Kids

Anikka is showing a lot of first child traits. She is very independent and bossy. She was able to go sleep over at her Grandparents home over the weekend. It was spur of the moment and when Mimi and Papa were invited out to dinner with their friends Anikka was able to go spend time with Uncle Matt and Aunt Meagan. Meagan took care of Anikka and treated her like a queen. After the special treatment of making her dinner(not that she doesn't have dinner made for her everyday) Anikka said "Wow Aunt Meagan you are treating me like a guest, I am just your niece." The next day was Sunday and Anikka went to Church with Mimi and Papa. Anikka likes to act older than she is, during Sunday School she bribed two loud boys to be quiet and listen with Papa's candy. Then during singing time all the women went to Relief Society and the Bishopric taught primary, Anikka volunteered to lead the music for a song that the men didn't really know. She really is not shy and probably is a little bossy. The way all older sisters are. I know because I have a bossy older sister. I also know that bossy older sisters are really awesome to have because they just know everything and give the best advice.

I have hope that I will have the baby next week. I hope that my body will progress enough that the Dr. will strip my membranes and that will start labor. I would like the baby to be born on May 3rd. I really hope that I get my way. The names have been narrowed down to two. We will take them into the delivery room. They are Ryker with the nickname of Ike, and Cooper with the nickname of Coop. Our family is divided with me and my extended family prefering Ryker and Ryan and his extended family prefering Cooper. We will just have to wait and see what he looks like.

Reminiscing

I hope it is no secret that I think my husband Ryan is the coolest thing in the world. I was just thinking about how we met. I really love to hear about how people met and how they knew they were in love. I want to write down the story of how we met so we can re-read it whenever we want. I first saw Ryan the very first Sunday of the begining of Fall semester way back in 1997. When my roommates and I walked in I saw him up on the stand ready to bless the Sacrament when it was time. I immediately pointed him out to my roomate as a possible love interest for me. I then continued to crush on him from afar and I tried to "put myself in posistions to be noticed by him. It wasn't until some weeks later that I was able to catch his eye and get myself on his list of girls to ask out that year (our girl to boy ratio was 3 to 1). I got a ride to Church that day with a neighbor and as we were leaving meetings that day Ryan said goodbye to our neighbor and I turned to give him my most winningest smile and he waved bye to me. I sighed loudly and our neighbor heard and said all right who do you have a crush on and I told him it was Ryan Jeppesen and he said, oh he is such a great guy I am so going to set you up. He introduced us that night at ward prayer and they had a class together the next day. Our neighbor, Ryan, asked my Ryan what he thought of the blond from last night and my Ryan said he thought I was cute. Neighbor Ryan told my Ryan that he needed to ask me out on a date. After school that day Ryan Steck came over and told me to make cookies and I immediately complied. I took those fresh cookies over to my Ryan's apartment and then left after a few minutes. That night at FHE Ryan asked me out on our first date for that Friday. I was so thrilled to be going on a date with him. I will post about our first date later but just for the record it has been really fun to sit and remember all those fun times and feelings.

Our Home at the Moment

Our home at the moment is a little messy and I don't care. I have pretty much stopped bending down to pick up things. I am fully in to the "kick things into the general direction of where they need to go" mode. Things are starting to come together for the baby. We had a preparatory Family Home Evening to try and get the kids used to the fact that there will be a new addition to our family and what to be ready for. Anikka was really not phased at all. She has been there and done that all ready but she is willing to learn to change diapers this time around. We had Ryan give Father's Blessings to each of us and it was really nice and it brought a lot of peace to each one of us. I went to the Doctor yesterday and I am almost dilated to a 2 which means nothing except that I am slowly making progress in the right direction. I still have some hope of maybe having a baby on the 3rd of May. I think that would be a good day but again my opinion does not mean too much when it comes to what the baby is going to do. I just want to have the baby before my birthday on the 11th, I do not want to share it with my child. I am going a little stir crazy. I am in a waiting period and I am just looking for something to do everyday to pass the time. I sure hope that the time passes more quickly than not.

Ryan's Birthday and Easter Sunday

Saturday April 3rd was Ryan's 35th birthday. Ryan as usual did not ask for anything and I was just too tired to think about anything fun to get him. Fortunately I was able to talk him into going shopping to find him a gift. We were able to get him a new outfit and then he was done with spending money before I could talk him into going to Best Buy. He was so nice to me and asked for chocolate dipped strawberries for his birthday cake so that was easy enough to pull off. We love Ryan and are so happy that he is in our lives, that he agreed to share his life with me and raise our kids together. Ryan is the best husband and father that we could ever ask for.

The next morning the kids woke up to Easter baskets filled with candy and that was the extent of our commercial celebration. It was really not a big deal. We then watched General Conference and enjoyed a nice day of worship. It is really nice to refocus over conference weekend. We are looking forward to this week of spring break and hope we do not get to sick of each other.

Freaked Out

I received a call from Heber Valley Medical Center yesterday to pre-register me for delivery, this is the hospital where I will have this baby and the hospital where all of our other kids were born. They called me because "their records show that I am due to have a baby next month." I said "well, yes in May, Wait that is next month." Insert a slightly hysterical giggle. I am having a baby NEXT MONTH and I feel so ill prepared. I am getting physically ready to get the baby out of my body but I am so not ready to bring him home. To be responsible for another new little life. To have FOUR kids. Four seems like a lot of kids. I don't even really have a name for him yet, just a lot of names that we are throwing around but nothing is sticking for sure yet. I am not nesting at all. The crib is not even up, to be fair we just moved Ben and Mac together last week and so we have to finish with that move before we start on the baby's room. I guess that I just don't feel ready at all, mostly scared. I am sure that it is just anxiety about the unknown. Will he be a good baby? Will Mac be nice to him? Will we ever make it once to Disneyland when the kids can all remember it? Well I guess that it is a lucky thing that I still have a month or so to get prepared and to find a name and get us all to a good place and welcome this baby to our family because we are stuck with each other and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Days 30 and 31

Day 30

1. I am grateful for being able to get my hair done. I really like to be pampered on occasion and the shampoo she uses smells so good.

2. I am grateful that Ben is such a good sick kid. He had a slight fever and a tummy ache and pretty much crashed on the couch all day.

3. I am grateful that Anikka is going to be starting piano lessons. I think it is just a good thing to know how to play the piano.

Day 31

1. I am so grateful for my Mom. She came over to watch the kids so Ryan and I could go to a work thing. The kids just absolutely love her. I really appreciate her sacrifices.

2. I am very grateful for Ryan's work. It is really a good place for him and he is happy to be working there.

3. I am grateful for this experience of gratitude. I think that it really carried me through some of the harder, more hormonal days and kept my spirits above the water. I don't know that it made me appreciate the things around me more but it did make me think more often about the things I am grateful for. Overall I am glad that I wrote all of these daily gratitude's down and I think that it will be such a good thing to read again and again.