She's here!

Ember Lenora Wilson arrived last night at 10:03 pm, weighing in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 1/8 inches long. She is beautiful! This photo was taken with a phone, so it doesn't do her cute little face justice, but there are more pictures to come. We are having so much fun with her! Reagan is in love...

She makes me laugh

I wanted to write down the things that little Goonzface is saying and doing lately that make us laugh.

- Yelling "Poo-poo, pee-pee!!!" in the middle of dinner when there's guests, or my favorite - sacrament meeting...during the sacrament. We need some lessons on reverence probably.

- During prayers at night, she will slyly open one eye to see if we are looking and then slooooowly stick her finger up her nose. Every single prayer. I guess, if you're going to do it, better when no one's looking.

- Talking about how her aunt Hayhee lives in a car in Hawaii. (A "carl in A-Why.)

- Saying things are "awesome." I don't know where she picks this stuff up, because this isn't usually our adjective of choice.

- She loves Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" and sings "Aloooyah" constantly throughout the day. One the subject of music, she also likes the Black Eyed Peas song "I'ma be" and loves to sing it every chance she gets.

- Saying "bye" to us in a kermit the frog voice.

- She thinks that we get really mad when she messes her hair up so we egg her on by saying "Don't mess up your hair!" and she thinks it's hilarious to ruffle her hands through it. This is also a favorite during prayers. ("Please help Reagan that she won't mess up her hair...")

- She helps me every morning with my "mingo" (makeup) and hair. She'll sit as close as she can get to me without actually sitting on my lap, and use everything that I'll give her...mostly brushes, chapstick, etc. The other day she got a hold of my mascara and rubbed it all over her eyes when I wasn't looking. Then, I took it away, and she started bawling, mascara running all over her face. I hate to say that I got a scary glimpse into teen years.

- She likes to help me rub lotion on my big belly every day, and she'll sing "baaaaaby baaaaaaby" while she does it. She'll also rub lotion on her own, whether or not it is accessible by what clothes she's wearing. We get a lot of grease stains on her footy pajamas.

She is the most hilarious little girl. I honestly don't know where she comes up with half of the strange things that she says and does, but I guess a lot of it is just mimicking us...except the picking the nose during the prayer thing...I promise!

Goonz

Name: Reagan Penelope
Age: 21 months on Tuesday
Favorite things:
- Elmo
- Naming the Disney Princesses: Oweo (Ariel), Ella (Cinderella), White (Snow White), Bo (Belle), Jammies (Jasmine)
- Jumping on the bed
- Anything to do with going potty
- Singing her little heart out
- Playing the ukulele
- Breaking it down on the dance floor
- Helping to "mop" the floor
- Riding her bike
- Amanda
- Nursery
- Nana, Bumpah, "Ana" (Tiana), and "Iya" (Eli)
- Aunt "Hayhee" (Haley) in "A-why" (Hawaii)
- Talking to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen (She is getting to be quite the talker! I can't keep up!)
- Saying that anyone who isn't in the same room as her "died" (horrible, huh? We still haven't figured out who taught her this one.)
- Skyping
- Yogurt
- Chicken Nuggets aka "Chicky Kong Kongs"
- Tomatoes aka "Apples"
- Being tickled
- Making forts
- Reading books
- Her mama and dada...whether she likes it or not =)

We love this little "big" girl more than anything. She is one of the funniest people I know. Living with her and Jason keeps me laughing all day long.

36 Weeks!

Wow...here I am at 36 weeks. Only 4 weeks to go until my due date. Sometimes I get a little sad when I think that I could also still have 6 weeks to go. =( But that's okay. When I was pregnant with Reagan, I was absolutely ready to go when I hit 37 weeks. Bags packed, floors scrubbed, clothes and blankets washed and folded, not to mention organized in very specific 3-month increments in the closet. In fact, I think I unfolded and re-folded everything about 100 times before I actually had a baby to put in those tiny little clothes. And then there were the labels - anything that could possibly be labeled was. My clothes, Jason's clothes - winter, summer, spring, maternity, non-maternity, the "Will I ever fit into these clothes ever again?" section...all of it. This time? Wow, things have changed. I am still pretty hard-core on the cleaning, but I have been since I was about 20 weeks along. I feel like I got all of my nesting urges out. I painted, I decorated, I organized, I re-organized...but all about 15 weeks too early. Now, I am tired and sore, and pretty impressed with myself if I get the house cleaned and straightened up before the next morning. All of those to-do lists of things: get a double stroller, find a dresser for the girls' room, finish painting our room, etc... they are all still on that list...oh, those OMINOUS lists! My priorities are different this time around. I am more looking forward to getting out of the house with Reagan, going on adventures, playing - than I am to do all of these "chores." Yes, they'll probably get done, but they aren't as satisfying as they used to be back when it was just us and no kids. I now know that you can't ever really scrub the floors enough to be prepared to have a human - a new spirit - enter your home. Even if I am grabbing Ember's clothes out of a big giant box in the corner of the room, she will still be loved and kissed and cuddled and fed and (hopefully) happy. Even if I don't get my hospital bag packed, she'll still come, whether I'm ready or not. And packing it 4 weeks early won't make her come any sooner. (I learned that the hard way.) I feel like I owe it to Reagan to spend some special one-on-one time with her before her life is turned upside-down as she becomes a big sister. But what a good one she'll be. Due to her more recent fascination with all things "potty," I think she's most excited for the diaper changes. However, today in sacrament meeting, she lifted up her sweater and attempted nursing her little Elmo, so we'll see. It will be an interesting adventure, and one that I am so excited and more than ready (well, ready as I'll ever be) to start!

Grandparents

Lately, I have been feeling really grateful for the wisdom of grandparents. I feel incredibly blessed to have grown up near both sets of my grandparents, and continue to draw upon wisdom and advice they have given me all throughout my life. I am also so grateful for Jason's grandparents. They are all such examples to me, and I really enjoy hearing Jason speak so lovingly of all that they have taught him. We could really learn a thing or two from our "elders"! Jason's Grandpa Dean occasionally likes to send letters to all of his grand kids and family about certain things that he feels inspired to share. We absolutely cherish these letters - they help us to renew our commitment to certain aspects of the Gospel that are so simple, yet so important.
As I was thinking tonight about how blessed we are to have learned all that we have from grandparents, this poem came to mind. My sweet Grandpa Pratt shares this poem in almost every talk he gives and every family gathering we have. I hope to be able to continue this tradition. This poem never fails to bring tears to my eyes, no matter how many times I hear it. I could go on and on about what it means to me, but I'll let it speak for itself:

When I'm alone I often think of an old house on the hill
Of a big yard hedged in roses where we ran and played at will
And when the night time brought us home, hushing our merry din
Mother would look around and ask "are all the children in?"
Well it's been many a year now and the old house on the hill
No longer has my mother's care and the yard is still, so still
But if I listen I can hear it all, no matter how long it's been
I seem to hear my mother ask "are all the children in?"
And I wonder when the curtain falls on that last earthly day
When we say goodbye to all of this - to our pain and work and play
When we step across the river, where mother so long has been
Will we hear her ask a final time "are all the children in?"

Scribble Knees

Whenever I leave pens out of place at our house, this is the result. It gets a whole lot worse than this, but I sometimes neglect to document. Plus, I love this picture for a few reasons:
1) Her cute scribble knees, that she told me were pictures of "Dada" when I asked what she drew. She was SO proud of herself.
2) Her precious leg rolls that are almost completely gone. What used to be 3 or 4 rolls is now just a slight crease in each skinny little thigh. I'll take what I can get!
3) Princess ("Peensees") undies over her diaper, because she insists on being a "Big Girl Ray Ray."

Whitney

It seems as though all of my loved ones' birthdays fall in clusters. Today was my dad's birthday, tomorrow is my best friend Whitney's birthday, and there are more to come soon. What's a girl to do?! Since Whitney's birthday present will be a bit late coming in the mail, I thought that I at least owed her a birthday blog post, since she is such a loyal blog reader of mine, and also because she did a very sweet birthday tribute to me on my birthday. I am so lucky to call her my friend. I could go on and on about why I love this girl. We met in 2005 (I believe?) when she came to look for apartments (and roommates) to live with when she moved to Provo for school. I was lucky enough to call her "roommate," and even though we lived in the most ghetto, disgusting apartment (that we paid WAY too much for, by the way?), we had so much fun. I have so many good memories with her. Here are some things I love about Whitney:
- Anyone that has ever met her or even SEEN her knows that she is on of the most beautiful people. I would probably be super jealous of her, if I didn't love her so much! She has the most gorgeous blue eyes that her daughter inherited from her too - lucky girl!
- She has a great sense of humor, but more importantly, she thinks I'm funny. It always feels good to have at least ONE person that will consistently laugh at your jokes, even if she is doing it just to be nice.
- She is one of the most genuinely sweet people I know. She is always concerned about how others are feeling. She always asks me how I am doing, and I know she means it.
- She has the most adorable daughter named Sawyer, whom she loves and adores beyond words. It has been so fun seeing her become a mom. She would do anything for that precious little girl.
- She is extremely down to earth.
- She is a VERY strong person. I admire that so much about her.
- She loves her family so much, and especially her nieces and nephews. I know they love her too.
- She's someone that I can turn to for anything. This could be considered bad or good, but I know that she would support me through anything. I remember having a conversation one time with her, and she told me that if I came to her and needed her to help me find someplace to bury a body, she would help me. Sweet girl, right?
- She has a strong testimony and has helped me strengthen mine in so many ways.
Happy Birthday, Whit! You are my forever friend!