A Happy Home is Filled with Love and Laughter: May 2011

3 weeks left...am I ready?!?

Beej & Chris

Last week started my weekly doctors appointments, signaling that we are almost ready to have this baby. I have just over 3 weeks left till my due date. I have days where I feel braxton hicks contractions or am just feeling uncomfortable and am just ready to not be pregnant anymore, but even then I dont feel ready to have the baby...just ready to not be pregnant again. I have finally come to the conclusion that I dont think I will ever be ready to have this baby. Going from one child to two is just a lot to comprehend and something that you cant really prepare for. And I know it will be the same for the subsequent pregnancies after this one. Kaylee keeps us so busy that as much as I know we are supposed to have this baby boy- I just dont think you ever feel ready for it after the first baby.

At my last doctors appointment at 36 weeks (just under a week ago) I was dilated to a 1 with no effacement, but the head is down. I am glad I was at least dilated, but looking back to my 36 week doctor's appointment with Kaylee and the fact that I was dilated to a 2, 80% effaced and at a -2 station.....dilated to a 1 seems like nothing. But like I said above, I am content right now waiting for a bit before having the baby. I still feel like I have a ton to do to prepare! Honestly the hardest days are when I am feeling those stinkin braxton hicks contractions, because then labor is the only thing on my mind and all I wanna do is have this baby.
Ha ha, don't you love how I go back and forth about being ready to have this baby. One minute I am crying to BJ saying "I am not ready", and the next I am saying how uncomfortable I am and that all I wanna do is go into labor. Dont ya just love the last 4 weeks of pregnancy ladies :)

Kaylee is 15 months old!

Beej & Chris

Here is Kaylee's stats from her 15 month wellness check

Height:31 3/4 inches long 92%

Weight:22 lbs 14 ounces 55%

Head: 18 1/2 inches 75%

Kaylee is tall and skinny and has the cutest personality.

This is Kaylee's new favorite place to hang out. She has figured out how to get onto the kitchen chairs and has fallen off a few times with just one bruise to show for it so far. So we put the chairs under the table so she can't get to them. ha ha- Kaylee quickly discovered that she can get onto the chairs while they are under the table, the only hard part is getting off of them. She will lay across the chairs and then yell for help to get off.

Kaylee running around having fun

Kaylee has never liked wearing bows but she sure does love wearing hats!

Kaylee is very creative and likes to play pretend. Here she is with the oven glove, whisk, and Tupperware cooking up something yummy for daddy.

Kaylee is just growing up so fast and is getting to be a lot of fun. She will answer yes or no to any question and seems to generally understand what you are talking about. Kaylee is a very smart girl and still LOVES playing with Lego's. She will sit and build towers for a good hour by herself.

She is also a pretty picky eater and would love it if we were to heat up her milk every time we give it to her. But to prevent melt downs at places where we are unable to heat up her milk- she only gets her milk warmed up before nap time and before she goes to bed. She just loves her warm milk.

Kaylee also really loves to read books and will point at them and say "book...book". When she goes down to bed I will put a book into her crib and she will read her book to her favorite bear while she listens to primary music until she falls asleep.

Kaylee is also very tender hearted. Last night I was really tired and kind of emotional and Kaylee just came up to me, put her hand on my shoulder and put her face in my face and raised her eyebrow as if she is asking me "are you ok mom?". She then just gave me multiple hugs and kisses. It totally made my night.

Memorial Weekend

Beej & Chris

The Saturday of memorial weekend is usually spent in Lava Hot Springs for the annual Kofoed reunion. This is my great grandma Byingtons family. Not many people can say that they knew their great grandma, but I can! My mom and dad would take us to go visit her and my great grandpa on Sundays. They were a funny couple and I have some fun memories of them that I will always remember.

Kaylee and her cousin Desiree

Kaylee, Desiree and her Grandpa Scott

We attempted to put Kaylee down for a nap while BJ and I went over to the tennis courts to play a few rounds. My parents listened for Kaylee and apparently she never went to sleep and just decided to sit in the play pen and play. Kaylee is like me and sometimes just wants some quiet time for herself. She is such a good girl.

Tennis was a lot of fun! BJ beat me both games, but they were both really close games. And hey- I am 36 1/2 weeks pregnant! Give me some credit ;)

After the reunion is over we (the kids) head over to the pool while my parents go to the graves in Lava. No I wasn't trying to go into labor with playing tennis and then going swimming. Swimming is actually pretty amazing while you are pregnant. My belly is soo light in the pool. It is actually a not so fun reality as I step out of the pool and feel the actual weight of my belly, but it is still so worth it. And can I just say, it is the weirdest feeling having the baby kick while I am swimming. ha ha

Can you find BJ?! It is always hard to take pictures while swimming- since the camera isn't water proof or anything cool like that. But here is proof he was there. BJ went down the "scary" slides and even convinced my little brother (Nathan) to go down with him. BJ then went with Nate and his friend to the hot pools while Kaylee and I got into my parents car and headed to my grandma and grandpa Scott's house in Idaho.

Kaylee kept walking up to this table in my grandparents house so she could smell the fake flowers.

Kaylee really enjoyed playing Lego's with her great grandpa Scott.

Sunday we celebrated my sister Angela's daughter's 1st birthday party at my parents house and had a fun time. BJ convinced my brother Nate to stay the night at our house and run the 5k with him on Monday morning.

So come Monday morning at 7 am, BJ and Nate headed out in the rain and hail to run in the 5 k held by Woods Cross city. They both did a great job and even got free breakfast from it. Kaylee and I joined BJ and Nate at the park for breakfast at around 8 am after Kaylee woke up and I got her all bundled up and ready to go.

Kaylee enjoying her pancakes and milk

I really enjoy memorial weekend and spending that time remembering lost loved ones and enjoying the freedom we have in this Country from all of the hard working military workers, and even more than that- just spending time with family and the loved ones we have here with us now.

Artichokes

Beej & Chris

One of my favorite meals as a child was when we would sit on the floor with a bowl of Miracle Whip and each had our own artichoke to eat. YUMMMMY! We didn't do it very often because artichokes don't go on sale very often and tend to be an expensive meal for a family of 6, so when we had it- it was always a treat.

Well a few weeks ago when we picked up our bountiful basket, we were pleasantly surprised to find 3 artichokes with our vegetables.

*** Side note- for those of you that haven't hard of "bountiful basket" and wanna hear more about it I would be more than happy to pass on the info. It is amazing. You pay $15 and get a crazy amount of fruits and vegetables. Some people sign up every week, some people share their basket, and some sign up every other week (that is us :D ). Along with our artichokes we got the following in our basket (this is what I can remember anyway):

* 6 tomatoes

* Pineapple

* Cantaloupe

* Romaine lettuce

* tray of blueberries

* bag of apples

* 3 onions

* 6 or so corn on the cob

* 3 Mango's

* a few yellow squash

* 2 or 3 cucumbers

BUT back to the artichokes. BJ had only had artichokes on pizza before we were married. So I gladly taught him the fun of eating artichokes leaf by leaf with Miracle Whip, so this was the second time BJ had it but the first time for Kaylee and can I just say SHE LOVED THEM!!!!

For those that don't know the goodness of eating an artichoke leaf by leaf...let me give you the "411" on how to go about doing it at home :)

Step 1: Clean artichokes and clip of the thorn tips on each leaf. Boil artichokes for 20-40 minutes depending on the size of the artichoke. You will know it is done when you can pull off the bottom leaf and it detaches easily.

Step 2: Dip the white end of the artichoke leaf into either melted butter or miracle whip (I like miracle whip). Tightly grip the other end of the petal. Place in mouth, dip side down, and pull through teeth to remove soft, pulpy, delicious portion of the petal. Discard remaining petal.

Continue to eat the artichoke leaf by leaf until you get to the artichoke heart (the best part!)

Step 3: Use a spoon to remove the "fuzzy" part (a.k.a the "choke") that is covering the artichoke heart.

Step 4: Dip the artichoke heart into your desired sauce and eat up! Stop eating when you get to the stem or the more bitter part.

As you can see Kaylee loved eating the artichoke and would carry it around and eat it like an ice cream cone.

5 weeks and counting....

Beej & Chris

34 weeks (the 35 week pictures are below...I just never did a post on 34 weeks so I thought I would attach it along with this one :D)

I am now 35 weeks pregnant and definitely feeling it! I told BJ last night, "this pregnancy is sure kicking my butt!" I know a lot of it has to do with the fact I got pregnant before a year had passed with my first pregnancy and the fact that I am chasing a very outgoing and active 15 month old. Needless to say I have been having a lot... A LOT of braxton hicks contractions the past couple days and they are not the most comfortable to say the least. I just wanna sit in the warm bath all the time but unless Kaylee is napping that is just impossible. I know this because I tried yesterday while she was awake. I shut my bedroom door. Turned on cartoons in our bedroom, gave her milk, and layed out some toys for her to play with while I sat in the bath for a few minutes to help ease the cramping. But all Kaylee wanted to do was get in the bath with me. She gets her little leg up to the side of the tub and can almost pull herself in and out of the tub by herself. After a few attempts and not succeeding. Kaylee got on top of the toilet and tried to jump in the tub. Yes, this is our adventurous daughter I keep telling you about!

35 weeks prego

But back to the pregnancy update. BJ and I have 2 more Lamaze classes left. We took a tour of the hospital last week, as well as talked a lot about back labor. We have both learned a lot in these classes and really enjoy the time we get just the two of us to spend time together. I bought a exercise ball last week that we plan to bring to the hospital to help with back labor if I have problems with that. We also put together a list of songs on the I-pod to listen to if I am up for it. I never know exactly what I will use from the class, but I like having a lot of options that we can turn to if we need them. Even though the braxton hicks contractions are not the most comfortable or enjoyable, they have really helped me to prepare for labor because I take that time to practice some of the Lamaze techniques we have learned in class.

close up belly shot

This belly is getting too big, I think I will hold it up for you. ha ha what am I doing?!

I am totally not ready yet to have the baby but with all the contractions it is on my mind all the time! I have so many things I still want to get done but by the time I have taken care of Kaylee and cleaned up her messes I am exhausted. I pretty much fall asleep on the couch every night around 9:30pm. BJ calls me a night owl if I am up past 10pm.

I went shopping the other day to pick up a few basics for the first few weeks of having the baby (onesies, a blanket, a few newborn outfits etc..), but I still have a few more things to do to be ready. Here is to hoping I will have some energy to get it done soon :)

So, I started this blog post yesterday but was waiting to post it until I had taken a few prego pictures. Anyway- today I was OVERWHELMED with gratitude. I have been stressing out about all that we still needed to buy for our little baby boy that will be joining our family here soon. And today I got a call from my aunt Becky who offered some baby clothes, my friend Nina gave me some clothes and a few swaddle blankets, I got an e-mail from one of BJ's relatives letting us know she had a few baby boy blankets that we had won at the reunion last year that she will be giving us this Sunday, and then a call from BJ's sister telling us she has a box of clothes for us to go through. WOW!!!! I just can't even express how much we appreciate all of our friends and family. BJ and I were talking yesterday about how blessed we feel everyday.

Just last week I was feeling down and overwhelmed and just complaining about everything. Now I look back and think, "what was I thinking?!?" I am sooo blessed. Why is it I have time to complain about all that I don't have and don't have time to really read and study my scriptures or go to the temple? I just hope I can remember this moment and really try to work on my positive attitude and do my best to focus on others instead of myself. When I look back, the times I am the most happy is always when I am serving someone else. I just went visiting teaching this last week and learned so much more from the ladies I teach then they could ever learn from me. Thanks friends for sticking with me, even on my bad days. :)

Here is a quick preview of the "boy" side of the nursery. I finally got the letters done and hung up. This is Kaylee's crib (I just borrowed it to show you what it will look like and to use it to hang up the letters). To go along with the blessings above...we found an amazing deal on a crib that came with a mattress that we ordered for Connor. This way Kaylee can just keep her crib till she is ready to move to a bed. Her crib turns into a toddler bed which makes it even better! Oh and did I mention- the crib we bought ALSO turns into a toddler bed. SWEEEET!

Baby Connor- we are A...L....M....O....S....T ready for you to come join our family. Only 5 more weeks!!!!!!

Kaylee and Mommy Time

Beej & Chris

With the new baby on its way and with me not working right now; Kaylee and I have got to spend a lot of time together!!

Kaylee loves to watch me put on my make up and always tries to get it so she can put it on herself. I usually give her a makeup brush to play with, in which she always brushes her cheeks and hair with it.

Kaylee will take the camera and say "cheese" as she is taking the picture. But this is the face she makes when I am trying to take her picture now a days. She does not want to sit still long enough for me to take a picture anymore. In fact she doesn't like to sit still for anything but cartoons in the morning!

An attempt at taking a picture again ;)

I love this picture. I don't know why we are both making this face, but obviously she gets it from me :)

Last week I decided that it would be fun to go swimming so I gathered our swim stuff and headed out. I texted a few people to come with us, but it was super duper last minute. We left to go swimming a 1/2 hour after I texted them. It was just a spur of the moment kind of thing and even though nobody could come with us. We had a BLAST. I really do enjoy just going and doing things just Kaylee and I.

When we first got to the Bountiful Rec Center and into the swimming area, Kaylee was very apprehensive. She was holding really really tight to me and didn't want me to set her down for anything. We sat in the water for a bit. She watched the kids running around and having fun and then decided it was ok to go exploring herself. The first 20-30 minutes was SOO much fun. We swam together and she was smiling and having the time of her life and then.....she started to get daring. She wanted to swim all by herself. I was standing right next to her at all times and one time she fell and got her face in the water. She was coughing and kind of trying to catch her breath and then looked at me and pulled her hand away and started going out on her own again. I kept trying to hold her hand but she would just pull away. It would have been fine if the water was not very high but even the shallow end was pretty high so she really couldn't go out on her own. Our Kaylee girl is definitely not afraid of anything!

We found some stickers and Kaylee had a lot of fun with them and was entertained for a good 30-40 minutes. I need to take some of these to church with me :)

She is so focused

This was mommy and daddy time. We gave Kaylee an ice cream sand which to eat outside. She kept setting it down on the ground and then picking it up and eating it. It was especially gross when she would set it in the dirt. BJ just laughed and I tried not to watch because it made me sick. ha ha

Kaylee and I also like to go to the Discovery Gateway, going on walks (especially when the destination is the park), kicking a ball outside, and playing with chalk. Kaylee LOVES outside and would be happy if we were out there all day everyday. She grabbed my hand and walked me to the park across the street the other day. She has been able to go on the small slide by herself for a while now. But this last time she walked up to the big curvy slide and before I could catch her she went down on her tummy all by herself. Luckily there was a little girl there that I asked her to catch Kaylee. Even luckier the slide got really slow at the end so she didn't fall off the slide. She did however jump off and landed on her bum. It is probably a good foot drop. She just smiled and hopped back up ready to go down again.

Speaking of Kaylee being daring. She can now get onto the kitchen chairs all by herself. Oh lucky me ;) We sure do have a smart and curious girl on our hands. She
wears me out everyday and some days are harder than others (especially with my growing belly). But I sure do love her and feel blessed to be her mom.

Mother's Day

Beej & Chris

How lucky am I to be a mom to this sweet little girl!!?!

From the time I have been married, BJ has always made me feel special on mother's day even before we had kids. Now that Kaylee is almost 15 months old and we have another baby on the way, mother's day has become more of a reality to me this year. When I stop and think about my life, I just can't believe I will be a mom of two kids under the age of two! I can't believe I have been so blessed to have had Kaylee when we did and even though it is going to be hard, I can't believe how blessed we are to be having a baby boy join our family in a few weeks. Raising kids takes a lot of time and patience but the good days always seem to make the bad days not seem so bad.

BJ started out the day by making me breakfast in bed. He made his "famous pancakes" along with bacon and some orange/strawberry juice that was delicious. He gave me a sweet card and a poem that was framed and signed by the author. This is what it said.....

Superman's Mom
Last week I fought a dragon strong

Then climed to a castle wall.

Too bad I fell from off the roof

Mom's flowers broke my fall.

Yesterday I sailed to sea
With pirates at the door.

Too bad the tub was just too small

To keep the ocean off the floor.

Today I launched a rocket to

The moon for Mom to see.
Too bad the wheel came flying off

And so I skinned my knee.

But mom was there to pick me up

And make me feel alright.

Then sent me out to save the world

And put my cape on tight.

Someday I'll grow and fly away

Little doesn't last for long.

But when I'm big I won't forget

Even superman needs a mom.

by Liz Lemon Swindle

BJ then helped get Kaylee ready for church and watched her all throughout church except for when he had to teach the deacons. After church we came home and put Kaylee down for a nap while BJ and I watched a movie together and just relaxed. We then had a yummy lunch prepared by my amazing husband (ribs cooked in the crock pot, corn on the cob, and sweet potatoes).

After Kaylee woke up and we fed her lunch, we headed over to my mom's house for some pie and to visit for a while. We were there for a few hours and then followed them over to my grandma and grandpa Parker's house. My grandma got an adult tricycle for mother's day from all of her kids (how fun is that!!).

BJ and I then took Kaylee home and played some Wii together before putting Kaylee to bed.

The day was amazing. BJ made me feel so special and told me over and over how much he appreciates all I do as a mom. I feel so blessed to have BJ as a spouse. He never goes a day without asking me how I am and telling me how amazing he thinks I am.

Thank you mom for being such an example to me over the years and for being an amazing mom to all of us kids. I have learned a lot from you!

New Shelves in the Garage

Beej & Chris

One of my favorite qualities of BJ is how organized he is in everything he does (school, work, scouts, and our house). I used to tease him about how he saved all the receipts of the rent we paid while we were living at the U of U apartments. He would staple the receipt and put the month and year above each receipt. I would also find receipts tucked in our dvd's that he had bought years ago. It was really interesting to see how much they cost when he was working at shopko as opposed to how much they cost now. Anyway- BJ has been wanting to organize the garage for awhile now. He got a few supplies for Christmas so as soon as the weather started to warm up and he got a free day, he set out on his project.

BJ spent a few hours outside measuring, marking, and making a layout to what he wanted done in the garage. I was very impressed! Here is the before shot.

BJ e-mailed his dad, brother, and my dad to request more hands on the job. Everyone was able to come except for JC- but I know JC would have been there if he could have because he is always helping us out!! Here is the progress after a few hours of work.

POWER TOOLS! Gotta love it!

My dad and BJ

Everyone took turns cutting the wood. But my brother Nathan was given the title of the "pencil man". They kept breaking the pencil and losing them so he kept a good sharp one on hand at all times :) Good job Nate!

We then had a quick dominoes pizza break. YUMMMY!

Yay- almost finished!

I didn't get a picture of BJ's brother Spencer, but he helped out a lot as well. Not only did he help them with cutting the wood, but he kept Kaylee entertained. Kaylee loves her uncle Spencer. :)