More Family Photos!

Here are some more pictures from our family photo shoot. A big THANKS to Kandis again for the awesome pics!!!

30 Weeks!

So far so good!! I'm 30 weeks pregnant now, and feeling great! (Well, compared to the last pregnancy, anyway!)  That's 2 weeks past when I was put on bed rest with Gray, so I'm tentatively hopeful that maybe this time I can stay away from the pre-term labor! At my last doctor's appointment, I was dilated "a fingertip" (which is less than a 1cm), and the doc said not to worry about it. I have some pretty good contractions now and again, and quite a bit of pressure pain, but hey, as long as I'm not dilating, I'm fine with that! I just hope I don't go beyond that "fingertip"! Little Thatcher is growing great, and I'm measuring exactly as I'm supposed to. I'm still not gaining much weight, however -- I've only gained about 3 lbs the whole pregnancy! But again, the doc isn't worried about it, and I'm measuring fine, so I'm okay with that :) I'm actually pretty surprised that I haven't gained like 40 lbs, because all I crave is SWEETS.  Chocolate, donuts, candy, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Seriously, I have DREAMS about Krispy Kremes. I try to get my sweet fix by eating lots of fruit, but usually end up eating a snack-sized 3 Musketeers afterward. :)  It's so weird, because with Gray, all I wanted was SOUR! Just goes to show how different each and every pregnancy can be! I'm trying to enjoy all I can about this pregnancy before it's over and the little man is here -- because 7-10 weeks is SO SOON!!!!! There are for sure some things I don't love about pregnancy:
1. the HEARTBURN.
2. being unable to sleep a whole night without waking up at least once -- for various reasons
3. I really miss taking super-hot baths, and sleeping on my stomach
4. being unable to see my legs so I nick myself a dozen times while shaving them/being able to see my feet to paint my toes
5. needing help when I try to get up after sitting on the ground
6. the difficulty bending over to pick something up/put my shoes on
7. did I mention the HEARTBURN?!
8. the moodswings -- I HATE that I snap at Grayson sometimes -- I've NEVER lost my temper with him before, and now I seem to do it several times a week -- hate, hate, hate it.
9. the crazy dreams -- seriously disturbing sometimes/ never feeling like I get enough sleep to feel TRULY rested.
10. all the aches and pains -- everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

But there are also some things I LOVE about being pregnant, too!
1. obviously - duh - I get a BABY out of it!!! :oD It's so exciting to know that I'll get to meet this new member of my family soon! I can't wait to get to know him!! And it makes everything above totally worth it!!!!
2. feeling the baby move! It's absolutely incredible -- every time! Even when it hurts a bit, or keeps me up at night. I love every kick, punch, stretch, hiccup, and roll!
3. people are generally a bit nicer to a pregnant woman -- you get random smiles everywhere you go, and people let you go ahead of them in long lines, etc. Pretty sweet.
4. not caring (for once) if I look "fat" -- because I'm SUPPOSED to have a nice big belly!!! Ahh, freedom from body issues!
5. hearing Steve talk to the baby -- makes me get a big goofy grin on my face
6. when Gray pats and kisses my tummy and says "Baby Brudder!"
7. getting a free pass to get people to do things for me -- lifting things, doing labor-intensive jobs, etc.
8. my hair and nails LOVE it when I'm pregnant. And most of the time, my skin does, too.
9. no one judges me when I order dessert after dinner. :)
10. the anticipation is wonderful! Speculating on what he will be like, look like, etc. -- it's just so fun!

Well, here's hoping that I have enough time to do everything I need to do before Thatcher comes -- there's a LOT to do, PLUS the holidays! This pregnancy definitely seems to be going by more quickly than the last, but I'm not going to complain about that! 30 weeks down, only 10 ten to go! Woo hoo!!!

Family photo peek

My amazingly awesome, talented, wonderful BFF Kandis took our family pictures a few weeks ago! I haven't gotten the full CD of all the pictures yet, but she posted some preview pics on her website, KJoPhotos. (OO! And she's doing an end-of-year sale -- an hour photo shoot for just $50!! Super-good deal! You should all go book a session right now!) Go take a look! I love them! :)  I was so worried that we weren't going to have ANY good ones -- it's not exactly easy to get a good picture of a wiggly, excited 2 year old boy that just wants to explore and climb the trees! But she got some GREAT ones! I will post more here when I get them all. :)
P.S. Don't you love that Elly the Elephant has to be in our family pictures, too? She IS part of our family for sure! Hehe

Happy Halloween!

We had a pretty fun, laid-back Halloween. We went to Autoliv's Trunk or Treat on Friday night. There were a TON of people there! It started at 5 pm -- we got there at 4:30 and had to stand in line for an HOUR before we got into the part of the parking lot where they were giving out candy! Gray did surprisingly well waiting -- he had fun watching all the other costumed kids running around. I got a little nervous watching the two brothers full-out wrestling on the grass, though -- I'm not sure I'm ready to have two little boys.... Anyway, Gray quickly got into the Trick or Treat spirit once we got to the cars, and was very nice to say "Thank You" every time he took a piece of candy. He stayed very far away from everyone in masks or anyone who looked scary. I thought he'd have been super excited about the real live fire truck, but he was in the candy zone and only paused by it long enough to get candy from the firemen and thank them -- then he was off to the next car! Here are the only pictures I got of him in his costume:

He is getting so hard to photograph! It's impossible to get a good picture of this kid, I swear! Anyway, he's a little teddy bear, because the lion costume I spent FOREVER making (of course) got rejected because Gray wouldn't keep the hat on (it came all the way down his head with a mane around his face -- he didn't like that, and wouldn't keep it on). Thank goodness I made the hat and tail big enough that (hopefully) he can wear it next year.  So last-minute, I crocheted this bear hat and a little bear tail, stuck some felt on a sweatshirt, and called it good.  It's good for a two-year-old, right?!?! :)

"Nanny Witch!"

On Saturday, we went to my mom's ward's Trunk-Or-Treat, and it was raining. Blah. I gave it a good go, seeing as how Grayson had so much fun the day before, but he was wet and cold, and kept saying "Go bye-bye in car?", so we got 6 pieces of candy, a cookie, and a hot dog before we gave up and left. He didn't seem disappointed at all, and we had a fun night just hanging out at Nana's house! She dressed up as a witch, and he was wary of her at first, but in the end thought she was great (he's still asking for "Nanny Witch!").Gray also decided that every time she gave candy to the trick-or-treaters, HE got to pick out a piece, too. He ended up with quite the candy stash :) At least he told her "Thank You, Nanny!" every time. He even got his own special treat of a pumpkin Pez dispenser -- he loves Pez!



Here he is counting his candy with Nana. What a lucky boy! :)



Of course, the best part of having a two-year-old at Halloween is that you can totally raid their candy stash, and they never know it!!! I've eaten every single piece of chocolate in his bag. Not even gonna lie. He doesn't miss them. :) And I figure his little brother needs some Halloween candy, too!!! Right?! ;)

Dinosaur Park fun!

Steve, Gray and I just went to the Dinosaur Park with Sarah, Rowan, my mom, and my dad! Grayson was so excited, and loved every minute! Here are some (okay, a LOT) of pictures:

Wow, that's a big "elephant dinosaur" -- as Gray called it  :)

Mommy and Grayson enjoying the stroll

These boys were SO excited and ran down the trails most of the time. It was good we had five adults there to keep track of them :)

Aww -- sweet baby Row.  And a dinosaur head.

Row kept saying "WOW!" at this one.

Big Triceratops



This is Grayson saying "RAHR!" in his dinosaur voice! Hehe :)



My silly momma :)

Cute Poppa and Rowan

Strollin' through the trees

More strollin'

Row is sticking his tongue out like the big dinosaur was doing!

And he made his mommy stick her tongue out, too!

Gray was a little wary of the big ones with teeth. He kept saying they were "hungry"!

Row and all the pumpkins

Nana and Poppa with the big dino

"Turtuuuuul"

Going down the slide

Gray usually HATES going down slides, but this tiny one was just his size, and he loved it!!

Perfect fit for two little boys

They were so cute encouraging each other as they went down.

Fun on the swings

AH! I LOVE THE SMILE!! It's so rare to capture a real smile from Gray on camera!!!

Sarah and my mom pestered Steve and me until we sat on the crocodile for this pic. Lovely, isn't it?!

The boys loved 'hiding' in this skull.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for the fun trip to the Dinosaur Park! Gray is already asking to go back again! :D

Pumpkins!!

Last night, we went out to the Hansen Farm and got some pumpkins!! My mom, sister Sarah, and nephew Rowan came, too! The little boys LOVED all the pumpkins, and were running and screaming and dancing -- so cute! For some reason, Grayson kept saying "Punkins! Chickens!" -- and I have NO idea where the 'chickens' part came from. There was one tiny bird feather he found on a pumpkin, so maybe that's it. Here are some pictures from our adventure:



With all the pumpkins



"Look at dis, Rowan!"



Love this one -- a rare picture where we actually captured a smile!



This was the pumpkin with the tiny feather on it

Rowan is very good at saying "CHEESE!" when there's a camera pointed at him :)

Look at all the pumpkins! There were so many!

Running and dancing

Rowan joining in on the running and dancing

 

Row just climbed right in to the middle of the patch and parked himself down on a pumpkin :)

This is my favorite picture! It's really hard to get to excited toddlers to look at the camera at the same time!!!

Here are the pumpkins we brought home with us -- the big one is Gray's, and the little one is for Baby!!

Thanks, Katie, for hooking us up! We had so much fun! Gray is still talking about it!!