Rock-a-bye-Baby

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This weekend my mom and I worked our little hearts out and made bumpers for "baby girl's" cradle. I would really like to say they were "made with love" but there were a few times (after unpicking several times) I wasn't real excited about the idea of making them. They turned out pretty darn cute though and there really was more love than anything that went into them. I don't know if I told you the story about the cradle but my sweet grama Bernice bought the cradle over 26 years ago and it was used by the kids in my family when they were babes. So, it's been in the family awhile. It's pretty special to me that I'm able to use it now for my little angel and use it the home of the "angel" who bought it too! I've thought a lot about my gram as I've been preparing for our babe to arrive. I wish she were here to help me pick out gowns and bedding and all those fun things. Anyway, I know she LOVED aqua so I think she'd be proud of these bumpers!


P.S. Here's the latest...30 weeks. I have my 32 week appointment this Wednesday though, I"m a little behind on getting the pic's up.

the girls

I was cleaning out my photo folders on my computer and found this pic. I can't beleive I haven't posted it! These are my darling sisters, who I love and adore! Over the Valentine's/Pres. Day weekend my mom and us 3 girls headed to St. George and spent 3 days there (pic's to come one of these days). It was such a fun time! I love my relationship with my sisters and all the time that we are able to spend together. There's a 9 year gap between me and the next youngest but it feels like we are all much closer in age than that. I've always loved these girls but as we are all getting older I love them and our relationship even more. Each sister has her own fun, unique personality and I adore them both. I actually find myself learning so much from them all the time. I am so proud of all their accomplishments and how they are living their lives. They are so darn cute and I don't know what I'd do without them!
I luv ya sistas!

Shopping for baby...

2 months to go! Oh my goodness! I am so excited! Next week is my 32 week appointment. Now that I'm going every 2 weeks time is really flying. I figured I better get on the hop and get this baby a crib. We have a chest-of-drawers from our bedroom set that we are using in the nursery (doesn't fit in our room, one draw back of older homes...small bedrooms). I've been trying to match the color for awhile now. I'm sure I look silly packing a drawer around with me in the stores, but you do what you gotta do. I've looked online and found lots of fun cribs but it makes me nervous to order online cause you never really know what the color will be. Anyway, I found a crib yesterday!!! YAH!!! It isn't a perfect match but close enough. The only problem is they had order it and I wont get it till the end of March. Plenty of time I know, but I just want it set up in my house so bad! I'm a nerd. Here's a picture of it I found online. The color we got is called "espresso."
The crib wasn't all I bought...my darling friend told me about this diaper bag and how much she loved it so I bought one of them too. I picked it up today and love it even more than I thought I would. I might just start stuffing it with random things and toting it around for fun! It has fun little stroller straps too - now if I can convince Brian to put the stroller together... Anyway, it feels like Christmas at my house and I'm loving it!

It's that time of year

I'm so excited for American Idol! I can't image it will be nearly as good this year as it was last year though. I feel a "kinship" to last years contestants. Oh David C., David A., Brooke, Michael, Jason...I know we will all meet again!
I'm a bit disappointed in some of the contestants that were chosen to stay in the top 36 this year. I feel like some real good talent went home last night. Guess we'll just have to see who makes the top 24 now. At work we put together a sheet with the top 24 so we can follow who we like and don't like and cross them off as the season continutes. It's a great time! I think I look forward to the office talk more than anything. One of the girls I work with moved away the first of the year so Idol chat won't be complete without her...You know who you are - We'll have to plan a conference call or something! Anyway, here's to another great season of American Idol!

27 weeks

I had this great plan to take pictures of my growing belly every 4 weeks of my pregnancy but it just hasn't happened. I'll admit I feel kind of silly asking Brian to take my picture and I could never get a good angle when I took my own photo with the timer. Also, I haven't really felt "camera cute." Well, here's my first picture of this pregnancy...me at 27 weeks. The color isn't too fabulous but I think you get the point. One of these days I'll have someone take my picture so it'll turn out better. Anyway, I took this last week so now I am officially 28!! Yippee!!

WORRIER

I know I'm a worrier, but it was confirmed to me the other day by another individual...my doctor. I am always full of questions and concerns when I meet with him. The other day he actually called me his "worrier." I don't know if that's good or bad - I'll take it that it's good cause I've made an impression and I'm not just one of his many patients. I worry about money, life, work, what to have for dinner, if my alarm will go off, if I turned my straightener off, when did I last feed the dog...now add pregnancy to it and I'm a mess! I am so thankful the nurses at my DR are all so caring and patient with me. Did anyone else get a case of the worries with their pregnancy?

So, I'm down to 3 months left! I think that worries me too - this baby will be here before I know it. AM I READY? My mom brought up the "family craddle" the other day so I feel good knowing our little babe will have a place to sleep. We haven't found a crib yet, actually I bought and returned one the other day all in about 3 hours. I have crib bedding though! I've bought a few darling summer outfits I just couldn't pass up and I have a few packages of diapers. Anything else I need? Any "what I wish I'd known" advice? I'd love it!

Welcome 2009

I thought that after the holidays were over life would slow down a bit...it hasn't. It's one thing after another these days. I can't complain though, we are only 16 days into 2009 and so far it's been a great year. We bought our jogger/travel system for the babe, have been on a few road trips, spent lots of time with our families and Brian survived layoffs at his work (sigh of relief). I am so excited for this year - especially for the arrival of our daughter, I can't wait to meet her! This is the only year I kind of wanted the holidays to go by fast and it was because I knew when the holidays were over we could concentrate more on preparing for baby D.'s arrival.

2008 was a super year that ended with a really great Christmas. We are blessed to have both of our families live close by so we get lots of family time on the holidays and as I mentioned before, participate in lots of different traditions. This year Brian's mom made all the grand kids pj's and they were so excited! And the "pj's" from my mom this year were "HO,HO,HO shirts." Green for the boys and red for the girls (I don't know where the picture is of all of us wearing them). Anyway, Christmas was wonderful and I loved that we got tons of snow Christmas night!

So, with a new year comes new years resolutions. Since losing weight is not really a smart or likely option for me right now I'm going to focus on eating healthy and regularly exercising. Also, I would like to up my temple attendance this year and be a better scripture reader. We are studying the D&C in Sunday school this year and I'd like to read along. Last, I resolve to be a good wife and mother. I worry I'm not going to know how to take care of a baby and pray I will be able to show her the love that I already have for her.
Here's to 2009!

Traditions

I was looking at my good friends' blog yesterday and over the month she's been posting some her family Christmas traditions. They were so fun to read and got me thinking about our traditions. I hope she doesn't mind, but I'm going to kind of copy her and post some of traditions I grew up with and love.

* On Christmas Eve we used to always order Chinese food and go to my grama's. We'd all sit around the family room with TV trays and enjoy the meal. Now that my grandparents are gone, my family still continues the tradition...Chinese food on Christmas Eve.

* We always got to open 2 presents on Christmas Eve. One was always PJ's and the other was some fun and random toy my mom had found. We got all sorts of things like blow up boxing gloves or stuffed animal monkeys you could fling across the room and they'd scream! Leave it to my mom to find the unique toys. Just opening our PJ's at Christmas was never enough though, we had to put them on and model for everyone. Mom always had 3 or 4 different ones for each of us in sack in a different room in case the ones we opened didn't fit or we didn't like them (that's where I get the buying and returning trait I think). Anyway, over the years as we've all grown up our little fashion show has turned into a walk down the runway (hall) accompanied by the latest pop song. We laugh so hard as we strut our stuff down the hall for the camera...yes, we film this. Also, since we are older our PJ's have gone from cute little flannel sets to sweats, hoodies, a nice long sleeve shirt... 2 years ago my mom gave Brian and my brother Santa Claus robes and me a moo-moo! But of course she had other things for us in a sack in another room. Love this tradition! I still haven't got Brian down the "runway" but one day I will.

* My mom makes the most fabulous butterscotch breakfast roll! We would only get it a few times a year- Thanksgiving morning, Conference morning and Christmas morning. It smells divine while cooking and melts in your mouth when you eat it. Mom makes it in a bundt pan and it's always so nice and gooey. Since I've been married I've tried to carry on this tradition but I make it in a bread pan so there isn't as much for the two of us. I don't know if it's the bread pan or my old house that gets cold in the night, but my roll never raises like moms...or tastes as fabulous. I love this tradition of the breakfast roll on Christmas morning! My tummy is already growling for it. Good think we're having breakfast at my parents this year so we can have a "good" roll!

* Growing up, we always had Christmas morning at our house then went to my gram and gramp C's house in the afternoon for more Christmas and lunch (I love that Brian and I were able to purchase this house that so many traditions began in). Every year, since as long as I can remember, we would always find a white envelope on my grama and gramps tree with our name typed on it. It wasn't until all the other gifts were opened that we got our envelopes, gram or gramp would pass them out. Inside was a stack of FRESH, CRISP $1 bills. We would each get as many bills as years old we were. The fun of this tradition was counting the bills. I think we always got the wrong among. Someone would be short and someone else over...it was great. As I look back I wonder if my gramp did that on purpose to see if we were honest? Anyway, after gram and gramp passed away my mom decided to carry on the tradition. SO, each year we get our envelope with our crisp $1's, we all count them and laugh as we have to switch around so everyone gets the correct amount. I always remember gram and gramp while we open our envelopes.

* I guess this would considered "tradition-" All of us kids have our own "first Christmas" ornament and one more each year for our ages. Each year mom would buy us an ornament that had something to do with a vacation we took as a family or remind of something significant that happened during the year (ex: graduation, new car, new dog...). The "tradition" is that we all get to hang our own ornaments each year. When I was single and would come home from Christmas, my mom would have all my ornaments in a box waiting for me to hang them. Since I've been growing up and experiencing life on my own I've been collecting my own special ornament each year and let mom off the hook of finding them. I have so many fun ones from different vacatiions. I love reflecting as I hang them. Since I've been married I've tried to collect ornaments for Brian and I as we've traveled and experienced life together. This year mom gave me my box of ornaments, it was kind of sad to think I won't be hanging them on her tree anymore. I've actually been thinking of giving them back and letting her enjoy them longer (and continuing the tradition of hanging our own ornaments). I'm excited to continue collecting ornaments for Brian and I and for our children.

Those are a few of my most memorable traditions that have lasted through the years. There are a few more but I hate to bore you! I'm so excited for Brian and I to start our family so we can start some of our own traditions as well as continue the ones we grew up with and love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!