Maternity and Family Photos

Last week I was at Target and a girl in her early twenties made a snide remark about me being pregnant.  She said "If I was that pregnant, I would not leave my house." It was difficult but I keep myself and my hormonal evil twin in check but I held my tongue.  However, this did take a toll on my self image a little.  I understand that I am very pregnant (38 weeks today) and I get a HUGE belly, now I even have pictures to prove it.

Location: Albion Basin
Photographer: Megan Best
Extra Guests: Mosquito's everywhere!

Aiden was petrified of the bugs

Taylor was concerned about her make-up and playing with her cousin

Austin wanted run around and chase the squirrels

This was Thad's idea and it turned out really well.  I like the sunlight coming through the trees as well.

We love our little Olivia so much!!

While we were there we got to see a baby and mama moose not to far away.  My sister, Heather, scared me a few years ago by saying how dangerous moose can be and not to get near them, so I asked everyone to move to another spot for pictures.  We lost the sunflowers in the pictures, but I still think all the pictures turned out amazing! 

This photo is definitely embarrassing, but it will also be motivation to get my pre-pregnancy belly back.  By pre-pregnancy, I mean pre-Aiden belly since I never got it flat after my 60 lb weight gain with him. This time I am up less then 30 lbs!

Don't judge my flip flops, they are the only thing that fit anymore.

I can hardly wait to add picture of our little Olivia when she arrives.

 We had a great time even with the 25 mosquito bites I received on the trip.  I even got bit 5 times on the belly, they bit me through my shirt.

Thanks for all your help Megan!  You and your family are amazing!!!

Play Time

Yesterday I got through most of the list with Thad's help.  We did not complete it completely because the kids had fun in our almost empty bedroom.  Austin is trying to be like his cousin Jaxson and spin on his head so all the kids decided to try out headstands.

All three can do headstands without the wall, but it was easier to get pictures this way.  After they all had headaches from being on their head too long, they decided to dance.

It was a fun way to end the evening, everyone was happy and laughing.  Too bad it did not wear them out because bedtime was still challenging.

Nesting

I think my nesting has finally kicked in.  Yesterday afternoon I decided to start working on my list of things to do to get the entire house ready.  Here is what I have completed so far:

1. Three loads of laundry
2. Cleaned all the kids rooms including: washing walls, floorboards, doors and furniture.  I even scrubbed with Clorox in between the bi-fold doors. Usually I prefer to use cleaning products without chemicals but I needed to get everything clean and sanitized.
3. Organized the kids closets
4. Washed the kids bedding
5.  Boxed up all the shoes that are too small for Aiden and Taylor and put them aside for Austin and Olivia
6. Vacuumed the kids rooms and hallway
7. Made dinner for the kids and I since Thad was working late
8. Even had time to hang out with a neighbor while all the kids played outside
9. Practiced some hypnobirthing scripts
10.  Laid down with the kids for bedtime

I feel for being 9 months pregnant this is a pretty significant list to have completed in just a few short hours.  I hope I can keep this up for at least a few more days.  Today I want to tackle the master bedroom.  We have new furniture coming on Friday and would like to paint our room first.  Tonight would like to empty the room except for our mattress and scrub the entire room.  It would be really nice to have the house perfect for our new bundle of joy.  What would it be like to come home from the hospital with nothing that needs to be done and I can just focus on our four precious angels and bond together as a family of six?  

Everything is Ready

This weekend we worked really hard on getting everything ready for Olivia's arrival.   Her nursery is finally 100% finished.  It has been 90-95% finished for weeks, but we had a few last things to accomplish.  The ceiling fan was hung, growth chart placed on the wall, washed the boppy and cover, washed and prepped all the cloth diapers and put away a few last items.

Here is her closet, it is completely packed full of clothes, toys and blankets.  She will not be lacking on anything, unless I decide I do not like cloth diapers, then we will be doing a mad dash to the store to stock up. Most everything in the closet is from Taylor as a baby.  We have boxes of clothes from newborn all the way up to size 5 in here. I only had room to hang up the clothes up to 6 months in size the rest are in boxes waiting for her to grow into them.  I hope she does not grow up to fast. There are a seven more boxes on the side of the closet that can not be seen in this picture.  Both Taylor and Olivia are two spoiled little girls.  I am glad that they get to be used at least twice before I pass them on the next person.

Today I packed my hospital bag, diaper bag and came up with a list of items that I can not pack until we go to the hospital.  I placed the bags in the car and now we are just waiting for her grand arrival.  We are still 2 weeks 2 days away from her due date, so I shouldn't be so anxious, but I am.

Since Olivia does not seem to be in a hurry to get here, we have added a few more items to our list.
1. Paint the Master Bedroom and maybe bathroom
2. Completely organize the playroom
3. Wash all the walls, doors, floorboards and touch up paint
4. Wash and clean all the outdoor furniture
5. Weed all the flowerbeds - I really hope she comes before we get to this one.  It is difficult weeding with such a big belly.

Thad does not know about all of these projects, so this must be nesting kicking in for me.

Mustache

Thad's work is obsessed with mustaches.  Last weekend they had a potluck wedding shower for a co-worker and they turned it into "Stache" party and everyone had to wear mustaches.  Thad brought the mustaches home and the kids loved them.  Here is Austin with his mustache.

Three Exciting Years

My sweet baby boy turned three on Sunday.  He the happiest and exciting little boy ever.  Every morning I get a big hug and smiles the instant he wakes up and is off running to the next adventure.

Usually I like to plan big and elaborate parties, but being 8 1/2 months pregnant we took a low key approach but extended it to the whole weekend.  Saturday we had a family party at Nana's house.  We had dinner, cake, ice cream and presents. All the kids went swimming and Austin learned how to squirt Papa Boyd in the face with  a squirt gun.  He would just giggle and dance in the pool.  He even let Papa Boyd squirt water back at him.  He was in Heaven.   We finished off the night by watching the Draper firework show in our front yard. 

Sunday, Popcorn and Grandma Juju came over and Austin opened more presents. He was showered with superhero toys from everyone.  He was so excited he would literately squeal and shake with every present.  We are very well stocked on Superman, Spider man and Batman toys now. It is really cute to see Aiden, Taylor and Austin all playing together with the superheros. 

Our neighbors brought over cupcakes for Austin later that evening and we spent the evening hanging out in the front yard.  We don't have a lot of boys that live around us, so Austin ended up at the neighbors house and received a manicure and pedicure of blue and pink nails.  Thad even had one fingernail painted pink.  He had a great weekend and very tired at the end.

I am so happy Austin is apart of our family.  He is so sweet and loves everyone.  I can't wait to be home with him more and continue to see him grow.

Taylor's Best Day Ever and it is only 8:30 am

This morning, I woke Taylor up early so we could get ready together.  We pulled out the curling iron and straightening iron to do our hair, lip gloss and blush for make-up and picked out cute skirts and tops to wear.
She has never gotten out of bed as quickly as when I asked her to get ready with me.  She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom before she even opened her eyes.  Usually we are in a rush to get out the door that she and I don't get much one on one time getting ready, so today was a treat.

We tried curling her hair, but the curling iron was too hot.  She prefers the Curlformers (http://www.curlformers.com/) and sleeps in them at night.  They are amazing for ringlets and are the only curlers that will keep her fine hair curled for more then an hour.  We decided to straighten her hair with the straightener.  This worked out great as long as I let her hair cool off before I set it back down on her back. Taylor has gorgeous long blond hair and I am completely jealous.  Her hair naturally dries straight and perfect, however I usually braid it at night to prevent tangles.  This makes her hair wavy in the morning, which she usually loves.

After finishing our hair, we put on blush and lip gloss and picked out our pretty skirts to wear to work and daycare.  We plan on painting our toes tonight and this is when Taylor informed me that "TODAY IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!"  It was 8:30 am and she still had an exciting day with friends ahead of her.

I never knew she would love spending just a little extra time with Mom getting ready.  It made my day to see her so happy and want to spend time with me.  I love my sweet Missy Moo so much!!

Taylor at her Kindergarten fieldtrip at the Zoo.

Weekend Fun

This weekend we have been working on getting the house ready for a new baby.  This included ordering at 30 foot dumpster and Spring Summer Cleaning our entire house including our three basement storage rooms.  Our storage rooms contained boxes of stuff we have carried from the last two houses that have not been opened in over 10 years.  It was a lot of work but we managed to fill the entire dumpster, with a little help from our neighbors after they got rid of some of their extra stuff too.  The only thing we have not sorted are the toys.  Our entire playroom is filled with boxes of toys, next weeks project.

The kids were great helpers during this process and managed to have a lot of fun finding random things to play with.  Yesterday they found an ace bandage and did not know what to do with it, so they tied themselves together and walked around the house. 

Also, we sorted through all of Austin's clothes and gave him Aiden's old clothes from when he was little.  Austin found his new favorite pjs.  I almost didn't get them off him to go to daycare this morning.  

He is obsessed with superheros.  His favorites are Batman, Spider man, Superman and Ninjago.  He has a different jump and action for each superhero and I never know who he is until I see the jump.  I can get in a lot of trouble by calling him the wrong name.  I can't believe he is going to be three this week.  

Skateboarding Accident

Aiden has been taking skateboarding lessons.  He loves to skateboard and has progressed so much in the last year.  At his very last class last month he was riding in the half pipe at the skate park.  On the way back down the pipe he leaned backwards and the board when flying out from under him.  He landed on his chin and split it open in the exact place her split his chin open when he was 2 years old..  It probably needed stitches but he is terrified of shots so we bandaged it up and it is healing pretty well.  Here are a couple pictures before his fall.  He is the one in the camouflage shorts and grey shirt.  He fell immediately after the first pictures below.

Swimming with Papa Boyd

Happy 6th Birthday Taylor

This post is a little late as Taylor's birthday was in April.  We had a mellow birthday, we went to get pizza for her dinner.  Her favorite restaurant is an Italian pizza place with lights that change colors on the ceiling.  They have real gelato.

After dinner we had cake and presents in the front yard.  We got her a small trampoline for the basement, earrings and a barbie.  Taylor absolutely loved the cake and it was delicious!!

34 Weeks

Here I am 34 weeks pregnant with our sweet baby girl.  It is amazing how quickly the last few months have gone by. Only a few more weeks and we get to hold this precious baby.  The kids are already fighting over who gets to hold her first.

I am sure there is only one baby in there. 

Neighborhood Dance

Yesterday we were invited to a neighborhood dance performance.  The girls had a very professional set-up with seating set up, programs, intermission with costume changes and even a microphone to introduce each dancer/singer. They have been preparing for weeks for this performance.  Everyday the girls across the street would come over and get Taylor to practice.  Taylor is the youngest by several years and it is so great that they included her on this.

Taylor participated in three dances, a solo, duet and grand finale that even included fireworks.  I absolutely loved it.  Taylor had a great time being the center of attention.  The songs she choose are way to old for her. She is only six and dancing to "We Are Never Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift and "Fireworks" by Katy Perry.

They have already started practice their next performance, which is a play with a wicked witch. I remember having dance performances in my best friends garage and inviting the entire neighborhood.  These are such fun memories and I am so glad Taylor is having fun with this as well.

Fourth of July

This year we were invited to a neighbors house for the 4th of July BBQ.  As the party expanded, we ended up with six families hanging out in our front yard.  Our neighbors brought over the BBQ, camper and awning for everyone to hang out.  They also set up a volleyball net and everyone had a great time.

We had an amazing time and the kids loved the fireworks and hanging out with their friends.  Aiden was lighting fireworks by himself.  Taylor and Austin were so excited to see the aerials and fountains. We love our neighborhood and living on a quiet street, making parties like this so much easier.

Aiden was stung by a hornet at a 4th of July breakfast party with some different neighbors and his hand swelled up to twice it size. He could not even move it the next morning and was on benadryl the entire day, which made him very tired.  Poor kid could barely move and enjoy the day at Nana's on Friday.

Unfortunately I had to stay inside and study for my project management profession test that I took on Saturday.  I am very happy to say that I passed the test.

Afternoon with the Bears

Here are my boys at the park.  Once a week Taylor goes to gymnastics for an hour.  It is not long enough to drive all the way home, so the boys and I go to the local park.  It is so HOT, but the kids love it.  There is a skate park for Aiden and a playground for Austin.  Also, they have these fun bear carvings for the kids to play on.