Pearl always wants me to drive "straight." It doesn't matter where we go, if you ask for her opinion on how to get there, the answer is always straight. And she knows what that means... no fooling that girl. If you decide to turn she freaks out, especially if we're going home. Everyday on our way home from work she tells me she wants to go straight. And everyday I tell her that I want to go the fast way home which means turning onto the freeway. I don't get it. Going straight takes longer and really isn't that scenic anyway. Lately though I've decided it's easier to give in and take the extra 10 minutes of driving to avoid the banshee screams coming from the back seat. The only problem with this is that eventually we do have to turn. It's the same spot every time and every time Pearl knows it's coming. About a block away from the turn she reminds me that we're going straight. Knowing what's ahead when I do in fact turn, I tried a new tactic last week. I told Pearl that I was the driver so I got to decide. OK so I've lectured her about that before (along with respecting your mom or my personal favorite, that the cops will take me to jail or give me a ticket) but this time she had a comeback. She told me she wanted to drive and proceeded to try and unstrap herself. I told her you have to be 16 to drive and when she turns 16 she can go straight if she wants to. Bad idea on my part. Not only did I have to listen to her banshee screams when we turned but also her insistence that she was in fact 16. I told her over and over again that she was only two but she would have none of it. "No Mom! I'm 16. Let me drive!" Just for fun, since she was already mad anyway, I asked her how old she thought I was. I'm five apparently. Oh and Jeff is 25.
And my failed attempt to teach my child something important in this life stuck. The next day at school she told my sister that she was 16. Little does she know how true that is some days.
A couple of my coworkers have asked me how I let my husband get away with dragging me up to Logan all winter to watch basketball. My response... we are Aggies, true Aggies. But when that didn't satisfy them (probably because they have no understanding of what it means to be a part of the BEST crowd in the nation), I decided to dedicate my entire post to answering their question. The answer is simple... YOU WANT BILL! I'll explain in a minute.
Ok so there are a few other reasons why I continue to tell my husband that hell will surely freeze over if he doesn't buy season tickets again (he's threatened each time we have a kid, something about money and priorities of feeding them blah blah blah). Reasons such as:- Tai Wesley is a hottie (so was Shaun Daniels)
- Winning Team, Losing Team chant
- Our parents would go through Pearl withdrawals if they didn't get to see her twice a week for four months
- STEW!!!!!!!!!!!
- Jaycee Carroll becoming the all-time leading scorer in USU history - ok so we almost missed the shot and I've never been able to let that one down... if we're even nearing late I just drop Jeff off and go park the car myself
- We like to drive to the frozen tundra, aka Logan, as much as possible - we'll be the only ones who buy a winter home up there when we're old!
- We get to visit all of our favorite eateries that SLC doesn't have - still can't figure out why we can't get an Old Grist Mill down here! Much, much better than Great Harvest.
- The "Ice Man" Chaz Spicer
- The Spectrum ROCKS
- You get the point by now, right?
Of course watching Jeff jump around, scream, ring the cow bell, curse, and have more fun than anything else he does, seriously he is happiest in his Aggie blue sitting in section V watching his beloved Aggies, is also a reason I go to the games. After all, he tells me that we do in fact still "date" it's just crammed into four months of the year (ironically in the freezing cold). But despite knowing that the only way to make winter (and probably life for that matter) bearable for my hubby is to go to all the games, the real reason I go and I'm pretty sure half the crowd at the Spectrum goes, is Bill. 
If you're a sports fan at all, I'm sure you've heard about Wild Shirtless Bill the crazed Aggie fan on ESPN and many, many sports networks/blogs/websites. He dresses up in a different costume every game. The best part besides seeing a big fat guy taunting the other team, is that he hates basketball! He is hilarious and even the old farts in Cache Valley look forward to the next game just to see what Bill's come up with. Now if you've been living in the dark ages or never enjoyed a trip to the craziest, loudest, and most dedicated court in the country take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with Bill... browse his website, join his Facebook group, watch this video (cupid outfit), and this video. Or read comments responding to some prude's editorial about Bill and how he's pushed the limits too far - to which I say go back to your cats you crazy cat lady and probably closet BYU fan, and leave glorious college basketball alone!
And with that you'll come to terms that you too want Bill!
When my mom starts asking what we've been up to, it's either time to actually call my family and let them know we're still alive or update the blog. Every time I think about posting something, I fall asleep on the couch or get emotional or just forget what I was going to write. But we're making progress on several fronts.
First, potty training. Apparently the key to success is buying what you've threatened to be the last big, bulk-sized box of diapers from Costco then letting it sit for weeks. Finally, when you've used the last diaper in the house because your two-year-old refuses to use the potty, you open the monster box of diapers and wallah! Suddenly panties are the greatest thing since sliced bread - as is evident from the picture below! I found her in this box one morning, Eggo in hand watching cartoons in just her panties. 
Her teachers had been telling us for a month that she was ready but when she'd come home and refuse to even try, I had my doubts. I'm not kidding though, as soon as I opened that box of diapers Pearl decided it was time. And for the most part it's been smooth sailing ever since. She's never once had an accident at school and only a few at home. We still aren't sure what to do about making it through the night dry though. We tried tricking Pearl into thinking diapers were "night-time panties" but she didn't buy that ridiculous idea. So we've resorted to sneaking a diaper on her after she's sound asleep then trying to explain how it got there in the morning when she looks down surprised to not see her Princess or Tinkerbell panties on. The one night we didn't do this, she peed everywhere and was so upset about it. Any advice? I really don't want to resort to Pull-ups (especially considering that we have about 300 diapers just sitting around now) or washing bedding every single day.Moving Pearl into her new room is slowing coming along. Jeff had a friend post on Facebook that her goal was to get rid of 1,000 things this year and I can honestly say that I think we've hit that mark. I've de-junked just about everything I can think of in this house trying to make room for Pearl in the backroom and Ricco in his room. Pearl has enjoyed the process much more than I have... every time I clean something out she finds a new toy or book that she just has to have. She's claimed my old jewelry box, a Sleeping Beauty figurine, and three Breyer horses. I don't always mind, that way I don't have to get rid of everything I'm torn on keeping. We bought her a new bed, which she loves (and we have several sets of sheets now too) and was so excited to help Daddy build it. We had to threaten her with timeout to just keep her off the boxes when it came. Pearl was a good little helper, dragging all the spare boxes, plastic bags, and Styrofoam into the kitchen while Jeff put it together. The excitement just about killed her!
Jeff also built a bookcase with my Grandpa and Dad to match her bed and it is so dang cute! My sister asked us where we had bought it because it matched Pearl's bed so well - these pictures are all I'm going to reveal until the room is completely done. So we've got a bed and bookcase but that's it. 
Pearl tells us she doesn't want to go in Ricco's room now and throws a fit when we have to go in there to get her clothes in the morning. Surprisingly though, she doesn't mind having two rooms to strew toys all over! I'm hoping my Dad can get down here to help build a new closet then we can officially move rooms, well once that happens and we find a new dresser for Pearl. But I'm feeling better about our progress, mostly because we sold the spare bunk beds sitting in our sunroom and we've probably got our bookcase sold too. Now I just have to decide if I should sell my cedar chest my Grandma gave me or try and find somewhere to store it. What would you do? Seriously, this is an agonizing decision for me! We just have absolutely no where to put the thing! Will I regret selling it? Will my Grandma forgive me or haunt me forever? Part of me thinks, it's just "stuff" and Grandma got rid of furniture all the time when she was ready for a change but then again, it was a gift from my grandparents and something I probably won't ever replace. Uhhh.... help please!
Finally, on the last progress front Pearl and I celebrated President's Day with a batch of appropriately decorated sugar cookies. Rather than go into a lengthy explanation as to why we celebrate President's Day and NOT Valentine's Day, I'll leave you with a link to a previous year's entry (don't worry, it's just a paragraph). I did get my traditional bunch of flowers from Jeff and he got a batch of cookies complete with flour, sprinkles, and frosting all over the house! 
I think they turned out pretty cute, considering the help Pearl provided in mashing the dough cut-outs then getting sprinkles all over the place when we frosted them. Even Ricco got in on the action. At first I thought Jeff was taking a picture of my cleave but then when I downloaded the pictures saw that he was simply getting a shot of how messy Ricco had been rolling out the dough with me. Now if I could only find enough people to help us eat them! 
So there you go... we're slowing getting ready for this kid. Still no names picked out yet but at least I'm not completely freaking out anymore.. at least not today.
Every pregnant woman knows sleep is often elusive - a mean trick by Mother Nature to prepare one for having to get up every two hours to feed a new baby. We try everything... pillows between our legs, under our bellies, behind our backs, sleeping on the couch or chair, and a number of weird sleeping positions - most having nothing to do with our normal sleeping style - just to get comfortable. Well, when I was pregnant with Pearl, Jeff decided all my tossing and turning wasn't good for either of us and bought me a body pillow. AKA "my boyfriend" as he dubbed it. He said I could cuddle up to my boyfriend as much as I wanted because 1) it kept me a safe distance from him so I wouldn't touch him and 2) it kept me far enough away that I didn't sink the middle of the bed, turning it into the taco bed, with either my bulging belly or well endowed booty (which is a normal problem anyway).My first boyfriend was a cheap-o who didn't last much longer than the four months I needed him. Plus he wasn't that cute or soft. But this go around I learned my lesson and brought home a new boyfriend who's plush, super soft, and sexy (you really can buy anything from Costco!). Not that he will be replacing Jeff permanently, but he sure is fun to cuddle up with! And he doesn't complain when I put my cold feet on him. Now if I could only convince Pearl that he's my pillow and not hers!
While I'm discussing pregnancy, let me say it's against my better judgment to post this picture but I've had friends ask to see my belly. It seems like every time I'm in the picture taking mood and thinking I look really good, Jeff's not really in the mood to actually take my picture or I get home from work too late and all the natural light in our house is gone. So here's the first belly shot we've taken this ENTIRE pregnancy - 24 weeks! I know it's pathetic. But even with Pearl I think we took maybe two actual belly shots during the whole nine months. When I think about it, by the time I stop puking and actually shower, comb my hair, and wear something other than my pajamas I'm halfway done anyway. I know lots of women who document every single month (or more) what their changing body looks like but I just don't find it too fun to try and look sexy with a big belly, cankles, or swollen legs and face. I'll take the swollen chest though but I'm pretty sure my blog would be considered porn if I asked Jeff to take a picture of that!
I know every pregnancy is different and this one is no exception. I've been sick longer (still get nauseous at night even now) with the boy than I was with Pearl but with Pearl it was more intense, probably because I didn't know that one isn't supposed to loose 15 lbs in two weeks or feel like you're on the brink of death from dehydration. The boy doesn't move as much as Pearl did either. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. From about week 16 on, Pearl moved pretty much non stop from the moment I got up until the moment I went to bed. The boy is just the opposite - I didn't feel him move until about week 18. He seems to move the from the moment I get up in the middle of the night to pee until about 9 a.m. and then picks up speed right when I'm going to bed.
We're also way, way, way less prepared for the boy than the first go around. Weird but even though we haven't bought any clothes, diapers, picked out paint for the nursery, bought bedding, or anything else we need we aren't completely panicked over it either. We don't even have a name for this kid - still!!! Every few days I really freak out thinking about everything we've got to do not just for the boy but for Pearl too. She's sleeping in the backroom in her new bed (with just sheets because we don't have any twin sized bedding for her yet) but all of her clothes and toys are still in her old room. We don't have a dresser for her either. I keep hoping I can talk my dad or grandpa into refinishing a dresser that was Jeff's great grandma's but no luck so far. I think Pearl thinks she's camping or something but geez I feel terrible that she's living in two rooms. Our biggest problem is we have absolutely no storage room for anything and cleaning out two rooms is the last thing I want to do when I get home from work. We've got to try and sell our spare bunkbeds (any takers? $200 bucks for twin sized bunk beds and mattresses that have only been used a few times) which are piled in our computer/sunroom and decide what else we want to sell or beg our parents to store for us. Do you sell your cedar chest from your grandparents because you just have no room for it, seriously... there is no where to put the thing in our tiny house! Urghhh I better stop thinking about it because I'm staring to freak out again! I guess we'll get there eventually but it would sure be nice to wave a magic wand and have everything in order before this kid comes.
Pearl-isms: funny things a two year old comes up with.
Pearl-ism #1
Pearl: "Mom I don't have boobs."
Me: "Yes, you do. They're just little ones."
Pearl: "Oh. I need to buy bigger boobs."
Me: "Where do you buy bigger boobs?"Pearl: "At the grocery store."
Me: "Oh yeah? Who is going to buy them for you?"
Pearl: "Daddy."
Me: (Thinking to myself) "Not before Daddy buys me some!"
Pearl-ism #2
On Sunday (in the middle of sacrament meeting), Pearl was laying on my stomach, much to my discomfort, when all of a sudden, WHAM! Yep, the sibling battles have begun. Pearl sat up and looked at me like "hey what was that?" I asked her if she felt my tummy move and she said yes. When we explained that it was the baby kicking and moving around she giggled and said "Ricco (aka The Boy) he needs to come out!"
She also tells us random things about Ricco like he's going to have stinky diapers (oh if she only knew the truth behind this), he's going to go potty outside (proceeded by lots of laughing), the penguins are in my tummy, and that he's getting bigger (she happened to say this after noticing my expanding belly and pointing out that my tummy was bigger too).
Pearl-ism #3
Pearl: "Sing me the Spectrum song." (It doesn't matter how many times we tell her it's the Scotsman, she still calls it the Spectrum because she knows that's where you sing the USU Fight song.)
Me or Jeff: "Show me the Scotsman who doesn't love the thistle. Show me the Englishman who doesn't love the rose. Show me a true blooded Aggie from Utah who doesn't love the spot (clap, clap) where the sagebrush GROWS!"
If you've never seen the Scotsman before, watch this video. Then imagine the biggest two-year old Aggie fan on the planet who just loves to "milk the cow," clap, and say "Go Aggies! Go Aggies! Hey! Hey! Hey!" I still think it's some of Jeff's proudest moments to have his kid ask to sing the Scotsman and tell everyone that Big Blue lives in the Spectrum.
Pearl-ism #4
Pearl: "Mom, you married Dad?"
Me: "Yes, I married Dad."
Pearl: "Oh. You married Dad in the temple?"
Me: "Yes, I married Dad in the temple in Logan. Logan has a temple."
Me: "Do you want to get married in the temple?"
Pearl: "No. I want get married in the castle, like Aunt Kimberly." (The "castle" is Old Main on USU's campus, where Kimmy did get married)
Me: "Why don't you want to get married in the temple? The temple looks like a castle."
Pearl: "You dance in the temple?"
Me: "No." Then it became obvious why she wanted to get married in the castle instead... no dancing. We have a few years to work on that one, I hope.
Pearl always wants me to drive "straight." It doesn't matter where we go, if you ask for her opinion on how to get there, the answer is always straight. And she knows what that means... no fooling that girl. If you decide to turn she freaks out, especially if we're going home. Everyday on our way home from work she tells me she wants to go straight. And everyday I tell her that I want to go the fast way home which means turning onto the freeway. I don't get it. Going straight takes longer and really isn't that scenic anyway. Lately though I've decided it's easier to give in and take the extra 10 minutes of driving to avoid the banshee screams coming from the back seat. The only problem with this is that eventually we do have to turn. It's the same spot every time and every time Pearl knows it's coming. About a block away from the turn she reminds me that we're going straight. Knowing what's ahead when I do in fact turn, I tried a new tactic last week. I told Pearl that I was the driver so I got to decide. OK so I've lectured her about that before (along with respecting your mom or my personal favorite, that the cops will take me to jail or give me a ticket) but this time she had a comeback. She told me she wanted to drive and proceeded to try and unstrap herself. I told her you have to be 16 to drive and when she turns 16 she can go straight if she wants to. Bad idea on my part. Not only did I have to listen to her banshee screams when we turned but also her insistence that she was in fact 16. I told her over and over again that she was only two but she would have none of it. "No Mom! I'm 16. Let me drive!" Just for fun, since she was already mad anyway, I asked her how old she thought I was. I'm five apparently. Oh and Jeff is 25.
