The last 18 months....

Spring 2011: (Picking up from my last posts almost over 18 months ago) Right before Will was born, February of 2011 we moved to Providence Utah. Back to my home turf.  That was a hard move for me or should I say Eric where he had to move the majority of the stuff because I was about ready to pop. We left our cute home in Ogden for an apartment in Providence. It was a nice apartment that we moved to but I will always miss our home in Ogden and the friends and the experiences we had there in such a short time. Eric I were able to pick out everything in the Ogden home; from the layout, colors, carpets etc...but to move back to Providence and be closer to family was worth it. 

Three weeks later, March 13th, 2012, Will was born a week early. Will's arrival has been the biggest blessing and life changer for Eric and I. I kept saying I just wanted to wait and have this baby until we had everything in place for him and unpacked. As soon as the last shelf was hung in Will's soon-to-be room by my dad and Eric I went into Labor the next day. 

March 13th 2011 and the next few months...several months, are all a blur... They were my most challenging months I have ever experienced to this point in my life. I went back to work full time when Will was three months (maternity leave flew by), started school back up again to be able to do Behavior Supports for the company I work for, Eric was working, a full-time student while watching Will 9 to 5 everyday. I always felt so guilty and sad for myself that I couldn't be with Will as much as I wanted. I wanted do all the new mom things that I saw on Pinterest :) and I thought all other moms were for sure fitting them into their schedules. Professional pictures every three months, make his Halloween costume, make baby food from scratch, have a huge 1st Birthday party for him, spend mornings at the parks with him. Some of the stuff I managed to do that I thought were musts (huge 1st Birthday Party :)) but those "things" almost killed me and made me feel even more crazier. I had and have to work really hard to learn how to put first things. Most mornings on my way to work, I had to pull off the road near the temple and pray for peace that I could make it through the day. I would explain to my Father in Heaven that I didn't want to go to work, I was feeling bad, sad, felt I was missing out on my new baby, prayed for Eric and Will and hoped someday I could be home with Will and my life would be easier. I am sure he smiled when I was under the impression my life would be easier once home full-time. I always felt and knew He was aware of me, knew how I felt and lifted me up daily to make it. I couldn't have done the last 18 months without a Heavenly parent, HeavenlyFather, that had my best interests in mind, loved me, loved Will as much and as more as I do and cared for his well-being. I was so blessed that Eric could be home with him. Will and Eric had such great days together. Eric is such a great "dadda" and Will adores him. I have learned one thing, everyone told me with a new born that it only gets harder and so far I disagree. Now, at this point in my life, I am having so fun with my baby. I finally found some light at the end of this tunnel. I am finally getting sleep, kinda getting the hang of it and found that Will is quite durable :). I love looking at his little face when he is concentrating, happy, sad, content, wrestling with dad, learning and as he sleeps in my arms....and sleeping in my bed next to me. Yes, he's still in our bed. Were a little co-sleep'n family. We HAD to invest in a King Size bed when he was just a few months old because we found ourselves sleeping on the floor and Will enjoying the whole bed. He will sleep anywhere but if anyone knows me, when I am sleepy, to get enough "umf," to do anything is impossible. So to carry Will into his room when he fell asleep (I usually fell asleep putting him to bed) and wake up and walk to his room and feed him at night, was not an option for me. Eric will sometimes put Will in his own bed when he comes into bed and we are both taking over the sleeping quarters and there's no room for Eric in the inn and Will does fine in his big boy bed. We will need to transition him soon so we don't have two babies in bed with us. That would make for an interesting night; although, I swear my parent's had five kids in bed with when morning arrived growing up. One at a time, through out the night we would wander in. They had a huge old water bed and it could fit us all. 

Winter 2012: February 2012 we moved to a cute home near The Logan Country Club golf course. We love it up here. It's the perfect place to take walks. We have apple, plum, cherry and pear trees, we have tons of grapes, strawberries growing and mature trees and flowers everywhere. Every season we've had in this home brings new surprises and we never know what produce or flowers will pop up next. Our neighbors have treated us so good and we love our Ward. Right when we moved here in February my appendix ruptured before we had met our ward. I was in the Hospital for the next few days and after I was released we had dinner brought to our home by women in our Ward that were 3 to 4 times my age... 70, 80, 90...not an exaggeration. Eric said that we should call and say he's sick too and maybe they would've thrown in some extras. No doubt that they would've been right over. 

Spring 2012: March 13th 2012, Will turned 1! He was walking, talking (in his own language), smiling all the time and growing so big. Every doctor's appointment that we take him to they say he is going to be a football player, a line backer:). He always in the 90 plus percentile in height. He loves being around his cousins and I love to watch him interact with them. 

May 2012, yeah, I went to part time hours!!! Eric will soon be hired on as a full time rep for Northwestern Mutual where he's been an intern for the past year and a half, which means we can start getting our benefits through them making it possible for me to cut back on my hours where we are needing health insurance from my work anymore. Eric and I are still in school and still busy but I love working part time versus of full time. I hope to never go back to full time hours while being a mom with young babies. 

 Summer 2012: We had a blast at Bear Lake, having my sister Laurie and her family visit us the month of July from Missouri, swimming at my Grandma's pool, attempting to grow our first garden (failed), eating cherries from my dads cherry trees, spending summer days in my parent's back yard, Lagoon, celebrating my Brother Jeff and his new wife's wedding, Bryce Canyon hiking and swimming and visiting Eric's sister in Hawaii.  This summer we also found out that I was pregnant with our second babe. I am now (September 30th 2012)16 weeks pregnant. I am hoping this time around proves to be a little easier or just not almost kill me. Am I ready for this? When life gets a little more calm I guess it's time to mix it up again. Throw in some more game pieces.

Fall 2012: As much as I love summer, this fall has been so beautiful and I think I can officially says that fall is now my favorite season. I love the fall candles, the fall candy (M&M Candy Corns), football, the crisp cool air, the leaves in Sardine Canyon, having to wear a jacket, playing outside and walks with Will. And the best think about this Fall is, I finished the course work to become a BCABA for my work and took the Board Exam last Tuesday. I am done!!! Well, if I pass I am done but I am done for now at least with studying. That's freed up so much more time so I can more fully enjoy this time of year.  Eric Finishes up school this semester and will continue to work with Northwestern Mutual. He loves his job, understands it and works hard to learn more about it and works hard at it. 

  The end...........

34 Weeks! 6 more to go and the lessons to learn.

Okay, so I could hit myself for complaining of being in discomfort at 25 weeks on my blog. I didn't know what was a head of me. I used to look at pregnant people waddling around, arching their backs and standing up to stretch every ten minutes and think, "oh suck it," it's not that bad. I am a stupid girl. It is that bad! :) I will never judge another pregnant person again, even if they are doing a head stand to get a moment of relief.

I have a feeling, that I realized from this pregnancy experience, that I need to start now and that is; I will not judge any mom that I see doing anything. In the past I would see moms doing random things or going against all the parenting skills that I learned in school not to do and think, "Oh when I am a mom, I will NEVER do that," but now I know, I probably will, I might be "that" mom.

I might sneak my child a sucker when they are screaming their head off in the grocery store and I have to finish getting groceries for dinner after a long day work and I might slide the binki into their mouth after the age I have been reading in parenting books is absolutely unacceptable when I just need them to stop crying for a few seconds to regain my sanity and I might even let my kids nibble on their food through out the day if I feel they have not gotten enough even though I want them eating on a fixed schedule like I was taught was essential to do in my Applied Behavior Analysis Class. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And this is just the beginning of my lessons learned being a new mom and I am not even one yet.

25 weeks done 15 more to go!

Yeah!!!! 25 weeks. I think it's finally hitting the uncomfortable part of the pregnancy for me. I sit and the middle of my back aches, I stand/walk and my right hip and buttocks area hurts :) and people say it only gets worse.

Getting ready for work is my favorite event of the day. As I get ready in the morning I try on one thing and throw it to the floor. Grab another shirt that used to be my favorite, stretch it out to see if that makes me look better, throw it to the ground thinking to myself, "can't pull that off anymore." Go into the bathroom and apply more makeup thinking that will help my clothes look more chic. Try on shoes with a little height to spruce things up and that just makes my hip hurt. "Oh, I know, a cardigan", that will shirley do the trick but now what shirt to go under??? 8:35 a.m., now I am late. I grab the first thing I threw on the floor that morning, put it on and run out the door.

I know I sound like a complainer but I actually find this experience more comical and exciting than painful. It's definitely a different out of body experience. I think it's amazing what our bodies are capable of doing even if that causes my belly button to elongate:)

We are so excited for our new addition and it has been so much fun getting the babies room together, trying to think of a name and anticipating what it's going to be like to be parent's. Only time will tell.

Baby on The Way!!!

We went in for our 20 week ultra sound on November 1st and along with finding that our baby is healthy and growing as it should, we also found that we are having a BABY BOY! "I knew it," I said as I looked at Eric who was sitting quietly next to me, not saying a word. As we were in the appointment and walking out of the Hospital I think it finally hit both Eric and I that this was real and we both have no idea what we are doing.

As we watched the TV and the ultra sound tech pointed out the baby's feet, head, face, arms, legs, and inform us of his gender, I thought he was the cutest thing I had ever seen. However, I did notice that it's lips did seem to stick out further that his sweet nose :) He may have my big lips already, poor thing.

We are looking forward to March 20th!!!

So cute!

Our new baby! My sister sent this picture to me the other day. She said she thinks my future child will look like this :) I can only hope. She said the baby had Eric's hair and my face. It made me laugh.

Photoshoot

I am not sure if it's because we are both uncomfortable smiling for the camera or just a little off but we both always pull faces for the camera. I know I need to get over this but, I tend to get so embarrassed when I have to smile for the camera, especially, when I know others are watching so normally pull some kind of strange face (as if this helps take the focus off of me...it probably makes it worse). We have several pictures of Eric and I pulling random faces for pictures. Thought I would post some of our famous ones.

When I can't sleep...you get updated 4:24 am

Eric and I had quite the adventures while dating and getting to know each other. This posting is featuring our first road trip to Las Vegas with a few of our friends. This was in the beginning when Eric was just off his mission. I don't know if we were officially dating at this point, but we thinking each other were pretty cool :) Poor Eric drove us all down to St. George while I slept...surprise, not really. I have no control of when or where I fall asleep. I take after my dad in that aspect. I can be in mid sentence and then gone. I am and was always the first one asleep as slumber parties as a little girl. I always joke that it was a blessing because I never had the opportunity to get in trouble.
I know Vegas is Sin City but I love it! I love watching people, walking around in warm weather, going into huge elaborate hotels, the Stratosphere and seriously most of all the buffets (and that I can contribute to my Grandpa Davis who gains 15 pounds while on cruises because it's free and he is going to get his money's worth). We went to the the biggest buffet I have ever seen. We stayed there for 3 hours and just rested in the cool hotel.
Patty and I loved the Las Vegas sun after a long winter in Cache Valley; however,
Eric on the other hand, hadn't had his body exposed to sun for over two years. He served his mission in the Philippines where it's hot and humid but his arms, legs and chest were suffering. He wrapped towels around his head, wore my sunglasses and hid under canopies.