Whoops!

So I kept meaning to update, but was waiting until I could officially make our secret announcement and then was daunted by updating since it'd been so long.... But now I'm finally going to attempt a short update.

First off, we are expecting baby girl #2. I'm 31 weeks along. My due date is Jan 2, but I'm really hoping she comes before then. I was a LOT more sick with this pregnancy than with either of my other two. I swear it got worse once I entered the second trimester, which is the opposite of what I would have thought it'd be. But the nausea has finally passed for the most part, thankfully. I've also been having carpal tunnel issues (which I hadn't experienced before). BUT, I passed the gestational diabetes test. Twice. =D So that's good. Baby girl was measuring big at my 20 week ultrasound; I have another ultrasound next week to check her growth. Hopefully she's not on track to be a 10 pound baby if I go full term...or that she comes early if that would be the case.

The kids are getting SO BIG. I can hardly believe they CAN be that big! Addy is talking a ton (which is a HUGE difference from Emmett at this age...Jeremy and I are always like "is this what it's like to have a kid who is on the 'normal' side of the speech spectrum?") And Emmett's speech has actually come a LONG way in just these past few months. We lucked out and were able to get him into the Head Start Preschool. Because he has an IEP through the school district, the district buses him to and from preschool, which saves me having to run him around, especially once this next baby gets here. He also is able to get his speech services through the school district while he is at school, which saves me another round of driving him all over. And he really seems to be positively responding to getting out and interacting with kids his age. I know it's good for him to get a little time away from me and interact with his peers. He still has weekly speech therapy through Kadlec, but it's nice that he's getting more exposure. And I really think that's been helping a TON.

Jeremy started working back for System One at AREVA. He is currently working in the UO2 building, which is a different area than he had previously worked. His shifts are 12 hours instead of 8, which aren't super fun for any of us (the kids really don't get to see him on the days he works, and he and I both have LONG days), but the bonus is that he has a lot more "free" days where he's able to be home. So the kids enjoy spending time with him on those days.

Hmm...what else...? We got some projects done this summer (and still have a few that are in the works right now). Jeremy was awesome and hacked 4 stumps out of the yard (which took a LOT of effort and time!) and then we were able to get some sod for free to fill in the holes from the stumps/rocks around them. So now we have more open areas of grass and fewer rocks for the kids to throw all over the lawn. ;) He also stripped my glider and is in the process of stripping the ottoman. The plan is to then stain them dark to match the rest of the wood in the girls' room. I'm planning on making the bedding for the girls' crib and toddler bed, so that will be fun. I just have to get the fabric and get going on that before this one makes her appearance! This month I made the kids' Halloween costumes. They both LOVE that "What Does The Fox Say?" video so I thought they'd love to be foxes for Halloween.  I was right. And I really lucked out in that the week after I decided that's what they were going to be for Halloween and started looking for patterns/ideas, the perfect pattern and all the materials went on sale at Jo-Ann's. It was awesome.

We also went down to visit Jeremy's family in September before he started his new job. It was good to see them and we even had a couple of days with Jeremy's dad (he's a truck driver and sometimes we don't get to spend much time with him when we go down to visit everyone). There is a small zoo there in Logan that we took the kids to and they had a BLAST, especially feeding the peacocks/ducks/fish.

And now...picture overload haha

The kids' fox costumes

 We took the kids to a pumpkin patch on one of Jeremy's days off

 Addy brought me her 'ring sling' and wanted to wear her baby one day.

 Because Addy was wearing her baby, Emmett wanted to get in on the action, so I fashioned a rebozo carry out of one of my scarves for him to carry his bear in.

This was at 28 weeks, so not a super current picture, but the most current one I have.

 An updated picture of Addy

 An updated picture of Emmett

 Addy and I at the zoo

 Emmett and Alexa at the zoo. Cute cousins!

 I think he was just a LITTLE excited about going to preschool haha

All buckled in for his first time on the bus!

We watched my parents' dogs for a week this summer. Addy crawled into the crate and got herself stuck. Of course, I HAD to get a picture before I rescued her!

 One day while at the store, I picked up some Oreos. Addy decided they were hers and hugged them to her chest protectively. It was hilarious.

My mom's family had a big reunion this summer. Emmett LOVED camping (although we didn't have the most fun because the kids DID NOT want to go to sleep at night) and entertained himself with these sticks for a good amount of time. Boys must just have this innate drive to play with sticks haha.

Yikes!

Wow, life has been busy.  And I realized I needed to update, but kept procrastinating.  Oops!  So here's what's been going on in a nutshell:

• we went down to Utah to see Jeremy's family for Christmas.  It was a lot of fun.
• Addy turned one
• Addy started walking
• Addy signs "more" and "please"
• Addy has started nodded her head when we ask her if she wants something
• We started cloth diapering Addy. It hasn't been as bad as I originally thought it would be.
• Jeremy is no longer working at Gesa. 
• We have been enjoying being surprised at the flowers that pop up all over the yard.
• Emmett is mostly potty trained.  He has an occasional accident during the day and sometimes wets the bed at night, but for the most part he is doing great!  He especially loves pulling down his pants and peeing in the yard.  That's a little boy for ya!
• Jeremy has successfully taken out two stumps in our yard and has been doing a lot of maintenance with our yard (fertilizing, eradicating dandelions, trimming back some of the plants)
• Jeremy and Emmett went on a Father's and Sons campout last weekend.  They didn't get a lot of sleep but they had a lot of fun.
• Emmett will turn 3 on Saturday

The kids got to sit on Santa's lap at the Christmas party

 Addy being cute (Dec 2013)

 Addy's first ponytail Jan 2014

 Emmett being cute

Addy in a pretty dress

 After church Feb 2014

 Addy is 1 year

I just love this picture of Addy!

Hopefully now that we're "caught up", I'll update more frequently! (I haven't added pictures from May yet because they haven't gotten uploaded to the computer yet and I don't want to delay posting any longer)

The past month

Well, so much for updating weekly haha...it's now been a month.

Addy:

• has started crawling in earnest. That girl sure can move!  
• started pulling herself up to standing...I'm not ready for her to walk yet! She is growing up way too fast!
• started eating baby food again! She had a couple of times where she puked after trying a new food, so I think she associated the purees with being sick.  But after trying and trying she'll finally eat them!  So far she's had pears, sweet potatoes, and corn.  And boy does she love her pears!
• HATED Santa Claus haha
• babbles quite a bit (especially mamama.... =) )
• likes to pull Emmett's hair
• is 17 lbs 6 oz (38%) and 26" (11%)...she sure is a tiny little thing! Especially compared to Emmett...he was in 18 month clothes at 9 month and she's barely in 6-9 month clothes lol.

Emmett:

• has already lost one of his tubes and the other is on its way out (the doctor called him an overachiever; apparently they normally don't come out for another 4-5 months)
• loves the "what does the fox say" video (he says 'ah' for fox) and the little minion 'shorts' on youtube
• has been asking for "the wise man and the foolish man" song
• will point to the sky and say "blue"
• pointed to Dairy Queen when we drove by and said "nomnomnom" (he remembered that we'd gone there for ice cream before, even though it had been a couple months since we last went and we hardly ever go! What a smart cookie!)
• LOVES yogurt (he says "yo" when he wants some haha)
• likes Santa unless you try and have him sit on Santa's lap

Myaela:

• got a new sewing machine =)  It's a refurbished Bernina and I love it! Hopefully it'll be the last machine I ever have to buy!
• is keeping busy watching two other little boys a few days a week as well as Emmett and Addy

Jeremy:

• is working lots of hours; he hasn't had a full day off (except Sunday) in a month.  We're looking forward to him finishing up this next round of training so he can have a full day off again and we can get some projects done around the house.

 Addy's first Thanksgiving...she LOVED the sweet potatoes!

 Addy's funny face she's been making...sorry about the poor quality!

 Emmett learned he can suction small cups onto his face

 Emmett was nice enough to put this amazing hat (bowl) on Addy's head while she was crawling around

 The kids before church one Sunday

 Another funny face of Addy's

Bathtime fun

 She started crying in earnest right after this photo

For wanting to see Santa, this kid sure didn't want to sit on his lap!  This was AFTER Santa bribed him with a candy cane! (and I was only standing like 2 feet away when the kids were on his lap!)

I feel like our life isn't really interesting enough to really have enough to update weekly.  But I'm going to attempt it anyway.

Some highlights of this week:

• we went to visit Great Grandma Cress this weekend.  We sure enjoyed seeing her.  Emmett enjoyed drawing on almost every page of her notebook and matching her animal cards.  Addy enjoyed crawling around and crying for mama.
• Emmett had a fever and was complaining about his ear Wednesday night and Thursday.  But after using his ear drops for a few days, it seems to have cleared up.  Yay for avoiding a visit to the dr.
• It has been windy and gloomy here lately.  Fall/winter is definitely here.  The nice thing about the wind though is it blows all the leaves in our front yard away, so we haven't had to rake it yet!  We will be tackling the back yard leaves tomorrow though.
• Emmett pulled EVERY SINGLE TOY out in Addy's room the other day.  Both kids were in there playing while I was wrapping up making dinner, and when I came in afterwards, Emmett had pulled all the toys out of the bins in the closet.  Then, while I was nursing Addy, he proceeded to empty out the toy box too.  But he did help me clean it back up.  Boys will be boys, I guess.
• Addy is much closer to actual crawling.  She now does a mix of crawling and inchworming. I'm trying to keep an eye on her to see if she "limps" while crawling...at her last visit the dr. mentioned that she has asymmetrical skin folds that could indicate hip dysplasia and he wanted to keep an eye on it to see if she had any other signs as well.  I'm really hoping her hips are fine.
• Emmett did really well at his speech visitation on Friday (the one where they come to our house). The lady was pretty surprised that he sat for 24 minutes straight doing what she wanted him to do.  He has definitely been progressing...I'm not sure if it's because he's more used to her now, if he's more used to what she expects when she comes, if he's more comfortable/relaxed because we're more settled now (with the addition of Addy, moving, etc), or what, but it has been awesome to see.
• We tried pumpkin chili (I made some tweaks based on comments below the actual recipe).  And it was pretty dang good.  Although it gets kind of old after eating it for 3+ days...
• We tried a cabbage casserole recipe (with a few slight modifications).  It was really good.  I'm looking forward to more leftovers tomorrow.

Well, I'm feeling too lazy at the moment to upload pics from my phone, but I'll try to add some more next week.

Whoops!

It has been WAY too long since I last updated!  We moved, then didn't have internet, then updating seemed like a daunting task so I was putting it off... I'll try to do some short posts over the next little while to catch up more but here's a very brief update:

Mid July we bought a house and moved in.  It was a CRAZY week.  We moved on the 11th and my brother's wedding reception was on the 13th.  At my parents house.  Where we just moved from.  And all sorts of family was coming into town for it.

 

 The street view

 

 Backyard view from the sliding door

 More of the backyard

 The kitchen

 The living room/dining room

The living room from another angle (ignore the scantily clad Little Man...we were attempting potty training, which didn't work)

We are loving having our own place!  Overall, there wasn't a ton of work that NEEDED to be done, but there are always projects of stuff we'd like to change.  We've been slowly working on getting the most important ones done.  We are almost done hanging pictures lol. And then comes the inevitable re-evaluation of where things are to see if we can make them make more sense.  But we're getting settled in and we LOVE our new ward.

Jeremy is loving his job at Gesa.  He switched branches and now only works 5 minutes from where we live, which is really nice.  He's been coming home to eat lunch with us lately, which has been a lot of fun. (And it saves me the trouble of having to make him a lunch to take to work lol).

I started watching a couple of boys in September.  Pax is 4 and Emmett (baby Emmett, lol) is a month younger than Addy.  They keep me on my toes!  It has been really nice to be able to supplement our income a bit and I love that it's only 2-3 days a week so I still have free days where I can run errands or do doctor appointments or whatever.

Emmett started seeing a speech therapist.  Well, actually, he sees a speech therapist once a week at the hospital outpatient therapy place and then every other week someone from the school district comes to work with him.  Since starting therapy, his speech has been improving, especially over the past month.  He's now willing to attempt more words and is, I think, understanding that verbal communication is a good thing and will help him get what he wants faster than having me guess what he wants.

Both kids got sick a few weeks ago.  Emmett got croup.  He was super miserable.  I felt so bad for him!  I don't think Addy got croup, thank goodness, but she was pretty stuffy and had a bit of a cough too.  Thankfully, both kids are doing much better!

Emmett moved up to a toddler bed, which has really thrown night time out of whack.  He kept coming out of his room since he didn't have a crib keeping him in, so we switched the handle around so we could lock him in until he went to sleep.  He had finally settled down just before he got sick, and now we're having to create habits all over again.  Hopefully he'll get back in the swing of things soon.  These middle of the night wakings are killing me!  Way to flash back to newborn stage....there are definitely things I DON'T miss about that! ;)

Addy has started getting around.  It's not quite crawling yet...I call it "inch worming" because she'll get up on her hands and knees, lunge forward on her belly, and repeat the process to get where she wants.  It's super cute.  I don't think true crawling is too far away...I guess nothing is safe again!

The kids were both tigers for Halloween.  I lucked out and was able to find them both tiger costumes at two different places (Emmett's a yard sale and Addy's at a thrift shop).  Yay for not paying full price! =D

I seriously had the hardest time trying to get them both still for a picture!  This is one of the FEW clear ones.  I love the cheesy smile on Emmett's face.  And notice his cherished package of m&m's haha

Well, I think that's about it for BIG updates.  Like I said, hopefully I'll be able to find time soon to get on and do more specific updates and such.  If not, I'll at least try to update better from here on out.  =)  I'll leave you with a few more cute pictures of the kids.

Goings on

Well, we've been busy in the past few months.  Adjusting to life with 2 kids and having time to blog took a while.  Here's a recap:

Jeremy was laid off 5 days before Adelynn was born.  We knew it was coming and it actually worked out really well since she came 3 weeks early.  Then he worked for my aunt and uncle's cropdusting business for a few weeks while he looked for a job.  He had been putting in applications for jobs and rarely getting interviews; well, he had 2 interviews in a week for jobs at 2 different places.  And one of the places had him come in THAT DAY for a second interview, the next day for a third interview, and the day after that to do background check stuff.  Things actually ended up in such a way that he was offered both jobs.  I guess when it rains, it pours! ;)

So at the beginning of May, Jeremy started working at Gesa Credit Union as a member service representative.  Basically, he opens/closes accounts, helps members with car and small personal loans, helps with home equity lines of credit, etc.  It's a good thing he learned Spanish on his mission, because he's speaking it all day every day!  He really enjoys his job and is glad that his Spanish is coming back quickly!

We are also in the process of buying a house!  If all goes well, we should be moving in sometime the first week of July!  It's a cute little house with a fenced back yard for the kids to play in and some great shade trees.

3 Months!

Addy is now 3 months old.  It is hard to believe she's been with our family for 3 months already.  It feels like she's been here forever and yet like she's still brand new.  It's crazy!

One of the things I've been glad we purchased this time around was a Rock n Play.  That has seriously been amazing; it's smaller and more portable than a traditional bassinet, and since it's inclined, we can put her in it and let her use it as a chair (before she was able to sit up in her Bumbo.) It's one of my favorite baby gear items. ;)

This past month:

• Addy has started sitting in her Bumbo and she LOVES it!
• Addy can definitely tell who mom, dad, and brother are, and she looks at us with such love...it just melts my heart completely.
• she loves to sit in her Bumbo and watch her big brother play
• she will follow you with her eyes
• she will put weight on her feet to stand up for a minute or so
• she moves her arms and legs a lot!
• she is sleeping through the night! =D I am so excited about this one!
• she loves to smile and interact with you
• she will bat at toys in her play gym (sometimes) but would rather sit up in her Bumbo usually
• sometimes we can't tell if she's whining or just cooing loudly
• she is our rootin', tootin' little girl!
• she grabbed a rattle for the first time on her own
• she will have long conversations with you

 My sweet sleepy girl

 Outside in the shade

 This is her pouty face

 In the Bumbo

 Wearing the dress my great grandma made me

 I sure love this sweet little girl!