40 weeks: I'm READY!

Lydia's Pregnancy vs Baby #2's... (look how long my hair was?!)

Tomorrow..

Tomorrow I am 40 weeks.

It is becoming the joke around here for me to labor on Labor Day! It wasn't until recently that I realized that this baby's due date was the day before Labor Day this year! Baby #2's due date is also Grandma & Grandpa Kendell's 32 wedding anniversary! We sure are grateful that our family is forever!

It's fun to compare these pregnancies together. I became much larger way faster with baby #2 and then kind of stopped growing for a couple months. With baby #1 it was much more gradual, but I do feel like I had gained more in my face than with this one. Though- I practically weigh the same in each picture.

Baby #2 is definitely lower than Lydia was. Lydia liked to stick to my right side (I only ever had stretch marks on the right side of my belly button) and was always up in my ribs. This baby I rarely feel her in my ribs at all.. definitely more in my pelvis! And she moves all over the place.. left to right, right to left.. I've had an explosion of stretch marks on both sides of my belly button to prove it.

I am so SO excited for this baby to get here.. the anticipation is driving me crazy! The last 2 weeks of this pregnancy have seriously gone SO s.l.o.w... The whole summer flew by, especially with how busy I was on the house. And even though I am still keeping myself busy with building a pantry, and painting and cleaning.. it just isn't the same. 

The good thing about it going slow though is that I have been able to really enjoy time with Lydia before her "only child" label becomes "big sister!" 

A few days ago I took her swimming with a new friend in my ward to an indoor aquatic center. Lydia was in heaven! It was honestly the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. She was just like her dad and did NOT stop smiling. Even as she would slip in the water a few times and go under and I'd have to "help her" by getting her to stand up and trying to teach her to blow out through her nose and mouth.

The other people there started feeling bad for me--watching this huge pregnant lady chasing a near 2-year-old around.. I am sure I looked like quite the sight!

Anyway.. I had one of the scariest moments I have ever had with Lydia... As we were swimming, she ran away from me and jumped (without any hesitation at all) straight into the lazy river. I ran after her and watched as my baby was not only swept under the surface.. but was swept away down the river.

Without even thinking, I dove in after her and pulled my coughing and sputtering child up to the surface... and I just held her. My mind tried to grasp what had just happened and what could have happened. I just wanted to hold her forever... literally forever.

After only a few minutes of recovery-she was running back to the slides to play. But it has been such a wake up call to me on how precious life is and how I could have lost her right then and there. The days since then her sweet little lungs have still been recovering from taking in some water.. but I am so grateful that she is alive and well and that she was protected.

And since then, I have felt the pain and pressure from running after her and diving in. (I thought that night after swimming that I was going into labor even.. false alarm) Having two little girls is going to be challenging.. but exciting. I just pray that my Father in Heaven will keep some guardian angels with us as I do my best to parent and love these precious daughters. 

Pregnant days with Baby #2 are numbered.. Here are the [almost] final pregnancy journal pages. 

Alright baby... tomorrow! Come out and let me love on you!

Baby Larson #2 Maternity

My sister Camille Garrison is amazing.. she did these on our way to my cousin's cabin just off the side of the road in the matter of minutes. We are truly blessed to have her to be able to capture moments like this. 

I love the maternity pictures that my friend Rachel took when I was pregnant with Lydia and knew that I just wanted a couple to look back on with this new baby girl as well.. but with how busy our lives have been lately (particularly Brian's schedule with residency) I didn't know if we'd be able to grab any. I am SO grateful that we did! I love them!

Lately I've found myself trying to soak in all the moments that I can get with this girl. Her time as an only child and our only princess is about to expire. I have days where I have felt anxious in wondering if I'll be able to give both girls the attention they need and want when they are both here.. but then I feel the spirit whisper that we'll figure it out and it will all work out. All is well!

39 weeks and the clock is ticking down. I am amazed at how much our lives are about to change yet again in just a few days time. We're still trying to pick out a name and do a few more things on the house, but we are SO excited!!

Homies

It's official.

We. Have. A. Home.

And not only do we have a home.. we MOVED in!

I can't help but want to call Brian "homie" every time I see him these days.

The house is in a lovely neighborhood in Bountiful and is a 1955 American ranch house.. I love the backyard which is very private with lots of trees and bushes that I just adore.

We closed on our home on June 22, 2016.. The next day we moved all our belongings into the garage.. The next day after that Brian started residency and I started working on the house. Talk about a busy weekend!

What started out as excitement and nervousness in buying an older home quickly turned to panic and stress as things we thought would be easy to fix or do ourselves turned into small (and some big) nightmares.

Walls crumbling, wood floors turning white, lead paint adventures, wallpaper disasters, electrical problems (causing our sprinklers not to work and lawn to dry up), broken sinks, weird piping, and so many other puzzling features of this home has sent us to our knees many times asking for help.

Brian was busy every single day (including weekends) with his ICU rotation which left me to work on the house while being 7-8 months pregnant. Thankfully we have been blessed with SO many family members and friends who have helped out by watching Lydia and getting projects done. I know that I couldn't have done it without them.

And when I look back through the last 6 weeks-I can see so many tender mercies on the way. We truly have been blessed through this whole process.

And we are here now.. in the house! There is still a whole lot of work to be done, but the upstairs is mostly done and it is livable!

Now time to prepare for this baby!!

Beautiful Baby, Beautiful child

Beautiful Baby, Beautiful child,
Silly and maybe just a little bit wild..

This is my summer update on our Summer of 2016.. I find myself getting behind on posting when life gets as busy as this summer has!

Yes.. she is crying because she just got in trouble for drawing with permanent marker on her face (when really I guess it is my fault for leaving it out right?)

This girl keeps us on our toes. She is very spirited and strong-willed.. and lately I've been realizing we are getting closer and closer to the terrible twos

Sometimes skinny dipping in Grandma's hot tub with Aunt Brookie is the way to go during the summer.

Of course our BIG move to our new house. More pics of the before and after of the inside to come. Everything seems to be taking me about 4 times longer to get anything done these days!

Hiking in Park City with family.. and being scared by a huge moose only a few feet in front of us was quite the adventure!

I adore this little family of mine. Lydia fell asleep on Brian as we came down the hike which of course just melted me right then and there. If I could freeze moments like this I totally would-which is why I am so grateful for modern technology in giving me a small moment captured through pictures.

Something that has been hard for me as a mother to watch was having this little girl develop major separation anxiety that came about this summer from me having to have people watch Lydia so I could work on the house (and not have her around some of the products I was working with and whatnot). It was hard not to feel guilty about it but I knew that working on the house was something I had to do.. we were on a timeline with this baby #2 coming soon and I knew in the long run I would be able to give more attention to Lydia if I could get us in the house and make it livable.

It took me until this last week to actually buy a little pool.. but until then, we have been making due by swimming in lots of totes!!

Being pregnant during the summer is hard at times because I want to do things that make summer unique and fun-like many watersports. I didn't dare try this year due to our worry with this baby's size in the beginning. (It has evened out now.. thankfully.. this baby just grew big quickly).

I am sure glad Brian was able to get out a few times despite his extremely busy schedule! Brian lives and breathes boating and he was definitely the most alive I have seen him in a while when he is out behind the boat. And he got to try wake surfing for his first time which he LOVED!

More on Baby #2 Pregnancy.. Since I'm a bit behind on the pregnancy journal. But here is how pregnancy this time has gone!

Chicago Medical School Graduation 💗

TA DA!!!! Presenting Dr. Larson! After all the dreaming and doubting, the ups and the downs, Brian graduated.

We debated for a while on whether we wanted to fly back to Chicago for graduation.. Paying money for flights, taking the time to walk across a stage, finding a babysitter, a place to stay, etc... Is it worth it we asked ourselves..?

The answer to that was absolutely.

Being able to hear Brian's name as "Dr. Brian Larson" and watching him walk across that stage and be hooded made me speechless. And yes.. I cried. 

You can hear me in the video below...all emotional and who knows what. I just couldn't help shouting for all to hear, "That's my husband! That's him!" and of course crying.. I just allowed myself to give into all the emotions of the last 4 years of watching this man struggle and aspire. 

All those sleepless nights, nail-biting tests, hungry study hours, and lonely days couldn't damper my feelings and excitement. 

There he was.. walking across with the biggest smile on his face.

Yes. This was worth it.

All of it.

We are so grateful for all the tremendous support and love we have received throughout the years. I don't want to imagine what it would have been like without all our family, friends, and the Lord. I can't bring myself to even think about what life would have been like in that world.

We feel beyond blessed to be here. We've seen and felt the Lord's hand in our lives from day one. He has freely given us so many tender mercies and miracles along this journey. Family has come to visit us and take care of us, call just to chat because I'm lonely and pray for us in which we truly felt the prayers. Friends have stood by us in getting us through the days when we needed to relax or vent, adding some fun and excitement to those gray days and learning to lean on each other. We've been fed, clothed, sheltered, and loved.

Thank you... Words can't fully express how thankful we are.

To celebrate, we headed out on Lake Michigan to go sailing. It was perfect to just feel so free and uplifted, even with the dark cloud of residency threatening to hang over us in the next few weeks.

Chicago skyline is beautiful. The weather here in Illinois is pretty decent in the spring, summer, and fall. We've loved the trees and living by Lake Michigan which is pretty much an ocean. We'll miss the food, sights, and sounds. Simple things like fireflies and cicada bugs and all the squirrels (seriously.. like 20 in every tree and half of them black squirrels!). We'll miss being close to Six Flags and all the forest preserves. The museums, one of a kind houses (not cookie cutter like we are used to seeing), and all the farms where we can do our own fruit picking. Of course, above all.. we'll miss the people. Our neighbors, ward friends, the families I worked for and learned to love. We truly will miss it all. Chicago has been good to us and we learned to love it here.

 

So long Chicago. You will be greatly missed. Goodbye medical school.. I'll miss you only sorta.