Our Van

The newest addition to our family arrived yesterday, along with a car payment. This will be the first time in a few years that we'll have a payment so it's a little nerve wracking. But the van is so nice and the extra room is going to be awesome. We feel very blessed that we came across this car and got such a great deal on it. Hopefully it will serve us well! Now all we need is a soccer team to shuttle around.

Preschool

Today we went to the "meet and greet" at Ethan's preschool. I am very impressed with his teacher. She runs it out of her house and has things so together! I've only met her once and that was several weeks ago, but she even remembered Hailey's name when we got there. Ethan will have about 10 kids in his class. He was a little shy at first, but then seemed to really be enjoying himself with the other kids and toys while us parents mingled. Oh boy, this is the start of something new for me. I have officially entered into that stage of being a suburban mom who lives among OTHER suburban moms who only want to out-do each other. It seemed to be a contest of who was the cutest mom, who had things most together, who was the most "involved" parent, who could volunteer the most, etc. Oh give me a break. I just want my kid to learn and have fun! I guess now that we are minivan owners, I REALLY fit the mold. Speaking of the car, we should finally have it in our driveway tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait! That will be one more thing checked off my list of to-dos before baby #3 gets here.

Worst Mom Day

I feel like such a terrible mom today. This low blood pressure is really getting to me. This morning I got up and made breakfast, but kids have been sitting in front of the TV now for 3 hours. I have had to lie down the whole time because when I get up I feel like I'm going to faint. Right now I'm taking a little break just to check email and stuff, but I'm going right back to the couch. The kids are still in Pjs, I haven't showered, and I know Hailey was sitting in a poopy diaper for at least 30 minutes before I had the energy to do anything about it. Right now they are devouring a box of Cocoa Puffs and the living room is a disaster. I should also mention that Ethan had his first accident during the night. He is such a deep sleeper and soaked through his sheets, blankets and two pillows. Then he crawled onto the blanket beside our bed and got that and the pillow all wet. The poor kid was DRENCHED! He felt so bad about it and it made me sad for him. I just now got bedding stripped (11:15 a.m.) All of it is waiting for me down in the basement. Oh days like this stink! Not every day is bad, but today has been hard. I wish I had a BP monitor so I could see just how low it is today. Ethan has his meet and greet at his new preschool this afternoon so I'm saving all my energy for that. Okay, now if I can muster the strength to get through the day. Thank goodness for TV and DVDs on a day like this.

I am STARVING!!

I am slowly but surely remembering how hungry I get during this part of pregnancy. The bad part is that due to terrible heart burn, I can not eat ANYTHING after about 8:00 p.m. or I pay for it dearly. The problem is that by 5:oo a.m. I am so hungry. This morning I woke up and was ravenous! My poor belly was so empty. I am trying to get organized to do a bunch of freezer cooking this week and I've spent the evening surfing the web for good recipes. All that has done is made me salivate to the extreme. Everything sounds so yummy right now! I also remember that the worst part of a c-section is having to starve myself the night before, then not getting to eat until about 24 hours after the surgery. With Hailey I wasn't aloud to eat after 6:00 p.m. the night before. She wasn't even born until 2:00 the next afternoon! And do you think they let me eat so much as a cracker after that? Not a chance! I didn't even get a sip of water until 3:00 the NEXT afternoon! Oh I thought I was going to die. I am not looking forward to that this time around. I know I am just torturing myself, but doesn't this lasagna look HEAVENLY??

This poor baby girl isn't going to have a name, I am sure of it. We are having a devil of a time coming up with something we can agree on! Does anyone have any good ideas? I'm not really into the trendy sounding names of the times. I like classics, but Cody likes the trendy ones so we can't agree. Somewhere in the middle would be good. Any suggestions?

Yummy Cereal

This afternoon things were very quiet and I found Hailey at the kitchen sink. Apparently she had pushed the chair up, climbed aboard, and helped herself to a NASTY bowl-full of soggy cereal mixed with spaghetti. I had rinsed stuff off of one dish and it landed in Ethan's cereal bowl from breakfast. She was so mad when I got her down and made her stop. She loves disgusting stuff. I was so grossed out, but I managed to get some pictures before I started dry heaving. Future blackmail is divine!

The Baby and Minivan

Baby update. Nothing too interesting to tell, but I'm almost 34 weeks and things are still good. My BP keeps dropping the further along I get. Today it was 94/50. I guess they will just keep an eye on that! My doc had me go ahead and schedule appointments from here until delivery. You know you are getting close when you start going every week! So I go back in two weeks and then once a week from there on out. How scary and exciting! This baby is measuring a tad on the big side, so for those of you who keep saying "Oh my gosh, what a little belly!" You are wrong! I feel huge and therefore I am. I weigh 205 and still counting.

As of today we are minivan people. I have been doing a ton of shopping around online comparing vans and on the phone with pushy dealer after pushy dealer. All vans start to look the same after a while. We have looked at Hondas, Dodges, Chryslers, and Toyotas. We landed on a Toyota Sienna from a dealer in town. It is a 2005 model with very low miles and is completely loaded, still under warranty! The options we are getting with it are just an extra perk- we really didn't need them. But we got SUCH a great deal on it that we couldn't pass it up. What I love most about it (besides the power sliding door) is the 8 passenger capacity. The 2nd row is made up of 3 bucket seats and any of them can come out or fold down to make it a 7 passenger if we want to. My doc appointment today ran way late but Cody went down to the dealer and signed some papers. We are deciding which credit union to finance through so it will still be another week before we have the car, but it is as good as ours. I am so relieved to have car shopping behind us! I spent all morning at dealers and on the phone and I am beat. It's pretty hard juggling a pregnant body and too small kids at a car dealer.

This is just a stock photo, but it is just like ours except the color. Ours is pueter.

Lazy and Dirty Sunday

Yesterday I actually got some time to lie down during Hailey's nap. Ethan and Cody were out in the living room watching a movie and I came out to find this. Ethan rarely falls asleep in the afternoon anymore but they were both passed out! Nothing beats a Sunday nap.

I have such a great hubby. With out prodding ir asking, Cody asked me what sounded good for dinner. I had been craving a BLT!! So he made dinner and then cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom. It was so nice! After dinner we were just hanging around and Ethan and Hailey made their way out to the deck. They discovered some pots of soil and had a ball destroying stuff. You should have seen the bathtub last night. I couldn't get all of the dirt out of Hailey's hair and today it looks like she has lice! How gross!

Miniature Golf

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling really great. No swelling, no aching back, so we decided to take advantage of it. We packed up and went out to Cherry Hill to play putt-putt. We had never been out there before and it turned out to be so much fun! It rained a little over the weekend and cooled things off just enough. The golf course there is perfect for kids- not too fancy or difficult. Ethan and Hailey had a blast! Then we stopped at the pie restaurant there at the park and got a razzleberry pie to take home. Yummy! On the way home we had a gourmet dinner of Carl's Jr. hamburgers. In nursery today Ethan told his teacher all about the "golf course and cheeseburger". He says he can't wait to go back!

Tantrums and Swelling

Oh what a morning! Today I had to go to Target and Ethan threw a royal hissy fit unlike anything I've ever seen from him before! When we got there he wanted to go straight for the toys. I told him if he was good while I shopped I would let him look at toys at the end. He was good for about 10 seconds. He RAN to the toy department with me waddling behind him calling his name and telling him to STOP!! It is already so hard and painful to walk, let alone run after a kid through the store. Needless to say it was a terrible trip. The kid weighs 45 pounds I can not lift him anymore with out hurting myself. I sat down there in the toy aisle and cried! I'm sure that nosy onlookers were thinking "That girl has no business having anymore kids. She can't handle the ones she's got!" So I cried while Ethan laid on the floor kicking and screaming because I wouldn't let him get every toy he saw. I think that these kids have realized poor Mom can't walk very fast and isn't much use for anything these days...and they have me out numbered.

Don't let this angel face fool you. He can really be the devil at times!

I am so swollen right now. It is no joke being big and pregnant during August! But still, I would rather take this than having morning sickness during August. Yesterday my visiting teachers were over and I was sitting with my legs crossed at the ankles. After about 20 minutes I changed positions and one of my visiting teachers gasped and said "You have skin like play dough!" I had a huge indention on my leg caused by the other being crossed over it. It was pretty yucky.

These are my legs today. You can't really tell from the picture that they are like balloons ready to pop, but they feel that way. I swear I have no circulation below the knees right now. My toes are like little sausages. This is going to be a fun 6-7 weeks!

Out of Comission

Our monitor died a few days ago so I have not had access to my computer! I have felt so handicapped with out it. It's amazing how dependent you become on technology to keep you plugged in to the world! I got the new one in the mail today (4 days sooner than I thought...woo hoo!). I will be blogging again this evening to catch up on the week.

All of My Babies (32 Weeks)

Well I have done it. Today I had my 32 week check up, stepped on the scale, and it hit 200. 201 to be exact, and that was AFTER I emptied my bladder and took off my sandals that weighed 1 ounce. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry! Still don't know why I gain so much pregnancy weight. Some people just do I guess. The doc isn't worried so I'm not. Everything is peachy keen with me and the baby. Low BP still (100/60) but it's still within normal limits.

These are FILM pictures I took while at my parent's house. I got them developed today and I love them! Ethan looks so grown up and handsome! I love how he and Hailey are such good friends. I know it won't always be like this, but it is so sweet for now.

Lazy Eye Card Swap

Kind of a funny title, huh?

First things first. I took Heather to the ophthalmologist this morning to have her possible lazy eye checked out. That was not a fun test! But everything is fine. The doctor wants to see her back in one year to make sure that nothing more has developed. Heather had a terrible time during the exam getting poked and messed with and then she had to have 2 different kinds of drops put in her eyes. They burned! But I think her big brother had an even harder time. He is so protective of his little sister and he covered his ears and kept yelling "Stop hurting my sister!!" I hope he always loves her this much. I treated them both to Happy Meals afterwards. It's amazing how a little salt, fat, and sugar can soothe the soul.

These are the two cards I made this month for card swap. Even though the ward split, I'm still going to the old group's swap on Thursday. The theme is "Get Well". My card isn't anything fancy, but it works!

Then next week we are meeting for the first time in our new ward's group. The theme is "Thank You". You can never have too many of those cards on hand! The little stamped squares on that one were more time consuming than I thought they would be.

Back in the Groove!

I got my cable in the mail! I can now upload pictures again. I felt so naked without it! Here's a little re-cap of life since we've been back home.

Last Saturday we went to Dinosaur Park and had a lot of fun. Heather couldn't strop growling each time she saw a dinosaur. Evan was a little skiddish at first (as always) but he didn't want to leave when it was time to go.

We went grocery shopping and Evan had fun pushing his own cart. By the end of the trip Toby
was actually pushing Evan in the little cart. It was so funny. I would have taken a picture but my battery had died.

Heather had her 18 month check up a week ago. I can't believe she is 18 months old! That meant her first Sunday in nursery was last week too. She did incredibly well. I can't say I'm too surprised about that. She is such a go-getter, not shy at all. She loves music and singing and when we got to nursery they were starting singing time. She immediately was enthralled with that, so I made a break for the door. She has done wonderfully since!

I forgot to mention in the anniversary blog that Toby had a huge bouquet of roses delivered to our B&B room and they were waiting for me when we arrived. I meant to take a picture the next day but I forgot. This picture doesn't do them justice. They have started to wilt and I took out some of the "filler" flowers because they were smelling funny. But they were so gorgeous when they were fresh. He is such a great hubby!

5th Anniversary

I can't wait until I get my camera USB cable back. My dad mailed it to me this past week and I should have it by Monday. Blogging is just more fun when you have pictures to add to it. But I need to get back into the blog of things, so here goes.

Toby and I celebrated 5 crazy years of marriage on August 1st. Yes it has only been 5 years, however sometimes it feels like 20 because so much has happened in our short life together. But through the ups and downs, I look back and know that I married the right person at the right time and he is my absolute best friend. We have our problems and differences, but he is such a great father and is my soul mate. I love him with all my heart!

I have been asking Toby for weeks what he wanted to do for our anniversary. He kept shrugging his shoulders and would say "I dunno, maybe we'll go to dinner or something". Time was getting closer and I guess I started being a pest about it. Well about a week before I started to get the idea that he DID in fact have something planned, but was being very secretive about it. On Monday morning I walked out into the kitchen and found a beautiful envelope on the fridge. In a pretty font it said:

"An invitation for Mrs. Vanessa ******* On this day the 30th of July, 2007".

Inside was gorgeous stationary with red roses on it and at the top it said

"Vanessa's 5th Wedding Anniversary Itinerary Celebrating her Marriage on August 1st, 2002.....prepared with love by: Your husband, Toby ******".

Anyway, it was all spelled out for me. I knew that Tobywas taking July 31 off from work, but didn't know why. He was sending me to a day spa! And not just any day spa, it was the same day spa where he proposed to me. That is another story in itself and I'll share that sometime. So this spa holds very special significance for us.

To make a long story short, I started my day (the eve of our anniversary) out at the spa getting the works. It was awesome!!! I didn't want to leave at the end of the day, but it was worth leaving to spend time with my sweetheart. Toby had it set up for my little sister (thank you Leighann!) to come up from BYU to stay with the kids that night while we went back to the same Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in when we got married. But before that we went to a REALLY yummy steak restaurant downtown. Waaaaaay good steak. It's always fun to get a little dressed up for dinner every once in a while! At dinner he gave me another gift. Actually it was an IOU for something he ordered but hadn't gotten yet. BEAUTIFUL diamond earings. I can't wait to get the real thing delivered! The picture was breath-taking.

Then it was off to the B&B. We stayed at The Inn on the Hill which is the gorgeous old mansion right behind Temple Square. So beautiful! Toby picked out a room that had a private balcony that looked right at the Salt Lake Temple. So we got to sit out there on a perfect night and sip sparkling cider (you know, Mormon champagne) and look at the Temple and the bustling city. It was so peaceful and serene!

It was so nice to get to sleep in at the B&B. No kids, no cartoons blarring, nothing but my aching bladder to wake me up! They sent a really great breakfast up to our room and again we got to eat out on the balcony. So perfect! At 9:40 a.m. we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and it was a race to see who could say "Happy Anniversary!" at that exact moment. Toby beat me.

We are back again...

Well we AGAIN have a new blog address. Since I have been figuring out to make our site more secure so creeps can't access it, I had to completely delete our old account and start fresh. So this is the new one!