Happy Birthday Clara!

I can't believe that my baby is 2! Clara's Birthday was on Friday, July 15th. What a joy it is to be a mom. Clara our little buddy.

I didn't go hog wild in the party planning department because I wasn't sure if we'd have another baby by then. However, I did splurge a little on her gift - a Bitty Baby from the American Girl Doll collection. She has been sleeping with it every night, reading to it, feeding it, and wheeling it around in a brand new stroller that her aunt Erinn gave her.





This girl can't get enough of horses so we decided to take her to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point and let her go wild. The pony rides were by far her favorite.


It was a very simple, but fun day.

Just a quick update: No baby yet! We were so relieved that Abigail decided not to make an appearance on Clara's birthday (despite the fact that I was having some good contractions the night before!). I am at a 3 and my doctor is scratching his head as to why I'm still pregnant.

If she hasn't come by this Thursday they are going to induce me, so we'll see what happens. I really hope she decides to come on her own! Clara was the same way - I was literally 36 hours away from being induced and she made up her mind to come. I guess they just get a little too comfortable in there!

New House, New Haircut, One Cute Little Girl

I'm a little embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get pictures up of our new house! That being said, we were so busy working on the house to make it look nice that it was easy to let it slip my mind (besides, I didn't want to take pictures until we'd cleaned it up a little!).

So here is our home. We love it. We feel so blessed to be here. Our ward is amazing, our neighbors both have little girls close to Clara's age, and we have the most gorgeous view of Utah Lake and the valley I've ever seen. We want to stay here for a long time.
It feels a little surreal to have our own home after being in the basement for three years, but we knew it was time for our family to move on. It will be wonderful bringing our new addition back to a home instead of an apartment!
Speaking of the new addition, we've got 5 weeks left till D-Day and couldn't be more excited for her to arrive. I don't think that I've mentioned this before, but her name is Abigail. It's so funny to me that we were so hesitant to pick a name with Clara; with this one we just knew, this was our baby Abigail. It's been good for Clara to be able to associate a name with this mystery baby - not that it is any easier for her to understand, but at least "Abigail" isn't as abstract as "the baby." When she meet's Abigail, I think it might make the association that this is "our baby" a little easier.

I also got a new haircut! My hair was long when I had Clara and I couldn't bear the thought of having long hair this time around, especially when I break into a sweat in our mild 75 degree weather. So I chopped it. One of my neighbors cut my hair and she did a fabulous job. I love it! The weird thing is that my hair keeps getting darker even though we are spending more and more time out in the sun; just another bizarre quirk of pregnancy!

• My latest cravings have been Walmart brand fruit snacks - the tropical flavors. I go through four packs a day like it's nothing. I also have LOVED strawberry ice cream.
• I can't get enough peaches, strawberries, and grapes - something that Clara has been enjoying a great deal as well.
  
• Even though I get tired at 9:00, I don't end up going to bed until midnight because by then I am tired enough to sleep through the night.
  
• A bunch of pelvic pressure has made walking very interesting a times. It's a little scary when it feels like she's just going to fall out!
• Regular contractions have, yet again, become regular part of the regimen. I guess I just like making sure my body is really ready to go into labor.

Even though a lot of this sounds like I'm whining, I really love being pregnant. I'm really looking forward to having a newborn again, even though I'm sure it will be a challenge with a 2-year-old. Clara is a really good girl though, and I'm sure once we get through the drama phase she'll be an awesome helper with Abigail.
Speaking of, here is a picture of our gorgeous little girl. She is growing up so fast. I love to put her hair in pigtails. It just makes me and Joe happy.

26 weeks!

Almost to the third trimester! Wahoo!

We are a happy family!

I have a couple funny stories.

1. We were having family night. I'd make cookies that day so we decided we were going to take a plate over to our bishop's house. I covered the plate in tin foil so Clara wouldn't know what we were giving them and make a scene. I was really excited to see if she would give them the plate willingly (I was pretty sure she would). So we got to the bishop's house, gave Clara the plate when she got out of the car, let her carry it up to the door, and we rang the doorbell. After standing there for a minute or two Clara was ready to head home so she turned around with the cookies and started walking away. We decided to leave the plate on the doorstep, so we brought her back and had her set it down. As we were walking away she got so upset that we were just leaving that plate there she started crying and screaming bloody murder. The further away we got from the plate, the louder she screamed. Joe and I couldn't help but just bust up laughing....so much for secret service. The whole neighborhood knew we were there. I could just picture the neighboors peeking out their windows to see if anything was seriously wrong. So much for a spiritual FHE!

2. The other night we went in to check on Clara and we found her like this:


Joe gave me this giant stuffed dog for Valentine's day when we were dating. Clara loves the thing and somehow hauled it up in her bed so she could sleep with it. This has happened three nights in a row now. She absolutely adores animals so one of these days we'll have to figure out what would be an appropriate pet for her. I haven't quite determined what it should be yet...

We also have some fun news. We are buying a house! We close on it this Friday, and will be moving in the 30th of April. We feel really blessed because everything just seemed to work out really well. We'd been saving for a little while, and with the way the market is right now, we felt like it was a good time for us to buy. We found a foreclosure out in Saratoga Springs that far exceeded our expectations for our first home. The bank replaced all the carpets and repainted everything in the house so it is basically move-in ready. The yard needs a lot of work, but Joe and I don't mind doing that kind of stuff. We couldn't be more thrilled with what we got for our money and are excited that we'll be able to stay in this house for a long time. I'll get some pictures up when I can.

Pregnancy Downer...

This is two nights in a row now that I have woken up in the middle of the night, totally awake and haven't been able to go back to sleep. It drives me nuts! Am I really already to that stage? I thought that wasn't supposed to come until later on!

I've entertained myself by reading (Joe got me a Kindle DX for my birthday so that makes it really fun) and eating (that's the other weird part is that I've been starving). I've also been thoroughly entertained by Joe. He does some crazy things in his sleep! My favorite was last night when he rolled over and said, "Well what are you going to do about it." I think I almost wet my pants I was laughing so hard.

The hardest part is when I get to the middle of the day, after I put Clara down for her nap and I can hardly keep my eyes open, but I don't want to take a nap so I don't have to do this all again that night. Does anyone have any advice? I am kind of at a loss here...

On the upside, my energy is still great. I am switching between yoga and another prenatal workout every morning and just love them! Cravings have quelled, so anything sounds good. Joe can finally feel the baby move (and wow is this girl active!).

I was really enjoying this stage of pregnancy...until about two nights ago;)

It's Official!

Well, it's official...we are having another GIRL! We couldn't be more excited. It's funny because when Joe and I were watching the ultrasound, we could already tell how different this one is going to be. Can't wait for her to come!

Her Mother's Daughter

I went into Clara's room one morning a few weeks ago and this is what I saw.

That's right...two binkis! The weird part is that when I was little I wanted to have two as well. One to suck on and the other to poke in my eye. Apparently this bizarre trait is genetic...