IT'S A ...

GIRL!!!!

We went for the ultrasound on Thursday morning and we took the kids too (call us crazy, but they did good). Kate was super excited when the lady told us it was a girl, but then she lost interest for the rest of the time and Kyle had to keep her entertained. Preston sat in his stroller and jabbered to himself and ate snacks. We are glad everything looked good with the ultrasound. I was nervous so it's always a relief to hear everything looks normal. The lady kept saying how pretty the heart looked because you could clearly see all 4 chambers pumping. It's amazing how babies develop. Kate is especially happy it's a girl. Tonight she asked me, "where's the baby?" I point to my stomach to show her it's in there. She says, "it's a girl. I knew it was a girl." ha ha. She thinks she had it figured out and I guess obviously she did. :)

I scanned 2 of the ultrasound pictures. With Preston's ultrasound they gave us a 3-D copy, but they didn't this time and I didn't ask why. The baby was very active during the appointment. She almost didn't get all the measurements she needed because of how the baby was laying, but then it turned so she could get everything. Now it's onto deciding what room to the put the baby in. It would be easier to put it with Kate b/c then I don't have to redecorate any rooms. If I put it in the room where Preston is and move Preston in with Kate (like originally planned) then we'd have to redecorate two rooms. That would be way more work so we'll have to see. We don't have any names picked out yet (or at least one's we are definite on) and we told Kate that mommy and daddy get to name the baby. :)

Both kids are getting over their colds and coughs. This sickness has been lingering for a while. Both of them had fevers and threw up so we are hoping for some healthy kids soon. I worked 4 days this week filling in for a hygienist at a nice office that was put on bed rest. She is due at the end of the month. The dentist knows I'm pregnant too and there is another assistant prego so he's thinking something is in the water. ha ha. Kate finally got to go to preschool today. She was so excited and it was cute to see how excited her classmates were to have her back. We played outside for a few hours today with the neighbor kids. It was a beautiful sunny/blue sky day today and I only worked a half day so I got to enjoy the nice weather. Then, we went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner tonight because I didn't want to cook and I worked a lot this week. Kyle didn't think we needed to go out (boring!) and I told him we were helping the economy. ha. Then we spent most of our rebate check at Costco which was fun. Then we got home after bedtime (8pm) and the kids crashed in bed. It was a good day.

Need a Nap

This picture is at 7:00 at night on Sunday. Can you tell we have late church? Preston was so tired. He was laying on my lap like this and I was scratching his back and talking to family on the phone when I realized he was asleep!

Surprises All Weekend

What a weekend. We had a big surprise for my Mom planned in lieu of her birthday. All of us girls had planned on kidnapping my Mom and then taking her on a shopping spree for her birthday. The surprise was almost spoiled, but due to our damage control (big time lying) she didn't catch on and the surprise was still on. Phew. It was close.

Kyle and I left Saturday morning and went to visit Melanie and Milo and their new place in Tri-Cities. Melanie cut and highlighted my hair (sweet). In the meantime, Jeni is getting decorations to decorate the table at the restaurant and Sara on her way to Othello to kidnap my Mom at the Stake Center to bring her to Tri-Cities. Marci was coaching a bball game Saturday morning so she left right after that and came over. We were all over the place! Around 5:30pm Jeni, Marci and I met at the restaurant and waited for Sara and my Mom to arrive. Sara had to stall her b/c they got to town sooner than expected so they stopped at Costco. Well, that took even longer because they ran into people they knew! ha ha. So Jeni sat in the restaurant with Hailey hanging out (funny!) and Marci and I were in the back of Jeni's van trying to stay out of sight. Finally, Sara and my Mom show up. Marci and I see them walk in and see how surprised my Mom is to see Jeni and Hailey and the decorated table. Then a few minutes later, Marci went in and my Mom was like "how did you know about this?". Then, about 5 minutes later I walked in and my Mom said, "how did YOU know about this?" She got teary eyed and it was a perfect reaction. She was kind of sad about missing the adult session of Stake Conference, but I think this made up for it. We ate, shared all our lies we told her (hee hee) and how the surprise was almost spoiled. She said she didn't catch on so good thing.

My Mom was a good sport and even wore the birthday hat! We all gave her money for her birthday so she could go spend it. We went to the mall and got amazing deals. My Mom got 2 pairs of shoes, lots of jewelry, 3 shirts and perfume. She made a haul and we had a good time. Then we treated her to dessert at Dairy Queen.

Preston was a hot mess on Sunday. Sara and Derek spoke in their new Ward so since we were all home we all went. What a crowd, huh? They did a great job. Kyle and I even snuck out after sacrament meeting and took the kids to see Arlene. After Church, we went to Sara and Derek's place to see their new apartment. Preston had thrown up on the way from the Church to their house (he had a cough and he coughed so much he threw up, fun times) so I had gotten him out of his car seat and let him walk inside on his own. He tripped walking into the house and hit his head on the metal threshold and split it open. Blood was going everywhere! All over his white shirt and cute vest and on my Dad's suit (my Dad was the one to pick him up). So he had throw up and blood all over him. He threw a huge fit when I was trying to apply pressure to his cut with a towel, but if I didn't it was squirting out everywhere. Two of us had to hold him down so I could apply pressure while my Dad drove us to the hospital. Thank goodness the hospital ER was slow because they got us back right away and we were out of there fairly quick. I didn't have my purse or insurance stuff though. I had left it at my parent's house not thinking I needed it since I wasn't driving. I won't do that again! They didn't put stitches in, they put dermabond on it (like superglue) and steristrips. I don't know how good of a seal it got so he might have a good scar like Harry Potter.

My Mom with all her grandkids.

Kate with Hailey. Hailey is getting so big!

Adorable!

Happy Birthday Mom!

The family at my Mom's birthday dinner celebration.

Little Snippets

A friend of mine gave us some free passes to the zoo so we went last week. Did I remember my camera? No!!! I was annoyed about that. It's been since last year since we've gone so I thought Preston would like it more than before. It was a beautiful day and with sunny, blue skies so it was a perfect day for an outing. The zoo wasn't that busy and we saw almost everything. We took along a friend of Kate's and they had fun running around. The kids liked the giraffes, monkeys, penguins, the indoor play area and the elephants. The elephants were playing with a ball even. Usually we catch them getting a bath so it was fun to see them out and about. All the kids ate their lunch good and Preston didn't have any melt downs so it was considered a good outing. ha ha.

Other things we have been up to...Preston had his first real visit with the speech language pathologist (SLP) last week and it was okay. She kept testing his limits and so he was getting frustrated and then sometimes he would try to escape upstairs. This process will be interesting. :) I only worked 2 days last week, but this week I am working 3 days so that will keep me busy. We had our ward activity last Saturday (just call Kyle and I event coordinators!) and we did a Game Show Night. We did snippets from Let's Make a Deal, The Price is Right and Family Feud. It was fun, but not very many people came which was a bummer. The people who did come made it fun and got into it so that was good. For dessert after the games, we had ice cream with oreos, butterfinger, sprinkles, chocolate sauce, peanuts and whipping cream. It was delicious. I have been playing church basketball. Our ward has had a couple games (after the first game I didn't want to play anymore b/c it was SO frustrating with bad refs and too high of expectations) and then every Saturday anyone from the Stake comes and plays together or does drills and I've gone to that once. I almost had to ref a game (yikes), but then no one was there to do the clock and score board so I quickly volunteered for that. We find out next week what we are having and I think I'll bring the kids along. Kate will like seeing pictures of the baby. She's still holding out for a girl so we'll see. I can't believe it's already time to find out!

"I want milk"

Preston is just over 2 years old, but we have noticed he's not talking as much as other kids his age and definitely not as much as Kate was when she was his age and I know boys are different than girls, but this concerned us. Since he doesn't communicate that well he will either whine or help himself to what he wants, if he can reach it, or say simple words. One of the phrases he does know is "I want milk"- when we make him say it- because he LOVES his milk. Along with his speech he has little idiosyncrasies or quirks that are concerning so he will be evaluated in a few months at the UW developmental center. It's good that we live over here so he can get help if he needs any.

The other day, we had a speech therapist come to our house and evaluate him. She agreed he needed extra help so now she will be coming to visit Preston at our house to help him with his speech. We are excited for this because hopefully he can learn to talk better and not get so frustrated and be less whiny. :) We want him to be happy and not being able to communicate is probably frustrating for him. So we will see how the speech therapy goes and hopefully it helps.

Bikes and Bunk Beds

We have been enjoying the mild winter and getting outside more. Last year, we had tons of snow and this year we have had only one time of any snow that we could actually play in. In a way, it's kind of nice, but then it doesn't feel like winter either.

Kate likes riding her bike at the "bike park". That's what she calls this park we go to that has a path around a baseball field and BMX track. Kyle and I pushed Preston in a stroller while Kate rode, but now that she is riding a bigger bike she goes faster so we had to keep having her stop so we could catch up. It's by a park and ride so there can be some shady people around and we wanted to see her at all times. :)

This should be a picture from fall, but it's really winter! They had fun running around. There is also a small playground so we went over there and let them play until Preston started crying because his hands and nose were bright red and cold.

Preston on his new big boy bed

We finally got our bunk beds put together. We ordered one a while ago and it said it was white. Well, we put it up against Kate's bedding and it was off-white and you could tell. So I knew that would bug me. So we kept that one (in case I liked it better than the other one) and ordered a different type of bunk bed and waited for that to come. We ordered them from Walmart so they ship free to the store- fabulous. Well, it came and it was definitely white so we returned the first one. We were nervous how Preston would do in a bed and so far so good. He goes down fine at night and for naps. So far he doesn't get out of it in the morning, he usually waits until we come in there, then he gets up. I don't know how long that will last. I'm sure he'll figure out he can get up and start playing with his toys soon enough.

Kate posing on her new bed. She was being silly.

We bought a new mattress from Costco for Kate's bed and gave Kate's old mattress to Preston. It's a joke because the old mattress is awful. It's hard and not comfortable. Several of our family members have slept on it and we regret not spending more money on a nicer one. When we bought it we were trying to be cheap and figured Kate wouldn't care. Well, she didn't, but our visitors did! They were good sports about it, but now we can honestly say that Kate's bed is very comfortable! It makes me want a new bed even more since ours is 10yrs old. I think we'll eventually put the beds together to make it a bunk bed once the baby comes. Kate is SO excited to sleep on the top bunk. We will find out in a few weeks what we are having so once we know then we can plan out the bedroom situation.

I have been feeling good except yesterday at work I threw up- not pregnancy related either! I started shaking while cleaning my patient's teeth and I knew I was about to throw up. I just excused myself and said I'd be right back. Afterwards, I just went back to my patient and started where I left off. I didn't tell her where I was either! I felt better after that though and stayed and finished out the day. I was so wanting to take a nap during lunch time. After work, I went home and relaxed and didn't eat anything. I finally started eating today, but even then nothing sounded good. Kate threw up Monday night as well. I was with some friends over the weekend and one of them got sick so I'm thinking I got it from her, not sure, but I'm hoping Preston or Kyle don't get it. At least, the sickness didn't last long and it went away fast. It makes me even more grateful that I don't get morning sickness during pregnancy where I throw up b/c that would get hard working on patients and having to run to the bathroom all the time. Yuck.