Thomas' Baptism

Being as Thomas turned 8 this year, the next big event was his baptism! In the LDS faith, kids are baptized when they're 8. It's considered an "age of accountability" and is a pretty neat event. We had his on Saturday, September 24th. The place was packed- we had lots of family come, but being as it was a Stake baptism day, 8 kids from other wards were also being baptized. Thankfully, we got to go first!

Adrian performed the baptism as family gathered around and watched. We felt so blessed to have so many family members there! This side of the family is getting pretty big! I remember when there was only adults...now the kids outnumber us!

We had a luncheon across the street at the clubhouse afterwards. It was a fun occasion. Long day, but fun!

Thomas' 8th Birthday!

Thomas turned 8 in early September and we had a little family party to celebrate. I'd say something all mushy like, "my widdle baby turned 8!" but seriously- look at him! He's not my little baby anymore! He hasn't been to the Dr for a while, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was still in the 90+% for height. He's skinny though- really, look at Adrian and I. The kid doesn't have a chance. {None of them do!}

Thomas has decided over the last couple months that he doesn't like chocolate. Sure he still eats it all the time, but it's his new thing. So he wanted a chocolate-less cake. His favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles, so I suggested a cinnamon cake and he was sold. I even made white-chocolate cinnamon letters and shapes for decorations. He loved it!

His birthday was on a Sunday this year- and one that we had plans to go see a baby blessing on- so we celebrated a lot the Saturday beforehand. Adrian is so creative. He had this idea to suspend yarn all over the house in a maze-like game that Thomas followed to get to his presents. I had in my head what he was planning, but his plans were a bit larger. He strung that yarn EVERYWHERE. Thomas woke up, Adrian explained what he had to do and my word, Thomas was SO into it! It took him a good 40 minutes to follow all the yarn around the house, then he finally got to open some presents! All while following the yarn he'd roll it up into this perfect little yarn ball. He apparently has WAY more patience than I do! I gave up watching after 10 minutes and went to make breakfast.

We took the kids, one of Thomas' friends as well as Kory, Raz and their family to a bounce house place to celebrate Thomas' birthday. The pictures are terrible, but the place was really fun. The verdict is out as to who had a better time though- Kory and Adrian, or the kids?!? Hmmm...

My CUTE Kids!

We posed for some pics before leaving for church today and looking at them all, I'm blown away by 2 things. First, it used to be so hard to get all 3 kids smiling in the same pic, and now, we get picture after picture of cheesy grins. I love it!

Second, my babies are growing up! I know, it sounds so cliche, but wow, time sure flies when you're having fun. I swear I just had Colin a few months ago and now he's a month away from turning 3...and we have another baby on the way! Crazy.

So I just had to share how darn cute they all are. Oh wait, if Thomas heard me calling him cute he'd make faces at me. Handsome. That's better. Even the one below where he's all goofy. Handsome goofy.

Pregnancy Update: I'm getting CLOSER!

I'm now 28 weeks- into my 3rd trimester and things are going well. I just had another appointment and baby girl is doing great! I'm measuring perfectly, which means I feel huge and baby has thankfully decided head-down is a better position than transverse {across my belly horizontally.} I literally felt relief when she moved, but I do feel a lot more pressure down yonder than before. Lovely.

Nesting has kicked in and we're in full baby-prepare mode. Well, when I say "full", I mean I start a project one day, then it's completed 2 weeks later. I get tired a lot, what can I say?! Colin graduated from the "nursery' room into the "BOYS Room" with Thomas a few weeks ago and we're slowly getting Hailey's room turned into a GIRL room. We took the pic above last week after we painted and now we've even got a beg for Hailey! The crib is now in the infant position and once we get a dresser, I'll be able to start washing teeny tiny clothes and getting those ready. Once I get the wall hangings up, I'll take another picture- I love how it turned out!

My midwife swears I'm never going to make it until my due date of November 16th, and well, the odds and my history are not in my favor, so I agree! I aim to be "ready" to go by 37 weeks, which is October 26th, a whopping 7.5 weeks away. Exciting!

Our New Pet

 Adrian found a frog in our backyard last night and the kids were completely enamoured with the little thing forever! "Mom, can we keep him?!" Ummmm....that would be a no. I'm no fun! These kids ask for a pet all the time and I know someday we'll break down and get something {not a frog!} Right now I'm so focused on taking care of 3.6 kids without going insane, I think a dog might just put me over the edge! Sorry kids, the random frog in the backyard will have to do for now!

First Day of School, 2011

Last week Thomas had his first day of school! He's now in the 2nd grade and is just super excited. His teacher seems to be a good one, so we'll see how the year goes!

Hailey starts Pre-School next week and Colin is just happy to be here. He and I will get some bonding time 3x each week while Hailey is gone. It's going to drive him crazy, I can't wait.

Adrian's Birthday & a Fun Summer!

Adrian celebrated his 31st Birthday in July and we had a little party in the back yard for him. We didn't go all out, but in true Adrian style, that didn't seem to phase him!

He got a stereo system for his car, which he's thrilled about. Makes commuting that much more fun. He also got a snorkel for our Hawaii trip. It fits! {and yes, we did use it in Hawaii!}

The summer is pretty much over, but I didn't want to leave these pics out. My goal this summer was to go to the pool very consistently so that most, if not all the kids would be swimming on their own by the end of summer. Everyone was all set with their goggles, so one FHE we decided to practice swimming. That was fun.

Well, I'm happy to say- mission accomplished!! Even by the end Colin could swim to the side of the pool on his own. It's hard watching 3 kids at the pool and simultaneously taking pics, so it didn't happen that often. These shots are from the middle of the summer- Thomas and Hailey had the process down, while Colin was still learning.

Adrian's Dad, Keoki helped out a ton! my word taking 3 kids swimming multiple times each week is exhausting! He was a trooper though and helped this preggo lady out.

It's a GIRL!

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and are thrilled to announce we're having a baby girl!!!! I have to say- you can kind of tell from the post below, I had a gut feeling it was a girl, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking- gosh, what if I'm wrong?! For about 2 weeks now in my head I've been calling baby "she" and I've been secretly going over girl names. If it's a boy I'm going to have to seriously start re-thinking things!

Luckily, we didn't have to wait long to know. I told the u/s tech I'd like to guess, but as she was rubbing the gel around my stomach, I caught a glance and had a feeling I was right! She then got a really good shot and paused, looking at me, and I said, "Well, I certainly don't see any boy parts! It's a girl?!?" Yep!

Everything looked perfect- baby girl was measuring spot on, at 19weeks5days, so just 1 day shy of my due date, which is really good for me! We have such small babies, usually by this time we're already at least a few days behind. Baby girl was moving all around and didn't seem to like the poking and prodding the tech was doing. :)

We saw no remnants of the blood clot too, which I'm so happy about! It's gone! It will be nice to not have to worry about that anymore.

We got some great shots, but then later saw the tech didn't print out many at all. We got this super cute one of her perfect little footprint that she didn't print. Dang it. Take it from me, she has cute feet. We did get some great profile shots- above, and some very clear "I'm a girl" shots like the one below.

Raz watched the kids while we were at the ultrasound, so we had it planned to film them as we told them the news. Here's how it went:


Yep, Hailey was excited and Thomas cried. I thought it was cute when Colin said, "I wanted a boy to be my best friend!" Awwweeee. Too bad, it's a girl. You can kind of see Thomas acting subdued, then of course, you saw what came next. Everyone should know that now, hours later, he's doing much better about adding a girl to our family and is getting to be excited. When I told him we'll have one room for girls and the other room for boys, he perked up. He's tired of sharing a room with Hailey, she has too many girl toys.

So that's our update. It's a girl! Now only about 20 more weeks until she makes her debut...

Boy or Girl ???

I put a poll up on the side bar- what do you think our baby will be? Boy or Girl? We find out on June 28th!

Thomas and Adrian are convinced it's a BOY.

Hailey wants it to be a GIRL so badly I think she might move out if it's not.

My gut instinct...I've actually felt a certain way this whole pregnancy so far, but I'm afraid to say because, well, I have been wrong in the past! I was leaning toward pink with Hailey and I was right. Colin's pregnancy was identical to Hailey's, so I felt that he was a girl too...which he of course is not! This pregnancy most closely resembles Thomas', with bad morning sickness, so I'm a bit wishy washy. If I had to say one way or another though, I'd say GIRL. Each pregnancy is so different though, it's so hard for me to say! I'm eating a lot, which makes me think BOY. Heart rate is still in the 160-165, which makes me think GIRL. I've been so, so sick, which also makes me think GIRL {except I was really sick with Colin, so moot point!} I could go on and on...but in a nutshell- if I absolutely HAD to choose right now, I'd say girl...but don't quote me on that!

We don't have a name either way, but I'm beginning to get very, very curious! Just over 2 weeks and we find out!

School's out for Summer!

School for this year has officially ended! Thomas is now in 2nd grade and Hailey is in her 2nd year of pre-school- one more year until she starts Kindergarten!

Thomas' teacher was Mrs. Young and she was wonderful. We've been so lucky to get such great teachers so far! She liked Thomas a lot and was so willing to help him out in any way. Thomas is doing so great in school. He loves going and he is just really excelling academically. He's an incredible reader and I'm hoping to really continue to nurture that over the summer. {I'm introducing him to Harry Potter!} Thomas has this cute little 1st grade singing program that we went to last week, but the camera was dying, so hardly any of our pics came out- boo! The one above is him in his classroom afterwards. All the other kids decorated their pencil boxes with stickers, markers, etc. Thomas' was still in pristine condition- just like when he got it months ago. That is SO Thomas!

Hailey loves school. I'm so happy we opted to put her in preschool as a 3 year old because it was just what she needed. She's doing great with letter recognition and her printing is improving. Again, we're going to really work on it this summer and start getting her ready for kindergarten!

She too had a cute little ceremony at the end of the year. Before the program started she came to me and very seriously told me that everyone was going to wear costumes. Everyone. I looked at her and said, "really?" I thought about calling her teacher really quick to confirm, but just decided- what the heck, it's first year preschool, let's let her have fun! So we went and of course, Hailey was the only one in a costume! You just have to laugh and love her for it. She didn't blink an eye over it- nothing phases this girl!

A Day Out with Thomas...the Train!

My mom and step-dad, Michael came and had a lovely visit about a week and a half ago. Not many of my family visits us here in Utah, so we were so excited! The highlight of our trip was when we traveled to Heber City to go see Thomas the Train!

The weather was just barely cooperating, but we managed to have a great time...and leave before the rain began! Whew!

Colin took to Michael and enjoyed following him around as we looked at trains.

We got Thomas-the-Train tattoos, watched videos, saw Sir Topham Hat and even got some cute balloon animals. We were able to ride the train, and although it was a short ride- about 20 minutes total, it was fun.