It's a boy!

Yes, it's that time again! Last week, I actually did take the girls to get a treat and then to the library in sweatpants. I'm so ashamed. I think I had other pants on that morning, but they were so restrictive so I changed in the afternoon and then didn't think about it again until we were at Bahamas Bucks and I looked down and saw I was wearing sweatpants and fleece boots - a winning combination.

Happily, I'm pregnant so I only have to feel about 50% guilty about all the weight gain. I think this time around my body knew what was coming and decided not to procrastinate. It said, let's get all the weight on now and all the discomforts - that way we won't be stressed trying to prepare in the last trimester. I'm 25 weeks right now and due April 22nd.

Due to my "advanced maternal age" I had to do a high risk ultrasound. The baby is doing great and it's a boy! 

I would have been happy to have another little girl. I feel like I know girls and can do girls. A week or two before we found out what it was, I was going through baby clothes and was excited to bring out favorite little outfits and bows again. I feel a little sad to pack those away for a while longer (or forever, who knows). A boy will be very sweet, though, and I can't wait to not have to brush out snarls in his hair while he screams at me (though, I am a little sad that he'll probably be born with luscious locks like my girls but that I'll have to start trimming them up almost immediately - it's a pride thing). It's very exciting and I'm excited to have a clean slate to get new baby clothes and to see what this new personality brings. Are we going to have to barricade everything? Buy balls? Fence in the pool? Do sports? I have no idea. Maybe he'll just be happy playing dollhouse with his sisters.

This pregnancy seems a little more tough a little earlier. I don't know if it's because it's the third, because I'm older, or because I just don't remember it clearly since June was nearly four years ago. Still, it's been relatively easy and I haven't been nauseated so I can't complain. I had a miscarriage back in April or May that was tough mainly because it was a missed miscarriage - meaning that I never actually miscarried - the baby just didn't have a heartbeat. We waited a month for it to pass on its own and I even took medicine from the doctor that should have induced the miscarriage, but it didn't work. Eventually I had to have a D&C, which was relatively easy but just annoying to have to do. It was also annoying and slightly traumatic to still be "pregnant" with lots of pregnancy hormones left inside me and feeling some symptoms for almost an entire month after finding out there was no heartbeat.

The moral of that story, is that we are happy and blessed to be expecting a healthy baby and that I'm having a healthy pregnancy so far. We told the girls around 19 or 20 weeks and they have been so excited. Willa was really too young to know what was going on when I had June, so it's been a new experience to have them very aware now. Though, they didn't notice my stomach getting bigger until I told them I was pregnant and then Willa asked, "Mom, was your tummy not always this big?" "No!!"

This, that, and Thanksgiving

Bridgett got glasses. She doesn't have to wear them all the time, but two girls are still very exciting to be matching.

 

Hike with the Thalmans

We were so excited to have cousins come in for Thanksgiving again this year. We are getting spoiled. The O'Kelley's came and Robert's family. That meant lots of cousins around the same age with whom to play/fight/play - in that order.

June and Scarlett - just a little over three months apart.

We wanted to have a little cousin piano recital, Dylan and Willa played but Claire got cold feet.

June and Scarlett decided to do a duet. It was....lovely....

At the park one morning with Slate.

Slate is about six months older than June, but much more mature :).

We have a great few days. On Thanksgiving Day, everyone left to go see Moana while I stayed to cook. Carey stayed as my sous-chef, and little Aero stayed to take a nap. It was so nice to cook without interruptions! Probably the highlight for me was when Shannon cleaned the kitchen after Thanksgiving dinner. I had a killer headache and having someone clean up was sooo helpful. Plus, having Shannon clean up is like winning the lottery. If we compare cleaning styles - I'm probably like a older model Honda. I get the job done, I'm dependable, but there's nothing exciting going on here. Shannon is like the BMW or Rolls Royce of cleaning. The kitchen gleamed. It was fun to show everyone the new house and to have room for everyone. In the spirit of the Jews at the end of Passover, I'd like to say "Next year, there will/might be furniture!"

St. George Marathon

And also, sometime back in October and totally out of chronological order, Ryan ran the St. George Marathon. We all went up and my brother and his family were so nice to open up their house to us. Their boys are so good to Willa and June, my girls love going there.

The night before, they had a little festival and we signed the girls up for a little 100 yard fun run. It was so cute! They were very serious and Willa was such a responsible sister keeping track of June. In fact, at the end they didn't come up through the gates like the other kids and we were looking everywhere for them. After a few minutes, we heard someone on the PA system. Willa had been smart enough to find an adult for help. They got medals, which was very special for them, and cotton candy which was almost equally as special.

Thumbs up!

 Ryan got to hang out with the sub-elites and the elites the morning of the race. They have their own special corral right up at the front. He was worried that he hadn't put a fast enough time down and that they wouldn't let him up there and he wouldn't get to cross the starting line with the gun. Poor guy, it's hard to realize how the rest of us plebs live. Luckily, his fears were unfounded. He had a great start and was off and going until about mile 19. You know what they say about not running in new shoes? This was kind of one of those things. He'd done a long run in some new racing shoes, but not broken them in like his other shoes. There was considerable less drop in these shoes and adding all the downhills with the distance, he started to get bad calf cramps. In fact, he had to actually walk three or four times, which is anathema to Ryan. Still, he survived and got 19th place with a time of 2:35. Full of excuses as always. I think if the calves hadn't been a problem, he would've probably been in the top ten because he was smokin'. 

 One of the perks of finishing early is that it's not crowded. He was able to hobble around and get a massage without any wait time. Then he basically lay like a slug on the couch for the next day or two because he was so sore everywhere. He was surprised at the soreness. I was really sore when I did it 15 years ago, but I've always been in crummy shape. It was surprising to me that he would be so sore after all the mileage he had been putting in. I kind of hope he does it again and can race without the leg cramps, but also selfishly because another friend might be going next year so if Ryan races I can see her :). On the other hand, he was training A LOT. And was really nice to have him home a little more afterwards when his mileage went down a little.

June gives up the paci

Poor June, never did a child love a pacifier more. She LOVED(S) those things! With Willa, we were pretty good about just having it for naptime, but June always managed to haggle for more time with hers. I didn't want to take it right when she turned three, then it looked like we were getting the house and I wanted her to have a comfort for the first bit while we moved. Finally, it was getting ridiculous. She had pet names for them all and would give them little personalities and sometimes make us talk to them. She was also very particular about which one she wanted when.... You get the picture.

There is a Build-a-Bear by Ryan's work that we were walking past one day and as she looked in the windows I explained to her that she could pick out one of those bears when she gave up her pacifiers. She totally understood and totally decided that it was something she would do LATER. There was a character from Paw Patrol there that she couldn't stop talking about. How has she even seen Paw Patrol and known this character's name since we don't have cable, I have no idea. Actually, I do because I pressed her on it. Apparently, it occasionally comes up on Youtube Kids when I let her watch for a bit.

So she kept talking about Sky (the puppy) and finally she decided one day that she was ready. So we gathered them all and went to do the deed. Here she is posing with her bag of pacifiers.

 One last suck and good-bye (though, I was the one who told her to do that - I swear, I wasmore sentimental about it than she was).

 Warming the heart

 Ta Da!

 The main disappointment was that they don't let you put the pacifiers inside anymore! The worker said it just became policy down from the top a few weeks before we came in. It was kind of sad, but I gave the worker the bag of pacifiers at the end to "pay" for the pup. I'm sure it's a liability thing. These things are seriously the most expensive plush animals in the world. Unless they've woven gold thread into the fur, they should really let you fill it with nails or sharp knives if you want to. So that was a bummer, but June was resilient and then it was extra nice to walk straight up to Daddy's office to show Sky to him.

June has been doing well without pacifiers. She definitely understood that they were gone. A few times she has said that she misses them (even recently she's brought it up), but overall it's gone well. She dropped her afternoon nap for a while and would just play in her room and I was going bananas because she normally wakes up before 6 am and was so tired, but one day I forced her in bed and laid on the floor while she went to sleep. It kind of jump started her back in the habit for them. So now she does nap most days and is a much pleasanter little girl because of it!

Lost teeth!

Willa lost her first tooth sometime in October. I'm not sure when, I just remember it was wiggly for her birthday party and since she refused to wiggle it or let anyone touch it, we just let it hang there until it fell out on its own - which it did in the middle of the night. Luckily, it woke her up and she came running out of bed with it. I knew she was coming up on this milestone and had had friends lose teeth, but it just seemed so early and that there was no way it could be happening to her. I mean, all the teeth in her mouth looked extremely secure in there!!

Thar it is! You can see a giant tooth coming in behind it. A few weeks ago, we noticed that her other bottom permanent tooth was coming in. It was so far back that the baby tooth didn't get wiggly for several days. Then, it was the same old story where she wouldn't let anyone touch it. So, I just patiently waited and hoped that no one was looking too closely or judging me for allowing my daughter to go around with two rows of teeth like a little baby shark. I think that was the biggest gag for me, the shark teeth.

Like the other tooth, it fell out on its own, but this time while Willa was watching t.v. She was like, "Mom, my tooth just flipped out!" And sure enough, it had flipped out of her mouth and bounced somewhere in our enormous high-pile rug. When I say high-pile I mean serious HIGH-PILE. I love this rug, but I'm starting to regret it because it's almost impossible to care for. We broke some glass in it and even with the vacuum's hose we couldn't get down to the pieces at the bottom. What were the chances of finding a teeny wheeny baby tooth in the similar colored rug? Well, we looked and we batted and finally we pulled the couch apart and turned the rug completely over and batted it over and over again. We found a few Legos, toy money from the cash register, and the tooth! Seriously, so much can hide in this carpet, it's a little disturbing when you turn it over and toys start falling out of it.

Halloween 2016

First of all, we went to a real-live orchard to pick our pumpkins this year. I don't know why we have never gone before! I think maybe I thought the entrance fee was expensive... but it was also far from the old house. We live much closer to it now and had the best time. It's actually free to get in (right on budget!) and the pumpkins ended up being way cheaper than grocery store pumpkins too. The orchard was actually a real, working orchard - not just a field where they set out pumpkins. You could also go there and pick apples, squash, beans, and other produce.

Luckily they had these cute little wheelbarrows for getting your pumpkins. I wheeled both girls for quite a bit of the trip...

We took a little tractor ride around the property.

 

Carving pumpkins

 Last year we broke one of our carving knives, which of course I KNEW I'd remember and get new ones for this year, but then of course I didn't. It just seems weird to buy new Halloween stuff when Halloween is finished. So we suffered through it all and I got new knives at a post-Halloween sale. Still, what we had beats my childhood when we had to carve in the freezing cold garage with kitchen knifes. It was so cold and the pumpkin innards made your fingers freeze!

We started trick or treating and went first to our next door neighbors who have six kids. Two of the kids begged to go with us, so they quickly changed into their costumes. It was so fun to have them come along. Having next door neighbor kids and the friendships there is the childhood Ryan and I grew up with, but that we didn't think our girls would get a chance to have in Las Vegas. We love it.

Jay the Hamburger stole the show for me. He's four, but very small and would toddle after the other kids trying to catch up and yelling, "Don't forget this cheeseburger!!" It got me every time. Willa wanted to be Belle for the ward party and her school dress-up party, but by that night she decided to go full Elsa. I asked her several times if she wanted to go look at costumes at the store, but she said she wanted to wear her princess dresses. Easy for me :).

Willa turns 6

Willa turned six in October. Hard to believe it! She wanted a Lego/Princess party and was adamant about invitations and the whole shebang. It was my first time really doing this type of thing, so I was a little nervous. I'm not good at being creative or any kind of editing. I found a stock Lego photo online, cropped it a little, and uploaded it to Costco's greeting card site. Badabing, badaboom. The whole process probably took me an hour longer than the five minutes that was probably necessary.

I wasn't sure who to invite. School had just started (and she was ADAMANT about doing the party on her actual birthday, which is the middle of October) so she didn't really have a lot of school friends she knew well enough to invite. Plus, I was nervous about needing to invite the whole class. I didn't just want to do friends from the old neighborhood because we don't see them hardly at all anymore and sadly, it's mainly the memory of friendships with some of these girls. In the end I emailed two or three parents privately from the kindergarten class (only one could come), I invited her two best friends from preschool last year, our entire preschool co-op from the year previous, the girls in her new Primary class, and of course Bridgett. So many people couldn't come, we ended up having the perfect amount of girls. (Though, I'm just going to say shame on people who don't respond to RSVP's! Even if you can't come, you should still respond with regrets. This party made me determined to do better at that myself.)

Zappos just happened to be having a sample sale the day before, so Rebecca showed up at our house with a lot of brand new adorable dresses for the girls. This party dress was to die for, I was so happy she wanted to dress up in it for the party. It was perfect.

Pin the hair on the Lego.

I wanted to keep things really simple because I just knew if I tried to do too much I'd be frustrated and frazzled. The girls would mainly want to play, anyway. I had Ryan draw a Lego figure and then we played "Pin the hair on the Lego." The girls LOVED it. I had a table set up with crayons and some Lego Friends coloring pages, and another area set up with some Legos to play with. I thought about having a little contest where we could see who could build the tallest tower in 60 seconds, but it didn't fit into my plan to simplify. It was the perfect amount of structure/activities to keep the party on schedule as well as feed all the girls dinner and have time for cake and presents.

Present opening was so adorable. My friend took a video and posted it to Facebook, but I can't figure out how to download it to my computer so I can post it here. Basically, Willa happy-screamed her head off and jumped up and down for each present. I need to do better and my own reactions to gifts. It's fun to see someone get SO excited about a gift. Plus, her friends were sweet, thoughtful, and generous with their gifts.

 For the cake, I can't quite remember what I did. I think I made a cake in a 9x11 pan, cut it in half and frosted it double layered. Then I baked cupcakes. I took four cupcakes, cut off the tops, and then stuck the bottoms into the top of the big cake to make the cake look like a Lego block. It looked better in my mind (and on the internet), but she was pleased with it. I decorated it with some of the candy Legos and Willa added her princess Lego figures to finish it off. Let the record show that when I first baked the cake, I reserved enough batter to make four cupcakes. Then as I was putting the girls to bed the evening before the party, Ryan came home from work and one or two of my special four cupcakes had disappeared by the time I came back downstairs. I had time to whip up another batch of cupcakes the next day and it was nice to have the variation. Truth be told, the first four were a little burnt anyway.

We are missing one or two in this photo, but it was a great little group of girls. Aaliyah, Paige, Willa, Maya, June, Bridgett, Hailey, Aria

 Aaliyah was the only little friend from kindergarten who could come. This was such a sweet picture of the two of them. It's my understanding that they get very silly together at school.

The party was listed to go from 5-7 pm. I fed them chicken nuggets, fruit, veggies, and rolls on Lego paper plates. Probably the highlight of the party was that we finished everything up at a leisurely, but constant pace and the last little girls were leaving around 6:50 pm. It's pretty exciting to set a schedule and stick to it! Willa had a great time and I still feel grateful to friends (and parents who brought their girls and helped pick out gifts). We are very well-loved. 

At six years old, Willa loves Fancy Nancy books, lots of reading, LEGOS LEGOS LEGOS, and princesses. She received several Lego sets this birthday and basically spent two or three days straight putting them together. She is super focused when she's on a project that she enjoys. She can do the Legos almost entirely by herself, but occasionally will need help understanding an instruction or if she's accidentally built something one square off. She's better at being a sister to June and they have lots of fun imaginary play together. She does not like to get her hair brushed or get ready for school. She can't wait for the weekend but also admitted to me the other day that she's "beginning to like kindergarten."