childhood

I was blessed with an extrememly happy childhood thanks to fantastic parents. Lately Reese's childhood has been on my mind constantly. Am I creating a happy childhood for her? Am I providing her with experiences that are helping her to learn about this world we're in and all the great things it has to offer? Will she always know how I love her unconditionally and will always be there for her no matter what? I can now understand why my mom and dad were able to put up with all the crazy things us kids put them through. It has something to do with this unconditional love God puts in you when you have a kid. It truly is amazing!

Reese is at such a fun age. She finds happiness is such sweet little things. Things like putting on a tutu and dancing or jumping on her bed. Things like singing "popcorn popping on the apricot tree", building towers out of her mega blocks until they are high enough to topple over, coloring, coloring, and more coloring, eating spoonfuls of flour while I bake, taking off her pants so she can have full flexibility in her legs to run and climb, playing hide and seek under her blanket....oh the imagination and excitement of a wee one.



And in case her childhood isn't happy enough, I let her open the spices and taste them as often as she wants :) (Actually, I do find her taste testing the spices quite often and I find it quite funny).

Floss and snow

Reese insists on brushing her teeth multiple times a day. And she always grabs my toothbrush too because she wants me to brush mine at the same time. I don't complain, there are worse habits :) She is also big into flossing lately. While I get ready for the day Reese hangs out on the bathroom counter and does her make-up, teeth, "eyes" (she takes my contact case and puts water in it and then puts the water in her eyes with her fingers).

The other day when it snowed Reese was having a slight breakdown because she could see her "bike" outside covered in snow. Once the sun came out we bundled up and went out so she could rescue it :)



Reese used to sleep in until 10:30 am. That was AWESOME, now she wakes up at like 6:30 but decided 5:30 was good one day this week. BLAH! Anyway, that makes for a long morning, especially since most stores, libraries, etc don't even open until 10 am. WHY? Don't people realize that by 10 moms and kids have already had a long day??

I know, I know

All my posts seem to be centered around my pregnancy, blah, blah, blah...but can I tell you, that is the thing that occupies my mind most. Plus, the weather hasn't been all that nice, so I sadly haven't gotten the camera out in the past week or so.

I have been checking off things on my "to-do before the baby comes" list. I got a root canal a month ago and had to go this week to get it checked and re-filled with temporary filling to help last until after the baby, at which time they'll replace it with a permanant filling. I have gotten some more Christmas shopping done, but some of the gifts are handmade and though I've purchased most of the things I need to make the gifts, I still need to make them, which is the most time consuming part. I will be going to traffic school tomorrow, not excited about that! As I was getting pulled over for speeding (don't judge) I thought, "I don't have time for any nonsense like traffic school, so please just give me a warning." Well, obviously I wasn't THAT lucky. My parents and sister are coming up tomorrow to play with Reese while I go, bless them!! I knew I better get it done soon, because for sure I wouldn't make it once I have a newborn.

I washed the baby's clothes today and got them all put back away (I'm not sure why I didn't wash them originally). I also got my bags for having the baby mostly packed. It is hard to know what to pack. I'm having the baby at a birthing center and I don't know what they provide, compared to what is provided at a hospital, so currently I feel like I need to cover ALL the bases. I'll check at my appointment this week to see what they do/don't provide. Plus, since my labor and delivery desires are what they are I have a lot of extras to pack, like a birthing ball, music, some of my birthing books and cds, a swimsuit (in case I want to labor a bit in the gigantic tub), multiple different "outfits" because I don't know what I'll want/not want to wear while in labor, etc. Really I just have to pack a lot because I don't know what to expect and I don't want to forget anything that might be of use. I also have to pack a bag for Reese that she can take to my parents'. You see why having this baby is on my mind a lot? There is a lot to do to prepare.

I'm bad at holiday decorating (unless a scarily messy house counts as halloween decorating). It is hard when you are living in a place temporarily and don't want to collect anything that you'll just have to box up and move with you in the semi-near future. And I don't know what my excuse is for having not gathered holiday decorations while living in our home in Heber. Guess I'm just not a fan of buying things that I know I could make, but then I get too lazy or run out of time before the holiday, so I never make nor buy any decor. I do have a pretty good collection of Christmas decorations though, so I guess that gives me a couple non-humbug points.

I just got off the phone with Eric. Why is it that asking him to pick up some ice cream makes me feel like I've just given into some sinful behavior? My head was telling me to ask him to pick some up, but also telling me that I'm trying to eat semi-healthy these last few weeks so don't ask him to. But the nagging overpowered my better judgement...and you better believe I'm going to eat a bowl of it when he arrives home :(

35.5

35 1/2 weeks pregnant with the little man. Seriously, is it that close? So many emotions are caught up in having a second child. Despite some nervousness, I can't help but be extremely excited for my heart to grow with even more love. And I'm excited to have a boy. It'll all be new to me and I can't wait to see the personality similarities and differences between he and Reese. I'm pretty sure Eric is also excited to be having a son. Don't get me wrong, he adores Reese with ALL his heart, but I think every guy wishes for at least one son, to share manly things with - the kind girls just don't usually get as excited about. I secretly hope he is a spitting image of Eric, but of course I'll be head over heels with whatever he comes out looking like.

Reese is excited as well I'm sure. She always wants to hold babies, give them their binkies or bottles (even when they are her same size), and whenever she hears a baby crying she gets very concerned and asks me what is wrong. I know she will be a great helper and big sister.

We've limited Reese's binky use to bed/nap time. Today she wanted to sit up on my lap while I was doing something on the computer. She asked me for her binky and I told her, "not right now." She got off my lap and then climbed back up holding her baby doll's blanket and sucking on its binky. Luckily the camera was right by my side so I grabbed it to capture this silly moment.

My sister in law Kristen asked me if I'm going through a cleaning phase. I think I'm going through the opposite. Oh gosh, I NEVER want to clean. Instead I'm going through a crafting phase. I've already talked about some of my sewing crafts. I've completed a few more and last night crocheted a beanie. I get so excited about creating cute things by hand. Gives me quite a sense of accomplishment - because I would've never pictured myself being able to complete or for that fact see myself getting into sewing type crafts.

Now I just want someone to get pregnant and invite me to their shower so I can make them a cute gift!

Where does the time go??

Time goes by so quick! I have had a lot on my mind this past weekend and didn't feel like blogging, but I'm trying to be better and post at least a couple of times a week so that I can have a good memory filled book for our family. I can't believe it has been a full week since I last posted, makes me realize how quickly time goes by. Am I filling it with worthwhile things? I sure hope so. I'd like to think that I am since most of my time is spent being a mom and wife, and I know that is what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

Did you know I have a mere 5 weeks until my due date? That is so soon! Especially with time going by as quickly as it is. And there is so much to get done before then! I'm trying to get all my Christmas shopping done so I don't have to stress about it after the baby, I don't know that I'll actually get it all done, but hopefully the bulk of it. I need to get some dental work done - yeehaw, but seriously even though it sucks having the work done while as pregnant and uncomfortable as I am, it will suck way worse once I have a newborn. I don't know when I'd find the time, newborns are hard to leave for much longer than an hour or two, especially because I'm a big fan of breastfeeding. I have quite a lot of other things on my to-do list as well, so I better keep crackin'! Oh yeah, and traffic school! WHY oh WHY did I forget to check my speedometer 1/2 a mile from my house? SO stupid! I don't have time to make those kind of mistakes! Learned my lesson, just a bit too late.

Reese is so not a baby anymore. Just check out her talking on the phone (video below). Today she has taken off her pants and asked to sit on the toilet 4 times. No actual toilet success, but that she is even interested without my prompting shows me she is no longer a baby. She unloads the dishwasher with me, picks up her toys, and is talking more and more everyday. See, time flies!!

Baby boy means...

another baby shower :)...Unless you're my friend Terra who insists that she doesn't want people to shower her with gifts even though she has never had a boy before. Anyway, my mom and sissies threw a shower for me last Saturday. I got spoiled. I'm always surprised at how generous everyone is, I think I'm like the worst gift giver ever after seeing people's generosity. Of course I had to put all the little newborn and 0-3 month stuff on the baby's shelves. I look in the closet a couple times a day and get SO excited. There is just something about those tiny little clothes that make you excited to fill them with a cute little body. Now just a couple more weeks and I can let the labor games begin. Until then, I'll stay careful - don't want a preterm baby you know!

Obsessed?

Multiple times every day I think about what I can sew/create next. I've got the bug! It all started with the baby bedding. I took a sewing class from a lady in our neighborhood back in 5th and 6th grade, but this was the first time since then that I've used a store purchased pattern to create something. I'm totally sewing pattern illiterate. Luckily Eric's mom is a big time sewer so both he and his brother Dan helped me to interpret what the markings and sayings on the patterns meant. I will post pics of the baby bedding when it is set up. I took the crib down a day or two before I finished the bedding so I haven't tried it all out to see how it all looks together.

Next I made some burp cloths, the kind that are made by sewing on cute material to 1/3 of a cloth diaper. Sounds weird, but they really are cute and super absorbent.

For my latest craft....I recovered Reese's carseat. Reese and I went to the fabric store a couple of nights ago and spent about an hour picking out fabric. This is big for us since I usually try to keep our store stops under 10 minutes, unless we're at a toy store. But Reese was really well behaved and loved rubbing the soft fabrics on her face.

This carseat was ugly from conception, but my "get it in my mind and do it" personality won over logic and I purchased it so I could move Reese into a big girl seat. Regretted it ever since, because it is UG-LY and stains like crazy!

For some reason Reese didn't want me to take a picture of the seat.

It was quite time consuming but not really all that hard. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, especially for being the amateur I am.


I've got many sewing projects on my to-do list, but I realize I better get them done in the next month because once I have 2 kids I'm guessing I'll be using my free time for sleep rather than sewing :)

Conference Weekend

I always look forward to General Conference weekend. I am always in need of a good spiritual feeding, and conference always fills me with a lot of hope, gratitude, and a push to be better. I will admit that I only got to actually listen to 2 of the sessions without major disruptions (a.k.a. my little princess Reese). I will be downloading all the talks on to my ipod this week so I can catch up on what I missed. I'm excited to continue to be fed!

Micah and Rachel invited us up to their condo in Park City Friday night. We had such a good time hanging out with them and learning the difference between monkeys and apes (thanks animal planet). Between sessions on Saturday we went to Main Street where there was a Viper convention. The whole street was lined on both sides with Vipers. We got some pizza and enjoyed watching the cars heat up their tires as pedestrians would scramble 1/2 a block in front of them (probably not the smartest place guys).
On Saturday afternoon we headed to my family's cabin near Sundance. My parents and Camla were up there and they fed us a delicious meal of pork chops bbq'd over the fire pit, baked potatoes, squash, and sliced garden tomatoes. Yu-hum!

Sunday we got in some more undisturbed conference while Reese napped and then headed for a nice family bike ride on Antelope Island. Don't worry, it was Sunday appropriate (for the most part).

Yep those muscles are the real deal :) Nice flexing Dan!


It didn't take much convincing to get Reese all out excited about playing in the lake. She started out walking with Eric holding hands....



To stripped down to her diaper, throwing mud....

To rolling around....


And becoming thoroughly relaxed and content laying on her belly in the water for a LONG time.


After we'd had enough of the 3 girls and guy who had decided to strip down to their skivies and swim while awkwardly talking about the fact that they were only in their underwear and that their material had become sheer with wetness - no really?(this is why our outing was only MOSTLY Sunday appropriate) and once I had decided Reese's skin had handled enough salt water we rinsed off the sand and headed back to the bikes.

It was a fantastic day! I even got double the amount of pushes on hills on the way to the beach (thanks to 2 guys that switched off pushing the trailer behind me) and Eric was a gentleman and switched me bikes for the way back since it was pretty much all up hill. Thanks babe!

What's going on....beware this is probably boring but for my memory book

1) I have a freakin' vericose vein near my left shin. I'm probably doomed to get them (genetics) but I was hoping with running and trying not to cross my legs all my life I might avoid them. I'm just really hoping it will disappear after I lose the baby weight because they are downright annoying. It is sore at certain times of the day and itches. What the....

2) Though 10 lbs lighter than my heaviest ever weight with Reese, I swear my skin is having a harder time stretching. I'm lathering on the Palmer's stretch mark cream multiple times a day trying to ward of the possiblities, we'll see if I can prevent them.

3) My midwife showed me how to feel where the baby's head is and how his body is positioned. It is weird to feel the hard round head (head down thank goodness) and the lumps and bumps that make up his shoulders, back, bum... It is still quite a surreal thing to think that there is an actual miniature human in there.

4) When I was pregnant with Reese time went SO slow. At least one time every day during school and work I'd write down a countdown with every day left and circle which days were holidays, vacations, weekends, dr appointments, etc to try to make it seem like her due date would be here soon. I swear it seemed like I was pregnant for 3 years. This time it has gone by so fast. I'm sure having Reese is the biggest reason for that, someone to take my mind off of myself. Today I wrote down one of those countdowns. I kind of can't believe it is so soon. My body is thankful that it is, but my mind is having a hard time grasping the thought.

5) I'm training a friend right now, twice a week. Can you believe it, me, training someone in my condition? Luckily she can look past my unfit appearance (thanks!) and the training is actually working out well. I can show her what to do for the most part and I love using what I've learned and putting it all together into a progressive program. I'm excited to get back in shape myself. Then, as long as I can juggle it with 2 kids and Eric's schedule, I will find more clients, you know, the kind that won't trust me unless I look like a trainer :)

6) We just got Eric a cruiser bike, and it is really cool. We've gone on rides 2 of the 3 days he has owned it. Once around downtown SLC and once on Antelope Island (more on that in another post with the pics). I like going on rides with him because when I get to a hill he will come up behind me and push on the handle of the bike trailer to take a ton of the weight off. SUCH a relief. It is such a different experience when compared to the mountain biking we've done together. It is so layed back so you can just chat the whole time and in case you don't know, he is an extremely enjoyable person to chat with.