Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Fall is in the air

Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love EVERYTHING about it.  I love the burnt rusty looking colors, the smells of cinnamon and pumpkin, and wearing sweaters! I just love fall! I love going for walks with Addie and crunching leaves on the sidewalk, or sipping hot chocolate while snuggled up with my husband or daughter. Addie isn't much of a snuggler, but sometimes she'll let me hold her for a few minutes.  Here are the updates with our family since I last blogged.
First, the baby is growing quite nicely.  I am in the third trimester and we are getting really excited for our little baby "B." I'm pretty sure the baby dropped last week because I had A LOT of pressure in my pelvis after my walk and at my last midwife appointment she said that the baby's head was indeed far into my pelvis.  I've also been having constant contractions for a few weeks now.  They aren't the super painful kind, just practice contractions.  I've still tried to ease up and take it easy just to be safe. I'd like a healthy baby.




     
 

                                         


I had my first meltdown the other day. I was extremely overwhelmed at the thought of having two small kids. Sunday was just an emotional day for me I guess.  To our surprise we showed up at church and in sacrament meeting our beloved Bishop McDonald was released.  We LOVE Bishop McDonald.  He has been so incredibly loving and always going the extra 5 miles. He is such a fantastic man. His family is extremely kind and so fun.  His wife Diane was serving in the primary but just got called to be the 1st counselor in the stake RS.  I work with Jenna and Sommer in YW. Jenna is an original McDonald and Sommer is a McDonald daughter-in-law.  We love the McDonalds.  They will forever be good friends.
Brother Fink is now our Bishop.  We love him very much. He was the first counselor but now is Bishop.  He is also the man helping us find a house.  Isn't that nice that our Bishop is also our Realtor? His family is also wonderful.  His wife Abby is so fun to talk to. She's so friendly! She's one of those women you talk to for 5 min and you feel like you've known them for 5 years.  They have one son on a mission in Guatemala perhaps? They have another 17 year old son, a 13 year old son AJ and a 10 year old daughter Jessica.  They actually babysat Addie a few weeks ago while Cameron and I went to the temple.  We love them.
Brother Barrett was the second counselor and now is the first counselor. He is funny but we don't know much about him or his family. We just know that it's always a joy when he conducts sacrament meeting. He's full of corny jokes.
Our new second counselor is Brother King.  I don't know much about him personally, but his wife is the RS president and she is wonderful. I have two of their daughters in YW with me. Lauren is a miamaid and little Madison is one of my cute beehives.
So, that was what started off my emotional day and it just went downhill from there.  Cameron was playing the piano for primary so I had Addie the whole time at church.  I was so close to giving up and going home since she is just so restless.  It hurts me every time I pick her up, but I have to carry her a lot or else she runs fast and I can't catch her.  I was physically and emotionally exhausted by the time church was over.  Usually Cameron and I switch off so I can have an hour to recover but this was all me.  After church is when my breakdown started.  I can't even handle two kids when I can control the every move of one of them how in the world am I going to survive when the baby is born? I've never second guessed our decision to have our kids close together until this past Sunday.  It was rough. I had a good cry and felt much better.
However, that night I was trying to get ready for the youth fireside that the Beehives were in charge of and Addie was crying and freaking out for who knows what.  It was at that point Cameron tried to play with her and help her with whatever was bothering her but when that was unsuccessful she was on her own.  After the fireside, I was talking with Megan Schneider and I ended up telling her what I felt that day.  She was so good and listened to me complain about something that is apparently very common.  She is such an incredible friend. I just love her.  Since then, I've felt a lot better.  I'm back to being very excited about having a new little baby around to snuggle with.  I'm hoping Addie transitions well and doesn't get super jealous.  I guess we'll just have to see.
Speaking of Addie, she is so dang smart! I am amazed everyday at how spongy she is.  She really does soak up what I do and say.  She learns so fast.  Her recent skills are learning how to say Horse ("Ho") and that cows say mooooooooo. She is such a social person. It seems like every person we pass on our walks she smiles and waves at them.  She has also started saying Hi to everyone and everything. She's so cute. She'll pick up an object, hold it to her ear like she's talking on the phone and say, "HI."  She's such a doll.  She started shimmying a few days ago. What a diva!  :) She has learned where her arms, fingers, legs, tongue, teeth, mouth, nose, eyes, ears, hair, and belly are.  She is such a fun girl to have around constantly.  Of course, we need our time apart but I do really enjoy having her around all day everyday.  Here are a few pictures of our recent adventures.
Since we live right next to the church we go there a few times a week just to walk around and explore. She never gets sick of going there. It's always a new adventure for her. What a good characteristic to emulate. No matter how menial or repetitive whatever you're doing is, there is joy to be found if you look for it. 




 She loves swinging! She could swing all day if she could. 

Cameron and I had tickets to the 5th Avenue theater. We chose to see the show Pirates of Penzance. It was such a good show and a beautiful theater.  We had Staria Grubb, one of the YW in our ward watch Addie.  



 
We went blueberry picking this summer and Addie was a big help.....eating them.




Where did Addie's legs go? She had this phase where she'd jump a lot and get a lot of momentum then she'd lift her feet up and just swing.  Oh, and off to the right are my attempts at a garden.  I had a tomato plant and a pepper plant.  I got one small tomato and that was eaten by worms, and the pepper plant also only grew one pepper and it was tiny.  Good thing next year we'll have a house where I can plant in actual dirt and not in a pot.  

 One morning I came out of the bathroom from doing my hair and this was what she was doing. She'd see how far in her foot could go, gag, laugh, and do it all over again. Weird. 

 One thing I love about Washington is the wild blackberries.  This was just what we picked off the side of the road one night for our family home evening activity. I made a blackberry upside down cake (which was DELICIOUS) and muffins and I'm sure we used them in our oatmeal for breakfast.  We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful place where we can pick yummy fruit. 

 Addie does this thing where she gets sick about once a month.  She'll get a fever and just be down right sick for 2-3 days.  This is so sad because she feels so crummy, but it's the ONLY time we get to snuggle her like this. Poor girl. 

This was in Utah at the West Jordan Temple. We went to Utah in July to see Jessica sealed to Jamie and Theron.  While we were there we found out the gender of our second baby. We had to wait for our ultrasound apt. so we went to the temples in Utah and just walked around. We didn't go to all the temples, just West Jordan, Draper, and Oquirrh Mountain temple. 

For YW we had an activity about temple marriage.  All the leaders brought our wedding gowns and of course I had to put Addie in mine before I left.  



 This is about the only way I can get her to eat spinach is in a green smoothie with lots of fruit. She loves it! 





 Addie was awesome at her first dentist appointment. We went to Dr. McDonald in Renton. She was a trooper. He said her teeth are coming in correctly. Whew!



 We like to go to Sherie's restaurant for free pie Wednesday. This is how she entertains herself while waiting for the food. She's silly. She also likes to eat the mustard...PLAIN MUSTARD!!!! What a weirdo. 


 This is her shocked look. She does this whenever she hears a loud noise. 

 We rented a car to go to the Parker family vacation in Mesa Falls Idaho. They said this was a compact car and boy was it! We barely had enough room to fit.  


This was on our way to Montana where we drove halfway and stayed the night. That turned out to be a not so good experience....we got bed bugs from that hotel. GROSS! I guess that's what we get for staying at a 50.00 hotel. Lesson learned. 

This was in Idaho.  We stopped off the side of the road to change Addie's bum and this is what came to greet us. I LOVE horses! I love Cameron even more, so this picture is pretty great for me. 

The yellow cousins! 


 Mesa Falls. 


Yes, this is my husband of awesomeness.  Sometimes good "normal" pictures are hard to come by. 










Of course, this is her first reaction when she encounters a fur.





Ollie and Addie in their matching strollers. Cute. 


We like to torture our daughter. Or so she thought.  We just trimmed off the curls on the back of her neck and she thought we were chopping off her head. 







After the weekend in Mesa Falls, we went home to Ovid.  Before we all left, we stopped in Idaho Falls for lunch. What cute nieces I have.  Eliza kept sharing her lunch with Addie and after every bite she'd give her she'd say, "Oh Addie, aren't I so nice for sharing?"


 We stopped in Logan to see Great Grandma and Sherry. 







 The first weekend in September we got to go to the Washington State fair in Puallup, Washington.  We had so much fun walking around the booths and seeing the animals and 4-H barns.  It was A LOT bigger than the little Bear Lake fair, but we had fun even in the rain.  We also went to the rodeo. I LOVE rodeos and Cameron has never been. Thankfully he enjoyed it so we will get to go again. 






 The stadium. 


 This was how Addie enjoyed half of her time at the rodeo. 




 She loves putting on her sunglasses.  She thinks she's so funny, which she is. 




 Another example of Addie's silliness. She has this basket and another bucket she loves putting on and walking around. I love it when she runs into things. Cracks me up every time. 


I have the best husband that brings me flowers just because. 

Addie and Cameron's latest Game. He pulls her around on the blanket. Sometimes she can even go a little bit standing up. What skill! 

We have these magnets on the fridge for Addie, but we play with them more. I love our little game of taking turns spelling things for each other. We have to get creative since there is only one of each letter. 


I do laundry on Mondays and this is how Addie helps. 





These are my awesome beehives. I have all but one girl here. We made bags out of an old t-shirt.  L-R is Sara Newman, Isabel Ray, Elizabeth Olin, Clara Jacobsen, Mina Done, Madison King, and Emma Patterson. I love my silly girls.  They used the sleeves they cut off as their accessories.  

Darci gave me this awesome phone for my birthday last year but Addie loves playing with it. 



We got her this little potty at Ikea a few weeks ago and she's actually used it.  This was her second time. This was September 27, 2013. 







Just hangin' out one Sunday evening. 

I love her wacky hair when she gets out of the tub. 


I love it even more when she looks at me like this.








Big smile for a big bow. 

Addie loves the swings at Robbinswood Park. It's right next to the temple. 




We went walking to see the ducks and this was all she could concentrate on. She'd sit there play with the rocks, pick up a handful, bring them to me, then sit down and do it all again.



She loved the ducks! She wasn't afraid of them at all! She was so mad at me when I wouldn't let her follow them into the water. 






 








 We are Washington Husky fans at our house. 



I swear it was only one second that I turned around. 

 Well, this isn't all of our pictures but this was all I have time for today.  Amelia is coming to stay with us for her birthday and I have to go pick her up from the airport. We are so excited.