Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year. Adam was so fun and loved opening presents! Well, for a while anyway, then he got bored and just wanted to play with his new toys. Next year will be even more fun with a 3 year old and 10 month old!

Christmas Eve in his reindeer jammies

The bike that Santa brought!

My cousin recommended this Strider bike to me. It doesn't have pedals so the child learns how to balance on the bike while pushing it with their feet. Apparently they get quite good and eventually will push really hard then lift their feet up and glide as they ride around. I'm picturing many walks at the park this summer with the baby in the stroller and Adam riding in front of me. He needs some practice first though!

Opening presents

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house so my family could enjoy Christmas morning with Adam. We had so much fun playing games Christmas day that we ended up spending another night as well. We missed my sister Danielle very much. Our family just isn't complete without her but we know she is where she needs to be and pray that she will do her best to overcome the issues she is facing so that she can come back healthy and happy. Adam sure loves and misses his Aunt DeeDee!

Lights at Thanksgiving Point

On Friday night we went with my family to drive through the light display at Thanksgiving Point. We all crammed in one car and had fun watching Adam's joy and excitement as we saw the lights. It's so much more fun having a child at Christmas! Everything is amazing to him!

Our family of 3...soon to be 4!

Driving with Papa. This was Adam's favorite spot to be in.

Don't worry...we were going like 5 miles per hour!
Seeing the lights with Daddy

Adam's Christmas church outfit.

I recently cut his hair pretty short (at Nat's request) and I think it

really makes him look like a big boy!

Some Random Pictures of Adam

Adam found his hat and sunglasses the other day and wore them most of the afternoon and evening. I think he forgot they were on!

One day Adam discovered my iPod earbuds and immediately wanted me to put them in his ears so he could play the drums.....gee, I wonder where he got that idea? Maybe his Uncle Tommy who listens to music while he plays his drums?


I found this Little People Nativity set a few weeks ago online for a really good price. I saved it to give to him the night we decorated for Christmas and he just loves it! When you push the angel (or any character for that matter) down on the button on the top, the star lights up and it plays "Away in a Manger". He has loved playing with the characters and is slowly learning about the story of Christ's birth. It's so fun having a toddler for Christmas!

Adam's Turns 2!

Adam's 2nd birthday was on Saturday and we had a University of Utah themed party in honor of the BYU/Utah game (his Daddy is a big Utah fan...his Mommy...couldn't care less). Adam is obsessed with drumming so I made him a drum cake with a Utah logo and candy cane drumsticks. I was so pleased that he actually recognized that it was a drum! :) We had his party at my parents house because everyone was already there to watch the game and Adam's Grandma and Grandpa "Grapes" (which means his great grandparents) stopped by for cake and presents. Because we had been with Nat's family on Thanksgiving, they gave him presents that day instead. Adam loved his cake, loved the football candles, loved us singing to him, and loved opening presents. He will be very excited to open Christmas presents since he now knows fun things come inside those presents!

Big 2 year old smile
My attempt to incorporate the Utah logo with a birthday cake.

It says "Adam U are 2!" Clever huh? :)

Mama helping to blow out the candles.

Yummy cake

Playing his half-eaten drum

Eating the drumsticks!

Opening presents. He got lots of fun new toys!
Little does he know he will get a bunch more in less than a month!

Our family of Ute fans (I pretend for my boys' sake)
He had his 2 year old check-up yesterday and here are his stats:

Weight: 25 lbs. - 20th percentile
Height: 34.5 inches - 60th percentile

His doctor was very pleased with his weight gain. Since he was 9 months old he has been steadily dropping in the weight percentages, the lowest being 5th percentile at his 18 month check-up. I don't know what has changed, but it's a good thing! He's still really skinny and I have a hard time finding pants that are long enough but that fit his waist, but it's good to know he's no longer on the verge of dropping off the growth chart!

I found myself a little sad as I put him to bed on the night of his birthday. He is growing up so fast! I don't know how 2 years could possibly have gone by so quickly. Although I miss my little baby, 2 year old Adam is constantly making us laugh! He never stops talking and frequently sings to himself while he plays. I love hearing his cute little voice sing with us at bedtime. When he prays he folds his arms and scrunches his eyes closed in the cutest way. He is very much a toddler and throws his fair share of tantrums, but the good most definitely outweighs the bad and I'm excited to see how he grows and changes in the coming year. Especially with becoming a big brother!

The 12 Days of Junkie!

www.TipJunkie.com is doing The 12 Days of Junkie where she's giving away 2 items per day for 12 days. Today is only day 3 so head on over and try and win some fun stuff!

Me at 25 Weeks

This is the first picture I've taken of this pregnancy so I figured it was about time I did it! I didn't realize how big I looked until I saw this picture! Oh well. It's fun having a baby belly!

My Day at Labor & Delivery

My Saturday started off with contractions around 8:00 am. I was laying in bed and after feeling a couple contractions, I pulled my shirt up to watch my lower stomach turn into a ball every 2-3 minutes. It would squeeze tightly for about 30 seconds, and then I'd watch it as it flattened out again. The first couple times I thought it was kind of cool. They didn't hurt so I didn't think much of it. I was being a bad pregnant lady laying on my back so I moved to my left side and continued timing the contractions as they came every 2-3 minutes and lasted 30-45 seconds each. They were mild so I figured they were just Braxton Hicks. I got in the shower and then went to lay down on the couch. As I laid there they got stronger and started to actually hurt. Nat downloaded a stopwatch 'app' on his phone so timing them was super easy. I laid there for about an hour and a half and when I started feeling pain wrapping around to my back with every contraction, I decided I should call the doctor. I called around 11:00 and the on-call doctor told me to come in to Labor & Delivery to be monitored. I didn't really want to go because I figured they would stop as soon as I got there but seeing as I'm only 25 weeks, I didn't want to take any chances. Everything I read online said Braxton Hicks contractions will be mostly painless and will stop after drinking, laying down, using the bathroom, etc. If you have more than 4 contractions in a hour and they aren't going away then you should be seen. We called my cousin who lives about 3 minutes from us but his kids were sick with fevers so we decided that Nat would stay home with Adam and I'd go by myself, still thinking I'd be sent home within an hour of getting there.

I got to the hospital right before 12:00 pm and was hooked up to monitors. Because my belly is still small, the monitor had a hard time picking up the contractions, but they were there and I was definitely still feeling them every 2-3 minutes. The baby's heart rate was good (when she was actually still long enough to get good readings....the nurse said because she is still so small, she has a lot of room to move around and they have a hard time keeping track of her heart rate). After being monitored for a while they ran urine tests, checked my cervix, and did a Fetal Fibronectin (fFN) test which tests for imminent labor. My cervix was still nice and closed, my urine was fine, but the other results took forever to get back. When they finally did come the fFN was negative so they gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions. It worked and they sent me home around 4:00. Up until the Terbutaline the contractions were still painful and I was so uncomfortable in that stupid bed, not being able to move much for fear of messing up the monitors. They didn't have an answer as to why my uterus decided it wanted to contract regularly but they were confident that I wasn't in pre-term labor. I have a prescription for the pill version of the Terbutaline so I can take that if I start having regular, painful contractions again. I'm not on bed rest (thank goodness!) but I'm supposed to take it easy and try not to pick Adam up too often or do anything strenuous.

Being at L&D made me excited to be there 3 months from now when having contractions is a good thing, but definitely NOT until then! This baby needs a lot more time to grow before coming and I'm grateful that both her and I are fine.

Happy Halloween!!

Adam was an alligator for Halloween this year and he had so much fun trick-or-treating! After the first couple of houses he totally caught on to how great it was to get candy in his pumpkin bucket! He is quite the social butterfly so he had to talk to each person and point out their candy, their pumkins, their decorations, etc. Then he would say thank you and goodbye to their candy bowls. He has been playing with his candy ever since! (and eating some, although Mom and Dad have probably eaten more of it!)

We spent the day down at my parents' house helping them clear out a space in the unfinished part of their basement. We've decided to put the new baby in her own room so we need to move the computer out into the hallway and seriously downsize our furniture and junk. I offered to help my parents in exchange for some space to store some of our stuff until we buy a bigger house. So after a lot of hard work (mostly on the part of my Dad, Nat, and Tommy) we have a good sized space to store stuff for a while. It was fun to have my parents see Adam in his costume and to go trick-or-treating with us. We also stopped by my Grandparents house for a bit so they could see him.

He definitely understood the point of Halloween this year and is still talking about trick-or-treating. Next year will be even more fun with a baby sister in tow!

Adam's Favorite Shirt

This boy is obsessed with french fries! He thinks every time we're in the car, that we're going to get french fries. He got upset once when I drove through Subway to get sandwiches and he didn't get any fries. The minute the waitress comes to our table at a restaurant (any restaurant) he immediately tells her he wants french fries. And every time she comes back to the table, he reminds her he is still waiting for his fries with a forceful "fuh-fries!" I promise we don't get fast food or even eat out all that often but I am really feeling like a horrible mother for having a child, not even 2 yet, addicted to french fries!

His other obsession is ketchup. Actually, I should say it is anything he can "dip dip" his food in. Kethcup, dressing, sauce, and especially salsa. So when I found this shirt, I just had to buy it, which is good because it was on sale for like $5!

100% GIRL!!

I had my Targeted/Level 2 (whatever you want to call it) ultrasound yesterday and we found out that this baby is most definitely a girl! I am thrilled. It took me about a day to get used to the idea when we first suspected it was a girl 2 weeks ago, but now I can't imagine her not being a girl! We even have a name that Nat is 100% sure about but I am still only 90% sure about. I just have commitment issues even though I sometimes call her by that name. I just need a bit more time before I'm ready to announce her name to the world. So stayed tuned! :)

Here is a 3D picture of our baby girl. I love how you can see her nose and lips and how her little arm is curled up by her face. The eyes make her look a little freaky, but if you ignore that, it's a sweet picture! It's amazing how just by looking at these pictures of her, I already love her so much! I cannot wait to meet her!

Gettin' Crafty

A couple weeks ago I was hit by the urge to craft. I came across this jack-o-lantern project on a blog and thought they were so cute. I already had all the jars and Mod-Podge so all it took was some .95 tissue paper, a can of green spray paint, and black cardstock. I think they turned out cute! Especially when they are lit up and glowing. I think I'm going to have my Activity Days girls do this for a project in a couple weeks, although Mod-Podge, tissue paper, and 8-11 year old girls is kind of frightening!

While I was shopping for the supplies I came across a grapevine wreath on sale so I decided to make a wreath for the front door. I then had to buy my very own hot glue gun, which was very exciting, and got to work gluing leaves, pinecones, berries, and pumpkins onto the wreath base. It wasn't until I hung it up that I noticed how well the red leaves matched my front door! I should take credit for the lovely coordination, but I can't.

It's a.....

Probably. The stinker wouldn't quite cooperate but my doctor said she didn't see any boy parts (and neither did we) so she was saying it's a girl but making no promises. I have my actual full ultrasound 2 weeks from today so we should be able to confirm 100% that it's a girl then.

I'm actually more disappointed then I thought I'd be which is crazy becaue I really do want a daughter. I was just hoping that #2 would be a boy so Adam would have a brother to grow up with. But, a girl is wonderful and she and Adam will still be good friends as they grow up. The other issue is that we have to start from scratch with girl clothes. And decide where to put her! We either have the kids share a room or we convert our office into a bedroom and then have no where for our computer and bookcases to go. I'm choosing to not dwell on anything until 2 weeks from now when I am SURE it's a girl. I don't even know if I can start calling the baby a girl yet. It's already abstract enough thinking about the alien inside me that you can hardly feel at this point so giving it a gender and even a name seems too strange right now.

So although I wished I was overjoyed and excited....I need a couple weeks to digest! I do remember feeling this way when I found out Adam was a boy so I'm not all that surprised. I guess I'm one of those people who needs time to get used to something new!

Friends and Oktoberfest

Last week my old college roommate Shar came for a quick visit. Her husband Dan is in the Air Force and stationed up in Montana so they dropped by on their way to Orem for a wedding. They had a jam-packed weekend so the only time we could squeeze in to see each other was as they were driving through town. Adam loved playing with their almost 4-year old son Blake and their almost 2-year old son Spencer who is just a month older than Adam.

What good friends these boys would be if we lived closer!
And Shar is having another baby just a month after me too!

Cute Shar.....man I really should take more time making myself presentable huh?

Nat and I both agree that Shar and Dan would be the type of couple we would love hanging out with. Even though we only live a few miles from an Air Force base, they don't do what Dan does (missiles I think??) so there's no chance they'll ever be stationed here. :( We love you guys!


Last Saturday we headed up the canyon to Snowbird to go to Oktoberfest. Nat jumps at any chance he gets to eat German food, and Adam loves music so we figured we'd drive up and also enjoy the leaves that are just beginning to change.

Adam picked a little flower and found a pine cone and the whole way home he jabbered on and on about his flower and "pawn cone"


Last year he loved the sauerkraut, this year...not so much. But he sure enjoyed the German Chocolate Cake!


Dancing with Mama

Drunken boy after one-too-many beers from the "Bier Garten"---or a chocolate high :)

p.s. Stay tuned - we found out what we're having on Wednesday!!

Future Virtuoso

Adam started doing this a couple months ago, but I just got it filmed. He can play the correct rhythm of songs on the piano and also on his drums. Nat and I are both hoping that he loves music as much as we do and you better believe I'm making him take piano lessons! And if his obsession with drums continues, we may have to do drum lessons also. We're in for a noisy house!

p.s. My Mom will probably be horrified that I posted this video of her messy living room.....she was cleaning out the study so that's why there are boxes of books piled around. :)

On a side note....I'll be 18 weeks tomorrow.....how is that possible? This pregnancy is going so much faster than my first. I love it! 12 more days until we find out the gender!!

Adam and Pregnancy Updates

I feel like Adam has grown up so much in the past few weeks and I want to document some of his fun characteristics. He is now 21 months old and his vocabulary has exploded in the past few weeks. It seems like he's saying a new word almost every day and I'm constantly amazed at what comes out of his mouth!

Just the other morning I asked if he wanted waffles for breakfast and he responded with, "Mmmm faffles. Syrup!" I've never heard him say syrup before! Another day I was driving with him and he said, "buckle" out of the blue. I glanced back and he was playing with the buckle on his carseat. He has recently learned the colors yellow and green and gets brown and black right about half the time. He can also identify stars and circles. I would say his favorite thing to do right now is playing his drum. My brother Tommy has a drum set in his room and Adam loves to go play Tommy's drums. When he's home, he bangs on his drum and says, "Ta-Tom brums" over and over again. I've heard him say "brumstick" a couple times too.

I think the cutest thing he has ever done was just last night. We had been at my parents' house for dinner and games and were driving home around 9:30. Adam started talking in 2-3 word sentences about everything he had done. We heard, "Barney dancing...Annie dancing" (he had danced with Annie to a Barney DVD) and "Sit chair brums....Ta-Tom brums" (he had sat in Tommy's chair and played his drums). We then started asking him about things and he talked about the dogs and cats, coloring with DeeDee, and playing in the fort with Papa. I'm amazed that not only can he talk in short sentences, but he can verbalize his memories! I don't think there is anything more amazing than giving birth to a tiny infant and watching them literally transform into a person right in front of your eyes! I can't wait for the coming months and years to see this little guy grow and develop.

One more funny thing....he used to pronouce the word fork, as "fortz". Just in the past few days it has started coming out as a perfectly pronouced f-word. Dinners at our house are filled with stiffled giggles from Nat and I! What can I do though? I can't tell him not to say it because he thinks he's saying fork! So last night at dinner with my family, the table had grown a little quiet and out pops the f-word from my toddler, rather loudly I might add! The look on my 15-year old brother's face was priceless! I quickly explained that he was saying fork and everyone had a good laugh. The strange things was that later that night while Adam was playing in a fort with my Dad, he was saying a perfectly pronouced "fork" for fort. Go figure.

Now for an update on our second child. I had an appointment last Thursday and unfortunately, Nat wasn't able to come so I had to tell my doctor not to check for the baby's gender. It was so hard to resist the temptation! I made sure to schedule my next appointment at at time when I knew Nat could be there so we'll find out what we're having in just over 3 weeks! I can't wait! I'm pretty sure I am starting to feel the first little movements from this baby. They are sporadic and light, but sometimes I can feel a few little taps and sometimes it feels like a little fish flopping around. I am so looking forward to feeling the baby move every day. It is my favorite part of pregnancy! I am still trying to hide my growing belly. I know I should just embrace it but I feel like it's too early to be looking so pregnant! And if I were to wear maternity shirts, I would look much more pregnant than I am. So for now, I'm wearing maternity pants and skirts for comfort and going with the fat-look rather than the pregnant-look. That's probably not the best approach though! :) All-in-all things are going great and I'm feeling more like my self rather than a slug who can't get off the couch.

Sorry for the long, journalish post. I guess I'm just a proud Mama!

Counting

Adam has been counting from 2-10 (apparently since I always prompt him by saying "1...", he doesn't feel the need to say that number) for a couple of months now and I just got around to filming. Of course this particular evening he was more interested in the camera, but eventually I got him to count. He also decided he didn't need to bother with the number 2 so here he is counting from 3-10.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Adam's Big News

Adam has some big news to share:

Yep, that's right. Adam is SUPER excited to be a big brother! Ok, maybe I tricked him into that pose, but WE are super excited to be adding another member to our little family. I thought I was due February 24th, but according to my ultrasound today, I'm due February 20th!

Ultrasound at 8 1/2 weeks
Ultrasound at almost 12 weeks

My morning sickness is pretty much gone so now I just need to kick the exhaustion and I'll be a happy camper. Nat thinks this baby is a girl, but I'm not sure. I would love to have another boy so that Adam can have a brother close in age to grow up with, but I also really want a girl eventually so having one 2nd would take the pressure off of future pregnancies. My doctor told me today that if the baby cooperates, we could be able to tell the gender at my next appointment in 4 weeks! I'm loving that the clinic I'm going to does ultrasounds at every visit. It's amazing to see how much the baby grows in just a few weeks.

Oh, and just to clarify my last post about our trip to Mexico...I was miserable! Morning sickness doesn't agree well with travel and especially boats and snorkeling!

Mexico!

We had a great vacation a couple of weeks ago (yes it has taken me this long to post) with my family in Mexico. We stayed in a beach-front villa in Puerto Morelos (about 20 miles south of Cancun) and had a blast! Here are a bunch of pictures.

The view from our balcony

Nat and Adam swimming in the pool
Swimming with t-shirts on....gotta love being sunburned!

This was the first time Adam went to the beach....he squealed with delight each time the waves came up. Sadly, this face was never to be seen again. For whatever reason he decided he was scared of the waves and refused to go near the water.
Playing in the sand

My Mom and I swimming in a cenote.

This area of Mexico has fresh water pools that come up from the ground and form cenotes. We had fun snorkeling and swimming in them. They are pretty cold which would've been perfect any of the other 6 days of sweltering heat we had, but the one day we chose to go, it was cold (relatively speaking) and stormy. Oh well.

We took a boat called a catamaran to go snorkeling off of Isla Mujeres. Adam seemed to enjoy the boat and kept saying "boatz boatz" as we sailed. He didn't like getting in the water however, so Nat stayed on board while the rest of us snorkeled.
This picture with Adam's tongue sticking out is actually him saying "boatz". Don't you just love the color of the water?

Adam's hair was so cute and curly from a combination of humidty, sweat, and sunscreen. If only he had those curls all the time! This is how Adam spent the trip back.....happily snoozing away in Daddy's arms

My Dad relaxing on the boat. Yes, that is the real color of the water!
Just after this picture, the boat driver purposefully hit a wave just right so that water rushed up the front of the boat and practically right over the top of my Dad. It was hysterical to watch!

We went to some Mayan ruins called Tulum. We heard you can request a Mormon tour guide when you get there so we did and it was awesome! He explained all about how the Mayan's built their temples and holy sites so that on certain days like the summer and winter equinox, the sun will shine through some window or hole at the perfect moment. What was even more fascinating was that they also had several buildings that were built to have the sun shine through on April 6th...the day of Christ's birth. In the squares above the pillars in this picture, each one has a carving. The first is of a man (God), a man upside down (the descending God/Jesus Christ), and the 3rd one is empty (the Holy Ghost). Had we not had our Mormon guide, who's name happened to be Moroni, we would've never learned any of this or even noticed. It was a real testimony builder for me to see first-hand that the Mayan people were descendants of Lehi and knew of the gospel and worshiped the same God and Jesus Christ that I worship. It was so cool.
We went to a place called Crococun Zoo where we got to see and touch lots of native animals.

Here is Adam standing with a deer. We were able to feed them grapes and nuts.

A crazy monkey with a chunk of banana in its mouth

Adam and Nat looking at a lizard

Adam and I holding a crocodile!

Adam is trying to kiss this macaw.

Nat kissing the macaw

We had a wonderful time with my family and although traveling with a toddler is quite exhausting, it was worth it and we have lots of great memories!