. though! 

For a Father's Day gift I let Dawson pick out something and then I picked out something. Dawson got J.D. a Sponge Bob puzzle. When Dawson picked it out he said, "Hey, me and dad can do this together." It was so sweet and I loved how picked something he could do with his dad! I got J.D. some new basketball shorts.... and on the card I wrote, 

"TO: DAD

FOR: MOM

FROM: MOM"

The story behind this... J.D. gets frustrated because I keep wearing his basketball shorts and then he doesn't have any to wear. My side of the story is that his shorts aren't too tight around my waist and don't make me sick like my shorts do. SOOO when J.D. read the card first he just busted up laughing! He couldn't stop laughing after he saw what the gift was! It was hilarious! 

It was a great Father's Day. I'm so grateful for J.D. and how amazing he is. He works so hard and never fails to let his family come first. He is the greatest father to Dawson and will be for this one as well. He plays with Dawson and always gives him so much attention. I love watching them play together and see Dawson learn so much from him. He always lets me know how much he loves me! Plus- he's so hot and extremely good looking! Happy Father's Day Hunners- I love you!

Chef Dawson

I can't remember if I've posted about our little chef running around here yet, but if so...here's some more. He is quite the little cook! I made some aprons/super hero capes out of J.D.'s old shirts. I took the shirt, and cut out the front and arm holes (keeping the collar and back side). Dawson colored the back and slipped the collar over his head. I am going to cut the collar and put velcro on it... and WAALLAA- an apron/super hero cape. It's perfect, and cost $0.00.

He then asked me to make him a chef hat like the rats (ratatouille). So with 2 pieces of paper and 8 staples later, he had himself a chef hat. He was SOOOO excited! We decided mac and cheese was the lunch option for the day, and then the cooking began. Dawson grabbed the oven mits, his apron, his chef hat, and a spoon! It was so cute and he put it all on by himself! He is so creative and smart!!

 He is so funny! He has the funnest facial expressions!

 He helped cook it all until it was done! He finished the job and it tasted so good! I would dare say he might be able to cook mac and cheese by himself within a year....lol!

I am pretty sure his talent for cooking comes from his dad- J.D. doesn't mind cooking at all and usually does it more than me. Dawson likes helping with all the cooking and is getting so much better at eating it! He always reminds us that he's going to grow up and get strong like his mom and dad one day. He tells us that he needs to eat so he can get strong muscles! It always suprises me about how much he puts together and understands- he truly is so SO SMART!

Trying to pose....

Some days we catch Dawson trying out new ways to walk, talk, run, and so on.... Today we caught him trying to pose.... and yes I mean 'trying.'

 He's still got some work to do, but he's still so cute!

 This one is my all time favorite because his face just shows you how hard he's trying... or is that the face that he thinks goes with it. I can't say I've never seen someone posing with that face before. I'm not sure what to refer the face to....

He's the cutest and funnest little boy ever! We love you Dawson and love how entertaining you make our lives!

Dawson's mouth

When Dawson gets the camera we never know what we are going to find later on. This post is definitely explaining what I mean.

 What does a kiss look like?

 "What does my tongue look like?"

" Lets see what my half smile looks like....."

 I love finding pictures that he takes! He's so curious and it lets me get a little bit of a glimpse of what goes on in that smart little head of his! :-)

 

Bonfire Time Again

J.D.'s sister, Loni and her family moved to Cedar City at the beginning of the year. It's been awesome because it's been so long since we've had family live in the same town as us. Plus, they are amazing chefs and always cook the most amazing things for us. Dawson has started to build a great friendship with his cousin Destry as well. During the summer, they go back to Holden so they can work.... so before they left we made sure to have a bonfire with them. It's so nice to have family to do things with! 

Here's the cutest little girl ever with campfire all over her sweet little face! 

 Dawson, for some reason, was being a little camera shy. However, here's the 2 munchkins sitting in their little campfire chairs. They absolutely loved being outside and watching the fire.

 This is the best shot I got of all of us... me of course taking the picture. It was a perfect night for a bonfire in our secret place. :-)

 Silly Uncle Daniel with Destry's campfire face! lol!

 Dawson kept trying to stick out his tongue too... but he wouldn't look at the camera!

 Mommy and Dawson! All it took was his mom to take a picture with him for him to smile at the camera! He's such a turkey!

We had a blast, and the food was delicious! The smores of course are the favorite for us :-)

Dibs on the Recliner

Not long before graduation, we had some friends of ours getting rid of their recliner. It just so happened that the recliner is the exact material and color of our other couches that we picked up off the side of the road. It's amazing how much free stuff we have accumulated! This recliner was in AMAZING condition as well. So J.D. and his buddy hauled it on over to our house. There really isn't much room in our little apartment, but J.D. never doubts my skills of making things fit and go together. 

We brought the chair in, made it fit, and the next thing we knew Dawson had already called dibs on the chair. LITERALLY! Anytime any of us sit in the living room and try to sit in the recliner Dawson will say, "Hey, that's my chair. You need to move." lol! He is an awesome cuddler and a great sharer with his mom and dad...so usually it ends up with one of us plus Dawson in the recliner. Other times...it's just Dawson. 

Tender Moments

I really love how Dawson says "Good Morning baby" every day. It melts my heart that he is so attentive already to the idea of the baby coming. He says now that it's a baby sister. We had an ultra sound and saw only 1 baby-so we decided that Dawson must be telling us there is one more after this one.

We ask Dawson what his sister's name is and he says, "Andee! Andee Stevens" Then we ask, what his brother's name is and he says, "Monte Stevens." It's the cutest thing ever! He will tell the baby, "I love you baby." He will also sing songs to the baby. It's amazing how he is making this pregnancy easier because he sets such a great example to me.

Dawson has also been into looking at the stars. The other night he sat in the doorway and said, "Mom! Dad! It's Jesus!" We went to look outside and Dawson was pointing at a really really bright star (more like a planet). It was SO cute! Tonight he got a blanket and said, "Mom- want to come share the blanket with me?" So I sat with him in the doorway and he held my hand. He kept covering me with the blanket making sure I was warm because I kept telling him I was too cold and wanted to go inside. His reply, " Mom- you'll be fine. Just get in the blankets and you'll be fine. You can't go inside. You need to stay with Dawson." So i stayed and after a little while he started singing songs. He would sing how he wants to grow up and get so big so he can sit in the big chair (which is the recliner- he can't make it stay laid back because he's too small, but it' his favorite chair). He sang about the stars and how they are bright and shiny. He helped me sing "You are my sunshine" but he said he's Dawson not the sun! He is so smart! lol!

Graduation

Yep! I did it! I finally graduated, with a Bachelors in General Studies. I'm so excited to finally be done with school! I can't believe I did it with a child and how sick I've been...some how J.D., Dawson, and I made it. I am very proud because I graduated with a 4.0 GPA for this semester (did I mention I took 19 credits as well)- huge accomplishment for me.

Graduation was so much fun- even with being sick. Almost all of J.D.'s family and mine came to see me walk and receive the most expensive piece of paper I will ever have to buy (aka diploma). We had a BBQ, went swimming, ate at the pizza factory and sizzlers. To be honest, it was just so nice to be around family and spend time with all of them. Dawson was on cloud 9 with cousins to play with. A huge THANK-YOU to everyone who came and made my day more special. It meant so much to me to hear how incredibly LOUD my cheering/support section was when my name got called. :-) lol! It was awesome! 

It's a huge relief to have this chapter of my life closed and I can just stay at home and be sick instead of using all my strength to get to class and make it through a presentation without throwing up....which only happened once... lol! I want to remember how hard it was because I think it will be fun to look back and remember how hard it was and how good it felt to be done. 

My plans now.... hmmm... I hope I start feeling better soon so I can start preschool with Dawson. Right now we are learning how to sing the alphabet and months of the year songs. I want to build food storage shelves and work on that. I also want to put together 72 hour survival kits. I hope this summer we get to go camping a bit, a few lake trips, and go out to see J.D.'s sister and my brother out in the midwest. I also want to make another bucket list with J.D.- which is another awesome blog post I will share soon. So those are my plans and I guess I can compare my list at the end of the summer....

Speaking of that...now that school is over, none of us have school in the fall which means I will end this post by saying

 SUMMER IS ALL YEAR BABY! HECK YA!