2011 in Photos

January marked the start of a new year with a new-ish dog, Belle!

In February, I turned 25.

In March, Keith turned 29. 

In April we celebrated our Savior on Easter in ties.

In May the boys turned 5 at Walt Disney World!

Caleb lead calves for the first time in June. 

Caden caught his first fish in July on one of our camping trips.

In August the boys went with Keith and Papa Lowell to Kids Day at the local dirt track.

In September, Caleb and Caden started their last year of preschool.

In October we carved pumpkins.

I ran my first half marathon in November.

And in December we announced we were going to be a family of 5 next summer!

 Here we come 2012!

Baby Food

The boys are over the moon excited about baby. 

They know a bit about pregnancy since their owner of their day care is expecting twins! 

They ask questions often and make comments.  Caden even said one time that it was his favorite Christmas present/surprise this year!  *My heart melted!*

My favorite thus far though, Caden told me I needed to start eating baby food since babies eat baby food and I need to feed the baby. 

And today, Caleb told me I shouldn't drink water because babies only drink milk.

They're such little smarty pants! 

Week 13 Day 1

In these last few weeks of taking photos, I think I've learned one thing.  Keith and I need to get better at taking pictures.  I need to smile.  Perhaps we need to find a better location.  Week 14 mission, better photos!

Weight: 132.5

Pregnancy Thus Far

Yesterday I shared our big Christmas announcement. 

I also posted several backdated posts.  As we've moved through the pregnancy so far, I've been writing and saving until we made our big announcement. 

In case you want to get caught up on baby thus far, I've pulled them out below.

We learned we were expecting.

Week 9.

We had our first prenatal appointment.

Week 10.

Week 11 Day 3.


Week 12 Day 1.

Surprise!

**Shirts from HeatherRogersDesigns on Etsy.

Santa's Magic

Well, it's Christmas Eve Eve, and I took the day off work. 

I took the day off because our day care closed for Christmas Eve, since it is on Saturday, but it turns out, I'm really glad I did. We had a lot of housework and food preparation to start! 

As the kids and I were snuggling before I climbed out of bed this morning, I was listing all the things we had today to prepare for Santa.  I'll spare you the whole mundane of chores for the day, but there is one in particular that is worth of sharing.

On that list is fold the laundry that is piling up in the living room and pick up the living room in general.  As the boys and I were talking about it, Caleb informed me that we didn't need to clean up for Santa. 

Why's that you ask?

Santa can do it with his magic for us!

Week 12 Day 1

Weight: 132.5

Measurement 29.5 inches

Who needs sleep?

Caden doesn't think he does.

Caden has recently gone through a phase of thinking that he doesn't need to sleep. 

This means he stay awake hours after bed time.  Sometimes sitting quitely allowing his brother to sleep, but more often repeatedly getting out of bed and running around the room, turning on lights and opening doors. 

Then once he does got to sleep, it doesn't always last.  He would come into our room anywhere between 3 and 6 times a night. 

In the mornings he'd tell us about what he saw while wondering the house at night.  And once, I caught him sneaking candy in the middle of the night. 

Three o'clock one morning, Caden came in for the third or fourth time that night and announces "I have something to say."

Keith and I mumbled some response that clearly indicated we had no intention of getting up at this hour. 

His great statement: "I'm not going back to bed."

At this point, I responded: "That's nice, you Daddy and I are, see you in the morning."

He stopped off back to his bedroom again. 

I checked on him an hour later and while he was in bed, he was still wide awake.

I have no idea how much sleep he actually got, but it couldn't have been much.

I think we're finally getting things turned around, or he is at least waking us up less!

Week 11 Day 3 Update

Thoughts on this 11 week 3 days pregnant mama's mind:

• Last I checked I'd lost 9 pounds; this makes me nervous.
• I'm stressing about getting enough and the right foods, and it's exhausting.  
• I'm exhausted in general.  Staying awake until 9 PM is rare and getting up by 7 is a challenge.  Staying awake through the work day is also hard.
  
• I got sick for the first time this week.  All over the living room floor before I could get to the bathroom.  Thank heavens for an understanding husband who took care of it.
• I'm anxious about our plans for telling everyone at Christmas.  I'm just ready for that to be done.
• I'm already thinking ahead to our next appointment in 15 days.  Hoping everything goes well.  I also need to speak up, I tend to be shy and quiet, and I think I should probably share more. 
  
• I may be anxious about telling our families, but I'm terribly excited to tell the boys and get them involved and excited!  I know they'll be excited!
• Calling Amy over the weekend and talking about things gave me some peace of mind.  It's wonderful how a friend can shed some light and make you feel a little less alone!
  

Carousel

With a few phone calls from my Dad on Saturday, Keith and I could tell he was planning something. 

However, my Dad is not a person known for full disclosure, or many words most of the time. 

So after plenty of guessing on our parts, Sunday morning we called Dad to see what the plan really was.  After all if I was expected to be going somewhere, I needed time to prepare (read: take a shower). 

All Keith could get out of him was, we'll be there at noon, be ready to go.  We'll be having lunch, but give the kids a snack, and we're taking your van. 

Mom and Dad show up, we load up, and off we go with Dad at the wheel and two boys asking where we're going.  In typical fashion of my Dad, his answers were, "turning left here," or "following this white car in front of us."

Next thing we know, Dad's pulling up the the Carousel. 

They were excited, even if their faces don't show it!

It took a few trips to get them on an up and down character!

Caleb, Grandma and Caden - They liked the Zebra and Ostrich characters!

 

Caleb, Grandpa and Caden - Why not try the sleigh too!

After many rides, fun, and a visit to see Santa, everyone was hungry. 

Not the best Santa I've ever seen!

I have more photos on our real camera, these came from my phone, but who knows where the cord is for the real camera?

We rounded out the afternoon with a late lunch/early supper at O'Charley's before the kids fell asleep on our drive home. 

Grandpa surprises us that way sometimes. 

Aquariums and Cemeteries

In our adventures today, we drove past a cemetery.  As we did, Caden pointed it out to us, "look, there's an aquarium!"

I thought I should follow up on Our Engagement Story. 

Camerin was still living with us at the time and was home sick the Friday before.  Keith had stayed home with him, but apparently by the afternoon was feeling better, so Keith ventured to the jewelry store with him to toe to purchase a ring. 

He felt pressured to make sure it happened that weekend so Camerin wouldn't spoil his surprise. 

Weeks before he'd spent an afternoon with my dad asking for his permission.  He wasn't able to be sly in pulling this one off since someone had to watch the kids!  I spent the day at the apartment with the kids while he was gone for almost 5 hours! 

Of course I couldn't call him while he was there, and I was certainly starting to get concerned knowing what was going on, but apparently my dad just had lots of questions about the kids and the situation and everything.

Nine and a half months later we were married!

And what engagement post would be complete with a photo of the ring?

Winter Wonderland

At my house this morning, there wasn't any snow, but 7 short miles away at work, it was a slightly different story.

My walk in from the parking lot this morning, looked like this:

Our Engagement Story

Three years ago today, my husband proposed.

While we had been talking about our future and had even looked a rings a time or two, he still surprised me with the proposal.

The day started out smoothly while we were off to church with my mom for worship, followed by a church carry-in dinner and carol sing following.  Growing up, I loved the annual carol sing where the congregation gathered together to sing everyone's favorite Christmas songs, and I was sure our kids would love it too.

Unfortunately shortly into the sing, Keith got a call that his grandmother wasn't doing very well and he rushed out to head to the hospital.  I stayed behind to get an extra car for my mom and make sure we had someone to watch the kids.  Once the responsibilities were taken care of, I headed out to meet him.

After our time at the hospital, we spent the afternoon, again, shopping for rings.  I kept telling him we didn't have to do it today, after all we hadn't had the most cheerful afternoon, but he was adamant. 

This was the longest time we'd spent looking together, but he was being very indecisive about what he liked.  I had been fairly set on a few particular things, but he was being so indecisive I even brocaded my desires to give him more options. 

After what had to be well over an hour, we headed out with nothing with plans of grabbing dinner somewhere together while my mom and dad continued watching the kids for awhile. 

We were in separate cars, and I found it odd that he kept following me to the one I was driving, I mean we're just going across the street to eat.  I had the car door open and was ready to crawl in, after all, it was a cold, dark, snowy winter evening. 

But instead, he asks me, "what would you do if I asked you to marry me now?"

*blank stare*

Followed by my response of: "we're in a parking lot..."

*pause*

"I'd say yes, but we're in a parking lot!"

Then, he got down on one knee, and proposed.

Week 10

Written 12/5

Weight: 132  (I've lost 8 pounds so far.)

Measurement: 29.25

Prenatal Appointment #1 - Week 9

We had our first doctor's appointment on Friday.  I was pretty anxious about going, but everything went very well.  Except for me peeing in the cup.  For some reason, I did not have to pee...at all.  It took two tries and a glass of water from the drinking fountain to get the smallest amount ever.  Note to self for next appointment, drink lots of water prior to the appointment!

We had our first ultra sound and saw the heartbeat on the screen.  I was 9 weeks 4 days at the time and the baby was measuring right at 9 weeks.  Our due date is set for July 2. 

We feel much better after our first appointment, luckily Daddy was able to be there with us. 

It still doesn't seem real yet.  We are starting to talk about it more, and that is making it more realistic.  I'm sure once we tell our families at Christmas, we'll be comfortable with the idea.  Tomorrow, we're going to take our first belly picture, as long as I remember anyway!  I'm not showing yet, and I haven't gained any weight, but I'm sure that will change soon!