ONE

Stole this from another blog:
TYPE ONLY 1 WORD...IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? table

2. Your significant other? Tyson

3. Your hair? ponytailed

4. Your mother? kind

5. Your father? talkative

6. Your favorite thing? family

7. Your dream last night? interrupted

8. Your favorite drink? cranraspberry

9. Your dream goal? homeowner

10. The room you're in? front

11. Your fear? pain

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home

13. Where were you last night? couch

14. What you're not? outgoing

15. Whats for breakfast? eggs

16. One of your wish list items? house

17. Where did you grow up? everywhere

18. The last thing you did? eat

19. What are you wearing? clothes

20. Your TV? LCD

21. Your pet? none

22. Your computer? CENTRAL

23. Your life? good

24. Your mood? rollercoaster

25. Missing someone? Tyson

26. Your car? maintained

27. Something you're not wearing? socks

28. Favorite Store? scrapbooks

29. Your summer? hot

30. Your favorite color? green

31. When is the last time you laughed? today

32. Last time you cried? recently

33. Who will/would re-post this? unknown

34. FOUR THINGS I COULD VISIT OR DO OVER AND OVER:
1. scrap 2. shop 3. sleep 4. read

35. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME:
1. Suzanne 2. Char 3. Talesha 4. Dad

36. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. CAKE 2. burgers 3. Cake 4. Cake

37. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW?
1. sleeping 2. date 3. home 4. traveling

My Doc Visit today.......

well, I had a busy day at the dr today, we did the non-stress test ~ baby Grayson is doing good, I am measuring at just the right week (35), I had some blood work done, got checked for group b strep, had my cervix checked (which hurt like heck, and still hurts - dang man) and I am dialated 1 cm.

Tyson got to come to the appointment today, which was nice. He's been so busy lately that this is only the second time he has been able to.

my blood pressure is still the same, so it's not creeping up anymore, but doc still says that after my check up next week, he is probably going to see if he can give me a "push" to make baby come a little sooner, so we won't have to deal with as many complications (like the mag sulfate that I am dreading).
so that is my update for today. he says by next week we should have a pretty good idea of a date for baby to arrive.

The Andersons!

I know this is a Halloween picture - but it is the only Family Picture we got this year. (click on it to make it bigger!)

Next year we will be welcoming 3 more~
so we will have to get a family picture some time in Aug!

Christmas Eve.

Well, Thomas seems excited now. But I think it's more from the several glasses of chocolate milk he had at Grandma's for dinner. LOL.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Story of My Washer

I forgot to blog about this when I got it - so I will catch ya'll up now.

A few weeks ago, Mom called me and asked "do you still want a dishwasher?"

what kind of crazy question is that? OF COURSE I want a Dishwasher!!!!!
I have been washing dishes by hand for 3 years, and dreaming of the day that we can move to a new house and that I will be the proud owner of a real dishwasher, and I will love it and charish it and kiss it goodnight --- sorry, getting a little carried away - YES - I want a dishwasher.

She had been listening to the talk radio station one morning and they do a program called "Trading Post" where people can advertise the things they'd like to sell, trade, or be rid of. So this guy called in and said he was giving away a dishwasher! Mom was the first to call!! and she got the dishwasher for me. Dad went and picked it up and they brought it over. The guy told them it had been left behind by some renters and he wasn't even sure if it ran, and that is why he was just giving it away.
I kept my fingers crossed as Dad got the faucet hook ups ready and we set it all up.

It worked fabulously! And I am now in Heaven :)

It is a portable washer, and it's OLD and HUGE, but it WORKS!!! I nicknamed it BUD (Big Ugly Dishwsher) - but I do truely love it.

There is of course a little catch - and I do not have the adequate words to describe the comedy of it - so here are a few slightly embarassing photos to show you
BUD's drawback.....







I have to stand on my tippy toes to get my belly up high enough to go over the washer if I need to get by into the kitchen.
You would think I would just get everything done in the kitchen that I needed to do, before I hooked up the washer, right? Yeah, well, I try, but Thomas then has to demand something that I forgot in there, like his waterbottle or something, and I almost always have to do the skooching thru to get it.

But it is a minor inconvinence compared to standing at the sink up to my elbows in yucky hot soapy water for an hour to wash up the dishes. It is amazing how a counter top of dishes can disappear in a matter of minutes inside the washer, and come out in 30 minutes all clean and ready to be put back away. It's heavenly.
(Thanks Mom!)

hmmmmm....

... well, today is day 3 with no nog - problem is, when I went grocery shopping at the beginning of the week, I bought 2 weeks worth of stuff, so I wouldn't have to go Christmas week --- so I have a lot of bananas, yogurt and milk - that now aren't goig to be used. Guess I will be making lots of banana bread, and getting my dairy intake.

no more NOG ??????

Every single morning starts out the same for us - Thomas gets out of bed, and sits (bounches) on the couch while he waits for me to mix up his morning NOG in the blender. For those who don't know "NOG" is milk, yogurt, and banana. I think I have been doing this for almost a year and a half.

But the day before yesterday his nog cup (a sippy type cup with a soft straw) broke. Sure I could go to the store and buy ANOTHER one - but I think it's time for him to move on from that cup. So sure enough I talked things over with him and explained that the nog would be in a different cup and we picked out one we had with a straw, so he could still sip it. But he barely touched it - actually, he didn't drink more than about 2 sips of it, and then we forgot about it, and it got spilled all over my floor (yeah, I am used to the no-spill sippy cup still too).

So this morning, I prepared some pumpkin bread for him to munch on right away, and he devoured it, and didn't even care that we didn't make nog. He asked about it a little bit later, and I asked if he was sure he wanted me to make it, or if he would rather have apple juice, and he happily accepted a juice box instead.

I am kinda glad to not have to use the noisey blender every morning - I was worried that when Grayson got here, that the noise would be irritating to him, or wake him up if he was sleeping.

share your ideas with me...

.. about how you get your kids excited about Christmas.
So as most of you know, Thomas has a few quirks - or what I like to call an "interesting and unique personality".
Christmas mornings have not been what I have expected (or remember from my own childhood). I know he is still young, but my little guy just doesn't care about presents.
We had some gifts that we were given, and we had them sitting on the couch by the christmas tree, and he wasn't even curious about them. He didn't wonder if they were for him, or what might be inside or anything. All he cared about were that they were in his way. "Move the Presents" was all he said, because he wanted to bounce on the couch where they were.
So since he is just not really into that, we got him only 2 special gifts, and then a few Lightning McQueen things to put in his stocking. I have explained that the stocking will have treats and surprizes on Christmas morning, and that seems to have peeked his interest. But I can't decide how to keep his enthusiasm for unwrapping the gifts.
I don't know if wrapping them and putting them out now, and telling him about them for the next week would work. Or if not putting them out here until Christmas morning would be better. Or maybe I just shouldn't wrap them at all. I can't decide.

Bundled up!

It took us nearly a half hour just to get all bundled up to go out and brave the cold to play in the snow.




It only took about a half hour, before Thomas's hands were freezing cold, and he was ready to go inside again. I need to find him some more water resistant gloves.

The Snow came!

Winter is on it's way

The forcast is SNOW - so we decided we had better get all the leaves cleaned up before the wet snow makes 'em all soggy. I am not much help this year, I swept with the broom, but with my belly and achey back, I didn't assist with any of the lifting or raking. But Thomas was a big help! Just watch this video :)

Thomas's Little People Nativity

Isn't this the cutest thing you have ever seen? In my wish to teach Thomas about the real meaning of Christmas, I just knew I needed to have this nativity set for the kids to play with each year.




When Thomas pushes the angel on top it lights up the star and the baby Jesus, and plays the song, "Away in a Manger".

Doc visit today

well, my blood pressure seems to want to slowly keep creeping up, so my new doc wants me to come every single week now. While I am not happy about having to drive to Logan every week - I am very grateful that Dr. B wants to keep a close eye on us (unlike my crappy docs I had when pg with Thomas- I had severe signs of pre-eclampsia with him, but they didn't ever even seem to bat an eye about it until after my due date - but that is a whole nother story).

It snowed today, so it was my first glimpse of how driving the canyons will be this winter. It took me 50 minutes to get to the hospital from our house. That was during the middle of the day though, so with each visit (since I will have lots) we'll try different routes to find the best way to go.

Every visit I will have a non-stress test, which means I get to sit and watch the TV and relax for 20 minutes and listen to baby's heartbeat while they monitor him, to make sure that he isn't being negatively affected by my rising blood pressure.

Dr. B was debating/pondering whether we would need to start me on the meds to help baby's lungs and stuff develop faster/stronger just in case we needed to deliver early. So far, he says the blood pressure isn't "bad" - YET - but we just can't tell if it suddenly is going to change to worse, if ya know what I mean.

so that is my news for today.

cute new belly shot -

I got this shot, purely by accident - but it is so darn cute!
This morning, I was putting out some candy canes, and Thomas grabbed 3 of them and said "one for you" and handed it to me, "one for Thomas, and one for Grayson" and he put it on my belly. I think he's excited for his brother to get here :)

He often says "Hi Grayson" to my belly.

too busy to blog

sorry, there haven't been any updates on us lately. With the Thanksgiving weekend and then several other things that came up, we have just been a busy bunch.

So now that I have a little free time, I am going to ramble on and on, about whatever comes to mind, and call it good.

Let's see, first of all, I had my first appointment with my new OB on Monday. My OBGYN decided he was going to quit his practise a month before our baby is due, so that threw me into a bit of a panic for a while. Because of several circumstances, I have chosen to go to a Dr in Logan, and that makes things a little bit complicated on us.

First, I have to get appointments scheduled on days when I can take Tyson to work, so that I can use the car - and that means Mondays - they are the only day that I can do that.
Second, I have to get someone to watch Thomas - this week I left him with Sara, so he could play with Keithan and Halden. Sara wasn't feeling so great, so I felt so bad leaving her with more work - BUT THANK YOU SARA, couldn't have done it without you!!!!!!
the timing of the appointment was so bad, so Thomas didn't get a nap for the day, and the next morning, the poor kid slept in until almost 10 am (that has NEVER happened before - he is usually up at 7:30) But that was kinda a nice break for Tyson and I to get to sleep in too, especially after a big day of running all around.

The other thing we have to worry about is the winter weather. We have to drive thru the Sardine Canyon from Brigham to Logan, and it can get pretty slick on snowy days.

We joked with my family, that when I do go into labor, that whoever we can find at home, will be the lucky one who will get to watch Thomas while we headed to the hospital. You should have seen the look on Nate's face - and we all laughed that he will never answer his phone when we call again. LOL. (he would do fine with watching Thomas, as long as someone else came along and got him after an hour or so)

Anyway - so at my first appointment with my new OB, he stunned me by informing me that I had NOT passed my 1 hour glucose test, and now needed to take the 3 hour test before returning for my next appointment, which he said would have to be in 1 week (instead of the 2 weeks like I had been planning). I guess my old Doc would have concidered I had passed the test - I had a 136 - because he thinks that under 140 is ok, but the new Doc says it had to be under 130 to be ok.

So I had to find an extra 4 hours of time to spend sitting around at the hospital to get the 3 hour test done. Luckily, we got it set up, so that I could do it at the Tremonton hospital, so I didn't have to go all the way into Logan. They took one blood sample first when I had an empty stomach, then I had to drink that ever so yummy Orange Drink (tastes like Overly sugared sunkist) - and then wait an hour, and test again, then another hour and test again, and for the third time an hour later.
So that is how I wasted 4 hours of my day yesterday. By the time the testing was over it was noon, and I hadn't eaten anything since the night before, except for that dang drink, so I had to find something to eat Quick, so I could drive home safely.
The nice Doctors office called later in the day and said that I passed the 3 hour test, so I do not have gestational diabetes. What a relief.

Tyson enjoyed the time he got to spend watching Thomas, though- it is really good for them to have some quality Father/Son time - just the two of them. They played the "basket game" - which is Daddy, pushing Thomas around the house inside the laundry basket, like a sled. They did "Ride on Daddy's" - piggyback rides. And they did "Woooo's" - which is when Thomas lays on the couch, Tyson hold his hands, and swings him from one side of the sectional couch to the other, and they both say "woooo" as Thomas flys thru the air. Oh, yeah, and they played "Roars" - Thomas runs to where Daddy is "hiding" and Daddy jumps out and yells "roar" and gives him big hugs, then lets him go, so he can run again. I need to get some of these games on video and upload them onto here! That will be my next project.

Well, we have our Christmas lights and the tree up. Thomas makes me turn them on the minute he gets up in the morning, and we don't turn them off until I go to bed at night. I hope we aren't running up the electric bill, hmmmm?

I was really sad when I pulled my favorite strand of lights out, and was just about to put them around the tree, but thought I should test them first - and found that they didn't turn on anymore :( They were neat because they flashed in really cool patterns. But I have had them for about 6 years, so I guess that their time had passed. I am just glad I did test them before getting them all up on the tree.

well, I hope that is a good enough catch up for ya'll. I will try to do better :)

Today....

is just one of those days when no matter what I do, I get a complete meltdown from Thomas. I am frazzled.

Ultrasound ---EDITED TO ADD

I have not been happy with the ultrasound pictures I have gotten of Grayson, but oh well.
I was checked again today, to make sure that the placenta had moved up, and it has, and I got to spy on baby for just a few minutes. He blinked while we were watching him - so very awesome!

Here is the one and only pic they took today. It is of his head/face. You can see his eyes, nose and his big squishy lips -- I had to giggle. I hope that he is just making pouty faces LOL.
extra picture added to help you SEE him.... click on the pictures --- it makes them bigger to see

It's ME!

I forgot to put this on the blog. It was taken about 3 weeks ago - so at about 25 weeks.
I wore this dress to Church, and suddenly everyone realized - "hey, she's pregnant". We are usually a tiny bit late for church, and consequently, we have to sit up on bench second from the front - that's the "Owen" bench. So we walked past everyone, and I could just FEEL all the looks, and almost hear all the whispers. I got A Lot of questions that day - "when are you due?" "is Thomas going to have a brother or sister?" "how are you feeling?". I was a bit amused - finally people knew I was pregnant, and not just getting fatter.

Count your blessings

I got really sick on Sunday night/Monday morning. I am all better today. It was weird. But I think that sometimes we may just need a reminder once in a while that we need to be grateful for our blessings.
Yesterday it took all my will power and strength just to get up and take care of Thomas. THANK YOU SHELLY for coming over to help me!!! I couldn't have done it without you.
Today, I kept looking in the mirror and thinking, "WOW, it is so great to be healthy again".

What are you grateful for today?

A Sunday Funny

Our nursery at church has a tiny "peek hole" in the door, so parents can look in ans see how their kids are behaving, without the kids seeing them.

Well, I always like to peek in to see how Thomas is behaving during the lesson, and listen to hear what he is learning about, so we can talk with him about it afterward.

He isn't doing so well at sitting in his chair during the lesson (there were other kids out of their chairs, so that doesn't help him behave either).

So after church today, we had him sitting up to the table with us for lunch in his highchair (made into a "lowchair") - and I asked him about what he learned in Nursery today. He couldn't tell me, and I said something along the lines of he wasn't sitting in his chair at church, that is why he couldn't hear the lesson.
Thomas responded with "those chairs don't have buckles"

so apprently since he can't be stapped down, he doesn't have to stay seated :) LOL

Happy Halloween

I am going to attempt to take Thomas to do a tiny bit of Trick-or-Treating in about an hour. We won't be going far, since my back hurts too much to walk much. And we will just be going to the members houses around this block. Thomas doesn't care for candy much anyway, and I certainly don't need it. I just want him to have a little fun.
We will see what he thinks, and report back later :)


.
.
.
well , it took me about an hour to even get him out of the house.
He literally threw a fit when I told him we needed to put his football jersey OVER his coat - but once I wrestled him into his coat and got it on over top - he was just fine.Once we got outside, he saw the other kids out walking around, I asked if he was ready to go for a walk - and he was quite excited about that.
He would knock on the doors and say "Treat" and then "thanks" so cutely after he got a treat. He had fun, but really enjoyed the walk more than the trick or treating part.
We didn't go too far - about 2 blocks, so maybe a dozen houses or so.
I brought his favorite "lightning treats" (fruit snacks) with me, and put 2 in his bucket after we were done, so when he looked at his stash, he found something that he actually liked. I got to eat his snickers and milky way bars LOL. The rest of the stuff, I will see if he wants to test anything out tomorrow.

A Halloweeny Slide Show

I am not sure if I am slowing down, or if Thomas is speeding up. But this last week, I just feel like I cannot keep up with this little boy.
He seems to get smarter with leaps and bounds. He can now pull open the drawers on his dresser (and those drawers are really hard to open, but he set his mind to it LOL) I hid toys in there that I sometimes "rotate" into his usual toys to kinda spice things up. Well, he got them ALL out. So I have had an over abundance of toys all over the house. It's good that he has some new things to play with, though, he seemed to need the new stimulation. He has gotten really good at the puzzles that not too long ago were just too frustrating for him.
He wants to do everything at the same time - so all the puzzles are out, all the flashcards, the play-doh, the crayons, the cars, the trains. And he switches back and forth all the day.
We have been partly successful at getting him to try new foods. We changed his highchair to a "lowchair" and push it up to the table with us, and give him the same things that we are eating for the meal. Some meals are miserable failures, with all the screaming and kicking, but sometimes he actually cooperates and we find more and more foods that he decides he likes.
oh, yeah, He can now open up the fridge on his own, and get his waterbottle, juice box or whatever out of there, and then closes the door. It's a good thing I keep the snacks and treats up out of his reach, I don't want him to start ruining his meals.

I have been tagged

Suzanne Tagged me, which I guess is a good thing, since I had nothing special to blog about anyway. So here goes:

8 favorite TV shows:
not sure I have 8 - definately not that are on TV right now
1. Star Gate Atlantis - just watched this tonight - season 5 is almost over, and then rumors are that the series will end - that will make me sad.
2. Designed To Sell
3. Pretty much anything on HGTV
that's all I got, sorry

8 things I did yesterday:
1. went to the Dr. - baby is looking just fine - next visit I have to do that Glucose test - drink that nasty orange stuff, and have blood drawn - not looking forward to that visit much.
2. Made Ghosty Cookies:


3. Listened to Christmas music - that's right - I am a nut.
4. played outside with Thomas
5. made beef stew in the crockpot (made so much, it should last us all weekend!)
6. played on the internet - gotta get my message board fix- Scrapjazz.com, Baby Center.com , and Mommysavers.com
7. washed a few dishes, but still have a bit of a pile to finish up tomorrow
8. went to bed early (yet was still really tired this morning)

8 things I look forward to:

1. Mom's big birthday bash tomorrow. The new tradition is for a "Halloween Carnival" type party. Mom just wants to have the family together, and especially to have fun things for the grandkids to do. I think it's a fabulous way to celebrate a birthday! We are going to go to the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan first, and then we'll be going to Newton (Mom&Dad's house) to carve pumpkins, watch the kids play and do a pinyata (sp?) and have lots of wonderful food!
2. Thomas being fully potty trained. he is doing well at it by the way - no accidents in over a week. but that is a long story, so maybe I can tell it later.
3. Baby Grayson's arrival. down to 99 days today - according to my countdown calendar :)
4. but before that we have Thanksgiving and Christmas!!
5. when Tyson doesn't have to work 2 jobs.
6. buying a house someday
7. a less scarey economy
8. someday having a dishwasher - I hate washing by hand :(

8 favorite resteraunts:
I can't name 8 - I do like to eat out, so that I don't have to cook or clean up - but Honestly, we try NOT to eat out, it's not in the budget. So I try not to think about it too much.

8 things on my wishlist:
1. a healthy pregnancy and baby
2. for my family to be happy
3. a rocker for rocking my baby, and Thomas too
4. a new(er) smaller digital camera
5. a house :)
6. Tyson to get promoted
7. a second car?
8. to get Thomas into a preschool that he would LOVE and flourish in

4+4=8 Pick the 4th photo from the fourth folder in your My Pictures:
this is a picture of me and Thomas playing a game called "Lucky Ducks" on the computer - from Nov 2007



8 people to tag:
how about all you realtives that haven't updated your blogs in a while??? I bet there are at least 8 of you LOL

Thomas helps put the laundry in the dryer

Thomas likes to see in the washer

Awww, cute!

Since we are having a second boy, we are lucky to not have to buy too many new things for this one. But today at Walmart I had to stop and browse the baby asile for a minute and Thomas helped me pick out these 2 little outfits for Grayson. One is a premie size and the other is newborn size - so I think these will be the outfits I will take with me to the hospital for coming home outfits.

At the house, I have two tote bins one has 0-3 month clothes and the other has the 3-6 month clothes - Thomas likes to make me open them up every once in a while, to check out Graysons digs. It's kinda like he is already bonding with his baby brother. :)

Bitter sweet......

We went to our Credit Union today and had a nice long chat with the loan officer about mortgages. We have done this before - some time last year, when we started thinking about buying a house. We decided then, that we needed to have much more saved, and so have been been working diligently at that down payment all this last year.
The plan was to start looking after the baby arrives, which is late Jan early Feb. - So I shouldn't have even been tempting myself by looking at the listings online.

Anyway - we are close - and we should be able to be right where we want to be by Feb of this coming year. I was going to say that I am going to stop looking at the listings online until then this time, but I still like to look, so that I know how long a house has been on the market.
The biggest trouble is the way the rates are changing - had we been in a position to buy just a month ago, we could have snagged those low rates around 5% - and could have easily afforded those monthly payments. But the big jump to almost 7-8%, makes the payments nearly $200 more, and we aren't sure we are comfortable with loosing that extra every month.

Maybe this house we like will sit for a while (not likely, but I can hope, right?)
Things that are bad about this house were: it's old - built in 1913 - had some upgrades here and there, but I imagine there is still old wiring and old plumbing. The worst part about the house was the bedrooms. The "master" was tiny and had no closet. The 2 other bedrooms were upstairs - and you had to walk thru the first room to get to the second room. There is no heat in the upstairs bedrooms. Bright colorful shag carpet, wallpaper, wood paneling and missing stair rails are the other things that may scare others away.

But - when all is said and done, I am feeling very good (calm and relieved) that we are not going to be buying a house right now. It was already vacant, so I am sure it wouldn't have taken long to close on it - and I am just too pregnant right now to want to deal with house projects, moving, and suddenly paying so much money on a mortgage that I would be constantly wondering if we could afford diapers each week.

Like I was saying yesterday, at least it's a good learning experience.
Someday, when the time is right, I know that just the right house will be out there waiting for us to buy it.

can't hurt to look, right?

We aren't supposed to be house hunting yet - not yet - we wanted about 4 more months to save - but I came across a house online, and HAD to go see it.
So we went and looked at a house today, and both Tyson and I really like pretty much everything about it.

We aren't so sure that we can afford it with the sudden change in interest rates, but tomorrow we are going to the bank to find out.

Home buying is so stressful.

Even if we don't buy this house at this time, it's still "interesting" practice. You have to absorb so much information about the house as you walk thru it. Not just the good, but also the bad, not just the inside, but also the outside - and not just the yard, but the whole neighborhood - and the schools.

Then the "designer" in me, starts to remodel and decorate in my head. This can be both good and bad. On the good side, it helps me see past the cosmetic negatives in a house (like the wallpaper, and the brilliently bright shag carpet). On the bad side, I can get carried away with what is necessary and what could be left as is - at least for a while (like the brown fridge, or the outdated flourescent light).

So anyway, that has been all consuming in my little brain today.
I am both totally freaked out and looking forward to going to the bank tomorrow to see where we actually stand on being prepared/ready for this whole HOME BUYING experience. Wish us luck :)

my new motto

I am starting to put this new motto to use in the hopes that it can help motivate us to continue to save money everywhere we can, so that we can reach our goal to have a house downpayment early next year. We don't think we want to stay in this little 2 bedroom apartment for too long after the baby arrives. And both Tyson and I are excited to be home owners.

So today was the first time that this new motto of mine, has kinda made me stop and really think.

This weekend, our full length mirror fell down and broke into pieces.
On Sunday when I went to see how the outfit I had thrown together looked, I realized, I no longer had a mirror to see myself with, and went off hoping that it was good enough (being pregnant in this situation makes it even more worrisome for me, cuz my body changes every week, so I actually have no idea how I really look).

Anyway, today was our shopping day of the week. I had my handy shopping list in hand, and actually had to ponder for a while whether I needed to add "new full length mirror" to the list.
After reviewing my motto, I decided that I would have to apply the "do without" part to this situation. To some it may seem ridiculous - it would only cost about $10 to replace the mirror - but to me, it is the principle of the matter. I am trying to teach myself the discipline I would need if we were in a REAL recession/depression, and could only buy what we NEED.

Living without this mirror is going to be a constant reminder to me, that there are things that I can do without, and I will still be able to get by and be happy.

Our FHE pics...

FHE

We have started having regular Family Home Evening. With Thomas's personality, I knew that we would have to be consistant with him, and so far it is working out pretty great!!!

We sing a song (or several depending on his demands, LOL)
His favorites right now are the "Choose the Right" songs we taught him a few weeks ago with the choose the right lesson, and "Book of Mormon Stories" - he likes Samuel the Lamanite.
Then we pray - for some reason he has been throwing a fit about this, so it takes us a good 5 minutes or so to calm him down, and get him quiet enough to say a quick prayer. This has been improving, but still not good yet.
Then we read a verse from our Book of Mormon about whatever the lesson is - Tyson and I trade off teaching each week.
And then we color a picture of what the lesson was about, and we hang them on the fridge. Thomas LOVES taking last weeks pictures down, and putting up the new ones for the week. I LOVE that all thru the week, he will go to the pictures on the fridge and tell me about the lesson. Really melts my heart.

10 Things About Thomas

I finally decided what to write about
these are things evryone should know about our little "center of attention"

1. Thomas LOVES Lightning McQueen. He can quote the movie. He has so many different Cars toys, and clothes, and even his shoes have to be Lightning.

2. Thomas is a picky eater. Here at home he will only eat:
French Toast (we call it "Sticky Toasty Bread")
Turkey Sandwich
Hot Dog
Blueberries (and blueberry pancakes)
Totinos 3 cheese pizza (no other kind will do)with some pineapple on the side
and he'll eat some fruit like strawberries, once in a while an apple slice or 2, and of course Bananas.

Now when we have gone other places, he will sometimes be curious enough to try new things. He tried a hamburger at Burger King once. He tried Lazana at Grandma Loris. He eats pork chops without even hesitating at Grandma Andersons. He tried my dutchoven potatoes and eggs when we were camping. And he tried strawberry yogurt with Granpa Anderson. But here at home, it's always the same thing... which leads us to #3....

3. He is very particular about doing things the same way all the time. He is sort of outgrowing this, but it's still very prevelant - for instance, when you put on his shoes and socks, he has to be able to hold his socks and shoes first, then you put the first sock on the left foot, then the second sock on the right foot. Then you can put the first shoe on the left, then the second on the right. If you do not do it right - he wil throw a fit.
He used to make me play a flashcard game, where I had to sit in a certain spot on the couch, and say the same things over and over as we looked at the cards.
I am hoping that by the time we move to a new place, that he will be "mature" enough to be ok with that kind of a big change.

4. He Loves going upstairs to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen every day. He loves that she has an icemaker in her fridge, and chomps on ice all the time. He loves that Grandma spoils him, and lets him do whatever he wants. His favorite thing right now is to play in grandpa's room with his hangers and the globe and the computer that are in there.

5. He is a very smart kid. He knows his colors, shapes, alphabet, numbers, and has started to attempt to read things, and loves to write his name - so far he can only write the T on his own, and then says he needs help with the rest.

6. Thomas is left handed. I am finding this is making it more difficult to teach him how to write :(

7. Thomas decided that potty training just wasn't for him. I laugh about this, so that I don't break down and cry. He was doing so well, but has reverted, and I finally have just had to back off and let him wear pullups again, and let him decide if he wants to potty that day, or not. He will still use the potty sometimes (especially anywhere but here at home - he loves going in grandmas bathroom, and at Walmart and other stores).

8. Thomas likes to sing. His favorite song is "life is a Highway" by Rascall Flatts - because it's a "Lightning" song (from the movie Cars).

9. He also likes watching Backyardigans (cuz they sing), and he still even likes to watch "trains" (Thomas and Friends) every now and again.

and 10. he is excited to be a big brother. He likes to tell me about the things he wants to teach Grayson. We went canoing this year, and he says that next year he is going to teach Grayson how to paddle the canoe. He has also said he will teach him how to play basketball, and how to be nice to the animals (Thomas has to be nice to the cats and dog at Grandpa's). It's so cute that he is making these connections. I just hope that after baby Grayson gets here, that the enthusiasm will stay, and the jealousy will not move in.

I know, I know .........

............. I need to update.

I just can't think of much of anything to tell about.
Since I quit my job, and stay home everyday now, and Tyson is now working 6 to 7 days a week, there just isn't much to tell.

"Let's Reminisce!"

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and one of us (Mindy or Tyson) had together. It doesn't matter if you knew us a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty fun to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Bribes

I didn't think bribing Thomas would work (he has an intersting psyche) - but I bought a Timer today. Just a cheap 1 hour timer, and I reset it after every potty break. The first time it went off, he kicked and screamed the whole time, until I broke down and said "if you can go in the potty, you can have 3 M&M's". He was instantly quiet, and got the job done, washed his hands, got his M&M's and all was well. He asked for more, and that was a small battle we had to suffer, but we gently explained that he could have more if he went in the Potty when the timer went off again. So that is the excitment of my day today.

Potty Training

Yep, I know most people hate when all a Stay at Home Mom has to talk about is potty training, but I have found that it is ALL CONSUMING. I guess I spoke too soon when I said Thomas had gotten it down. We have been dealing with accidents for weeks now, and I am not sure what has been the cause of this recession. Tyson and I have spent day and night wracking our brains to why, and what we can do to get him back on track.
I am loosing my sanity, since I am the one home with him every moment of the day, and I have to deal with changes of wardrobe for him about 5 times a day now. Sometimes it's just minutes after we changed him. This is making a TON of laundry for me to do and stay caught up with.
Totally boogles my mind. I am just at a loss for what I need to do, besides putting him back into diapers.

Oh, yeah, and this big boy has decided that he no longer needs his afternoon nap anymore.

The Monkey Party

We had Thomas's birthday party with family on Saturday, and it went very well (except that Thomas didn't want to open his gifts, but we are just going to pretend that didn't happen).
Here are a few pics I wanted to share:

When Halden arrived Thomas was so excited and gave him a big hug.


More Lightning McQueen stuff, how did you know?


Blowing out the candles


Thomas really prefers Icecream.


The Monkey Cup Cakes

Sept 3 - Thomas turned 3

Thomas is 3!!!
I can hardly believe it has been 3 years already.
He is such a big boy. And so smart, and cute, and fun.
We are having a big party for him with family on Sat. but we wanted to make this a special day for him, so we got him a balloon, and let him open the presents that we got for him today.
Everything was Lightning McQueen. A big coloring book, lightning crayons, and Lightning and Sally cars. He was very happy!

A little sad news

I quit my dream job today.
I have worked at Just Bee Scrap'n since January, and LOVED every minute of it.
But with this pregnancy, my scrapping mood has just changed.
I have pretty much boxed up all my scrapping stuff around my house and put it completely out of sight, I cannot even THINK about scrapping. I know it's weird, I blame it on the preg. hormones. I surely hope that I am not in this rut for too long.

Ultrasound today!

It went very well! Up til now all I have had in proof that I was pregnant was the morning sickness, and I got to hear a faint heartbeat twice. So I was so glad to see him moving all around in there and that he was growing just right - he measured at 17 weeks 5 days. I LOVED seeing his little heartbeat, and 10 fingers and 10 toes and his cute little spine!
I thought this would be our one and only ultrasound, since our insurance only covers 1. BUT the Dr. says I have a low lying placenta, so in about 10 weeks I will have to get another one, to see if it has moved or not.
Tyson and I were excited to tell Thomas that he will be getting a brother.

Camping

I should title this "Why do we do these things to ourselves?"

Why do we pack our car as full to the top as possible, leaving just enough room to see out the back window, drive miles away from home to the forest, just to sleep on the hard ground in a cold tent, have to pee behind bushes, put on so much bug spray that we are literally as sticky as a fly trap, and cook our meals on a fire?

The whole time I kept thinking to myself, well you have more than the pioneers did, so stop complaining.
Seriously, I really do love to go camping. Next time though, we are getting an airmattress. Even not being pregnant, I don't think anyone could have slept on the ground that hard without experiencing the excruciating back and hip pain I did.
We were so excited to introduce Thomas to camping. He is such an outdoors boy, we knew he was just going to love it. The first night he just wanted to go back home, to his own bed, for his own usual routine. He finally got settled down and slept ok in his sleepingbag. But the instant he woke up in the morning, he still wanted to go home, again, back to his usual routine. We made him some makeshift NOG, and got him warmed up by a fire, and once everyone else decided to get out of their snuggly beds (10am) he was finally content. Shelly and Jared came up, and later AJ, Jessie, and Zoee too. So Thomas had lots of fun with all his aunts and uncles there.
That night he was much more content. We had him up a little later, he got to watch the fire, and snuggle with his daddy. And when he laid down in his sleepingbag, he was instantly asleep. He kept waking up and telling us to turn the light on, though, so we'd turn on the flashlight for a few minutes til he zonked back out again.
He woke up very happy the next day! I was glad that we had enough days for him stay two nights, one would not have been good enough, and he would have hated his camping experience.
Here are a few shots!







.

It's DONE~

It took about 3 weekends, and lots of (much appreciated) Help, to get it started, but the backyard swingset is all ready. Thomas LOVES it - we thought he liked the slide, but once we got that swing part attatched, he never wanted to get off again.
I think we have a winner!
We can't wait to show off our handywork at Thomas's birthday party (sat sept 6 - all you family peoples, don't forget!)

this weekend

We drove up to Idaho for my cousin Jessica's wedding reception! It was beautiful.

I really wanted to go, because I haven't seen my Nead cousins in a very long time.
The last time I saw Jessica was for a short while when she stopped in Newton with Nancy and Reed and Will. (I think it was last year).
The last time I saw Spencer was when Max (their oldest) was being blessed.(about 6 years ago, I think)
The last time I saw Kelly was at his wedding reception. (I have no idea how many years ago that was - like 8 or something)
And the last time I saw Nichole was when she and Ned came to Newton and taught us how to play Farkle. (again, that was like 12 years ago.)
So it was nice to make an appearance and say "HI, how are you." I didn't get a chance to really talk to anyone, because I was trying to keep my eye on Thomas too much. But I LOVED seeing their kids. I could easily tell who's kids were who's. Spencer's kids look just like him, and Kelly's kids looked just like him.

I knew that Spencer and Kelly were tall, but I forgot just how tall until I was standing right next to Kelly, and he pointed down at my head, as he was telling his wife (who is also quite tall) how I was related to him. I felt very small, so I ended up saying something dumb about how I was pretty sure I am older than Kelly even though he towers over me or something like that.

I wish I had pictures, but I forgot to take my camera (pregnancy makes me sooooo forgetful).

tomorrow morning

Tonight Thomas willingly let me give him a haircut. No fussing, little wiggling, no telling me to stop before I was done.
I did it after his bath, when his hair was wet, so I won't know until morning how it actually turned out.
I think I did a great job, but only dawn can tell.

what's new

The car is finally repaired, and we are going to go pick it up tomorrow. I can't wait to see it "all better". I think it will give me more peace of mind.

I am into the Second Trimester of my pregnancy, but unfortunately I have been feeling sicker and sicker - which I guess could be concidered a good sign, that everything is fine. My next appointment is next Thursday.

Thomas has aced the whole potty training thing this time around! It only took about 2 weeks!! He was finally ready. He loves telling us that he needs to go potty when we are in public places, because he wants to check out their bathrooms. He often doesn't even need to go, such a silly boy.


AJ and Jessica are blessing baby Zoee this sunday! She is such a doll!

DANG DEER

Well, last night we were driving home from Newton - Mom and Dad had babysat Thomas while Tyson and I went to see the new Batman movie - - - and we hit a deer. It ran right in front of us. Thankfully we are all perfectly fine. The deer died on impact. My poor car got quite torn up.




Estimated damage is nearly $2,000. Thank goodness for Insurance!

I wanted to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped us out so I could get the car to the shop and especially mom and dad for letting us use their spare car, so Tyson can get to work all this week.

I feel very blessed, that we were protected, and I am so very grateful. Waking up to my poor crippled car, sure made me appreciate how lucky I am each and everyday.

What a fun day!

Thomas got a crazy idea from watching some show on TV (probably Backyardigans, or Super Why) about riding in a boat -- down a waterfall. He was VERY insistant that that is what he wanted to do. He talked about it all the time. So in our "conversations", I told him that Grandpa Anderson had a boat - a red Canoe, and that maybe Grandpa would let us go for a ride in it. I talked with him about how we would have to wear lifejackets when we rode in the canoe - and when I said it, I put my hands up to my shoulders, gesturing that I was wearing a lifejacket.

From that day on, riding in Grandpa's Red Canoe down the Waterfall, was all that Thomas could talk about. He even loved to mimic my gestures about putting on the lifejackets.

I tried explaining that we could canoe when we go camping in Aug. but that was not good enough for him. He wanted to go immediately. So I called Dad to see when I could make this dream come true for Thomas. LOL.
Yesterday was the day!
The weather was perfect!



Dad hauled the canoe up to Newton Dam for us. He has lifejackets of every size, so we found one to fit each of us.
Now did I mention that I have quite a fear of water?? Well, I do. But I was brave enough to get in that canoe too. I sat in the middle and held Thomas in my lap, Tyson paddled in front, and Nate paddled in the back - Aj was in the back on the second trip. (thanks guys for padding my lazy bum around :D LOL )
Thomas got to hold a small paddle, and he - of course - had to help paddle. He was really good at it. I showed him where to hold the top and the middle and I helped him pull it out of the water each stroke, but he could nearly do it all by himself! What a big boy!
After the canoe ride we played a long the shore. Newton Dam is not the cleanest place - so there was LOTS of mud. I think Thomas could have lived the rest of his days up there - What better combination is there than a little boy, rocks, sticks water and MUD?




The only way I convinced him to finally let us leave (because we were all ready for some lunch) was to tell him that we could go pick strawberries in Grandpa's garden.
We got back to Grandma and Grandpa's and had lunch. By then it was after 3, and Thomas hadn't napped, so before I let him pick strawberries, I made him lay down for some much needed sleep! He had been playing hard all day, and he fell asleep pretty easily. I needed a nap too, so I got to lay there and watch him drift off. It was very sweet.
The instant he woke up, he remembered that I had promised strawberries.
But we needed to do one more thing before we could do that.
My mom had been at work all day, and we were waiting until she got home to let Thomas wear his New Shirt. SO I got him changed and we went downstairs.
At first no one seemed to notice, or they did notice and they just didn't say anything. So Tyson prompted Thomas -- "what does your new shirt say, Thomas?"
And Thomas got to announce "I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER in Febooary"


(didn't get a shot of him IN the shirt, sorry)

Then I finally let him go pick his strawberries. As he picked and ate his strawberries, he would wipe his hands on his New white shirt, and then he continued to get all dirty, pretty much ruining it after only a few minutes of wearing it.
We only found about a dozen (and they were small) and that just did not satisfy him at all. So for the second leg of our day (this is by about 5 pm LOL) we dashed to the nearest grocery store and bought a HUGE bunch of strawberries and then went to Grandma Rochelle's, cuz she was just up the street. She got Thomas's message right away.
We had to wash the strawberries, and Thomas waited anxiously at my knee. He was more than happy to share with Grandma and mom and dad, though, since there were sooooo many!

On the car ride home, Thomas made us listen to the "Highway song" over and over (Sung by Rascall Flatts - from the movie Cars (Lightning McQueen IS Thomas's favorite thing in the world)). We got him in a bath as quick as we could (the water didn't get as muddy as I expected LOL). And he went to sleep almost instantly.

All in all it was a fabulous Day!!!!

More pictures to come!!!!!!