Family Update

I am finally in the single digit countdown until we get to meet our baby girl! I'm just taking it one day at time. We have been extremely busy since March with the house. Stephen has been working nonstop trying to get all the little projects done around the house to get it ready to put on the market. He finished the upstairs bathroom, installed the rest of the windows upstairs, and did a little bit of painting. We are so glad it's all done and we don't have to work anymore! After five years of slowly updating the house we are ready to be done and live in a newer house that we don't have to do any fixing up.

We put the house up for sale a few weeks ago and it sold overnight. we are scheduled to close on the 13th of June! I feel like we have been blessed since then with everything that has happened. Having the house sell that quickly was a HUGE blessing, and only having to show the house for one day so I didn't have to take the boys and my very pregnant self out of the house all the time is another blessing. I only had to take them out twice for a few hours for a weekend. The first time I took them to This is the Place Heritage Park. We spent at least two hours at the the petting farm looking at and petting the animals, and riding ponies; the boys loved it. Zander's favorite part was riding the pony and holding the baby chicks even though his face says otherwise. He was afraid the chick's feet were going to scratch his hand. Lucas's favorite part was milking the cow. He thought that was fun and hilarious squeezing the udder and watching the water come out into the bucket. We rode the train, and played on a big ship, and panned for gold in the stream. Zander found lots of little pieces of gold that he got to keep.

The second day I took the boys to the splash pad for a few hours. They had so much fun! It makes my heart happy to see them playing together so well and laughing. We finished the afternoon with a trip out to lunch and a frozen lemonade. the last couple weeks have been really stressful for everyone with having to keep the house spotless and everything associated with the sale of our home, but also because the boys were having a hard time getting along with each other and listening and obeying mom and dad. But they have been doing much better since then, and I'm pretty sure it all stemmed from mom and dad being stressed out with the house. We are all doing much better and feel like we can let go and relax more now that things have started to finalize on the house.

Since then we have been looking for a new house up north of Salt Lake, and yesterday we found our dream home...well actually two of our dream homes, so we put an offer on each house. We'll see how things play out in the coming week. We are thrilled to have found what we want, and can't wait to move forward and into a new house!

The Good Samaritan

The past two weeks have been incredibly exhausting for both Stephen and I as we have been trying to finish up all the little home repairs, cleaning, and boxing in preparation for our move. There is so much to do inside and outside of the house that I knew I wasn't going to get it all done in time before the photographer came to take pictures. In fact, we had to move our appointment back a few days so we were really ready. Our realtor came by yesterday to see the progress we had made, and said it looked like we got a lot done, but it still needs more work, especially outside with the weeds in the flowerbeds. I already knew that, and kinda hung my head because it was just so much work for one pregnant woman to tackle alone. I had asked the youth in our ward the week before for some help in weeding around the house so I could focus on the inside. I told them I was willing to pay, but no one showed up that week to help.

Last night after a quick rain storm I went outside to get a start on the weeding while Stephen tried to finish painting the windows. Lucas came outside to play in the dirt while I weeded to keep me company. The dirt was hard as concrete. I hadn't been out there for more than 10 minutes when a young man walked up my driveway and asked me if I needed help. I turned to face him but couldn't find any words to say anything, so he asked again, "Do you need some help?" My first reaction was to brush him off and say no because I didn't want to bother him with my monumental task of weeding, but I finally forced the word "yes" out of my mouth. I had never met or seen this boy before. He was about 16 years old and on his way home from wrestling practice as he walked by my house and didn't hesitate to offer help. He lived just a few blocks north of our house.

He sat his backpack on the grass and immediately began pulling weeds. I was dumbfounded and excited that someone saw my need and aided me. We began to chat as we pulled the weeds. I'm not much of a conversationalist, but we had a lot of common interests so it wasn't hard or uncomfortable to work together. He was willing to work all night, but after about an hour and three flowerbeds completed I told him we were done for the night. He seemed to know what he was doing too because he pretty much knew right away which plants were flowers and which ones were weeds without me having to point everything out. He helped me clean up and put my tools away and went to get his backpack to leave. I hurried inside and handed him a $20 bill for his help and kindness. He tried very hard to refuse the money and said what he did wasn't even worth that much, but I explained to him that I had asked others for help and no one came. He had no idea how much he helped me out just by stopping on his way home to offer help to a struggling pregnant mom. He was literally an answer to my prayers in my time of need. Thankfully he took the money and I told him he was welcome back any time to help me finish and he could earn more money. Even if he doesn't return he made a world of a difference and a huge impact on me.

Normally I wouldn't do this, but  I asked him if he was LDS because our ward boundaries just changed and our ward increased by a few blocks north of us, so I was curious if maybe he was going to be new in our ward.  He  said he was not LDS and wondered why I asked. I told him about the boundary changes and that I just wondered if he would be in our ward. Anyway, I am just so impressed with this young man's willingness to serve his neighbors. His parents have raised a great young man, so thank you Ethan for being the answer to my prayer.

I didn't even think I was going to get the first flowerbed done that night especially with how hard the ground was, but with his help we weeded half of the front yard!

Third Trimester

Holy moly! I only have three more months.....ugh, three. more. months. I am 28 weeks, and feel and look like a bloated cow. I have gained more weight in this pregnancy than I did with the boys. In fact, I have already reached my max weight gain, and I STILL have three more months of growing to do! I have never been so big in my life, and I'm really fine with it as long as the baby is healthy, but it is hard to look at myself in the mirror or in pictures. I have averaged around 5-6 lbs a month. That's a lot! And the weird thing is that I haven't been eating abnormally or binged on sugary foods. It's a mystery how I keep gaining so much weight. Other than the weight gain, sciatica, and hip and pelvic floor pain I've been doing pretty well.

Baby girl is not much of a mover in the way of punching and kicking, thank goodness. The boys were so rough kicking me in the ribs and sometimes even getting stuck, but this baby just kinda rolls around and gently kicks....so far. She is sitting really low so when she does pack a punch or a kick now and then she hits my bladder or cervix giving me unholy cramps. Most of my old maternity clothes no longer fit me. Stephen even said I am bigger than I have previously been.

I am extremely excited to be having a girl, but really nervous about being out numbered and out armed especially when going out in public. The boys are excited to have a baby, and they are always trying to lift up my shirt to kiss my belly and talk to baby sister. I think they are going to be good helpers for mom when sister arrives.

Aside from being seven months pregnant we are trying to sell our house and move before baby comes. I think we're hoping to be in a new house within six weeks or so, but there's no telling how well things are going to turn out, and if we don't find a house we'll be in an apartment, most likely. I'm really hoping things will go the way we want them to, but that rarely ever happens, right? So packing and cleaning and weeding are really taking it's toll on my pregnant body. It's been a lot of work so far, and we haven't even moved yet. I think Stephen and I will get a little break from working on the house after this week.

A lot of new changes for our family this year which is exciting, I do like change and everyone needs change in order to grow, so we are definitely looking forward to it.

Baby Shower in a Box

I was pleasantly surprised one day to get a package from Becky. By the time I got around to opening it the boys were napping so I could go through it alone. She was so sweet and sent me a baby shower in a box. There were clothes upon clothes of every size for my baby girl and cute little hair bows she made. I just started bawling as I pulled more out and looked at all the cute outfits. Then I got to the blankets Becky made. She made me three baby blankets! And I love all the prints. I was speechless and still sobbing as I pulled everything out. I couldn't wait to show it all to Stephen when he got home. I seriously, have the BEST sister in the world!!! I don't know how she worked on those blankets and shopped for the clothes being near the end of her third trimester because I can't be in a store for more than 10 minutes before I get tired, let alone do three sewing projects. THANK YOU SISTER!!! I love you!