Friday Letters

Loving Corbyn's new spring/summer clothes!

Dear Oven,

Why did you have to go and break on us? It was kind of a bad week for that as I was taking dinner to 2 families one of the nights you were broken. Fortunately Bill and Mariah let us use their oven while we were waiting for the repairman to come 3 days later. We are now $140 poorer and I have a new found appreciation for being able to cook dinner in my own kitchen. I hope you're happy.

Love,

The accountant

Dear Amazon,

Thank you for having great deals and free, fast shipping! We got all 3 of the Toy Story DVDs, Blu-Rays, and Digital Copies for only $49.99! I may just have to pay for Amazon Prime when my free 3 month trial of Amazon Mom is over.

Love,

The internet shopper

Dear Peyton,

I got all your bedding this week as well as your changing pad and changing pad cover. Well, all your bedding except this crib skirt because it is "currently unavailable" on Amazon. I did find it here, but I couldn't justify paying that much plus $8.20 for shipping when the crib we got you came with a white crib skirt. I think it would have matched your quilt really well, but we will just have to live with the white. Anyway, all the stuff I did get is up washing right now and then I will put it in your nursery and we will be one step closer to being ready for you to come. I can't believe you will be here in 4 weeks (or less if you decide to come sooner). I love you already!

Love,

Your mom

Dear Corbyn,

You have been quite the little jumping bean this week. All day you jump, jump, jump! You have so much energy - it's hard for your pregnant mom to keep up! You are my little mover and I love you!

Love,

Your mom

Dear Rog,

I hope you're enjoying being the one who falls asleep quickly while I'm the one tossing and turning for hours. As soon as I'm unpregnant, I think/hope my superpower of being able to instantly fall asleep will return.

Love,

Your pregnant wife

Nursery Progress

I feel like we were actually able to make some good progress on the nursery this weekend. We had a very busy, but productive Saturday.

I ran about a million errands. A few in Spanish Fork in the morning. The bank and a few grocery stores to stock up on some good deals they had going on for the weekend only. Then I finally found a good place to buy vinyl now that Robert's is gone. There is a little store called Signs and Wonders in Spanish Fork that sells a good variety of colors at a good price where I was able to get the rest of the vinyl I need for the nursery.

Then in the afternoon I headed up to Provo/Orem to get some clothes - mostly for Corbyn (his Easter outfit, swimsuit, sandals, etc). I had a coupon for 30% off at Kohl's + a coupon for $10 off a $25 purchase on kid's clothes. (Have I ever mentioned how much I love Kohl's? I don't know how they stay in business with all the sales and coupons they always have going on, but I'll take it!)

My favorite buy for the day...

How cute is that?! Can't wait until I can dress my two kids in their matching shirts!

I also looked for some maternity shorts, but I had no luck! I thought I'd be able to make it through this pregnancy with only maternity jeans, but it seems spring has come early. When I was pregnant with Corbyn I was able to borrow some of the most perfect shorts from my SIL Edda, but this time she couldn't find them in her stash when I went to borrow them. :(

While I was running all my errands, Rog was painting up a storm in our garage. The crib needed more work than we had anticipated, but he did a great job making it look brand new!

He still has to paint our rocking chair - a project for in between conference sessions this coming Saturday, perhaps.

Then on Sunday I was able to finish Peyton's wood letters. I am completely in love with how they turned out.

I still have a lot of projects to get done before Peyton comes, but it feels good to be making progress.

And finally a video that has nothing to do with Peyton's nursery except that it was filmed in there... With the weather warming up, I washed all of Corbyn's new summer clothes and he has started wearing them. This was his first time wearing his new Buzz Pajamas. No surprise, but I think he loves them!

Friday Letters

Corby and Buzz - BFFs.

Dear Spanish Fork Pediatrics,

Thank you for staying open until 8 pm and not charging the urgent care rate. We've never had to use that before, but we were sure grateful for it on Wednesday night when Corby had his first ear infection.

Love,

A frugal mom

Dear Provo Temple,

In all the years I've been attending you, I don't think I have ever had such a quick visit as the one I had last night. We couldn't find a babysitter this week, so Rog went on the way home from work and then I went after dinner. I got to park on the front row and there was no wait for initiatory. I always love attending the temple, but not having to wait made my visit especially nice. Because my visit was so quick, I had time to stop at Macey's to get a few groceries for dinner group tonight which meant I didn't have to go today with my little boy. That was also nice.

Love,

A lover of temples and not having to wait

Dear Peyton,

We got your crib and dresser last night from your cute little neighbor Lavi. She graduated to a big girl bed, so she is passing her crib on to you. Your daddy is going to do some touch ups on them this weekend and then we can put them in your room! Give us just a few more weeks to get everything ready for you to come and then we can't wait to meet you!

Love,

Your mom

Dear Corbyn,

You weren't feeling so well earlier this week. A double ear infection will do that to you and it was your first one. Poor little thing! You've wanted me to carry you everywhere which has been kind of sweet, but soon you're going to have a little sister and I won't be able to do that. I know you don't understand what's happening, but soon you are going to be a big brother and I'm sure you'll be a great one!

Love,

Your mom

Dear Rog,

Thanks for noticing that Corby kept rubbing his ears on Wednesday night. I thought he was just being a snot for no reason, but it turns out he had his first ear infection. That's why there's two of us. I couldn't be a parent without you by my side helping me.

Love,

Your Wife

21 Months

Our little Corb turned 21 months on St. Patty's Day! It's hard to believe he is only 3 months away from being 2!

The Corb at 21 months:

*Says oh no, me, mine, yes, and banana.

*Hates having his hands messy. For a week or so, he was in the bad habit of wiping his hands off in his hair, on his face, or on his shirt. I guess he figured out that wasn't much better, so he stopped doing that - thank goodness!

*Moos like a cow and occasionally bahs like a sheep, ribbits like a frog, and clucks like a chicken.

*Likes to climb around like a monkey on his changing table (that is still in his room only because that's where we store a lot of his stuff).

*Is doing so well with sacrament meeting and nursery. If we sit up front in the pews, he'll stay in the whole time and just color/play with his toys. And then after sacrament meeting is over he'll go straight to nursery and stay there the whole time without crying. WOOT!

*Answers no to most questions we ask him. Not very helpful when we're asking him if he wants to eat something, etc, but it does make for some cute book reading when the answer is supposed to be no most of the time.

*Sword fights with everything. 100% little boy!

*Loves playing at the park and has no fear of going down the slide by himself and climbing everything!

*Takes a cup of water (with a lid) to bed. I know this probably won't be very good for potty training, but I don't anticipate that being too soon and because we have such a hard time getting him to drink, I don't want to discourage him from drinking when he'll do it!

*Likes to sit in the front seat of our cars and explore/push all the buttons.

*While we are reading to him, he'll touch the little bugs in his books and say ouch like they bit him or something. (I seriously need to get this on video! It is so cute!)

*Will help me pick up toys or clean up.

*Can walk up and down the stairs without holding onto anything.

*Likes to watercolor in the bathtub and color pictures.

*Loves to jump off the curb.

He's definitely our little mover and shaker. Love our little guy!

Out of my Hands

I finished up Peyton's quilt on Sunday and was able to take it in on Monday to be machine quilted. Of course I will have to bind it when I get it back, but that shouldn't take too long.

It doesn't actually have a yellow border around it - that's the backing. I just laid it out that way to make sure I had the required 3 inches on each side.

I love how it turned out and I can't wait to see how it looks after it is machine quilted!

In case you are wondering I found the pattern here. I decided to pay the $8 for the pattern, so I wouldn't have to spend my time figuring out what to do. It was totally worth it!

Now that it's "out of my hands" I can concentrate on the 50 other projects I have on my list before Peyton comes. I'm sure I'll feel differently as I get more uncomfortable, but for now I'm hoping she doesn't come too soon, so I have time to get everything done! I'm 34 weeks today which means I only have 5 weeks left - Yay for being induced a week early!

St. Patty's Day

I swore I wasn't going to do anything new this month as far as decorations go (other than my shadow box) - I was just going to put out what I had and call it good, so I could spend my time working on Peyton's room. Well, that didn't exactly happen. I couldn't resist doing a few quick (and they actually were pretty quick) projects.

Lucky printable - found here.

Pot of Gold - idea stollen from the lovely Emily! How perfect are Rolos for little pieces of gold?! (I stuffed some paper in the pot, so I only had to fill up the very top with Rolos.) And I cannot tell you how much I love painting terra cotta pots! They totally soak up the paint.

Just today Corby figured out that these little pieces of gold are delicious. I told Rog I would make Rolo Cookies at the end of the month if he didn't eat all the Rolos, but I don't think that logic will work with this little dude. After dinner he dragged the chair over and helped himself to a few before we literally had to carry him away.

I decided to replace the hat that came with my HOME set with a shamrock. I've never been much a fan of the hat. I left it out this year, but I don't know if it will make the cut next year.

And of course my shadow box.

I had a little fun with our menu on St. Patty's Day. For brunch we had Rainbow on a Stick Fruit Kabobs.

And green pancakes.

And then for dinner we had Baked Potato Soup (which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorite foods).

With Key Lime Tarts for dessert. I had enough will power to pass up one food related holiday last week (Pie Day - March 14 - you know, pi = 3.14), but then St. Patty's Day rolled around and I just had to make some sort of dessert. These key lime tarts were beyond easy and so delicious! Good choice, self! And they are kind of mini pies, so I guess they counted for both holidays.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Grandparents are the best!

*This post talks about my parents, but let's be clear that Corby has 2 sets of wonderful grandparents. He just doesn't get to see Roger's parents as often as mine.

My parents came to visit this weekend. There was a storm forecasted for Sunday, so they came Thursday and left Saturday rather than their regular come Friday leave Sunday routine. While they were here they watched Corbyn not once, but twice. As such, I feel like we really didn't get to spend that much time with them, but Corby did. And we all know Corbyn is the coolest of the 3 of us anyway (although he's going to have some competition when Peyton joins us), so it worked out.

On Thursday night they watched Corby while Rog and I attended our Republican Caucus. We had never been before and it was a good experience although it did take a long time and because there were so many people there (that's what happens when the 1st Presidency tells everyone to go), we had to park really far away.

And on Friday night they watched Corby while Rog and I went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (for my birthday) with Bill and Mariah. It was so nice to enjoy a dinner out without trying to entertain our little mover the whole time! Coincidentally while we were enjoying our dinner out without Corby they took him out to eat and he was actually good (or so they say). Cailey went with them and held him on her lap pretty much the whole time.

Aren't grandparents the best?!

Disney On Ice

Growing up I have fond memories of going to see Disney On Ice for my birthday. So when we saw that the Toy Story 3 Disney On Ice was coming, we knew we had to take Corbyn. I found a coupon and stuck it in our coupon drawer which is a drawer Corby very much enjoys exploring. Every time he saw it in there, he would get VERY excited.

When we walked into the Energy Solutions Arena, he was in heaven with all the Toy Story stuff everywhere. Of course we were a few minutes late, so we rushed to our seats way up in the nosebleed section.

For 2 hours he was mesmerized. He had his new Buzz and life couldn't have been better for our little guy.

After the show we tried to get some pictures with him actually looking at the camera with one of the Buzz signs, but he was tired and hungry. Lesson learned: take the pictures before the event! Pictures or no pictures, it was a fun way to spend our Friday afternoon with our Toy Story addict!

32 Weeks

I had Rog take this picture last Thursday when I was actually 32 weeks, but I wanted to wait until after my appointment today to blog about it (even though I am almost 33 weeks now).

Everything looked great at my appointment. I actually weighed the same today as I did 4 weeks ago which makes me think last time was a fluke (and the doctor agreed). I had gained a few more pounds than I was supposed to have at my last appointment, but I'm pretty sure it was just that I had been drinking water like crazy all morning to make sure I wasn't dehydrated for the blood glucose test - I was when they did it with Corbyn and it made it that much more awful (they had to try both arms and finally ended up taking it out of my hand - NOT fun). Anyway, my weight gain for the overall pregnancy is right where it should be, so they weren't concerned and I felt a whole lot better about myself!

I'm still going to stay away from the sugars and too many carbs because my weight gain wasn't more than it should have been with Corby and we all know how that turned out! But now I can breath a little more easy knowing that I'm not gaining WAY more than I should be (like I thought I was after my last appointment)!

I haven't reached the totally uncomfortable part of the 3rd trimester yet. I'm trying to remember when I got there with Corbyn... But I feel like this pregnancy has been so much more comfortable in general, so maybe the end won't be as awful as it was last time? (A girl can dream, right?!) Last time I was always uncomfortable, but this time I think my insides have already been stretched out, so maybe that's why it hasn't been as bad this time.

In other baby news, I have now finished sewing all the blocks for Peyton's quilt and just have to sew them all together. My goal is to have it to the quilt shop to be machine quilted before the end of the week. I have also found some very cute owl things for her room and we should be getting the crib/dresser sometime this week. (We're buying them from a neighbor.) Her room is slowly starting to come together and I am getting more excited to meet her every day!

Birthday Presents

I meant to include this in my post about my birthday, but forgot until after I had already clicked "Publish Post." So you get 2 posts about my birthday.

Rog and I had heard an idea about giving 4 gifts - something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. We thought it sounded like a pretty good idea, so we decided to try it out with my birthday.

Something you want - Lost Cities the Card Game. I actually asked for this 2 birthdays ago. That year my parents got me the board game. (I didn't know there was a board game and a card game, so I didn't clarify which one I wanted.) I ended up really liking the board game, but I decided I also wanted the card game.

Something you need - Ironing board for the table. The ironing board we had before was one that fits over a door and now that I have a sewing nook rather than a craft room, I was making lots of trips back and forth to the ironing board because there isn't a door close to my sewing nook. With all the ironing I have been doing on the seams on Peyton's quilt, this has already been put to good use!

Something to wear - Earrings. I had a good collection, but then I had a few months where I kept losing earrings like crazy. I was only going to get one pair, but they had a buy-one-get-one-half-off sale going, so I got two pair. The ones I'm wearing in this picture and the ones sitting on the ironing board. (I also wore those ones on my birthday, so you can get a better look at them in my birthday post.)

Something to read - Prudent Advice: Lessons for My Baby Daughter. I heard about this book from Rachel. I am saving it to read while I cuddle my little Peyton and I can't wait!

And that was just from Rog and Corby! I also got money from various family members that I had already spent - on my iPhone and KitchenAid mixer. As well as a gift card to Mimi's Cafe from Mike and Dixie and some earrings from Tay and Martha. And with my new data plan, my phone was going crazy all day with calls, texts, and Facebook messages from family and friends. Thank you to everyone who made me feel so special on my birthday!

26!

Last Monday I turned 26! Oh my, that's really getting up there!

Thanks to Rog, Emily, and Pinterest, I had a great day! That may sound a little odd, so let me explain. About a month ago on Pinterest, I came across this list of free stuff you can get on your birthday. I immediately started planning my day based on what meals I could get for free. I decided we would go to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast and Red Robin for dinner. That sounded good, but I figured the rest of the day would just be a regular day spent at home with my little guy. And while there's nothing wrong with that, it didn't really get me excited for my birthday to come especially since my birthday was on a Saturday last year and it was a day packed with birthday celebrating.

Then I found out Emily was going to be in Utah for my birthday. Unfortunately her grandpa had passed away, so she was coming for the funeral and then would be spending a few days in Utah before heading back to Wisconsin. (Let me be clear that I wasn't happy her grandpa had passed away, but I was happy I would get to see her.) She suggested I come up to Sandy to have a little birthday lunch with her and I gladly accepted.

So when my birthday came, Rog stayed home from work in the morning. He watched Corbyn while I got ready for the day and then we headed to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast. After breakfast, he went to work while Corbyn and I drove up to Sandy. We hung out and chatted for a bit while Corbyn enjoyed playing with all the toys at Emily's parent's house. Then we had lunch. We had potato soup, salad, and bread - all very delicious!

And then for dessert Oreo cupcakes made with Birthday Cake Oreos (because Oreo's 100th birthday was conveniently March 6th).

Our friend, Aubrey, joined us for lunch during her lunch break. It has been a long time since the 3 of us hung out, so it was fun to have the trio together again.

Then while Corbyn took his nap, Emily taught me how to make bows which was awesome because while they really aren't that difficult to make, I was a little intimidated by them. We didn't get a ton made, but now that I know how to make them, I'll be able to whip out a bunch in no time! (I'll post a picture of that when I get them done.)

When Corby woke up we headed back down to Spanish Fork. On the way we stopped at Krispy Kreme because the list said you could get a free dozen donuts. I wasn't going to eat them all anyway - just one or possibly two and then I was going to send the rest with Rog to work - but it turns out they really only give you one free donut. We met Rog at Red Robin and had a quick dinner because Corbyn WOULD NOT SIT STILL - which is also why the only pictures from my birthday are from lunch at Emily's. Rog spent most of breakfast and dinner following him around while I ate by myself.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. Bill and Mariah brought by some peanut butter bars and we chatted with them for a few minutes. And we watched an episode of Friends before going to bed (The One where Rachel has a Baby). It was a fun day!

Later in the week Rog made me some homemade oreos. (I had a few and then took the others to one of our neighbors who has been very sick with her pregnancy.)

I also got my free ice cream from Baskin Robins and Cold Stone. I wasn't that happy with my choice at Baskin Robins, so I made sure to get one I knew I would love from Cold Stone - Apple Pie a la Cold Stone. I tried not to be too bad while at the same time still allowing myself to enjoy my birthday. Hopefully I won't regret it when I step on the scale tomorrow morning at my 32 week appointment!