Picture Update

I'm pretty sure this was his tractor and the clothes basket behind it is the trailer.

Lovin' on prayer bear (made by Grandma).

He even makes parades with his breakfast.

Nothin' quite like a PBJ!

Reading one of his favorite books with Alaina, Hunter, Grandma and Papa.

I'm so used to seeing Ella in the car with him, but Adele loves it just as much!

Washing dishes for Mommy.

Parker's Personality

Age two presents a variety of different challenges, emotions and new adventures.  It brings its fair share of tantrums, manipulating, and defiance, but I'm choosing to forgive and forget those things.  I've met so many moms who have told me they really miss when their kids were young.  Never once have I met one that said they're glad those days are over.  That's what I remind myself whenever I feel like I'm losing my brains.  Parker is an incredibly sweet boy, but he very persistent!  I just wanted to put this in a post, so when I look back on things, I remember that not every day was bliss, but every day was/is a blessing.

So most of the time, things are really fun.  Parker still has an amazing imagination that we are trying to foster and keep around for many years to come.  Some of his favorite things to play are, "struction" - his Caterpillar construction machines in a cookie sheet with black beans - puzzles, fire trucks, and he can turn anything into a tractor, horse, sleigh or pick-up truck and ride it anywhere in the world.  Lots of times these things get "stuck in the mud," and needs to pull them out and wash them off.  One day he shocked me because I thought he was playing guns.  Little did I knew he was pretending he had a fire hose and he was "washing" everything in sight.

See you at the big one?

He also loves to sing.  At the beginning of the school year, someone gave me a box of instruments.  His favorite one is a High School Musical microphone.  It plays two songs from the movie.  He knows the words to both and will run, spin and dance around while he sings.  I'm so proud of my son who likes to sing songs about Jesus and High School Musical.  He's added a few other songs to his repetoire.   He really likes the song "After All."  Melts my heart to hear him sing "After all, You are sovereign."  We also started teaching him "Bless the Lord."

Other funny things.  He has the beginning of Veggie Tales memorized.  He will randomly say, "Hi kids, welcome to Veggie Tales.  I'm Bob the tomato and this is Larry the cucumber and we're here to answer your questions.  I just remembered I got an email from (mumble mumble) in New Jersey."  Hilarious.  We taught him the "Come Lord Jesus" prayer, and the other night we were praying and he said "Thank you for Papa, and Grandma....and the pizza (laughing super hard) and the dip (laughing even harder).

Nap time and bed time have been a bit of struggle lately.  For some reason he doesn't think sleep is important ;)  We've been calling him a hoarder because he literally wants EVERYTHING in his room, in his bed before he goes to sleep.  He usually has about three pillows, five stuffed animals, several books, ten blankets, and the basket that holds the blankets in his bed by the time he's asleep.  This leaves him about two square feet to sleep in, so we end up taking everything out when we check on him later.

Pickle/Mayo Sandwich Anyone?

So here I am - 22 weeks pregnant with baby #2.  This pregnany is going fast!  I've never really blogged about what it's like to be Alison and prego. I think that time has come.

Bottom line - I'm blessed.  I've never had morning sickness, I don't gag when I see raw meat, and I don't crave pickle, mayo, peanut butter, turkey sandwiches.  I have yet to get heartburn, and I basically continue life as usual.

I was pretty tired during the first trimester, and I have had my fair share of good cries about nothing.  I don't necessarily have cravings, but for the first trimester, nothing sounds good, and for the second, I can't stop eating!  Orange chicken has been at the top of the list of preferred foods during both pregnancies.  With Parker I ate more salty stuff, and I think I'm eating more sweets this time around.  That might have something to do with the fact that I was pregnant over Halloween and Christmas.  Not sure.  I will indeed be huge and have kankles by May, but I can handle that.

It has been really fun teaching Parker about the baby in my belly, and what things will be like when it arrives.  He says he's going to give it "two kissies," and he practices taking care of us everyday.  When I got home from work yesterday, Ryan was laying on the couch and Parker was taking care of "Baby Daddy."  Ryan would start crying and Parker would say, "Oh it's okay Baby Daddy." And give him a kiss.  This morning Parker told me he is going to change the baby's diaper and then rock it.  Sounds great to me!!  I'm really looking forward to watching him develop into an awesome big brother.

Here's the baby at the 10 week ultrasound. It was already moving around quite a bit!

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Monday.  Some people didn't think we could do it, but we stuck to our original plan and did not find out the sex.  It is so fun wondering and having people guess.  Now we just have to come up with two names and pick out two cutie take-home outfits =)

  

It's pretty cute eh?  We think so ;)  Can't wait to meet ya baby!

Whatcha Got 2013?

Here's the tough part - looking to see if I did anything I said I wanted to do.  I really should write these down somewhere else so I can visit them frequently throughout the year...

Last year I said I wanted to...

- get in shape.  I guess it depends what kind of shape you mean ;)  "In shape" used to mean running a sub 60, 400m, but I don't think that's realistic anymore.  I did pretty good at working out until about October.  I am starting to look into things I can be competitive in.  It's so hard for me to work out, just to work out.  I have to have something to work for.  I never really enjoyed running, but I loved racing.  Big difference.

- move.  We did move into a condo, and I am content there until God clearly shows us when and where to buy a house.

- delight in reading the Bible.  I'd say I've made some progress, but I haven't gotten to the point where I long for it on a daily basis.  I have, however, been able to tell if I have been in the word or not, simply based on my attitude.  Reading His promises really helps me to stay positive and keep a realistic view on life.

- grow our USANA business.  Ryan has been doing great with this.  He advanced a few more ranks and has taught me so much about the benefits of cellular nutrition!

- see Ryan finish probation.  He did, and he's still a fireman =)  I still cannot believe how perfect this job is for him.


Hmm...what else is there left to do?  Haha - just kidding.  In 2013, I would like to....

- deliver a healthy baby =)

- transition into being a stay-at-home mom.

- remain content.

- be a more submissive wife.  (I'm pretty sure I'll be working on that my entire life).

- grow in my relationship with the Lord.

- be "fit."  That sounds more attainable than being "in shape" ;)

- continue to share Usana with others.  We have seen so many people's health and lives drastically improve because of Usana's amazing products.  Seeing this has inspired us share it with everyone we know!

Now I'm going to write these somewhere that I'll actually see them before next January!

2012 At A Glance

Time is seriously flying!  It seems like just yesterday I was in 7th grade and we were stocking our pantries for Y2K.  Now it's 13 years later?!  Anyway, 2012 was pretty great.  Here are just a few reasons why.

- We moved again =)  This happens pretty much every year, but we are in our cutest and biggest place yet, with nice neighbors and no apartment complex.

- Parker is two, healthy, and happy.

- We found out we're expecting baby #2 in May!

- Ryan and I went to the boundary waters with some of our BFF's.

- Line dancing at Saddle-Up Saloon.  Definitely the best night of the summer.

- I almost forgot!  We took our first family vacation to the Rockies.  Awesome, awesome time!

- We went on a little ski getaway last January.

Those are just some of the highlights, but as I look over my prayer journal, God has answered SO many prayers and has continued to pour his blessings out on us.  He provided us with an affordable place to live, he brought 13 Kindergarteners to NCA for me to teach, he miraculously healed my friend's newborn baby, Levi, he allowed us to get pregnant, and allowed about 20 other people I currently know of to become pregnant.  He's covered us in health and safety and provided for our every need!  He continues to prove that His timing is perfect, and that He is in control of everything.  (I could continue and probably end up bawling while I blog in Starbucks, but I think it's best to stop there ;)  God is so good!

Home For Christmas

Christmas Eve morning started with Parker and I going to Station 3 to visit Daddy and enjoy a delicious brunch with his shift.  The best part was definitely Ryan's famous cinnamon rolls.  Parker enjoyed the brunch, playing in the firetrucks and ambulance and playing with a few other kids that were visiting their daddy.  From there, we headed to my parent's.

Christmas Eve was a little different this year because Grace Valley Christian Reformed Church, the church I attended my whole childhood, was not having a Christmas Eve service.  They had it the night before.  Christmas Eve at my parents house usually consists of playing ping-pong in the afternoon, eating soup and sandwiches for supper, scrambling to get everyone all dolled up for church and then coming home to open presents afterward.  This year we still played and ate soup - then we skipped straight to the presents!  I had a hard time getting pictures and enjoying the moment, so I only took a few.

I have to admit, it was hard not having Ryan there, but we were able to Skype with him.  I really had NOTHING to complain about considering he had the entire week before and after the 24th off.

Parker and I met Ryan at his parent's house the next morning.  We were greeted by more cinnamon and pecan rolls.  Do you think I turned them down?  Man those things are irresistibly GOOD!

After we cut Parker off, he went straight for the tractor-filled barn.

We opened presents and enjoyed the rest of the day playing games, visiting, taking more pictures and eating more food.  Here are all of the Glendenning Grandkids. L-R: Parker (2), Whittaker (3), Emma-Kate (4 months), JW (5), and Lena (1).

Parker finished the day with Charlie Brown Christmas and cheese balls =)

Ryan and I stayed late and played Dominion with Karl and Meg for several hours.  Good times for sure - considering I spit my drink out twice and laughed a LOT!

Christmas in Wheaton

Ever since the party in Arlington Heights, Parker has been really interested in Santa.  He actually pretends to be Santa quite frequently.  He rides his "sleigh," aka his bed, to the North Pole several times a day.   His reindeer are his little stuffed friends Simon, Glow Worm, Mickey, and Sheep.  One morning he woke up and said "Hi Mommy.  I'm Santa.  Nice to meet you."  Gotta love his imagination!

Ryan, Parker and I were all home one afternoon and thought it'd be fun to make M&M pretzels.  Parker loves both of these, and he loves to help, so naturally it sounded like a good time.  We did manage to get quite a few made, but Parker ate quite a few!  We showed him how put place the M&M in the middle of the pretzel, and the first few he just dipped in the white chocolate and ate them immediately.  We finally convinced him they taste even better if you wait.

After he had eaten more than his fair share, we told him he could have a plain pretzel.  He said 'ok,' and then looked at Ryan and said, "Can I have M&M?"

Because of the fireman's on 24 hours, off 48 schedule, we haven't really been able to establish our own family Christmas schedule yet.  Especially since we go home for the 24th and 25th.  This year we exchanged presents on the 23rd.  Parker and Ryan got me the SWEETEST willow tree figurine.  It's a mom holding her son with their foreheads together.  Parker and I do that every night.  It instantly brought tears to my eyes.  Mostly because I know we won't be able to do that forever, he's growing up so fast blah blah blah - but I am so thankful for all of the special times we have together now! 

Parker got some sweet Cat construction toys.  

But he didn't want to smile for the camera ;)

He also got a Christmas DVD, a tractor book, and a firetruck!

His version of the nativity scene. 

He gave them all a ride in the truck.

Oh, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom jammies!  What a cutie.

Looking forward to many years of Christmas memories to come!