I'm a Bad Blogger Because I Can't Blog (Pictures Edition!)

Bronwyn found my makeup bag one night when she was supposed to be in bed. Not very surprising if you really know this girl. She's stealthy.

Bronwyn doing her art project with all the preschool girls. She loved being a part of the preschool while it was at our house and still has a hard time understanding that that's Aftyn's preschool.

Aftyn has been creating all kinds of interesting Lego creations. It's so fun to see her little imagination at work!

Boy do they love their Dad. And having their pictures taken, obviously.

Daddy's girls in Daddy's (clean) work hats. They were so excited that he let them "have" them for a couple of days while he was out of town.

Oh boy! We were all so excited to go to the pumpkin patch with Aftyn's preschool girls

Hayride! Aftyn nearly threw a fit when we first got there because our group wasn't there but there was a BIG group that was just leaving on the hayride and by gum she wanted to go, with or without her friends!

It must be so fun to play in corn! And make a snow angel! When we got home, Aftyn had a good handful of corn in her boots.

I'd wager we could safely call this Bronwyn's slide. She loved that thing and wasn't in the least bit daunted by its size.

Aftyn and Bronwyn and some of our friends

  So, that's what we've been up to lately. Sorry I've been so bad at blogging. I can't blog on my parents computer so I have to wait until Reed brings his laptop inside the house for me to blog and most nights I just don't care enough. :/  I'm sure that will change once we get our own place again with our own computer set up. I really love blogging and miss it when I don't do it regularly. Hopefully there will be a few updates more before we add our new little girl to our family but I'm not making any promises. By the way, 37 weeks tomorrow. Not that I'm counting or anything. Ha!

In honor of Fall

I just happened upon this recipe a few weeks ago and couldn't walk away from it.

 People, it is totally worth any and all sweat and calories incurred.

Yum!

My Dad said it was a chocolate lovers cake.

Sounds just right for me!

The Best Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake .

Click. You will love me or hate me because it's so delicious!

35 Weeks

Okay, this one is pretty. 

Now I will add some imperfectly cute pictures of me and my girls. 

These ones are more my favorite, but remember, not by any means well posed or anything.

Breakfast Leaves Me Breathless and Other Updates on our Family

33 weeks pregnant today! For a few weeks now, after breakfast I struggle with getting a big deep breath for a few hours. Sounds pretty normal to me for as pregnant as I am and yet it's still a little annoying not to be able to breathe normally. Only a few weeks more and that problem will solve itself. Luckily, I only have normal pregnancy complaints to speak of at this point. I am still sleeping fairly well which makes me happy. I have to get up at least once a night to use the bathroom but it's only because I can't turn over very well because of the extra weight of my bladder so I empty it to help my body to relax and I get a deeper sleep. Our little missy likes to experiment with her kicks at this point and she's so big you can easily see her move from the outside now. It's mostly entertaining until she starts doing repeated high kicks in there. LOL
    Aftyn is still LOVING preschool. For the past week and a half it's been my turn to teach, so we have had preschool at our house. Bronwyn has loved getting to be a part of all the learning. She insists on drawing while we practice writing our names and enjoys playing all of our games and singing songs with us. Oh, and she loves all the crafts! I don't know how she's going to like going back to our mommy and me preschool. Oh well. Maybe I'll have to ramp it up a bit to be more like Aftyn's preschool schedule.
     I have seen such a change in Aftyn since preschool started! She asks SO many more questions about things and has really started picking up on things much more quickly. She has a hunger for learning that is so fun to watch! She is doing really well with phonics and is getting closer and closer to reading. I can't wait for her to learn.
      We are all so excited for our baby coming soon! We have the bassinet all set up, her blessing dress made (I only need to finish sewing the button holes), her lighter blanket finished and her thicker blanket is not quite finished and it's taunting me with it's edges all hanging out waiting for me to finish sewing it. I'm lacking the energy and patience right now. It's probably not going to get better in that department, luckily I don't start using the thicker blanket until my baby's are closer to 6 months so that gives me some time.
        We are grateful to be living with my parents still but certainly looking forward to the time when we can move into our own place again. Our plan is for that to happen a few weeks after we have our baby.
         Which brings up some other news. I can't remember if I mentioned but Reed has accepted a new position at his work as a salesman. Because of this new position, it actually requires us to move. We have freedom to choose among many cities in Idaho to move for this position and should have a decision made sometime in the next month. And then we can start looking for a place to rent for our family! We're thinking that we should be in before Christmas.
           Reed is really excited for his new position and we're excited for the growth and learning this will allow him.
         So, that's our update for now. And I have to go to the bathroom. Shocker. Until next time! I'll try and have pictures to share next time.

First day of preschool!

                          

Aftyn was so excited and nervous for her preschool. I'm in a mommy group preschool with 3 other little girls. 

Bronwyn's first day of mommy preschool. She insisted on a bag and picture just like Aftyn and it is rather nice to have her own supplies for our preschool. I love her excited grin!

My 4 Year Old Cried Herself to Sleep..... And Other Facts About My Life

You want some honest truths? Good, because tonight I am all about honest truths.

For example, Aftyn crying herself to sleep. Why? Because she wants to move back to Massachusetts.
She brought this up to me earlier today. And cried then too. I had simply asked her why she kept switching chairs in primary today during singing and sharing time. (I just got a calling to be a teacher in Jr. primary so I sit a few rows behind her class.) She told me she couldn't see our chorister because of the visitors she had in her class and how next week she just wanted it to be the normal number of kids in her class (3 in total). Not sure why the visitors bothered her but I'm just guessing that she's having a hard time with change right now. My parents who we are currently staying with are out of town helping some of my siblings. Could that be part of the problem? I don't know but I'm sensing that could be part of it. I can't help but feel a little guilty that in some way I have perpetuated that and will continue to do so as our family is about to change in the next 10 weeks. I'm hoping that starting preschool in 2 days will help her to have a normally scheduled activity just for her that will help her find a sense of belonging in this life we now lead.

Moving forward, more truths. Reed just accepted a new position at work. Because of this we may be moving a few weeks after this baby comes. And we don't know where yet because we actually have a few choices of cities we could live. Aftyn is going to hate moving again and even worse it's not back to Massachusetts.

This baby is coming too fast and also entirely too slow all at the same time. I haven't decided yet what my getting through labor plan is yet. I would like to do the Bradley method again, but haven't had ANY time to go to my in-laws house to find my book and then spend HOURS of time reviewing and re-reading and practicing all the skills I need to make that happen. That makes me very anxious about this impending birth. I'm really trying HARD to look forward instead to seeing this cute little girly who makes my belly wiggle and squirm.

I am getting to the point in pregnancy where I just feel huge. I'm not in too much pain, thankfully, just a few aches and pains here and there for which I am grateful.Still sleeping well.  So I'm huge, I feel like it will take me forever to get back to being skinny and I'm discouraged because I still have 7 1/2 weeks before I'm full term and I wish it was more like 4. I know, waa waa waa. I should be grateful it's not longer!
I sound like a real whine-fest tonight.

Bronwyn and Aftyn are growing and changing so much. Aftyn loves now to use her imagination in play with dollies and animals and all kinds of things. It's so much fun to watch! She is constantly telling me how much she loves me as she wraps her arms around me for a hug. She is such a good example and always strives to do the right thing as long as she knows what  that is. :) Currently she likes to "wrestle" with Bronwyn which drives me nuts because she basically lays on Bronwyn and squishes her and then Bronwyn squeals because it hurts. But I think Bronwyn is encouraging her when we're not looking so it's really her fault. Siblings. They are just so fun. ;)

Bronwyn is at that age where kids just say the funniest things without meaning to be funny so you have to hide your smiles and laughter while giving them the impression you're taking them completely serious. She still takes 2-3 hour naps every afternoon and even ASKS to take them! I feel so spoiled and lucky. Also, she is a much happier girl because of those long hours of rest. And she still manages to go to bed by 8-8:30. She is so affectionate and loving, if you say something is hurting, she will come up and kiss it even if you didn't ask her to! She is so considerate and caring and mindful of others.  She L-O-V-E-S fruit. She hasn't found one she doesn't love and she is a much more adventurous eater than Aftyn.  Aftyn is getting MUCH better about trying food. Recently we discovered cucumbers make her throw up. LOL. But at least she tried it!

I am in the middle of sewing blankets for our newest girly, a blessing dress for her and a new diaper bag. I'm trying to hurry and get it all done but my swelling ankles aren't helping and my faltering energy stores certainly don't make me all that productive some days. But my goal is to get us all settled in over the next week before my parents come back so that we are as prepared as can be until our Baby Patience is born. It'll happen. Because the alternative is too awful to think about.

Our New Life

Reed's been back at his job for 4 weeks now. We have all been living in my parents house for 2 weeks. I will be 26 weeks pregnant this week. And well, life just keeps on moving.

I have acquired a new (to us) double stroller, and a new (to us) car seat for our baby. I think I'm beginning my nesting stage. In the ways that I can. I can't find my sewing notions but I have come up with an idea for the blanket I want to make for this baby. I also have a good idea of what I want to do for her blessing dress. I'm fighting all that's in me not to pull out all my newborn clothes, or to get out my bassinet and get it all prepared for this little girly. I'm not wanting to pull out clothes or get furniture set up yet because I'm hoping we can find a way to have our own space aka our own apartment or house before we have this baby. And then I will get to go into full nesting mode getting a whole household set up. For some reason right now, that sounds heavenly. :) All this nesting energy needs to go into something!! LOL

We are grateful for all the love and kindness we have received from our families at this time in our lives. We hope that sometime soon we'll be able to get back on our feet but until then we're grateful for all the service we're the recipients of.