Lisa's random stuff

Okay Cathy, you requested 7 random facts, so for Cathy and those who care here you go:

1. I'm really really happy that the Giants won the superbowl. The patriots get too much hype, and they're snub and cocky. I'm not even going to go into my opinions on spygate and they're cheating ways because it would take too long. I was glad that they were taught a lesson in humility...not to mention the fact that I like the Manning brothers and I think it's cool that they both won a superbowl. I also truly detest Bill Belichick, and think that he showed his true colors by not being man enough to stick around for the last second of the game and take his loss with dignity. It was a great game and I was happy to see the humble Giants get what they deserve. Sorry to all you Patriots fans...we're still friends, right?
Disclaimer: Just so we're clear, if it was a choice between the Giants and the Eagles, Scott and I would obviously be on the Eagle's side. GO EAGLES!



2.During my first trimester I couldn't stop craving fast food...mostly burger king, Taco bell, and Arby's. Now that I'm in the second trimester all I want/crave are fresh foods: Salads, fruits, veggies, sandwiches, etc. This pregnancy is so much weirder than the last one. Even the smell of junk food makes me feel ill now. I swear to you people, I can actually smell the chemicals in fast food and it makes me sick.
I have a special love for strawberries lately...I can't get enough of them. I've never had food preferences change so dramatically from one trimester to the other.


3. I want to take up sewing. I like having creative projects to keep myself busy as a housewife. I got really into doing nails with the acrylics and everything, mostly because I discovered it was much cheaper to do do it myself than paying someone else. I've backed off on the nail thing since I got pregnant though due to the fumes/chemicals. So now I'm going nuts trying to find new ways to fill my time, and for right now I've decided that sewing little dresses for my daughter might do the trick.



4. My only body hair is on my head, eyebrows and eyelashes. I am compulsive at making sure that there is no hair anywhere else. This is pretty ironic since I married a hairy Italian. Body hair is fine on other people...just not me.


5.I've known what I was going to have both times I've been pregnant. With Crystal I was already buying girl things and picking girl colors as soon as I found out I was pregnant. With my soon to be Son, I told people I didn't know, but I did and was just afraid that I would be wrong and look stupid...but I always referred to him as a him when talking to people, and I told my husband that I was pretty sure it was a boy this time. Even before I ever married I told people I was going to have a girl and two boys, in that order. We'll see in a few years (maybe more) if the third one is a boy too and I'm actually three for three. If I am, even I will be amazed.




6. I can't physically fall asleep in my bed unless I check on my daughter and make sure she's sleeping soundly and comfortably. Sometimes I do this more than once. I need the visual image of her actually sleeping before I can relax in my bed. If she's not sleeping yet, I check a few hours later, just so I can get that visual image. Sometimes this results with me going in there at three in the morning if I've forgotten somehow to check on her earlier. I spend all day every day with her, and I feel weird when we're separated, even if it's just for a few hours. As clingy as she can be, I honestly think I need her more than she needs me. She's my little sidekick, even though we fight sometimes. lol.



7. As a child growing up, I've had all kinds of pets. I've had five different dogs, a cat, ducks, a rooster, hermit crabs, frogs, a snake, lizards, literally over a hundred rabbits, several guinea pigs, turtles, hamsters, gerbils, an aquarium full of all kinds of fish and salamanders, chinchillas, parrots, love birds, insects and a pot belly pig. Even though I like animals, I refuse to keep any in my home as an adult. I think all the poop and animal care traumatized me, not to mention the heartbreak when an animal would die or have to be given away. If I ever got a pet, it would probably be a dog, and he would have to be extremely well trained...but my husband doesn't like dogs because of all the yucky dogs in his mission, so that will never happen, and I'm not heartbroken over it since I don't think I could handle animal hair in my home. No more pets for me.

Okay, that's all. Have a nice day!

Ultrasound

Well we finally had our 20 week ultrasound today!




We're so excited! Now we have one of each!

Potty Training Crystal

Well, today started the first day of potty training for Crystal. It is probably going to be a long process, but we decided to start now, so we don't have to be changing two sets of diapers when the new baby comes in 4 months. So the goal is to have Crystal completely potty trained in 4 months. We will see how it goes.
Well our game plan is to put her on the toilet as often as we can, then have her sit on the toilet until she goes pee, or poo. When she goes, she is rewarded by getting a treat. (She prefers gummy worms.) So we started early today, having her sit on the potty after her breakfast. (The video clip below is of this try.)
As you can see, she put up a struggle at first, but then about 20 minutes later she finally went pee in the potty. It was a big success for her, since it was her first real try. After that, we put on her big girl underwear, and sure enough she had an accident an hour later. So we put on a pull up after that.
So for the rest of the day, she continued to struggle, and go in her pull up but we did get her to go in the toilet another 2 times. So she went pee pee in the potty 3 times on her first day!! Unfortunately (or fortunately) she was constipated today so she didn't have any success or accident with that particular substance. So we will see how it goes from here.
Crystal potty training from Lisa on Vimeo.

Clip of Lisa's birthday

The camera wasn't available yet, so here's a one minute clip of Lisa opening her 3 favorite presents. She's kind of calm on camera because she's 5 months pregnant and doesn't particularly enjoy to be on film while pregnant. It's good to keep a record of these events no matter what though, so she agreed to have it posted.

Lisa turns 28 from Lisa on Vimeo.

Clip of Crystal's birthday

Well I had some problems with my video camera and some software on the computer, but I've finally been able to upload a one minute clip of Crystal blowing out the candles and reacting to her presents for her second birthday. It's almost a month late, but better late than never.

Crystal turns two from Lisa on Vimeo.

Playing with the features on my new camera

It's such a relief to be taking pictures again. Crystal loves be followed around during her adventures. I got pics of her trying on Uncle Matts boxing gloves, finding new places to hide and playing with blankets and stuffed animals. the only time I tried to make her pose was when she's holding the rose so I could play with the color features. Granted, you can do all the same stuff on photoshop, but it's pretty cool to have a camera that can do it for you and load onto the computer exactly like you want it to. I'm no photographer, (like the talented Liz) but it's pretty fun and addicting to play with all the fun things to do on this camera.

Good birthday

Yesterday was Lisa's birthday and as a very generous surprise, Scott bought her a new digital camera (since she was so upset about loosing her old one). Not only did he get her a new one, but it was a Canon powershot s5is, which is much nicer than the older one she originally had in the first place. Where he came up with the money out of nowhere remains a secret, but the universe is back in order now that Lisa has her camera back! What a nice husband!

We also went out to eat, and had went to the in laws house to sing happy birthday. The cake was Strawberry short cake, which is Lisa's favorite. So it was a good day.

Note to self: DO NOT eat black bean soup while pregnant

Walmart sells a couple of organic soups in their soup section. One of them is an organic black bean soup, which I was craving. It seemed delicious down to the last bite.
About 30 minutes later I experienced some of the worst pain I've ever felt during any pregnancy...or any anything for that matter.
No amount of Rolaids or Gas-x could cure it...all my organs wanted to explode and there was nothing I could do but curl up in a ball on my bed and suffer.
I had no idea a stupid can of black bean soup would almost kill me.

On the plus side, I have learned a valuable lesson about giving in to every craving while pregnant. On the down side, I've been traumatized for the rest of my life...I will never eat black beans again.
You may think I'm exaggerating...I'm not. I'll leave the details to your imagination...though no amount of imagination can really compare. It was pure suffering and torture. I should call the FBI and suggest it as a means of making people talk.

MY CAMERA!

Aargh! I left one of my purses under the sacrament bench at church last week and when I went back for it, it was gone. It's been over a week and I've checked with the lost and found, the bishops office, and the clerks office and nobody's seen it. There were some diapers and wet wipes, my brush, some somewhat pricey makeup and MY DIGITAL CAMERA!! I really hope it will turn up, but it could be lost for good. I really really hope someone wasn't so pathetic as to steal from the sacrament room at church. I'd like to give it the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. Well...it looks like you'll be getting video clips instead of pictures on my blog for a while. I'm distraught over this.

Christmas vacation 2007

Our vacation was awesome this year. We were able to spend it out in Philly with Scott's family and it was a lot of fun because all of Scott's brothers (except Dan who was on his mission) were able to make it home. It was a full house, but there were lots of games played and movies watched. We even had our own 'Jason Bourne' marathon in the comfort of Nick and Margie's home.
There was excellent shopping, before and after Christmas...Lisa spent a lot of money in a name brand outlet mall similar to Park City's in Utah, but also mixed with higher end stores like Neiman Marcus...which Lisa still couldn't afford because in stead of 3,000 dollars for a shirt or dress it would be marked down to only 1,500.... Gee, thanks, Neiman. However there were more economical outlets like the Gap and Nike and Banana Republic as well, so Lisa was able to get her money's worth in winter fashion and Maternity clothes.
We also took a trip to the Franklin Institute of Science in downtown philly. It's a very huge museum dedicated to discoveries in science from space travel and aviation, to Sports and Optical illusions. With four floors and nine exhibits, it can take all day to get through. The highlight for us was a giant human heart that you can actually walk through to get a visual of how blood travels through it. There were hundreds of hands on activities, with virtual reality experiences and rooms even for toddlers Crystals age, which made it anything but boring. Lisa thought it was cool to touch a meteorite that was over 5 billion years old...literally the world's oldest rock, which was actually older than the world itself. This may sound pretty nerdy, but we thought that all the stuff there was really cool.
It was a great time to spend with family, relax, and enjoy some East Cost Pizza and some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches...(both of which cannot be duplicated out here in the West), and most of all just enjoy the Christmas season.
I have so many Christmas pictures, I don't know what to do with them. However to spare you on the boredom, I only put a few of them on this slide show. Mostly just of Crystal and the family on Christmas. Crystal of course, received more gifts than anyone there, but to spare you the never ending photos, there are only a couple of her opening presents on here.

The hand of God

On Christmas Eve, for a special family home evening, Margie (Scott's mom), spoke about Henry B. Eyring's talk about recognizing the hand of God in our lives on a daily basis.
One thing that was noticed was the fact that on a daily basis we may not see it unless we make the effort to take notice of it.
She handed out A Notebook to each of us, labeled "The Hand of God in our Lives" on the cover, for us to write in everyday.
This assignment is actually something I'm pretty excited for, because as a missionary I always wrote the little things that Heavenly Father did to help me and my companion every day. At the time I was writing in it, the blessings didn't seem that huge...just everyday life. However recently I was leafing through it and got pulled in and just started reading and reading, and I couldn't believe how many miracles came to me during my mission, and everyday for that matter. Things that seemed insignificant back then, now amaze me...especially knowing the things that I know now.
This afternoon, there were already several things that we wrote down. One that was the most prominent to Scott and I was that we had each other and Crystal on Christmas. Obvious, I know, but I really sat and thought about all the lonely people in the world who have nobody during Christmas. It's one of the loneliest holidays of the year for some people. I thought about people who were less fortunate that us. We're by no means well off right now, but I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about people who are suffering right now because of death or tragedy, or something else. I thought about the widows and widowers as old or young as they may be, alone without their husband or wife today.
Back when I was still working as a dental assistant, one of the women I used to work with, would always tell us about her husband. One day he was really in the dog house because he sent her flowers during work, which he didn't usually do. After the oohs and ahhs from the us at the office saying how sweet that was, she laughed and said..."yeah, he's an idiot." She then told us what he did and why he was in so much trouble. I can't remember exactly when, but a few months later, he was killed in an accident, and all of us that were gathered there laughing, were at the funeral. I'll never forget hugging her and crying when she whispered in my ear "ALWAYS appreciate what you have. Always." I still think about that day. I loved my friend, and it hurt to watch her go through that. It hurt even more because she didn't have the blessings that come from being LDS.
The longer I thought about how lonely or sad people are on this holiday and why that may be, it made me pretty sad...but also extremely thankful. It makes me want to think twice every time I get annoyed and roll my eyes when my husband or child do something I disapprove of. If anything ever happened to them I would feel completely lost. They truly are who I am. They are my life.
It's so easy to get distracted with the Christmas shopping, and parties, without stopping to really reflect. This vacation has kept us busy, and it's been one thing to do after another for this past week. I always try to think about the Savior this time of year, but sometimes I don't take ENOUGH time to think about specifics.
So this year for Christmas, one of the things I'm most thankful for is my family. I will have them forever.
The Savior made that possible.
I'm so glad that Margie handed out those notebooks for Christmas Eve. It's already made me stop and think about a lot, and it's probably the best present I got this year.
Anyway, I highly recommend starting one, as just having one is turning out to be a blessing in itself.
I hope you all have a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Preggo again

Sorry to those of you I haven't told yet. It's a long story including an actual false negative on a pregnancy test when I first suspected what was going on with me...so naturally I didn't even know what was happening at first. Not to mention the many scares that my crazy body brought on once I found out for sure. So I didn't say anything for a while to a lot of people mostly because I didn't know if the outcome would be happy or not. Anyway, I figured enough time has passed to make sure the world knows, since my pot belly is now visible, and people are finding out anyway. We find out if it's a "He" or a "She" next month. I think having two is still scarier for me than having one was, mostly because I still don't know if I have the ability to handle two...guess we'll find out soon enough.

3 years!!!

Monday was our third Anniversary.
We were able to spend it out here in Philadelphia, which is great since we had a babysitter and we could go out to eat. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, The Cheesecake Factory. It was nice to take some time away and chill out together as a married couple.
We love being married to each other. Having a bad day when your married is still ten times better than when you have a bad day as a single person.
When you're too old to really care about your birthday coming up again, your spouse cares for you, and makes you enjoy it anyway.
We're officially out of the "newlywed" stage...at least they discontinued the show "newlyweds" after 3 years, so for us, that counts. (:
If the third time's the charm, than this year is going to be even more awesome than the last two!
We still make each other laugh every day; not to mention we understand each other's humor.
We still say "I love you" every day, and we mean it.
Even though some people thought we were a little impulsive for getting engaged after only a month and a half of dating, we know just as much now as we did then, that we make a great pair, and we can't live without each other.
We both knew after only a week of dating that we wanted to marry each other, even though neither of us told the other yet. We both had really strong spiritual confirmations about it. Later on we discovered that both our patriarchal blessings have very similar descriptions about our marriage and how to choose whom to marry. There's a line in both our blessings that's almost word for word about our relationship.
Of course, like all married couples, we disagree and sometimes argue, but it seems that every night before we fall asleep, we're completely in love and whatever we were bantering over is completely forgotten.
We're so thankful for our marriage, and even though it's only been three years, we know it's only the beginning of our wonderful life together! Cheers! (:

Horray!!

Last night Scott finished his last final and won't have to go back to school now for the rest of his life! We went to wingers last night to celebrate with Crystal at our side. We're really happy that he's done with school now.

Happy Holidays from the Itris!!

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