Pregnancy Update

I had my 26 week appointment yesterday (actually it was 26 weeks and 4 days).  My doctor had us do an ultrasound to make sure the small cyst on the baby's brain had shrunk or gone away.  As suspected it was completely gone.  The baby is measuring exactly on par with his estimated due date so that's encouraging (sort of... James did too and weighed 6 lbs 6 oz at 3 1/2 weeks early... If I carry this baby until he chooses to come I might be birthing a giant!!!).  I can't believe 10 weeks from this point in James' pregnancy I was giving birth to him!  I had to take that disgusting glucose test yesterday.  It was kinda like drinking otter pop juice (way too sugary for me) and it made Matthew hyperactive for an eternity afterward.  My doctor's nurse called with the results today.  My glucose levels are great (yippee!) but I have and iron difficiency.  I wasn't exactly surprised since I was with James too but I'm not too happy about having to swallow one more pill a day.  I'm going to try to increase the amount of iron rich foods I eat (spinach and such).  I still refuse to eat red meat (which I will never again consume so long as I live) but there are other sources of iron out there. 

Seeing the baby and how big he's getting on that ultrasound screen is making me realize how fast he'll be getting here!  I still have quite a bit of preparations to do before he arrives!  I need to organize all my baby clothes (which are currently shoved into a zillion different totes in the garage not at all according to size), I have some sewing to do (nursing cover, car-seat drape, a lightweight robe for nursing and such, quilts for the crib and James' bed, etc), sanitizing of all my current baby items (crib, buggy, toys, carseat, etc), and I got a bunch of stuff to buy!  We will need another dresser (James' clothes barely fit into the one we have and there is no way I can force baby clothes in there too!), I need a good baby carrier of some sort (since I have a 2 year old that will require me to be much more active than I was when he was a baby), and either a bouncer seat or a swing (both of which I never had for James but know will be greatly needed for this baby).  It adds up pretty quick and it's a little concerning to have this many purchases for a baby on top of all the holiday expenses but as always, I know things will work out. 

I am still planning to have this baby as naturally as possible.  I am still very much convinced that as long as I don't have to be induced (and strapped to a bed) I will be able to go without an epidural this delivery.  Everyone I know who has given birth naturally says the recovery time is incredibly faster.  Since I recover so slowly from any sort of anesthetic I am more than motivated to give it my best shot.  I have been told by a large amount of women that this is a ridiculous goal but what many people fail to realize is that I have an insanely high pain tolerance!  I am quite committed to try it and the more I'm told I won't be able to the more I commit to do it!!!!

Halloween!

This year we had an awesome Halloween!  Halloween fell on a Saturday and there was no school on Friday (due to end of term) so James and I were able to spend Halloween Eve at my parent's house carving pumpkins and prepping my dad's graveyard with my little sister Laura and my two cousins Alexis and Samuel (who live in the top half of the house I'm currently living in).  Although pumpkin carving is a standard tradition for many families during the Halloween season my family takes it to a whole new level.  We carved over 25 pumpkins this year!  My mom keeps a folder full of cutout patterns of the best pumpkins from past years.  My dad takes halloween very seriously so the pumpkins have to be carved at a higher level of quality than many carved pumpkins.  We were carving from about 11 am until 8 pm!  (We didn't carve straight through the entire time but when all was said and done there was pumpkin goo all over my moms kitchen for most of the day).  James insisted on carving his own pumpkin (since everyone was carving their own).  My family uses official pumpkin carvers rather than knives so there was no threat of him damaging himself with a knife.  As you can see from the pictures he took it very seriously and tried his hardest to do it unaided.

When James and I had finished with our part of the pumpkin carving we went outside to take some daytime pictures of my dad's graveyard.  He has been doing his graveyard since I was tiny and every year he works to make it better than the past year.  He spends hundreds on new dead dummies, candles, fog machines, glow sticks, scarecrows, and about any other thing he can find that works in an outdoor graveyard.  For what it's worth his house is the busiest on the street and we often get people who drive to our house specifically.  James loved taking pictures in the graveyard.  All month he's been seeing the graveyard slowly be put up and come to be and he is obsessed with "wow-ween" as he calls it.

On Halloween Andrew worked at the Rio Tinto stadium from 12pm until 4pm so and I spent the day (again) at my parents.  We were actually able to finish the Sleepy Hollow scarecrow (from Tim Burton's movie) that my dad has been wanting since he first saw the movie.  It was quite a pain and we came pretty close to zero hour but I think it turned out great.  At the very least my dad was happy with it.  At about 5pm we took pictures with our trick-or-treating group (consisting of a few of my cousins, some neighbors, and the "help" for around my dad's graveyard).  James was Batman this year (I figured he would love having a cape... which he did... and does...)  I sewed the costume myself but I think it turned out pretty good.  The fact that he is an adorable 2 year old helped. 

James really got into this trick-or-treating ritual.  He refused to let me push him in the stroller for the first couple hours and insisted on running from doorstep to doorstep.  He'd run up totally excited and yell "treat-treat" and knock on the door.  He also very faithfully said "Dank-do" after each candy "gift".  He got twice as much as everyone else more than once since he was so stinking cute!  Eventually he wore out enough he'd allow me to push him but it took awhile for the energetic, over-excited 2 year old to get tired enough to need a ride.

All said and done he got over two and a half pounds of candy.  Mom was happy! (as was daddy).  More candy for us!  I also stole candy for the prize calendar countdown to Christmas my family does (once the house is cleaned you get to open a small present that hangs on a countdown calendar).   He still has a bunch to eat now though.  We went home late and James went to bed.  Andrew and I were able to unwind to the thrilling Halloween classic "Ghostbusters".  All and all a good night.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Yes I know I am WAY behind...

Well, it has been AGES since I last posted anything (so much for catching up in my last post!) I guess that's what happens when you don't have access to the internet on any sort of a regular basis. Now that I have my netbook I am going to try to be far better.

I am indeed pregnant. A whole 24.5 weeks pregnant. I am due February 6, 2010 and we are having a boy we will name Matthew Christopher Hiller (Andrew and I are in a disagreement about what he will be called. I like Matty and he hates it. He likes plain old Matt which I think is far too grown up a name for my baby boy. I guess he'll just have to learn to respond to 2 different names. You choose which one you like and call him that-- FYI- Matty is far better;-). I can't believe I'm almost to my 3rd trimester! I definitely have a baby bump and it is starting to get horribly awkward to do many of my normal activities and chores. I do still spend hours on the floor each day playing cars, little people, blocks, games, or any other number of "fun" things with James. The getting down part isn't so bad... it's getting up again afterward. I am about ready to turn toy clean up into Andrew's job due to the fact that I am panting by the time I finish and feel like someone has punched me in the stomach. James has no clue what is about to happen to his happy, only child world. He likes babies (a little too roughly sometimes but his intentions are good) but I'm not sure how much that novelty affection will last when mommy has to be shared all day. I know they'll be great friends once Matthew grows up enough to play with James but that will require some waiting to reach that point.

James is getting HUGE! He runs, jumps (off of EVERYTHING), spins, swings, digs in the sand, plays hard, and talks like a chatter box! He's very motivated to learn. He's only a little over 2 years old and already has all the standard colors learned. He is currently working on learning how to spell his name. He's got it pretty close too. He says "G" instead of "J" and throws in a "D" instead of "M" but I guess since he's 2 will let that slide. It's horribly adorable in any case. One of his latest favorite things to do is boss our poor dog Mandi around. All day long I get to listen to "Puppy NO!", "Puppy here!" and "Puppy outside!" Mandi usually just cowers and tries to hide from him (which does not deter my determined 2 year old in the slightest). I guess it's better to boss the puppy than a younger sibling so hopefully he gets most of his bossiness out on her before February rolls around.

I am still knitting like a mad woman on a mission and working on writing my book. Progress in the book department was also delayed due to a lack of reliable computer to work on but my netbook solves that problem too so hopefully I can really get cracking on it. I have until June 2011 to get a good readable draft ready for proof reading by friends and family (that's when my brother Robbie gets home from his mission and I promised him I'd have it ready for him to read when he got home). I have also decided (just in this past week) that my window for finishing the many sewing projects I want to get done for James and the baby is rapidly closing as my baby bump expands. As a result I was braving JoAnn's (the fabric store) during their crazy sale this weekend getting fabric for James' Halloween costume, a birthday present, and a car seat drape for the new baby. I also have the materials to make a nursing cover and need to get that finished too. Luckily none of those sewing projects are too intense or extreme so hopefully I'll manage. I was planning on sewing a new diaper bag for when the new baby arrives (the last one I made, although very cute, is dying at an alarming rate) but I decided to say forget it and will probably just buy one sometime between now and February. It's nice having baby #2 since you already have most of the baby items you need. I do still want to get a baby bouncer seat, a baby swing, a playpen, and baby carrier since I didn't have any of those things for James and always wished I did. Maybe we'll have to buy Matthew Christmas presents this year even though he won't be around yet...

Andrew is good but work is crazy and he also has a part time job at the soccer stadium in Sandy. I don't see him much the days he works both but the extra money is nice and I think he enjoys the change in environment. I do know he doesn't complain about it too much and most always gets free food. Can't complain about that right?

Well, sorry there's no pics but since this computer is only a few days old I haven't begun to have the chance to upload any photos. I will try to get pictures of James and my baby belly up on here before too long (at the latest after Halloween). As for pictures of Andrew... well... no promises!!!

Catching Up...

It has been way too long since I updated this blog! I will try to do a Reader's Digest condensed update for all of you.

February 12-16 we went to Phoenix to attend a surprise birthday party for Andrew's Aunt Kathy. I was really excited to get a break from Salt Lake (especially since it was February) and get some sun and warmth. I was a little worried about spending so much time with Andrew's family in Phoenix since I'd barely met any of them but it ended up being great! Will and Kathy and their kids are awesome! They helped us feel more than at home in their fabulous home in Scottsdale.

Andrew got to work at the American Express campus on Friday and had a great time visiting with his co-worker Deb. James and I had fun shopping that morning and met up with Andrew and Deb for lunch. That night was Kathy's party and we spent the afternoon helping with clean-up, set-up, and decorating for the party. When the party finally arrived we enjoyed food, music, dancing, great company, and a very excited and happy Aunt Kathy. Needless to say we all were very excited to get to bed after such a fun-packed day!

The rest of the weekend was equally enjoyable. We spent a bunch of time just talking and watching movies, I got in some knitting, we went on walks, we found an awesome park for James to play at, Will and Kathy took us to lunch one day, and Andrew was even able to help ordain his cousin Taylor to be an Elder that Sunday in church (the rest of the church block we spent in nursery helping Will and Kathy with their amazingly well behaved class). It was a lovely weekend and we were all sad for it to end and for us to have to return home.

March 25-30 we went on a vacation with my family (meaning my Mom and Dad, sisters Melissa and Laura, and my brother Robbie) to sunny California and Disneyland! Since my brother is leaving on a mission on June 2nd we decided we wanted to go on a big vacation somewhere exciting (preferably with water). California it was! We spent the majority of our time in Disneyland and we all had a blast. James' first ride in the park was Pirates of the Caribbean followed by Haunted Mansion (a good start if you ask me). He loved the Bugs Life area in California Adventure (especially the water section in the heat of the day) and any ride with a steering wheel and he was completely awestruck on It's a Small World. He didn't quite understand the concept of waiting in line but somehow always figured out a way to entertain himself (either by hanging on someone, climbing on the railings, being cute to attract the attention of other line waiting people, etc.) We decided to pick a hotel that was close to the park so we could walk in and not have to worry about paying for parking. Our hotel was right across the street from the park... and it took us almost a half hour every day to hike in. I guess that's the joy of a big amusement park. Across the street doesn't mean its close.

Friday (Robbie's 19th Birthday) after most of a full day at the park, we met up with my dad's cousin Debbie, her boyfriend Steve, and her daughter Lisa for dinner. We LOVE seeing Debbie and Lisa and were really excited to meet Steve who we'd heard so much about. They took us to Buca di Beppo (AMAZING!) and afterward we went to their apartment to play with Steve's telescope and talk some more. We met their adorable dogs Smooch and Baby. Smooch (a russell terrier) was adorable and James got to play fetch with him all night. Baby (a pit bull mix) was sweet and nice too.

Saturday we went to the beach! James played in the ocean until he was blue (and even then didn't want to stop). After he had dried off, James played with Andrew and Robbie in the sand (I was busy playing like a giddy ten year old in the ocean still). I found a bunch of sea shells (even a whole sand dollar), we all got some sun, and we ate amazing ice cream sandwiches. It was awesome! That evening, after we had cleaned up at the hotel, we went back to Disneyland and bought some souveniers and watched the firework show. (This was my mom's turn to be as excited as a ten year old!)

Sunday we headed home and sadly watched the temperature drop 40 degrees within a period of one hour! We spent sunday night in Cedar City at my Grandparent's and got home monday!

Easter was a fun ordeal for us this year too! We got a wonderful Easter basket for James from Dave and Angela full of trucks, trains, and a puppy! I gave Andrew Yes Man and he got me a fun new Easter shirt! We had a great time at Dave and Ang's for their annual Easter pot luck and egg hunt. We ate so much food we nearly burst and James loved finding the Easter eggs. His favorite eggs were the huge decorative ones they had out for decorations! I knit James a sweater vest for his Easter outfit (to go with a shirt he had from the Children's Place.) He looked AWESOME and I had the satisfaction of knowing I made it!

Well, this is only a very VERY brief depiction of the past few months. I chose to spotlight the big events but we did more than travel. All in all, life is great! We are happy! Sorry it took so long to post!

James and THE DOG...

Well, we've been asked by some, "Where is a picture of James and Mandi?" We finally found one. Since James is typically tormenting Mandi and bitting her, it's really rare to see them both sitting still with each other. So here ya go.

TagEd- 8 Things

I'm joining the TagEd - Your it now! Here are the rules:
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the six '8' items
3) Let each person know by leaving them a comment.

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1) The Office
2) CSI: Miami
3) Law and Order: SVU
4) Lost (but I am WAY behind on watching)
5) Painting with Bob Ross (I seriously work it into my schedule to watch! So relaxing and brilliant!)
6) Jay Leno
7) Still Standing
8) Two and a Half Men (it's pretty dirty but stinking hilarious!)
9) Nature shows (any of them really...)
10) Anything that keeps James entertained and not meddling for more than 10 minutes (Barney, Martha Speaks, Word Girl, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, Cyberchase, etc.)

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1) Attended a baby shower for Andrew's cousin.
2) Attended a baby shower for another one of Andrew's cousins.
3) Bought a Dyson vacuum that I am in love with.
4) Went on a spending spree (make-up, a new rug, pens, a pencil holder...)
5) Read an awesome book I just bought called Your First Novel (yes, I AM a writer and I AM writing a novel... and it will be amazing!)
6) Had some AMAZING chicken and asparagus made by my wonderful husband for dinner.
7) Had a "girl's night" with my two sisters (pretty much we went to the ghetto mall VF and watched Melissa buy stuff , bought ice cream that we never ended up eating, and then fell asleep to King Kong. It sounds lame but was pretty fun).
8) Decorated some more for St. Patrick's Day.

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:
1) Warmer weather so James and I can party at the park all day.
2) Having another baby (whenever it decides it's finally ready to come--- no I am not pregnant... yet)
3) Finishing my knitting projects.
4) Winning Publisher's Clearing House (or other such something that will give me lots of money).
5) My trip to Disneyland with my family in March!
6) Publishing my book.
7) Finishing my Slim in 6 program without cheating.
8) Going to school as an English major and actually finishing it!

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1) Olive Garden
2) Johnny Carino's
3) Texas Roadhouse
4) Souper Salad
5) KFC (not a restaurant really but after working there in college I still crave the greasy, unhealthy food).
6) Noodles and Company
7) Panda Express (again not a restaurant but AMAZING)
8) Apollo Burger (to die for)

8 Things on my Wish List:
1) To get pregnant
2) To get out of debt completely
3) To get into a house
4) To get Andrew and I completely done with school
5) OK, I'll say it... a million dollars would be pretty sweet... this is a wish list
6) To be able to loose weight by thinking about it and in about a day or so...
7) My own office/craft room
8) A Honda Pilot or a Toyota Highlander.

8 People I Tag:
1) Holly
2) Savannah
3) Jonathan
4) Mariel
5) Melissa (seriously get a blog...)

Just One of Those Days

What a day! You know those days where nothing seems ok? When everything seems to fall to pieces and you feel completely helpless? I had one of those days today. In one sudden moment a happy Sunday turned... well... just BLAH. I found out today one of my major plans for my future had fallen through and things would not be progressing in my life as I had hoped they would. I don't exactly handle disappointment well and became rather emotional about it all... and my poor husband fell victim to that. We had a bit of a negative encounter before church today (which was sadly initiated by me and left me feeling a million times worse than I had been feeling in the first place). It was largely a miscommunication (on my part) and over something unimportant and since I was upset already I blew things way out of proportion. I felt bad about it just a few minutes after it had passed but was too proud (and annoyed) to admit fault and apologize.

Well, we went to church (we were attending my cousin's mission homecoming) and went to my Uncle's for the luncheon afterward. I was still feeling emotional and tired (which happens when you only had 5.5 hours of sleep the previous night) so we ditched out fairly early and went to my parents' house where James could play more easily, Andrew could change out of his church clothes and surf the internet, and I could catch a much needed nap. I slept for awhile and woke feeling as emotional as I had before I slept. We played games with my family (I lost horribly) and I went back to my cozy zone (curled on the couch with a comfy blanket). That was about the time I lost it (for the first time this evening). Trying to do so unnoticed by my family I started crying and couldn't stop. My family (mainly my mom, sisters, and James) tried to calm me. Embarrassed of being caught crying I forced myself to stop and pretend I was ok.

When I got home I lost it again. James kept blowing me kisses and trying to give me loves to make me feel better and my sweet husband (who I had been so wretched to earlier that day) kept trying to figure out ways to make me feel better. He cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, changed James' diaper, entertained James, offered to get me anything I could think of, even offered to give me a make-over (which I must admit would've been rather terrifying and humorous).

Like most hormonal females (yes, I was PMS-ing... alot) once I had got my dose of crying in I felt much better. I was still disappointed and still a bit sad but I had dumped my emotional garbage can and once again had space to handle the events of life.

This entry is mostly to publicly announce to Andrew that I was wrong. I know I was and I know I treated you horribly. I am SO sorry! It was also to let everyone know just how forgiving and wonderful my husband is and how wacky I can get. I really am a nice person but like anyone can have bad days. If you catch me on one of those days I am sorry! I try my hardest to not let my garbage rub off on anyone else.

Andrew- I love you more than anything and you mean the world to me. Thanks for keeping me laughing and for working so hard to support our family. XOXO!!!

A Day Out

Every January we have a warm up period in our weather here in Utah. Tempratures rise and our air gets more and more polluted. Yesterday was one of those warmer days and I decided to brave the horrible air quality outside and take James to the park. Since I had found some old bread the day before (while organizing our pantry) I decided to take him to Murray Park to play and feed the ducks. Since James ADORES his Uncle Robbie (who did not work yesterday and will soon be going on a mission for two years) he came too!

When we got to the park we didn't find too many ducks. We did, however, find gaggles of geese! James wasn't too sure about feeding them at first but rapidy caught on and started enjoying it. The initially cautious geese slowly gathered closer and closer until we were completely surrounded and there were even some geese eating out of our hands!

Once the bread ran out we headed for the park. On the way there we found a muskrat scurrying around on the grass. He froze as soon as we caught sight of him. He was HUGE!

The park was a riot. Since James was not walking before it started to cool off last fall, this was only his second or third trip to the park. He LOVED it! He kept squealing and giggling and running around. Thankfully everything was dry enough he didn't get completely soaked. He loved the slides (especially the big one he went down with Uncle Robbie over and over), the spinning cup thing (the last two pics in the slide show), running around at random, and attempting to make friends with the other kids at the park.

When I tried to get him to stop and have some picnic lunch he threw a fit. All I could get him to eat was apple juice, a few gummie fruit snacks, and a couple potato chips (talk about a meal of champs!)

All in all we were there for almost an hour and a half. James still was heartbroken when we left. Guess I'll have to watch the weather for more clear days when we can go to the park again!

PS- After all this excitement we ALL (yes, this includes Robbie and myself) went home and took a nap. Parks are tiring!

Random Family Pics

Everyone be very amazed. Getting a picture of Andrew is about as hard as photographing wild zebras in Utah and getting one with him facing the camera is even harder but I did it! This is my darling hubby with his hippy hair. Isn't he cute?

These next few pictures are of my biggest helper. James has decided he loves to clean with mommy (which means he steals all of my brooms, dusters, and mops and sits or stands directly in front of me so I can not get any cleaning done). We've found that the swiffer works best for him since it's small enough he can actually handle it. The mop and broom and still a bit to big. I'm sure that about the time he is actually able to really help cleaning he will have decided cleaning is no longer fun so I guess I should enjoy this while it lasts!

James is sure my buddy. I'm lucky to be able to be home with such a happy 1 year old every day. The conversations are usually one-sided (meaning either I am talking to James and he ignores me and keeps playing or he jabbers to me in some baby dialect I cannot understand). Luckily James is learning new words all the time. His current vocab list is: puppy (his favorite word), hi, mama, dada, baby, wawa (Aunt Laura), obbie (Uncle Robbie), Gama (Grandma), Gama (Grandpa- he hasn't quite figured out how to work in the p), mo (more- which is always doubled with a pointing finger and applies to anything he sees or wants), dit-do (thank you- he is very good at being grateful), bah (bonk- he says this anytime he falls or hits his head), no, and his latest word is bye which he loudly proclaims to anyone who puts on a jacket or coat or heads toward a door. My poor sister Melissa doesn't have a name easy enough for James to say so for the present she is nameless to James (Andrew is trying to convince James to call her Auntie Poop-poop... Melissa doesn't approve).