Slowly going crazy...

This morning my wonderful, amazing husband got up with the kid while I lounged about for another couple of hours. I read a few chapters in my book, even caught a few more hours of shut eye, accompanied by a fun, silly dream. Then I had to get out of bed, so I came in to get some breakfast. I was quickly reminded why, even after the adorable greeting Rachael gives me in the morning, I love to stay in bed. I have currently been up and about for 1 hour, and have heard the word, "MOM," I kid you not, 387,957 times. Ugh. Some of you with sweet little babies lying in their bouncers or swings may think, "I can't wait for when my child calls me mom." Yes. You can.
Here is our usual conversation:
*Rachael sitting, playing with a toy. This morning, it was Sebastian sitting on a starfish.*
"Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom...." (You may be thinking, "Why not just answer her?" Because sometimes I hope I'll get lucky and she'll forget she wanted to show me something for the 34,598 time that day...) "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. MOM. MOM. MOM. MOM. MAAAHHMM!!"
"What?!"
"Weeeh..." In a nice, sweet voice of an angel while holding up Sebastian. (And no, I have no clue what she means...)
"Yeah... cool..."

Welcome to my world, people, welcome to my world.

Post Galore!

Be prepared for the plethora of posts ahead. I've been slacking in my picture-putting-up, and I'm sure some people (a.k.a. my grandmother) have not appreciated this lack of enthusiasm. So here you go, peeps. Enjoy!!

Skirt to Dress

I've been having some struggles feeling good about myself this pregnancy. Its just what happens, and it doesn't help that my hair is hideous! I've been wanting some new maternity clothes, especially things to wear to church, but apparently I'm too tall for anything. I decided the other day to make myself a skirt, dang it, because nothing else looks good. It turned out really cute, only problem is... it fit yesterday and probably will never fit again. (Not to mention the skirt had to go on from the top down... I probably need a measuring tape...) So even though I looked cute at church once, I decided to put the skirt to better use by... turning it into a dress for Rachael! I love, love, love it!! It still needs some tweaking and altering, but I'm very pleased and very happy my hours of cutting and sewing didn't go to waste. Please don't ask me how to make this, because it was hard and very time consuming. She wasn't in the mood for pictures even though a treat was offered. Its probably because her hair isn't done... sorry.

Volleyball

Our Stake had a Volleyball tournament last Thursday, which was right up Nate's ally. (Not mine. Anyone who knows me knows that any sport I participate in, two things happen: 1. I make a complete fool of myself, and 2. We lose. These are facts, so I leave the sports to others...) Nate happens to particularly love Volleyball, having played for a few classes at BYU-I. Our ward had a semi-decent turn out, and didn't make it all the way, but they won a few and had some fun.

School (?)

As some of you know, Rachael has a speech delay. It has been very frustrating for all three of us, so I applied for a program sponsored by SUU (I think...). We had a speech therapist come to our house to give me some advice and some activities to do with her to increase her speech (i.e. read to her, sing to her, play with her. Ummm... when have I not done these things with her?). Basically, she left and I just felt like a terrible mom and had an emotional breakdown. ANYWAYS. This program also involves Rachael attending a playgroup every week. She had her first "class" last Friday. It was pretty short, only 30 minutes, and I had to hide in the office because I knew if she saw me, she'd only want to interact with me, which is not the purpose of this class. They had snack (waffles and syrup? weird, but effective...), read a book , picked up some squishy worms with big tweezers (fine motor skills), and played. Luckily, we will no longer be going on Fridays, but Tuesdays. That will give her a 90 minute class which I'm very excited about. I truly believe this extra social interaction with kids her age will help her more than anything.

MLK Jr. Day

We spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day in St. George. The weather was B-eautiful so we headed out for a picnic in the park. We had some store credit at Big 5 Sporting Goods, so Nate got some basketball shoes and we grabbed this cute girl's baseball mitt and ball for the kid. She doesn't hate it, but I don't think she quite gets the concept. It was fun to be out with the sunshine and to get some exercise. I'm ready for Spring, although I'm not complaining... Cedar City is just a little chilly, but we still get out. I'm just grateful there isn't 12 feet of snow on the ground (A.K.A. the current state of Rexburg.)

Puddin'

So the other day was a LONG day for both of us. I wasn't feeling too great, and as a result Rachael had to do her own thing most of the day. So, as a fun treat, after dinner I gave her a cup of pudding and let her go to town. It took her a few minutes to really get into it, but, as you can see, she got the hang of it. Clearly, she was given a bath immediately afterward. Nate came home from class while she was in the tub and said, "Umm... why is the water brown?" lol, because half of it was pudding. Sometimes kids just need to make a supervised mess all over their bodies. Its good for them.

Mommy's Little "Helper"

After church today I had to make some rolls for a dinner group we're going to tonight. Every time I bust out the Kitchenaid, Rachael always says, "hulll, hulll..." aka help aka let me stir something and make a mess. So instead of her messing with my recipe I just gave her a bowl of water into which we slowly added flour, salt, oil, corn starch, all part of making the princess happy. She loves it, and I personally think its adorable, especially when she wears the adorable tea towel apron made by Great Aunt Tonya. Don't worry, literally 15 seconds after this picture was taken, half of this concoction ended up on the floor. Mess mission accomplished.

OBSESSED!

I'm sorry grandma, I PROMISE I'll get some pictures up soon, but it is more work than I want to put forth right now :) I spent all day cleaning, hitting the "nesting" stage about 4 months too early... Right now I just want to tell you all about something I am more or less obsessed with. My friend Katie put this on her facebook and I am determined to make this one day. This is not a joke. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?! Some woman made this. It was inspired by bedding at Anthropologie, which is outrageously expensive on any budget, except maybe Jennifer Lopez's. Nate even likes it, which is saying something. He usually just says, "its ok..." but no, this time he said, "Yeah, I like it." So its a done deal. I'll probably have to wait until this time next year (after birthday/Christmas) when I hopefully have a nice(er) sewing machine, I just inherited my sister's teeny one, and this project involves a ton of sewing. See the tutorial here (this is part two), and don't doubt me. I will do it, it might just take a while. A long while. But I love it so I'm willing to do this. Maybe I'll even throw one on Rachael's bed, we'll see! So enjoy this eye candy, dream about it, dream about it on my bed, although not white, maybe a sage-y green or a light blue? Someday, I promise you!

Its a....

We went for our ultrasound today, and the baby was being a stinker and was snuggling up to the placenta so it was pretty tough to get a good shot. (I was also informed that because of the location of the placenta it will be tough to get a good 3D ultrasound next time, so that's sad...) But the verdict is.... with probably about 75% certainty...

Yes, my friends, Rachael is going to have a little sister, and we're pretty stoked about it! We truly didn't care either way, just as long as we get a boy eventually, but really, we've got everything we need (obviously though, I'll be purchasing matching outfits, and we need to do a serious overhaul and addition to our bow collection!!). We have names in mind, one I THOUGHT was going to be the name, but now Nate isn't discussing it. Grrr... Now we're back to watching all of the credits after movies and countless hours searching through our baby name book and family history.

New York or California?

(Long post ahead... beware)
I know, can't get much further apart than those two states. But that, my friends, has been our family's dilemma since about three weeks ago. Long story short, one of Nate's professors recommended him to a job in PwC (for those who don't know, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company Nate did his NYC internship for and received a job offer for in that office) Las Vegas, but they didn't have any tax openings, and Nate HATES audit (which I'm 100% ok with, because that means no monthly business trips to audit companies), but the recruiter he was talking with did mention an opening in their Orange County office. So we did some research and found out that Irvine, CA is one of the Top 5/10 (I can't remember) cities with over 100,000 people to live in. Pretty sweet, eh? And my friend, Marissa, has a bro-in-law who used to live there and here is what he said, "We really liked Irvine, minus the Asian drivers all over the place, but it is super clean, a little too safe, and very manicured, both the people and the landscape.. when we first moved there we felt like we lived on a movie set. " Um, I think I can handle that... although I may need to work on my personal up keep... and buy some new clothes :)
But the entire time Nate and I were discussing the pros and cons, he kept asking me, "So how do you really feel?" Basically every time, my response (and his), was if we go to California, we won't be going to New York. Profound, no? Thing is we were SO excited to go to New York! Central Park, Times Square, amazing thrift shops, cute little bakeries, any type of food you could ever imagine, all right there. I think since we had no other option, I just wrapped my mind around the fun, amazing side of New York. Even after I found out I was pregnant (which was always the plan and another baby was ALWAYS a factor in our NYC adventure) I was still excited, planning which stroller to get, searching to see what kind of two bedroom apartment we could afford and where (not much, I'll tell you...), thinking about trips to the Museum of Natural History, the Children's Museum, all the fun stuff to do with kids. And the reality of it is, New York City is NOT a child friendly place. I know people do it, and some people I know love it, but it is stinking hard. I only had one kid last time we were there, and she just sat in her cool NY stroller like a champ. Now I've got a crazy toddler/almost preschooler and a baby on the way. H. A. R. D. I also talked to my good friend, Rachael, who has lived there 2.5 years, and she was being honest with me, which I VERY much appreciated, when she said that the blazing hot summers and the bitter cold winters were enough to make her want to leave New York. Basically, she loves NY in bits and pieces. For me, taking a step back and looking at it from a realistic view, my guess is that the majority of my time in New York would be spent in my tiny apartment because it is just so much work hauling two kids around on foot everywhere. Some people can do it, and I respect and admire them, but I truly do not think I would be happy. If that was our only option, of course I would go in to it with a good attitude and make the best of things, but this other option came along, so... we're going to take it.
Yes people, we're moving to Irvine, California in July 2011!! Nate starts his what I call "Big Boy" job on July 7. We're still trying to figure out how everything will work, I may be hanging around in UT for the month of July, but who knows. We no longer have to sell everything we own, although I was kind of excited for that... California, in the end, is just plain better for our family. With new additions that will be coming in the next few years, it just feels better. Not to mention Irvine is 15 miles south of Disneyland, 15 miles east of the beach, and surrounded by the most amazing shopping you could ever dream of!! And I'm being 100% serious when I say COME AND STAY WITH US!! Seriously, plan a trip to Disneyland, and come crash on our floor!! We'll have an air mattress, I swear!
So there you have it, that is the decision, and we are SO excited about it!! Keep posted to hear updates and hopefully see some pictures of the area we would like to live in, because hopefully next month we'll be able to go for a quick visit.

P.S. I didn't mention that even though Nate is taking a pay cut going to California instead of NYC, after rent, taxes, and everything, we will have more take home pay than we would have in New York, which is a GREAT perk!!

Nuff sed...

Ok, ok, ok, I'll give just a few more details, but my hubby is hounding me to unpack. Boo.
I'M PREGNANT!! Some of you know, and I appreciate the secret keeping. I'm almost 17 weeks, due June 8, my sister-in-law Elise's birthday, and the day after my beloved cousin, Britni's, birthday. As per last pregnancy, I haven't been sick (i.e. haven't thrown up, I know some of you want to beat me up right now) but I did feel crummy a few times, and REALLY tired, but that may because I have a crazy child to chase after. And, also per last pregnancy, Nate has been amazing, taking the kid so I could nap. We find out the gender next Tuesday, hope hope hoping the ultrasound appointment doesn't conflict with Nate's new class schedule (I'm going to check on that right now actually...). And no, I don't have any inklings of what it is. I'm LOVING feeling movement in my belly again, my favorite part of pregnancy, and I'm excited for when Nate can feel it too. Rachael has no idea what is coming, we'll work on that, but she has been ultra clingy which really starts to get on my nerves, sorry if that makes me sound like a bad mother. We're working on weaning her off of me and onto daddy, because lets face it, once I have a huge belly I won't be able to pick up my 33 pound two year old, I already can't. My pants don't fit and I'm only barely starting to look pregnant, but I do have my first pair of REAL maternity pants, because last time I was in beauty school and just had a smock over my open jeans/black pants.
Well I'm glad I've released this news, because I haven't been able to think about anything else for the last three months, let alone have a conversation without throwing it in. Its hard. I don't know if I can do it again.