So Blessed

Last Sunday, when Truman was only seven days old, we took him to church to have him blessed. We didn't bless Audrey until she was seven weeks old. But with Truman we didn't want to ask my parents to fly back up to Washington during the busy and expensive holiday season. So we decided to bless him while they were still in town.

Matt gave Truman his baby blessing and both grandfathers and some friends were able to participate as well. It was a beautiful blessing. Once again, I am so grateful to have the husband I have.

Some of the men who participated in Truman's blessing. Matt with Truman, Glade, my dad, Sterling, and Todd. Missing from the picture are Phil and Bishop Fraizer.

A picture of all of the family that was able to attend. We were especially glad to have my sister Peggy and Matt's sister Missy there.

All four of us.

The proud papa with his boy.

Truman and his mama.

These pictures aren't the greatest, but try getting a week old baby to cooperate. I wanted to get some better shots of his beautiful blessing outfit. Thanks again Mom! He looked so cute!

Our Boy

Our baby boy is now 11 days old, and though I'm still sleep-deprived, I thought I had better get some more pictures posted. So here are some pictures of our newest family member.

Just seconds old.


My two boys.

Our little family. This is the only picture of me without make-up that I will post. I had great intentions of fixing my hair and putting on make-up in the hospital, but I never did.

We were fortunate that my parents were able to be here for Truman's birth. They took care of Audrey and helped us with everything. Thanks Mom and Dad! Truman is grandchild #24 on my side--11 boys and 13 girls.

We were relieved that Audrey was just as enthusiastic about "her baby" after he was born as she was while he was still in my tummy. When we called home to tell my parents that he had arrived I talked to Audrey. I told her that her little brother was here and that he was born. She very excitedly said to my mom, "Grandma, my baby born! He not in Mama's tummy anymore! He born!" I don't think I've ever heard her little voice sound so excited.

Misty and Dallin came to visit us in the hospital. Dallin is a month and a week older than Truman. I'm sure they'll be great friends!

Truman all dressed up and ready to go home!

I have the best husband ever. I have vivid memories of picking out blue and pink carnation arrangements for my sisters when I was little and they were having babies. I remember taking them flowers in the hospital and seeing my new nephew or niece in the nursery. Things are a little different now, but I still think everyone who has a baby should get flowers in the hospital. Matt tried his best to have these delivered before we left, but they let us out sooner than we expected so he had to call and have them delivered to our house. They were beautiful and so sweet of my wonderful husband.

The "big sisser" and her baby brother.

Tiny red feet. Truman is the reddest little baby. He's finally starting to lose some of it now. He also had really dry, crackly skin so we've been moisturizing like crazy.

Our family picture.

Truman at three days. It's amazing and sad to think that soon he'll fill up that carseat.

So sleepy.

We were so glad that Truman's Aunt Peggy was able to come up for a few days. We wish everyone had been able to come to meet our little guy. Thanks for coming Peggy! We miss you!

Truman with Grandpa. So cute!

Truman Glade Holyoak

Truman Glade Holyoak

Born at 9:45am on 11/08/09
9lbs 9oz
20.9 inches

39 Weeks, 4 Days

I am 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant today. I am due on Sunday. My parents are on their way from the airport to our house right now. My back aches, I have Braxton-Hicks contractions anytime I walk anywhere, this baby does headstands on my bladder, I don't sleep well, I need a nap by lunchtime, I am impatient, I am huge, and I have a standing date with Pepcid every evening when my heartburn flares up. I am slow, tired, and overwhelmed with everything going on in our lives right now. Sometimes I wonder how in the world I am going to manage another baby when I feel like I can barely manage Audrey.

And yet, I am excited to meet this new little person who I've been told will be bigger than I hoped.

I'm having a hard time believing that it's about time for this baby to arrive. When we found out I was pregnant it seemed like November was forever away. Audrey was still only one. It was winter. Matt was still 30. And now suddenly he could arrive at any time.

Audrey is so cute about the baby. When we first started talking to her about having a baby and asking if she wanted one she would yell, "NO!" And that would be the end of it. She has since warmed up to the idea and is really excited now. She talks about him and to him all the time. She hugs my belly and pats it and will tell me the baby is, "noozing," (snoozing) or kicking. She will shake her little finger and say, "Don't kick, baby. People don't like that. No, no." I had to explain that it's ok for babies to kick because that's how they exercise since they can't walk.

She talks about how he will be tiny and that she will take care of him. If we ever mention doing something she is always quick to include him by saying, "and baby." Whenever she says baby she says, "baaaaaay-be." It's really cute and she does it everytime. She says he will be "yucky" (lucky) because he has her for a big sister. She talks about sharing her books and toys and Halloween candy and that he will wear clothes. And probably 15 times a day she pats my stomach and says, "I lud'you, baaaaaaay-be," or "I lud'you little baaaaaaaay-be."

This makes me so happy. He is going to be a lucky boy to have a big sister who loves him so much even before she has met him.

In preparation for the baby, yesterday I painted my toes one last time. It was no small feat (no pun intended). I also decided that it was time for Audrey to get her first pedicure. She's so little and I don't want her to grow up too fast so I have resisted the urge to paint her little toes until now. But she has started talking about my pink toes and Macy's pink toes and how hers are white. She never said she wanted pink toes, but when I asked her if she would like them, she said yes. I also thought it might be a nice thing for us to do together before the baby comes.

After I painted her toes she wanted her fingers painted too. So I went ahead and painted them even though I kind of didn't want to. Her little hands look so grown up now! I am heartened by the fact that after I painted her fingers she told me she didn't like it. She said she doesn't like dark pink, she likes light pink. I guess I'll have to put lighter polish on her next time. I have one you can barely see but I thought she'd want something that was more obviously pink. But I think her little fingers and toes look awfully cute.

I realize that this post is a little disjointed. I just have so many things going through my mind right now and I wanted to get some of them down before my mind is a fog of exhaustion and changing hormones and before I forget everything.

New House

This is a hard post for me. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it still doesn't quite seem real or maybe it's because I'm a little anxious about this big step we're taking.

When Matt and I got married I almost immediately started wanting a house. I knew we couldn't buy one and that we probably shouldn't buy one until we knew where we'd be living after law school. But I wanted a house. A year after we got married we were in Utah and I was having lunch with some of my teacher friends. Annette asked me if I was baby hungry yet. I replied with an emphatic NO and told her that I was house hungry though. In Houston Matt and I would drive around different neighborhoods and look at all the beautiful homes. I would spend hours on har.com looking at home listings. And for the short time we had some cable channels I was addicted to HGTV.

And yet, I was patient. After Matt graduated and we moved to Washington I was crushed to see how different the housing market is up here. In Texas homes are extremely affordable. Up here, not so much. We knew it would take us a little while to buy a home, but in all honesty, it has taken much longer than either of us thought.

So after six and a half years of marriage and house searching for longer than I care to admit, I am happy to announce that we have FINALLY bought a house. It is currently being built and is supposed to be finished by the end of the month. It is a three bedroom, two and a half bath house and is costing more (almost double) than I ever thought we would ever spend on a first home (I'm still kind of in Texas price mode). For many people it may not seem expensive, but it is expensive for me. It is definitely a small starter home. The yard is the size of a postage stamp but is at least big enough that our kids will have a place to play. But it is a cute house and will be ours and we are thrilled!

So I know that these pictures probably won't be very exciting to you, but this blog is my only form of scrapbooking so I'm including them for us. Here is the saga, in pictures, of our home construction, so far.

This is a picture of our empty lot taken on 9/30.

A soggy foundation! Taken 10/17. (I think it's weird that they don't do solid slab foundations here. Maybe my nephew Josh knows why?)

Starting to build on 10/24.

Framing on 10/28!

Our house today (above and below) 11/5. We have siding on three sides, windows, and a shingled roof.

Our house is in a cute little neighborhood with sidewalks and streetlights and playgrounds (some of you would be surprised at how rare those things are here, especially in older neighborhoods, but even in some of the newer ones). As far as church is concerened, we are only moving a couple of blocks but we will be in a different ward and stake. We are sad about this because we love our ward. We will also be in a different school district, reputedly the best one in the area, and Audrey will get to go to a great elementary school. These things make me happy and have helped to calm some of my worries about buying such an expensive little house. When all is said and done, we really are so excited to finally be buying our first home!

This is Halloween!

Our Halloween festivities started about a week before the actual holiday this year. I love Halloween. Maybe it's because I love Fall. Maybe it's dressing up. Maybe it's free candy. Or maybe it's because it's the first big holiday and kicks off the big holiday season. I guess it doesn't really matter why I love it. I just do. And we had a great one this year.

The Monday before Halloween we carved our Jack-o-lantern for Family Home Evening. Audrey wanted a "pooky" (spooky) one so we obliged. She liked playing in the guts last year and had a great time helping us remove them this year.

Here she is "melling" (smelling) our pumpkin.

The finished product.

On Thursday Audrey's preschool class had their Halloween party. The kids were so cute! Audrey was so excited to dress up as a beautiful butterfly. Here is a picture of most of her class.

For her snack Audrey chose a chocolate pumpkin cookie. Yum!

On Friday we were off to the library for a "Not-so-spooky storytime" and trick-or-treating.

Audrey has gotten to trick-or-treat every year, but this was the first time she really understood what was going on. She loved it!

At the library there was a photographer from the local paper snapping pictures of the kids. Audrey landed her first front-page picture with this shot! Although they did incorrectly identify her as a fairy instead of a butterfly. (She had butterfly clips in her hair and on her tutu.)

After our library adventure we went to visit Matt at work and go to lunch together.

I love this picture of Audrey standing out on the dock at Matt's office.

Finally, the big day arrived. On Halloween we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat.

Audrey and cousins. Such cute little winged creatures!

Audrey won the cake walk, twice, and was awarded with cupcakes she quickly devoured. She and Lilly look a little stunned in this picture, but they were really cute. Lilly was Blue and her big brother was Steve from Blue's Clues.

We finished off our night with a pizza and some Halloween candy. After the Munch was in bed some friends came over and we played games. It was a great Halloween! In fact, Audrey is still talking about it. She keeps asking us what we are going to be for Halloween and telling us what baby will be. So cute. I'm so glad we have her.