Princess Lessons and Weekending

Ellie has been waiting for February 3rd for weeks! Her Nana signed her up for her very first princess lessons and they did not disappoint. She would wake up every morning and went to bed every night asking when it would get here. We picked out her dress 2 weeks before and hung it up in her closet. I couldn't wait to tell her Friday morning that today was finally the day!

When it was finally time to get ready, she put on her dress with the utmost care, slipped on her shoes, and then very specifically told me how to do her hair and makeup. She was so excited that she would hardly even sit still for pictures, so all I got were the few on the stairs. As you can see, she was either too excited to function or thought that a pose was in order. Oh this girl!

J.rue escorted her to his car (which for some reason is her favorite) and they were off. I always hate missing out but there were lots of pictures and videos taken to appease me. From what I was told, there was a lot of dancing, magic spells, flying, and cookie eating. Basically, Ellie's personal heaven. She burst through the door when she got home and excitedly said, "THERE WERE SO MANY PRINCESSES!". She then spent the next 20 minutes divulging every detail to me and then we got on the phone to thanks Nana and of course she clammed right up, but hopefully Nana knows how much she appreciates it. THANK YOU NANA!

The next day was a bit of a let down because of the lack of princess lessons, but Ellie donned her best ballet wear and danced the day away. She also got some coloring in while I bagged about a million pounds of chicken breasts (Thank you for that Karen!) and we are set for a while!

That evening we got a sitter and went out for dinner and dessert. We went to El Rocoto for dinner and it didn't disappoint (and never does!). I loved eating hot food and talking to J.rue without any interruptions. After that we headed to Nielson's for some custard and then we had a bit of time to kill and we ended up just driving around. Jeremy was dying. He said that next time he gets to plan the date, and it will be much better. We'll see hun, we'll see. When we got home the kids would have gladly sent us back out the door, but after a little convincing that she would be back soon, they let her go.

Fitz has gotten into the habit of helping himself to a box of cereal before bed. So, after their late night snack and a dance party, they were off to bed, as were we. We're getting way to old.

This sounds pathetic, but I've been struggling to get the kids ready for (11 a.m.) church on my own, meaning that their Sunday pictures aren't turning out super cute, darn it. We'll get there. Then we took some naps and went to Jeremy's co-worker's home for a super bowl party. The company and food were the best, and to be honest with you, I watched about 5 minutes of the game. We did make it home before the end of the game, and I know it was quite the comeback, and J.rue was not happy about it.

Ellie wakes up every Monday morning so sad that J.rue is at work, and I tend to always agree with her, 100%. The weekends come and go far too quickly.

Weekending

Our weekend started off bright and early Friday morning with a trip to the dentist. Fitz was lucky enough to be healthy, so he got to go over to his Auntie Nin's and play with his cousins. He was very well taken care of. Ellie got the short end of the stick and had to come with me because he cough was waking the dead.

Also, super random, but I had to send off a pair of reading glasses to Cale in the MTC, because he has apparently developed old man eyes in 4 weeks. I took it to the UPS store for same day delivery, filled out the form and was on my way. Later that day I got a call from the MTC to verify the spelling of Cale's name. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I probably put down the wrong last name...and alas, I did! They were confused because they happened to actually have an Elder Ruesch, who returned the reading glasses, and could not find one named Cale! I quickly corrected Ruesch to Kwallek and hopefully he got his old man glasses. I am seriously loosing my mind!

That night Jeremy made the trek up to Rock Springs with James to visit his cousin Steven. It was a much needed break for him and I am SO glad that he went. It sounds like there was a lot of sports, eating, and hanging out. Jeremy is always willing to cover for me anytime I ask, and I think I get to have way more fun than he gets to. The kids were sad to have him leave so quickly, especially Fitz. He's becoming quite attached to his daddy, and I've loved watching them together. Dealing with the aftershock of Jeremy leaving was a little rough, but everyone perked up after we got in our jammies. That evening we feasted on Arby's, put Fitz to bed, and Ellie and I ate about 60 packs of pop rocks and watched the Little Mermaid. I made Ellie sleep with me, which she did so very willingly, and we slept great!

Saturday we had a slow morning and then got ready and went to McDonalds to get some energy out. This only happens once in a while so they were both content for quite a while. Then we made a quick trip to Target and headed home for naps. It was so cold getting in and out of the car! I am so excited for February because I feel like there are a few sneaky warm days and we are longing for them. Once everyone was up for naps we went up to Ogden for Alex's bridal shower. Her mom and sisters did an amazing job and we really enjoyed ourselves. Ellie's favorite part was creating a wedding dress out of toilet paper. Sadly, she's 3 and toilet paper is one of the most unsturdy materials on the planet. We got home pretty late that night, so we all went straight to bed.

Sunday morning Jeremy surprised us by getting home early and he sent me right upstairs to get ready for church. I was so excited to go because 1) I wasn't planning on going because the kids were sick and 2) I got to go by myself! I thoroughly enjoyed my hour and a half to myself and happily went back to switch places so Jeremy could make his meetings. While I was gone Jeremy and the kids had a breakfast picnic on the tramp and watched Snow White. He's the best.

That night we went back up to Ogden to my mom's for dinner. It's kind of surreal every time I go into Ogden now because my mom has lived there for 16 years and she's getting ready to sell her house and move to Daybreak. Fitz continued to stay attached to Jeremy's hip and we did lots of visiting and eating. It was the perfect way to end the weekend. I also have to note Fitz's attachment to his blanket. It's a little intense at time, but not over the top, so it's usually juts cute. I'm very interested to see how this thing ends up a few years down the road. 

We ended the night on the phone with Nana & Aunt Tori and then called it. Now I'm already ready for the next one!

26

I already gave kind of an update last Friday, BUT just to recap: Ellie bean attended her first fireworks show and decided that she loves them. I hope I don't have one of those kids whose scared of fireworks, that would be interesting. We're both continuing to grow at a ridiculously fast pace, my full paneled shorts are now starting to fit better, which is a good and bad thing. I told j.rue that I was tired of stretchy clothes. Everything that I wear has some sort of stretch to it. He pointed out that during the summer I wear stretchy clothes all the time anyway, boys just don't understand anything. It's the fact that I HAVE TO wear stretchy clothes, at least if I want to avoid passing out from the heat. I miss buttons.

Also, I have a count down all the way at the bottom of my blog, just for my own sanity and I was going to post at 100 days, but guess what? We're already down to 91! So, I guess it's a good thing that I don't peek at it every day, because little surprises like that make the waiting game a little more fun.

There was a doctors appointment last week, and we had a strong heartbeat and you better believe I'm assuming she weighs a whole 2 lbs, because I subtracted that from my total weight gain. You know, because she'll be coming out and all, I'm not going to worry about those extra pounds that I won't have to Zumba off. They measured my stomach from top to bottom and I was right on target at 27 cm. Does anyone else find that crazy that the cm coincide with how many weeks along you are? I just don't get it, but I like it.

I was looking over my calendar and at my remaining doctors appointments and such and got this weird feeling that everything is going to come so quickly/slowly. It's a dumb and confusing feeling. I have 13 weeks left and getting through the first 13 weeks and then the second 13 weeks seemed to take FOR EV ER. It actually gave me a little bit of anxiety. To top that end of it off I started looking at all the week by week udpates on thebump.com and realized how much more growing the two of us have to do in that amount of time. I'm going to be HUGE and it looks very uncomfortable. On the other hand, I'm at 27 weeks ALREADY and I still cannot fathom that I get a baby out of all of this. Then I start thinking about how hard breast feeding will be, and how much I won't be sleeping, and how I won't be working at the U anymore and it completely overwhelms me to the point that I could cry (I may be a little teary right now). How in the heck am I supposed to prepare for all of that 3 short months?! It seems like so many women take to this new mom thing like ducks to water, and maybe I won't be as unnatural at it as I thought, but I know it won't be easy.

With all of that on the table, I really am excited, SO excited for everything else that comes with it. It just needs to come faster/slower.

We finished off week 26 with a trip to the farmers market in SLC and Seven Peaks. I had never been before and fell in love instantly. The weather was perfectly over-cast and we went early enough to get decent parking. The boys happily took Brooklyn to play at the park while we meandered through all of the booths. I left with a bag of cherries (that I almost forgot to pay for), a cookie, and some strawberry lemonade that would make your toes curl.

We finished off the morning at the pool and left right as the sun was becoming way too hot and bright of my pasty skin. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating, and watching LOST. Aren't those just the best Saturdays?

SUMMER WEEKENDING

Don't you love that it's Thursday, almost a brand spankin' new weekend, and I'm just not getting to last weekend? I'm feeling quite adamant about this because there were so many summer things involved. J.rue and I both had last Friday off, and it was a sweet sweet Friday. We made sure to make plans with our weekend regulars, and decided that it would be best to keep them by our side the whole weekend. Three day weekends are a lovely thing in and of itself, but add the right season in? Well, that makes it just downright dreamy.

^^ We started our Friday with the femur sized corn dogs. They were just as good as remembered, but this time we added honey. Honey + corndogs, really just takes it to the next level. If you're on Main Street in  Kaysville, make sure to stop. Don't worry you can't miss it, there's always a crowd.

^^ The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging outside, reading magazines, and watching the apple of our eyes run around the backyard. She attempted a nap outside, but the outside is just too distracting for her little brain right now.

^^ When the little miss did finally go down for a nap it was with promises to go and see the llamas once she awoke. Promises were kept and right when she woke up we were greeted with the question "see yamas?" So, we did. They were a little rude this time and wouldn't come right up to us like usual, but in their defense it was quite hot and they had some nice shade. That night we decided to keep the partay going and have a sleepover. The next morning was full or more relaxing, small errand running, and naps. I love naps.

^^ That evening we headed back to Ruesch Manor for some splash pad and hobo dinners. The boys readied the fires while we prepped the tin foil dinners and then they headed off to the splash pad with Brookie and we supervised the cooking of the food. It was difficult work, but someone had to volunteer. Melinda and I always have the best conversations when we find ourselves alone. She's one of the few people I can really tell anything too. Everyone should have a Melinda.

^^ Once the water baby got back the boys fished out our dinners and set up our table. Brookie is probably the best supervisor that we could ask for. She means business.

^^ And then we feasted. J.rue claimed to not be a lover of all things hobo dinner. Of course he was the first and only one to finish his whole plate. I'm thinking we've converted him, which is good, because this won't be our last hobo dinner date. At least if I have my way.

^^ The rest of the evening was spent roasting huge marshmallows. Melinda declared she would eat 100, then I decided on my weight in marshmallows. Just to make sure we reach our goals, we'll keep this a regular thing. J.rue managed to burn his tongue. He was sad when no one really felt bad for him.

^^ The puppies also decided to partake in the marshmallow goodness. Well, rather they more begged until the soft one (me) obliged them with melty mallow leftovers. Maggie handled to goo like a champ. Coop on the other hand, well, we're still fighting to get the fossilized gunk off of his mouth. Way to go Coop.

^^ I'm pretty sure I out ate everyone as far as marshmallows go, but I am trying to reach a goal here. And look at those puppies how could I not give them my left overs?

^^ Sunday morning we headed back over to Clinton to watch Brooklyn while her parents spoke. They both did a lovely job and Brookie was so good, especially since I came prepared with a stock of fruit snacks. That girl loves her fruit snacks. So much that she would sometime forget to chew and swallow. I'm just glad we didn't kill her while her parents we up there speaking to the congregation. That would have been awkward.

^^ We wrapped up the weekend with a trip over to my mother's house. One brother was ordained a priest and the other had a birthday and is getting ready to put in his mission papers. Obvs we're a really photogenic family. This is really the best we could do after about 11 tries. We're just an attractive bunch.

See? Wasn't that worth the wait? I know I'll think so next year. Looking back over summer blog posts is the best. Dontcha think?

21

Last week was most most favorite week of pregnancy thus far. Little Rue was ever so present with her movements, and really, those little jabs are still my most favorite things. She was even so kind as to give her grandma and uncle Cale some high fives. She's just getting more and more polite as she matures. I'm so proud of my girl! I've started feeling more like myself than I have pretty much since December, which can I just say, is about the best thing ever. Not feeling like yourself for 5 months is rough. I've been able to keep my house clean, exercise, and I even stayed up until 11:30, and I'm not even lying.

At this point, b.rue is weighing about a pound (I know it's all relative, I'd like to think she weighs 9 actually) and is about 10.5-11 inches long and I'm starting to feel it more and more. I have a doctors appointment on Wednesday and kind of want to know if she's sitting lower than normal. I ask because I haven't felt a single movement above my hip bones and good golly she loves to nestle right up against my bladder and what feels like my tail bone, and she's out for the count. If we can get through the night with only 4 bathroom trips, we count that as a success.

J.rue is getting more and more excited for his upcoming role as dad. I think the nesting bug has even hit him. Yesterday, and yes I know we're big fat Sabbath breakers, we spend about 4.5 hours cleaning and organizing his half of the bedroom. Actually, 4 of those hours were JUST spent on his closet. No, that is not one of my usual over exaggerations. That boy has clothes, oh so many clothes. And I guess we can change that to had because I'll be taking about 12 pounds of just t-shirts to the DI sometime this week. J.rue did sweet talk me into using my far superior folding and organizing skills. I told him he owes me something good, and once we were done, he agreed. His closet is the most sparkly clean it's been since the day we've moved in.

I don't know how nesting has affected other pregnant gals or if I even know what nesting is yet, but I have this innate need to have my whole house spotless before little rue gets here. It's a little obsessive, but I'm making it closer to my goal one cupboard at a time. Funny thing is, I keep putting off her room. Probably because there is a gargantuan bed her in tiny mouse hole of a room right now and not much can be done about that. And probably because I'm overwhelming myself with room ideas. I think I need to just start going, so this weekend, we're getting that bed out. That room will be painted by the end of this month. My little flower cards came on Friday night and really, I just can't wait to slap these puppies up on the wall:

I've also found what I'll be using for a mobile. The website says to not hang these over a crib, but I'm pretty sure they're just heavy duty paper and I'll just make sure they're unreachable. Really Land of Nod, we're not all dumb. 

In other Ruesch news, Cooper and Maggie managed to eat about a half of a chocolate sheet cake by themselves in the dark of the night. I'm proud to report that neither of them have died...yet. Sneaky little turds. I woke up Saturday morning and noticed that the paper plate our friends had brought us cake on was 1) empty and 2) licked clean. At first I though j.rue may have gotten hungry after I ditched him for sleep, but after he vehemently denied it (I may have woken him up, demanding why he ate ALL of the cake), all of the pieces quickly fell together. Our dogs feel that if there is a will there's a way, and there was an opportune chair left un-tucked that evening. Lucky for the fur children, they have stomachs of steel. I'm really just mostly upset that I didn't get to have any cake. This particular friend of ours makes delicious desserts.

And also, it's a Monday!

16

Every single Sunday morning that I wake up the first thing that I think is, "how many weeks am I?" And then I continue my day and then week amazed at how far I've made it. Around 6 weeks once the nausea and fatigue really hit I would imagine the days where I would be able to tell people I was 14 weeks, and now looky here, I'm already at 16! On the eve of my 16th week I finished my chalk board wall, 3rd coat, and we're still not on good terms. Next week I'm hoping to be able to decorate my  bump picture with actual chalk, because the chalk board paint bosses said I should wait thrice days to actually chalk up the paint. 3! And believe you me, after the battle that I've already had with that black paint, I'm following their counsel. 

I'm still feeling pooped (as pictured above), and that frustrated me for a while, but I woke up Saturday morning after getting a solid 9.5 hours, still tired, and decided that who was I to complain about getting to take extra naps. I'm not tired enough to make me cry in the mornings anymore, just tired enough to take a nap when I get home at 6 and still go to bed at 9:30. What woman doesn't want that? So, in honor of tired women everywhere, I'm taking one for the team and sleeping all I can, because, you know, it's technically the last time that I'll have that excuse. I heard it get's harder when you want to add another to the mix.

I think my nesting has kicked in. I know that it's technically too early, but I've never claimed to be normal. I've just noticed that I've had a growing unrest inside of me whenever I think about all of the things that need to get done. And they need to get done NOW. I spent the better of Saturday reorganizing the office and my closet. The laundry monster had gained power once again, so that had to be managed as well. It was and I'm feeling much better, until I look at the Circus Room/nursery. I really just need to keep the door closed for now. Next weekend Ruesch Manor will be undergoing major painting renovations. It give me anxiety because 1) Choosing paint really is the death of me, I'm just so worried about choosing the warmest shade of grey without it being too taupey, catch my drift? And 2) It's a lot to paint. A LOT. I'll be taking my SIL's advice and taping one wall/day this week so we're rearing and ready to go Saturday morning. Heaven help me.

Lastly, I'll address the weekend, like always. It was lovely and relaxing. Sunday was my favorite. It was warm enough to set up the hammock and nap, we also put the clothesline back up, one of my joys of warm weather. Since we only have one hammock that we bumped each other off of constantly yesterday, we've come to the agreement to just buy another. I'm literally salivating thinking of all of the hammock reading and clothesline drying that I'll be doing this summer. In between my neurotic nesting projects, of course.

Okay, so it wasn't 100% warm yesterday, we don't curr.

p.s. 18 days until we find out if my mother's intuition is correct!

15

No bump picture today. I spent the majority of Sunday sleeping and my bed head was un-tamable anyway. Maybe the pictures could be an every other week thing? Because really, there's not too big of a difference, at least all of my clothes are fitting the same, so that's all I really have to go off of.

I'm kind of realizing that I should title these posts as the week before since during this post I will be addressing week 14, but that just makes things more difficult so...

Week 14 finished out without too much glamour. I spent a quality hour with my bathroom, more specifically the tub. When people ask me my least favorite thing to clean I usually say "toilet", but then every time I go to clean my tub, like actually scrub it, I am given the harsh reminder that the tub, is in fact the worst thing to clean. Speaking of toilet though, I can actually clean mine again! Well, without throwing up into it right after. I'll leave the rest of the gory details out. I still haven't gotten my bum to the gym, but vigorously cleaning for almost 3 hours has GOT to count for something.

After j.rue got back from his football and brunch I coaxed him into the basement to begin our chalk board wall. I did the trim and he did the taping and rolling. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I'm not great with change, even painting my walls give me a little bit of anxiety. Like it's hard to change the paint on your walls. I don't know. Anyway, that first brush stroke put me into a little bit of shock. Black is so dark. You know what I mean? Also, black paint is kind of hard to do, as in like every brush stroke leaves strong evidence of said brush stroke. Needless to say and second or third coat needs to be applied. Maybe today. I really think it will be fun to have and it will be a nice place to document the bump. I don't even know if this child will be old enough to enjoy the wall, but I surely will.

Friday night J.rue and I got all fancy and spent a night out on the town. Translation: I got off work at 5. Was much too tired to actually walk around to do anything, so I drove to the downtown Harmon's parking lot and took a nice little nap and painted my toenails. J.rue got off at 6:11 pm and I picked him up. We decided on Cheesecake Factory, but didn't want to wait so we ordered it to go and ate it outside in an amphitheater  My butter was swept away with the wind. As did my roll. But we kissed, so that's romantic  right? Then we went to Dicks (again, they really should just assign us a tent to sleep in) and then went home and watched Shark Tank until 11:30 pm.  If I would have been told that this would have been my life 5 years ago, I would have been slightly disgusted. Now? I love it. I really really do. Who wants to go out and stay out until 4 am after working 40+ hours, not I.

(before the butter and roll incident)

Then this morning on the 2nd day of my 15th week there was snow on the ground. How's that to a precursor to the week? I'm actually still thinking it's going to be a good one. I do have Friday off and I know Melinda and I had mentioned taking off to to Utah County to track down to Waffle Truck. Are we still going to do that? My vote is yes.

J.rue's work lady is back from India, so I'm also hoping that means earlier hours for me, so you know, we can go to bed earlier and stuff.

Also, I saw The Host this weekend. It was good and I teared up, so it's recommended. Annnnd more Chinese. You guys, I love it. But only when I'm pregnant.

Is it blowing anyone else's mind that it's already April 15th? I just don't even know what to do with myself.