Aquarium

This past Saturday, Phil, Natalie and I took a trip to the Aquarium in Sandy. We haven't been for a while and now we think we should go every day. She absolutely loved seeing all the fish and being able to run around free.

Yellow Fish

Daddy told her to blow on the coral to make it move

Her favorite frog statue

Let it snow

This season we have already had a few snowfalls, which is great, because Natalie LOVES the snow. She can spend hours and hours playing outside and the cold doesn't even seem to effect her. Auntie Ashley sent Natalie a snow suit to use this winter and we have put it to good use.

Tasty white snow

Daddy built Natalie a tunnel in the backyard

Then he built a snow man

Natalie loves helping Daddy shovel

In addition to enjoying the snow, we have also been having multiple fires. Natalie knows that fires are only to be touched by mommy or daddy, but she loves watching daddy build and light the fire. After the fire is raging we normally put some pillows in front of the fire and she and bear relax and enjoy.

We also decorated the tree the day after Thanksgiving. Natalie really enjoyed hanging the ornaments and can't wait to turn on the tree lights each night.

In other words, we have been busy!

Family Photos

Way back in July (!) we had family photos taken. Kirstin Roper took the photos and we are so pleased with them.

I wanted them taken before I was visibly pregnant (they were taken when I was about 4 months along) and while the weather was still nice. I've already printed all of them and there are a few on the walls in the house, don't know why it has taken me this long to post them on the blog.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Two Cans Later

With the birth of the baby quickly approaching, I've been in full nesting mode for the past few months. The first thing I decided to tackle was to change up the mailbox and porch light. I love spray paint and sort of just want to take a can of paint to everything; however, I decided to buy a new porch light that was black, rather than spray paint the old one we had. So, my dad came over and installed it. While he did that I painted the mailbox black to match. It looks SO GOOD! Amazing what a little paint can do.

painted and ready to receive mail

From there, I decided to attack the big window in our garage. I hate that people can look in and see all our junk, so I bought "frosted glass" paint...who knew that even existed? I painted two coats on the window, so now the light comes, but prying eyes can't - which is added security. Security in a can is what they should call that paint.

After the paint

From there, I didn't stop. I took a table from Ikea which had been sitting on the back porch, unused, for three years. I painted it a light brown to match the basement bathroom. Now I have a little table next to the sink to hold towels and look cute.

pre-paint

Painted!

I also painted a mirror from my grandparents bedroom set that I want to hang in the nursery. It looks amazing in the bright white I picked out. I'm looking forward to the weather warming up a little so I can paint the dresser and bed that go with the set. Paint breathes new life into old furniture, which I LOVE.

Along with that "nesting", we have also been busy getting everything else in the house ready for baby. I have two giant trash bags full of stuff for the good will, along with a few other things that wouldn't fit in the bags. I'm planning on filling at least one more bag by the end of the month. We have also been working hard turning the "red room" (extra bedroom upstairs) into the nursery or "Blue Room" as it is now known. Every time Natalie walks past the room she says "Baby room" and points at the blue room, then points to her room and says "my room". So smart that little lady.

A full nursery post is coming once we can get it all put together.

Holiday spending

And yes - this is my desk at work, you would be shocked how much knitting can be accomplished while on conference calls

My attempt at scaling back on holiday spending. Hand-made gifts.

I figure that I'll be on maternity leave while the holiday bills come in so might as well try and limit the amount of money we spend because I'll be making a lot less money on maternity leave.

I'll also be whipping up some batches of cookies, brownies in a jar, and whipped butter and biscuits to give out. Far less expensive than multiple trips to the mall, and I'm sure much more appreciated by recipients.

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Happy Birthday God Father

Today is the God Fathers birthday. Happy birthday to a wonderful brother, friend and god father, we love you!!

These are photos from our trip to Mexico. Natalie loves her Godfather and all the things he teaches her (how to spit, make a scruntchy face, the list could go on and on)

Maternity Clothes

Whenever you ask my mom anything about maternity clothes or the topic even comes up, she always talks about this one shirt that was sooo comfortable that she ended up wearing it almost every day towards the end of her pregnancy. Well, like mother like daughter, I've found my shirt or outfit rather.

After I had Natalie, I packed up all the maternity clothes in boxes and put them in storage knowing I would need them again. Well, here we are in the "needing them again" time and I look at some of the shirts and think, "really? I wore that? me?" Also, none of the pants fit, don't know if I was bigger with Natalie or if they just stretched out. Maybe I'll get some use in the last month of this pregnancy, but in the mean time, I need some new options. One thing I bought was this tunic style shirt from the Heidi Klum line. It is SO comfortable, but needed leggings to go with it, so I bought some leggings too. I've worn this outfit almost every day this week, it is embarrassing, but true. It is comfortable and if you have been pregnant, finding comfortable clothes that are also somewhat flattering is key!

Maybe this weekend I'll put a few other options together. I have to go to the office most days next week and don't want people to wonder why I wear the same thing every day.

24 Month Check-Up

Birthday party photos are coming soon, and a full vacation recap too; but first let's chat about the fact that today we visited the doctor for a twenty-four-month check up. Wrap your head around that. I know yesterday I posted that I am now the mother of a two-year-old, but it really hit me at the doctor today.

While driving there, I looked back at Natalie and she just looks grown up or older, some how. Weird, because that doesn't happen to me on my birthdays :)

The doctor said she is in excellent health. Natalie knows her alphabet (and what words start with what letters, every time she sees an "N" she says "ME!", an "M" for mama, "P" for papa, and "G" for grandma, grandpa and godfather. She knows the numbers up to 10, sings all the time and has even started spelling more and more words. Grandma taught her how to spell hot - she says "h.o.t. hot" and Phil and I take credit for teaching her how to spell milk. We discovered this one morning when I said to Phil, "Glad she didn't need m.i.l.k last night" and she looked at me and said "Milk now please". She is very gracious, always saying please (peeze) when she wants something and when she gets it says "Thank you".

For the stats:

• Weight - 24.0 pounds (16th percentile)
• Height - 34.0 inches (56th percentile)
• 2 booster shots and a nose mist for the flu - she hated all of them!

Overall, she is healthy and happy!

Happy Birthday Natalie!!

I can hardly believe my little baby is, today, a two-year-old!

Two years ago today, Phil and I were still wondering if we were going to be able to check in to the hospital, for the "scheduled" induction. We decided to run errands and hope the nurses would call and tell us to drive over. We stopped and bought eye make up for me, cigars for Phil to hand out after the birth and then, after coming to the realization we would not get the "come to the hospital call", decided to go and get a hamburger for lunch (I hadn't eaten all morning, so I was STARVING!).

Just as they passed the bag of hamburgers and fries to Phil, my phone rang. The nurse on the other end said "Come now, we have a bed ready for you." "Can I eat lunch?" I asked, very hopeful. "Sure, some broth or plain soup would be fine" ... great, no hamburger for me - but I did have one BIG bite. As we drove to the hospital, it finally hit me, I was going to be a mom. "Maybe we should just go home, I don't want to do this today" I said to Phil, but he drove me to the hospital.

I've never been so excited and nervous at the same time. Only a few hours later were we greeted by our precious little girl. WOW was she perfect, only cried for a few minutes and then was just peaceful. We popped champagne, enjoyed time with family and our new little one. Nothing better!

Can't believe that two years have passed since then. Today we are having "Granma, Grandpa, and God-fa-ther" over for dinner and cake. Every time I ask Natalie how old she is, she says, "TWO!" and then we talk about her party - she has insisted on hats, cake and singing. Happy to oblige.

Happy birthday baby!! I'll post all the celebration photos tomorrow.

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, that happened quick!

Here in Utah, when a holiday falls on a Sunday, everyone seems to celebrate the day before - which meant that trick-or-treating would have to happen on Saturday night. The worst part, was that Saturday was raining and miserable, so we only hit four houses - and only two doors opened.

Natalie dressed up as a little devil, and was SO excited about her costume that I could hardly get her to stand still for a photo. She thought that she could fly when she put it on, so as soon as we tied it on her, she would start running around "flying". She had little horns that we clipped to her pony tails and a "devil trident" that she LOVED stabbing into the ground. I bought her tutu a long time ago and it is still a little big, but stayed up most of the night, and my mom made her the cape. I've never seen such a cute devil.

Here she is running for take off

playing at Grandmas

**more photos to come once they are downloaded from the camera

Where we have been

Immediately following my last work trip of the year, we celebrated Halloween and then left immediately for a family vacation. I'll try and post a Halloween recap today, and a full vacation post is coming in the next few days, (first we have to compile all the photos from the various cameras). A few highlights from our trip, just to keep you interested:

• We had to bribe our way to our final destination, gotta love Mexico
• Natalie, Phil and Godfather were each "eaten" and spit back out by the ocean
• Sand gets EVERYWHERE
• Deep sea fishing was fun, after I threw up
• Travel with Natalie is SO easy
• First class on the way home was the least they could do

More posts to come