Monday, January 24, 2011
Goodbye Credit Cards!
I am happy to report that after working my tush off at the Remote Encoding Center for the Post Office since April I made the very last payment on credit cards this morning. I won't tell you how much we paid off, but I will tell you how happy I am to be rid of those debts. Now we just have to be able to pay off Weston's student loans and try to save to finish the basement. Here's to many more years at the REC. I wish there was an "easy button" when it came to money and debt.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Mommy, Daddy, Sister, BROTHER
Yeah, I know that I've waited forever to blog about this, but we waited until 13 weeks to tell anyone and then the Christmas craziness came. So, most of you might already know, but we are expecting Ellie's sibling to arrive around May 17th. Right now that makes me 21 weeks or in my fifth month.
Things have been pretty smooth, but I noticed early on that this pregnancy was a little bit different than the first. With Ellie, I never laid down on the couch and felt like if I got up I might die. It seems dramatic, but really I felt horrible. With Ellie, I felt tired and nauseous all day, but this one hit me hard for a few days and then not much since. I still felt nauseous many days all day and gagged an awful lot, but I never have thrown up very much (maybe once or twice). Two days before Halloween I started having awful sharp stabbing pains along the bottom of my stomach when I was doing anything but sitting and after a few weeks of it, my doctor and I figured it must just be "growing pains". In the beginning I was doubled over when they hit, but they gradually got to be less and less painful. I also got a horrible head-to-toe rash that scared me quite a bit. We still have no idea what it was, but I could only take Claritin to clear it up. My face is very dry and itchy and my forehead and hair part are constantly peeling and flaking.
Anyway, sorry for the information overload, but what I was getting at was that I felt like maybe we were having a boy because I feel so different this time.
Well, we decided after long and hard thought that we needed to find out the gender of our little one when it was time. Financially (and other reasons) it made the most sense because we could be prepared with clothes (if a boy) bought on clearance sales instead of having to buy them during the seasons we need them. If the baby is a girl, the seasons for clothing would be perfect because Ellie was born May 29th.We had already had one ultrasound at 11 weeks because my doctor thought I was measuring big for my dates. Weston couldn't come so Ellie and I got to see the baby for the first time. So fun! She is super excited and whenever you ask her if the baby is a boy or girl, she says boy. We weren't sure if she was right or not, but I felt the same way.
December 28th, we headed to our routine-20 week ultrasound.
I would've also loved a sister for Ellie and it would've been perfect to use all those girly clothes again we have in the basement, but I'm so excited we're having a little guy. I wasn't allowed to know much else from the ultrasound like how big he is and if everything is the right size until I talk to my doctor. The tech did say he has chubby little cheeks already. I did notice that Ellie's face in her pics was a lot thinner. :)
Things have been pretty smooth, but I noticed early on that this pregnancy was a little bit different than the first. With Ellie, I never laid down on the couch and felt like if I got up I might die. It seems dramatic, but really I felt horrible. With Ellie, I felt tired and nauseous all day, but this one hit me hard for a few days and then not much since. I still felt nauseous many days all day and gagged an awful lot, but I never have thrown up very much (maybe once or twice). Two days before Halloween I started having awful sharp stabbing pains along the bottom of my stomach when I was doing anything but sitting and after a few weeks of it, my doctor and I figured it must just be "growing pains". In the beginning I was doubled over when they hit, but they gradually got to be less and less painful. I also got a horrible head-to-toe rash that scared me quite a bit. We still have no idea what it was, but I could only take Claritin to clear it up. My face is very dry and itchy and my forehead and hair part are constantly peeling and flaking.
Anyway, sorry for the information overload, but what I was getting at was that I felt like maybe we were having a boy because I feel so different this time.
Well, we decided after long and hard thought that we needed to find out the gender of our little one when it was time. Financially (and other reasons) it made the most sense because we could be prepared with clothes (if a boy) bought on clearance sales instead of having to buy them during the seasons we need them. If the baby is a girl, the seasons for clothing would be perfect because Ellie was born May 29th.We had already had one ultrasound at 11 weeks because my doctor thought I was measuring big for my dates. Weston couldn't come so Ellie and I got to see the baby for the first time. So fun! She is super excited and whenever you ask her if the baby is a boy or girl, she says boy. We weren't sure if she was right or not, but I felt the same way.
December 28th, we headed to our routine-20 week ultrasound.
Sure enough, the ultrasound tech noticed his "boy parts" and we were told "It's a boy!"
Ellie and I were right (Weston never really guessed) and we are all so excited!
I would've also loved a sister for Ellie and it would've been perfect to use all those girly clothes again we have in the basement, but I'm so excited we're having a little guy. I wasn't allowed to know much else from the ultrasound like how big he is and if everything is the right size until I talk to my doctor. The tech did say he has chubby little cheeks already. I did notice that Ellie's face in her pics was a lot thinner. :)I apologize to anyone who may be upset they didn't personally get the word or got it super late, but I'll blog later about what December was like and I'm sure you'll understand. Thank goodness for being off track after Christmas or I would never catch our blog up.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
November in Review
I honestly don't remember much about the last two months of the year, but at least I had pictures from the month of December. So, for journaling purposes I thought I would tell a little of what I can remember from the things written on my calendar from November- with no pictures sorry.
The first week of November, Ellie had her first sleep over at Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson's house. She slept at Weston's family's house for our anniversary this year. My mom came to get her after school because I had parent teacher conferences and I didn't see her until the following evening after parent conferences were over. It was really weird in the morning to not have her running around the house. I was completely alone in my house for the first time since she was born. While with my mom, they watched movies, made Mickey Mouse shaped sugar cookies, and tore apart Grandma's house. She cried for about half of the trip home when we had to leave.
The next week, I was in charge of the Relief Society activity for the month. This is because it was the Visiting Teaching Conference and I am the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. The RS president and I decided it was best not to tell anyone it was about visiting teaching or we would only have ten women show up. Our theme was "Finding Your Happily Ever After" and we had a princess/fairy tale theme. I found this really cute play on-line called "The Sisters Grimm." We had the sisters in our ward act out the parts and it was really comical. It turned out really great and the play was a bit hit.
That same week, I was called as the primary pianist- my dream calling. It was only one week before the primary program, but it turned out perfect. The kids did a great job singing especially.
Of course we had Thanksgiving when everyone else did. We spent this year with the Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson but it was just us and them. We still made the same amount of food so needless to say we ate it several times that week for leftovers.
The next day, Ellie had her 2 year well check-up with Dr. Harris. I realize she was two and a half, but he said to wait until flu season so she could get her flu shot at the same time. Anyway her stats were as follows:
Length/Height- 36 inches/ 3 feet (57% for her age-2 1/2)
Head Circumference- 19 inches (59%)
Weight-27 pounds (37%)
Everyone that meets Ellie says she is SOOOO tall. I think so too, but we also think she may look more dramatically tall because she is so stinkin' skinny. She loves to sing songs like "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", "I am a Child of God", "10 Little Indians", "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", "Once There Was a Snowman", "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", "Hello-Goodbye" by the Beatles, and I know there are more I can't think of right now. Sometimes Weston and I will be talking in the front of the car and she'll start up a song in the back because she's bored. She can count to twelve and tries to count to fifteen. She can recognize her numbers to ten most of the time. She knows all of her colors and tries to sing the ABCs. She loves finding the letters: H, M, O, A, and she can recognize probably half of the alphabet when asked to find them. She is always on the go and slowly getting better about cleaning up after herself.
We helped Grandma Reynolds decorate for Christmas and put up our own Christmas tree and outside lights the Saturday following Thanksgiving. From then on, it was chaos. December was the busiest I think we have ever been.
The first week of November, Ellie had her first sleep over at Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson's house. She slept at Weston's family's house for our anniversary this year. My mom came to get her after school because I had parent teacher conferences and I didn't see her until the following evening after parent conferences were over. It was really weird in the morning to not have her running around the house. I was completely alone in my house for the first time since she was born. While with my mom, they watched movies, made Mickey Mouse shaped sugar cookies, and tore apart Grandma's house. She cried for about half of the trip home when we had to leave.
The next week, I was in charge of the Relief Society activity for the month. This is because it was the Visiting Teaching Conference and I am the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. The RS president and I decided it was best not to tell anyone it was about visiting teaching or we would only have ten women show up. Our theme was "Finding Your Happily Ever After" and we had a princess/fairy tale theme. I found this really cute play on-line called "The Sisters Grimm." We had the sisters in our ward act out the parts and it was really comical. It turned out really great and the play was a bit hit.
That same week, I was called as the primary pianist- my dream calling. It was only one week before the primary program, but it turned out perfect. The kids did a great job singing especially.
Of course we had Thanksgiving when everyone else did. We spent this year with the Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson but it was just us and them. We still made the same amount of food so needless to say we ate it several times that week for leftovers.
The next day, Ellie had her 2 year well check-up with Dr. Harris. I realize she was two and a half, but he said to wait until flu season so she could get her flu shot at the same time. Anyway her stats were as follows:
Length/Height- 36 inches/ 3 feet (57% for her age-2 1/2)
Head Circumference- 19 inches (59%)
Weight-27 pounds (37%)
Everyone that meets Ellie says she is SOOOO tall. I think so too, but we also think she may look more dramatically tall because she is so stinkin' skinny. She loves to sing songs like "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", "I am a Child of God", "10 Little Indians", "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", "Once There Was a Snowman", "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", "Hello-Goodbye" by the Beatles, and I know there are more I can't think of right now. Sometimes Weston and I will be talking in the front of the car and she'll start up a song in the back because she's bored. She can count to twelve and tries to count to fifteen. She can recognize her numbers to ten most of the time. She knows all of her colors and tries to sing the ABCs. She loves finding the letters: H, M, O, A, and she can recognize probably half of the alphabet when asked to find them. She is always on the go and slowly getting better about cleaning up after herself.
We helped Grandma Reynolds decorate for Christmas and put up our own Christmas tree and outside lights the Saturday following Thanksgiving. From then on, it was chaos. December was the busiest I think we have ever been.
Discovery Gateway- October 2010
We had been wanting to take Ellie to Discovery Gateway downtown for quite some time and we decided to use a coupon and go as a family. So, on Columbus Day when Weston had the day off we packed up cameras and headed to a building packed with little kids. All I can say is we must have picked the wrong day. It was crazy there!
First off, we were a little appalled that adults as well as children have to pay an entrance fee and it's the same price for everyone! It was not cheap. Secondly, Ellie couldn't do much without having to wait for other kids to be done. We had to wait so she could use a shopping cart, wait so she could send balls up the tubes, and we waited to longest for some kid to get out of the pilot's seat on the helicopter. I guess I was just annoyed with the moms that didn't tell their kids, "Ok, now let's give someone else a turn." Thirdly, I think Ellie would've enjoyed it more (and probably us too) if we took her next year. It's not that she couldn't do anything, but she didn't understand much and many of the things were for older kids.
Pilot Ellie
Grocery Shopping
Splish-Splashing
Rodeo Princess
First off, we were a little appalled that adults as well as children have to pay an entrance fee and it's the same price for everyone! It was not cheap. Secondly, Ellie couldn't do much without having to wait for other kids to be done. We had to wait so she could use a shopping cart, wait so she could send balls up the tubes, and we waited to longest for some kid to get out of the pilot's seat on the helicopter. I guess I was just annoyed with the moms that didn't tell their kids, "Ok, now let's give someone else a turn." Thirdly, I think Ellie would've enjoyed it more (and probably us too) if we took her next year. It's not that she couldn't do anything, but she didn't understand much and many of the things were for older kids.
I think Ellie enjoyed herself, but we were definitely worn out by the end of our time there. 
Making Cartoons with Daddy
Making Cartoons with Daddy
Pilot Ellie
Grocery Shopping
Splish-Splashing
Rodeo PrincessGardner Village- October 2010
I have wanted to make a family tradition of going to see the witches at Gardner Village. When we've gone in the past, it's in the evening when Weston is done with work so this year it was fun to snap pictures in the sun. Ellie probably had the most fun riding the horse. 
We got a check list to find all of the witches and Ellie would get a cookie from the bakery for a quarter. 
We didn't look around in shops this year. Maybe next year.
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