Valentines Day

Valentines Morning started with heart shaped pancakes, eggs, and strawberry smoothies...yumm..



Adaliah's valentines present this year was her FIRST HAIR CUT. Exciting. She looks so grown up with her new little bob.

Pete took us to lunch that afternoon.
Then that weekend Pete surprised me with a weekend get-away at the Little America. We had a fun night with his brothers Dave and Joel and their wives having dinner and going swimming at the hotel. It was a wonderful valentines day. I'm a lucky girl to have such a smokin hott and sweet valentine. ;)

Maryland

February 7th-13th my sister Karen, Adaliah, and I traveled to Maryland to visit our sister Anne. Her husband was at a 6 week training, so we thought it was a perfect time to come help with the kids and have some good quality sister time.

We got to go to the DC temple...

(Adaliah and Miriam age 5)

(Isn't Anne beautiful)

Watch Hannah at her horse riding lessons and feed the horses...

(Hannah age 8)

Go into DC and see the Museum of Natural History and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial....

(Caleb age 10)

And of course just have a lot of fun hanging out together, watching movies, playing games, and letting Adaliah get to know her cousins better.

We had a mini birthday celebration for Adaliah (a week early).


It was a perfect trip. I was so grateful for Karen and all her help with Adaliah (especially on the long flights) and I was so grateful for the chance I got to spend with the Haderlies. I don't see them enough.

January Update

January has come and gone. For me January was alot of couch time while Adaliah watched movies. Poor Adaliah. Morning sickness just knocks me out. Poor Pete. He gets home from work at 8:30 pm and I'm already in bed for the night.

But it wasn't all headaces, throwing up, and sleepy momy's...we were able to have a little fun.

Pete's work treated us to a Jazz game...which they sadly lost..

And I went to a birthday party for my dear friend Tausha. She had her sweet baby Rachel just a few days before but was still up for a party.

These sweet ladies, myself, Shantel, Kayla, and Tausha were some of my BEST friends growing up. And guess what....we found out that night that we are all having babies in 2012. How exciting huh? Jan (as you can see the sweet new little bundle), May, June, and then myself in Aug.

Pete spent the month working on our basement with his Dad. Very exicting....pictures will come soon I'm sure.

Baby Oskar

December 16th -January 12 we were lucky enough to have Pete's brother Joel and his beautiful pregnant wife Jamie stay at our house. They were living in L.A and came down just for Christmas break (so they thought). While in Utah Joel had a "short term" job opportunity open up so they decided to stick around long enough to try it out. While they were waiting they stayed at our house. It was so fun to have them here. Adaliah followed Jamie around all day loving the extra love and attention.
Jamie was due the first week in March. After realizing she was going to be in Utah for a few weeks longer she decided to find an OBGYN to see her while she was here. Long story short- after a few appointment's they realized that baby was not growing and the placenta had stopped working. So one day Jamie is 32 weeks pregnant and staying at my house- next day she is scheduled for a C-section to have her tiny little baby boy.

Oskar came on January 13th at 2 pounds 12 ounces.

He has been a miracle baby. He was 8 weeks early and already behind in his development- but Oskar has done remarkably well. He never had to have oxogen and started drinking from a bottle after only a few days. They told Joel and Jamie he would be in the hospital for 6-8 weeks originally and after only 3 weeks (35 weeks if he were still in the womb) they sent him home. What a tough little guy.

What I think has been the most amazing part of the whole situation is Jamie and Joel's positive attitude through it all. All of their stuff is still in California so they are living out of suitcases at Pete's parents with this tiny little premature baby. Yet they seem so happy and up beat every time I see them. They have been such an example to me. I've been truly touched watching this amazing family grow.

Happy New Years 2012

Warning: Gross pictures of my weird hand....thing...

Thursday before new years I woke up in the middle of the night with really itchy hands. By Friday morning they were a little swollen and small painful little blisters started to pop up.

By Saturday morning they were so huge and blistered I literally could not bend my fingers or use my hands. They itched and burned but I couldn't touch them or they would swell up even bigger. It didn't take long to realize that doing hair, changing diapers, cleaning house, and cooking meals was nearly impossible. That's when my sweet neighbors came to the rescue and watched Adaliah until Pete got home from work, then I said farewell to my family and went down to Manti with my sister to get cared for. My biggest worry was passing it to Adaliah or my pregnant sister-in-law that was staying with us so although I was sad to leave..I knew it was best for everyone.
The odd part about it was that nobody could put a name to what I had. Hand, food, mouth disease was the closest thing they could come up with but I didn't have a fever, sour throat, or sores in my mouth. Later after my OBGYN did some lab work to make sure it wasn't hurting the baby.. he confirmed it wasn't Hand, foot, mouth. Bizarre. I'll never know. By Monday they had turned to full blisters and and taken over my feet as well. My sweet parents took care of me like I was a toddler. They prepared my food, cut it, and sometimes even hand fed me. They helped me change my ice packs every few hours and let me lay around the house watching movies all day.

Mean while.....Pete was home being the worlds greatest Dad. He had a great New Years Eve with his family. He woke up Adaliah before the "ball dropped" and got his New Years Kiss.

On Sunday he got Adaliah ready for church. I thought the little outfit he put together for her was adorable. Nothing I would have chosen- but I have to admit I was very impressed. He even got her hair in a pony tail? Who is this guy?

The next few days Adaliah had her Aunts in and out of the house caring for her while I was away. I'm so lucky to have amazing family that could help out. Thanks again Mary, Karen, Jamie, and Cecily.

2011 in a Nutshell

Adaliah went from wobbly steps and a 10 word vocabulary to running, jumping off furniture, dancing, singing, talking NON STOP, throwing fits, and everything else that comes with the toddler package. It has been so much fun to watch her blossom.

I served in the Young women's for 6 months, then Pete and I got moved to the Primary for about 6mths teaching the 4 year olds, then we just got moved again to be the 12 year old Sunday school teachers. We are excited for our new calling. We've made some good coverage for only being in the ward for 1 year.

We are loving or new home and especially our neighborhood. We are continually impressed with everyones generosity. I never want to move. Our street is like a big family. It's all about watching each others kids, playing in the streets, dessert nights, fireworks, party's... We've LOVED IT.

4 weddings, 3 new nieces and nephews, a farewell, a homecoming...and a baby on the way for us. Whew. We can't say their wasn't anything exciting in 2011.

I raced in my first triathlon, tried a belly dancing class with a small performance, and started a ballet class.

Pete worked his rear off at work and was awarded two awards including the MVP award at his company. He also worked his rear off at home fixing up the house and yard as well as being the greatest Dad. He was awarded the MVP award in our home as well.

We went to Oregon twice, California, and Hawaii. We got a lot of good family traveling in thanks to weddings, reunions, and anniversary's.

I had some of the hardest times of my life, and also some of the sweetest. I think it's safe to say that as an Ackerman Family (meaning the 3 1/2 of us) we have grown, progressed, stumbled, got up...and are ready to start a new year.

Christmas 2011

Armstrong Christmas was a week before as usual. Grams and Gramps got Adaliah this beautiful church dress that she insisted on putting on as soon as she opened it. It's a fight every Sunday to get her to wear anything else. She loves this black "princess dress".

Again- another great holiday with family. I wish I would have gotten more pictures.


Christmas morning we spent at our house with just our little family of 3. When we heard Adaliah wake up we went into her room and I told her Santa Claus had come. "NO! Don't want Santa!" she announced to us with tears building up. Poor thing- she's scared to death of the guy. After we assured her that he was already gone she was willing to come look at what he brought.




That afternoon we spent at the Ackermans. We got to talk to Elder Chris Ackerman on the phone which was so exciting. Shortly after we announced we were pregnant with Adaliah's shirt.


It said "Only Child" but crossed out then "Big Sister". Everyone was very excited for us. That made me the 4th sister in law to be pregnant. Only a few hours later Mark and Dana called from Hawaii to announce they were pregnant too!! They're due only a week after us. 5 out of the 6 married girls in the family all due between March-Aug. CRAZY!


Poor Grandmother broke her leg this November while decorating the Christmas tree. She has had multiple surgires, casts, wheel chairs, and walkers. She's been a trooper. Here are the boys carrying her upstairs during the Christmas festivities. Hold on tight Susan!

Ackerman Christmas Party

Sometimes it's better not to give any explanation at all when it comes to the Ackerman Christmas Party.


We'll just say it was another hit full of great food, lots of laugh, and lots of random- random- humor.

The story of the "Big News"

I'm trying to catch up on December so I can print my 2011 blog book. The last few months have been CRAZY and I haven't had a moment to sit down and journal/scrapbook... (or whatever you want to call this blog)

So lets start back in February 2011

Warning: a lot of information you might not want to know. There, you've been warned.

Back in February as Adaliah started sneaking up on her 1st birthday Pete and I were feeling more and more ready for baby #2. I always wanted my kids close. I loved having a year in Jr. High and High school with my older sister. I loved playing imagination together, reading books together, going on double dates, and all the other fun stuff that comes with a sibling close to your age. I wanted the same for Adaliah.

Adaliah took a little time to come so we decided to get a "head start" on our journey of trying. At first it wasn't too hard to handle the cramps and signs of a negative month after month, but as time kept ticking I will admit- I started to become discouraged.

Our trip to Hawaii for our 4 year anniversary was an amazing one- but it ended on another crampy negative note. I tried to keep my chin up as we entered November (month 10 of the journey).

November 13th came. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the day of Cecilys mission homecoming. Adaliah woke up extremely early (6:30ish) and came into our bedroom. Pete picked her up and put her in bed with us and we all layed in silence trying to catch a few more Zzzz's.

Then Adaliah spoke. The first words out of her mouth that morning, "Mama has a baby in her tummy". Pete and I looked at each other with confused faces and asked Adaliah to repeat herself. "Mama has a baby in her tummy", she said again- as clear as day. Just to amuse myself I asked her if she had a brother or a sister that wanted to come to earth. Her response "both".

(in defence- I'm not having twins- but i do think it's safe to say she will someday have both a brother and a sister)

November 13th- this was only 2 weeks after we had returned from our trip- so anybody who knows anything about getting pregnant knows I was only days...maybe hours pregnant.

Well the day I was supposed to start came and left with no signs of the crampy negative. I was thrilled. I had just spent Thanksgiving at my parents house in Manti all weekend so the min I got home from our trip I ran and took a test. (Saturday night)

Negative. Very clear negative.

I cried. My hopes were high this time.

The next day was another beautiful Sabbath morning. (November 27th) While eating breakfast Adaliah randomly said it again. It was the first time she had mentioned it again. "Mama has a baby in her tummy!"

I sadly told her I didn't but maybe someday I would.

The next day (Monday) there was still no sign of the crampy negative. Thinking of Adaliahs sweet confidence I took another test. Positive. Shocked I took my last test to be sure....negative. I called Pete in a panic. When he got home for lunch I ran to the store and bought the most expensive pack of pregnancy tests I could find and came home.

Positive, Positive, Positive.

Adaliah had called it. It's so amazing how their sweet little spirits are still so close to the veil. It was a miracle to say the least.

Aug 4th is the big day. I'm 14 weeks pregnant. Pete and I couldn't be more thrilled.