Updates

We may be closing on our house tomorrow. We may be going to Santa Fe for a month. We may have the wall-paper removed before we leave town.

Things we know for sure:
Today the doctor said that little man is not coming early, May 26th is still "the day."
Little man is in the 40th percentile for being nearly 31 weeks in-utero.
I gained no weight in the last 2 weeks!
Brad makes a very attractive Mickey Mouse.

We like Samoas better than Thin Mints.
Ruth can do all the actions to "Popcorn Popping."
Ruth can build ridiculously huge towers with her blocks.


My short hair cut is a million times better than long, stringy hair.
We are a happy family despite the anxiety waiting around to close on our house has created.
And finally, typing with one hand is no fun...but I've gotten pretty fast, as necessitated by Ruth's love for the computer...especially our blog!

Cutie Pie

Thanks Jennefer for all the great clothes, they are so adorable!!! I'm not going to have to buy Ruth any pants for years! She was super excited to look through the boxes and see all the new clothes too.

Pregnancy

So I was reading up on being 30 weeks pregnant. Some symptoms that are normal are being tired because of the lack of sleep: check. I'm waking up 2 times a night to pee now (except last night - I slept wonderfully last night). The other major thing going on is a return of hormonal changes which usually causes a swing in emotions: check. I'm not gonna lie, this last week while Brad was gone I had one REALLY horrible, awful, no-good, very bad day. Serious downer thoughts about pregnancy, myself, being a mommy, and even being married. It was rough. Luckily the next day Brad came home and since then I've gotten some more rest. The funny thing about this too is that it's not like I'm just facing pregnancy hormones that are making me emotionally insane...have I mentioned that we're moving soon?! So yeah, I'm dealing with 3 of the most stressful things people deal with at the same time: buying a house, moving and having a baby. Ha.

I love this picture because you can see the space between Ruth's two front teeth!

A Week Apart

This week I had a training in New Jersey. On the last night I decided that being 30 minutes away from New York left me with no excuse not to visit. So I checked out early and hit the town.

The downside was that I had to take my luggage everywhere I went. This limited my mobility and options a bit. I was on the phone with Katie nearly the whole time trying to feel like she was there with me. I have decided that I will get her there someday.

NUMBERS

I am 29 weeks pregnant. Yesterday the doctor told me I was measuring big. Consequently, in 2 weeks I'll be going in for my 3rd ultrasound to see if my due date is going to be moved up a couple weeks! This would be great, it also means that I'm not crazy for thinking lately that my original due date of May 26th should really have been May 15th...we'll see. Also at the doctor's my blood pressure was 104/70, my iron number was 124, I drank that nasty melted Otter Pop glucose mess in less than 5 minutes and waited around for 30 minutes after seeing the doctor to get my blood drawn.

Ruth is now (almost) 16 months old. She can run really fast now, which is pretty funny. She wears size 4 shoes, 18 month dresses, 9-12 month pants (she fits into 18 month pants but these have to be leggings), and size 3 diapers. She has become very good at pointing out babies everywhere we go, we'll see how she does when ours arrives in about 2 months.

Brad left yesterday at 3:10 to go to a corporate training in New Jersey. All 3 of us were pretty sad about that, we don't like being apart. Luckily it is only for 4 nights, he'll be back Friday at noon.

Also, we are suppose to close on our house on March 15th, that is in 6 days. But we are still waiting for the bathroom fixer upper guy to get in there and fix the bathroom. Once that is done we have to wait for the appraiser to go to the house for the 2nd time to approve the finished work. And THEN we can close on the house. Basically, there is no way that will all get done in the next 4 business days, so we're kissing that closing date goodbye. (The bank has already asked for an extended closing date of the 29th for this situation, so it could end up being anywhere between the 15th (in our dreams) and the 29th (I sure hope it's before then!).)

Pictures

Here are some pictures of the fun we've had together as a family recently:

Ruth praying, she is very observant and has started to ask to say prayers all the time:

Me being bored after church (check out the baby bump!):

The result of getting ready to move and Brad cleaning out the closet:

Brad and Ruth being goofy after church:

Ruth avoiding bedtime or playing mummy in the ottoman:

The result of trying to watch a movie (Hot Rod) while the child is still awake:

The culmination of having "long" hair for too long, two bad hair days in a row, owning a pair of scissors and not wanting to sit on the floor while Ruth took a bath:

Momminess and why I blog

I love reading other women's blogs and their experiences as mommies. I too often feel like I don't compare well to their "achievements." I've been trying to stop comparing myself to others and just enjoy being a mom rather than worry about what other people may think about what I put on my blog or how my child looks when we arrive at church. Anyways, I found this on my friend Karli's blog and thought it was wonderful.

Super Mom	Abiding Mom
Does	Is (Psalm 46:10)
Tries to impress others	Pleases the Lord (Eph. 5:10, Proverbs 29:25)
Is controlled by an agenda (curriculum, schedule, etc)	Is controlled by the Holy Spirit: (Gal. 5:22-26) (Uses curriculum & schedules as tools for orderliness so she's more free to follow the spirit)
Her self worth is found in her accomplishments (clean house, perfect kids, the perfect bulletin boards, etc.)	Her self worth is found in an accurate view of who she is in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10)
Her peace is found in the “perfect” environment	Her peace is found in Jesus in the midst of any storm (Is 26:3)
She is discouraged by failure	Failure reminds her that God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
She expects perfection from herself and others	She practices grace with herself and others (Eph 4:32)
She teaches her kids to be good	She teaches her kids to be Godly (Proverbs 22:6)
She is frustrated with her lack of spiritual fruit	She abides in Christ and bears much fruit (John 15:5)
She does things with her children	She builds a relationship with her children (Deut 6:6-7)
Her perspective is based on what is seen	Her perspective is based on what is unseen (Col 3:2)
She chooses quantity of activities	She chooses the most excellent Way (I Cor 13)

I especially like "Her self worth is found in an accurate view of who she is in Jesus Christ," and "Her perspective is based on what is unseen."

I am keeping this blog as a way to record and journal my life and the experiences I have as a wife and mother. I don't post things to brag or show off but to help me remember what went on in our daily life, how we endured trials and to show gratitude for the blessings we received.

The Past Few Days

So yesterday we bought our fridge! Hooray. We've been looking and looking and comparing online and at all the stores around town for a couple months. We finally bought our wonderful new Kenmore, 25 cubic foot, black refrigerator at a great sale at Sears.

Today we had friends over for a playdate which was super fun. Recently we've been trying to have friends over once a week and Ruth and I have really been enjoying the company.

This afternoon we heard from our realtor that the bank is going to pay for the fixes that must be done to our house prior to the closing day - YES! So basically that is $900 we don't have to spend to get our main floor bathroom in working condition. More blessings!

We also went shopping for Ruth the other day, and although it's no where near warm enough for shorts, doesn't she look cute!

Ruth on the Slide

Vote for the baby boy name. We want to know what you think! top right corner of the blog.

Hooray

Today we picked out our carpet for our house!!!! We've been looking around at lots of places and today we made our final pick and are so excited! We also found out from the appraiser that we DON'T have to put in an egress window in our basement so we have the money to re-carpet the whole house, yay!

Also, I am very happy because tonight for dinner we had a vegetarian meal; roasted red potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes and roasted carrots with brown lentils and cheesy french bread. Brad was a little skeptical when I told him dinner was going to be vegetarian but we were both very pleased with the flavors and how full we were when we finished! Yum.

Also, Ruth and I have had a rough past few days. She hasn't been napping or sleeping very well, which means I haven't been either...and that means we've both been cranky. Today was the climax with both of us losing our tempers. I decided to try and remedy the situation by sharing some Eggos...and it worked! After we finished our peanut butter laden waffles I cleaned off Ruth's hands and pulled her out of her highchair. As soon as she was out she grabbed my hand and led me back to her room so we could play back there and she could look out the window. I was so touched by her innocence and love and how willing she was to play and be happy and forget the rough day we'd had. I appreciate these simple lessons I get to learn from her, and look forward to many more.

Sleep and other news

Our stupid bed is so stinking hard that I can no longer sleep on it due to pregnancy because I am suppose to sleep on my side which requires me to turn over every couple hours because the stupid bed creates horrible pressure points on my hips and makes my arms fall asleep (thus the necessity to wake up and turn over) which said turning causes shooting pains in my abdomen. So I've been sleeping on our couch, which is wonderfully squishy. Now I only wake up once or twice a night to readjust (and pee) which is a huge improvement over every other hour. The only down side is that I HATE going to bed in the living room, by myself, without being able to chat with my husband. In other words I want a new bed! EDIT: I was re-reading this post and realized how freaking lucky I am that I have another option to sleep on that is better than the bed we have. Hello! I could be sleeping on a mat on the floor, or not even have a roof over my head like I'm sure some pregnant woman in Haiti is doing tonight! I am so thankful for the things I have!

In other news Ruth loves to play with her crayons and is obsessed with bubbles. She asks for them a million times a day. Then when I blow them she makes a blowing sound too, it's way cute.


I went to the doctor again today. I hate this part of pregnancy where I start gaining weight. Even though I keep telling myself that you're suppose to gain weight it's still such a strange mental struggle to go to the doctor every month and hear you're 5 pounds heavier! Baby boy...we have decided to wait on the official name pick because we're no longer certain that "William" is the right name for our guy...is now about 2 pounds and over a foot long and kicking a ton. I have noticed that he's a little shy though; when I would poke and prod Ruth she would always kick back, but this little guy stops all movement if I poke him back! Also, we have just 3 months left and I'm one week away from the 3rd trimester, hooray!

Love

Today Brad surprised me by coming home randomly during the day and bringing me gorgeous daisies!


Brad has been wanting a hiking backpack for the kids so we can do more exploring in this beautiful state. This last weekend we found one for $30 at the used kids store...along with a long over due diaper pail!


Recently we were able to go to Idaho Falls for the weekend to go through the temple with Brad's cousin who is going on her mission! We had a wonderful time hanging out with extended family and eating delicious food. This is Ruth hamming it up in a pair of wings that Nyah put on her!

Two happy girls because of the pretty flowers:


In other happy news the above tired pregnant woman only has 100 days left of pregnancy. And then she will be a tired mom of 2 kiddos!

Me and Rosie

Inspection Day

"Brad & Kate,

I have completed your home inspection report and attached it to this email. I am pleased to have found no major or safety concerns with the home. The home itself is very solidly built, and all the major components are in good condition. I believe you have stumbled upon a great investment that with a little TLC will make a wonderful home for you and your children for many years. Good luck with your new home and please feel free to call me with ANY questions."


So yay! Now we just have to wait until March 15th to get the "TLC" part started. The main things we're thinking we'll do is re-carpet the main floor and paint...along with getting the HVAC system cleaned and serviced. Luckily we'll have our tax return by then so we'll have some extra money to work with.

This house is perfect for us, and we can see ourselves being here for a very long time. It is only 2 blocks from one of the best elementary schools in town, in a very quiet and well established neighborhood. We have a huge quarter acre backyard with several trees for us all to run around in as well as a little garden plot and patio. The house has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths and a nice big basement with the laundry room and a separate family room. We're so excited that we found this place and that it was in our price range!

We feel so lucky that all of this has fallen in our laps, I wrote the following blog entry when we first started this whole experience a month ago:

So today is January 4th, 2010. I have lots of things to be grateful for. This past year has brought us many wonderful things: we moved to Twin Falls for Brad's amazing job, we moved into a beautiful apartment, we got pregnant again, Ruth turned 1, and today we were pre-qualified to buy our first home. I am not posting this today because we want to make it a big surprise for everyone when we're like, "Oh yeah, we just bought a HOUSE today." But I'm so thrilled and feel so blessed that I want to record my feelings before I get caught up in the stress of making this all really happen.

We really weren't planning on buying a house any time soon. We did know that once our contract ran up in our apartment that we wanted to move to a house so we could have our own yard for Ruth to play in. We've been kind of anxious about that prospect so we've been looking at rentals on Craig's List and in the paper for weeks, trying to gauge prices and what not. Well this one ad kept popping up for 4 beds/2 baths in the president streets. This last Saturday we thought, "Heck. Let's just call the guy and go see the house." So we did. Well the owner was great and told us that for the amount of rent we were willing to pay we could totally be paying a mortgage, plus the insurance and taxes! We were totally surprised. We thought owning a house would be way more expensive than renting. And in most places it is, but we happen to live in the wonderful town of Twin Falls, Idaho where housing is cheap!

So, the next day was fast Sunday at church so we knew what we were going to fast about. The next day (today) was Monday and we set off to Zion's Bank to get pre-qualified. We were pretty skeptical about how much we would qualify for since we only got a credit card 6 months ago...aka our credit history is BRIEF. But amazingly enough, at about 4 this afternoon, Brad called me from work announcing that we qualified to buy a house!

When Brad told me this news I immediately started screaming at him over the phone. I really couldn't believe it. This meant that our hope of maybe buying a house was DEFINITELY going to happen! We are going to be home-owners! After I stopped screaming I became speechless...home-owners. I'll barely be 24 years old! And then of course I started crying. I feel so blessed. I have a wonderful husband who is doing an amazing job of providing for our little family. I have a beautiful daughter who is curious, and learning words, and loves to read, she's goofy and funny and amazing. I have a newbie on the way who is healthy and kicking and who we'll get to pick a name for in 2 weeks when we get the ultrasound done! We have great insurance, comfortable furniture, great dishes, new clothes and family pictures hanging on our walls. We're blessed to know our Heavenly Father and I feel so grateful for everything we have received.

Losing to Technology

This is what happens when you try to take a photo when your camera is set to video.

My favorite part is that split second when you think the camera is broken.