It's Birthday Season (almost!)

Birthday Season is almost upon us!  What a fun month it is--bad for the budget, bad for the hips--but a sacrifice worth making!

May:

Mindy: 1

Brielle: 9

Dad: 16

Jillisa: 18

June:

Kasey: 9

Mom: 30

And then people started getting married. And having babies.  We added a few. ;)

May:

Mindy: 1

Ben: 8

Brielle: 9

Dad: 16

Austin: 17

Jillisa: 18

Chelsi: 19

New Baby Williams: 28, or sooner (got the induction set!)

June:

Kanyin: 2

Kasey: 9

Mom: 30

And this doesn't include Aunts, Cousins, or Uncles...a smattering of which also have May-June birthdays!

Whew!  It's going to be FUN!!!

In preparation for the big month, I took the camera to playgroup today to get some 2 year old pictures of Ben.  A full 90% of the photos is Ben walking/running away from me, but we got a few. Nothing stellar, but they will do.  Sure love my littlest booger.  What a sweet boy he is.

Daydreaming...

Everything on selling/buying/building is taken longer then I had thought, but in the meantime I'm finally figuring out in my head how I want things to look in the new place.  Since I can't do much but sit around these days, I've spent some time coming up with a cohesive plan for the new rooms in our house.  The kitchen-great room has me stumped...!  We know we are doing dark hardwood floors (actually, the hardwood look tile), and light (white or cream) cabinets with a neutral granite and bright white trim...but what color paint!?!?  The great room will have a lighter color carpet, in the speckled brown family and the kitchen and family room could be all one paint color.  Or two.  Or even more, if we did an accent wall or something.  Do you have a favorite?  Please share!  I'm really torn.  Gray and that pretty blue are super popular these days--and for good reason. They are so pretty!  But, something inside me says that I need to do something different from everyone else.  But then, it's just paint...easy to change later.  And if I love it, it doesn't matter what everybody else is doing...arg!

In the meantime, our bedroom is going to be gray with purple accents.  It looks like a lot of purple on this style board, but it's really not.  :)  Mostly it's gray and cream, with dark wood accents and some purple.  We are going to do grasscloth boxes of purple on the same wall as our bed, and a purple throw on cream bedding.  It's going to look amazing!

Our bathroom ( our OWN bathroom! ) will just be a continuation of the room.  Bright white trim, greige walls, dark cabinets, lots and lots of light.  I'm not sure yet on tile...

Katelyn and I are on the same page, thankfully, and the littlest Miss doesn't get a choice.  We are going with coral and green in her room, with distressed furniture and some gold.  I want one wall of huge polka dots, green headboards and footboards, colorful quilts for the beds, and bright white trim.  Katelyn really wants a canopy over her bed, but I'm not sure it will happen...I've got some great pieces of furniture just waiting to be refinished to go in her room--we gotta get a garage so we can do some projects!  Should be super cute!

The boys and I disagree. I want another BYU room like we have, but they want a lego room.  I think they should probably win, but we are still battling it out! ;)

We are moving in with just three bedrooms finished, so excluding the laundry/mudroom and the bathrooms, this is all I've got to think about. It's killing me that I can't make any decisions on the kitchen/great room--so send your advice.

 Can't wait to get the baby here so I can feel like myself again--and then get the house done to the point where I can decorate!  

Approaching the End...

We are just about at the end of this pregnancy.  I swear, each day is worse then the last and I am more and more ready to get back to myself!!  33 weeks this week, and at my next Dr. appointment I'm going to see if we can't get an induction scheduled and get this baby an eviction date!!

I'm looking and feeling smaller then I remember being with the boys, which probably means this little lady will be smaller then her brothers (I'm okay with that...don't have much desire for any more 9 pound babies!).  Unfortunately, I must also be carrying her different cuz I have all sorts of different pain then I remember having before.  My back hurts all day, everyday, and has for weeks now--but I'm grateful that pre-term labor hasn't started yet and I'm not having contractions all day long like I have had at this point previously.

This little lady is a major mover. In the past, to be honest, I haven't really enjoyed a moving-kicking-crazy baby.  Who likes being poked and prodded and jiggled all day long?  Not me! ;)  But, I gratefully admit that this pregnancy I have come to appreciate and even enjoy those little movements--all. day. long.  I have had too many friends and family recently who have struggled with infertility, miscarriages, stillbirths, or unhealthy babies that I have a new appreciation for this pregnancy. I'm thankful for that.  I try not to think about all the things that can go wrong--I sometimes get panicky when I think about how the odds are against me. My prayer of late has been that I will have the spiritual ears to hear and know if something is wrong--and what I should do about it--and if not, that I will have the strength to come through whatever is supposed to happen.  I know that Heavenly Father has a kind and merciful plan--so in my moments of worry and fear I just try to remember that!

In the meantime, we are spending our days with a heating pad and too much TV.  I'm glad for the good weather as the kids get to spend a ton of time outside playing with friends, and I get to spend time in the front yard with a book.  Lots of reading getting done around here! ;)

Happy Birthday Luke!

My favorite little Luke FINALLY turned 4!! He was so excited!!  Some days he seems so much older to me then his 4 year old self: he's a great talker and has an incredible imagination.  With him and Josh being so close in age he hangs out with the older crowd almost exclusively.  Makes for a very mature little 4 year old.  I am convinced Heavenly Father made him this way so that I wouldn't worry about his development (due to his accident) at all. And I don't.  Nothing slows this kid down and all those neural pathways are working in proper order!!

Luke wanted a 'Chewbacca' birthday and it didn't disappoint!  All things Chewy--a costume, a stuffed animal, a 'How to Speak Wookie' book, Pez dispensers, and more.  We also upgraded his bike, and he got all sorts of ball/mitts/toys...but they sort of paled in comparison to the costume.  Oh well!!  What a crazy great kid we've got!
 Sure love him!

March

I'm playing catch-up, once again!  But I'm only a few days behind this time, instead of months.  Bravo! :)

I cannot believe the amazing weather we have had this winter.  March is often cold, wet, and full of snow--but this March has been mostly sun, warmth, and dry.  It's going to make for a hot, hot, fire ridden summer, I'm sure, but it has sure been a mild and lovely winter and and spring!

Enjoy the photo dump! :)

Grandma Great took the big kids to the Symphony.  I got to hang out with the little boys for an hour or so while we waited for it to be over. It was so great. I look forward to next year when we won't be on a Kindergarten schedule and just have these two--plus a baby lump that won't cause much stress. It should be a good year. :)

Katelyn has decided glasses are cool. These go to one of her stuffed animals, but they fit, so she's taken to wearing them! Silly girl!

We enrolled Luke in the same excema study that Josh is in. I told him he didn't look happy in this picture, and he told me that he wasn't happy.  Ha, ha. Silly kid.  We hope the cream works for him. 

Spring break was a success. I think this is the only week my whole pregnancy that I have felt good AND the kids have been out of school. We lived it up. :)  Monday for FHE we rode the train to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square to see the flowers. They were beautiful! The kids had fun.

 

Tuesday was Luke's birthday. We went to the Zoo to celebrate. It was grand fun.  We love our Zoo pass and look forward to using it more this summer.  We just renewed our mega pass, so who wants to join us!?

Wednesday we went to Antelope Island. It ended up being more driving then I was anticipating, but we saw lots of Buffalo (no babies though... :( ) and deer on our drive so that made it fun. We got to bring one of Katelyn's friends with us and that was great.  They have this ranch you can visit and play at--we loved it.

We got a basketball hoop this month. The kids have been having fun playing with Daddy with it.

We participated in our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. It's always fun and I feel grateful to have such fun friends who include everyone.  Mike had the day off so it was good odds for him--one Mike to about 30 women. Ha, ha!

We love playing with our neighbors down the street!

Making bread with Daddy on Sunday morning is a favorite activity!

Katelyn is trying to earn money to buy a microscope.  One day she decided to have a fruit sale--her prices were steep, but she made some money!  Anybody want to donate to her cause?

And now, we've made it to April! NEXT MONTH we will welcome the littlest Miss here and I can finally get back to me.  I feel like I am really missing the boat lately and only operating at half--but I'm trying to remember to cut myself some slack.  This years' lame Conference prep and Easter does not define me--unless you take it to mean that 'pregnant me' isn't fully up to the 'regular me'--which is EXACTLY true! But, growing a baby is hard work...plus selling a house (which, thus far, has been full of more downs than ups!).  Next Conference we will do better. Next Easter we will do better.  This year...we did okay. :)  Seven weeks left today...time to dig deep! :)