TODAY...

1.  I lived off 5 hours of very sketchy sleep.  Partly because I was having a hard time sleeping and partly because little miss Sadie woke up at 3:30am thinking it was time to play.  She brought a book to me and wanted to read it.  I sure hope baby brother is a better sleeper than his sister or I just may die.

2.  I taught my last group exercise class until after this baby is born.  I was really hoping to teach until the end but this last week my body decided it was done.  I have so many contractions I can hardly move and every muscle that is involved in holding this baby up feels like it will tear any minute.  I  am looking forward to being able to exercise without a gigantic belly. 

3.  I did manage to get down on my hands and knees and scrub the kitchen floor.  If I am lucky I will find the energy to scrub the bathroom tomorrow.   

4.  I fed my family hotdogs for dinner.  Ketchup counted as the veggie for the night.  Healthy gourmet cooking at its best:).  I am sure my husband was very impressed.  When I asked Cambri if she wanted a hotdog she said, "no I am saving room for all the candy I will get tonight."  And because I am such an awesome mom I didn't make her eat dinner.  I am pretty much a pushover the last month of pregnancy because I have no energy to spare.  

5.  We enjoyed some family time at the YMCA Halloween party and the ward Trunk-or-Treat.  This was Halloween party #3and4 and I am pretty sure we are candied out.  My girls have loved dressing up this year.  I love how magical it is for them.

(When the cats away, the mice will play...Here Sadie is wearing Cambri's Halloween costume since she was at a friend's house for a playdate.)

6.  Sadie insisted all day that the toilet paper was in "time-out" and was very stingy with it.  You had to get permission before using it or you would get in big trouble. 

(Cambri wearing her new bow I made her today.  She pretty much thought I was the coolest mom ever because I made her a bow with pink guitars on it.  I will be sad when she gets older and I am not the coolest person she knows).



7.  Cambri was coloring with markers and made the comment that lots of our markers are getting old.  I told her maybe Santa will bring us new markers and put them in our stockings.  She said she didn't think Santa would bring markers because he knows that she LOVES candy the most!:) 

8.  Is almost tomorrow and I really should head to bed. 

Enjoying the Present Moment...

 Just because she is cute:)

Sometimes I find myself making the comments, "I can't wait until..." or "It will be so much easier when..." or "When residency is over we will finally be able to..."

You get the idea.

After listening to an amazing general conference talk by President Uchtdorf (Worth reading over and over!) I was very much reminded how I need to relish in the beauty of each and every day.  And it is true, so much happens in my day that I have to be grateful for.  If I don't take time to stop and appreciate the precious moments I will miss out on the cute things my kids do and the funny things they say.  We have had some funny conversations as of late...

After asking Cambri if she was ready for her lunch she says to me, "In a minute mom.  I need to finish coloring my picture.  I can't do both things at once.  I am NOT superwoman."

She may or may not have heard me say this to her a time or two:).

Sadie loves to play a game where she will line a bunch of toys up on the tv stand and then say, "Want momma?"  I then tell her I want noodles or cookies or milk....She will give me something and say again, "Want momma?"  After doing this a few times I told her I wanted to go to bed and she promptly replied, "Noooooooooo" and laughed.  

Sadie has never been the best sleeper and lately her nap has been making it so she doesn't go to bed at night until 10 or 11pm.  She and I have been spending a lot of quality time together at night.  As much as I wish I had my alone time before going to bed it has been fun to enjoy some one on one time with her.  

A couple days ago Cambri said to me- "Mom I can't wait to be a mom when I get bigger."

Me- "Being a mom is pretty cool.  Guess why I love being a mom?"

C- "Because you love us so much."

C- "Mom I love you more than spaghetti and cookies"

M- "Wow that is a lot.  Do you love me more than pumpkin rolls?"

C- (after a long pause)..."I really love pumpkin rolls."

I don't blame the girl, pumpkin rolls are delicious.

Cambri came to me holding one of her babies.  She says to me, "Mom my baby was just born."

Me- "She is so cute!"

C- "I went to the store and looked down and my belly wasn't big anymore.  I looked over on the couch and my baby was just laying there!"

C- "Sometimes she would push on my bladder and make me have to go to the bathroom all the time."

She has obviously picked up on my many, many, many trips to the bathroom throughout the day.  

Helping daddy build a table in the garage.

 

The other thing I know I need to be better at is making time for my husband and making sure we spend quality time together.  Sometimes after a long day we are both exhausted and it is easy to neglect our relationship.  Nate leaves the house by 5:30 every morning and his return time is always a mystery.  When he gets home the girls are all over him.  We have to be very deliberate about planning our date nights or it is easy to let them pass by the wayside.  Never ever do I want him to feel like he isn't important to me.  

I love my little family and know I am so blessed to have them.

Be sure to check out the following post too.  Lots of cute Halloween pics:)

Halloween Fun...

We have had a fantastic month of celebrating Halloween and the beautiful Fall weather.  As much as I hate to see the summer go away I do love Fall.  Ohio has been absolutely gorgeous!!!

When you can't get them to smile ask for a silly face...it works every time.  

We found a pumpkin patch that we love going to called Honey Haven Farm.  It is a bit of a drive but it provides a whole day of fun.  And the pumpkin ice cream is to die for:)  Not that I got to taste any.  My girls gobbled it right up.

'Tis the season for lots of treats!  

It seems the flow of sugar is constant these days.  We have had lots of fun making yummy sugar cookies and decorating them.  Both my girls love frosting and ate a gallon of it I am sure.  

From the looks of it the cookies were a success!!!:)

Absolute satisfaction!

This might be my all time favorite picture thus far.  I love that my girls get so excited about dressing up.  Cambri is Princess Tiana Ballerina.  She started planning her costume about 3 months in advance and then changed her mind a million times. Lucky for me she decided on the easiest costume of all that required no sewing whatsoever.  She looked like a little princess and was so proud of her costume.  Love her! Sadie is wearing the puppy doggie costume that Cambri wore when she was 2 years old.  I adore everything about this costume and plan on using a third time for baby brother when he gets older.

There are no words to describe how much I love her!

Painting pumpkins at Cambri's preschool party.  Both my girls love doing crafts.  We do them often at home too and I love it. 

  Pretty sure she used up 90% of the stickers.  This little girl wants to be just like her big sister. 

We have so many Halloween parties to go to this year we will for sure be candied out by the end of the month.  I figure I better be a fun mom now before baby comes and I am too tired to function.  Lucky for us Nate was only on call one weekend this month so we had lots of time for family fun on our Saturdays.  Next month we won't be so lucky since Nate has to make up call time for when he is taking time off for the baby. 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

 

 

I Hit the Wall...

This pregnancy has gone by fairly quickly for the most part, at least weeks 20-30 went quick, but today I woke up and found no motivation to accomplish anything.  I made up my mind that I was okay if I didn't get out of my pjs all day.  I certainly had no care in the world to clean the house or touch the laundry.  It kind of feels like time has stopped moving...it is going to be a long 4 weeks.  Prior to hitting my wall I was the nesting queen.  I suppose I burned myself out.  My poor bladder can't take much more.  I spend a crazy amount of time in the bathroom, and I won't be surprised if I end up peeing my pants at some point.  I definitely have the prego waddle going on and I know my belly looks like it is going to explode.  There are a few ladies that work at the YMCA with me that feel the need to remind me on a daily basis just how large and in charge I am.  Thankfully I have a few good friends who lie to me and tell me my belly looks cute and small:). I have been able to keep teaching my classes at the gym and hope to teach up until this baby comes out.  I am tired whether or not I exercise so I figure I better keep moving or I may park my rear on the couch and never move again.  Although I can still do kickboxing, step, and cycling I can't walk or run without bringing on a spell of contractions.

 Despite all the aches and pains my body is experiencing I am so grateful for this little boy growing inside of me.  I love feeling him move around and I am getting so anxious to see and hold him for the first time.  I am curious if he will look just like his sisters or if he will have his own look.  And I can't wait to use all the cute little boy clothes I have been given as gifts or hand-me-downs.  I have loved the girl world, but am looking forward to experiencing life with a little boy too.  I feel super blessed for having such a sweet little family. 

We are still undecided about what our little guy will be named.  Most the names I have come up with have been shot down by Nate.  We do have a couple that we both like so we shall see what the final verdict is.  We seem to like to wait until we see the baby to make up our minds.  I have to admit that boy names are much harder to come up with. 

I did have a sleepless night with my Sadie bug the other day.  She finally went down at 4:30am and Cambri woke up at 8am...I sure hope that baby brother is a good sleeper cause I am too old for that stuff. 

Let the countdown begin!!!

Happy Birthday Sadie Bug!!!

This little girl has me wrapped around her finger.  A little bit sassy and a lot bit sweet....Love her!!!

Sunday October 7th was Sadie's 2nd birthday.  How time went by that fast I will never know.  My baby is growing up at lightening speed.  It doesn't help that she has wanted to be a big girl since the day she was born and is the most independent kid I know.

We had been talking about it being her birthday for quite awhile.  She would get so excited and say "Sadie's birthday soon! Not Mommy's, not Daddy's, not Sissy's...Sadie's Birthday!!!"  Any mention of the word birthday and her eyes would light up.  She made it a lot of fun to celebrate.

(Yesterday was a low key day so please excuse the fact that I didn't take the time to do Sadie's hair before taking pictures).  

Sadie requested a "Nana" (aka Tiana) cake for her birthday.  I don't really know where her obsession with Tiana came from.  I don't think she has even seen the movie.  But for the last month when asked what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday she asked for a "Nana" cake. So "Nana" cake it was.

She was pretty excited about her cake which made all the effort worth it.  Although I have to admit this was one of the easier cakes I have ever made.  Especially since I was a slacker on the design/decor of the dress.  This pregnant body of mine is seriously lacking motivation to do anything these days, so the more simple the better in my opinion. 

She was also so excited to blow out her candles she didn't even wait for us to sing to her.  Within seconds of Nate lighting the candles she had them blown out.  We had to relight them so we could sing.  She sang along and got so excited.  Seriously so much fun!

In addition to Sadie's "Nana" cake, Cambri also made a "cake":).  She worked hard on it and was very proud of her creation.  The whole top of the barbie is covered with a roll of tape.  (This is what happens when I am distracted and not paying attention to what my 4 year old is up to).  I was quite proud of her cake and determination to make it work.  The blocks around the outside of the plate are "fudge pieces".  

Finger lickin' good!  

We kept the celebration very small but it was perfect.  Sadie was a happy girl.

Chocolate face and crazy hair makes for one cute birthday girl!  

Sadie got new princess sheets for her bed.  I think this was a present for me as much as it was for Sadie.  She climbs out of her bed a million times before finally falling asleep.  I am hoping these sheets make her excited to get in bed:)

Princess jammies!

Sadie also got a little doll that has clothes you can snap on and off.  It is super cute. Some friends of ours have them and Sadie and Cambri love playing with them.  Sadie was very excited to get her own dolly but has had to share it with her sister who pretty much laid claim to it within seconds of it being opened.  Cambri has promised that she will share her birthday presents with Sadie when it is her birthday:).  

I will try to describe Sadie at 2 years old in a few short words...

I have said it before but seriously this girl is an independent little stink.  She has recently acquired an ugly scream that comes out when I do something for her that she wanted to do herself.  If I put her in her bed she will cry, climb out, and then climb back in all-by-herself.  I help her do the bottom buckles up on her carseat but heaven forbid I do the top one too.  When walking down the stairs she will not hold my hand even if the step is far too big for her.  Recently she has tried to convince me that she doesn't need my help to wipe her after going potty...I am not ready to let her have that job.

Miss Sadie has to wear a skirt or dress everyday...with the exception of her pink sparkle pants.  And even those are often accompanied with a skirt on top.  If she had it her way she would wear a big frilly church dress all the time.

For some reason Sadie has turned into a momma's girl over the last few months.  I have always taken the backseat to daddy up until this point.  It makes me wonder if she can sense baby brother will bring big changes around here.

She still loves her daddy though and often asks where daddy is if he is late getting home from work.

Sadie, just like her big sister, loves puzzles and is really good at them.

She also loves to play hide-and-seek and "I spy".
 

Sadie is sure we are naming baby brother Coco.  She often gives my belly kisses and says, "Coco come out!"  She thinks my big belly is funny and indestructable.  Baby brother is going to have to be a tough kid to put up with his big sisters.

Sadie loves eating oatmeal for breakfast and treats for lunch and dinner.  She is actually a really good eater but would live off sugar if she could.  "I want a 'tweet' momma" is a common phrase around here.

Sadie talks very well for being two years old.  She jabbers all day and has the cutest little voice in the world.  I think one of my favorite words she says is "blankelet" for blanket.

Sadie takes a few minutes to wake up in the morning and likes to spend this time just lounging in her bed without being bothered.  If I can hear that she is up I will call for her, but often she will reply, "I am sleepy momma!"  If given the appropriate amount of time to wake up by herself she wakes up very happy.  Not so much the case when we are in a hurry and she has to do things on my time table.

Naps are starting to throw things off a bit these days.  Sadie still needs a nap or she can't quite make it through the day but when she does nap she has a hard time falling asleep at night.  She and I spend lots of quality time together late at night.

Sadie's best buddy is Ruby.  They are the cutest little friends and always give hugs when they see each other.
Sadie refers to herself as Sadie Buggie and it is the cutest thing in the whole world.  It makes me glad that we changed her name the first month of her life.  I still think Hadley is a cute name but this little girl of mine is a Sadie Bug through and through.

Although it is almost 10:30pm right this very moment Sadie is still up and currently trying to move the kitchen chairs so she can climb up on the counters and get a cup for a drink.  Apparently I wasn't moving fast enough so she is taking matters into her own hands.  


A little reminiscing via photos of the last two years...


It is hard to believe she really was that small once upon a time.

I love those little lips and fingers.  Nothing more precious!!!

Just a few days old.

Pictures of Nate cuddling my babies are my favorite cause they look so small compared to him.

 

I know I am missing a few months of pics here but I can't seem to find them right now.  I will update them later...

 

Summer 2011.  Oh how I love her chunky arms!

 Christmas 2011
(14 months old)

 May 2012

 June 2012

 Summer 2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE SADIE BUGGIE!!!!
Aren't my girls beautiful?!

  

Today was an amazingly beautiful Fall day.  I really do love this time of year here in Ohio.  It helped that we were able to enjoy the day as a family. 

  On a side note...the pumpkin scarecrow, although cute, tends to scare me when I glimpse him out of the corner of my eye through the window.  Kind of catches me off guard and for a split second makes me think there is a strange man sitting on our porch swing.  Or maybe it creeps me out that it looks like Nate has his hand on the scarecrow's leg.

My two monkeys playing in the leaves in our front yard.  

Thanks to the many big trees in our yard we will be able to play in the leaves for days.   

Tis the season for pumpkin pancakes (shaped like ghosts of course!).  We will be incorporating pumpkin into many of our recipes over the next few months.  I found a pumpkin cream cheese muffin recipe I can't wait to try.  If it is a success I will share it with you.

I will be sad when my girls are older and don't think funny shaped pancakes are the coolest thing in the world.  For now I will just enjoy that such simple things make me the coolest mom ever:).  I need something to win me points since over the last week I have turned into a tired old blob.  My very pregnant body is slowly giving out on me.  Time was passing quickly up until last week, but I think I have hit my wall.  Kind of a bummer since I have 6 more weeks to go...sigh.

Crazy to think two years ago at this time I was getting ready for bed, completely devastated that I was once again seeing my due date come and go and I was still very pregnant.  Little did I know that I would be headed to the hospital in just a few short hours.  Can't believe my Sadie Bug is turning 2 years old tomorrow!

 It just took me far too long to put this post together because my brain is so tired.  Here's to hoping the little ones sleep in tomorrow!!!  And here's to hoping we get to enjoy many more beautiful days like today.  

Family only 5 hours away!!!!...

 About a month ago my little brother and his family moved to South Bend, Indiana for law school at Notre Dame.  This means we now live only 5 hours away from family!!!  Once upon a time 5 hours seemed like an eternity, but compared to the 27 hour trip to get home to Utah or Idaho, 5 hours is nothing.  My parents flew out to help my little brother and his family get settled in so I jumped on the opportunity to go visit while they were in town.  It was so good to see everyone.  It had been over a year which is the longest I have ever gone without seeing my parents. 

My girls loved all the attention they received from grandma and papa.  Cambri often asked me to leave the room so that I wouldn't interrupt her time with grandma:)

My little brother Alan and his wife Shana had their first baby on June 4 which means these two little monkeys share a birthday.  They bonded almost immediately.  It was really fun to see Cam want to help with and hold baby Clayson.  She is going to be a great big sister to her little brother. 

And this is the face of an almost 2 year old whose sleep schedule has been very interrupted.  Naps didn't really happen and trying to get her to go to bed in the same room as Cambri and me was quite the challenge.  Have I ever mentioned that this girl is full of spunk!?  Even with a grumpy face I just want to grab her and squeeze her.  

 

Except for the fact that Nate couldn't join us on this adventure (and I gained 7 lbs in 3 days) it was a fantastic way to spend the weekend.  We are hoping Alan and Shana will be able to come spend Thanksgiving with us (which means I need this baby to come out so I am not in the hospital over the holiday).  We may even make the trip back to Indiana in the near future to watch the Notre Dame/BYU football game...Love, LOVE, L-O-V-E having family so close!!!!!