Hurray!

I am soooo proud of both my girls!! Brooklynn had her awards ceremony today for 1st grade. She was recognized for being on the High Honor Roll and for maintaining 95% or above for the entire year! Way to go Brooklynn!!!

Also, it's been 3 weeks and Isabelle is still doing an great job on potty-training!! I am so proud of my little BIG GIRL!!

As for me and the bun-in-the-oven...we're doing good to. I'll admit that I hurt...alot...and never get more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a time...but everything else seems good, so I'll deal with it. Sometimes I feel like a zoo exhibit when people look at how big my tummy is and find out I have 7 more weeks to go. We went to a Chinese restaraunt the other day and our waitress was talking about my soon-to-be baby and asked how far along I was. When I told her I had 7 more weeks, her eyes bulged out and she started shouting in Chinese back to her friends in the kitchen and some of them came out to "observe". I was probably red as a tomato from embarassment!!! NOT fun! The good news is that I havent actually gained much weight and what I have gained is ALL BELLY. It just makes it hard on my back and I'm constantly knocking into things with my "beach ball". I see the doc this week and plan on talking about inducing me as early as safely possible. :~)

Here we go again...

Well folks...we're gonna do it this time. After the last 2 tries at

potty-training failed, I was going to wait until after the baby was born, but as I went to go buy more diapers yesterday I thought "No! We're going to do it now." Yes, there are going to be wet pants and I'm going to have to get my pregnant self down on the floor and scrub up accidents several times, but I decided I'd rather do it now than when I'm taking care of a newborn. It just felt right! So this morning I showed Isabelle the empty box of diapers and announced that they are all gone and she is now a BIG GIRL. We then cheered and clapped our hands and danced around a bit. I've already had one accident to clean up but we've also had some success. Wish us luck!

PS-I had an ultrasound yesterday and the baby has moved up some so he's in a better position. I could see chubby little cheeks and poochy lips!! I can't wait to meet him in person!!

Welcome Spring!!

Easter and Conference...2 treasures in one weekend. We had a yummy pancake breakfast at church Saturday morning followed by an Easter craft, egg-hunt and Conference. It was a beautiful but windy day.

On Sunday morning, we awoke to find all sorts of treats from the Easter Bunny. He's getting better and better each year at hiding those eggs in new places!

Here are my sweet girls. Oh yeah, Brooklynn finally lost that 2nd tooth! After the traumatic experience of her first tooth-loss, she just would NOT wiggle it (or she'd pretend to) so we decided to wait until it got very, very loose...which it did, but it was still a bit of a sturggle to get it out. The dental floss kept sliding off because she would pull her chin in a down when Russ went to pull it, which made it hurt...with no results. Finally, Russ just had to give it a couple of good tugs with his fingers. She was glad to have it gone. Poor thing!!!

For Spring Break this year I was determined to get out of the house and spend some quality time with my girls. We went to the movies, our local park, Chuck-E-Cheese and the World's Fair Park...and thanks to coupons, gift certificates and checking the interent for free local events...we hardly spent any money!!! Gotta love it!! These pictures are of the Sun Sphere in downtown Knoxville where the World's Fair was held in 1982. Erica, Tara & her boys, and my girls & I took the elevator up to the observation deck where we had a gorgeous 360 degree view of the city of Knoxville. Then we had a picnic by a pond and let the kids play a while on this really cool, huge wooden play set. It was such a nice day! I wish the weather would stay just like this the rest of the summer and not get any hotter or more humid. *sigh* One can wish.

Success!

Sorry I've been absent from the Blog-o-sphere lately, but you know how it is. We finally have some nice weather so we've been busy enjoying it plus getting ready for the baby. An update...we were able to squeeze that 2nd twin bed into Brooklynn's room (FREE bed from my sweet neighbor!! Oh yeah!) and we will eventually move Isabelle in there with Brooklynn, but we first wanted to move her to the toddler bed in her own room until she is used to STAYING IN HER OWN BED before we put her in with Brooklynn. Izzy has had a history of wanting to get up at all hours of the night, so I was a little nervous and even prayed much about it. I really, really want her to be used to staying in her own bed all night by the time the baby gets here...just in case the new baby happens to be a good sleeper, I'd like to be able to get a few good hours of sleep myself. :~) And the results so far... SUCCESS!!!

I put a bunch of things in the crib so she would realize that there is no going back, but so far, she hasn't even seemed to care. She is quite proud that she can sleep in a "big-girl bed" and I am proud of her too!

Someone please sedate me!

One word...NESTING!!!! I was never this bad when I was pregnant with my girls. I really think I'm borderline neurotic now. I still have over 3 months left, but I am already not a very patient person, then when you add a looming due date...well, let's just say I'm not sleeping well lately. I have to figure out a way to squeeze Isabelle into Brooklynn's room, including another twin bed, dresser and her clothes and shoes. (Don't bother suggesting a bunk bed because Russ is highly against them). Plus, Brooklynn's room is also the play-room with all the toys, crafts and dress-up items. So I need to figure out how to fit everything in there and still leave a little open space to play. Our master bedroom already doubles as our office and will also have the bassinet for the first few months...and the "nursery" is also our deisgnated storage room with filing cabinets, my craft and scrapbook supplies (which I never have time to do anymore but I am too cheap to throw them out), book shelves, crib, baby gear and the new baby's clothes. I know I sound whiney, but I AM truly grateful for all the comforts we have that may lead to a rather cramped house. I just wish I could find a way to make it all fit...and I wish I didnt have to rely on other people to get it all done. Russ keeps getting after me for "over-doing it" by hauling boxes and moving furniture...and I know he's right...it's just this strange need to get everything in place and organized, like, NOW. Aaaargh!! Did any of you have major nesting issues?

*Drum roll*.............It's a boy!

Our baby boy is developing perfectly and right on schedule for July 9th. Normally, I would hope for as early as possible but I think I'd like to have at least a week in between his and Isabelle's birthday...so I guess I'll just have to be patient.

Am I back in Utah??

I didn't realize how much I missed the snow until today. We do get occasional snow, but not very much. It usually melts within a few hours and mostly just causes icy roads...but this snow is awesome!! I haven't been sledding in years!! Of course, it's a little difficult when you're pregnant. Everyone looks at you like you're crazy (I'll grant them that) and have worried expressions on their faces...but they all laugh their head off when you crash into a fence!! It was fun...and NOT as scary as it sounds. :)

Isabelle LOVED the snow so much that I couldnt get her to stop playing in it lonmg enough to get a picture so Brooklynn had to grab her...although it looks like she's choking her. It's all in love!!!

Love, love, LOVED the snow!!

Go Brooky!!

Look out Izzy!!!


Russ had a lot of fun, too!! At first, I had to drag him out of the house to go sledding, but then he was the last one to come in. He caught some pretty sweet air!!

Patience-Shmatience!

The soonest they could schedule us for our ultrasound is February 18th, so we have 20 more days to go until we find out if our "little bean" is a boy or girl. Of course, everyone has their own opinion of what we're having with all sorts of different reasons for their guess, but I'm just not sure. With Brooklynn I KNEW it would be a girl from the first day and I even bought a pink baby outfit to announce my pregnancy to Russ. Similarly, with Isabelle I always had a feeling it would be a girl, but began to doubt when Brooklynn said she thought it was a boy. But this one's totally different. I've been a lot more sick with this one; I'm showing way, way sooner and it appears to be carrying quite high, so the differences make me lean more to a boy...but I just don't know...and to be honest, I truly don't care as long as it is healthy and happy. It would be nice to have a boy since this will probably be my last baby, but I'd be fine either way. What about you? Did you have any "feelings" on what sex your baby would be...and were you right?

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and we hope you all did, too. Great Grandma invited us to come stay Christmas Eve with her again and we had alot of fun.
Izzy adores her baby-doll and Brooklynn flipped out over her MP3 player that Santa brought. At first, I thought the MP3 player would be good so she could listen to all her music and we wouldn't have to suffer Hannah Montanna getting stuck in our brain...however, my musical little girl now wonders around the house singing her little heart out...with a very BIG voice :) Oh well!

Isabelle and Brooklynn LOVED the "Glow Stations" they got from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Diane. They are especially fun during night time car rides!

And they LOVE the new dollhouse from Grandma Sue-Sue and Grandpa Brad...and I'll admit...I like playing with it, too :)

Holiday Fun

Here are a few things we've been up to this month.

Brooky and I went to a Christmas parade with Aunt Tara and her boys, Michael & Garret. It was very, VERY cold...but we had alot of fun. The kids stayed warm by cuddling, jumping around and cheering so they would get candy thrown their way.

The girls got one big present early this year thanks to our awesome neighbor. They (mostly Brooklynn) wanted pet fish from Santa and when I mentioned it to my neighbor, Cathy, she said she wanted to get rid of her fish and tank and for us to come get it!! It is a nice 10 gallon tank with decorations, all the equipment and even 8 fish! Brooklynn picked out new gravel and we got a few more supplies and...boom...early Christmas. At first Brooklynn was a little worried because she had already sent her letter to Santa requesting fish, but I told her I sent him a another letter explaining the situation and asking him to bring her something else instead. ;~) Brooklynn absolutly LOVES the fish. She reads to them, sings to them and hugs and kisses the tank each night! Too cute!!!