Brooks

Brooksie boy is really starting to gain his independence and has a hard time taking "No" for an answer. If he wants it, he will get it. He drags our kitchen stools all over the kitchen, climbing on the counters, to reach for what he wants (usually a treat, snack or cheetos). His love language is food (particularly sweets but he does not like chocolate. He likes white chocolate, however, but mostly wants fruity candy like starbursts or skittles), cars (he plays with his cars all day long. Anytime we go anywhere he asks where the cars are so he an play with them), snuggles (when Brooks is sad a good snuggle sesh seems to fix his mood), and burp cloths (he sleeps with 2 of them every night and caresses the tag of them with his fingers as he falls asleep). 

He has a stutter when he speaks. I can't decide if it is because his brain is moving faster then his language is or if it is a problem. He repeats the beginning of the word like 10 times before he moves on to the rest of the sentence. We will have to talk to his doctor when we go in in a few months. Sometimes when he gets annoyed with Hallie he shouts, "No! Don't talk to me!" It is so funny the way he says it that I can't help but smile. I also loves when he says "That's nosy!" for "that's noisy." He's got the cutest little voice!

I ordered some "cars" underwear for him this month. I'm hoping that seeing the underwear will help him get excited to be potty trained. I would love it if he was trained before baby comes but I also think I'm in denial that he is not ready yet.

He naps for about 2 hours everyday and never has a problem going to bed at night. Sometimes he wakes up crying in the night wanting to "snuggle" but we are working on him getting himself back to sleep without use, although snuggling with him is my favorite thing!

"Reading" (although it is upside down in this photo. Haha!) the pre-recorded Christmas book that Grandpa Joe and Grandma Becky gave Hallie a few years ago. It is one of his favorite books. 

There is nothing quite like sleeping babies! So precious and perfect!

He wanted cereal and that is what he got. And then proceeded to dump the entire bag on the floor. Ugh!

Eating an otterpop in Hallie's closet. He could eat 10 Popsicles a day if I let him. He also got into Hallie's lotion and proceeded to apply it all over his legs. 

Brooks is daddy's little meat eater!

Hallie

Our Hallie girl is one-of-a-kind with an incredible memory and creativity and smarts way above her age! She is our little energizer bunny and constantly wants to be doing something or being played with. She continues to sleep on the floor in her room. She says she does that so she doesn't have to make her bed every morning. Haha! She's got a lot of emotions and drama inside her little frame but she is also so happy and fun to be around. She says some of the funniest things and I am constantly blown away at how observant she is and how funny she can be. She's a great listener and a great role model to her brother. 

I'm pretty sure she took this picture of herself "sleeping." Haha!

Wearing Daddy's hoodie to bed one night

Asleep on the floor with her unicorn sleeping bag over her head. I'm not sure how she can sleep like that!

Speaking of being creative. She made this all by herself with her Plus Plus tiles. She loves coloring or making anything into a rainbow!

One day, I woke up to her having made me breakfast (toast and milk). She was so proud of herself and I thought it was incredibly thoughtful of her to do this for me. She is awake before anyone else in our household. I swear she "jumps out of bed" ready for the day to start while the rest of us take 20 mins or so for us to even "wake up."

She made this at school this month. I thought it was so sweet that she added Jesus to it. I love how kids aren't ashamed of anything and just are who they are. I hope she is always thankful for Jesus and not afraid to share it!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Due to COVID, the Ahlberg side of the family cancelled Thanksgiving. Instead, we went to Shelli's house, along with Amber and her family, for Thanksgiving. This caused a tremendous amount of family drama which I won't go into details about. There were several things that were said to Russ and I that were extremely hurtful and for a time we didn't think we would ever care to see Joe and Becky again, but ultimately, we decided we want them apart of ours and our kids' lives and so we will try to forgive and forget. Joe didn't have a thing to do with the hurtful things said but it is going to take a long time to get our relationship to where it was with Becky.

Anywho, we had a great Thanksgiving. I was worried the whole time we were going to get Coronavirus but it was SO nice to actually have something feel "normal" again. The food was absolutely delicious! I literally have been craving Thanksgiving dinner ever since I got pregnant, and it did not disappoint. I think for the first time in my life I overate and felt sick afterwards because of it. 

My mom wrote all of us "thankful" cards and I thought it was so sweet that she did this. 

Kids

Brooks and Hallie are becoming such great friends. They generally play really well with each other and entertain each other well. It's sometimes funny to me when they get on each other's nerves too. They play a lot of pretend and make a lot of messes together. 

Making a fort

Building houses with these sticks and balls we have

They couldn't be any cuter! So in love with them!

Picnic outside, which results to more playing and less eating

Making a mess with all of their blankets and stuffed animals (or "stuff-tees" as Brooks would say it)

Hallie doing her virtual school work while Brooks is doing his own school work with his toy computer. So cute!

Hallie reading to Brooks before his nap time. I just love them so much! And I love their little toes!!

Giving each other a hug

24 Weeks!

I am 24 weeks and feeling huge!! I am bigger then I ever was with my other two and just feel plain uncomfortable. Its uncomfortable to sit or bend over. I'm starting to waddle as I walk too. It seems that each subsequent pregnancy I get bigger faster, sicker longer and uncomfortable sooner. I don't know how people that are normally fat live like this. I'm not sure how they even sit comfortably on a chair. But I'm keeping my spirits up and realize that this too shall pass.

I throw up only about 1-2 times per week in the morning. I generally feel pretty good for most the day though. I am really tired and take a nap most days of the week in the afternoon. 

I'm starting to feel baby move more and more everyday. He usually is most active at nights or when I'm laying down. The other night he was keeping me up during the night due to all his moving. It was cute but then I was like, "please stop!" Haha! Hallie has felt him move a few times and Russ felt him move for the first time just recently too. 

I can eat pretty much anything I want these days. It is nice to have an appetite and eat what I want. I do find, however, that greasy or fried foods make me pretty nauseous. 

I have shingles! Yuck!! I know this isn't some gross thing I contracted but for some reason I feel like white trailer trash having this rash. Ha! It is on my belly and only just a little bit bigger then a quarter size. It itches like a mother and sometimes burns, especially if I put any creams on it, but for the most part it isn't painful. Just uncomfortable is all. Luckily it's not chicken pox and baby will be just fine. I got started on some valtrex and within a week or so it should be close to gone. Shingles has opened my eyes though about how I truly am immunosuppressed. They've always said I am now considered "high risk" for getting COVID due to being pregnant but I've always thought to myself, "I'd be fine." But now I realize I could catch anything, as normally people who get shingles are super old! With COVID being really hot right now I need to be even more cautious about things. 

We still don't have a name for this little guy yet. We don't talk about it very much either. Russ' top choice is still Stockton. I recently brought up the name Riggs but Russ doesn't love it. 

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, my next appointment won't be until I'm 25 weeks, in about 10 days. 

#Givethanks

About a week before Thanksgiving our prophet, President Nelson, gave a special message of hope to the world. It was broadcasted on TV for the whole world to see. Russ and I loved his message! He talked about his trails in his life, losing his wife and two kids among other things, and how he has found that gratitude is the best way to counteract trails and fear. One of my favorite things he said is "Counting your blessings is far better then recounting your problems." He recommended doing two things: 1) turn social media into a gratitude journal for the next 7 days. Use the hashtag #givethanks when doing so. It was actually really cool to read for 1 week straight all the things that everyone is grateful for. Social media has been filled with negative things about the presidential election and coronavirus and it was nice, for just 7 days, to have that gone. 2) Give a prayer of thanks. He then offered a global prayer of gratitude. I don't think I've ever heard a prophet pray before. It was very powerful and I felt the spirit strongly as I listened to our prophet pray for the world!

Russ participated a bit in the recommendations to post on social media things you are grateful for. Russ never posts on Facebook, I mean never, so this was big for him. He said some really sweet things about me and our family! I sure love him!

New truck

Welp, we traded in Russ's GMC Canyon and bought an F150 truck! With us having 3 kids soon Russ was quite stressed about our family being able to "fit" well in his Canyon when we go camping. I agreed that it would be a tight fit but thought we could make it work with 3 car seats in the back. I figured we'd just wait until the baby comes and if after a camping trip or two it just isn't working out, we could then explore getting a bigger truck.

This is where Russ and I stress differently. He likes to be prepared, which I do too, but instead of waiting to see if we could make it work he just wanted to start researching for a bigger truck. Researching is one of Russ' strong traits. He researches everything and anything before he pulls the trigger. He weighs the pros and cons of all the options and then picks the best option for our family. I am grateful for all the time he spends researching. The problem with researching is that you will eventually find something you love, that is on sale for a good deal and then you feel pressured to buy it because what if this same deal doesn't come again?!?

And that is exactly what happened. He saw this truck and wanted to go look at it. They got the price down to what we wanted to pay and traded in our Canyon. We are now the proud owners of a 2015 F150 truck!! I feel so boastful saying that with having just bought my new car a few months ago. We truly are a blessed family!

And let me tell you, this truck is nice!! And it is nice to have a Ford car back in the family. Haha! The truck drives nice and it provides significantly more space for our family in both the front and back seats. It will tow even better then the Canyon and we are super happy with our purchase. Can't wait to see how it pulls our trailer in the Spring!

Hallie loses 5th tooth!

Hallie loves losing her teeth and thinks it is the coolest thing ever to share the news with everyone. I love that she loves to lose her teeth and isn't scared about it. Today, while playing out on our playset, she bonked her tooth and it fell out! I didn't even realize that her tooth was that loose! She came running in to show us her surprise!

She seems to lose her teeth on or around holidays. She was happy when she realized that today is Grandma Sylvia's anniversary death date, which she thought was pretty cool. 

Sadly, Hallie found out that the tooth fairy wasn't real. I print out a certificate off the internet to give to her, along with $1 when the "tooth fairy" comes to pick up her tooth at night. The next morning, I went to login to do virtual church and Hallie saw the printout on the computer. I was hoping she wouldn't see it but then with a smile on her face she said, "I don't think the tooth fairy is real, mom." Whoops! Mom fail!

Her note she wrote to the tooth fairy, "Why did you not get my tooth last time, Love Hallie." Haha! What she doesn't know is that the tooth fairy is pregnant and was really sick the last time she lost her tooth.