Still a sister!

It's still a girl!  Two ultrasound confirmations!  The pink nursery stays and I don't get in trouble for jumping the gun and painting too early!

Lavender Moon

Well, the nursery is painted!  Thanks to my awesome friend Julia for helping me...and making me do a thorough job!  We even used caulk to get the straight lines and uncaulked and recaulked the windows.

The paint has to cure for at least 15 days before adding the vinyl that I found for the wall.  Special thanks to Courtney for letting me steal the idea from her!  These are the vinyl stickers that will go up!  I am very excited!

Now, I go in for an ultrasound tomorrow...here's hoping she is still a she and the doc didn't mess up last time...I think I will die if he was wrong! ;)

Oh, the irony of it!

I told Travis that I really did not want to buy any more maternity clothes this time.  We are done after this little girl gets here and I really don't want to invest a lot of money on clothes that I will only be wearing for 4 more months.  I figured that I can just use the 2 pairs of maternity jeans for when I go places and then sport the sweatpant pregnant look at home...right? 
Well...I went to put on a pair of maternity jeans the other day.  I was in a slight hurry and as I quickly yanked them up, I totally ripped most of the blue cloth part at the top off.  Lovely, right?  Irony, right there!
Oh, and it continues!  I decided that instead of running to Motherhood Maternity and paying 4X what I would for a normal pair of pants (I am a Ross shopper...$12 jeans are for me), I would order them from JC Penney for $25 bucks.  It was free shipping and heck, they usually ship in a couple of days!  I placed my order and with my confirmation comes...are you ready...a backorder message.  Yep, the pants are backordered until January 18th!!!  Needless to say, I am not buying any more.  I will just have to be very careful not to rip my last pair and to make sure that I don't have too many places to go for too many days in a row!  No errands on laundry day!!

Half Way There!!

Today I am officially 20 weeks pregnant and am SO happy to be half way there!  And if this is anything like the last two, I will be induced 2-3 weeks early...which means I am over half way!!  Yea!  She is growing well and I am really feeling her kick now.  So fun!
Along with being halfway, things are going better than the last ones!  My body definitely hurts worse, but I typically have gestational high blood pressure and am on medication by now.  The minute that I deliver, my blood pressure goes back down to normal.  Crazy!!  With this pregnancy, my blood pressure is higher, but not high enough for medication yet.    I am SO excited to add one more to our family and I think that she will be a great addition!!

And it's a ....

Girl!!  We are very excited...especially the mommy!!  Now to break it to Jack that we aren't having a puppy...

Success!!

I told Jack that after his birthday I was not buying him anymore diapers. A little harsh?  Yes, but I knew that the kid could do it.  He by far excels at all things physical for his age and I REFUSE to buy diapers for 3 kids!  So, 1 week after his 3rd birthday, we started!  He had 2 accidents on the first day and I was getting pretty discouraged because he has NEVER peed on the potty...but he figured it out!!  We even headed to my mom's house to stay with my niece and he went there too!!  So, in 6 days, only 2 pee accidents.  We're still working on the poop part, but I can live with that!  We are VERY, VERY proud of our Bug!! 

 The very same day, we took away Charlie's binky.  I'm kind of a crazy, cold turkey kind of gal.  Although Charlie has not gone to bed quite as smoothly, he is now sleeping through the night without it and things are looking good!  I'm counting my blessings right  and there are lots!!

Only 5 more days until we go for the next ultrasound to see what gender our little one will be!!  Jack is still rooting for a puppy.  I feel that he will be rather disappointed!  Check out our blog on Thursday evening and see if the background is pink or blue!! (Of course, this will mean that the baby will not cooperate and we will still not know!!)

Falling in love...with FALL!!!

It's no lie that I have had felt like garbage for the past...oh...9 weeks!  Growing a baby is hard work and the 1st trimester has always been the hardest for me!  I'll take the soreness, lack of sleep, heartburn and swelling ankles third trimester over the 24/7 nauseated, pray to be able to puke, where I'm generally useless first trimester any  day!!  Luckily for me, Autumn has entered my life and I am in love.  And somehow being in love makes the bad stuff seem not so bad!

Travis has been so good to take us on multiple drives throughout the last 9 weeks just to get me out of the house or give me some time to nap with the boys restrained in their car seats!  This last weekend, I was feeling up to a little mini hike in Logan Canyon and the boys LOVED it!  It was very refreshing and renewing for me as well!!  Enjoy the pics!

Expecting!!

Just a quick post to share the news!  We are expecting a baby around April 20th and are very excited!!  Some think that we are totally crazy to have another baby so soon, but we wanted 1 more and thought that it would be better to have 3 close together!  It is still about 7 weeks before we can attempt to figure out the gender, but boy or girl we are so happy!  Now to make it through the first trimester sickness!! ;)

The Total Annhilation of the Birthday Cake!

I figured out how to get my aunt's pictures off of Facebook, so here is the step-by-step "annhilation" of Charlie's Cookie Monster birthday cake!!   Enjoy...Charlie did!

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures just for fun!

Here is our "Snow White"!  ;)

The boys are pretty mesmerized with Thomas the Tank Engine!

Self portrait...upside down!

This is my finger a week after cutting frozen ciabatta bread...oops!

He loves getting dirty!

It's Lego night!!!  Charlie really just likes trying to get into the bucket!

Family reunion!

We had a great family reunion this year up camping!  I was a little nervous taking a 1 year old camping and sleeping in a tent, but we really had a great time!!  Jack LOVED the 4 wheelers and especially my dad's RZR!!  He basically sat in it the whole time!

Charlie LOVED the tent.  He was so sweet and quiet and content, but the minute that we went into the tent he was enjoying himself diving on and off of the mattress and giggling like crazy!  It was great!!

We had such a wonderful time with the family and ate some GREAT food!!

Charlie's Birthday!

Yeah, this is a little late, but better late than never, right?  Charlie had his first birthday on June 11th!  I still can't believe that my baby is ONE!!!  He had a fun party with family! We had planned on having his party at the park, but alas, the weather did not cooperate, so we had to improvise...quickly!  I made Charlie a Cookie Monster cake to dive into.  There was enough blue food coloring in the frosting to make a smurf jealous!  And it was also enough that Charlie pooped green for a few days!  Too much information??  Yes, I know, but I want to remember!

My aunt was able to get better pictures of the whole process of the cake destroying and devouring.  I am still trying to figure out how to get the pictures off of Facebook. 

Charlie had a great time and was spoiled rotten by everyone and Jack loved the balloons!  We had a great time!! Happy birthday, Lil' Man!!

ONE!!!

That's right!  Charlie is ONE!!  There are no babies living here anymore!!

All about CHARLES!

 *Nicknames include: Charlie, Charleston, Chuck, Charlie Bo Barley, Charlie Brown, Lil' Man, and Goober
*Favorite Foods: EVERYTHING! He loves black beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, meat, rice, vegetables, fruit, whipped cream...you name it, he'll eat it...as long as he can feed himself!!
*Can take 5 or 6 steps without falling and can balance standing for long periods of time!
*Loves walking with his walker!
*LOVES his brother...even wrestling with him!
*Loves music, dancing and being tossed in the air!
*Has a very contagious giggle and squeal!
*Has one of the cutest grins!
*Gets oogled wherever we go because of his big eyes and long lashes!
*Has Daddy's eyes!
*Loves watching "Elmo's World" with Jack!
*He is my snuggler and I LOVE it!
*Loves to pull all the wipes out of the container and shred them while Mommy's not looking!
*Is a whopping 20 pounds (roughly) and is so skinny that all his pants have to be rolled over at the waist once or twice so that they don't fall off!
*Is working on getting in his 5th tooth...1-4 all came in within a week...it was a rough week!
*He is a people person and will let anyone hold him...unless he wants down!
*Crawls in hyper speed...just like his brother did...looks like no break for Mommy and Daddy there!
*Loves to pull the filter off the vacuum...not Mommy's favorite!
*Will yell at you until you share your food with him!
*Is the greatest addition to our little family that we could ever ask for!!  We love you, Charlie!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIL' MAN!!

Almost not a baby anymore!

I may be one of the worst bloggers out there!  When Jack was a baby, I blogged about every little thing and poor Charlie's life has not been documented very well...but we are a little busy here with 2 boys!  And I am pretty sure that Charlie won't mind too much!
Well, on with it!  My baby is not a baby anymore!  Last Thursday, he took his first steps and although he is not toddling everywhere yet, I feel his confidence level is getting a boost and he will be at it soon!

It's funny to think that this little guy came into our lives almost a year ago a mere 6 lbs 2 oz.  Here are a few things that I LOVE about our Little Charles:
-Charlie is the happiest baby and can't help but make you smile in return!
-He is a SNUGGLER and I LOVE IT!!!
-Charlie LOVES food and is a wonderful eater.  He can easily take down a full Arby's Jr. Roast Beef Sandwich without even thinking about it!
-Charlie has great big eyes with lashes that every girl dreams of!
-He LOVES his brother and although they fight (yes, already), they love to make each other laugh and that makes me laugh!
-He is complimented by many in the grocery store because of his cuteness!
-He is our little cookie monster!

So, here's to you Charlie!  We love you and hope that you have the best birthday ever!


-

How do you eat your Oreo?

How do you eat your Oreo? Do you twist it and eat the center first?  Are you a dunker?  Do you just eat all three layers together?  Do you pop the whole thing in your mouth and hope that you have the room to chew it?  Well, it doesn't matter how you eat it as long as you enjoy it, right?!? 

Enjoy is just what Charlie does!  The Carl's Jr. motto "If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face" fits pretty true with Charlie's eating style.  Enjoy the pics!

Help us find them a home!!

We are saddened to have to find our new puppies a home, but after long discussions, prayers and a few tears, we feel that it is best.  We live right behind a school and although there are many nice kids that come and play with the puppies during the school, there are also a few little punks that tease them, feed them garbage and even kick them through the fence.  I know that I cannot keep an eye on them every second of the day and we cannot bring them in because Charlie breaks out into rashes and his eyes puff up.  So, if you know anyone...

They are the sweetest puppies!  They are male and 7 months old.  They are both neutered and have most of their shots including rabies.  They are good-natured, great with older kids, play well together, play fetch and are pretty smart.  Their mom was a full bred German Shorthair Pointer and dad was an Australian Shepherd.  They are very good looking dogs! Here is Winston.

And this is Chester.

If you know anyone that may be interested, please let me know!  We were hoping to sell them together, but will split them if we have to.  We were also hoping to get $50 for the pair to pay for 1 of the neuters.  They come with their leashes, some food, collars and the treats that we have left.

9 months old...and then 10!

My baby is 10 months old!!  I can't believe how quickly he is growing!  Pretty soon he will be a toddler!

Charlie is a very happy baby!  He has been crawling since the 2nd of February and has been into everything since!  He is walking along furniture and loves walking with his walker!  I think that he will be walking within the next month!  His 9 month stats were : wt: 17lbs 15 oz (20%),  ht: 28 inches (50%).  So, he is average height and way skinny!  Jack was the same way...I keep thinking that since I have such tall and skinny kids, I MUST have the skinny gene somewhere and there is hope for a skinnier future!
Charlie had his first ear infection, making it his first sick visit ever...not too bad for 10 months of life.  Jack made it to 18 months for his first.  I am grateful for healthy kids!
Charlie LOVES his big brother so much!  Here are some pictures of the boys playing the piano.  Jack is such a helper...or else he just wanted to push the keys that Charlie was!

Charlie has such a wonderful smile!  He is a ham and hams it up on a regular basis!  He is now in the stage where he pulls everything out of drawers and off of shelves...Unfortunately, the putting everything away stage has not started yet!  He is also LOVING the whole eating real food thing!  He loved it all!  We just went through a slightly painful weaning to formula because he just wasn't getting what he needed from me, but we made it through and he is doing well!

We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives!!

Time for an update!

I used to be such a good blogger...not so much anymore!  Here are the goings on of February!

My beautiful niece turned 8!!  I can't believe how fast time has flown!!  I remember driving to Evanston from Logan the day that she was born!!  This is the skirt that I made her for her birthday!  If you know me at all, you know that I am not the greatest seamstress, but it turned out pretty good thanks to my friend Monica and her expertise after making 4 of them!!  I'd like to say that gathering sucks!!  We also celebrated Travis' birthday!


Charlie has learned so much! I can't believe that he is going to be 9 months old next week!!  He started crawling at Lexi's birthday party and has now mastered it.  He is speed crawling now and can officially climb stairs.  Now comes the fun of teaching him how to crawl down them backwards and hoping that he bounces as he falls down them!!  He loves climbing up on top of Jack's little trampoline...but getting down off of it is another story!

Along with the crawling comes the bonks and bruises!  The boys and I stayed with Lexi for a week while my
parents went to the Nascar race in Vegas for their birthdays. (It was my mom's 50th!)  We had fun!  It was nice to spend time with Lexi and I even injured myself playing baseball on the Wii.  Poor Charlie's head did not fair too well  with the tile, oak chairs and metal furnishings!  He had huge bruises on his head by the time the week was over. Charlie even found an apple as a snack!  (It was Jack's).



Jack loved it at "Ga-ga" and "Gook's" house.  The minute that we got home, he asked to go back!  He LOVES Lexi!

Jack is really starting to talk now and it quite the funny and mischievous little boy! He is a fantastic big brother and really loves Charlie!  He is always giving him hugs and kisses and now that Charlie is crawling, I have to remind Jack that he CANNOT ride Charlie like a horse.  He definitely gets points for imagination! I have a feeling that Charlie is going to follow in his brother's footsteps!  I am SO grateful to have such sweet boys!

Pictures!

I cannot say enough how pleased I am with the pictures that a GREAT photographer took of Jack and Charlie!  Here is another plug for her Click Here  So, here are my two handsome boys!