I'm going to get better at this

I'm really going to try and be better about updating the blog this year, especially because we'll have two little boys to talk about. Not much has happened lately. Oh wait, yeah I guess there has! Duh... pregnancy brain!
We found out I have Gestational Diabetes again, I must confess in my hormonal state I was a little... distraught. I hoped that I had avoided that this time, but knew when I found out that it wasn't the end of the world either, especially since I had it last time and knew what to expect. They tried to get me in to another "educational" class about it all but I was able to avoid that because I remembered how to handle things from before. So my blood sugar testing began and so far things are fine. I had my 29 week check up yesterday, mostly for Dr. Graham to check my sugar levels and he said all was good, and reduced me from checking 4 times a day during the week to 2 times a day. There are days during the weekend especially I still have to check it 4 times, which sucks, but... it's all good. Baby's heart sounded good, I love hearing that crazy little wooshing sound, and he's measuring perfect which is always something you have to watch with diabetes. So we're good, getting to the home stretch- only 11 weeks until my due date! I'm wondering if he'll come early. Who knows. My parents are flying out April 5th, and his due date is the 11th- so I'm hoping he'll come sometime between those two dates!

Us about to leave the cabin with the only boy allowed besides the one residing in my tummy, Martha's dog Gobo!

 A couple weekends ago, me and the girls (Jennifer, Ashley and Martha) had a girl's weekend up at the cabin! It was JUST what the doctor ordered for all of us. Even the boys got together and had fun! I had a photo shoot Saturday morning and Ryan took Ben to little Aubrey K's birthday party and after we were done with both- Ryan and Ben drove me up to the cabin. (It's only about an hour away.) Pretty much as soon as they left- us girls drove to Helen, GA (the crazy Bavarian looking tourist town) to walk around and get some dinner. Jennifer had never been there so it was fun to experience it's newness with her again. It's kind of one of those places where you've been once... that's good enough. hehe We found an old timey photo studio and all of us decided we wanted to do it because we'd never done it before and always wanted to. We had fun! The wait was a little... annoying, but the group of girls that went before us were something to see... the outfits that people normally wear for those things are... um... a little, "revealing"? We decided that three of us would be chick bandits and Martha wanted to be a Southern Belle, with the hat and parasol and everything! I had to find something to cover up that belly of mine and none of his dresses could've done it I'm sure!

We look tough huh?

After our photo shoot, we went to the Troll Tavern who's food left much to be desired but all of us were STARVING so it didn't matter to us really. Any other time and it probably would've! We went to a cute little market there in Helen for some groceries and then headed back to the cabin to start watching our pile of movies. And that's basically all we did Sunday... and maybe some of Monday morning. I made a delicious quiche for breakfast one morning and Martha made chicken parmesan for dinner one night. We left to come home Monday afternoon. Ryan didn't have the day off so he dropped Ben off at daycare and I picked him up as soon as I got home, I missed him lots. The boys also went to the Vortex (an awesome bar/restaurant in Atlanta that's pretty popular, was even on Man vs. Food) on Saturday night (Ben had a sleep over at Nana and Poppy's), and then watched football with each other Sunday. It was a good refreshing weekend for all. (and so cheap! We love that cabin! we only each paid $33 for two nights!) I slept in on Sunday which was AWE-SOME... seriously so needed that.

We love this little Corner Store with the purple pumps. Pay not mind to the bit of tummy sticking out behind the pole!

We've started the process of changing all the rooms around to get ready for our next little dude. It's definitely a "process" because we've really used what will be Ben's new room as storage for SO long. I don't even know what to do with all the stuff in there, we don't have a lot of storage space in our house. I took yesterday and today off to work on it. I started last night, and need to get going on it now. I burnt 3 of my left hand fingers pretty bad last night, luckily I prayed enough I think that they'll be fine- and they don't hurt too bad this morning... but they're still tender. That was probably some of the worst pain I've felt in a while and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I'm just glad a trip to the hospital wasn't in order.
Oh yah, we were audited for our 2009 taxes because pretty much ever since we started claiming our own son on our taxes someone else has been too. So basically someone stole his SSN# and has been using it to claim him like we have. So... we got audited, which believe it or not I was glad about. We won, which duh... we should, he's ours- I guess a copy of his SSN card and birth certificate were proof enough... but what kind of sucks is that we'll probably be audited for all the other years we claimed him and the other person did too. My hope though, is that they'll see that this person is NOT the rightful person to claim Ben and will be punished or fined. I hope... I guess we will never know.
Okay, better get to it... I can't think of anything else.

Ben is 3 1/2 going on 18...

 

So I figure it's time (for my memories sake) to do a little Ben update. It's been a while.

• Lately, he's been coming home saying that so&so is coming over to his house. It's all the talk at the daycare apparently. No one ever goes to each other's houses they just talk about it.
• this is his new thing: "mommy, I'm hungry"
  me: "Hi Hungry, I'm mommy" (shaking his hand) (this repeats a few more times)
  Ben: "no mommy, I'm NOT hungry... I just want to eat!"
• I'll tell him to do something and he says "Just a minute, okay mommy?" to which I reply "uh no, how about now". He usually slumps his shoulders because he doesn't like that response.
• The other day at the store, he told me when his baby comes out he's going to be "this big" holding his two little fingers to the size of less than an inch. The lady next to us said "he's hilarious!" I told him that it was getting harder and harder to bend over because of the baby and he said "Mommy, when the baby comes out you can bend." I just love these little jewels!
• Obviously he started Primary this year, that's exciting.
• He's still eating baby food vegetables. Am I a horrible mom for allowing him to? I mean, I figure he's getting them in some shape and form right? There's just something that angers me so badly when he's trying to eat something new, or we've forced him to try something and he gags on it. So it's just one battle I refuse to fight, for now.
• He's really concerned about getting and giving hugs and kisses lately. "Mommy, you didn't give me a HUG?" or "kiss?" Maybe we don't do it enough? I don't know... 
• He's been sort of a trouble maker. I feel like this stage of being three, so close to 4 is almost worst than when he was 2. And I feel that way because he knows better now. He's become accustomed to throwing tantrums lately, and that's not cutting it in our house. So we've taken on some discipline measures that we hope work. Our ultimate goal is to have a well behaved and respectful person one day who knows his parents love him more than anything.
• He can write his name now, I guess he's been able to for some time. But he can do upper and lower case, but his name includes Ben S. It's not just Ben, it's Ben S. Smith is still not something he can write but we're working on that. He moves to a new class this upcoming Monday and I think they'll be focusing more on educational things like that in there. Then in Aug or Sept (I can't remember) he'll got to Pre-K. They have him trace letters and numbers at school every day during class time. He's a smarty pants... I hope he keeps it up. He's full of excuses though when he doesn't' feel like trying... and it all seems super familiar to me, hmmm, wonder where he got THAT from.
• Speaking of that... in a lot of ways he's really like me. He's a sensitive person, as am I. And there are just little things I notice about him that I can TOTALLY relate to because I'm the same way. And they aren't things I taught him, it's just how he came. He's definitely like his daddy too, but it's good to know that somewhere in that mini-me of a Ryan there's a little of me too. :)
• He's also been always needing to hold something. Honestly- it started when we went to Knoxville to visit my cousin and her family. Her little boy seemed to always have something with him at all times, so I'm thinking Ben picked up on that. It's kind of annoying, because shopping is like torture, especially if he DOESN'T have something to hold- because then he wants to hold things in the store and says "mommy can I have that?". Like pulling eye lashes out... 
• Ben is realllllllly sensitive to people's moods and happiness or sadness. I love that about him. He's very concerned with people, and I think that's a wonderful attribute I hope he hangs on to. Our family needs that, and he will be able to relate to and touch so many people's lives. I just have this motherly intuition that he will. He's got a lot of soul behind those eyes.
• He's got an excellent memory. He seems to remember mommy buying some of the same toys Santa brought him... hmmm, weird. He remembers random details of things from like a year ago. He helps me remember things too which is nice.
• Ben is in charge of feeding Ally in the mornings. We are trying to give him more and more "chores" but we're both kind of control freaks... so we'll have to "try" and give him even more. hehe
• He's got a great sense of humor. And he's quite the negotiator. We'll give him a rule or instructions and he'll pull out a "OR mommy..." and then say what HE thinks is what he should do. He also sometimes decides that what we want him to do is not what he wants to do and then just doesn't do it. Which is typical of all people I guess. I hear myself saying "I don't care if you don't want to..." a lot. 
• He's so very handsome. He is. We made a cute kid. And I love that little munchkin. I also just can't wait for the stage of tantrums and attitude and not listening to be over with. I guess........ that means in like 15 years huh?
• He still is a child who needs his sleep, especially naps. Man oh man he does NOT do well with out them. Just like any other human, he does not do well with out sleep or food. I realize my child is almost 4 and is still taking naps. I'm not complaining...

• He starting to enjoy sports. We got him a real life football for Christmas, and Ashley got him a Nerf basketball and hoop for Christmas too. He loves playing with them both. Ryan and Ben went for a bike ride just last weekend to the park and they threw the football around... I can't believe he's growing so fast and actually doing things like that now!

• 

  riding in the new trailer Daddy got for Christmas for his bike!

• He's still pretty skinny. I got him in to some 3T jeans finally, but that is just one pair. Not all jeans are created equally... but he's growing. He's just little. He needs some meat on his bones though. I guess we need to let him eat more often. I just hate so many snacks because then when it comes to eat a meal he's too full. Ugh...

Welcome 2012! Bring it!

This is the year we become parents of TWO. Yikes. This is the year our oldest turns 4, and will go to pre-k! Yikes! This is the year he also starts PRIMARY! For those of you who aren't LDS (Mormon), Primary is the organization for the children ages 3-12 in our church. So during Sunday services they get to go to Primary and are in age appropriate classes. Ben started in his Sunbeam class today! ACK! My little baby is not my little baby anymore! I grew up going to Primary and am excited for him to enjoy how fun Primary can be and to learn lots! His teachers are Sister Heightchew and Sister Lathrop and they are going to be awesome. He cried a little today when I took him to the Primary room since he's so used to Nursery, but he calmed down after a little bit. And then they said he did perfect the rest of the time. He asked me if he gets to go to Primary every day on the way home! So... I think he liked it.

Continuation of Christmas Festivities!

Thursday I took Ben to his very first movie in a theater. We went and saw Arthur Christmas, which was very cute. He was amazed with the big screen and the food and all the different theater rooms... and he enjoyed the movie. He had to get up a lot because he was too little for his seat, but I expected that. He is 3 after all. That night we hung out with the Kranendonks. We went out to eat (very cautiously since there were bad storms and tornado watches in affect... 3 days before Christmas for Pete's sake!) and then they came over to our house. The kids decorated some sugar cookies and we watched Elf as well. At the place where we ate, just as we were leaving Ben asked me quietly "Mommy, can I hold Aubrey's hand?" (eek! So cute!) and I said "well, you need to ask Aubrey!" So he did, and she said "SURE!" So they held hands. I didn't get a picture, but it was sure adorable. Especially since she's a bit taller than he is! Those two have a lot of fun together and they are great buddies, they play so well together.
We spent Christmas Eve-Eve with our friends which was lovely. Actually we went to lunch with Delinda and Jen that afternoon and hung out with them for a little while. Then the Elton's, Ashley (no Jacob or Savannah because Savannah was sick) and Martha came, Taylor wasn't feeling too good, came over. We ate pizza and talked and then showed them our now annual Friend Yearbook DVD that Ryan and I started last year. Since we are the picture junkies of the friends, we like to make a chronological photo DVD put to music of all our fun adventures with our friends. They look forward to it too. It's kind of the equivalent of a slide show we make them watch, which is so 70's of us, but we all enjoy it. It's fun to see how the kids have changed! We exchanged presents and hung out which I always love. Christmas Eve I started cooking about 11am after washing some dishes and getting prepared for the day. Delinda came over around 2 and she helped me finish up our traditional Collier Family Christmas meal. We usually eat this meal Christmas day, but since DJ could only spend Eve with us and we were going to Ryan's parents we decided to do it then. So we made Roast Beef, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, Cream Corn, Mac & Cheese, and I also had made a cheesecake earlier in the day. It was mine and Delinda's first time really making the roast and pudding, and I'd say it turned out pretty good. I've made roast in the crock pot, but we make this one in the oven. It was a little chewy but the flavor was good. I was pretty proud of us! Then afterwards we went to Jen's parents house for dessert and headed home and called Grandma and Grandpa in St George on iChat to do our Christmas Eve "cuddle". This entails everyone sitting by the light of the Christmas tree on the couch ALLLLLL squished together under a blanket and we read "The Christmas Whale" which is a story of Santa's reindeer all getting sick and not being able to deliver the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, so the animals recruit the friendly whale to help. She takes Santa all around the world and they deliver the presents. We grew up reading that story and it was always our favorite when dad read from the book "it's a catastrophe!" in the words of Santa! Then after we read the Christ Child, which I don't have so we read a preschool version of the birth of Christ for Ben. I am so grateful for technology like that that we were able to "cuddle" with my parents even from so far away! It was great to have Delinda to cuddle with too and it was fun to giggle and everything like we used to when we were kids. Mom and I even took turns reading. After we said goodnight to my parents, we exchanged gifts with DJ and then put Ben to bed so he could prepare for his big Christmas day. DJ stuck around for a bit, and then left and Ryan and I got ready for "Santa to come". 
I actually woke up first Christmas Day (I realize this will not always be the case) but got Ryan up so we could get up before Ben so he wouldn't go in to the family room with out us videoing his reaction. We got him up and let him know we had a visitor and showed him the cookies and milk on the table and then his stocking! He opened his stocking and then we had him go in to the living room where we spent the majority of the rest of the morning opening gifts! I got a waffle maker for Christmas, so I made waffles for breakfast and we had eggs and bacon too. We got ready and went to our [noisy] Sacrament meeting. We were in the back, so it was a little... uh... "busy" back there. But the music was pretty and the Spirit was still there. After church we went to Nana and Poppy's house and waited for Ryan's sisters family to get there. We ate and then opened presents. Ben even got his very own (first) remote control car! It's Mater and it's super cute. The kids had fun opening and playing with their gifts and us adults got spoiled too!
When we got home we chatted with my parents again, only this time my brother John and his family were all there. His son JC is leaving for his mission and so we got to give him virtual hugs and wish him lots of luck! What an amazing young guy... I almost said "young man" and had to catch myself from sounding like an old fart. HA! I have to admit, after we got done chatting... I cried. I miss my family combined with pregnancy hormones. It's been a long time since I've spent a Christmas with them and seeing them once a year is kind of hard. I mean, we are where we're supposed to be and I'm SO grateful for our friends and family we have here. I just miss my little chaotic Collier family sometimes! Ben came to me while I was crying and asked what was wrong, I told him I missed my family to which he replied while hugging me "It's okay mommy. Can you stop crying now?" He doesn't like to see either of us sad. He's a sensitive little dude. It was a wonderful Christmas, BUSY, but good! Ben had so much fun and he scored! He kept saying "Mommy! Santa is so cool!"

Monday, we went to see The Muppets with Ashley and Martha and it too was cute. After that we hung out at Ashley's for a bit then went to IKEA. That place wears me out. After we ate there we came home and thus ended our Christmas vacation. I had a total of 10 days off including the weekends, and it was busy, but so nice. I missed my little squirt today. Hugging him when I picked him up was awesome and so sweet.
That's Christmas 2011 summed up, so Happy New Year! (I could only upload one photo, so I'll have to do the rest another time... stupid blogger)

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock.

 

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! I am enjoying my 5th day off at home writing you a blog post. Not sure if anyone really reads these much anymore, Facebook seems to be where it's at. But again, this is for journaling purposes. So far this month, we got our lovely little squatty tree and decorated it. It took me like two days to do that because I get worn out pretty fast. Ben got to put the first ornament on the tree (family tradition now) and that started our night of tree decorating off.

Ben got to put the first ornament on the tree, one he picked out at the store.

He enjoyed helping decorate the tree, but I'm a little particular about how and where things go so I might've moved some stuff after he put it up... teehee.  I never got around to putting up quite a bit of my decorations which kind of depressed me, but I got enough up that the house looks festive enough. I JUST put up the nativity yesterday, whoops! Seriously, I'm just tired. 

We also have enjoyed our friend Ashley and Jacob's little girl's first birthday! Time flies! I can't believe little Savannah is already a year old! We also went to another friends Christmas Dessert get-together. Which was fun! Ever since that one time a secret Santa from the ward dropped those reindeer brownies off a few years ago, it's become a tradition for us (mostly Ryan) to make them every year- so that's what we took to the party.

Reindeer Brownies

We've also enjoyed finding pretty light displays at houses and found one in a neighborhood not too far from here where the owner of the home synced music to the display. Pretty cool! Lots of work, but super enjoyable. We've had other birthday parties, work parties, horrible traffic jams (the worst I've ever been in coming out of the parking garage where I work), dog training, shopping with Nana and Merry-go-Round at the mall, Christmas Cards... very busy!

Oh and my oldest nephew JC turned 19 this past weekend and had his farewell in UT over the weekend. He leaves for his mission next week (the 28th)! He's off to Colombia, and we are so proud of him. I can't believe he's so old, and will be gone for 2 years! He's super excited and is such a good kid. 

Ben and I drove up to Knoxville, TN to visit my cousin Laura and her family over this weekend. It's only a 3 hour drive, and TN really has some beautiful scenery. Plus it's always good to be with family during the holidays! Although I enjoyed my time there, Ryan stayed home and I missed him terribly. Being pregnant and away from my husband is not allowed apparently. :) Ben was a little bit naughty because he just wanted to do everything against my will, was tired, was hungry and well... I am tired and cranky too and so we didn't get along very well. HOWEVER, we did have fun going to a Hibachi grill, Ben's first time. He was pretty entertained by the fire and the onion volcano and even ate Miso soup! (not all Miso is created equally though, this one was good, some taste like dirty sock...)  

Sunday we went to church and Ben decided that the nursery there was NOT for him there, he kept getting it confused with Primary which we've told him he's going to be in next month. SO... he and I stuck it out the last hour in the foyer. Oh well... it's a little weird going to another ward, I get it. People there were super friendly though, so that was nice. We came home Monday morning, and then stopped for lunch with Ryan on the way home. It was good to see him and you could tell the way Ben was clinging on to him how much he had missed him too.

Baby boy #2

Yesterday I had my 24 week appt, and because we didn't get a couple of important views of the baby last time we had to have another ultra sound (darn it). Ryan couldn't be there, so I asked Ashley if she could come to mostly help with Ben but to also get to see little guy. We got a few good shots of him! It was fun to see him again, but even better to see him moving and feel it at the same time. He's about 1 lb 7 oz and is in the 90th percentile for his head size! Haha! I laugh, because this is not surprising since Ben's head was a little on the large side too. He yawned for us again, which was fun to see and he has cute little feet. Ryan said you can already tell he's going to be cute! haha Which, we've talked about before because we're afraid Ben's taken all the cute genes!

Ben had me in stitches a lot yesterday, which was refreshing since we've been fighting a lot lately. First funny one was at the store, I told him I needed to get some cracker and he said "oh and mommy we need cheese!" I told him we already had some, I had bought some yesterday. He stopped the cart and looked up at me with a very serious face "mommy, let's talk about this for a second" which I laughed at and he smiled because he thought he was funny, but then quickly got back to the business of being serious and proceeded to tell me we didn't have the orange kind. I reassured him I'd bought some and we had some already and then he went on his merry way. Later in the day, I told him I was excited because I had put a treat in the mailbox for the mailman and I was impatiently waiting for him to come because I wanted to see his reaction. He was confused at first, so I told him I put a present in the mailbox for him to say thank you for all his hard work. He got really elated and said "ooooh! Mommy! Good for you!!!" and he gave me a really big hug and said "thank you for giving a present to the Mailman!!!" It was adorable. He said a lot of other really funny things but I can't remember them all. He's a little character that kid. Pretty soon we'll be moving him out of his bedroom in to the other one so we can start making room for Baby Boy. We hope to get him a big boy bed soon and get him excited about having a more "grown up" room. That will all be done after the holidays though!

Well, I should get back at the duty of wrapping gifts, I've got to make some cookies, we have to take treats to Ben's teachers, still have some shopping to do, cleaning and dishes (which I guess are the same thing), shower, ugh... so much for a week off! Delinda and Jen are coming over for Christmas Eve which I'm super excited about. We're doing the traditional Collier Christmas dinner because I'm incredibly home sick for my family. We realized that it has been since Ryan and I were engaged (2006) since we've spent a Christmas in UT with them. We of course can't afford to fly out West more than once a year because now there's 3 of us we have to pay for. Plus we are hoping to fly my parents out for the baby's birth in April. So we will try for Thanksgiving maybe next year. Anyway, I leave you with photos (if Blogger lets me) and a wish for you all to have a VERY MERRY Christmas and a wonderful and Happy New Year in 2012! If you didn't get a Christmas card... I apologize, we'll see how next year goes with two little ones!

Ben and Ally

okay okay, I know I'm a terrible blogger now.

I guess life just has caught up with me and I just don't have as much time as I used to. BUT I'm going to keep trying at least. So... what happened in November. Well a lot, but it's a matter of remembering it all!

We started some dog training classes with our dog Ally in November. A friend of ours from church is doing an apprenticeship and needed some guinea pigs and we decided why not give it a try! We also got to go to the cabin with Geoff, Martha, Jen, and the Terry's. This time we brought Ally, we usually leave her with Ryan's parents. She did surprisingly well, and we had a wonderful time there. It was low key and quiet and restful. I didn't really take very many pictures though, sorry. :)

Then the Tuesday after that, the 22nd, we went for our ultrasound and found out we're having another BOY! We are super excited! Ryan, Ben and Nana were all there and it was really fun to see our new little guy moving around and yawning and kicking my bladder... hehe. Ben was a little weirded out by the situation, I think mostly because I was crying from excitement at one point and he associates crying with sadness or pain and thought maybe I was being hurt and was worried about his mama. He asked me after the ultrasound if that lady was hurting me! ha! He wanted a baby brother, and he's getting him! I assumed the whole experience would be a little strange for him, but I wanted us all to be there no matter what. I think he was also bummed because he thought the baby was actually coming out that day! Boy, does he have an awakening coming... ha ha!  It will be fun and interesting having two boys, plus a big daddy boy. I told Ryan the other night that because I will be out numbered I see myself having to put the toilet seat down a lot in the near future! We are grateful that we do not need to buy anything really since they will have birthdays around the same time and season, so it's nice to know when I'm buying Ben new clothes- I'm also buy his little brother clothes too since he will wear them someday. :) Everyone keeps asking me if I was a little sad it wasn't a girl, and I say not at all. It would've been fun too, but I was happy either way- and really the savings we'll have over time will be awesome. Little girl clothes are fun to look at but I have lots of friends to buy them for. :) We think we have a name for the little guy, but I want to wait before I "officially" announce it until we've decided we like it well enough to just go for it. This little "Peanut" is a very wiggly little one, and he particularly likes my bladder for some reason. Yesterday he was very active for about 4-5 hours in the morning which surprised me because he even woke me up doing it. I don't remember if Ben was this active or not, but I don't remember ever being woken up. BUT these two are different little people and I can't wait to see what he looks like and what his own little personality is! So fun!

Smith Family

So after that fun day, we spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family. It is always good to see the relatives we only get to really see around the holidays. We took some family photos, ate a lot of good food, and Ben had a blast playing with his cousins! They played football, and cars and he even had fun on his trike even though he crashed and hurt his hand. He was fine, but he got a lot of attention from everyone and he sucked it all up. For a minute there I thought his hand was broken because he was acting like it was hurting him so bad. It wasn't though, and luckily Ryan's cousin who was there is a doctor so he "checked" him out and he was fine.

 

The day after Thanksgiving, I had to work but got to leave early and we drove ourselves up to Chicago. Well, we stayed in a NICE hotel in Indiana on the way and then got there Saturday morning. That day we had a little "Thanksgiving" Dinner with Delinda and Jen. We made Cornish Game Hens and stuffing and some other sides, and well as my double layer pumpkin pie cheesecake. Both Ryan and Delinda LOVE it, so it's kind of a requirement. Sunday it was rainy and miserable out, but we managed to run some errands which included buying a Christmas tree and then later when it cleared up we went to Gino's East where one of our favorite shows "Man VS. Food" went. The food and atmosphere were super! It was super cute. Afterwards we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and saw the Zoo Lights (for free! yay!) and froze our bums off. Actually, it wasn't that bad... Ben was super bundled up but I wasn't that cold.

Lincoln Park Zoo Lights

I couldn't walk around a lot because this little Peanut I'm growing is really hanging out in my very front and makes my stomach stretch when I stand or walk for too long... and I'm only 5 months! ACK! What's it going to be in like 3? ugh... anyway, when we were done we went back to their place and Ben helped decorate their tree.  Monday DJ had to teach so the 3 of us went on a ride up to Northwestern U to a playground we took Ben to last year. It's at a really cool old Art building with a lighthouse and it's RIGHT on Lake Michigan (which makes it uber freezing). There are some AMAZING beautiful homes up in that area. We couldn't stay for very long, much to Ben's utter dismay because we were all very cold... but we had at least brought his bike and he was able to ride it around a bit and play on the playground parts that weren't wet from the rain.

We went to get Delinda afterwards and then walked around some of the exhibits again at the Art Institute of Chicago (free again!). Ben was being a little... bit... um... ahem, bratty... so we didn't stay long. We went to The Bean for traditions sake and because it's literally across the street and then went back to DJ's to eat lunch. That night we just went out for dinner, oh and before that DJ and I went to get some yummy cupcakes at their fav bakery. Then Tuesday we took the long drive home. It was a fun but VERY short trip, and I wish it would've been even just a day longer. Luckily we get to see them at Christmas time though. So now... back to life. I have only had to work 2 days this week which has been nice. Today Ben and I ran around a bit, and I'm all worn out. I consider it to be a succesful day though because I managed to keep no dishes in the sink, took a short little nap at the same time Ben did and made delicious Manicotti for dinner for the first time.

So happy December! We are going to get our tree tomorrow and the house all decorated and I'm so excited. I honestly don't have a lot of motivation for shopping, nor do I have any good ideas... but I'm sure gonna try! That is all for now. :)

October Festivities

Well, October is now over- which is crazy... and there is a lot to recap!
-Clint, one of our good friends, moved to UT but before he did that he had a "Slightly Swanky" goodbye party! It was SUPER swanky in my opinion. :)

-We went to the Bert's Pumpkin Farm this year with The Terry's and Jennifer. This was Jennifer and Savannah's first time! And can you believe it? Ben's 4th! It was BEAUTIFUL day!

-My cousin Lulu (Laura) came to visit for a day! It was fun to see her and hang out with her.

-We went with the Terry's to the Boo at the Zoo! The Atlanta Zoo does a thing where the kids can dress up in their costumes and while seeing the animals they can trick or treat! It was fun! (Expensive... but fun!)

-We had the Kranendonk's over for Halloween and Ben and Aubrey went trick or treating in the neighborhood with the dad's! The mom's stayed home and passed out candy! (Woohoo!) Ben was shy of course, but he had a GOOOOOD time. (I was pretty proud of my carving skills with Woody on our pumpkin!)

-I also had the unfortunate task of taking my first 3 hour glucose test at the Dr's. Luckily though I passed and only had to stay for 2 hours. But man that fasting made me feel like trash. This little bambino does NOT like me not to eat. Bad news is I have to take it again at 24 weeks. Oh well. Good new is we find out what the gender is on the 22nd!

-We also actually said our sad goodbyes to Clint. This was not easy for any of us... but he did lessen the blow by giving us things. Rather, pawning off things on us he didn't want to move. But that's okay, we all scored a little. hehe We will REALLLLLLY miss having Clint around. In fact we already do. :(

Isn't He Cute?

Wicked

Last week, I got the chance to go with Martha and Ashley and a few girls from their church ward (congregation) to the Fox Theater to see Wicked! I am not especially a huge Broadway fan, not that I don't enjoy a musical here and there or for that matter Broadway music in general... I just don't have any  CD's, or weird obsessions with it.... okay? Maybe it's stems from listening to my mom's voice students singing songs from Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera  and other musicals most of my growing up life. (I have seen both btw and enjoyed them thoroughly). So okay, back to Wicked and my point... so not being in to Broadway musicals all too much- I HAVE been itching to see Wicked. My girlfriends from UT were able to go see and talked all about it and have wanted to see it since then. I'm glad I got the chance! I didn't feel especially great, but enjoyed it none-the-less! I even got all emotional with the round of applause at the end... I'm weird and pregnant!

Little Peanut

I suppose I should "formally" make the announcement in the Bloggersphere... I have announced to our family first and foremost, then coworkers, then well FACEBOOK of course. Now it's my Blog's turn.
We will be adding a new member to the family in April sometime! Well, we hope April! I am pregnant (obviously) with our second little cutie pie, and the due date is April 11th, and we're hoping the baby doesn't come early and give us another March birthday!
I have to tell you all that even though I feel like crap, which is expected, I am SO excited. I have waited a LONG time for our fourth little family member to come. We haven't had any trouble with conceiving, it just too so long deciding when it was the right time for our family. And the time is right! (FINALLLLLLYYYY! I have learned a lot of patience with this one...) We are ALL very excited though, not just me. Ben is SUPER excited to see "his" baby and Ryan is also all bubbly and happy! I had my 12 week appointment last week and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time and realized at that very moment (despite having already seen the baby in 2 ultrasounds) that there was another little human being of ours growing inside of me and that I will soon be a mother of two! Ack! I got all teary eyed and am so grateful for this chance to meet and have the privilege of mothering another one of Heavenly Father's beautiful spirits. I look at Ben every day still in disbelief he was sent especially to us, because he is a beautiful child and I love him so much. And now we'll have another one to gawk over! Yay!
I am just about finished or should be finished with my first trimester, I am still struggling with some morning sickness here and there but am kinda starting to feel a little better. It's bad news though, if I let my blood sugar go too low if I haven't eaten often enough. This little one is A LOT hungrier than it's big brother was! There are some differences between pregnancies, but a lot of similarities too.
Ben often asks if his baby can come out now... he's SO excited. He can't wait to be my big helper, he can't wait to see the baby, he can't wait to come to the ultra sound to find out what the gender is, he loves to tell everyone he has a baby in mommy's tummy... it's all so adorable! I am so glad.

So here is our little Peanut... this was a few weeks ago though, so a lot has changed in that there little... uh... home? haha I was about 9 weeks here and am almost 13 now.
Two of my favorite Ben and pregnancy stories:
Story #1: Ben told us in the car one day that he wanted his baby to come out now. I told him "Benny, it's going to be a LONG time before the baby comes out... You'll have a birthday and mommy's tummy will get big" and Ryan said "yah Benny, you'll turn 4 and the flowers and leaves on the trees will start coming out, and mommy's tummy will get GINORMOUS!" and so it was quiet for a few seconds... and Ben said "Oh!!! Like Daddy's!" (hehehe! He had to compare it to SOMETHING right?)
Story #2: I showed Ben the ultra sound above and was pointing to the head (on the right) and the back and it's legs and stuff... he just stood there with his hands on his hips looking puzzled and said "I don't see it..." and I said "well, that's okay, it's kind of hard to see. Let's show Daddy he hasn't seen it yet" he grabbed it from me and said "I will show daddy" and ran off. In the office I heard him say to Ryan "Daddy, here's my baby... see... here's it's head.. and his back..." (Basically saying exactly what I'd said to him) hahahaha! I love that kid.
We are all healthy and happy, and all very excited!

"Thank You" project

I listen to a radio morning show on my commute every day that is collecting Thank You letters or letters of gratitude for every single American soldier that is deployed outside of the States. I was touched by this concept and wanted Ben to participate as well. He doesn't quite get what a "soldier" is but I wanted him to know that it's good to do nice things for people. So I wrote a few things on some paper and let him go to town coloring. He drew some soldiers, and I helped with a tent, a witch, some smiley faces, his "name", we traced his hand... it was fun. It was good one on one time for us too. Here he is with two of his letters! I hope they mean so much to someone out there. If you are interested in participating, HERE is the link!

Awesome Autumn Weekend

It's definitely feeling Autumn-ish out there, and I love it. The best part of living in GA is the really fantastic Spring and Autumn/Fall. We've had a beautiful weekend. I don't remember what we did Friday night but it doesn't really matter. Saturday we got a call from our friends Jared and Kaela asking if we wanted to go with them and their daughter Aubrey to Lake Lanier to swim and hang out. Ryan hasn't been feeling great, so he welcomed the chance to get out and get some fresh air. Plus Ben LOVES playing with Aubrey and I love mine and Kaela's talks. :) On our way there, Jared called and said his dad happened to be up there with his boat test driving it after having had it at the mechanics. We were pretty excited, especially Ryan, because it's been forever since either of us have been on a boat. Ben's never been so it was an awesome surprise.

Ben's 1st boat ride

Me, Kaela and Aubrey went out on the ride first and then came back and then the boys went. Jared and Ryan then each took turns water skiing! I was so proud of my man! He hasn't been on a boat in like 20 years or something, and he got up first try! Yay! Ben enjoyed the boat ride but was ready to get off so he could play with Aubrey on the beach.

My man skiing!

Kaela and I enjoyed talking and philosophising while the 3 older "men" went on another boat ride and we just all enjoyed each other's company! It was a lot of fun!
Today we planted two iris and several Tulip bulbs for the Spring! It was exciting to see them coming up and growing this year and next year it will be just as fun! Ben helped us plant most of them. We also had the gang over for chili tonight and that was nice. Now, it's back to work... sigh. If only... Have a good one!

I Believe in Miracles...

We went camping! Success! Well… almost. As reported before… it always seems to rain the weekends we plan to camp. So this time we didn’t really want “plan” it just so we didn’t jinx ourselves. Our friend Jared told us about this convenient campground that he and his family always go to, so we thought we’d give it a try. It wasn’t a far drive, it was on Lake Lanier, and it just sounded nice. We also decided to make it just a trip for the 3 of us (and our dog Ally) so we could test out our new [HUGE] tent. So Saturday morning, Ryan declared that he wanted a clean house when we got home so we cleaned and cleaned and packed up the car. Ben kept asking us ALLLLLLLL morning long… “Are we going camping?” Right before we were to leave, Ryan got on the website for the campground and it said that all sites were full. Of course, we were pretty bummed. But I didn’t want to give up! I thought that we could drive somewhere… ANYWHERE and surely there would be a campsite open for us to use for just ONE STINKIN’ NIGHT! So even though Ryan was a bit of a grumpy bear, we jumped in the car and drove up to the campground we were recommended to just to see… maybe, just maybe if there was someone who cancelled or something. So we got there, and luckily the website was TOTALLY wrong and there were plenty of sites available. This made Ryan VERY happy. We picked ours out, paid the nice young men (wow I just sounded so old-ladyish) for the site and went to go get our food for the evening and breakfast. We got back to the site about 3:30-4pm and set up the tent and got settled in. Decided around 5pm to start making our chili dogs and well… our quiet time in nature ended. Nearby… not far away, a live cover band started playing at a house or a party or something. It was loud enough, that we could sing along with the songs. They proceeded to play for a couple hours… and then we thought they were done. Nope… they started up again and played until 11PM! They stopped and started so many times we thought “surely this must be it…” several times, and there were even fireworks involved a few of those times too… it was a little ridiculous when they started singing the same songs they’d already sung again towards the end. Also, since we were by the lake, there were several boats, several times that would play their choice of music quite loudly as they drove by. Around 8:30 Ben had had it, he was tired and being a booger head so I took him in to the tent and got him his jammies on and all settled in- and to my dismay and disgust heard unmentionable noises coming from our neighbor’s tent! I had to put my hands over Ben’s ear at one point! And it didn’t just happen once; it was two times… the second time with more graphic “instruction”. Yuck!!! (Ben was asleep for that one though, thankfully!) It was a strange feeling sitting in our camp chairs by the fire looking out at such beautiful scenery but feeling like we were sitting in the middle of the city with all the noise around us. It was actually more annoying than strange really. Ryan and I got tired, so we decided despite all the noise we’d go to bed- this was around 10:30, finally the music stopped at 11pm and we were finally able to go to sleep. However, we were woken up at 1am to the sound of fireworks somewhere also close by. Those were being lit on and off for about an hour, woke Ben up and everything. Then at 2am… I had to pee. And so did Ryan. So after we went, we sat up and talked and laughed for a little while. At 4am I heard the previously mentioned neighbor shout out “GET YOUR OWN SLEEPING BAG!” then quiet, then “Get off your butt and get your own *bleeping* sleeping bag”. SERIOUSLY?  (Quite a different sentiment than what was being expressed earlier in the evening!) Mister Yelly-Pants finally settled down, and I went back to sleep. But then moments later, heard their van doors shutting and then said van driving off. Went back to sleep. At 6am… heard a loud airplane and a boat (probably someone going early morning fishing). Then by 7 both Ben and I were awake. Weirdly… the neighbors were still there… We got up, and went to the restroom. We made breakfast (Ryan's favorite part and requirement) and cleaned up and went home! It was pretty chilly and windy anyway so playing at all was not particularly an option… plus our dog just isn’t a camping/outdoor dog and she was driving us crazy. So we camped! We didn’t really sleep… but we camped! Luckily Ben’s a trooper and all except for the fireworks he slept through most/all of it. He had a horrid sounding little cough though I worried about, but he seems to be fine. We are hoping to go again with some friends this weekend, but we shall see! Not sure if I want to go back to that campground but besides the noise it was a nice place and not far from home. I leave you with photos.

Labor Day Weekend- gone bust

Well, it pretty much kind of sucks when you have something planned and it doesn't pull through. Ryan and I both kind of have a hard time with that, we've taught Ben NOT to be like that which is good- because we both tend to pout a little. We had planned to go camping just ONE stinkin' night this long weekend... and well, a hurricane that was on the Gulf Coast decided to make it's way up to Georgia (after having been in a drought) ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND. (me sticking my tongue out at Hurricane Lee) We bought ourselves a brand new tent, since last time we camped the tent we had leaked from a rain storm and then the poles broke afterwards. This time we took our time searching for the perfect tent, a Kelty 6 person tent (that I got for like $100 bucks off might I add). It's HUGE, but will be a good fit for us for a long time to come. We kind of wish now in hindsight we would've just gone Saturday night, but we didn't- and well,  we tried to make the best of the rest of our weekend and here's what we've done.

Mafia at the Elton's

Friday night we went over to our friend's, The Elton's, for Mark's 30th birthday party ate yummy food and played Mafia (fun game).

Yesterday, we did a little shopping and then later had a cookout with the hotdogs meant to be cooked at the campground with some of our friends at home(no pictures...).

Today, we went over to the Terry's house to eat lots of junk food and play Rock Band! We got rained out of doing anything outdoors so this was our solution! Ben did pretty good (for a 3 year old) on those drums! I hope to have a musician of some sort on our hands! (There was even a tornado warning in the county the Terry's live in, Ryan and I stood outside and listen to the sirens going off, very eerie sounding, at the high school nearby. It was in the western part of the county though, so luckily we were not affected!)

Band name suggestions include "3.5" and "Little Benny and the Big Kids"

Well, goodbye summer time. Goodbye swimming pools. Goodbye splash parks. We have had a pretty fun summer! Fall is creeping in, the leaves are starting to change. And today, with the storm it just felt like all of a sudden Autumn has crept in. Which, I'm pretty okay with. As you all know, I LOVE the Fall. I love everything we get to look forward to in the coming months. I hope that Ben had a good summer. This seems to be the first year that he'll probably start remembering things, and I hope it's been good for him. Here's a recap in pictures.

Bicycle and Rain Boots- lots of riding his bike on the driveway and sidewalk

Angry Birds on the iPhone

hanging with friends!

(bad picture) Ryan & I got to go to Cirque Du Soleil- Dralion

4th of July!

Ryan turns 30!

Ben's first slip and slide!

Ally got a haircut

love!

At Morgan Falls park

lots of playing at the park

the beach!

Ben got to see his Collier cousins

visited UT

lots of swimming