Spring Break

This week was Brad's spring break. It really flew by without us doing anything I thought we would do. But we did manage to have a couple of fun nights out with the boys. One of the things we like to do is go to the mall and let the boys run around or play at the little play place. Most of the time we don't really have any shopping to do, but we'll just look around and browse some shops.

We also got to enjoy a dinner out for FHE and our new favorite yogurt shop called yogurt beach. We watched movies and caught up on some shows including American idol. And we played on our iPads some more of course! I'm pretty sure we had a couple of lazy days this week too where we were all in our pjs till noon.

I think in a way I might have had more fun than Brad this week though with a few unexpected girls nights out. First there was a "The Bachelor" finale party. A bunch of girls got together after kids were in bed with lots of goodies to munch on. Someone even brought sparkling cider and candles. We were up till midnight watching the finale and the show right after. My sister also came into town unexpectedly and she and I got to enjoy some good time together and a night out to the temple. And the other was a sushi and movie date with my friend Mandy. We just had to get out together cause it's been awhile! We decided that when Brad and her husband are mountain biking, we are allowed to get out more since they are always out doing their thing. But now with school, cold weather and all the other stuff that fills the time, we haven't enjoyed getting out as much.

Anyway three girls nights out in a week was a blast but definitely not the norm. Guess it was a week of catching up for doing nothing the last few months.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Owen in Primary

We were driving home from church today and Owen told me he learned something super important today. My ears perked up since most of the time when we ask him what he learned, he says nothing or he'll talk about how some kid and him were laughing about poop or butts, which of course I frown on. But that's usually how it goes.

Anyway he proceeded to tell me a story about a little boy who didn't have money to buy some candy he wanted at the store so he stole it and ate it. Then later the little boy had to go back to the store and tell the store man he was sorry.

I loved the way Owen told the story so intently. And even at his young age this story taught him something and made an impression on him.


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Rub a dub dub- Boys in the tub

These boys are so crazy sometimes. Always being silly and super active. This night they were having so much fun in the bath-I think they stayed in the tub for an hour till I made them get out.













- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Something Fun

So...brad has been saving up for the ipad2 to come out and yesterday while standing in line for it, he bought the older version of the iPad off of a lady waiting in line for super cheap for me!

So now I have an iPad to cook with, blog, read on and play with!! Hurray!
So this is my first time playing with the iPad and writing my first blogpost with it. Hehe.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Baby Hellyar

So it looks like I was wrong, AGAIN. Baby number 3 who I felt so strong was going to be a girl, is A BOY!!! 

I have to admit I am a little sad. I was really thinking this time I would get a little princess in the house to play dolls and dress up with. Sigh….

On the other hand, I guess it means our family is not complete yet, although at this point, having three boys in a row makes me feel like perhaps I am meant to be a mom of only boys and maybe not ever get a girl, since we tentatively only plan on having four children.

Who really knows what the Lord has planned though, and I don't really know what's in store for us and our future children.

Anyway I know Owen and Chase will have a ton of fun with another brother to grow up with. Owen and Chase already have more fun together than I had ever imagined, so I know it will be great having another brother. 

Other than still feeling a little disappointed today and still feel like crying every now and again, I am getting my head around it and doing pretty good. It's kind of surprising me how down I actually feel about not having a girl this time. I thought I had psyched myself up enough for the results, always telling myself it was probably going to be another boy. But I guess I wished for a girl a little more than I realized. 

Brad brought me home flowers this morning and said he was sorry he couldn't give me a girl, it just made me laugh and cry at the same time, since I know one day we will look back at this time and laugh at the memory of how silly it all is. 

It's also funny because there are some families I know that are at the opposite end and have all girls and say how crazy and dramatic girls are and how much harder it is. BUT, somehow I still want to be a mom of girls, or at least one! 

Brad took these pictures of me on Sunday, and since it's been almost a month since I last shared, I'll give a little update for 19 weeks.


MAMA:
-So far i've gained 9 lbs. I feel like the last month the weight has just been pouring on, it's kind of scary. And my appetite feels a little out of control at times. Yikes! I've been craving everything sweet and unhealthy, so much for not giving in to my bad cravings!

-I've been taking a power yoga class on Tues/Thurs. and trying some different cardio exercises on the off days, something besides running since that is a little too much bouncing for me while pregnant.

-Overall I am feeling pretty good about where I'm at. For the most part I have lots of energy, am no longer sick, and still feeling comfortable in my regular clothes.

-I've also been able to feel the baby's first little kicks and flutters over the last couple of weeks which has been really exciting!

BABY:
-brain is developing areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision and touch
-weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches
-getting hair on his scalp
-the waxy protective coating is forming his skin
-kicking and moving strong enough for mama to feel

Boys, boys

Lately Owen has become a collector of "little things." He loves finding things like beads, paper clips, little containers, etc. and puts them all together into a little bag or box and then plays with them over and over. Here he is playing with his new set of paper clips he got from the dollar store. He made tons and tons of necklaces, airplanes and anything else he could think of. He is so cute and focused, I just had to get some pictures of him in action. Next time I will try and get some pictures of his "collections."

 My big four year old wearing a silly grin.  I told him to look up and smile, so this is what he had for me.

Lately Chase has been extra silly and active. He loves to get his picture taken, so he strikes a pose for me just so I'll take a picture.

 He also loves talking on the phone

 And of course he loves to eat! He pretty much eats all day if I let him.

 My little 1 1/2 year old striking another pose for me.

I love my boys more than anything in the world! They are the center of my universe and the happiness in my life!

Some Highlights

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, we went down to the river and walked the kids around the river trail and let them take their shoes off and climb around on the rocks in the water. I love warm days that are 60+ degrees. It makes me so anxious for Spring!

This last week or so, we have just been up to regular stuff mostly. Brad is taking classes and working in-between. I decided not to take classes this spring and I'm thankful for the break. The boys seem much happier and we are all a little less stressed out, especially now that I am feeling better.

This month has kind of been dragging though, it seems like forever until we get to go to our next Dr. appt. and have the ultrasound! I think that's how it goes, whenever I am anxious for something to happen, time slows down!

We decided to buy a new car a few weeks ago since we've got baby #3 on the way. It seemed like it was about time, and with it being tax season and getting a return this year, we decided to sell my car we've had since we got married and get something bigger.

At first we thought SUV for sure, since we are the outdoorsy adventurous type. But after looking at the space in SUV's like the honda pilot, toyota highlander and other smaller non-Suburban SUV's, there wasn't as much space as a minivan. Plus most SUV's max out at 16mpg vs. 25 or so in a van. So we decided to be practical and get a van. We almost got a Chrysler Town and Country, but read tons and tons of poor reviews and other negative stuff about it, then we were torn between the Odyssey and the Toyota Sienna since they are pretty much neck and neck with quality and performance. But in the end we got the Honda.

We are pretty excited about it and it rides great! We got something nice to hopefully last us through lots of soccer games and running kids around while our kids are growing up. So we just barely got it this week, so that was kind of the highlight of our week.

Just a cute shot of the boys playing around on the piano

 Brad took this last week-the first belly photo so far

 The new swagger wagon. hehe! 

 It's got lots of fun stuff like power sliding doors, so I don't even have to pull the doors open, leather/heated seats, moon roof, stow and go seats, etc. :)

Getting to the Good Part

So I finally feel like the worst of my pregnancy is over now. Most of my days are beginning to be filled with energy and excitement. I am starting to experience that special part of pregnancy when the bonding with the baby begins. In the morning when I wake up, instead of feeling groggy and useless, I feel a smile come over my face as I feel the tiny round outline of where the baby is growing.

I am starting to get excited about baby stuff and getting things together for a new baby. I think there is just something so exciting about having a new baby straight from heaven join a family. I love having new baby stuff, blankets, clothes and stuff especially for the new baby.

I actually made my first baby purchase last night, and it was kind of a gamble because it wasn't a gender neutral item, but I thought what the heck, it we find out at our ultrasound that it's a boy then I can exchange it. But I really really REALLY feel like this is going to be a girl! There is kind of a list of reasons why, but mostly I just feel like it is.

Anyway, some goals of this pregnancy are to maintain a healthy diet, not give into my bad cravings so much, exercise regularly, mon. wed. fri., even if it's just elliptical or walking. I worked really hard after having Chase to lose my baby weight and get to my goal weight. And so my goal for this pregnancy is to NOT have to work so hard to get back into shape after having this baby. So . .. I'll be sharing some stats every so often to keep myself in check and to hopefully remember more details about this pregnancy than in the past.

Four Months

MAMA

So, since I'll be 16 weeks tomorrow, my four month stats:
Prepregnancy weight:125, waist size, 29
Current weight: 130, waist size 30 1/2
So far my clothes are still fitting comfortably so that is a plus!
I do have some sciatic nerve pain at the end of the day already and some heart burn? Two things I think are strange to have so early on in pregnancy. 


So basically the good things about this time of pregnancy are:
-Less mood swings
-Feeling the baby move
-Glowing skin, or so they say

BABY
Some things about the baby:
-4 1/2 inches long, size of an avocado
-weight 3 oz.
-baby will double weight and add inches to their length in the next few weeks
-eyes and ears are almost in the right spots now
-growing toenails
-heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day

January

So for the most part, January was pretty uneventful. I started feeling better once I got on medication and after about 2 weeks of that I could mostly stop taking it other than sometimes at night. My sickness is mostly night-sickness not morning-sickness, but I hear that from a lot of other moms too.

The other issue I started having was downright gloominess. I felt sad, down and depressed most days and found myself crying at the drop of a hat. Like two days ago my OB asked me how I was doing and I just broke down and cried right there. Luckily he has been married for 20 years and he's been there through his wife's pregnancy's. So he sat there and went through my emotional breakdown with me to help me figure out what was wrong instead of just giving me an anti-depressant like the nurse said I needed.

I think for the most part I was feeling down on myself for all the things I haven't been able to do.  And there are lots of times I will have a glimpse of energy and I still don't want to do any of the normal household duties anyway. The boys will just wreck it in a second anyway so it's kind of like why waste the energy?

I was also feeling a little out of the loop with my friends. Before I got pregnant there was a lot of girl time between playgroups and jogging in the mornings with some other moms and other fun play dates we'd plan and date nights and stuff. Anyway since I got so sick, I kind of saw all that go out the window, and I didn't realize how much that is a life saver for me to spend time with other great women!

So hopefully now that I am feeling better life can get a little more back to normal and I can feel a little lighter hearted.

Chase

Owen was singing for us on family home evening night, and we discovered that Chase loves to sing too!

He likes to walk around the house talking on his phone, just jabbering most of the time, but it is so cute!

He is my little kitchen helper too. Always getting into the dishwasher, trying his best to distract me from my task at hand. He is so fun!

 I started taking pictures of him getting into the dishwasher like he always does and he started posing for a picture by sitting down and giving me a little smile.