Waiting for Baby

Baby has not arrived yet. But I thought I would change the background to my blog as we are anticipating his arrival.

We had a wonderful time visiting with my sister and her boys. We all went up to see our cousins and Aunt and their families and we just had a great time. We spent time at McDonald's playland and went to the park one day. The park was a little muddy so we had the kids strip at the door before they could come inside and then they all got baths. We had some arguments and messy incidences. Alexis decided it would be funny to put duct tape in Danny's hair. They both learned that it isn't so funny and Danny ended up getting a buzz haircut to get it out. We enjoyed the days of sunshine that we had while they were here. It has been funny to me. So many people have been complaining about winter and can't wait until spring. Well we haven't had real snow in our yard for awhile now. Every time it does snow, it melts before the day is over. And although the air may be a little cool, there have been many days to get outside and feel the warm sun on your face. I didn't realize how that can be taken for granted unless you live without it. Alaska doesn't really get a spring and the summers are very short. The morning of the day my sister left was a sunny day. It was 10a.m. and all the kids were playing in the backyard and the older boys thought it was so warm, they had to take their shirts off!

My sister got home to a snowy day and about 20 degree weather. Danny was getting his shoes on and Amber asked what he was doing. He wanted to swing on the ropes they have hanging outside. She explained it was too cold. So he asked if he could go out to ride bikes and she again explained that it was too cold. So then he asked her why they lived in a place where they couldn't play outside. She told him because that was where their house is. He said, "But you bought the house!" Smart boy. It was a good reminder to me that although we will have cold days ahead and spring is not officially here, we have a lot of warm days to take advantage of.

According to the calendar, I have 18 days left until my due date. My blood pressure has been a little high and I have been having some really bad back pain. But everything else seems to be going great. The baby's heart rate is very strong, he's head down and moves often. So we are hoping for the same healthy delivery and baby as the last two have been. It is now just the waiting game. Trying to keep up on the housework has been a trial, but it will be once the baby comes too, so I just do what I can and then take a break. We haven't decided on a name still. We may just wait to see him. I really like Paxton, but Alexis is very against naming him that. Not sure why. Hopefully my next post will be some cute newborn photos. But it also may be a complaint of my uncomfortable still pregnant state. Most likely the latter.

Watching the garbage truck was a big hit with all of the kids. It circles around the neighborhood and because we are on a cross-street, it passes us three times. They moved to the porch, but watching the garbage truck was a 1/2 hour activity!

All of the kids really like artwork and Denali not only likes to draw with markers, but she likes to eat them too. But markers clean off the walls and floor easier than crayons do.

I took one picture of my sister the entire time she was here. Lame huh? And Josh didn't want to get in the photo.

Jumping on the trampoline about 10a.m.

Photos

My sister Amber and her three boys are visiting from Alaska. So I am not going to take much time to write, but wanted to post photos that Greg took last week. I was excited about them and wanted to share, so enjoy!!

7 years and counting . . .

Monday marked our Anniversary of seven wonderful years. I recently counted and figured out that we have moved 9 times in those 7 years. Whew! We have made amazing friends, had really wonderful opportunities with our careers, taken a lot of classes, had some great vacations, but most importantly we've grown our family to 5 (next month). We are so blessed in so many ways. The Arave's watched our girls while we went to dinner at Stockman's Grill in Manti. It was yummy and a nice dinner without children. We didn't do anything too exciting. We have been saving for a mattress, a baby and trying to pay off the van, so those are our gifts for each other. Although Greg did get me a Symphony chocolate bar, yum! And we spent the weekend painting our bedroom to start our ongoing bedroom makeover. Greg is a wonderful husband and I dare anyone to disagree with me!

I had to share something funny that Alexis said this week. Actually there has been several things, but this is the best. I was cooking dinner and the girls were playing in the kitchen. Alexis tells Denali, "Mom is the boss and Dad is the Assistant." I laughed and said, "Dad's the Assistant, huh?" She replied, "Yeah. What does Assistant mean?" I told her it means the helper. She decided that she can be my assistant too. Neither Greg or I know where she came up with it, but I thought it was clever and very funny.

Well, I think I am nesting a little early. I have a long to do list that I would like to complete before the baby is born. Which includes painting several rooms, finishing the guest bedroom, decluttering every room and getting to what I feel like is "organized". I think I may have set my goals too high. But I feel motivated to get it all done and have been taking small steps towards the list. I was organizing or attempting to organize the office. For the first time ever, I have a nice sized space for an office/scrapbook/craft room. It's also our library with bookshelves. I am giving away everything I don't really want to keep. The books are going to the local library. If I decide I want to read them, I can always check them out right? Anyway, I am so far behind on scrapbooking, it isn't even funny. And although I have some photo boxes organized and labeled. I also have a lot of loose and misc photos in piles. Not to mention the last 3 or so years that all of the photos are digitally stored among memory cards, multiple computers and only a very few prints have been made. And then I have things like wedding invites, family portraits, christmas cards, etc. from loved ones that I just don't know what to do with. Help! I would love to hear tips on how to organize photos, what works best for you, do you have a portrait album, how should I go about catching up???? I was thinking I should start with January 2009 and December 2008 and then next month work on February and November and go backwards like that while I continue to stay caught up on current. But I really would like to start digital scrapbooking and I don't know much about it, so I really don't know where to start there either. Whew! (Deep breath.) Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I don't have a wedding photo to post, because I don't have any on this computer and am not quite organized enough to do that yet. Maybe soon I can post one though.

Here are two fun pictures though.


Alexis at Denali's age. Alexis had more hair than Denali does, but other than that, they are pretty much identical. I imagine our boy will look the same.

This was our cute little house in Alaska. Our first home.