My Little Alien...I Mean Baby

I think I've mentioned a time or two that I'm pregnant. Well, here's the little thing wiggling around in there. I think it's rather cute, but it still looks a bit alien-ish, especially from the frontal view. We got a lot more pictures than these and the tech was awesome because she printed out a set for DA to keep for himself as well. These were the best of them. Love this little thing already.

Frontal view. Can you see it's little hands tucked up under it's chin? It was squirming around and knocking it's hands about the whole time. I have another mover in there. It kicked it's legs a few times while we were watching and I actually felt it. Strange and unusual experience to see the movement and feel it at the same time.

Belly and legs. The tech said such a nice round belly means baby is getting enough nutrition, so apparently I'm doing okay in that deparment. I haven't really been sick this time around, so that's an added bonus.

Profile view. We couldn't get a really great profile view because of how much the little one was moving, but this one was decent. I'm so excited to have a healthy baby so far. The big ultra sound where we check all the vitals and make sure it doesn't have any major problems/is healthy as well as finding out the gender is scheduled for March 14th. Yay!

In other news, I haven't gained any weight with this baby yet, DA is in love with it and talks to it all the time, and Jake asks on a daily basis whether he'll be able to feel baby move yet. DA also likes to ask the baby when it's going to come out and play with him. I don't think he quite understands the concept of nine months and even then baby won't be able to play for a little while as it will be too young. Oh well! Thank goodness the weather has been warm enough we can go outside for a few hours each day and play with his friends. He would be driving me up a wall into crazy land if he didn't have an outlet for his energy. I think I may be going there anyway, but that's beside the point.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas this year was a ton of fun. DA is finely old enough to really appreciate gifts and spend hours playing with them. We spent Christmas Eve with Jake's family, starting off with a huge nummy breakfast, announcement, gifts, a long nap, xbox, a great lunch/dinner, and lots of fun. Christmas morning was spent at home with our little family tearing through gifts, making messes, and loving everything we were given. We feel so blessed! Christmas evening was spent with my Mom and Dad and that side of the family minus one of my sisters and her family (who we miss terribly). Christmas is always a wonderful time full of fun memories, games, delicious food, people we love, fun and beautiful music, and quiet moments spent reflecting on the Savior. Here's a sampling from our Christmas festivities.

The brothers in their Christmas finery. We got these shirts for them, and like us, they thought they were pretty awesome.

Me, not feeling well. We announced to the Sullivan Family that I was pregnant on Christmas Eve. I think I was a little too subtle in the note I wrote to Grandma though, because she was thoroughly confused with what we were trying to tell her. *SHRUG*

DA got this huge truck that holds all his other cars from Great Grandma.

Christmas morning at home was a blast and a half. Santa brought some cool things this year. Here's what DA got in his stocking and below is what Mom and Dad got.

Mom and Dad got DA this fantastic racetrack that he and Dad played with for hours on end. It was a good time.

DA had a lot of fun playing with the bubble wrap sent with the package from Uncle Josh and Aunt Veronica.

But he loved his Moose hat too. Although I don't have a picture of it, he also got a fantastic bathtime pirate set in this package that has been a huge hit. He plays with it for hours (literally) in the bath.

The nerf guns from Santa were also a big hit. We discovered two more in the closet a few days later that we had forgotten were there. Dad and DA have had some fun wars and even the neighbors have gotten in on the action. I forgot to bring the camera later to my Mom and Dad's house for Christmas dinner, but we had a lot of fun there too.

Don't Look at the Lights!!!

Just kidding, you really should look at the lights, especially if you're at Temple Square around Christmas time. We took a fantastic (and extremely cold) outing to look at the lights as a family for FHE just before Christmas and had a blast. Here's some of the pictures from the trip.

DA's favorite parts of the trip were anything that had to do with water. He seems to have a small obsession with fountains, waterfalls, pools, and streams.

It was a fun outing, one we'll do every year.

In Which I Come Back to Earth

The last few months have been busy, busy, busy. Right after my last post...in October of last year...We found out I was pregnant. Yay! Then malware attacked my registery so I had to pull out my old computer to stay connected with the world at large. I also got a vinyl cutter and sort of started a small business. Then the holidays came and we had stuff to do every single weekend. So I haven't done much blogging, because I would rather spend my free time sleeping. But the first trimester is over, life has slowed down a little bit, and I'm feeling much better, so I guess I can welcome myself back.

I should probably round out last year by sharing the holiday fun, but my camera is out of batteries and needs to charge before I can download any pictures. DA got a hold of it the other day and was playing with it when I came into the room. I couldn't get it to shut down for a couple of minutes after taking it from him, and I'm praying it's okay. It was an expensive camera.

Things on the docket that are rapidly approaching:

The first week of February I will be having an ultra-sound for dating because my midwife thinks I'm four weeks further along with #2 than I thought I was. We need to make sure. Hopefully I'll be able to post the ultra-sound video here when all is said and done. If I am four weeks further along *fingers crossed* we'll probably be able to find out the gender at this first ultra-sound.

The second week of February, I'm headed to Florida and the Bahamas with one of my sisters! I need a vacation. I just hope I don't get too sea sick since we'll be cruising.

Pictures will be forthcoming in the near future.

Creative Genious

There has been an out-pouring of creative genius at our house lately. It all started one lovely Saturday morning when Mom was sleeping in. Dad and DA decided they were going to build the Tower of Babel in the living room:


I was happy I was able to get a picture, because this was the result:

Since then DA has taken off on a building spree that has lasted for months. I've only been able to get pictures of a few creations before they fall apart, but the ones I have are phenomenal. He's built everything from cars, boats, and airplanes to bridges, towers and cities or forests all out of legos.

The most amazing one that I completely regret not getting a picture of was a crane he built. Somehow over the course of a morning of building he was able to build a skinny little tower that supported two opposing arms that were so well balanced and supported that the whole structure (built on the base of a 1 inch by 1 inch lego tower about a foot high mind you) actually stayed standing long enough for Dad to get home from work and see it. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture because it was really cool. Anyway, here's some samples of his work:

The Garage

The Submarine and Dock

Spaceship #1

Jet #1

The Boat

A Car

The Guns

City #1 (with the assistance of Uncle Zach)

City #2 (on his own)

The Tower

Space Ship and Landing Platform

Tower #2

I am definitely going to have to enter him into some sort of lego building competition. This boy has a limitless imagination and builds until he is satisfied not matter how many times it falls down. There have been many mornings where I've heard the crash followed by, "Oh man!" then the sounds of reconstruction. I love legos! I'm so glad DA loves legos too.

Fall Break

My lovely sister gave DA and I a wonderful gift a few weeks back and bought us these fabulous passes that get us into Trafalga, Seven Peaks, Owls games, and Flash games for a whole year for free. DA and I had so much fun the first time we used them with my sister's family that Jake was convinced he wanted a pass too. He and DA went to Trafalga while I was on vacation in St. George with my girlfriends. They had a blast too.

Well, this week was fall break for school, so we decided to use our passes for the first time as a family. We went to Trafalga in Lehi for the day. We rode all the rides except the boats (it was way too cold to be doing water activities), played mini golf, laser tag, and generally had a great time together.

There was only one incident that wasn't fun, but it was pretty funny in retrospect. When we were playing laser tag, DA and I were on one team and Jake was the other team. At the very end of the game, DA and I cornered Dad and were getting him right and left. Jake turned around looking for an exit and slammed full speed straight into a wall. He was wearing his glasses at the time and split his nose open. It hurt pretty bad, but I still can't help giggling remembering his blind dash that landed him on the floor. Maybe I'm not very nice, but it was hilarious to watch. Anyway, here are some photos from the day:






The first time DA went on this ride with his cousins he was absolutely terrified and in tears by the time he got off. I was surprised he wanted to go on it again this time, but with Dad by his side, he was all smiles.




His face at the top there was priceless, but I didn't get it on camera. He looked pretty frightened, but still trying so hard to enjoy it.




I'm afraid to think what teaching DA to drive is going to be like after this experience, but he had fun, so that's what counts.




Thanks Rachael! We never would have bought these passes without you! We're totally excited for ice-skating at Seven Peaks and going to some fun games this year.