Kimba

Hardware Ranch - All that poop!

Since Kathy is in town, we decided we should do something as a family. There aren't THAT many of us, but it's still hard to get everyone together for some reason. We managed to all hop in the car on Monday and head up to Hardware Ranch near Logan, UT. You get to hop in a wagon and head out into their pasture to see all the elk that come down from the mountains in the winter for food. 

Apparently it's many of their second and third years, so they get pretty used to a bunch of people parading around in a wagon led by horses. 

There's hardly any snow here, but that doesn't stop it from being absolutely frigid. 

Wyatt, of course, was most interested in how much poop there was to see. "Look at all 'dis poop!"

Apparently the number of points an elk has, has nothing to do with age, but rather, genes. Interesting, right? There weren't many bulls, you'd see one or two amongst all the cows (as they call them...they also take this comparison to the bathroom signs. Always wanted to walk into a room labeled "Cow"). Looking rather smug, if you ask me. 

That's about all there was to do there, so we ate lunch in Logan and headed home. It doesn't sound like much, but apparently this wild kind of activity just tuckers some people out. 

He's coming to town

Christmas Eve, which means it's all about wrapping and more wrapping and the putting together of toys (we have a long night ahead of us, I think) and baking, and more baking and then of course eating, and more eating.

My sister got in to town late on Thursday, an event Wyatt has been waiting for weeks to happen because I told him we'd bake more sugar cookies when she got here. It was the first thing we did after his nap yesterday. 

We took Wy to see Santa on Wednesday, and you guys. This kid was so out of his mind excited to see Santa. We waited a good hour and a half (sadly, a very good time considering it's the week of Christmas), so to pass the time I hooked up his headphones to the iPad so he could watch a few shows instead of asking us every three seconds if it was time to see Santa.

When it was finally his turn he was just electric, and ran straight up to him. The woman taking his picture didn't even have to say anything, as soon as he heard, "1, 2..." he flipped his head around and gave us the cheesiest grin I've ever seen. 

I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if he'd whipped out some jazz hands. 

Every picture was the same, his cheeks nearly bursting from grinning so hard. Apparently he asked for an "esthcavator", just like Curious George (a particular episode he's hooked on). A relief, since I've been trying to steer him away from asking for two more fellerbunchers ("A mommy and a Daddy one"). It worked! We're saved! And none of us can wait for Christmas morning. 

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Mostly the most wonderful time of the year

Sorry folks, I don't mean to turn this blog into a all-pregnancy-post-all-the-time thing, but that's apparently what's happening. My brain is fried, my days are mostly the same, and the only thing I can count on for inspiration is a weekly update. I'll try to stop it! Despite the pregnancy brain kicking in, I do still have one. 

So this is, supposidly, the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. And it is! Truly, I'm loving the Christmas season, especially since I have a three year old who just loves nothing more than Santa and present wrapping (he's becoming quite a pro at finding a spot for them under the tree) and Christmas lights and our Ted on the Shelf and cookies and candy canes and Christmas songs, particuarly the ones with kids in them and  just about everything else. It makes it so much more fun, although I am now not able to to pick up stocking items and such while he's with me. Which I guess is a fair trade off. 

So it's a wonderful time to be sure. However. 

It's also flu season. And look, I can deal with anything I'm thrown, but there is one sickness I am positively petrified of, try to avoid like the plague, one that makes my stomach clench if there's even a possibility of it infecting us. The puke flu. 

Just saying it makes me shudder. 

I don't know what my deal is, but it's maybe one of my biggest fears, to get pukey sick, and for Wyatt to get pukey sick. He had that one bout of food poisoning this summer, one that lasted about a half a day and it wasn't that bad, but the thought of the flu, the puke flu, makes me want to lock our little family up in a Lysol-rimmed, UV-wanded room, and not come out 'till spring. I know we're bound to get it sometime, if not this year but the next, and I know once he starts preschool he'll be a ticking time bomb, but I just can't get over this irrational fear. 

Last year (I think it was last year?) my dad's extended family passed around this horrid flu, one we all dubbed The Moss Plague (cause that's the family name) and at least two out of every family, and there's a good 80 of us, were sick. It went through some entire families, and in ours my dad and Caleb were hit. And while my motherly instincts kick in while Wyatt's sick, this doesn't seem to quite happen with Caleb. 

Sorry, Cabe. It's just not the same. 

Sure, I feel terrible he's sick, but I feel terrible from a distance. Bring him things, ask how's he's feeling, from about 5 feet away. And then I wash my hands.

That year for Christmas my mom got a UV wand (okay, it was two years ago because last year Caleb bought me one!) and I wanded the entire house at least twice a day, and more if the infected person left their quarantined room. People thought I was insane, but no one else got it so I stand by my UV wand. (So when Caleb gave me my UV wand he was laughing and it was a joke, but I was thrilled beyond belief!) 

So this year, knowing The Puke is going around as it always does near the holidays, I am fighting myself. I nearly took him home this Sunday rather than sending him to nursery. But I didn't. I met our friends today at McDonald's to let the kids play while we caught up (it HAS been since Saturday!) despite the fact that the place has got to be teeming with germs. (Thank heavens for my hand sanitizer!) We are taking the kids to a movie for park group tomorrow. And visiting our local jump place the day after. We are not, despite my first instincts, holed up in the house. 

I don't know quite where I'm going with this, except to say, while it IS the most wonderful time of the year, it is also my most dreaded time of year. But I'm trying to be better. 

But if you're sick. Just. You know. Wave from a distance or something. 

Thursday Bump Day: Week 13

Guys! Most people consider this the official 2nd trimester. 3 months down, 6 to go! Pure craziness, I tell you what. You wanna make pregnancy go faster? Have a toddler and build a house. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It does wonders for making the time fly. 

So I had a doctors appointment yesterday and not only did we get to hear the heartbeat (after a few frightening seconds of hunting), but we got to see the baby. And! It moves it's tiny arms and legs! Like a baby and stuff! Especially when jabbed rather roughly by the doctor searching for a heartbeat. 

The baby measures about 2.5 inches, smaller than what it should be for the weeks we are, which is exactly the same way Wyatt was. So everything's fine and dandy! And I couldn't believe it, but I'd actually lost a pound since last time, something I find hard to believe since these giant boobs seem to think it their mission to vie for a spot as official planets. But I'll take it! 

And!

January 11th! That's the day. Less than a month we get to find out what we're having. Which is, of course, pure insanity. Either way, between the clothes we bought for Wy and the little girl box I've been building, at least the baby will be clothed. Caleb feels so strongly about his hunch he thinks we could paint the baby's room right now. (We asked our painter to prep the baby's room but not paint it yet until we know.) I feel confident enough to wait a month. 

Today was the first day in a week or so that I've actually set out to take a nap, so I'm counting that as progress. And just like last time, as soon as the nausea stopped, the headaches started. So that's fun. 

My dear friend Tara is having her baby today. I can't wait to meet this little girl and hold her, and I can't believe that soon it will be us. Holding a tiny newborn, introducing Wyatt to his brother or sister, and coming home from the hospital a family of four. It sounds pretty wonderful to me. 

This week I am grateful for Forever 21's stretchy jeans for $10.50, squeaky cheese & my first inaugural first-trimester-is-over Diet Coke. It was delicious. Limiting myself is only proving to make it more sweet. 

Thursday Bump Day: Week 12

Dudes! I have a little baby lime! A lime that is pretty much fully formed and can move and hiccup now. A lime baby!

That wasn't making me feel any better, what with my pants starting to get snug, but apparently when your baby is the size of a lime, your uterus is the size of a melon. Phew! A melon! 

I feel a little better. 

The biggest change this week is that suddenly I no longer require 1st breakfast, 2nd breakfast and a snack before lunch. Just breakfast! And then lunch! At 11:30 still, but hey, it's improvement. The last few days I haven't been able to nap during Wyatt's nap and I haven't died. Still want one, though. But it's getting better!

So let's see. Besides that, we've got the perpetual pregnancy stuffy nose, and I think I had a small case of heartburn the other day. Which is probably the first time I'd had heartburn since, well, last pregnancy. 

And Wyatt's latest pronouncement? The baby, which is a girl apparently, will be called Daddy Caleb. Later he also mentioned Alice, but I think I like Daddy Caleb better. 

Checklist

Look at me! Not only did I order my holiday cards tonight (I'm waaaay late this year....) but I also changed my header! Cause what was the last one, October? September? It was sortof a long time ago. I've been sortof lazy. 

The holiday craziness has begun. On Monday my mom had her annual cousin / aunt / uncle party at our house. She did the ham and turkey (Honeybaked....it was delicious) and then was in charge of some potatoes. I suggested this delicious scalloped potatoes with leeks that Bridgette made once, and told her I'd make it for her. 

Apparently that meant quadrupling it. 

She gave me a mandolin from The Pampered Chef for my birthday (should of seen it as an omen!) but apparently I'm mandolin-impaired. I don't know if I just don't know how to work this thing well, or if it's just not the best one. Do you happen to have and love a mandolin? I sort of want to invest in a gigantic industrial electric one. You know, like the kind that can do deli meats?

Anyway, We had to scallop a lot of potatoes, is what I'm saying. And sure, the mandolin definitely helps, but here I am two days later, and my right arm and shoulder are still sore. And I DO lift some weights. 

It was worth it however, they were delicious as always. (Thank you, Bridge! And my entire family thanks you.) 

Caleb and I took Wyatt out of the house for the majority of the party, it had already been  *fun-filled* day of trying to keep him away from the decorations, and trying to keep him downstairs would only be futile with grandma and food upstairs. 

It's true of Wyatt, that the way to his heart is through his stomach. 

We went swimming at the local rec center and the excitment in his voice, the way he screamed "MY POOL!" as we arrived, was so electric, it was the kind of excitment you would think would be reserved for someone winning the lottery. That's exactly how he felt, both Mom and Dad and swimming?! 

So we swam and let him climb on the climbing wall after (should I be nervous that he seemed rather adept at it?) and then went home to throw him in bed. The party was still going on, but winding down, and of course he immediately found himself at the table with some food and dessert. Grandma always delivers. He got to bed late and woke up late, and when he came upstairs for breakfast the next morning he looked around and said, "Mom, where all doze other grandmas go?" 

Pretty awesome. 

We've also got the Elf on the Shelf going on. He absolutely loves it. Ted, our elf, (lovingly named by Wyatt) has been flitting around the house and just the other day had a marshmallow "snowball fight" while we slept. Silly Ted. It's a tradition I can already tell will be a favorite. Wyatt made up a song today about "Ted on the Shelf!". Those were pretty much the only words. 

I made granola yesterday, I'm currently planning several holiday get togethers, and in the meantime I'm growing a human (still weird, isn't it?) and we're building a house. And nearing the end. Cabinets are in! I'll get a photo. Countertops were delayed, all of them busted into a billion pieces in our recent hurricane-force wind storm we just had. Thankfully they're making us brand new ones, at the remnant price. Appliances are all there, but not in yet, and I'm trying to make sure we get the furniture we need before we move in. Like a TV stand. Had to leave that behind. 

Happy Holidays, right?! 

Like Santa's Elves - but better

I have some crazy, crazy, crazy talented friends. One of them works for Deseret Book and is in charge of their window displays. This year he teamed up with our other good friend and his brother, and they created something totally magical. 

Check out the making of video, and if you're in Utah go check it out! It's at the City Creek location, and it really is something to be seen. They created everything from scratch. 

 

And Caleb would want to insert that he has a tiny cameo in there, as one of the movers / setter-uppers. (Yes, that's a made up word.) 

No credits though, Cabe. Sorry. 

I think you'll agree that it's amazing, even if you don't happen to know these guys. (And too bad, cause they happen to be awesome people too!)

Thursday Bump Day: Week 11

11 weeks! This is nuts! I haven't been giving you the fruit of the week update, so in case you were wondering I've got a little fig in there. A fig with arms & legs that can MOVE, people! We have movement! Weird stuff, this just seems to be flying by. 

One thing I've forgotten to mention in these updates, is the tears. Ohmigosh you guys, just about anything can get me to tear up these days. Parenthood? Total loss. I watched the Gabby Gifford 20/20 interview the other day while on the treadmill and cried the entire time. The other day I got all teary at the end of The Polar Express book. Last time I was pregnant Caleb had this lovely joke where all he had to do was look at me long enough and I'd start to cry. He thought it was hilarious. We took Wyatt to see his first movie while we were in St. George, Arthur Christmas, and I got all teary somewhere in there too. And even when it's happening I know it's ridiculous, but my body doesn't listen. It's like, you WILL be overly emotional! I've officially banned my annual Christmas viewing of The Family Stone because I know I'd be a total wreck. Thank heavens I still have The Grinch and Christmas Vacation to get me through the holidays. I can't think of any emotional part in there, but who knows! 

I believe I had my first pregnancy headache the other day, I remember getting them about this time last time. Day long headaches, but thankfully my doctor gave me a list of approved medicine. (Did you know Sudafed is on there?!? After 14 weeks, that is. But still. Man, if I could have had some of that last time with that giant cold I had...)

Wyatt is still insistent it's a girl, and today he declared her name would be Ted, and then later, Tree. I told him we'd consider it, but wouldn't be promising anything. 

Realized I'd forgotten to leave the camera in the bathroom this morning, and I was way too lazy to go and get it at 6 am. Like my new phone cover? It's toddler proof. 

I think that's an official bump. This early? Really? I'm a good 3 weeks earlier than last time! I know that's usually normal, but doesn't everyone hope to be one of those lucky few who get to be comfortable until like, 16 weeks? And don't even get me started on the even luckier ones. (Lookin' at you, Tara! :) )