What a glorious thing!

The most exciting thing to happen in our house in awhile has finally happened! We are a diaper-free environment! Over conference weekend, I decided to really put forth the effort and try to potty train Preston. He's definitely old enough, and ready enough, I have just been too lazy to make the commitment. Knowing we weren't really going anywhere that weekend, I decided it was the perfect time. Days 1-2 were a little dicey filled with numerous accidents, but it got better and better and by about day 4 things just clicked. He is now totally on his own including #2 and nights. I will definitely be savoring the next 4 months without changing diapers and then it's back to square one with #3, I guess. Next up...sleep training...

I really am ALWAYS right.

In case you're keeping track, the final vote on my gender poll was 10-1 in favor of our baby being a girl. I think no one was willing to vote boy because it included admitting that I'm always right. Shame on you, people! I had an ultrasound this afternoon, confirming my eternal "rightness." (NOT to be confused with righteousness). We having Hemmert boy #3. Jared gave a huge sigh of relief when he saw the "boy part" on the screen. I think he was scared of having a girl. We took both of the boys with us, and they thought it was really cool.

I still believe in my theory and think sister-in-law A has some explaining to do. JUST KIDDING! I guess there's always room for a little variance in every good theory. If I'm being TOTALLY honest, part of me was hoping for a girl, but I'll quickly move on and embrace the testosterone that will soon be completely overwhelming my home. We know what to do with boys! We have all the stuff for boys! We can almost have our own basketball team! We're going to save a TON of money when it comes to wedding time! Now I need to come up with some boy names. I had a hard time coming up with the other two, and this will be even harder. Any suggestions??????

It's almost time...

This pregnancy is really flying by for me. (I guess that's what happens when you a lose a month at the beginning). I'm not mentally prepared to make the switch to maternity clothes, but that day is getting imminently closer. I thought this would be a good time to share a long held theory I've had about Hemmert babies, and how that might apply to me and this baby. First, a quick biology lesson: the father is ultimately responsible for determining the gender of the baby. (Told you it was quick). So despite all of the girls on my side of the family, it's Jared's family that counts. Having said that, we will not use his sisters as examples since they have nothing to do with determining their children's gender. That leaves 4 Hemmert brothers.

We will skip Brother A for a moment and come back.
Brother B: 4 boys, 0 girls
Brother C (Jared): 2 boys, 0 girls
Brother D: 1 boy, 0 girls
Brother A: 1 boy, and just had 1 girl (I said they should have named her 'Hope', but they didn't listen)

My theory was that Hemmert boys can NOT produce girls. It has effectively been disproven by Brother A, however, I still think there is some sort of bias towards "male" in the DNA. Brother D even asked an OB/GYN doctor while he was on that rotation if it were possible that there was something to my theory, and the doctor said it's still 50-50. The odds of having 8 boys in a row is .0039 if you're counting. In a week or two hopefully we'll find out if we've cracked the 'code' as well, but I'm not entirely convinced that the odds are in my favor. I'll put up the requisite 'blogger' poll for fun, but you know where my vote is!

Why didn't I think of that?

Both of my boys have been learning about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in school lately since President's Day was just here. We were driving home from preschool and they were spouting off facts like the cherry tree story, "I can not tell a lie!", etc. etc. I asked them if they knew who our current President was. They both correctly identified President Obama (They've been coached on this for months now, of course). Preston asked, "What coin is he going to be on?" I said I didn't know, but maybe someday he would be on one. (For or Against, he's still historically significant, people). Chandler suggested that maybe he could be on the ones at Chuck E. Cheese. "The Tokens!" yelled Preston. Apparently, taking the place of an overgrown mouse on an arcade token is a MUCH bigger honor than being on a piece of currency!

Here we go again...

We are very excited to announce that our family is growing! We are expecting Hemmert baby #3 on August 29th! Normally we don't keep these things to ourselves as long as we have this time, but after experiencing a miscarriage last April, we thought we should make sure all was well before we made the news public this time. I went to the doctor today thinking I was 8 1/2 weeks and after the ultrasound, the doctor discovered I am actually 12 1/2 weeks. Nice! It's like an 8 month pregnancy without the premature birth! I have been feeling pretty good. I've been nauseous this time, but no vomitting. I think I have it pretty good considering how sick I know most people get. So that's the latest from here. I'm sure I'll have more reasons to update the blog more often now!

Preston's new friend

Preston has been mentioning his friend, Aiden, for a few weeks now. I thought it must have been someone he met when Jared had the boys somewhere. After continually asking him where he met him, where does he live, how old is he, it has become pretty clear to me that Aiden is an imaginary friend. These are the things we have learned about Aiden thus far:

• He has green hair and green skin
• He's from St. George
• He lives in a box
• He drinks alcohol (Preston loves to talk about alcohol since we told him that we don't drink alcohol)
• He got in trouble for playing in the snow too long
• He shares his drinks with Preston (hopefully not the alcoholic ones) ;)
  
• He almost died because he got a fever and had to go to the hospital
  

We have a niece that had multiple imaginary friends when she was growing up and I thought it was hilarious and adorable. Now that it has happened to one of my own children, it's a little creepy. I guess we'll just have to see how long 'Aiden' hangs around. Has anyone else had experience with this?

Change is good, right?

Well the day I'd been dreading for a long time, finally came. Our bishop called me into his office and told that I was going to be released from Young Women's and put into Primary as the CTR 5 teacher. I actually shed a few tears in the Bishop's office. It wasn't because of what I was heading toward, but what I was leaving behind. I'm sure Primary will be a great new adventure and I will love it, but I am definitely going to miss all of the girls that I've gotten to know so well the past 4 years in Young Women's. Maybe it's because mentally, I'm still 16 years old, but Young Women's has been a really great experience for me. I guess I'll try to look at the positives!

• I can plan a vacation for sometime in July instead of going to Girls Camp and getting dirty and stinky for days on end.
• My Wednesday nights have just been freed up
• There's a better chance of getting 'snacks' with the 4 year olds than the 14 year olds
• I can become reacquainted with my long lost favorite past time of coloring
• I'll get to keep an eye on my boys in sharing time and make sure they are really being as good as their teachers claim they are.

So I made it through my last Young Women's theme and didn't have a total meltdown. I guess I'll be ok. New Beginnings on Wednesday will be quite literal for me, but I guess that's what life's all about, right?