Christmas in Boise

This year we went to my parents house in Boise for Christmas. My sister Amy was in town with her kids and Mandi and Craig were also in town spending time with us and his parents! My brother Michael was there as well to complete the crew :] It was so fun to get together with the whole family and see how much all the little kids have grown! Amy had her baby, Presley, on July 19, Mandi had her baby Scarlette on September 14 and I had Brady November 17 so they are all about 2 months apart! I am excited for them to grow up and be so close in age! They were already bonding during Christmas Eve dinner at Grandmas house :]

Presley and Scarlette are both smiling lots! Brady smiled for real for the first time this week :] He has had the sleepy smiles and gas smiles, but yesterday he actually smiled back at me and it was the cutest thing ever! Here are all three of the babies together to see the size difference! Presley is so long compared to both of them for now, but I feel like Brady is going to pass up both of the girls eventually :]

This summer when all three of us sisters were pregnant, we took pictures together! It was so fun to be pregnant together and go through everything with them. And now we all have our babies here and we get to enjoy them :]

Christmas Eve was so fun with everyone there! We enjoyed our big dinner and had pie. We used to play games and do puzzles together, but it gets a little harder to do things like that with so many kids running around! Now we just play with the kids and laugh at all the cute things they do :] 

It was just Jordan, Brady, Michael and I at my parents house for Christmas morning. I remember when we were growing up we used to wake up at like 7 or 8 to open presents and my brother would get so mad that we got him up so early haha! This year we woke up around 9:30 or 10 and loved sleeping in :] 

Brady loved his first Christmas and was so happy while we were opening presents! I love when he lays on my lap and just looks up at me and smiles. I was the lucky one and got to hold him while we were opening presents. He got a few fun things from us, his grandparents, and great grandparents :]

My favorite gifts when I was growing up were games or toys that I could play with or work on all day long. This year I didn't really get anything like that, but I got plenty of things I needed! Since I didn't have any games to keep me busy, I started putting together a foam bead string that the grandchildren got from my aunt this year! 

We relaxed all day long on Christmas and enjoyed each others company. One of my favorite things about Christmas is the leftover turkey sandwiches! Mandi, Amy and their families came back over that evening for some food and to spend some time together. We were able to take some great pictures with all the families and grandchildren together :] well they were pretty good considering the patience levels of the kids!

 I am obsessed with Deagan's hair and the smirk on his face in this picture! Such cute kids :]

When we told Max he was going to hold Brady we explained that he had to be really careful with his head. Max held Brady's head like this the whole time :] What a good cousin!

After Mandi and Amy left, we played some games with my parents and ate some left over pie. I would say that it was a very successful first Christmas for our little man!

First REAL bath

We arrived to Boise yesterday around 1:00 and have been loving spending time with my family :] On the drive here, the only pillow we brought was my nursing pillow and it was not the most comfortable pillow to nap with in the car...

Tonight we gave Brady his very first REAL bath! We have been giving him sponge baths for the past few weeks because at first we had to wait for his umbilical cord to fall off. Then pretty much as soon as that was gone, he got circumcised and we had to wait for that to heal before we could submerge him fully in water. I was a little nervous for him to take a real bath and I wasn't sure if he was going to like it, but these pictures say it all...

Look how cute that face is!

He loved the bath so much he even fell asleep :] 

I would say that it was definitely a success!

Finals week is over!

We have been loving having Brady home for 4 weeks now! He is such an amazing baby :] For the birth story, see the "Welcome Home Brady" page above. 

I meant to make a blog post last Sunday, but you know how things go with a new baby... So six days later here we are :] This past week was finals week and we are so happy that it is over. Jordan took his last final yesterday so we relaxed last night and are just hanging out today. He has been at the school studying until 11 or 12 every night and I have been missing him terribly! So it's nice to have him home today :] 

Last Sunday was a fun day! It was our first time bringing Brady to church. He did so great, and he looked adorable :] I was nervous pretty much through all sacrament meeting that he was going to wake up and cry, but we lucked out this week. When we got home from church he was still sleeping and Jordan enjoyed snuggling with him on the couch :]

Brady was doing some tummy time later that day and rolled over from his stomach to his back! He was only 3 weeks old! We got it on video but I couldn't figure out how to upload it to the blog :/

We also had a fun little experience that night. I learned that it is not a good idea to have the changing station right next to my side of the bed with a little boy...

Yes, that is pee all over the bed... and yes that is a pile of diapers on the changing station. I was in the process of putting a new one on and I guess I just wasn't quick enough because he got pee all over the new diaper! He peed like 3 times all over and after the second I thought he was emptied out for sure... But he surprised us with the waterfall on the bed! We have definitely gotten better this past week at speedy changes with our sharp shooter :]

I probably take like 20 pictures of Brady every day and I am obsessed with him. He has the cutest cheeks in the world and I kiss them all day. Sometimes he scrunches up his face all cute after I kiss him and it makes me laugh :] He has been more alert lately and I love when he just sits contently and hangs out with me on the couch!

His eyes are looking more blue now! I am so excited he finally has something from me haha. Everyone tells us how much he looks like Jordan, and I totally agree! He has Jordan's lips, brow line, eye shape, and probably a lot more! So I was happy when he got my blue eyes :] He will be a cute little blonde haired blue eyed boy. 

We are leaving Tuesday to spend the holidays with our families. Since we aren't going to be here during the break we didn't really do much decorating for Christmas. Jordan also hasn't been feeling to great the past few days, so we are just relaxing all weekend! This is about as festive as we are going to get around here this year...

I keep telling myself every year that we will buy more Christmas decorations after Christmas when they all go on sale, but when it comes time to buy I don't ever get any! I just am lazy and don't want to store them all year long I guess. Maybe when we have a real house or a bigger apartment, but for now our mini tree will do :]

False alarm

So last night was pretty eventful! Jordan and I were trying a few things to get me to go into labor... and all of a sudden we totally thought my water broke!! I called Amy (because she knows everything and always has the best advice) and she said to wait an hour and see if my contractions got more intense and then go to the hospital. So we tried to wait a bit but we were so anxious and we wanted to find out if it was really my water that broke!

So we packed our bags and drove to the hospital :] This was around midnight. Luckily it is only like 3 minutes away from our house! We got all checked in and the nurse came in to check me and see if it my water broke. I was pretty dang excited waiting for her to come in :]

So our nurse came in and she had a test strip to see if there was amniotic fluid in me. Unfortunately there wasn't any :[ She checked my cervix and I was still only 80% effaced and dilated to a 1. I was seriously so bummed. Since I was having contractions still, she told us we needed to stay for an hour so she could monitor me just in case I progressed. Needless to say we were not too excited and we were getting tired...

We stayed for the hour and she checked me again. Nope, no progression. We went home a little disappointed and extremely tired around 1:30. I've continued to have contractions all day, but they aren't consistent or regular at all :/ Hopefully things will start to progress more soon!! 

I went to water aerobics today probably for the last time and it felt so good! It is amazing to have the weight of my belly taken off for like an hour in the water. I would definitely recommend water aerobics during pregnancy for any who are considering it :] BEST FEELING EVER!

Baby, GET OUT!

So I am officially 10 days away from my due date :] I never thought this time would finally come! I went to the doctor yesterday and had a little check up. I have progressed from last week, although slower than I had hoped. I have gone from being 20% effaced to 80% effaced and the baby moved down from a -2 to a -1 so things are going good there. I am still only dilated to a 1, but the Dr said that I have to efface before I dilate so its all good and things are moving along as they should.

Jordan and I are getting a little impatient... Well mostly me, but Jordan is excited for the baby to get here too :] So last night we went to the indoor track at BYU and walked around for about an hour. It is a little depressing going from the brand new amazing indoor track at BYU-I to the hot and stinky one here...

BYU-Idaho indoor track:

BYU indoor track:

My original thought was that it was way too cold to be walking outside at night and so the track would be perfect! It might have been okay if I had thought about what I was wearing before we went. I wore a long sleeve shirt and long pants and I was FRYING!! So we ended up going outside and taking a little hike up the RB stairs :] Now that definitely started some contractions!!

We went home that night and the contractions continued for a couple hours, but they weren't very regular and they started to fade out. I never thought I would be so excited for pain to come, but I can't wait! I just want to meet our little man and see what he looks like :] As Deagan would say, "Baby, GET OUT!" 

Cozy snow day in Provo

The weather this week has been so crazy! I guess that is pretty typical for living in Utah... earlier this week it was sunny and I swear it was like 70 degrees for a couple days! 

Today I woke up and it was raining. The rain soon turned to snow. It snowed and it snowed and it snowed!!! By the end of the day there were probably like 6 inches on the grass in our courtyard! I was in a cozy mood so I made some hot chocolate with Jordan and we watched the cute kids playing outside in the snow :] 

We LOVE hot chocolate and cozy snow days! Oh and here is my huge 38 week belly! 

Jordan walked in on me taking off my boots the other day and he was dying laughing. Its getting a little rough getting my boots off with this dang belly. Can't wait for this baby to get here :]

Halloween parties and 36 week check up

On Saturday, our ward had a Halloween party! Jordan was in charge of coordinating all the food and drinks for the party, which I was kind of excited to help with. They had decided on making 11 homemade apple pies and serving apple cider and hot chocolate with them. Luckily we weren't in charge of the apple pies, all we had to do was the drinks. I was thinking... "how hard can making 5 gallons of cider and 5 gallons of hot chocolate be?"

It ended up turning out great, but the process was definitely a challenge. By the end of the day my kitchen had turned into one big sticky, chocolate-y mess! We borrowed 4 crock pots to cook all of the apple cider and I have never seen our kitchen so full!!

After we got all the drinks ready, it was time to change into our costumes and head to the party. I searched and searched for a good costume this year since I was so big and pregnant, I wanted to take advantage of the belly! I don't know if the timing will ever work out like this again so I wanted to use my belly for part of the costume if I could :]

It ended up turning out so fun! Jordan was happy because he got to dress up like a golfer. I made a little outfit to look like golf green for me with a hole cut in the middle for my belly to look like a golf ball sticking through :] We got lots of compliments on our creativity and had a great time at the party!!

And to change the subject completely.... I went to the doctor today for my 36.5 week check up! Unfortunately the doctor had an emergency C section and I just saw the nurse. I found out that the doctor doesn't start checking to see if I'm progressing until I'm 38 weeks!! I am hoping at my next appointment since I will be like 37 and a half weeks, I will be able to just beg him to check me :]

Today I worked on packing my hospital bag and getting everything ready. I hope I have everything I need! I feel like I am prepared... but I guess we will find out here in a few weeks when the little man gets here :] We also installed the car seat today and it made us even more excited! It's crazy to think that we are going to be parents for the rest of our lives!! I can't wait to meet this little guy :]

Just one of those feel good days

I seriously LOVE days like today. I slept in with the hubbs (well slept in later than I normally do) and we had a relaxing morning together. I was able to do a deep clean to get ready for the baby to come. I haven't gone around with our vacuum and done the edges of the rooms since we moved in.... so it was definitely time for a major clean up.

I am obsessed with organizing, so while I was vacuuming and trying to move things around I started to organize our storage closet as well. I was able to pile everything in and make it look so much better than before! I don't know what it is about having a clean and organized house, but it makes me so happy :]

Jordan and I got a gorgeous mirror for our wedding that we have never used :[ so today I decided to change that. We have been super lazy with the decorations in our bedroom so I finally found the  motivation to put a few things on the walls. It just takes so much effort drilling through the cinderblock... I guess that's what we get for living in an 80 year old complex where Jordan was born...

After a productive morning, Jordan surprised me and took me to Rumbi Island Grill :] It's like our new favorite restaurant and we get buy one get one free coupons all the time! He is seriously the sweetest husband in the world and he even took a nap with me when we got home from lunch :]

I tried a new recipe tonight (chicken cheese soup) and it turned out good! Except for the fact that we had oodles and oodles left over... I called up a friend to see if she could use some and I'm so happy I did! Apparently she had been having a really rough day (she just had her second baby about a month ago) and she didn't know what she was going to do for dinner. I was so happy that someone would take some of the soup I had made and would enjoy it :] I don't know why I don't do things like that more often... It just gives me the best feeling inside knowing that I made someone else's day :]

I watched my friends baby tonight while they were at dinner and it made me even more excited for our little guy to get here!! Only 4 more weeks until my due date :] :] I seriously cannot believe how fast the time has gone by! Hopefully I will have many more of these productive days before the little man gets here so I will be ready for him when he comes :]

Birthday celebrations, baby showers and more!

The past month of October has been crazy busy for us here in Utah!! And just a heads up, this is going to be a monster post, since I haven't updated all month long! We have been visiting with family, preparing for baby to get here, and enjoying the amazing fall weather. The first weekend in October was General Conference and also my baby shower that the Lamprecht's threw for me. It was so fun having so much family in town!

On Friday my mom and sisters drove down for the shower, and Jordan's whole family came into town for the shower, general conference, and for his grandpa's 80th Birthday celebration. The shower that the girls threw for me was amazing and it was so much fun to get together with so many friends and family members and catch up. It was at a little dessert cafe called "The Chocolate" and it was seriously so cute!!

After the shower, we went to dinner for Linda's Birthday at Brick Oven :] Yumm! And while we were there, Danny and Kiley announced that they were having a little BOY! We couldn't be more excited for them! It will be fun that our little guy will have cousins close in age on both sides :]

The next day, we had an amazing time listening to General Conference and celebrating Elmer Lamprecht's 80th Birthday. All of the grandchildren were able to make it to the Birthday celebration except for 1 who is on a mission, so it was a great turn out! We went out for lunch together and then we gathered back at the hotel for a little Q&A about Grandpa's life. It was so fun to hear all his great stories and what his life was like growing up and meeting Bette Rae. 

We had such an amazing weekend with both of our families. Also, this month we were able to go and pick out our pumpkins! I called a few places because I wanted to go to an actual pumpkin patch where they are still connected to the vine and  you get to pick your own pumpkin from the field. Apparently the girl I talked to on the phone didn't understand what I meant when I said pumpkin patch, so we ended up going to a greenhouse place... but we still had lots of fun finding our pumpkins for the year!

We are so excited to carve our pumpkins and celebrate Halloween! Our first year of marriage we were pretty lame when it came to holidays, so we are trying to do better this year :] 

There are only 5 weeks left until my due date! Its crazy to think our little guy could be here in 35 days!! Well I guess he could be here a lot sooner than that, but he should be here by then :] I think we have everything ready for him and we are prepared! I guess we will find out what we are missing when he gets here haha. I just can't wait to be a mommy :]