32+ Weeks

As of today, December 26, 2012, I think I am "technically" 32 weeks and 5 days along.  That gives me a due date of February 22, 2013.  However, both of my ultrasounds measured a bit small, so at my last appointment, I asked the doctor if that was going to change the due date at all.  The only reason I ask/care is because I'm not a "28 day" kind of girl, so chances are, my dates were slightly off.  At day 35, my pregnancy test was negative, but by day 42, it was positive.  Most people show a postive test by day 25 or so.  I don't want the baby to come too early...the longer they cook, the cuter they are in my opinion.  SO he did a little calculating, and changed my due date to March 3, 2013.  He was a bit hesitant because he didn't want to move the date too much in case we feel the need to be induced, but that was only 9 or 10 days different, about the same difference between my positive test and most people's positive tests. 

I am glad to be further out of winter, but am a bit sad to have to wait that much longer to meet my little guy.  He will be here soon enough. 

Christmas 2012

Christmas is so much more fun with kids!  We took this picture in front of my parents tree before we opened gifts at midnight.  (After grandma's midnight gifts, we go home, go to bed, Santa comes, then we do our own small family stuff Christmas morning.)

 

She is so "posey" sometimes.  Love it.

 We made Rice Krispie treat trains.  Leila and I worked on the front engine, then Casey's, then Papa's, then Daddy's, then Troy's.  They turned out pretty cute.

 Leila got a beloved "Dream Light" from her beloved Kiley.  We had to put the batteries in and make it work the second we were done opening presents.

 

Daddy got a guitar.  He has been wanting one for years.  No, he doesn't know how to play, and Yes, he will learn.  I can't wait for him to pick it up and play around the house.  If he plays, he will sing, and I LOVE to hear him sing.

Christmas morning at our house.

 

For the past few weeks, she has been saying that Santa was going to bring her "a bike and a Barbie."  She got the bike, but not the Barbie, but she did get a Barbie Mermaid movie. 

 

It was a pretty funny morning.  She didn't get to sleep until after 1 am because of the Midnight Madness at Grandma's house.  Around 9:30, Kuso got anxious and went and woke her up.  It took her a good 15 minutes to come out of her room to see what Santa brought.  She kept yelling down the hall, "But I'm too tired."  Once she got out there, she was loving it all over again.

 

As expected, she was spoiled. 

 

Later in the afternoon, she was playing with Kuso on the recliner.  She looked up and saw the Santa hanging on the wall.  She said "Thanks for my presents Santa."  So cute.  Her baby brother also gave her some presents.  We told her to say thank you to her brother and she crawled over and said "thank you" to my stomach.  Precious.

 

Leila was very humble this year.  At the ward Christmas party, she was asked to fill out a letter to Santa about what she wanted.  She kept saying "nothing" for almost two weeks.  I only WISH she will stay that humble and simple.  I'm sure next year, when she fully "gets" what is going on, she will want more, but this year, a "hug from Hadlee" was good enough.

 

Another funny thing I have to write just to remember...my mom mailed her a letter from Santa.  It had a picture of Santa, and a note reminding her to be a good girl, listen to her parents, etc.  It was addressed to Leila with a return address of the North Pole.  I showed it to her hoping she would get excited.  She said "Oh!  That's the one grandma did huh?"  I told my mom that and she was so confused.  My mom did those at work.  Leila never saw them.  Weird.

New Room for the Bug!

With baby brother on the way, I wanted to move Leila's room to the room next door so that we could put baby in that room.  The color on the walls matches the baby bedding perfectly.  It also has a light in the closet and a screen type door, so when it's night, you can switch that light on to see, but it doesn't light up the entire room.  SO convenient.

 

So to make the move more fun, we painted her walls a light purple so she would feel like it was a new room.  I was a bit worried that she would feel like she was being kicked out of her room so the baby could have it.  Nope.  She loves her new room and knows that "that room" is "baby brudders."

Halloween 2012

Last year, Leila was Juliet from Gnomeo and Juliet (a cute little gnome cartoon.)  This year, I altered the same dress to become a pirate.  Given her love of Disney Channel, she wasn't just a pirate, she was a "Jake and the Neverland Pirate." 

Either way, she was a pretty dang cute pirate!

 

We hit up my parent's Trunk or Treat, then went to a few select houses in our neighborhood. 

One funny thing about Leila is that she likes candy, but only a limited amount.  I was going to let her eat whatever she wanted that night.  She at probably 3 or 4 things and then was done with it.  There are some things she obviously likes more than others, but there is STILL candy sitting on our counter and it's the day after Christmas and it's not all stuff she doesn't like. 

 

She already talks about being Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates for Halloween next year.  I'm trying to stear her into being Dorothy from Wizard of Oz.  My mom made a darling Lion costume when Kily was little.  Our little boy will probably fit into it - it will probably be a bit big, but still cute.  I guess we'll see what next year brings.

22 Weeks

October 19, 2012 marked my 22 weeks mark.  I had really good intentions of posting pics every 4 weeks or so. That hasn't happened.  I'll try to post something soon given that as I write this, I'm now 32 weeks or so.



Kuso becomes a United States Citizen!!!

October 17, 2012, Kuso was sworn in to be a Citizen of the United States.  Finally.

 

I submitted the original paperwork to get him back to the United States in October 2006.  He has been eligible for citizenship for over two years now, but we just didn't have the money to make it happen.  The immigration process is very expensive, confusing, and time consuming.  Having been involved on THIS side of the immigration debates, I have some pretty strong feelings about some of the immigration reform topics that get brought up from time to time.  MOST of the time, when I express my view to people, they change their view, at least slightly.  I'm not saying I have all the answers, and that if the government fully adopted my view it would work, but SOME things need to be taken into consideration when immigration is being discussed.

 

Sorry, I'll stop.

 

I'll have to look back through all my posts and see if I ever posted the original immigration story - about when we were dating and he got "stuck" in Samoa and without my help probably would have never been able to return to the United States.  If I did, then some/most of you know the story, if not, maybe I'll get around to that someday.

 

If you know the background, we were SUPER DUPER excited to get to the LAST STEP of the process.  The paperwork said the ceremony was at 1:00 pm.  My mom's neighbors had gone to the swearing in ceremony a few months prior and told us that seating was limited so to get there early.  So we did.  At 11:30.  We were in the building and got ushered out by security because they had not done security checks yet.  At that point, we were told the doors would open at 12:45.  I inquired about starting at 1 and the IDIOT lady told us the ceremony was at 2, but they put 1 on the paperwork to get everyone there on time.  Fine, so we went to lunch at PF Changs that was literally right next door.

 

We finished lunch, returned to the venue at 12:40 - and the place was PACKED!  There was NO WHERE for us to sit in the auditorium and the same IDIOT lady told us we could sit in the overflow area downstairs and watch it on a video screen.  Needless to say I was PISSED.  I dropped a few F-bombs.  My dad heard me.  He just raised his eyebrows and backed off, giving me the space I obviously needed at that moment.  I was emotional and refused to take that as the final answer.  I walked up to the balcony area just to see for myself.  Sure enough, there was NO seating.

So I asked that same IDIOT lady what time they opened the doors?  She said "12:45."   I was a LITTLE more composed and told her she was a "FREAKING LIAR" because we were there at 12:40 and it was full.  She then hums and ha's around like she had been caught.  I lost it. STORMED down the stairs.  I was HEATED.  I probably had steam coming out of my ears like a cartoon character.  The ONE thing that calmed me down was my sweet Leila.  (I'm getting emotional as I write this right now.)  She just hugged me, told me not to cry, and snuggled me for a minute.

 

So then we WAITED for the stinkin program to start.  While we were waiting, we started talking to some ladies behind us.  I was still a bit miffed about the whole situation and said something to the effect of "I paid a lot of money to have good seats."  They thought I really had paid money to be there (like a movie theater), but when I explained the whole immigration process, they were shocked at how much money it costs.  They were there supporting a nephews girlfriend or something like that.  After relating the story to them, THEY were ticked!  lol.

 

Anyway, the program started and it was probably a good thing we were in the overflow area because Leila was restless by then.  We had another photo shoot, the likes of which you will see below.  In one of the pictures, you can see how ridiculously small the screen was that the overflow area were supposed to watch.  Luckily, my dad had listened to the lady and gone down and got seating while I stormed around thinking I was going to fix something.

 

The program was nice.  A bit long, but pretty cool.  I think they said there were 211 people being sworn in from over 50 different countries.  Toward the end of the program, they had people stand from the different areas of the world (continents mostly) and then had a few people tell us where they were from and what it meant to them being sworn in.  I thought it would be lame, but that was probably the best part of the program.

 

At the very end, they showed a video as they played Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" which is possibly my favorite song ever.  I lost it again.  I was crying like crazy because it was FINALLY over.  I didn't have to worry about anything regarding Immigration Laws to separate Kuso from our family again. 

(After looking at this picture with her hood on, I told my mom I might consider becoming Muslim just so my daughter would wear head dresses every day.  Look at that darling face."

After the ceremony, we were waiting to meet up with our "new citizen" in the lobby.  I'm looking and looking, wanting to be the first one to see him.  He taps me on the shoulder and I turned around to see him, holding our daughter.  I was a bit emotional again (as I am again as I write) but didn't show it this time. 



 

The relief I felt after the ceremony was complete was so awesome.  I didn't realize how nervous I was about the situation until it was resolved.  At one point in the past, Kuso said he would just keep his Green Card current.  I told him I wasn't taking that risk and that he needed to become a citizen.  I think getting married and having a family helped him to make that decision.  I made a comment the night before that I was probably more excited than he was.  He said "No hon.  I'm pretty excited."

 

I AM proud to be an American and proud that my hubby is too!

Photo Shoot

 October 16, 2012, after the bath, Leila wanted me to take pictures of her...this is what you get.

Love my Leila.

Leila's 3rd Birthday

September 14, 2012 marked Leila's 3rd birthday.  We were able to have her party on her birthday.  She invited a few friends over (Brooklyn, Hadlee, Cheyanne, Ethan - then a few of Kuso's friends brought their kids too.)  Above is Leila, Brooklyn, and Hadlee (don't you LOVE Hadlee's dress?  Her mom could not get her to take it off to come to the party, so she wore it.  Love it.)

The party was Minnie Mouse theme. 
Leila knows and understands to blow out the candles.

Now that this post is over 3 months late, I'll tell you a little about Leila as a 3 year old.

• She has gotten much more emotional - "you mad at me" as she pouts or "you gonna make me cry"
• She is SUPER excited to be having a baby brother on the way
• She is a great mother to her babies at grandma's house.  Puts them to sleep, feeds them, wraps them in blankets, and makes sure to tell everyone to be very quiet while they are sleeping - let's just hope she keeps acting that way when the REAL baby is sleeping!
• She tells me that I am her "best friend" quite often.
• Her dad carries her with his arm straight down and his hand between her legs, holding on to her butt.  It's hilarious, but that is how his dad used to carry him and his little brother through town when they were little.  So he started doing that to her.  Now she ASKS to be carried like that all the time. 
• She still has a sippy cup most nights, but not usually during the day. 
• She is VERY aware of what is around her.  Doesn't miss a thing.
• She has started copying the last word or phrase you say and turns it in to a question.  One night my mom and dad were play fighting in the kitchen and my mom said "You are such a jackass."  Leila says "Jackass?"  It was WAY funny, but surprisingly enough all the adults were able to stifle their laughter so we could teach her that wasn't funny. 
• She uses lines from movies and phrases from TV shows in her regular conversations.  "Whew, that was a close one" I'm pretty sure came from Octonauts.
• She LOVES Disney Channel.
• She has learned to navigate the mouse on the computer - so if "Papa" turns on a video for her to watch on You Tube, she can start her own new videos now.
• She is getting MUCH more girly.  Her favorite color is usually pink.
• She is not a very good eater, unless she is hungry, then she can put it away.  But she will "pick" at her food for 2 or 3 days, but then on the "hungry" day, she cleans the place up!  She also only eats what she wants to eat.  It is rare that I can get her taste something she doesn't already know she likes.
• She has "her kids" go with us everywhere.  "Her kids" are real people, they just aren't really with us.  It is usually her cousin Kiley.  Kiley is always eating with us, sitting next to her in the car, has to get in the shopping cart at the store, playing with her, dancing with her, and just being there, always.  Sometimes her other friends are included, but Kiley is always a constant. 
• She had her first dentist visit, well second but the first one was a bust so they just sent us home.  This time around, she was a ROCK STAR!  She held her mouth wide open the entire time and never had to be told what needed to be done.  She made me a proud mama that day!
• She is still VERY active and bounces all over the house.  It is usually hilarious, except when this mom is tired at the end of the day and Leila still wants to bounce around.  ESPECIALLY after her bath.  The girl loves to be naked and thinks it's funny to shake her booty and say "nananana."  It is pretty funny though.  I just have to remind myself that she isn't being bad and I don't need to get mad at her for being silly when it's not hurting anything.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.  Leila is FULL of life and enjoys every second of it.  She is very caring and very stubborn.  She has given me the greatest gift ever - the gift of being a mother and knowing a mother's love. 

I have the most beautiful daughter and the Spirit she carries and exemplifies mirrors that same beauty.