Last Belly Shot

For my journaling, here is the last official belly shot of my 3rd pregnancy. 

We love you, sweet Baby!  We can't wait to meet you and have you be a part of our family.  Cameron is SO excited to meet you, he is the best big brother, you are SO lucky!  He has all kinds of fun things to teach you and show you.  Allison is going to love helping me take care of you.  She will be a great big sister!  You'll be here in 10 days now, and we are so anxious to hold and kiss and snuggle you! 

Picture taken by Cameron

Cowboy Boots & Water Slides

The kids and I had a fun day yesterday!  We headed south to Salem for the day (poor Nater was stuck at work and then had to study for the GRE test...he's taking it right NOW, good luck baby!!).  Right when we got there, my dad took both kids to Spanish Fork for the Fiesta Days carnival.  He treated them to ice cream, and I got to squeeze in some much-needed rest at the house.  When they got back, Cam walked in the door wearing authentic George Strait Wranglers and some sweet cowboy boots.  He looked adorable!  I wanted to go stick him on a sheep for some mutton-bustin', haha!  Really though, they are for his Glenwood adventures with Grandpa.  I can't thank my parents (and Nate's parents) enough for what wonderful grandparents they are.  What a blessing for my babies to have such a strong friendship and awesome memories with their grandparents.  I have some memories with my Grandpa Ben, but I never knew any of my grandma's or my other grandpa.  I can't wait to get to know them someday....

After they got back, I had an OB appt.  I'm measuring right on at 38 weeks, the heartbeat sounded strong, and I'm dilated to a 3.  Just playing the waiting game now!!!  I'm increasingly more uncomfortable every day, and I pretty much don't sleep at night.  It's not very fun, but I try not to complain because in 11 days or less, this baby will be out!!  Carseat is ready, clothes are all washed/folded, diapers/nursing supplies bought, pump/bottles are washed, bassinet put together, big bro/big sis gifts bought for cam/roo, am I missing anything?  I'll probably spend the rest of the time just staying on top of laundry and cleaning so we don't have to come home to a mess!

Then for the rest of the evening, we went up to Provo.  All of the Utah Valley doctors and their fams were invited to a bbq and private party at a really fun water park.  I wish I had taken my camera because my kids had a BLAST.  My dad took Cam down the huge water slides, I was shocked that Cam wanted to go because he's always been pretty scared of water.  He loved it!  They had a great kiddie area with a shallow pool that Roo loved.  I'd really love to take the kids back a few more times before Summer ends, so we'll see if we can somehow fit that into our crazy life right now! 

I remember being SO worried and guilty at the beginning of the summer about not having the energy to "give" my kids a fun summer.  I worried it would drag and the kids and I would all go crazy!  But the past 2 months have FLOWN by!  And we are having a complete blast!  Some days we just stay home and watch tv and play outside.  But between Glenwood, birthdays, holidays, playdates, grandparents, cousins, t-ball and trips to Utah County, we have had plenty to do, and I think my kids are as happy as can be!  The Lord has blessed me with numerous quiet, but definite promptings that my kids are happy and that He is with me in my role as their mother.  I'm just so grateful for that.  I'm so happy right now, life is wonderful!!  I can't wait to meet my 3rd sweet baby pretty soon!!! 

34 Weeks

I feel even huger than I look!

Seriously, putting money on a 9 lb boy in there.....

Cameron's picture-taking skills are getting better!! 

Two Little Stacks

This is what I did today while I had a few hours to myself.

Home Stretch.  Feels good to be ready.

Which stack of NB size clothes will it be???

(White onesies get to hang out in the middle.)

I still need a few things for each side...but nothing I can't grab on a quick trip to Target after we're home from the hospital.  Two months left!!

Third Trimester Begins

I told myself I would post 4 belly shots with this pregnancy....one every 10 weeks or so.  So you'll get another shot right before I deliver....and then I reserve the right to not post any more pictures of myself, ever!! 

Baby sure is growing in there!  I feel like I've grown a lot in just the past week or so.  Wow, 27 weeks already, it's gone really fast.  Hard to believe I only have 3 months to go!!  It's also hard to believe that my own mother had ME at just 28 weeks....I can't imagine giving birth next weekend!! 




To Be Announced

My friend brought me some newborn baby boy clothes of Cam's on Saturday that I had lent her last year.  Looking at the newborn onesies with little trains and tigers on them made me hope it's a little boy.  But I know as soon as I go through all of Roo's newborn clothes it'll just make me want a girl!  Really though...I just want a BABY!!  I'm so excited.  I'm feeling pretty good...the severe hip joint pain has seemed to ease up a tad, although I'm still pretty slow on my feet.  Headed south with the fam for my OB appointment today.  We got to see Baby on ultrasound, and he/she is measuring perfectly at 24 weeks.  We're looking at scheduling the induction on August 3, but obviously we will make that decision as it gets closer.  I just can't believe how fast time is flying by!

I got a little treat in the mail today from the wonderful Sarah Taylor.  I had went ahead and ordered a pearl attachment for my necklace now because I was too anxious to wait until August...and heck, she only charges $2, so why not??  So it arrived today...along with a surprise from Sarah...a little 3rd tag that says TBA!  Sooo adorable!!  It'll be fun to switch it out with Baby's name in August, but until then, I'm so excited to have our 3rd little one represented in such a cute way!!  It made my day, and once again reaffirmed how much I love supporting small businesses where the owner cares more about customer service than anything.  Her giveaway ends in 2 days, so be sure to enter!  And once again, even if you don't win, please consider her cute shop because I promise she is wonderful to work with and goes the extra mile for her customers!

Here's a random picture:

Literally headed out the door to Church.


I finished reading Pride & Prejudice on Saturday night.  Even though I love to suggest good books to other people, I get nervous reading classic books that everybody likes...or is supposed to like.  Because then I feel pressured to love it instead of being able to truly form my own opinion.  For example, I read The Help last month because everyone said how amazing it was....it was just okay for me.  But then I liked Guernsey and Thousand Suns WAY more than I thought I would.  That said, I truly loved P&P!  Everybody knows I already romanticize everything in my life, so I definitely love a good romantic story!  (Although my top favorite love story is still These Is My Words.)  Even though I couldn't understand all of the dialogue sometimes, I kept wishing that I could talk/write like that!  I told Nate he needs to start speaking to me with such eloquence!  I can't wait to watch the P&P movies next.

Even though I bought it for Nate to read, I just started reading Meg Meeker's Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.  It just talks about the incredible influence that fathers have on their daughters, whether they want to or not.  She says that no matter how strong the pull of worldly influences can feel, fathers always have an even stronger influence.  As a mother, not a day goes by that I don't worry about my children and whether or not they will be strong enough to stand up for what they know is right as they grow up.  I'm so grateful that their father is such a wonderful man who loves them and spends time with them because that will ultimately bless their lives more than anything else we could do for them.

Speaking of daddy, he is the coolest and decided to build Cameron a homemade volcano since Cam is learning about them at school right now.  (He even made the clay himself!)  It was a big hit with Cam and his little friends when it 'erupted' outside.

Anticipation

Last night I had a dream that we had a beautiful baby boy.  He had thick, dark hair and looked a lot like his siblings.  Nate wrote on Facebook, "It's a boy!" along with his name and weight (just like he'll do in real life).  I held my baby and couldn't stop staring into his face because he was so beautiful.  It was a really happy dream, and I woke up wishing I was due today.

I can't wait to nurse a baby again.  Even though nursing is by far the hardest part of pregnancy/delivery/newborn-ness for me, when we settle into a routine (usually after about 8-10 weeks of misery and leaking like a fire hydrant and suffering through mastitis), it becomes my absolute most favorite thing in the whole world.  I want to nurse this baby longer than I did my first two.  We are in no rush for a fourth baby, if we even have one, so I'm going to savor every day I get to nurse and snuggle and smell this baby. 

I'm just already so, so in love...

20 Weeks, Sunday Sweets

Maybe next week I'll start back into my usual blogging routine again.

I am 20 weeks today!  Hard to believe.  I'm grateful that our life has settled back down because now I can finally start really getting excited about having another baby.  I feel bad, but up until now, there have been too many other things on my mind to really be able to even focus on being excited about this baby.  And this sounds really bad, but up until now, having another baby was almost stressing me out!  But now I can relax, organize the bedrooms, wash and hang up clothes, and really begin picturing our life here with 3 kids.  We're going to move the bedrooms around and re-organize all of the closets...I told Nate that if I'm staying here for 4 more years, then I need a change!  Cameron's Kindergarten registration is in April, and Nate has his class/work schedule all lined up for Fall.  Believe it or not, he's excited to get back to school.  He'll have had a 6-month break by then.  He applies for the Masters Program in November....and if he doesn't get accepted, then "Plan G" (or H or whatever we're on now!) for our family is a dud, and I will officially go admit myself to the insane asylum!!  Come visit me....maybe there's a good one in Nashville....!!  No seriously though, this plan HAS to work for us....I really can't come up with ANY more plans!!!

Nate looks HOT today, but he wouldn't let me take his picture.  I, on the other hand, am starting to wonder if this baby is a girl because I look AWFUL!  You know how they say, girls take mom's beauty?  Either it's that...or turning 30 is just taking it's immediate toll on me!  Yesterday I was gawking at my friend's 4-month old baby girl, Tenley.  She is so stinkin' adorable, and I won't lie that it made me really excited at the thought of having another girl....the outfits are just too cute.  Although Nate did point out the other day how fun it will be to see Cameron's face light up if he gets the baby brother he's dreaming of!!  So a big part of me is really hoping for Cam's wish to come true!

My kids are so gorgeous, can I just gush some motherly love for a minute?  They drive us CRAZY, we often wonder how such calm parents got such loud, hyper children....  But wow, we love them SO much.  They are so beautiful.  They are so smart.  They are so cool.  We're actually a little jealous of how much cooler than us they are!!  They are so hilarious.  They eat their vegetables.  We can't believe they are really ours.  We look into their blue eyes every day and wonder how we got so lucky that out of the billions of babies, Heavenly Father sent us Cameron and Allison (and Baby too!).

Every day around 2:45, Cameron has recess.  I love to go look out their bedroom window at his class playing outside.  It's so cute to watch him run around with his friends.  Maybe this sounds dumb, but I'm really excited for the phase of parenting when all of my kids are in school....helping them with their homework, grooming them to go out the door, making sure their lunches and backpacks are packed, going to parent-teacher conferences, etc.  I have been thinking a lot about homeschooling....not in that I want to do it for my kids....but just thinking about how involved those parents are in their childrens' education.  I admire them, and I think there is an amazing benefit to being right there with your child as they learn.  A few weeks ago, Nate was home, so I went to Cameron's classroom with him for a few hours.  It was SO fun to sit by him and watch his face while his teacher talked.  I've been doing some research on homeschooling, and I've been coming up with ideas on some Summer school and also some ways that I want to stay involved in my kids' education during the school year.  I found this blog, and I've been very impressed with this mom and how she is with her children.  http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/search/label/Homeschooling

By the way....Go Cougs!  It's a great time to be a BYU fan....if you haven't watched Jimmer in action, you're missing out!  We've always been basketball fans, but March Madness has been particularly awesome this year!

Okay, lots of random thoughts coming out in this post!  This is exactly why I need to get back to my usual routine!  Happy Sabbath Sunday.  Enjoy the day with your family.

It's A....

HEALTHY BABY BOY OR GIRL!!

It's always a relief to see a strong heart, spine, organs, brain, etc.  We are so grateful for our healthy baby.  It kept putting it's hands up by it's face, like it was being shy.  It was a fun ultrasound.  The doctor did a good job of keeping the secret for us, and we told him to write 'gender unkown' in the chart so that a certain close family member of mine won't be tempted to spill any beans!!  Dr. Ludlow knows what it is....but no one else!

My dad is in NASHVILLE right now.  His facebook status updates are killing me.... "went on a 3.5 mile run in Centennial Park here in sunny Nashville, the trees are blooming, it's summer here."  Rude...just rude, I say!!!

Nater and I got to go on a sweet date tonight....first the temple.  Always wonderful.  We saw Elder L. Tom Perry in the Conference Center elevator afterwards.  Always a treat!  We were getting on as he was getting off....I'm a dork and just froze, staring dumbfounded at him with my mouth hanging open in a ridiculous grin.  He stopped and said hi and held the elevator door open for us.  Nate said hello to him and then had to physically push me into the elevator because I wasn't moving.  Nice.

Then we headed to Wingers for dinner, where we caught the first half of the BYU game.  We were more than happy to sit side-by-side in the booth and watch Jimmer and eat awesome food.  That shot he made right at halftime...it was almost from half court!  Luckily the people sitting behind us were Y fans too, so they didn't seem to mind my obnoxious cheering.  I miss you, DeAnn....I need my loud-cheering Cougar fan sister with me!!

Now we're home, watching the 2nd half, and watching Cam practice his dunks and lay-ups and free throws.  I've said it a million times, and I'll say it again:  This kid is going places in bball.....and we can't wait for it!!

Life is sooo awesome.  There is so much good to be found and joy to be had in our lives.  Nate and I were talking tonight about how we're both happier and more relaxed than we've been in probably our whole marriage.  Nate said, "I feel like everything we've been through lately has led me to this decision with my schooling and career."  Prayers are answered.  Sacrifices are returned a thousand times over.  Put God first.  Put His will ahead of your own.  Pray and ponder and study and wait and obey and sacrifice and pray some more until you discover His will and plan for your life.  I promise you will find real joy and real happiness....it can't and won't come any other way.

30

I turned 30 today.  I couldn't be happier about it!  Life is good.

It's been a fun day....filled with good food, nice gifts, visits and phone calls with family and friends, and..... house hunting!!  Love it.  We have decided to stay put in Utah to raise our family.  Atleast for now.  Leaving Utah is definitely a dream of ours, but when it comes down to it, we know we could never leave grandparents and family and Glenwood and just the overall ability to provide our children with lasting relationships and memories of being surrounded by loved ones.  We feel good about our decision....even me, haha!  We obviously can't afford anything new or fancy...but whatever we end up with will be OURS.  A place our little family can call home.  We found a house we really like, so we'll keep you posted.

Our kids have both been sick, especially Miss Roo.  So we had to cancel some of our original birthday plans for the weekend.  But Nate made up for it by cleaning the house, making dinner, letting me relax, and he bought me Cool Water perfume, which I've been wanting for a few years now!  Thanks Honey!!  Nate's parents had us over for a yummy dinner tonight, and we got to see Missy and her family, they just moved back to Utah!!  Yay!!

I'm now 18 weeks pregnant.  It's going fast!  Baby's kicks are definitely getting stronger, more distinct than just a flutter now.  It's a fun time, I'm enjoying this pregnancy as much as I can (even though I usually feel like crap) because we don't know if it will be our last....maybe!

Eww, I hate posting pictures of myself, but I had to throw in a mid-way belly shot. 
30 years old, 18 weeks prego, and yes, Cameron G is watching HSM 3 in the background!

Thanks for all of your fb birthday wishes!  I am so blessed with the best friends and family anyone could ask for.

Our Baby!

Hearing the heartbeat last weekend was our "version" of a 12-week appt.  We couldn't get schedules worked out for us to get to Provo, so 'my doctor' just made sure there was a good heartbeat, and we called it good for another 4 weeks.  I was sort of disappointed that I wouldn't get to see our baby on ultrasound, especially since 12 weeks is such a GREAT time to get a good shot.  But yesterday, my friend Lindsay came up to me at Church and asked if she could do an ultrasound for me....she works at a clinic nearby and needed to practice getting some measurements.  YAY!!  So this evening, we had a fun family outting to see our sweet baby, followed by Cafe Rio, which obviously makes for a great night!

Lindsey got some adorable profile shots!  Thanks for a fun show!!

Baby was plenty active, it kept opening and closing it's mouth, and it liked to kick it's feet!  She asked if we wanted her to try and take a "peek" at the gender, and we said NO!!!  She measured me at 13 weeks, 1 day, which puts my due date back to August 7, yay!

Sunday Sweets & Matching Heartbeats

Even though Sunday mornings are usually rushed and sort of stressful at our house, getting my babies all groomed and scrubbed and fancied-up is definitely one of my favorite parts of the week.

Well....and I have to redeem myself as their mother every Sunday because trust me, usually Monday thru Saturdays, they look a little something like this:

***

We got to hear our baby's heartbeat tonight!!  One of the best sounds in the world, I think.  Nothing like a family dinner, followed by a birthday party for Roo and Ivy....followed by some heartbeats courtesy of Grandpa's handy-dandy dopplar gadget he brought up from the office.  Steve and Andrea got to hear their sweet #4's heartbeat too.  I've heard the wives-tales that you can predict gender based on how fast the heartbeat is....but I'll keep both babies' numbers a secret!  I know Roo's was faster and Cam's was slower....but I never read much into those tales!  We don't care what we're having, as long as Baby arrives healthy!

Dear Baby,

Are you a boy or a girl? 

Well, you already know, but we won't find out until you make your arrival.  I found this little hat today, and I'm so in love with it that I might have to get it for you....in green, of course.  Then you can wear it home with either your pink outfit or your blue outfit.

Credit here

Three

My Three Loves

#1: Cameron G.

#2: Allie Roo

#3: Coming this Summer!

Due August 7, 2011

The little white blob at the bottom of that dark space is our precious little baby, moving lots on the screen, with a nice strong heartbeat!  We're already so in love!!  Can't wait to see Baby again in 4 weeks, the arms and legs will be easy to see then!

We're really excited, and actually a little surprised (believe it or not...).

Here's to hoping that:

a) Baby will come out under 9 pounds (please!)

b) We keep the dimple tradition going strong

and c) The nausea will chill out in a few weeks because I have literally done nothing since the end of November, and it's starting to wear me down!  Atleast I've managed to keep my kids fed and bathed...

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to crawl back to the sofa...