A day in the life....

Kari has inspired me to a different way of documenting what happens in our sweet little lives. This inspiration was acquired from Ali Edwards (a big-time scrapbooker) who believes in not only scrapbooking or documenting the big things in life, but also the little things. Daily things. The challenge that she set up was to document for a week the small things that happen, the routine that you follow daily. It has seemed like such a great idea that we decided to take up the challenge and try it. So, today I kept my camera with me all day (all day started at around 11:30 when I woke up because I worked last night). But, for the next week I'm going to try and capture, for myself, what my life is like daily. Things are going to change drastically in the next several months and I want to remember what my day-to-day life is like right now.

*Kyle took my first picture of the day. Well, actually the ultrasonographer took my first picture.

Can't quite tell what you're looking at? That's our little boy. Our second little boy. That's his bum, a couple of hazy little moving legs and some stuff in between. He was all too excited to let us know that he was in fact a boy. Kyle and I are so excited, and I'm sure that if Porter knew what it meant, he would be excited to be having a little brother. I really had no preference whether we would have a boy or girl, but I'm really really excited for another little boy to run around the house!

*I hopped in the shower to get ready for church, and I hear Kyle tell Porter, "No sir, that is not a walking stick, that's a plunger. Put it down." I died laughing. (Porter uses everything as a walking stick, I think he's going to be a hiker.)

*It snowed yesterday, and it stuck...kind of. By the time we got home from church and I had a chance to take a picture, this was all that was left of the snow. We got a couple inches on the ground, but it's mostly gone today. Kyle was almost crying over his now frozen tomato plants. For the past several months, Kyle has had nothing but bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch, with the fresh tomatoes from those dead plants you see hanging there. Kyle doesn't cry...but I know he wanted to.

The chill is still here though, and that's why we've had to start using our wood-burning stove.
Kyle has built up a fairly large stockpile of wood for us this winter, but we think we'll need to head out and get some more this coming weekend.

*Kyle started a fire right after we got home from church today. He took Porter outside with him and I stayed inside making dinner. I heard him come back in the house, so I quickly went and shut the door to keep the cold air out. A minute later I turned back around to find this out my back door.

Porter was still outside trying to bring in his piece of wood and his Mommy had shut him out of the house! I thought Kyle had brought him back in when he brought in the wood! Such a cute little boy, and a big helper already... if only his Mom wouldn't get in the way.

*Porter hasn't been eating very well lately, and so tonight we decided to strip him down and let him have a go at his dinner himself. He did pretty good using the fork to get food to his mouth for the first few bites, but after that it was just fun to stab the noodles and squish them between his fingers. He didn't do much better than he has for the past few weeks, but he certainly had a lot of fun.

After dinner, Porter got his bath, and both he and I went to bed. I got back up a few hours later to post this blog, but I'm headed back to bed as soon as it's finished...which is right now, so until tomorrow...

16 Weeks!

I have a belly at 16 weeks! What's up with that? I didn't get a belly until I was much farther along last time. However, it's still not the kind of belly that looks like a pregnant belly, I just look like I've had a few too many servings of ice-cream at this point.

But, the baby is starting to move around in there, and in only 2 weeks we get to find out whether we are having a boy or girl! I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is moving along!

It's already going by so quickly, I've already moved into the second trimester (which is so much better than the first if you ask me). I'm not as exhausted all the time and I don't have to pee every 10 minutes. The best part though, is that most of the food aversions are gone and I can eat almost anything! Beef is still riding high on the Not-on-Your-Life list, but if it's ground beef and it's mixed in something, I can tolerate that (like your yummy lasagna Jill, I'm going to make that tonight cause it was so yummy).

In fact, I've started in the other direction and started having cravings. I have been cooking like mad this past weekend making just about anything and everything that has sounded tasty (maybe that IS where the belly is coming from). I made Poppyseed Chicken, Mom's Sweet Potatoes (they were soooo nummy), and last but not least...Gramma F.'s Oatmeal Cake. This last one comes with a bit of a story.

I love Gramma's Oatmeal Cake...it's to die for. It's so heavenly, you might even say it's ambrosial. I could eat the whole thing myself (hence the reason I had to make it on a weekend when my in-laws were in town so that I wouldn't devour the whole darn thing).

So, I set out to make Oatmeal Cake on Saturday night. I've made it once before, but to make sure that I didn't ruin it, I called Mom multiple times while preparing it to make sure that it would come out perfect.

I put the delicious smelling cake in the oven, and sat down for dinner, the cake would be ready in 30 minutes. 30 long minutes.

The buzzer went off and I ran to the oven, the smell was already overwhelming. When I opened the oven I found this...

the cake had boiled over the edges of the pan and was dripping onto the bottom of my oven. I called for Kyle to come help me take it out, and we tried to figure out what had gone wrong. In the meantime, I dug out part of the oatmeal soup and put it in a smaller pan thinking I would just bake the two of them. This is what they looked like when I called my Mommy back.

We sat on the phone for 10 minutes trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Never had she had this problem. Kyle mentioned that it seemed as though I had used too much baking soda, but I know that I put in the appropriate amount. At that moment my Mom asked, "Any chance you used self-rising flour?"

About 2 months ago I made a Blackberry Cobbler that used self-rising flour. I had never used it before so when I bought it, I bought a small sack of it.

When I reached in my cupboard to grab the flour, I grabbed the smaller bag thinking it would be good to finish it off first and wondering why I had two bags of opened flour in my cupboard. I should have wondered a little harder.

Never you fear, an hour and half later I was dining on a wonderful Oatmeal Cake. I decided that it was delicious enough to make another and throw the old one(s) out. Let me tell you it was all worth it.

Oh, and I'm throwing out my bag of self-rising flour.

Man Tag

I was tagged by Kimbrey for this one. I like being tagged every once in a while cause when I'm at a loss of what to post, this always helps out! I'm married to the sweetest man alive and here's just a little more about him...

What's your husbands name? Kyle David

How long have you guys been married? 4 1/2 years

How long did you date? 2 months

How old is he? 28

Who eats more sweets? I do, Kyle prefers more of the salty stuff (I'll take either!)

Who said I Love You first? I did...he followed closely behind.

Who is taller? Kyle. I'm 5'8 and he's 6'

Who is the better singer? I would have to say Kyle.

Who is smarter? Kyle is, I don't know how he knows everything he does....he's just so smart!

Who does the laundry? We both do the laundry.

Who pays the bills? I do.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Oddly enough, when we are at home I always sleep on the right side. However, when we leave home and sleep anywhere else, we swap! (I have no idea why this is, but we noticed it a few months back, it's subconsciously done!)

Who mows the lawn? Kyle.

Who cooks dinner? I do when I'm not working. Kyle does it on the other days.

Who drives? Kyle does.

Who is the first to say they are wrong? Neither of us are ever wrong...

Who kissed who first? Kyle kissed me first!

Who asked who out first? Kyle asked me out 30 minutes after I met him, even though I didn't give him my number. (He ended up stealing my number from the ward clerk.)

Who wears the pants? We sprung for a large pair, so that we both fit inside.

this kid...

I don't know what the appeal is for him to climb into things, but this has just recently started. He climbs and sits in boxes, in the laundry basket and now (apparently) in drawers. I wish I could have caught him a second earlier, he was sitting down facing the drawers. But, when he saw the camera coming, he had to flash that cute smile.

family night #2...kind of

So, it's not the easiest thing for me to swap back and forth between a day schedule and a night schedule. In fact sometimes it downright stinks. I have found that if I try to stay awake the entire day after I worked a night shift, I can sometimes sleep through the following night.
I worked Monday night, so when I got home early on Tuesday morning I fell asleep for a few hours and woke up at 10:30... not too late and I had hoped it was enough to keep me going through the day.
We had a lovely family night planned. Porter hadn't napped much and would be going to bed early at around 7:00, leaving Kyle and I to eat ice-cream (yes, most of our family nights involve ice-cream, I highly recommend it) and crash on the couch watching Leatherheads.
Around 7:00 I went to lay down with Porter and I succeeded in getting both of us to bed at that time. I woke up a little frantic at 10:00 realizing that I was sleeping through family night!
Kyle and I started Leatherheads and ate a little ice-cream and I was back to sleep by 11:00.
Here's the really sad part.
Due to a small bladder, a can of red cream soda and a small little fetus, I was back up around 3:00 am. This means that I practically have to start the whole have-to-stay-awake-don't-lay-down-for-even-a-second-or-you'll-be-snoozing process again today. Not one of my favorite processes.

family night

Our family nights are a bit unorthodox, as we normally don't have them on Mondays. Last night we decided that for family night we would take a little walk over the freeway. Oh, and once you get to the other side of the freeway, it's kind of a pointless trip unless you stop here...

Such great ice-cream! They make Sundae's that are the size of your face and so delightful that it makes my mouth-water just thinking about them. This was mine. It's a fresh-baked brownie with hot fudge sauce and cookies and cream ice cream... Yummmm. Kyle's was a strawberry shortcake Sundae, it was pretty tasty too.

I always look forward to our outings to Grandee's...and so does Porter...

cute stuff

* When asked, Porter tries to make the sound of a cow. However, he says it with his lips mostly closed so it's more of a buzzing moo-like sound. Cute no matter how he says it.

* He LOVES eating Trix with me for breakfast (it's one of the only things that sounds good to me first thing in the morning). As soon as he sees me with the bowl in my hands, he runs to the couch and climbs up. He will then climb on my lap as I sit down and he'll keep scooting closer to the bowl. With his hands clasped together in his lap, his mouth wide open and making an "aahhh" sound he waits patiently until I give him a bite.

*He tries to make the hand motions to the "5 little ducks" song. Even when he's dosing off at night and his eyes are completely closed, his little hands make the quacking motion right along with the song.

*For our bedtime routine we lay down on the bean bag chair in his room with his giraffe squeezed tightly around it's neck and Porter will pay attention to several books and listen while I sing a few songs. But, as soon as he decides he's had enough and he's tired, he rolls over towards me and closes his eyes. After he's given in, he'll be asleep in seconds.

* He makes laps around our house talking as loudly as he can for hours at a time. He'll laugh everytime he circles around and sees you, but he'll quickly continue on his way.

* He claps when you say "Yay!"

* He "dances" anytime he hears music. His special favorites are the theme song to The Office and Animaniacs, but it works with almost any song.

* And he smiles like this when his mouth is full of goldfish crackers.

All work and no play...

I've been so busy lately with random shifts and playing with my family I've not had time to post. I've been asked to answer a few questions after leaving my last post the way I did, so here they are!

Yes, it's true, we are expecting our second baby next year. I'm due on March 25th, and Mom reminded me that if I go four days late that I will deliver on Grampa F's birthday. Although, I do agree that the baby would share a birthday with one of the greatest men I've ever known, I'm not that sure that I want to go four days over again. Four days early sounds a little better.

My first visit to my OB went great! I was nervous trying to find a new OB here in town because I liked my last one so much. (I seriously considered driving to AF for every appointment and my delivery!) But, after many recommendations from friends, nurses and doctors I chose one, and he's great!

The baby's heartbeat was so great to hear, (it actually makes it more real than three positive pregnancy tests) and it was clipping along at 178. Both the doctor and the nurse looked at each other, then at me and said simultaneously, "Sounds like a girl!"

Kyle and I don't care what we have. Oddly enough I thought I would hope this would be a girl, but I'm finding that I really don't care. I'm happy with whatever comes.

Kyle yet again said we couldn't discuss names until we found out whether it was a boy or girl, thereby cutting out half of the names we would have arguments over. However, the other day I saw him looking up names on the Internet (the little sneak) and I think that voids his rule, so we're working on names.

I am now starting in on a run of four shifts, so until next time...

Seconds

The mere thought of not blogging for two weeks makes my heart start to skip beats. I don't think I've committed that kind of crime since this whole crazy blogging thing got started.

But, it's been a busy couple of weeks with a whirlwind of firsts (and seconds) and a lot of photo taking (not as much as I'd like, but enough to get us by for a post).

My little boy is walking!! And we're not talking one or two little steps when your hand is only inches away for him to grab either. He is really walking. He started being a little more daring on Friday afternoon and when Gramma and Grampa M. showed up for the weekend that was Porter's cue to perform. He's still a little wobbly and not quite sure that it really is the best way to move about quite yet, but I'm sure it won't be long.

At his one year appointment the doctor told us that Porter was close enough to 20 pounds that with his clothes on he should weigh enough that he can ride facing forward, so we got Porter's second carseat. He now gets to ride facing forward, that is of course with the stipulation that there will be no naked joyrides.

Porter has been busy with helping his Daddy with the yard work...mowing the lawn being one of his new favorites.

His second favorite is to carry around the tools one would usually use to pull weeds or dig in the dirt. Porter just likes to carry them and tell his Daddy what to do.

Oh, and he likes to use this one as a cane. (And yes, his lips always stick out like that when he is talking about something very important.)

Porter has also learned how to give high fives. Loves to give them anytime, anywhere.

He will also honk your nose and expect to have his honked in return.

We gave Porter his second haircut, we were starting to get a nice mullet in the back. I'm shocked at how quickly this little guys hair grows! It took the two of us multiple sessions spaced over two days to complete the haircut, but it's done and he's handsome.

We also got Porter a new book. I love the Berenstain Bears and I always have. They seem to teach some good morals and prepare kids for things that are coming up in life.

Speaking of seconds...

a boy and his bear...and his giraffe...

So, in the interest of stepping away from Porter's pacifiers, we have moved on to stuffed animals to help him go to sleep at night. The suckers are not completely gone mind you, but we are doing a pretty good job of phasing them out. Porter has kind of latched on to two animals in particular.

One is a teddy bear that he was given on the day he was born by his Gramma M., his name is Fleming (his name came with him, it's embroidered on his bum).

The second was given to him exactly one year later on his first birthday, also by his Gramma M. This one is a cute little green giraffe whose neck is just the right size for Porter's little arms to fit around.
We have a little bedtime "routine" and after his bath and brushing his teeth, we flop onto the huge bean bag chair in Porter's room and hand him one of his animals. We then read some books and sing some songs and he's normally dosing off by the end. Last night, he was so tired that when I handed him his giraffe he wrapped his arms around it's neck, closed his eyes and went right to sleep.

Such a cute little kid, and a cute little giraffe... no name to be found on his behind though... I'll just have to get creative I suppose.

Thanks Gramma for the animals, from all of us...thank you.