We Are Here

It has been a whirlwind of a week and things are just getting started.  We made it back to Pittsburgh last Wednesday night.

We somehow managed to get all our stuff to fit back in our car (hooray!), clean the house, say goodbye to lots of friends, and leave Troy by about 3:00 on Monday afternoon.  We drove up to a hotel in Birmingham, swam in the pool, ate dinner, and enjoyed some relaxation.  The next day we drove about 7-8 hours and were able to stay with Jeremy's cousin Lydia in Cincinnati, OH and it was so much fun.  They have 4 kids (that we babysat for a week 6 years ago) who were all grown up and wonderful and it was fun to visit with them after not seeing them for about 5 years.  Jeremy used to work for Eric (Lydia's husband) at his first job in American Fork, so they had a good time catching up.  Eric's been a big mentor for Jeremy ever since Jeremy was a teenager and toured the engineering buildings on BYU campus with Eric - who was then an Engineering student.

The next morning Jeremy went in to work with Eric to check out the factory.  Eric is now the president at that division of L-3 and Jeremy's old boss Mark (also from that first job in Utah) also works there now, so he got to see him too.  It was fun for all. :)  Eli had an absolute blast playing with Lydia's boys Calvin and Jack.  They were 5 and 3 when we babysat them many moons ago and now they're big 11 and 9 year olds and were entertaining my boys with their old trains and legos.  It was great!  We left there around noon and made it to Pittsburgh at about 5:30, then met our dear friends the Arnetts at the park at 6 where they had prepared a delicious dinner of bbq'd hotdogs, veggies, and chips and dip for us.  It was so nice!  And the best part? (aside from seeing our friends of course) The weather was AMAZING!  Very low humidity, cool air, and NO BUGS.  It seriously felt like heaven.  It was so nice after being in the car for several days.  Thank you friends!!

Since then it's been busy busy.  We got our fridge and pantry stocked up, unpacked, and Jeremy started school Monday.  He's already applied to about 4 jobs I think and things are fast-paced already.  Our car died on Monday, got fixed Tuesday, and then Wednesday morning (also Jeremy's bday!) we woke up to the news that my Grandma had passed away.  She was 93 and was ready to go, so it is a happy thing, but it's still always a little sad to lose those we love.  I'll be flying out to California next weekend for the funeral.

So that's what's going on!  It's weird we've only been here a week and I feel like so much has happened already.  That's the way it is here though!  It's nice to be back with our own stuff and with so many friends.  I canNOT get over the absolutely perfect weather.  We keep our windows opened nearly all the time, which is something we NEVER did in Alabama.  It's amazing!!!

This year will be a bit crazy.  Jeremy has 2 night classes that are from 6:30-10:00. Blech!  I feel so bad for him, it sounds miserable.  And he doesn't even start class until 1:30 every day, so it's a totally different schedule than last year.  But we're adjusting and we'll get through it.  The "minis" they call them (like quarters) are only 6 weeks long, so we'll survive.  That's the latest!

And here are some random pictures from everything:

Eli's primary teacher in Troy and his friend Addie.  There were 2 other kids in his class - both girls named Addie. :)

 Sleeping on the drive.  I wished there was more of this...

 Relaxin' in the pool.  Love this kid!

 Cute!

 Kentucky!  It was our first time. :)  We also got to drive through Tennessee.

 Friends!  This was after dinner at the park.  These boys are only 2 weeks apart.

 Post-haircut spray down in the sink!

 Happy Birthday!  We had a great celebration yesterday.  Eli was SO excited all day. :)  And this cake was AWESOME.  Chocolate chiffon cake, sweet chocolate whipped cream filling, dark chocolate ganache, and topped with some chocolate shavings.  Death by chocolate!!!

 Can you tell someone else liked it too?  Hehe.

And last but not least, a picture I found of my Grandma Stephens.  This was in 2009 (when Eli was 6 weeks old!) She was an amazing woman with so many wonderful talents.  She taught me a lot and I love her!

The Details

First off, in case I was not clear enough in the last post, or in case you missed it, I'M PREGNANT!

Here are a few details:

1. I am 13 weeks.  That puts me due the end of February, but I'm just planning on March since I've been late in the past and I am DETERMINED to wait it out as long as I have to this time without being induced.  (Maybe I should plan for April??)  Connor turns 2 the end of March and Eli turns 4 the end of April.
2. Yes, it was a surprise.  Meaning we were preventing (or, we thought we were preventing), and yet we got pregnant.
3. Yes, I was shocked.  When I realized my period was late (and I had been like clockwork), I started to panic for about 5 seconds and then I started listing all the reasons why it might be ok to have a baby now.  I figured if we got pregnant without even trying, there must be a reason.  I tend to think God always has a plan even if we're not informed of it right away. :)  Here was my list:
   1. I would be due right before Jeremy's 2.5 week Spring Break (longest one they've ever had at the school)
   2. I would get my entire 1st trimester over with down here in the South where I wasn't doing much anyway (so if I was sick I could just lay around)
   3. I would also have central AC during my 1st trimester - crucial in the summer
   4. Jeremy would only have one quarter of school left after the baby was born and it should be his easiest one ever - meaning we would have him around more than we probably will for the next 20 years!
4. Yes, we are thrilled!  After listing the reasons why it might be a good thing I found myself worried more that I wasn't pregnant than that I was.  Funny how quickly your mind can change!  Once I took a test and saw the positive result I panicked again for a second at the thought of having three children under the age of four (!), but mostly I was really excited.  And Jeremy of course was too.  :)
5. Yes and No, I have(n't) been sick.  I had a few weeks where I felt pretty yucky all the time, but it's been nothing like it has with the boys.  Who knows what that means?  I got more sick with Connor than I did with Eli, so I thought he was a girl, but you never know.  I have spent half of this pregnancy worrying because I'm not very sick and the other half just really really grateful!  I'm definitely tired a lot and have some other random pregnancy-related symptoms, but overall I've felt really good.  Hooray!

There are a few other things to work out.  We'll have to make sure all three kiddos can fit in the back of our Camry since we won't be able to afford a van until after school.  Anyone have tips for that?  And yes, I'm totally nervous about having THREE kids! That sounds so old and established.  Shouldn't I know what I'm doing by now?  I guess we'll figure it out as we go...

All in all though, I want to say how GRATEFUL I am to be able to bear children.  I am constantly overwhelmed by my blessings and how much I love my family.  I don't know why Heavenly Father allows it to be so hard for some to have children and so easy for others.  I feel guilty sometimes when I think about me getting pregnant in this way when so many of my dear friends have struggled for years to be able to get pregnant for the first time.  I don't know why that happens, but I want you to know that I truly consider it a privilege to be able to have children, and it's not something I take lightly.  I know it is a huge blessing and not one I take for granted.  We are richly blessed and are so excited for this next phase of life.  I am continually reminded that God does know what's best for us and even if His timing isn't our timing, it will all work out in the end.

Thank you for reading and thank you for all your kind comments and support!!!

Our Summer, A Recap

Well, this is it!  Our last week here.  Jeremy's last day is Friday and then we're heading out on Monday.  It's crazy to think our 14 weeks here are over already!  It turned out to be a great summer.  Jeremy's internship was a smashing success, we met some wonderful people we'll miss, the kids had a great time, and I survived!  (More than survived actually - I really enjoyed it).

Here are a few of our highlights.

We....

• Went to the pool approximately 21 times
• Had the missionaries over 6 times
• Went to the Birmingham temple 3 times
• Went to Florida/the beach 2 times
• Got Little Caesar's $5 pizza for dinner too many times (ah, summer)
• Completed swimming lessons (Eli)
• Saw both sets of grandparents and my sister & her family
• Taught 18 lessons at church between the 2 of us (me-8, Jeremy-10!)
• Jeremy went out on visits with the missionaries about 10 times
• Went out on dates without the kids 3 times!
• Had an INCOME for 13.5 weeks - go Jeremy!
• Found out we're unexpectedly expecting Baby #3!!! Surprise!!! :) :)

Brothers

These boys are just warming my heart so much lately.  They have been playing so well together and doing everything together and it makes me so happy to have 2 boys close in age!  They really are best friends.  I love when Eli asks for me to get Connor up if he's napping longer than Eli because he wants to play with him, and I love that Connor wants to do everything Eli does.  Of course they fight a bit and injure each other often, but they are great.  They bring us so much joy!

Things I Will Miss

I was talking to my super awesome sister Heidi today (shout-out!) and she asked me if I'm going to miss anything about our house here in 'Bama.  And the answer is....yes!  I will definitely miss some things.  So I thought I would make a list to put on record that I did, in fact, very much enjoy some things about Alabama. (Not that this is a shock to me, but it might be some).

1. My kitchen.  I have a bajillion times more counterspace, cupboards, and drawers here than in Pittsburgh.  It will be an adjustment again going back.  I have LOVED the space.
2. SPACE!  Speaking of...our house here is twice the square footage as Pittsburgh.  That will be missed.  The boys love running the length of the house over and over and I love sitting on the couch watching them do it. Hehe.
3. Flat, walkable neighborhood.  If you've been to Pittsburgh, you know that it is very hilly and very old.  All the sidewalks are broken and nearly impossible to push a stroller on even if you did have giant muscles to push up the hills.  I've loved being able to walk in our beautiful tree-filled neighborhood.
4. Central AC.  I don't want to talk about.
5. People.  Everyone is so friendly and nice.  We have made some friends and we love our neighbors and we'll be sad to leave them! (But very happy to see our friends in Pittsburgh again!!)
6. Pink bathtub.  It's kind of grown on me.  Ok, so not really at all, I just had to throw that in there. ;)
7. Proximity to everything.  One thing nice about a small town vs. a bigger city is everything is only a few minutes away!
8. Jeremy.  I should just say good-bye to him here, because once we get back I don't think I'll be seeing too much of him until Christmas.  It's been so nice for me and the boys to have him around!

That's all I can think of right now, but it's been a good summer.  Of course there are a few things I won't miss (ahem, cockroaches), but it really has been a pleasant experience. Less than 2 weeks left!  I suppose I should think about packing...

Tank-oo!

So it was a lot harder than I thought to get a decent video of Connor saying some words.  So what did I end up with?  Four videos!  Haha.  None of them are amazing in terms of him talking, but he says at least one thing in all of them and he's just so darn cute I couldn't decide which ones to leave out.

I sure love when kids start to talk.  The only thing he really says at the right time is "Thank you", the others he'll just say randomly or when we ask him to say them.  But it's a start!  It makes it so much easier when kids can just tell you what they want!  His favorite word he started to say this week is "no".  How lovely.  He said it about forty times in Relief Society yesterday as I pulled out everything I could think of to interest him and he just shook his head and said "no" everytime.  Ack!

Here are a few of the things he's been saying more regularly:

• Thank you! ("tank-oo")
• Please
• Bye-bye
• No
• Mama
• More
• All done!
• Yeah & Yea!
• Good job (in some form, although never in the videos, sorry)
• Ball

From Sunday morning - "mama" (sort of), "no", sign for "please"

(Oh, and we had the missionaries over for dinner the night before so that's why our kitchen table was in the living room!)

"thank you" and bugging Eli :)

Okay, this one is not loading :( so I'll try to add it later.

"All done" and waving bye-bye

And this was from last night - "ball", "mama", "please", and "thank you"

And lest you think he is always in his pajamas, the first were taken when he first got up in the morning and the last one was right before bed.  I promise he was dressed in between. :)

Splish Splash

Well, swimming lessons came to an end yesterday.  I have to admit, I'm really sad! (More so than Eli).  It's been really nice to have an activity 3 times a week for the last month.  It wore out the boys so they napped forever after, it got us out in the sunshine getting some exercise, and it was fun.  I think we'll still go back to the pool a couple times a week for the next 2 weeks so we don't go crazy.

I took way too many pictures, but hey, he's my first, and he's never done anything like this so I'm allowed to go overboard.

I love this grin!

 Here he is sort of swimming between the lifeguards.  I think with a couple more weeks he really would have been swimming more.  But his comfort level in the water has totally grown beyond my expectations, so I was thrilled with how the lessons turned out.

Connor was always really good and loved watching Eli.  It sure was hot yesterday though!

 Getting ready to jump!  He was actually jumping in without holding on to their hands, so I was proud of him!

 Splash!

 They also had him push off to them and by the end he was sort of swimming a bit in between.  Here he just came up after going completely under.  You can see the lifeguard is happy with him!

 And swimming back.

 His least favorite part was floating.  I love his face here!  And his pointed toes. Awesome.

So that was it!  Good times. The only thing I didn't get a picture of was him on the shallow ramp.  They would put rings down and he would go under the water to get them.  A big step for this guy!  I can tell he's proud of himself now too. :)

Next up - Connor is starting to talk!  It's the cutest thing.  I've been writing down all the words he's been saying (not that many, but it's still fun) and I want to get a video, so I'll try to do that soon...