Why is it so quiet?

I took her to the dentist yesterday. Last time, I took her she at least let the assistant look in her mouth and now she is obsessed with brushing her teeth. I have to say that this is not a bad thing, but I find it interesting. 

Arlee was excited to go to the dentist. She had a lot of fun talking to me about what was in the waiting room, the bathroom-had to go while I was filling out paper work. She was even very friendly to the dental assistant. She was excited to see that Nemo was on the flat screen tv and to sit in the chair. It all went south when they put these glasses on her. She shut right down and didn't say a word. She wasn't even talking to me. We tried telling her how cool her new tooth brush was to see if we could get her use to the idea of being there with the cool shades on, but no. She was not having it. Then the dentist came in. He was telling us about his family and then it came to when he would try and look in her mouth. This was a no go. She was clinging onto me for dear life. Much like the stories that I have heard of me when I was little- we just don't respond well to guys. After a while we will warm up (a couple months or so), but that would be a really long time to keep going back. Right?

I know that she is really young and is probably not going to be comfortable with any of it for a long time or if at all. I know that when she is older she will get that she has to open her mouth or they can't help her. For now they just make sure that she has the right amount of teeth. Mostly, it was a getting comfortable visit. Or uncomfortable, whichever she is in the mood for. 

So today, I was doing some stuff on the computer when I realized that it was a little too quite since Arlee was making so much noise just moments before. Of course, that makes one wonder and they have to go investigate.

Me: Arlee?!

Arlee: WHAT?

Me: Where are you? As I am following her voice

Arlee: Um...

Me:  Why are you in my bathroom?

Arlee: BRUSHING MY TEETH!

I walked into the bathroom and she is up on the counter with the toothpaste cap off and brushing those little teeth of hers.

Me: Why are you brushing your teeth? 

Arlee: Because, they are all soggy... (High pitched ...Giggle giggle giggle)

Arlee is getting so big and has changed so much in the last 4 months that we have lived in Washington. It is truly amazing how she has grown up. She loves to do everything herself, but thankfully still lets me help with the important things (brushing her teeth- when she doesn't go and do it all by herself, going to the bathroom- wipe factor, getting her something out of the fridge- only because it now has a lock on it since she'll try and bring me stuff up the stairs or where ever I am. Such as, grape juice and spilling it all over the carpet. ETC.)

Now she is brushing her own teeth without saying a word to me about it. I wonder what is next. Maybe she will be able to do her own hair...? 

 

Lydia Update...#2

Here is what we found out from the doctor.

Are you ready?

1. Abdominal Circumference- Some what small!

2. Overall Growth- Normal! 

They can only do ultrasounds every 3 to 4 weeks since they don't change that much to make it worth having them frequently.

3. Doppler (Check blood flow)

Umbilical Doppler- Check for placenta stiffness- This was normal!

MCA dopplers- shunting blood up to brain- This was normal!

4. Amniotic Fluid- This was normal! However they would like to see it higher. I was measuring at a 10 and they like to see you around 15.

They are going to do scans to check me weekly. However, with measuring the fluid it can change a lot. You have 4 quadrants. Each of those should have some fluid around the baby. They measure the depth of the fluid in each. But say that they took a measurement in one and then the baby moved then that measurement that they just took is now going to be different and so on. The doctor was telling us that they could measure it 4 times in a minute and the numbers can be completely different. As long as the number is around 10 they are not going to induce labor. They will let me stay pregnant. They really begin to worry when you are more around 5. So I am still in good shape in that regard.

5. Movement- As I am reporting it is normal. Lydia is a pretty active little girl and I feel her moving constantly throughout the day. They want me to do kick counters. At least 10 in an hour (when she is the most active) This is usually right before I go to bed or after I eat a meal.  I feel her a lot at night.

Just while we were talking to the doctor she moved 10 times in about 30 minutes. This is a great feeling. When we were getting the doppler reading she was moving all over the place.

6. NST (Non Stress Test) This was also normal.

Overall Lydia and I are doing great. I have great health and the doctors seem to be pleased with our progress. This visit was more of a caution than a need and wasn't meant to scare us, but I have to say it was still worry-some. I am glad that it is over and now I just have to relax, go to appointments and keep the kick counter going.

I am meant to have small babies. Arlee was perfect and I am sure that Lydia will be just so.

Thank you to all of you that prayed in our behalf. We are so grateful to have the spirit in our home. We have felt the Comforter and are so happy to feel the peace that we need to get on to the next step.  Prayers are welcome always. We will just keep chugging along and can't wait (really we can- only a little more than 5 weeks to go) to meet our other girl.

The Hoges.

Halloween!!!

Halloween! What a great time to get out the fall decor, carve pumpkins and go trick or treating. Here are some of our little moments caught on camera.

 Hans is great at getting out the lids and cleaning them up. I didn't have him make mine this year and I regretted it. I made mine too small and it was rather hard to get the guts out. Live and you learn right? I think Hans will be making mine from now on.

 This is after Arlee touched the guts.

 She later just tried the spoon. Because she is a lot like me and she doesn't like the feel of it at all.

 Arlee helping her dad get the design on there. Needless to say Hans is the one that did the carving. I told him maybe next year she could just paint hers. I think she would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Arlee wasn't exactly ready for going outside so we figured Hans' jacket was a great idea for her to wear. As you can tell it doesn't exactly fit.

 Arlee out with her pumpkin. Notice the shoes- being that there isn't any. Like I said not really ready to go outside, but we needed to make this quick since it was bed time.

 No guts no glory!

 Mine and Hans' pumpkins. I like this picture only because it is Halloween. Otherwise I wouldn't have put it on here at all.

 Arlee's, mine and Hans'. His is hard to see. Something was wrong with his candle, but it is a graveyard.

So this is the night of Halloween. We were in the car and I was trying to get a picture of Arlee while Hans was driving. I thought it took it and brought it back to look at it... WHAAAAM! Hello, Hansel I hope that you weren't needing your eye sight in the moon lit night drive. I was laughing pretty hard after this happened... as you can imagine.

 Now for the real picture that I was going for.

 Hans following Arlee while she runs up to the door. This is how it was pretty much the whole time. There was the last several houses that she didn't want us to go up with her. She wanted to go up by herself. This didn't come as a surprise to me. She is an independent little girl.

Story: Arlee and Hans went up to a house like they always did. I would be standing back a little so I would not crowd the door (with my pregnant self). Arlee was admiring all the decorations and saw a spider on the door. As she went to touch it; it then started moving and making all kinds of noise. Arlee lets out a huge scream. I on the other hand was laughing my butt off. Hans thinks that I am pretty cruel for finding it so funny. At the time, I was talking to my dad on the phone. He wanted to know what was going on, but I was laughing too hard. So hard that I was about to wet my pants. Not too hard for me and being pregnant on top of that it is hard too see why I didn't. When I was finally able to tell him he started laughing. This is a bit odd for my dad since this is not his kind of humor, but for me I was in heaven. Other than Arlee getting scared of course. Don't get me wrong Hans was laughing too, but not nearly as hard as I was or as long.

After I was calm enough so Hans could understand me, I asked him what happened. I know what I saw, but I was a little too far to get the whole story. We still are not really sure if the spider went off, because the people were coming out as she went to touch it or, if she was just too close. Either way, it was awesome.
Now when we talk to her about it she calls it a silly spider. Also that it tried to take her candy and it doesn't have hands like her. Silly spider.

I have to say that I was shocked she was not crying. When I have scared her she starts crying. I used to be able to scare her all the time and she would first scream and then just start laughing. But one time I got her really good, so we can't play that game anymore with out it ending in tears after the first scare.

Anyway, one of the last houses that we went to the guy told us that he has had so many kids come up to his door. He started with $38.00 worth of candy and only had about 5-10 pieces by the time we got to him around 8 PM. I have to say that I am not a bit surprised. There were so many people like us that drove to a neighborhood. We only did this because we live off a main road and we only have 8 units on our little street. Not really ideal if you would like any candy.
After we were done trick or treating we were going to go to the ones next to ours, but no one was handing out candy. This was understandable for sure. We bought candy, but no one came to our house- at least not while we were there. I wouldn't be stopping by our house either. Not enough places to make it worth it.

Arlee enjoying her one piece of candy before getting ready for bed.

We had a great time taking her around. She is too funny and for me it was perfect. Hans went up to the door with her and I got to see things from a distance depending on how many kids were there. All and all it is a great time for people watching and there was plenty to watch.

Now that Halloween is over with, we'll move on to a doctors appointment before going to see the specialist. After those we will have to see when Lydia is going to be joining our family and what may come with that. I am still hoping that she doesn't have to come early, but if it makes it better for her I am all for it. I have to say that I am ready for her. I got most of my Christmas shopping done. Not for her though- I am struggling what to get her. Any ideas? Everything is clean so she has a place to sleep and clothes to wear. OH.... I guess I SHOULD go and get some diapers... maybe after my appointments.
After the doctors appointments then we will move on to Thanksgiving and Lydia's due date along with Hans' birthday and Christmas. Christmas is the best time of year for me. It is going to be weird not running from house to house, but I think with a new baby I am going to really enjoy it. We will just have to Skype people instead.


Until the next update...
The Hoges

Ward Halloween Party

Hans was not able to go to the Halloween party since he was out of town, but lets just say that I have a great ward and if you are there with or with out your husband... They make you feel like you are not missing a thing. Not to say that I didn't miss having Hans there with us, but it was a great time. Here are some of our little moments.

 Lucy and Arlee. Lucy is a great friend of Arlee's and they getting along pretty well. We go to the park with them (a little less now that it is cold and we have been out of town) Sara- Lucy's mom and I help each other with baby sitting so it works out great they get along. :)

 At the party they had games for the little kids.

 Arlee picking out a prize. The lady asked her if she wanted to have a piece of candy or a duck. Arlee loves having toys in the tub and right now all she has is ducks, so she chose the duck. I am not really surprised, but other people were.

 Arlee, Lily and Lucy. Our ward has a lot of girls that are Arlee's age. We are missing a couple in this picture, but they looked so cute that we decided to take a picture anyway.

 Lucy, Zoey, Arlee and Lily. Still missing some, but these girls love each other. Actually, Arlee goes through little spurts on who she talks about throughout the day. I don't know if it is who she played more with in nursery or what. Either way, they are friends and so are their Mommas.

These last pictures were taken while waiting for the Spook Alley. We waited a long time. Sara (Lucy's mom) kept asking, "Is this okay for little kids?" The people kept saying that it was okay, its okay, they'll be okay. This was put on by the young men and before the people go in they tell them if it is a bunch of little kids. Well Lily, her mom, dad, older brother and little brother went in. They said that there were little kids and the next thing that you know they are out crying. I guess someone didn't get the memo. HAHAHAHA!!!!! This was pretty shocking and at the same time I am laughing, because now I know that we are not going in. When they came out Sara looked at me and I wish I had a camera, because it was priceless. Good times for sure.

After the Spook Alley we went outside to start the trunk or treating. Jana told me a day or two before that I could borrow someone from her family to pass out candy since Hans wasn't there. This worked out great. I wanted to be able to take Arlee around and at the same time be giving candy to the little kiddos. Well, I got to take her around and her aunt passed out my candy. I was so glad that they were willing to help me out. Arlee got a lot of candy and I got my candy out too.

Can't wait until next year to do it all over again... haha

Lydia Update...

Lets just say that since my appointment last week I have been a little up and down. My doctor said that I was measuring small still. I have had a lot of people telling me that I look too small to be as far along as I am. So I finally asked my doctor why this was. After measuring me she told me that she would like to do a ultrasound to check the fluid levels and get some measurements.

Of course, this is going to send me through a loop, but life must go on. I chose not to worry about it too much since she didn't seem to be frantic about it.  The ultrasound was yesterday and I got the results today.

Lydia's head is measuring between on schedule to a week ahead. Her abdomen is measuring three weeks behind. I have an appointment to see my doctor this next Wednesday and the specialist on Friday. I have to say that I cannot wait until Friday is over and we have a better idea as to what is next for me and our little girl.

We would love any extra prayers in our behalf. Worse case is that I will deliver her early. How early? Time will tell. I only have six and a half weeks left until my due date... not too much longer I guess.

*Just a note, Hans is in Walla Walla (2 1/2 hours away) until Saturday, which means he didn't get to hear it when I did and help me not to worry much.

Happy Halloween/ Birthday Party

Arlee was invited to a Halloween/birthday party combo. This was a great time to get her all dressed up. The kids had so much fun together. Sadly, I only got one picture.

They made cookies, decorated them and ate them. They ate pizza, chps, cupcakes, grapes, carrots and raisins. They played pin the hat on the witch (Arlee didn't want to do this, by the way)

If you are unable to tell with out the rest of her costume. She dressed up to be a bumble bee. I love her costume! It came with a headband with antennas and a wand with a bee on it. (I think that I have posted her costume on the Utah trip post, but I am not sure.) She loves chasing us around with her bee wand and making bee noises. You are supposed to say, "Don't get me bee!" This really makes her day.

Thank you to Norma Anderson for the great time and invite. We had a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday to Lily!

Wenatchee, Washington

Hans was floating in Wenatchee, Washington for a couple of days. Arlee and I drove up to meet him and spend some time out and about while he was at work. This worked pretty well, but I have to say that I did like our Tri-Cities trip a little more. For one, I wasn't coming down with a cold. And two, there was more to do there.  However, we still had a pretty good time. Here are some of the moments on our trip.

Hans found out about a park right next to the Columbia River. It was a really nice park, but the day that we went was a little cold for mine or Arlee's liking.
There was a guy there holding a baby and he had his little boy playing on the toys. Arlee wouldn't go and play, because the guy was there. I don't really know what her deal has been the last six months, but she thinks that any guy that we don't know is a "BAD GUY". I guess this is okay at times, however, this time I really just wanted her to play and get really tired.
The guy noticed that she was hesitant around him so he tried getting his son to say hi to Arlee and maybe she would get over him being there. The little boy didn't want to and Arlee said to me, "Mom, he won't say hi to me!" as she was whining. "Why don't you say hi to him?" "I don't want to." "Well, why don't you just go and play or we are going to leave." "Okay" and off she went. Once she got over the shy factor she was just fine.

 WEEEEEeeeeee!

 Arlee with the Columbia River behind her.

 Columbia River.

I decided that we would go and find a place where Arlee wasn't bothering the fisherman by throwing rock in the river. We went down a little bit from them. Once I thought we found the perfect spot, I looked up and a guy was going to the bathroom. Fabulous! Well, I acted like I hadn't noticed him (50 feet away) and waited for him to finish before going to the perfect spot. Arlee had not noticed him doing his business so that was a plus for sure. She probably would have been asking me really loud. Why he wasn't using the bathroom?

 Arlee at the perfect rock throwing place. She loved picking up all the BIG rocks and making, "a really BIG splash!" I wish that I had the video camera with us to record it, but oh well. I guess use your imagination...

On our way home I decided to go and see what a town nearby was like called, Leavenworth.  It was only about 20 minutes out of the way, so not a really big deal. We didn't have to be anywhere anyway.  My sister in law, Amy loves this place and told me that I should go with Hans so we could see it. Well since it was raining I didn't get out of the car. I didn't want to get all wet and as you might be able to tell from the pictures there really isn't anywhere to park without walking for a long time in the rain. Not a fan of the rain as you might be able to tell. Good thing I live in the Palm Springs of Washington, right?

 The streets are very narrow...

 I have to say that this tiny town has some pretty cool buildings. I believe that I read on line that it was done after the Dutch people that settled there, but nonetheless, it was pretty cool to drive through. There were a lot of shops. They had chocolate shops, bratwurst shops, little cafes among other interesting places.

Here is a picture of the road on the way home. It was hard to capture the colors of the leaves while I was driving, but it was beautiful!

Until our next little adventure, which will not be until after Lydia gets here I am sure. I am getting to close to the NO TRAVELING time. I hope you are all doing well. Miss you.