A Quick "Hello"!

Time is flying by . . . here is a quick recap of our last 2 weeks.

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I am finally feeling human again. Woo Hoo! The neausea (sp?) has finally subsided and I don't have that constant impending doom feeling that I am going to have to run to a bathroom at any second. It is AWESOME!!

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We finally are working again! A double big WOO HOO! After not having work for half the month of November and the WHOLE month of December, it is nice to be working again. It was actually a mixed blessing because Kurt was home during the time I was at my sickest so he could take care of the kids and the house. But it sure is nice to have him working (and some income) again!

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Only 2 weeks until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. The debate is getting more and more heated in our house as the time grows closer!

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I attended an awesome parenting class a week ago. It was an all day seminar and I learned a lot. I came home and crashed-coursed Kurt in it and it has made a big difference in our house. I can't wait until I have more time to share it all with you!

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We have had big changes in our ward. Last Sunday there were ward boundary changes and for the first time in 11 1/2 years, I will be attending a different ward. I was baptized in my previous ward, married in my previous ward, blessed all my babies in my previous ward and now we are on to something new. I have never switched wards before and I am actually really excited. Something new and different. Don't get me wrong, I am going to miss everyone from my previous ward and they are all special to me but I am looking forward to the change. Give me a week or two and I am sure I will be crying and missing everyone and everything but right now I am excited. Yesterday, they changed Stake boundaries and now our previous ward isn't even in the same Stake as us. Big changes!

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I am feeling the baby more and more. Actually the little peanut is poking me right now. I just love it. The girls and Kurt have been able to feel it but Evan won't hold still long enough to be patient to wait for the little thump.

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Well, I think that sums up our last 2 weeks or so.

Hope you are all doing great!

Babies, Babies, Babies

This is the year for babies! It seems like everyone is expecting. Ok, maybe not EVERYONE but a lot of people are. I know someone due with a baby in every month this year through July. Crazy!

January - Lisa (Kurt's cousin) is due with a boy.

February - Kerri (friend of a friend) is due with a boy.

March - Brittany (our niece) is due with a girl.

April - Rebecca (our friend) is due with a boy.

May - Kelly (our friend) is due with a girl.

June - Jenna (friend at church) - to early to know.

July - Julie (friend of a friend) - to early to know.

July - Me - Dying to find out!

July - Honor (Kurt's cousin) - to early to know.

So, come on ladies, who is my August? Someone isn't sharing the news!!! I am anxiously awaiting to find out who is filling up the rest of my year!!

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In other news:

I have actually felt human the last 2 days! Woo Hoo! Turns out I had a stomach virus last week on top of the morning sickness! Wasn't much fun. Spent a lot of time on the couch. I believe Evan watched Cars 4 times on Saturday. I believe I now have the movie memorized.

I am 15 weeks today! For some reason, 16 weeks is so exciting to me. I have no idea why but only 1 more week!

I have felt more little movements. Usually only when I am sitting on the couch motionless for awhile and then I feel the little flutters and pokes! I love it!

I still don't look pregnant and everyone is telling me so. Which is fine. The way my first trimester started I thought I would be huge but turns out I was sooooo bloated it wasn't funny. The last week or 2 the bloating has gone down so I have actually gotten smaller - funny.

Here is me at 12 weeks:

Here is me today, 15 weeks:

Yesterday I wore my first, official "maternity" outfit. It was new and I was excited to wear it. But this is what I had to do to get the pants to stay up:

Ya, it's a jumbo paper clip thing.

Hey, whatever works!

This baby is not a junk food baby. Cookies, candy, chips, nothing sounds good. I have made my favorite cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip - mmmmm) 3 times and every time I don't even want to try them. So sad!

This baby does crave fruit though; which winter isn't the best fruit season. What I wouldn't do for a big batch of red, juicy, ripe strawberries! I have been able to find raspberries that were pretty good and grapefruit. Grapes I struggled to find but I managed to find some ok ones the other day. I had to wait over a week for some pears to finally ripen.

Approx. 5 more weeks until we find out! I can't wait!

Our Baby is 10!!!!

WOW! I can't believe our baby is 10.

T-E-N!

That's double digits people!

It seems like yesterday she was born and we were sent home from the hospital wondering what in the world they were thinking letting us leave with her. Crazy people! Couldn't they tell we had no clue what to do with her?

Happy Birthday Kayla!

Kayla is such a sweet girl. She is super artistic and I love to see her drawings; which she does a lot of! She is a great big sister and is getting really good at looking out for the younger ones and taking care of them. She is naturally quiet and shy but is trying to branch out and meet new friends. Kayla has her struggles but she also has this determination to overcome them. We are so impressed with her! Kayla is really smart and does good at school. Even though she doesn't enjoy math, she excels at it! And she loves to read too. She is my outdoors girl. She loves to dig in the mud, explore, create, invent and run. Her favorite game to play is hide and seek because she is a really good hider and, being naturally quiet, she can sit very quiet for a long time patiently waiting for someone to find her. Hailey and Evan usually have to ask me to help them find her.

Kayla, you rock!

We are so blessed to have you in our family. We love you so much and think you are an awesome girl.

Here are some pics of Kayla's first year. Because she was born in the stone-age (aka: before digital cameras), I had to take pictures (very quickly before we came to work today) of pictures in her scrap book so the color and centering aren't the best but it's what we got.

Our due date with Kayla:

Little stinker ended up being 2 weeks late. Yep, I was 42 weeks pregnant. It was a long 2 extra weeks!

This is Kayla's photo taken by the hospital:

I love this picture of Kurt. He was sooooo excited. I can just feel his excitment in this picture. What a proud daddy!
Plus, look how young he looks!

I love this picture of us. It was Thanksgiving right before Kayla's 1st b-day so she was about 10 1/2 months old. We rented a cabin with the Aston's and Hansen's and cut our own Christmas trees. It was so fun! She was all bundled up in Kurt's jacket to keep her warm and she passed right out.

Happy 1st Birthday Kayla!

She loved the balloons from her birthday party. She just played and played in them FOR EVER!

(I couldn't get this one to turn like the others???)

You would never think that today she is scared of balloons.

Look how happy she was!

Feeling the love

Oh, I am definitely feeling the love of this pregnancy.

I am feeling the love of varicose veins - never had these before and now my poor right leg has been attacked and boy, do those things hurt! It's probably because I always sit with my right leg folded under me. Not any more!

I am feeling the love of itchy skin that keeps me awake at night. Seriously, why does it only itch at night?

I am feeling the love of my stomach at war with my colon and my colon at war with every other organ in my abdomen. It is like WW3 going on in there - all the grumbling and churning, it's ridiculous! And makes me feel horrible!

I am also feeling the love of many other pregnancy side effects.

I honestly don't know if I will come out of this pregnancy in one piece! I am definitely feeling my age or something! I just started crying last night because I had just had it. It felt like this poor body was just falling apart. I am sure it was just exhaustion from not sleeping good that was making everything else feel worse.

The only love that I haven't felt from this pregnancy yet it the movement of my little one.

Actually, I take that back. Sunday I was sitting in church and WW3 had quieted down (it will happen every once in awhile where everyone is happy in there at the same time - not often, but it will happen). Anyways, I suddenly felt one little "thump." At first I thought that WW3 was going to start up because once someone in there throws the first punch, it is all out. It will not go unanswered. But this time it did. No one retaliated. Hmmm - got me thinking. They (the books) say the normal range to start feeling movement is between the 14th week and the 22nd week and I was in my 14th week, so I think I am going to claim it! Woo Hoo!

I just can't wait to feel it more.

The State of CA has "new" tests that you can choose to do if you want. I say "new" because they didn't have them when I had Evan and I don't think they had them a year and a half ago when a friend had a baby. Anyways, it is 2 blood tests and an ultrasound at very specific dates to check for things like neural tube defects, abdominal wall defects, down syndrome (trisomy 21), and trisomy 18. Well, I heard "extra ultrasound" and signed right up!

So, at 12.5 weeks, we got to do another ultrasound. So here is our little peanut:

At first he was very still. He must have been napping because all he did was sit there. Every once in awhile we would see his hand move like this:
See it up by his head? I finally asked the lady if he was ok - I could see his heart beating but he just wasn't moving. She said sometimes they are really quiet like that. Plus he was cooperating and she was getting all the measurements she needed. So maybe he was just being obedient? Maybe that's a good sign for the future?

Then after while, he started moving around. She focused on his legs and he was kicking away. So cute! Then he was arching his back (see below) and jumping around, having a good ol' time. I could have sat there all day watching him!

You may have noticed I keep calling him "he". Kurt has me throughly brain washed that it is a boy. We have no definite answer yet, probably not til February, but Kurt is just determined that it's a boy. I am still neutral but refer to it as a he all the time, thanks to said husband. If it's a girl, I am going to have a really hard time picturing it after all this brain washing!

Kurt has reassured me that he will be very happy with a girl too, but that I don't need to worry about it because it's a boy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a fun and crazy week we have had. It also felt like the longest week ever but it was a lot of fun.

First, we got to attend Evan's Preschool Nativity "Play." It was a silent play that the kids walked in with music playing that told the story of the Nativity. Here's our little shepherd:

For Christmas, my mom, dad and brother came up in the morning for breakfast and opening presents. And yes, we did get our shopping done before Christmas. Kurt had an idea to take each kid out individually to the store and to take pictures of them with stuff they would want. Then we went out later and got presents from their "list." It actually worked out pretty good and made it very fast. Evan got a bike:

Hailey and her goods. She wanted ANOTHER baby doll. We had given all hers to some friends thinking she had out grown them but apparently she hadn't. She is our "little mommy" and this will be her baby to take care of when the real baby comes.

Kayla opening her art supplies. All her other goodies are on the couch behind her.

Then later in the day we went to my parents for an early dinner. After dinner we went to Margo's for another dinner and party. It was a lot of fun - she did a great job! She made from scratch 30-40 big ginger bread man for each of us to have one to decorate.

Here is Kayla's:

Hailey's:

(apparently she was sampling as she decorated)

And Evan's:

(his theory was to put on as much candy as possible. He did a great job!)

We also got to see some great friends that we haven't seen in YEARS! It was so great to see how big all the kids have gotten and to catch up in person!

Then on Sunday we had friends over to play a new game we got for Christmas. Margo got us a game that we have loved playing at her house. It is called Farkle and it is a dice game and it is so fun! We stayed up way late playing and having a good time.

Monday we rented a movie and stayed up late watching it. Why? I have no idea. It sounded good at the time but I think sleep may have been smarter.

Tuesday we actually got to sleep at a somewhat decent hour.

Wednesday night we were at friend's house hanging out, making cookies and having more fun.

Thursday we went bowling with Margo and April and their families. We had a great time and then we went to Margo's for the evening and, of course, stayed late playing.

Friday we went to our wards annual New Years Eve Taco Feed. It is so YUMMY! Then we had friends over to our house to play Farkle. We were all tired and thought it would be an early night but we were having so much fun and all the kids were playing so well that the night slipped away and before we knew it, it was after 11. Then the kids started falling apart so we toasted at 11:17 and everyone left at 11:30. So close! By the time we got our kids to bed, it was 11:45 and 15 minutes later I heard noise outside. I rolled over in bed, looked at the clock - 12:02! I made it til midnight! I am sure I fell asleep very shortly after that.

Saturday, all our friends came back over for breakfast. Kurt makes super yummy french toast, which had been a topic of conversation the night before, and one set of friends had never had it so we made it for them. And, of course, a serious game of Farkle broke out.

Today has been a very relaxing day. For the last 3.5 years I have taught little kids in church and last week I got a new calling and am no longer teaching the little kids. That means that I got to go to all the adult classes today. It was great!

I think I need another week to recover from vacation break. I am not ready to start school tomorrow. One more week would be great!

We hope you all had a very fun Christmas and New Years too!

One of my New Years Resolutions (ok, my only one so far) is to blog more often. It seems like so much time goes by and I have too much to blog about so stuff gets left out so I am committing to blogging more! We'll see how I do!

"NOTHING FITS"

That's the fun phase I am in right now.

You know the phase: regular clothes are too tight, maternity clothes are WAY to big. Ya, it's a fun phase!

I am using the rubber band around the button routine to wear my regular jeans. The problem I ran into was that my regular shirts were not long enough to cover the fact that my zipper doesn't go all the way up. I really didn't want every person I saw to say "hey, your zipper's down" so I have been wearing Kurt's shirts. Which, sure, they are long enough to cover up but they are huge on me so I feel like I am swimming in fabric and way too frumpy looking. Oh-well, this will pass.

As for the morning sickness front - I am feeling better. I seriously have never felt that sick - I was sick to my stomach ALL THE TIME and had absolutely NO ENERGY. I seriously sat on the couch all day feeling miserable. But the dr. office called last week and told me my thyroid is out of balance. My thyroid issues started when I had Kayla and I haveto take a medicine every morning for the rest of my life. At my first prenatal appt I told the PA that I was FREEZING all the time. I don't just mean cold - I mean FREEZING. I would have the heater cranked, the fireplace going and I would be wrapped in a blanket and still freezing. I would start shivering when I went to bed until the sheets warmed up. It was a bit extreme. She said that could be a sign that my thyroid was out-of-wack so she tested it. She said that the thyroid being out of balance could cause the morning sickness to be worse. Well, she was right - my thyroid was way off. But of course, between the time I did the lab work and the labs came back and they actually called me with the results, my symptoms changed. I am no longer freezing and the sickness has definitely been reduced. Don't get me wrong - it isn't gone but at least I feel like getting off the couch now. So for the last week I have been playing phone tag with my OB's office and my Primary's office (who is out of town) trying to get someone to retest it to see if it has balanced itself back out. So far, no luck. But I have another appt this week so I will get it taken care of then.

As for Christmas shopping - haven't even started! AHHHHH!

I have decided this just isn't a good time of year to have morning sickness. Thanksgiving just isn't the same when all you eat is rolls and you have to avoid eye-contact with the mashed potatoes because just the sight of them wants to send you running from the room. I don't know what it is but I still can't stand the sight of them! The no energy thing has sent Christmas shopping into a tail spin. Oh-well, this too shall pass. This won't be the first Christmas that Kurt and I are out shopping the last days before Christmas.

I am working on getting a Christmas card out. And by working on it, I mean I want to get one out but have not done anything to make that happen but at least I am "working" on it! =)

Merry Christmas!

A busy, busy week

Well the last week has been a busy one!

On Tuesday, Nov 23, a 4 year mistake finally ended. 4 years ago Kurt and I bought another house. Originally we were thinking we would move into it. During the last month of construction, we realized the 45 minute drive was a big deal after all and we didn't want to move that far away. We then thought that we could put a killer yard in and sell it; except that's when the market started tanking. We couldn't drop our sales price as fast as the market was dropping. After almost a year of 2 mortgage payments we decided to rent it out. So for the last 3 years we have had renters that helped with the mortgage (rent covered about 1/2 the mortgage - nice!). In January of this year we discovered that we could no longer support that money pit and decided to try to sell it again. And it took 11 months to happen. It looked like all was good until one of the banks came back and decided to change things at the last second. We thought it was going to fall out but by some miracle it didn't and on Nov. 23rd we got rid of a huge mistake. Whew! Does that feel good!

Then Thursday was Thanksgiving! And I have to be honest and say "WE CHEATED!" Before we found out I was pregnant, I told my mom that I would make Thanksgiving dinner so she didn't have to worry about anything. Then the morning sickness started and I thought "how in the world am I going to pull together dinner?" My mom must have had the same thought because a week before Thanksgiving she called me and said that we should order dinner from Safeway. I totally agreed and that is what we did. We only had to heat things up and it was pretty good. Or at least that is what everyone else said. I could only manage to get rolls down.

Then Friday Kurt's dad and Julie flew in from Utah and we had the mad dash to get ready for Saturday because . . .

on Saturday Hailey was baptized!!! She is such a sweet girl and the baptism was very nice. She was baptized with a girl from her class. After the baptism we had a lunch at our house for approx. 26 people. It all went very smoothly and I was extremely thankful for all the help. I will have to post pics later - I think they are still on Kurt's phone. Then that night we went to Margo's for dinner.

Sunday was a relaxing day. We went to April and Rick's for dinner.

Monday was . . . I don't remember much of Monday. Must have been relaxing too.

Then Tuesday we had our first dr. appt! Woo Hoo! Except it was really boring. We just met with the OB Coordinator who asked a bunch of questions. Then we met with the Physicians Assistant and she asked more questions. She had come in with the doppler/heart listening thing but was going to leave without using it so I asked her if it was too early to hear the heartbeat. She said it was but that I seemed level headed enough to not freak out if we didn't hear the heartbeat so she agreed to try. We couldn't hear it - bummer - and no, I didn't freak out!

And the on Wednesday, we got to do this:

Our first picture of our peanut. It is amazing to me that something so small can make me so sick! The circle thing is the yolk sac and the baby is laying face down with it's head under the yolk sac. The ultrasound people were running 20 minutes behind so when we first got in there she said "I am very limited at what I can say" and then proceeded to just click and take measurements. I couldn't see the screen and I thought for sure she would say, "ok, we're all done. Have a great day." So while she was clicking away I was planning my attack as to how I wasn't getting off that table until I had seen my baby. But at the end she was super cool. She turned the screen and explained EVERYTHING to us. She had a good picture of it and said that if we hold really still that sometimes we can see it move and as if on cue, the baby moved. So cool! It was a hic-cup like move - so cute! My official due date is July 5th.

Other than all that going on, I have been sick, sick, sick. I just bounce from one thing to the next just trying to survive. Hopefully this will pass quickly! Fingers crossed!