official terrible 2 year old

as of april 13th, i officially have a 2 year old. wow. time really does fly.

mason had his well check on the 14th and we are pleased to announce that he is now at the 4 percentile for his weight instead of -5!! wahoo!! as for height and head circumfrance he is still hanging out right in the middle of the pack. he meets all the develop requirements and has cleared both of the autism screenings. our boy is pretty close to perfect :)

as for his party, we kept things small and simple this year. me being about 8 months prego and getting curtis' graduation party ready for may 7th, i just wasnt feeling up anything fancy. curtis' parents ended up not being able to make it and most of my family couldn't come so we had a whopping total of 6 total people...it was good though! we had cake and ice cream then opened presents. we got mason one big present (his bike which he has been asking for for months now) then a few little ones. he also got some presents from both sets of granparents and a few from his aunt carolyn and uncle kyle so he got more than enough! given the fact that we will be moving within the next little while, the less toys, the better!

here is mason with his candy cake. yeah, he has a lame mom.
at least it tasted good!
present time!
he really has been wanting a bike for a while. we didn't get one for christmas since he wouldnt have been able to ride it for another 4 months anyway. he likes it....at least i think he does anyway :)

happy birthday to my sweet, loving, funny, brave, and terrible 2 year old!

busy, busy

it has been a while since i last blogged. apparently i have nothing interesting to say during the winter months. with spring trying to make itself present, it seems our activity list continues to grow. here is a little peek at what has been going on lately.

for our 4 year anniversary, which was march 9th, i gave curtis some tickets to a jazz game. yes, i know they are definitely not on a winning streak right now, but we had been talking about going and since i had no other ideas of what to get him, he got the honor of going to watch the jazz blow the game. we left mason at my mom's house for the night, got to visit my grandparents and our friends, ate a delish dinner at rodizio grill, and enjoyed sleeping in past 7:00. not a bad anniversary date if you ask me!

this past weekend we headed up north again. several of my family members were going to my grandparents for a couple days so we also decided to go. we spent friday night catching up with my family then on saturday we went over to our friends house and had a slumber party. we ate pizza, hung out, sent the kids to bed then watched movies late into the night (i think me and noelle made it to 1...that is late for me). we had so much fun and are so grateful to kurt and noelle for opening up their home to us! we are going to miss our friends SO MUCH when we move!

as for baby, everything is good as usual. we had our 30 week ultrasound a couple weeks ago but it was a little disappointing. nothing is wrong, but this girl is determined not to let us get even the smallest peek at her until she arrives. at mason's 30 week we got such a good picture we knew he was going to look just like curtis. because of the way she was sitting, all we got at this 30 week is a profile picture. oh well. we did see her sucking her thumb and sticking out her tongue which was pretty cute :) she gets the hiccups at least once a day (usually 2 or 3 times) and loves to kick me in the sensitive spots. luckily i havent had the heartburn i did with mason at this point in the pregnancy. as does every pregnant woman, i feel huge. it looks like i have a basketball shoved under my shirt and i waddle like an old woman. i miss my favorite pair of skinny jeans. ugh. i'm just ready for it to be over! 8 (almost 7) weeks left of pregnancy and 13 days left of work. i can do it.

in the next 2 months we have easter, all 3 of our birthdays (soon to be 4!), curtis graduating, baby's arrival and hopefully not too much more! plenty to blog about...maybe i will be able to keep up :)

and the verdict is.....a girl!!

curtis and i have always wanted 2 or 3 boys, then a girl. guess we don't always get what we want :)

the ultrasound tech found the baby's legs right away but our girl was determined not to let anyone have a peek! she kept her legs squished together tight so we decided to do some exploring then come back. the tech did all the usual stuff...checked the heart, measured baby's head, showed us the kidneys and tummy and got some cute pictures of little baby feet. finally the legs spread and boom! there was our girl! :) just to make sure, the tech did another angle and even though we couldn't tell what the heck she was looking at, her remark was "it definitely looks like a girl." i loaded some pictures and i'll try my best to explain what they are. we didn't get a ton of good ones because that baby would not sit still! the tech would go to take a picture and the baby would have already changed positions. i couldn't believe how much she was moving around already!

so this is the top of the baby's head and her feet. she was basically folded in half which the tech found pretty ammusing!

here is her cute litte foot...i count 5 toes :)

and here is the winner! definitely don't see anything there like we did with mason's ultrasound.

so i apologize if none of this makes sense or if it's all over the place....i just thought i would hurry and get this up while it was fresh in my mind. next week is our doctor's appointment so hopefully he doesn't have any bad news to share with us!

christmas 2010

how is 2010 over already? looking ahead it seems as if the year will never come to an end, but looking back you don't know where the time went. as great as 2010 was, we are looking forward to an exciting 2011!

i recently turned in my "do not plan to return for employment with the iron county school district" and 4 months from now i will officially be a stay-at-home-mom! although i sure will miss my 4 hours out of the house everyday, i'm really looking forward to just staying home with the kids. in april mason will be 2! (HOLY COW!!) he is already so smart it makes me sick and i cant even count how many people comment on what a good looking kid he is! in may curtis will be graduating (WAHOO!!). i am so proud of him and seriously couldn't ask for a harder worker husband! he still has his job offer though we still aren't sure where or when we will be moving. we are guessing back east (virginia or new jersey area but hoping for texas!) and it sounds like late summer/early fall will be the departing time. we will know more info in the upcoming months. also in may is baby #2's due date! my tummy is finally starting to protrude and i had pull out the maternity clothes. i have been feeling the baby kick a lot lately which is exciting but they still arent packing a punch big enough for curtis to feel...he is probably tired of me putting his hand on my belly asking if he felt that :) next tuesday we get to find out the gender and we are still hoping for another boy!

those are the big events we are looking forward to and we will keep you posted as more info is available.

now for christmas!

we went and got trees with my family again this year but as a result of snow in the mountains and only ugly trees in the reachable areas, we ended up buying one anyway :)

curtis' family came out from colorado again this year. mason and talia are finally to the age where they play together and enjoy each other's company. they became inseparable and mason was still asking where talia was days after she had already gone home. mason got this tent for christmas and it was one of their favorite toys! he loves to put pillows and blankets in it, lay down and sing songs :)

we got some pretty awesome presents this year (if i must say so myself!) and it didn't even come with a huge price tag! we were really good about shopping sales and didn't buy mason more presents than we thought necessary (although between his aunt and uncle and grandparents from both sides he ended up getting spoiled anyway!) curtis got a blu-ray player and long board as his big presents and i got a kindle which i'm pretty much in love with!

on christmas eve we got to talk to my brother who is on a mission in mexico. it sounds like he is really enjoying it down there and he got his first baptism on christmas day! (i guess in mexico christmas eve is a bigger deal than the actual day) he sounds so grown up and even though he has only been down there for a couple of months, he is already picking up an accent :)

it was great to be able to see both of our families this year as next year we will probably be too far away to see any of them!

these next pictures are just some randoms that i love! talia's birthday is on the 27th so we had a little cake and ice cream party and opened presents. mason got his cupcake and ice cream all over and i couldn't resist snapping a couple of pictures!

so long skinny jeans...at least for now

i had forgotten how much i hate being pregnant until about a month ago. as i sat on the bathroom floor for the hundredth time that day i asked myself "what the heck was i thinking?!" i haven't even had the dang kid yet and it's already way harder than i ever imagined. i swear my last pregnancy wasn't this bad but i guess that could be for several reasons.


a. it's possible that it really wasn't as bad as this one has been

or

b. maybe it was this bad but since i didn't have a toddler to chase after i was able to spend my days on the couch or in bed

whatever the reason, it's miserable! at 8 weeks i was barely weighing in at 90 pounds, work was becoming a nightmare, and i was totally slacking off on my responsibilities as a wife and mother. after leaving work early one day i decided to call the doctor and see if there was any relief. my doctor put me on a prescription for nausea and vomiting and after the first dose i noticed HUGE difference! the next day at work everyone could tell i was feeling better. i still have my bad days but for the most part it's just normal morning sickness instead of feeling like i have the flu all day. luckily mason has been really good and just kinda rolls with the fact that "mama's sick" and can't play with him all the time. he is an excellent support group in the bathroom too whether i want him there or not :)

now i have officially reached the 10 week mark which means we finally got to go to the doctor today!! here is what we found out about our little baby #2.

our doctors office is starting this new thing where they put in all your information in at the office, then you can go home and view everything online. it tracks your weight (my starting is 94!), your baby's progress, the doctor can send you emails to remind you what was discussed at the appointment and it also does about a half million other very helpful things! they can also upload ultrasound pictures so you can share them with family that live far away. anyway, it is pretty cool. after we went over that info, we got our first ultrasound! the doctor said that baby has a really strong heartbeat and he is already moving around like crazy! pretty sure i didn't see mason moving this early. so, here is the first glimpse of our next bundle of joy due may 28, 2011!!

it's a boy! just kidding!! but there is something done there and we are really hoping that it sticks around :)

minus the nausea, everything seems to be going great and it's so much more comforting to see the baby and know he has a good heartbeat. our next appointment is in 5 weeks and i will be sure to update everyone with info as it comes!

this is halloween!!

i didn't know if halloween was going to happen for us this year since i have been feeling so crummy, but luckily i was up to the challenge that day! we started out with dinner at my parents house, then headed around their block. mason insisted walking completely by himself, dragging his candy bag behind. it took us a while to get around to all the houses because mason would become side tracked with everything; grass, bushes, flowers, you name it. after we finally finished up that route, we went up to leigh hill to visit curtis' aunt and uncle for homemade doughnuts. we made a round of houses up there as well, coming home with quite the loot! i had so much fun dressing up with mason and can't wait to do it again in the years to come!

fall!

not much has been happening lately but the next year is going to be so crazy that i'll be surprised if i get to blog about it all! i have been working for about a month now and as usual i am loving it! i am in the same classroom that i was in last year and it has been so much less stressful already knowing the teacher and routine. we have such a great class this year and it has been so much fun getting to know all the students. kindergarten is such a fun age and it's hilarious that these kids aren't afraid to say what's on their mind! on thursday i was the sub for the morning class and it was quite the experience! the morning class has such a different personality than the afternoon class that i'm used to but luckily it didn't go nearly as bad as it could have (i only had to send 2 kids to the principal which is a good day for that class!) this year i am also working some extra hours as a lunch aide. i watch the kids at recess then take them to the lunch room when it is their turn (they have recess first, then eat). i haven't had reason to complain yet but once it starts snowing i might be thinking twice about my decision to take that job :)

in a couple months curtis' mom will probably be moving in with us. most of you know that the house we live in presently is actually owned by my in laws...we are just renting from them. right now they are paying $1200 dollars in rent for their apartment in colorado plus the mortgage on this house. with her moving in here and curtis' dad moving in with some relatives for the time being, that will save them quite a bit of money every month and it will also hopefully cut our rent a little too. it will be nice to have her help once spring comes :)

a few months after that curtis will be graduating!! he changed his major from accounting to business management without any delay to his degree. he was told he could have a job with a company, we just aren't sure where they are going to send us. no matter what, it sounds as if we will be pretty far away from our family. i have never lived anywhere but cedar, and never lived in another city than my family. wow. it makes me want to cry thinking about it. its going to be so hard on me but i think it will be a great experience at the same time.

mason is growing like a weed and has the vocabulary of a 3 year old :) he picks up every single word he hears and i can basically have whole conversations with him! lately he has become absolutely obsessed with elmo. we have three elmo videos and i am sick of them all!!!! he can sing all the songs and do all the actions and i hate hearing about elmo all day! ah, parenthood :) next month he will be 1 1/2 and going to nursery. CRAZY!

last weekend our usual gang of friends headed up to our cabin for a couples retreat. we all left our kids at their grandparents house for the night and enjoyed the chance to spend time together without kids screaming and fighting. it was so much fun!! we ate a ton of junk food, got to sleep in past 7 a.m. and we could just take off without worrying where the kids were. the boys played nintendo, went 4 wheeling, and did "guy" stuff while the girls made cute hair thingys and noelle did a photo shoot of cheryl. we have the best friends ever and that makes it all the more harder to leave. we all get along, we can talk about anything and everything, and our kids are the same age. i am going to miss you guys so much! :( maybe we should go on that cruise once a year :)

anyway that is it for now. more to come soon!