Another Check Mark

Ever since moving here we have said we wanted to go on the Maid of the Mist. We kept waiting for kids to be the right age or people to be visiting that wanted to go with us- then suddenly here we are with nine months to go and probably most of those months will be cold, cold, cold. So we headed to Niagara falls today. It's been a while since we were there and the boys appreciated it a lot more this time then any other time. Garret loved it so much, he loved getting wet, loved the waves- all of it. Spencer loved it too- except the part when it was really wet, then he didn't complain but just buried his head on Tyler, once that was over he started looking around smiling again.

Last night Spencer was laying on my tummy. He sat up and sat "Baby sister just called me a blop-blop" (that is one of their silly things they call each other) apparently baby sister is already in on the trouble.

Later Garret felt the baby move and said "oh she loves this book" (we were reading) then he very seriously said "what is she doing awake at night".

This n That

-I am feeling extremely huge so I busted out the measuring tape and sure enough I am extremely huge. With both of my boys I was 44 inches around right before delivery. Well with six weeks to go I am 43 inches around. It is probably due to the enormous amounts of ice cream I have been eating this time or maybe it's all that fluid they talked about- either way- I don't like it.

-Spike Long Tail has entered his cocoon and although he was quite shook up today we are crossing our fingers he will come out a moth.

-We got our car seat and are really starting to prepare for baby three. I am trying to figure out what I need, get mentally ready for three and enjoy my time with just the boys before she comes.

-Spencer and Garret were eating Popsicles outside today and they kept setting their Popsicles down on the ground wiping their hands off then picking them up and eating them again, I thought it was so funny how counterproductive their cleanliness was.

-Spencer has started saying prayers without much help. He is super cute. He says basically the same thing every night. My favorite part is when he says "Thank you for MY Garret". He is so in love with his big brother it totally melts my heart. When they are in different rooms we often here Spencer saying things like "Garret, I'm in the bedroom". When he wakes up from his nap (they nap in different rooms) we hear "Where's my Garret?" or "I miss Garret". They fight more than I would like but overall they are best friends and they really look out for each other.

Spike Long Tail

Today we made little bug jars and magnifying glasses. After that we went for a walk and caught some bugs. It was a fun afternoon together. Then just as we got home we found "Spike Long Tail". He is a caterpillar and we are pretty sure if everything goes as planned he will go into a cocoon and come out an American dagger moth. The boys were so excited about "Spike Long Tail". I hope he makes it!

Prior to "Spike Long Tail" they caught "Spidey Web" (Spencer's Bee) and "Mr. Bug I love you so much" Garret's Cricket! I am glad they do not get to name their sister!

Photo Shoot

I went in for an ultrasound today. On Monday they said I was measuring a couple weeks big. Turns out the baby is measuring right at 33 weeks. She is somewhere around 4 pounds 11 ounces. She was not very photogenic this time. We didn't get any good face pictures, I saw some big chubby cheeks in the works but no great shots. I asked them if they could confirm she was a girl but again she was being difficult and they couldn't get a good angle there. The good news though, she looks healthy and they think I was just measuring big because I have the maximum amount of fluid to be considered normal. The lady kept teasing about how far up in my ribs she was (I knew it wasn't all in my mind). I kept getting lightheaded during the ultrasound (I haven't had this problem before), they said it was just the way the baby is sitting- she was cutting off my blood flow.

Baby Three

Everything seems to be going well with the little lady. The time passes so fast sometimes and other days feel like they drag by. We have been busy with the boys and by the end of the day I just prop my feet up and feel exhausted. We are getting more excited all the time and I am finally starting to feel like I should get things ready for her to come (we still have almost two months so no big hurry) but up til this point I have barely glanced at baby things at the store and now I am making list of things to get when I get around to it. The boys are getting so excited too. Garret will say things like "your belly sure is getting big, I think she has got to come out soon". They both love kissing my belly and feeling her move. They love saying "if you love me kick" so I make my stomach move and they are convinced she loves them already (I am sure she does). I can't wait to see what they think of her.

One of the strangest things this time around has been other peoples reactions. For example I was at the play place at the mall the other day with the boys. They were being very well behaved, walking by me, holding my hand, all smiles and happy- a lady comes up to me and says "Oh I am so sorry for you". My kids were not even acting up. The other thing I get a lot is people saying "good things this is a girl now you can be done". It's like the only reason I would ever want to keep having kids was because I was trying for a girl...just wait til I have baby four- that will just blow people away. It makes me sad that people see families as a burden or something to feel sorry for me about (not that I think everyone should have lots of kids).

We still don't have a name picked out. We throw names around occasionally but nothing has been determined. She will probably get an old fashioned name- that seems to be what we go back to, but who knows (so if you have a great suggestion let us know). That is about all the baby news we have, maybe Ill take a picture one of these days so everyone can see how incredibly huge I am this time (I am now up to the weight I delivered both of the boys at- ugh). More to come on our little lady....

Since We Got Back

We came back to New York with a week to go before school started (well orientation...school doesn't really start til next Monday). We didn't take a single picture but we had a good week of working around the house, a trip to Palmyra and the farmer's market.

I am starting to feel anxious about the coming baby and the million things I feel like I need to get done around here. I am feeling excited at the same time. It's so unreal- another baby...a girl...in less than two months. I am so much more uncomfortable this time and it is causing me to want to sit on the couch with my feet up more often. I spend a lot of time torn between my desire to sit and try to take a deep breath and my desire to get my list of things done...where has the time gone?

I can't believe that Tyler is starting his fourth year of dental school the time has flown by so fast. I have mixed feelings about this year. In some ways I am so excited to be moving on with our lives, but at the same time I love it here and am so comfortable here I can not imagine leaving. I think I will be more excited when we know what we are going to do after this year. Right now it feels like 9 months and counting...then what?!!! I am a planner so not knowing is hard for me. I have faith that things will work out for us and high hopes that this year will be another great year in Buffalo.

The boys are settling back into being home. They were excited to see all of their things still here and have enjoyed so much having Tyler around. We really had a great summer this year. We did a lot, trips, things around here. We really didn't waste much of our time. The boys only watched one movie a week and sometimes not even that. They are growing and changing so much. Garret got so brave in the water this year, he does more chores around the house, he plays with Spencer better everyday and he is very entertaining still. He says some of the funniest things. Spencer has joined in on the comedy around here. He always says "yes" or "no" after a sentence depending on if he wants to do something or not. For example "I love you, yes" or "Me go night night, no". Recently he switched from yes to "oh yeah" so now we hear things like "me like popcorn, oh yeah" or "me need to go potty, oh yeah". We had the greatest summer just being together and making each other smile.

Here's to another year!!!

Man Hike

One last thing from Washington. Tyler went on a "man hike" with Dan and Joe. They hiked 16 miles of steep trail in one day- Swam, sweated and had a great time. They are already making plans for their next man event.

Washington

After Colorado we headed to Washington. We spent the first couple days visiting dental practices and a dental residency. We learned from our visits but didn't really walk away knowing what we were going to do after graduation, it was only semi-productive. My parents and sister (she surprised my by being there when we got there!!!) watch the kids for us while we were away.

The first day we were gone my Dad took Garret with him to a church boating event and Leah took Spencer for a walk to the beach. They both had a great time. Apparently Spencer was pretty tired by the time they were heading back and he refused to walk so she had to carry him the whole way back as he screamed. Hopefully she counted that as her workout for the day. Growing up we went to "the beach" all the time. It is just around the block from us. It is so fun watching my kids enjoy the same place that we loved as kids.

The first day we were there Garret saw my brother's dog out the window and got so excited. He ran to tell everyone that there was a "deer". I told him it was a dog. He then ran through the house telling everyone "there's a dog, a lost dog". He thought we had hit the jackpot.

A family from my parent's ward has a lake house and boat. They let us come and play there one night. Garret has been looking forward to the "motor boat" all year (he went last year and the year before). Spencer went for the first time this year. They both loved it and held their little thumbs up the entire time saying "faster, faster". (actually Spencer held up his pointer fingers but he meant the same thing by it).

The weather was hot while we were there so the boys played in the water a lot.

The residency we looked at was in Yakima so we brought back my sister Anna and her kids with us. The next day was the stat of "Grandpa Camp". All the kids had so much fun. They got matching shirts, made a camp wave and then started into the two days of activities.

They started off with Grandpa pancakes (one of the foods I remember my Dad making growing up- although we did not call them Grandpa pancakes then).

Here are the kids (except one of the twins) giving Grandpa big hugs.

They spent the first morning in the woods and in the cabin. Then the older kids went to the wood shop and made all the little kids "hee-haws" to ride on.

One afternoon when it was miserably hot they went down to the beach. The kids were so funny, they were just wading in a little trying to stay dry but pretty soon they were all splashing around enjoying the cool water.

The older kids slept in the cabin with Grandpa. They told wild stories and kept each other up.

The slip n' slide was a tons of fun. They even wrestled Grandpa on it.

There was also a great water fight (it was a different time than the slip n' slide). The twins were so funny. They would walk up to people and politely ask them to hold still. then they would try to dump water on them. Spencer decided he didn't want to water fight and so he sat in a chair and watched. At the end of the day he said it was his favorite part of the day- it was pretty entertaining.

Naomi was the littlest camper there. It's hard to imagine what camp will be like in a couple years- it was pretty rambunctious this year!

Thursday morning the older kids went out in the row boat. Tyler and Leah went in the kayaks. Anna, Mom and I took the little kids and did fun stuff with just them. The older kids rowed around Hope Island. They got to see sharks and a seal and even though Garret was a bit on the overtired side he said it was a great adventure.

The kids were pretty brave on the tree swing this year. Garret and Spencer both held on tight and went super high.

Since we have been home the moment Garret has talked about the most has been shooting the BB gun. Sometimes I wonder if it is good to expose him to such things but he loved it and we have drilled it in pretty hard that guns are not toys and not to even pretend shoot at people. He loved it!

The last night of Grandpa camp we went to my Grandpa Becks house and he made us dutch oven cooking (amazing) and then the kids put on a little play for us and did a little talent show. The kids had such a great time and already talk about what they hope to do next year.

Dan and Heather were nice enough to have us over one night. The boys had fun wrestling Dan and the dog. (Just so everyone knows---Heather is pregnant!!! We are so excited)

Uncle Dan won the boys hearts for sure when he set up the tent for them to sleep in!

The last day in Washington my good friend Nichole came over with her boys. My boys loved their "new friend". We spent the morning getting sprayed by clams and throwing rocks in the water!

We had such a great trip, we loved seeing our families and relaxing. Thanks everyone for making it such a great time for us. ( I hate getting this far behind- I feel like I missed so many of the great moments from our trip---the most important thing it was fun)

Colorado

We have been back from vacation for a week or so now and I am finally going to try and catch this thing up. A warning to all- this will be long and boring, so stop now if you do not wish to hear the details of our vacation...hopefully my kids will appreciate it someday.

We started our trip off by going to Colorado. While we were there we got to spend time with all of Tyler's immediate family and some of his extended family. We had a great time seeing everyone.

The boys got to spend lots of time with Grandpa and Grandma. They loved the trampoline! After spending a couple days in Castle Rock we met up with Tyler's cousin and family and went camping. We went swimming, fished, cooked smores and played capture the flag.

Garret loved spending time with Jessica. They helped make pancakes for everyone.

Uncle Trenton got to be a big toy for the boys while we were there. They were constantly saying "Uncle Trenton do you want to do .... with me".

No one caught any fish (which is probably a good thing, I am not sure how the boys would have handled seeing the fish hurt anyway). They had fun fishing though.

Little Everett was so much bigger this year and Garret and Spencer loved getting to know their cousin better.

I think the boys will love having a sister. They loved Jessica and loved playing dolls with her.

We are so glad we were able to meet up with everyone.

Allison and family had to leave before we did. The last couple days there it was just Tyler's immediate family. They boys looked cute in their matching outfits. I think these three will have lots of fun as they grow up.

We spent an afternoon at a park that has a little train.

We fit in a little more play time with Grandma and Grandpa.

And Everett of course.

It was a great trip. We loved seeing everyone and all the great memories we made.