thankful

Things I'm thankful for:

*our health
*wonderful, amazing family
*really great friends
*our home
*our church
*a Thanksgiving day with just my husband and little girl
*an awesome husband that goes to work every day so I can stay home with our little girl
*our spunky, smiley little girl that brings so much delight into our lives
*another little one on the way
*that Tyson finally decided that he doesn't really need to know what we're having, so...we're going to have another surprise!!

the big question

The question everyone is asking us lately is: "when can you find out what you're having?" I'm guessing that we could find out the first week of January, which is when I'll be 20 weeks along. Most of my friends that are pregnant are having "the big ultrasound" and thus, finding out around 18 weeks or even earlier. But...considering, we will be out of town for 2 weeks straight starting on week 18, I won't be having "the big ultrasound" until January.

Anyway, when people ask me this question, it's usually followed by, "oh, wait, you didn't find out with Audrey did, you?? Are you going to find out this time?!?"

And right now, I have no idea what to say.

I want another surprise. Tyson wants to know.

Both Tyson and I LOVED not knowing the first time around. We registered for everything neutral, so no matter what we had we could keep reusing all of the big items for all of our kids. The nursery is done in neutral colors so Audrey will move out and baby #2 will take over what was her room and there will be no need to redo anything. We have a LOT of neutral newborn and 0-3 month onesies and sleepers and that's what #2 will probably be in for a while anyway.

I LOVED the anticipation and guessing and wondering and speculating and the big moment when the baby comes out and the doctor announces "it's a ...!" And I want to do it again! Tyson doesn't even have a good reason for wanting to know. He just wants to know. So...do I just play the "I'm carrying this baby for 9 months and am going to push this baby out of me!" card, so I can win? or do I give in?

so, what I want to hear are pros and cons of finding out/not finding out. any helpful suggestions to make this decision any easier?

the true meaning of "I'm tired."

I'm now 12, almost 13 weeks along with this pregnancy. A lot of the pregnant women around me are very sick and throwing up so people usually start their converstations to me with, "I haven't heard you talk about being sick, so you're having it pretty easy, right?" Part of me wants to agree with them, because, really, I HATE throwing up and I can't imagine doing it every day, a couple of times a day for weeks on end. So in that respect, I do have it very easy.

But I don't feel like it's been easy! and I'm not just complaining about it to complain, I just want to clarify why my house has been a mess for the last month and I don't feel like doing anything these days.

When people ask how I'm doing I usually reply with, "I'm really tired." (and this response is usually followed by the person responding, "oh, that's not so bad!! I'm glad you're doing so great!") But what I want to say is "I've never been so exhausted in my life. I was tired when I was pregnant with Audrey, but this has gone to a whole other level!! I start the day feeling like I've already run a marathon and then I have a very energetic 18 month old that needs me all day. So, I muster up enough energy to play with her and engage her brain in activities but all I want to do is sit in front of the tv all day and fall asleep. By the time she naps, I do, too. Then she wakes up, so I wake up and we play in the afternoon. Sometimes I have the energy to do a few loads of laundry and make dinner, other nights I have the energy to get in the car and drive to Papa Murphy's. Once we've eaten, Tyson entertains Audrey and once she's in bed, I go to bed, too. But I'm not sleeping well these days so it takes me at least 45 minutes to fall asleep and then I wake up about 4 times a night. not to pee, though. I just wake up. and then eventually fall back asleep. and then Audrey wakes up and we start another day."

but...this too shall pass. right?!?

18 months

Happy 18 months to our little sweetie!

We love you SO much!

Nebraska Trip

Audrey and I ventured to Aurora, Nebraska with my parents for 10 days to help my uncle and cousin with corn harvesting. The weather only allowed the guys to be in the field 3 days, so we had a lot of fun time, too! Here's some of the highlights/lowlights:

we'll start with the lowlights:

-sharing a room with Audrey every night (and being a light sleeper) meant being woke up about 5 times a night. Not ideal for being pregnant and exhausted anyway.
-the knee of one of my oldest (and most favorite) pair of jeans finally ripped through. :( this makes me very sad.
-Audrey had her first taste of Pepsi (or any pop for that matter). My cousin Jenna, very innocently, set her drink on the kitchen table. About an hour later, Audrey was quiet, which usually means she's up to something, and I walked around the corner to see Audrey standing on a chair, leaning on the table with an "Amigos" cup in both of her hands and the straw in her mouth. and of course, a very happy look on her face. great. that's just great...

-Angie and Malorie weren't able to come because of all the snow in Denver...we were all looking forward to seeing them again. :(

and now for some of the highlights:
-"pup-pies!" Audrey's new favorite word, thanks to Zeke and Skyler, my aunt and uncle's dogs. She had such a great time with them!

-Audrey learned how to blow kisses, kind of. it's pretty cute.

-We got to see a LOT of family and friends...it was so good to see all of you!

-Halloween! Audrey was a little bumblebee, and luckily, her costume was just a jacket, so she didn't mind wearing it! We trick-or-treated at some relatives' houses and then spent the evening at my cousin (and his wife)'s house. Audrey LOVED standing by the door and greeting the trick-or-treaters, but her favorite thing was getting to dig through and play with all the candy. It was a good thing she didn't realize she could have eaten all of her "toys."

-My parents, Audrey and I got to drive by the house I grew up in. Lots and lots of memories came flooding back. It was bittersweet to see it again, but it was nice to see that it was being well taken care of.

-Audrey was able to ride on the combine with Papa! Of course, I wanted to ride along, too. We only made it one round because Audrey was so squirmy, but it was still good to go and get a few pictures to show her one day.

-Daylight savings time (hopefully) won't be too big of a deal this fall. I think it will help that we were gone and she was distracted/entertained so it was easy to keep her up later than usual for 10 days before the time change...so, we'll see how it goes!

I'm so glad we were able to go! Pictures will come later!

Here we go again!!

On September 13, 2007 we found out that we were expecting a baby, which, of course, was our beautiful little girl, Audrey.

Exactly 2 years and 2 days later, still the same result...

here's our little bean:

We're due May 23, 2010, just 6 days after Audrey's due date...how crazy! Thank you, God, the gift of another child. We're already looking forward to the blessing this child will be. We are so excited about this new addition to our family!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week, our playgroup went to the Pumpkin Patch! We got there and realized that they were closed. Luckily, it was a church that is in charge of it, so we went in and asked if we could just take pictures and not take any pumpkins and they said yes! so...here's some of the kiddos. (Katie Baskins Photography took all the pictures...thanks, Katie!) Fall is one of my favorite seasons and these pictures capture the season so well. :)