Surprise! It's a girl!

Well, I figure since I am 24 weeks pregnant, it's about time that I announced it to the blogging world. Facebook found out a couple days ago.

We are thrilled to welcome a baby girl to our family in early-mid April.  Sometime around the 11th-18th...since she'll come by way of C-section, we'll schedule it for a day in there somewhere.

To say that this pregnancy came as a surprise would be a vast understatement.  A handful of months after Luke was born we realized that he was such an easy-going baby and we felt ready to try again for another. We absolutely figured that it would take months just like it did with Luke- perhaps even more time. So what's the harm in just going for it? Ha! Well, let that be a lesson.  You never know what God has in store for your family. 

Luke and this baby girl will be less than 16 months apart. When this realization occurred, I began to regret the thought, "Oh yeah, we're ready for another." Shock, disbelief, denial were just a few of the emotions I felt in the first several weeks. Even though I had all my classic early-pregnancy symptoms, I truly was in disbelief until I went to a 12-week appointment where I saw the little peanut on ultrasound. AND, even after that, until my 16-week appointment I started to doubt again- but I more attribute that disbelief not to the timing of it all, but more because of the past.

It wasn't until I started feeling her move a bit that I was not only recovered from the shock of it all, but had come to accept the fact that we were indeed having a baby sooner than later. Don't get me wrong, I was happy, I was just really surprised. Right before Thanksgiving, at my 20-week appt, we found out it was a girl. Based on how I'd been feeling, I'd thought it was another boy. It'll be a steep learning curve for me since I grew up pretty much wishing I had been a boy! However, I'm thrilled at the prospect of raising a girl.

Now to address why I waited so long to announce.  Some people won't give it another thought.  Some people will think it's weird that I waited so long.  Some people may be hurt that I didn't tell them personally. There are a few reasons why I've let so much time pass without making it official. 

1. I truly was in denial for several weeks. All because of the timing, I just couldn't believe how fast it happened.

2. I've never been comfortable drawing attention to myself in this way.  It's just not easy for me to announce any pregnancy. And especially since losing Season, I don't like to set my heart on anything until after I start feeling the baby move which is usually somewhere between 16-20 weeks anyways.

3. Probably one of the biggest reasons is because of the guilt I've felt about how easy it was to get pregnant this time.  I know the feeling of how time crawls by month-to-month when you're trying to get pregnant and stay pregnant. I have close friends who have struggled so much with this same issue or issues related to pregnancy period.  I have just felt bad/guilty that I have a baby (Luke) and am expecting another one.  It's hard to know how to tell people- especially people where I know this is a sensitive issue.  Now, on the other hand, when I struggled to get pregnant with Luke- I never felt jealous/sad/mad at anyone I knew who happened to get pregnant during that time. So I know I absolutely shouldn't assign those same emotions to anyone else.  I would hope that people would simply be happy for us and call it good- and that's more of what I should feel rather than the guilt I have been feeling.

Anyways- so there it is.  I know it's long and drawn out- and perhaps I shouldn't be so vulnerable in such a public setting- but I guess I just felt the need to explain myself for a few reasons. Happy New Year everyone!!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Unbelievably enough, Luke turned one year old on December 18th.  The first year always goes by so fast. I remember with Mitch being in absolute dismay when he turned one.  However, by the time he turned two, I felt like he had been around that long- or perhaps longer. They just learn so much (nice and naughty things) that the second year definitely slows down a bit. I'm sure I'll feel the same way this time next year with Luke.  I'm excited for him to learn a lot more in the next year.

Luke has been a wonderful baby and has a very chill personality so far. At his one year old check-up today, he ranked 99% for height (32.5") and 95% for weight (25 lbs 7oz).

We had a fun birthday party for him a few nights before his actual birthday when family could come and enjoy with us.  I made a yummy M&M cake (delicious white cake) with the most delicious frosting ever (7-minute frosting). Both recipes came from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. They are keeper's for sure.

Luke received a couple board books, a treasure chest that teaches shapes, colors, etc., a couple outfits, and a fire truck that shoots balls. He's enjoyed small-ish balls for a while and he received a few more as part of the fire truck toy.  He loves to crawl around with balls and chase them also.

Our Christmas baby is 1!

"Stop sticking hats on me and taking pictures and give me the cake!"

"No seriously, get this D#!@ hat off me."

Feeling overwhelmed.

Shout out to Todd, whose birthday is the day before Luke's.  Happy 31st Birthday honey! He got a giant bag of his favorite peanut butter M&Ms (with a giftcard inside) from my mom.  He got a brand new winter coat from me, but we got it on Black Friday.  Hello, awesome deals.

New birthday outfit. So hip. Like the shoes? $12- check out 6pm.com. Love that website.

Birthday lunch at Wendy's.  This kid loves chicken nuggets and french fries.

With brother of course, his favorite pal.

Birthday dinner- french toast, sausage, grapes. The trifecta of palate pleasure for Luke, although the face doesn't show it. He hates that crown!

Loves the "Happy Birthday" song!

Luke's first birthday seemed like a perfect day to take his first bath with his brother.

Luke A Duke part 1

Luke continues to be a very good baby.  His first birthday is coming in December! Unbelievable! He sleeps really great- except when he's teething.  He's very content- except when he's hungry, and then the world is ending. And his best bud on the planet lives with him!! Mitchell and he play together well.  I'm very proud of Mitchell and how much he cares for his younger brother, even though Luke can't do a whole lot.  Mitch will get down on the floor and crawl around with Luke.  Luke just loves Mitch so much and will pretty much only smile for him.  Let's see, as of his last appt. he was in the 98% for height; 93% for weight. He's always been a bit bigger than Mitchell was, so we'll see if that stays the same. Mitchell has always been more in the 70-80%.

His favorite foods are fruit (except bananas- he'll eat them sometimes, and other times- no thank you!), and bread.  This kid is crazy about bread.  Thankfully he'll eat just about anything as long as he can feed himself. It takes much more coaxing if it's something he can't feed himself.  As long as you can get one spoonful in his mouth- which is the hardest- he'll usually go for it. He also loves lasagna, muffins, oatmeal, and dry cereal for breakfast.

He has learned to clap his hands, wave hello and goodbye, and even says "ni-ni" sometimes when he's going to bed. He didn't learn to crawl til he was 10 months old.  Same as Mitch, which is funny to me, because Luke was up on his hands and knees since we was 8 months old, so I figured he'd start earlier, but nope.  And his approach to crawling was way different than Mitch's. Mitch learned army crawl first, and then figured out the knees.  Luke would get up on his hands and knees and then do this "inchworm" technique of lunging for an object and then getting back up on his hands and knees til he had lunged enough times to reach whatever it was he wanted. I didn't think he would learn the real crawling because he had figured out a system that worked for him, but he surprised me and figured out the knees part one day.

Smiling and laughing for the only person who can coax a good smile from him- Mitchell!

Luke's favorite person!

Loving bathtime, especially when Mom lays him down and he can kick his legs as hard as he can!

Since he was probably 4-5 months old, Luke has made this crazy face of clenching his jaws, throwing his arms out to the side, and shaking.  It almost always happens at meal time.  Although he used to do the "Luke shake" when Grandpa was holding him.  It used to be almost involuntary, but of course, as the months have passed and we've laughed so much when he does it, he'll do it on demand now.  I'm so glad I was able to catch it on camera one night.

First real snow

Mitchell has been so excited about the changing weather.  In November, we had a couple dustings of snow and each time he would excitedly proclaim, "It's Christmas!!" I'm not sure where he got the idea that when it snows that means it's Christmas.  It's kind of harsh to bring him back to reality.  He wanted to get all his winter clothes on for these little dustings of snow and play in it.  He was pretty deflated when he realized it wasn't all that great!  Well, when it snowed "for reals" the first time, we excitedly bundled him up and sent him out in the snow to play for reals.  I went out with him for a while, but since our snow stuff was still in storage at the time, I didn't last as long as he did.

Love it when the planets align and I get a really good picture of this kid!

See that mound of snow by Mitch? I didn't have any gloves on, so we made a baby snowman.

Snowball fight!

Gotta taste the snow, right?

Catching snowflakes.

And after building a snowman, throwing snowballs, tasting the snow, and catching snowflakes- what else is there left to do? Make a snow angel of course!

Hogle Zoo

One of the nicest things about Todd's job is that he gets every other Friday off.  It feels like a vacation when we get him home on those days! We sometimes have a plan for the day, and other times, we just hang out and enjoy some unstructured time together.

One Friday off in November when the weather was still decent, we headed down to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City.  I hadn't been there myself since I was a kid.  I thought it would be a good time of year to go since it always felt like the animals slept all the time in the heat of the summer. Turns out, animals are tired a lot of the year- warm or cold weather. That's okay.  There was still plenty to see.  My personal favorite was the gorillas.  They were playing with each other, chasing and climbing.  It was really cool to see that.  Mitchell's favorite was the pirate playground! He also loved the snakes and bats. Luke's favorite was the snacks we gave him while Mitchell played on said playground.

I feel like this perfectly encapsulates who Mitchell is- just sweet.  Sweetest 4 year old ever...mostly.

Who knew Orangutang's weren't all that huge?

This is the only otter that would hold still for a picture.

Did you know giraffe's only sleep for like 30 minutes per day?

Ladies, it could be worse. You could be an elephant.

Harvest Festival

A week or two before Halloween this year we took the boys up to Cache Valley (our future home someday...hopefully) for the Harvest Festival that the American West Heritage Center hosts. There was much to see and do: a 7-acre corn maze, a train, horse riding, a petting zoo, a gun fight, a giant slide, old pioneer games, a completely in-the-dark hay maze (not my favorite!) and a host of other activities. We had a great time and hope to go back to the same place next year. It was a beyond gorgeous day and made for some pretty pictures.

Look at that gorgeous sky! And that cute 4 year old!

First pony ride!

Caught in the jail on the train! Every kid's dream!

I can't decide who is cuter!

Look at that face!

Studying the map for the corn maze.

Todd took a bright-colored pen and found his way through the maze on paper. It worked like a charm.  He knew exactly where we were going the whole time.  The maze was cut in the shape of the headless horseman.  We knew we didn't want to get too lost in 7-acres of corn...with children.

Ohhhh!

These two are great to each other.  I hope this continues, especially as Luke grows through the naughty phases of a toddler!!

Loving playing with the straw.

Having a great time jumping in the hay!

No, no, no- that does not taste or feel good in my mouth! Yet...I continue to do it...

And hay jumping led to hay fighting!

Halloween!

My last post was on Halloween Day...but we hadn't taken a picture of Mitch in his adorable Buzz Lightyear costume yet! For a kid, Halloween and Christmas reign as the supreme celebrations of the year. Mitch is no exception.  He talks about Halloween for weeks prior and for weeks afterward.  Thanksgiving hasn't quite secured a place in his heart yet. Christmas is absolutely magical for a kid, but unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.  That's okay.  I was the same way and I grew out of it.  I trust Mitch will as well as the years go by.  I hope to establish a solid tradition of giving back at Christmas, but haven't been able to come up with anything consistent for our family quite yet.  Anyhow, I digress.

This year, for Halloween, I told myself that I'd let Mitchell eat his candy at will until it was all gone. After all, I was still recovering from the previous year when I held the candy hostage, and had incessant begging for weeks! There isn't much worse than a kid begging for candy every 1.7 seconds. So, my new system worked great.  He surprised me and actually paced himself.  It took him a good couple weeks to make it down to the last few Jolly Ranchers.

So, Mitch was Buzz Lightyear and an adorable one at that. Luke was nothing. Yes, I know, I will take crap about this for the rest of my life.  YOU'RE NOT DRESSING YOUR BABY UP FOR HIS FIRST HALLOWEEN??? Honestly, I'm just that much of a no-fuss kind of lady.  My response to these glares and daggers that bounced off me: Why dress up a baby who will be asleep by the time all festivities begin??

Mitch's costume was pretty thin and since we're back in Utah, I was pretty worried that he'd freeze to death in the chilly night air.  However, have no fear, my jubilant 4-year old RAN from house to house.  He just couldn't help himself.