Christmas 2011

This was the first Christmas in a long time where we didn’t do any traveling, and it was really nice. It was so great to spend Christmas morning in our own house with our own tree, but we also got to spend a lot of time with my family.

Even without travel, I made myself a little crazy this year. I tried so hard to make everything really easy and low-key this year, but I still ended up staying up until almost 2 o’clock on Christmas Eve finishing homemade pajama pants for us to wear.

Ryan turned 29 on Christmas Eve. I’m so happy to celebrate him and his birthday, but I really need to make better deadlines for myself since I really have to stop thinking about Christmas a few days beforehand so I can focus on Ryan.

We had a nice dinner and presents at our house with my family, including my brother Ryan, who flew in from Rexburg that night.

Nathan got to leave cookies for Santa, and eat a few, too.

 

Christmas morning, Ryan and I woke up before Nathan did and couldn’t go back to sleep so we sat in bed and giggled like little kids until he woke up. There’s just something about Christmas morning that’s fun no matter what age you are.

It was especially fun with Nathan this year. When Ryan asked him was Christmas is about, Nathan excitedly yelled, “JESUS!” I’m so glad we got that point across to him. A few days after Christmas he came into my room and said, “What’s Christmas about? Heavenly Father and Jesus!” I love that kid!

Ryan and I got each other socks for Christmas. Does that make us boring? or just practical?

Our family.

And proof of the darn pajama pants I made.

 

In the afternoon we went over to my parents house in Puyallup to open more gifts and have a yummy dinner. Kevin was there too, and the whole family was together for the first time in a year.

My grandma sent Nathan these wooden cars that my Grandpa made. He died right after Nathan was born and is the only great-grandparent Nathan never met. I don’t know how long these cars have been around, but I remember playing with them when I was little. I hope Nathan always treasures them.

We spent the whole day in our jammies ( I wanted to make my late night sewing feel worth it) and enjoyed our time celebrating with family.

The Big Reveal . . . Sort of.

Since we live close to my family now, we wanted to tell them the results of our ultrasound in person. We planned a fun evening that night, after Ryan got home from work. I spent the whole day bursting at the seams because I couldn’t tell anyone until that night. I told my mom, “Don’t call me at all today! I might let something slip!”

I passed the day making cupcakes with pink filling inside, so everyone could take a big bite and get a surprise.

Right before my parents showed up, we decided to Skype with Ryan’s parents and reveal the gender of our baby.

Then, the power went out.

How could we Skype?!

How would anyone know what color was inside their cupcake if they ate them in the dark?!

We ran around lighting candles and pulling out all our emergency flashlights. Nathan thought it was an awesome game. We called Ryan’s parents and told them over the phone.

When it was time for everyone to bite into their cupcakes, we made sure that all the lights were shining as bright as they could. It was fun to surprise everyone and then watch their reaction with a mouth full of cupcake.

The lights came on later that evening, after we built a fire and snacked on more pink pastries. Not exactly the night I’d been hoping for, but it was still a lot of fun.

I didn’t get a lot of pictures, for obvious reasons, but here’s a few of the cupcakes I made.

I had to make sure there wasn’t a hint of pink anywhere on the outside of the cupcake (not like they would have seen it in the dark) and make sure all the cooking utensils that I used to fill the cupcakes were washed, so no one would get a hint.

This is what I did with the extra cake and frosting. A little creepy, but better than filling two dozen cupcakes. Can you see where Nathan’s fingers went in?

Baby Girl

Our ultrasound was first thing in the morning on Monday, and I could hardly sleep. It was like an early Christmas.

We brought Nathan with us. Ryan and I have both been unsure all along whether we are having a boy or girl, so we knew we were in for a surprise no matter what. The technician started the ultrasound and asked if we wanted to know the gender. We said yes and she tried, but couldn’t see anything. She said she’d try again later. I was so scared we were going to go home not knowing! At the end of the ultrasound, she tried again but no amount of poking or prodding could entice that baby to give us a good look. Finally, the technician said, “well, the baby just closed it’s legs even tighter.” I was kind of freaking out! Finally she said, “I think it’s a girl, but I don’t have any proof for you.” The doctor would try again and give us his opinion.

The doctor never really got the look he was hoping for, but told us he is 95% sure it’s a girl. By the end of the ultrasound he was able to point out what he thought were girl parts, but it would seem she’s quite the little lady and doesn’t want to show off. More likely she’s just really, really stubborn.

So we, are planning on a girl (95% is good enough for me!) but I guess we could end up with a big surprise! Either way, we feel so blessed to know that we have a healthy, beautiful baby coming to our home.

Nathan is the only one who has insisted it’s a girl from the beginning, but when we told him he was right he said, “NO! It’s a boy baby!” I think he just feels it’s his job as a two year old to be contrary about everything in life.

Did you guess right?

Well, first of all, we have a very modest baby.

Dare I say this baby was even ladylike during the ultrasound?

That’s right! It’s a GIRL!

More to come tomorrow (including pictures).

It’s a . . .

day before our big ultra sound.

What are your guesses?

I, for one, have no idea!

I’ll let you all know Monday night.

On the Town

Saturday was Ryan’s big company Christmas party in downtown Seattle. We thought this would be a fun time to celebrate our anniversary since I will either be 9+ months pregnant, in labor, or have a brand new baby on our next anniversary. We left Nathan with my parents on Saturday morning and didn’t pick him up until Sunday evening. It was the perfect break- smack dab in the middle of potty training! We’ve never left Nathan overnight before and we wanted to do it at least once before the baby comes.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking around Pike Place Market. Dinner at the party wasn’t until 7:30 so we stopped at the market to buy some bread and cheese and apples to munch on while we got ready, then headed to our hotel.

I couldn’t resist putting on this fluffy bathrobe while I got ready for the party.

Yep. Ryan is a lucky man.

Our room had a beautiful view of downtown Seattle. We could see the Space Needle, The Convention Center (where the party was), and Washington Federal (where Ryan works).

I always look so silly in pictures we take of ourselves. It’s tough when you have a foot between you in height.

The party was really fun and I’m so glad I got to meet all the people Ryan works with. I felt so pretty, but so exhausted. Pregnant Heather did a lot of walking that day (in heels!) and I had to hold on to Ryan most of the night.

I loved getting dressed up and having a special date with Ryan. Not a bad night for a woman who spends 90% of her time in sweats!

In case you were wondering how Nathan did- he was great! He was really bummed when we told him we had to go home and he even called me Nana once! We should really do this more often.

Funny Nathan

We were busy in November and I have a bunch of stuff to blog about, but I don’t feel like doing it right now.

Instead, I thought I’d mention a few funny things that Nathan has done lately, that I don’t want to forget.

We went to my parents house for my mom’s birthday and Nathan was watching my mom out the window while she got something from her car. As she walked away, he said, “Nana is so cute!” and I thought, what a sweet boy! Then, on her way back to the house he said, “Here she comes! Nana is a hippo.” Okay. Maybe not.

The other day, I was in the dining room trying to fix Nathan’s booster seat and I was getting frustrated about having to do such a silly little job. Nathan came over to me and said, “You fixing my chair?” When I told him I was, he exclaimed, “Ohhh! Thank you mehmee much!”

This morning I found Nathan singing “Hush Little Baby” to Baby Jesus. Apparently, Mama’s gonna buy him a walking bird.

We have been watching Polar Express all day, every day this week at our house. The other day we went outside to play and Nathan kept telling me, “We have to find the bell! Can you hear it? Lets go! Follow arrows!” and he’d take off running.

Nathan often reminds me that, “Boys is hanthsome and gwuls is pwetty.”

A few of Nathan’s favorite phrases right now are:

• why not?
• you missed me! (whenever we’ve been away from him)
• remember?
• everything is always “tonight”, no matter what time of day it is.

Nathan’s new place to play- my broom cupboard in the kitchen.

Also, Nathan has been wearing big boy underwear for nearly a week and is doing amazingly well!  I’m so proud of him and can’t believe how fast he’s growing up!

I can’t help myself . . .

I laugh every time.

We’ve been doing some fun things!

Even though we’ve been crazy busy with moving in, we’ve managed to do a few fun things while we’ve been here in Washington.

The weekend we moved, we already had plans to meet Ryan’s sister, Janelle, and her husband, Dan. They were visiting Portland (from Arizona) and had planned to drive down to Springfield to see us. Instead, they drove up and we met at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. We had a picnic lunch and fed the ducks and walked through the rose gardens.

Of course, my camera died right after we got there so I stole most of these pictures from Janelle.

We tried to take a family picture in the rose gardens.

Yeah right!

I wanted to take Nathan to the pumpkin farm to get pumpkins so we went with my mom and Uncle Jesse to Shultz farm, where I used to go when I was little.

He had way more fun that it looks here. He just likes to take everything in.

This little kitchen was Nathan’s very favorite part. He didn’t want to leave. He would have cooked us pumpkins all day if we let him.

I love how they look like they’re deep in conversation.

We were lucky to have Jesse there to push the wheelbarrow with all the pumpkins AND Nathan in it.

We took our pumpkins home and painted them while enjoying pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

As you can see, Nathan REALLY enjoyed the cookies.

Ta DA! (Lisa, do you remember making those milk jug skeletons?)

I had fun making these cute pumpkins too!

 

Last weekend, Auburn had it’s annual Veteran’s Day Parade and apparently, it’s a pretty big deal. We live right downtown so we couldn’t pass up going when we only had to walk down the street.

My dad and Ryan took a break from painting the garage to join us. The smoke smell is totally gone, by the way.

Nathan loved the motorcycles. It’s a good thing, because there were a ton of them!

Thank you Veterans!