Happy Birthday, Reed!

Dear Reed,

We're so glad that you were able to make it home in time for us to celebrate your birthday!
You are a wonderful reason to celebrate today.
Thank you for being the glue to hold our family together.
Thank you for making the time to play with Aftyn every day, to make her giggle and laugh, to lift her way up high to do "jump jumps". I love to hear her having so much fun with you and when you're done, to hear her say "more". She loves her daddy so much and life without you is not nearly as much fun.
Thank you for being such an equal partner in our home. Thank you for appreciating me and for all the work and effort you go to to help me when I am really needing it. Thank you for being patient, being calm, and being a good influence on our home. We love you Reed and we want you to have a very happy birthday!!

Lots of loves,

Alysa, Aftyn and Baby B

The Update I've Been Trying Not To Write

Here's some of the fun stuff we've been enjoyiong lately in our lives:



Bronchitis
Teething
Pregnancy
Stomach Aches
Doctors Visits
Dinner Brought To Us
People Offering To Watch Aftyn
Reed Gone For 5 Days
Sewing
Cleaning
Laundry




That list pretty much sums up our lives for the last 2 weeks. Sounds busy and exciting, hmm? Other than the bronchitis, it was just life as normal. I'm glad to say with the aid of antibiotics, the bronchitis is just a thing of the past.



We're starting in on birthday season for our family - it's Reed's turn first here in a couple of days. And one of the last birthdays we'll be celebrating this birthday season will be this baby's birth day. So strange to think it's that close, but if you look at my ticker, it's counting 82 days left.
82 days!



I've been trying not to go on and on and about being pregnant because I know with Aftyn it was probably overdone and maybe you all were pretty sick of hearing about it. This time around, it's coming fast and we're not trying to rush through it out of total anticipation. I'm appreciating the buildup of excitement this time around and not so impatient to have her here. I can't wait to see who she will look most like, and if she has hair and if she looks more like Reed and what her little personality will be like. But in the meantime while we wait, it's fun to enjoy her kicks and all the loves Aftyn gives to her while she's in my belly. It's neat to see Aftyn already showing some affinity for her.

I've been trying an experiment with this pregnancy as well. Thanks to Aftyn's birth, I went into this pregnancy a little worried about having a LARGE baby. (Aftyn was 8lbs 2 oz, which is pretty small in my family). In talking to my midwife, she suggested watching my weight gain to help control the size of this baby. Since I was already wanting to gain as little weight as was healthfully possible, I took on that challenge.


I'm proud to say that so far I have done GREAT with that, and I am hoping in the end to prove that large babies are just part of my family legacy not tied to our weight gain in pregnancy because in spite of my small weight gain, this baby seems just as large if not a smidge bigger than Aftyn at this point, from my point of view. (I know this sentence is a total run-on sentence, but I'm tired and can't think how to fix it. Please overlook it.)


Here I am at 28 weeks, 2 days:


So sad, but these are the first pictures I've put on here from this pregnancy. Oh well. Thanks to my photographer sister, I will have some pictures to remember this pregnancy by taken in a few weeks.

Highs and Lows of Today

My high: yummy breakfast burrito made by my sweet husband


My low: Just finished loading the dishwasher tonight,
and suddenly the faucet begins spraying me wildly in the face.

Awesome.

Aftyn's Favorite Song

This is her song of choice right now - she was singing it in Sacrament Meeting today.

I thought I better record it for posterity.

Inside Out, Primary Colors album, Once There Were Some Snowmen

What I Spent Most of My Time and Energy on Today:

I love how the doorframe on the lower right hand side of this picture

makes the picture appear crooked - who knew you could even DO that?

Yes, I have been threatening to do this for over a month and the time finally came today:

I set up the crib.
(If you recall, Aftyn made some adjustments to her bed, here, and so I got to do some sanding and priming and painting before the crib was ready. I did that all last weekend.)

I know, I still have 3 1/2 months left. But I thought it might be a good idea to do this early so:

1.We could get used to how little space there will eventually be
2. Aftyn could get used to the idea that someone is coming to sleep in that crib
3. I would have the energy to organize the closet, set up the crib, get pictures re-arranged,
move the dresser, and all of the other fun things that were accomplished today.

Here is Aftyn's side of the room!

I love how this little arrangement came together - in case you can't tell, that picture of me is from when I was pregnant, 31 weeks to be exact, with Aftyn.

And that super cute needlepoint? My amazing niece who I still haven't thanked - so amazing niece, thank you! We love it! And tell your mom we love hers too, it's hanging in my hallway and I just keep forgetting to write the thank-you card!

So, the room is ready and waiting.

We just have to help it to stay organized and clean, with no help at all from a certain little girl who lives in there. She shall remain nameless.

*In case anyone was wondering, I didn't forget my bananas this week at the store. In fact, I think I bought double the amount because of last week's turn of events.*

Life's A Potty Dance You Learn as You Go

It is time to update you all on our little Aftyn.

She has definitely emerged into that trying time where she is trying to claim her independence, also known as the terrible two's.

Which coincides with the fact that she won't be the only child ruling the roost in our house for long - but I don't think we've even started dealing with those feelings yet from her.

So far, she loves to pat the baby bump and kiss it and sometimes even give it hugs. If we ask her what her little sister is doing, she tells us she is "sleeping".

Sometimes she'll even tell the bump "night night" as if she were putting it to bed. :)

On the potty front, we're calling her "done"! She still wears a pull up at night and during naptime, but the naptime one isn't necessary and will probably be going bye bye soon so she will be held accountable for staying dry and then we'll get to work on the night time one too. She continues to do really well and we're grateful to only have one in diapers when our next little girl emerges.

Aftyn still loves to have fun and loves having her friends come over to play with her. She loves dancing, and loves when I sing new songs to her. She is big on repeating the last word we just said, and still surprises me with words she will tell me on her own. She is a smart girl.

We sure love Aftyn and can't wait for her sister to arrive so that Aftyn can see how much fun it's going to be to have someone at home to play with, eventually. We're grateful for the blessing we have of children in our family.

I've Lost My Bananas

This past Friday night, I went grocery shopping all by myself.

I had my list and even remembered to bring a calculator so I could keep better track of how much I spent as I went along.

First stop: produce.

I got my tomatoes, my bell pepper, and then stopped to pick out some bananas.

I bagged them and even weighed them on the produce scale so I could be more accurate with their cost.

That's where it starts to get a little fuzzy.

I THINK I remember putting them back in my basket at that point.

What I do know is I paid for my groceries and went home, put my groceries away, and moved on with my life.

But by Sunday morning, I realized we had no bananas in the house.

Where did my bananas go?

I have this horrible idea that I possibly forgot to take them off the scale, and just left them hanging there.

Poor abanadoned bananas.