UNO

I'm not sure why I hadn't thought to pull out this game and play it with Brynlee before now, but she loved it!

Hard to believe, but it's been so long I couldn't even remember how to play.  I had to read the instructions.  We got it, and in no time Brynlee was plotting ways to get me with draw 4's and draw 2's.  She'd give an evil little giggle every time she drew one from the pick up pile.  

She even started saving them up and making me draw 10-12 at a time!

We have played many times since we pulled it out, each time with a lot of Brynlee giggles!

Gracen has gotten in on the fun too!  He struggles a little, wanting to put down the color he wants and not what he can put down.  Usually he gets it just right though.  He actually beat me and Brynlee in about 5 minutes in his first game!

He just loves it!  He really tries hard to hold up those cards, but usually has to spread them out on the table so he can see what he has!

Waiting for her turn.

I love how much we all (even Nate a few times!) enjoy playing this together!

Why didn't we think of this sooner!

Half Way There!

For some reason, this pregnancy has seemed to last a LONG time!  I'm finally half way there!  It still seems a little hard to believe that another little person will be joining our family so soon!

Here are the answers to questions I get asked quite often.  Some you may care to know, some you may not.  Either way, they are things I would like to remember some day when I'm thinking back on the good old days of being pregnant.  

(I remember my brother-in-law's wife Kate doing something similar to this with her last pregnancy.  I loved the idea, so I stole bits and pieces of it!  Thanks Kate for a fun idea!  Hope you don't mind!)

How Far Along?   20 weeks, 1 day

Due Date?  January 12, 2011

Sleep?  Quite well.  For now.  I usually don't have any problems unless it is too hot in my room. 

Feeling?  So much better (aside from the last bits of a cold).  I've been battling horrible headaches about 5 out of 7 days a week up until last week!  I've never been a headache person, it wasn't fun!

Movement?  I started to feel the baby at about 18 weeks.  I still have to be paying attention to feel baby move, but I love it!  Probably my favorite part of being pregnant!

Mood?  Happy and excited!  There is a lot coming up for our family.  I'm happy about our current situation, and excited for things that are coming!  

Stretch Marks?  Not yet from this one, but there are past ones (unfortunately). 

Maternity Clothes?  Yes, and I don't really mind them.  I can still fit in my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I can't stand anything putting pressure on my belly.  My awesome sister bought me a bunch of cute new ones for my birthday, maybe that's why I don't mind them :)!  

Total Weight Gain?  6 pounds as of last week.

Cravings?  Mostly sweets, though I try to steer clear for fear of heartburn.  During the 1st trimester it was salad and veggies!  I couldn't get enough!

Exercise?  Not much.  I had big plans, but with my headaches that idea quickly went out the window.  

How does this pregnancy compare to #1?  #2?  Completely different!  If I had to pick one it was most like, I'd probably say #1.  At times, I feel like this one has sucked the life out of me!  I'm so tired all the time.  Have horrible headaches.  When I'm up and going in the morning it takes about an hour or so before I feel like I'm going to pass out, literally.  The stairs kill me.  #2 was the easiest, and I was so busy with work I didn't notice with #1.

Enjoy being pregnant?  No.  Not really.  But I am grateful that I've had the opportunity 3 times, each being manageable.  I really try not to complain too much as I know there are others in worse situations than me.

Heartburn?  Not yet!  Thank goodness!  With #1 it didn't start until around 30 weeks, with #2 it started early at around 11 weeks.  I'm hoping to go without it this time around!

Names?  We have a couple.  Nate emailed one to me, it's a boy name, Stetson, what do you think??  I'm still not sure.  But I'm thinking about it.  Anyone have suggestions?

Boy or Girl?  Don't know.  I had my main ultrasound last Thursday and didn't find out.  It looks like we won't be finding out until sometime in January when this sweet little baby makes an appearance.  

What does Nate think it is?  A girl.  Why?  Because he had a dream it was!  Ha, that's funny!

What do I think it is?  Not sure.  I've never had any idea either way on any pregnancy.  I'll say it's a boy.  First to even things out, second because I've had dreams it's a boy, but no girl dreams.  

That's all for now.  I can't say I'm too terribly excited for the uncomfortable days of pregnancy that are ahead of me, but I am so excited to get there and meet this little one!

                    

Garden Of The Gods

My list of "things to do and see" around here is LONG.

A few weeks ago we ventured over to Garden of the Gods.  It's a beautiful place!  And, best of all, it's free! 

2 little Monkeys!

I LOVE being so close to the mountains again!

Snack time.

Kindergarten Girl

Yesterday was a big day for Brynlee.  She started Kindergarten!  

She was up bright and early and oh so excited to get to wear her new school clothes!  I was expecting that maybe she'd be a little nervous, but not once did she even look worried about it.  

Mom, on the other hand, was nervous as can be!  It is scary sending your child off with complete strangers for 7 hours a day.  I worry about how she will handle it, if her teachers will understand her and love her the way that I do.  I worry about her getting to where she needs to be and knowing what to do and so many other things.

When we got there her teacher, Mrs. Douglas, had asked the parents to stay for a few minutes so she could talk to us all together.  She told us that the class would be very fast paced, and they focus a lot on literacy, she talked about their schedule and a few other things.  

Then she read a story called, "The Kissing Hand"  about a little raccoon going to school for the first time.  The little raccoon woke up in the morning and told his mom he wanted to stay with her and play, and do the things they usually do together.  Then Mrs Douglas asked the kids if any of them felt that way that morning, and there was Brynlee shaking her head NO!  She was ready to go to school!

I was being strong.  Not going to cry.  I failed.

After the story Brynlee got up to come and tell me goodbye, and the water works came.  She just looked at me, smiled, and gave me a hug and went back to sit down.  What a girl!  I blame the water works on the story!  I probably could have held it together if not for that, but it was a cute story!

I picked her up from school and she told me she had so much fun.  She loves school and she "didn't even pick her boogers or cry!"  Apparently, there were a few kids who did.  She was so excited!

I really didn't think it would be so hard to let her go.  She rode the bus today.  I drove over to the school to make sure she could get to where she needed to be, and she was fine.  She did great!  

Mom didn't do so great again today.  Tears are flowing as I write this, I miss my little girl.  She isn't so little anymore.  How did 5 years fly by so fast???

 I am so proud of her and excited for her to start this new adventure!  I know she will do great!

By the way, on Saturday we went to get our hair trimmed.  She decided she wanted to cut it short again and donated it to locks of love.  She loves her hair cut!  

So much that I caught her standing outside the sliding glass door checking herself out in the reflection...posing, smiling, flipping, and fluffing her hair.  She didn't realize I could see her through the door, and when she heard me laughing and asked why, she was pretty embarrassed when I told her.   

I had a good laugh, and wish I'd had my camera handy to record it!

Adjusting to life in the Springs...

We've been here for a few weeks now, and things seem to be getting better!  We've found the stores we need, the mall, Library, a few parks and have ventured out to Garden of the Gods.  Nate's schedule hasn't been as good as I thought it would be, but he's only working about 45-55 hours a week, so I can't complain too much!  

We are renting the house we hope to buy soon.  There is FINALLY someone working on it, and we're hoping to close by the end of September at the latest.  We've considered this a good thing, (1) because it's kinda like a trial run, if we don't like it, we don't have to buy it. (2) Our rent is pretty low so we are saving money while we wait.

So far things are good.  We like it here.  Our ward is great, and so friendly, our neighbors have been great too!  We have a running list of things we want to do to the house like painting, updating the kitchen and bathrooms, and fixing up the yard a bit.  Nothing too major which is nice!  

The weather has been interesting, considering the fact that this is a desert.  We've had rain nearly every day we've been here, it's great because it cools things off!  We've had flooded streets, a few tornado warnings, and huge hail.  They (whoever they are) say it isn't normal for the weather to be like this...I'm completely okay with it!  We haven't had to water the grass once!

One of my favorite things about this house is probably the yard!  Although there are a few things we want to make look a little nicer, and the grass needs some filling in.  The house has tall trees all around it!  Helps keep it cool, and it's just fun having big mature trees like that!  We found a sand box a few days after moving in, it was buried under a stack of twigs and branches.  This is probably Brynlee and Gracen's favorite things to do outside.  We have a huge yard, too!  It's about a half acre lot, and it goes pretty far back behind the house.  We only use about half of it, but it helps it feel a little less like a big city.  

We also have lots of little critters around here!  The kids love it!  We have rabbits running around the yard all day, lots of birds and we've seen a few squirrels jumping through the trees.  This morning, we had 4 bucks in our yard.  They came up near the deck and were about 3-4 feet away from where we were watching them out the back door.  

There was a 4 point deer and 3, 2 points.  Nate missed out on seeing it so I sent him some pictures of it at work.
He would have loved to see this in our backyard!  

This is just off the deck right outside the door!  

Well that's all the fun for now, and about all we've been up to since we've been here!