Color Me Rad

I signed up for this race on a whim thinking it would be really fun. I tried to rally all my neighbor friends to do it with me, but none of my friends run. The one that did couldn’t do it. I decided to go with a few girls who didn’t even run, thinking it would still be way fun to go and walk. One by one people dropped out and sold their tickets and so it was just me and my friend Ashley. She was never a runner, but started like a month before this race. She got so good, so fast! I am so proud of Ashley because she went from nothing to like 10 miles in 6 weeks. This race was only a 5k and we did awesome!

I think our time was like 30-35 minutes, but I am not positive because there are no clocks or timers for this race. We got slowed down by crowds and stopping for color bomb stations, plus half the race was uphill and all wacky I swear. We still managed a fairly good time. I was so lazy and had only been running like 4 or 5 times in the last year basically (prego - then post Owen + laziness) but I did just fine. I guess once you are a runner, it’s way easier to pick back up again.

Clint came as our photographer with the boys and I’m so glad he did! I felt kind of dumb being the subject of a billion photos since I’m usually the one taking them, but we had a blast.

 

28 Years Old

I am in total redecorate the house mode, so on my birthday I shopped all morning for curtains. I ended up getting table runners for my long windows by my back door, and table cloths to use as curtains for my living room. It’s hard to see.. but here are the ones I got.

The table runners were too short so I had to sew a few together, and I also cut the curtain in half and sewed that together. I hate to sew. What a way to spend my afternoon!

Clint came home from work early with these. <3 him.

Then spent a little time putting up the curtain rods for me. (I tried myself and stripped a screw in like a minute flat.) Those frames are my newest craft project. There used to be ugly flower prints in each one and the inner frame was gold. Now they are pictures of my boys being cute. An ugly mirror/candlesticks used to be in that space.

We went to Clint’s indoor soccer game that night. The boys had fun. :)

The next morning (Friday.. which Clint had off work..)  Clint and I painted the kitchen. (I’d been wanting to do this for years.) We are both still sick and we were worse over my birthday. Bode was having fun with the toilet paper we brought down to blow our noses.. as you can see in the picture below. :)

And then Saturday we spent the whole day shopping for a new mattress and a new kitchen table. Both were successes. Bode loved playing around in the mattress store, helping us try out all the different beds. He really liked the sales guy, Barry. We were shocked how cute he was being with him! He normally hates strangers and acts really rude.  The table had a few minor scratches on it so we paid less than half the price. Woo hoo. I was happy to find one we loved with a bench.  We left the house around 11am and got home around 7pm. What a long day! The boys did so great. (Including Clint who hates to shop.) And that is my birthday weekend!

I also bought some clothes for myself! It’s nice to be able to buy pre pregnancy sized jeans. :) Was I spoiled this year or what???? And Clint was feeling guilty he didn’t get me an iPhone (which was a ridiculous price since we aren’t eligible for an upgrade…) Between Christmas this year and my birthday I am one lucky girl.

I love my life and I love my little family. I’m happy to say that I’m starting to love my house too. We have much more to get done, but so far so good. :) Turning 28 isn’t so bad after all. I’m excited for what the next year will bring!

I’m Pregnant!

Ok so everyone knows already. I’m finally getting around to blogging more about it. I feel like we tried to get pregnant FOREVER, but I know that’s not the case. I really do feel for people who suffer with fertility because it’s heart breaking to think you’re pregnant month after month when you’re not. I found out that I was indeed pregnant the day after Christmas. I was so excited! I told Bode and then we sent a little video to Clint at work telling him. He called back right away and was so excited too. Clint has been wanting a baby forever! I was the one who held us back because I wanted to wait until I knew I was ready again. I can’t imagine me with 2 babies to take care of, so I wanted Bode to be a bit older. I really feel like 3 years apart will be perfect for us. I guess we’ll see!

When I first found out I was totally fine. I didn’t feel sick and I was still working out a few times a week. Things were going really well actually until about 9 or 10 weeks along. Then the fatigue set in! All I wanted to do was SLEEP. I was exhausted, well beyond exhausted. It was so crazy for me to be feeling like that because with Bode I had the symptomless pregnancy. I’m not even joking when I say I wasn’t tired, sick, my eating habits didn’t change, I never had to pee more often than normal, I didn’t have soreness, no cravings, I forgot all about being pregnant ALL the time and was jolted back to reality thinking, “Wow, I’m pregnant!” This time around I can never forget about it. For a few months straight poor Bode woke up to breakfast and a movie or two. I could not make myself get off the couch. When I was up and moving around I felt fatigued, weak, dizzy, and then I would start to feel sick. As long as I stayed on the couch I felt fine! Tired, but fine. I’ve felt sick quite a few mornings, but the couch solved everything. As soon as I would lay down I’d feel ok again. A few times I ignored the feelings and did my thing anyway. I was still scheduling hair appointments and I had a few miserable ones. I can hide it ok, especially when I’m behind someone. Those days I got sick. Yuck. I never threw up with Bode or felt nauseous and I really had no idea how bad it was. I just thought pregnant people got sick and threw up and life was good again. I had no idea it’s like you have the flu or something! It was horrible. I’m very lucky that it didn’t happen more than a few times. I got smarter after that and planned nothing from 8-11am. Now that I’m further along I feel great! I still get tired sometimes, but I’m not so weak and dizzy most days. I’m anemic and so I’ve been taking Iron everyday. I thought my prenatal pills with the iron pill were making me sick, but I think it’s helping now.

I usually stay pretty calm when I’m pregnant. With Bode I was oblivious to everything and went along super excited with no cares in the world. I know a lot of women get stressed and overwhelmed with worry for the little baby, but I had none of that! Everyone I ever knew got pregnant and had healthy babies. I was so naive. Bode was born and I felt like we were hit by a bus. Being in the NICU amongst lots of other sick babies for so long I feel like my eyes have been opened up. I really think it’s a miracle for any baby to be born normal and healthy!  I really try not to worry about stuff in my life I have no control over. I didn’t worry about this pregnancy until the day I had an appointment with maternal fetal medicine. They wanted to check for down syndrome, trisomy 18, and spinebifida. I had the same test with Bode, but this time around was different. I was getting ready that morning and I started feeling sick to my stomach. I went along just feeling nervous and uneasy the whole drive to my grandma’s. I dropped Bode off and my grandma B told me everything would be ok and not to worry. I started tearing up. UGH what was the matter with me. I left grams and just started bawling the drive to the hospital. I get there and had to wait 40 min! Talk about torture. I’ve had spotting with this pregnancy (TMI sorry) and so I was worried about that. The ultrasound tech started doing her thing not really saying much. I asked her if she could see a heart beat and she says, “Oh yes! Everything looks great.” Phew, I felt better after that. All the test results came back normal with no concern to think this baby will have any of those issues.

Bode had an abnormal u/s result when he was about 18 weeks along and we never followed up on it! It showed an echogenic bowel, which means it was really bright on the u/s when it should have been dark. It could have been a number of things ranging from nothing was wrong to a whole slew of problems. The genetic counselor strongly urged we do follow up and that she would forward the info to my Dr. Well, my Dr. never really mentioned it and when we asked she seemed like it was nothing to worry about. I’m so glad we didn’t do any follow up! I am happy to have gone through my pregnancy without anything to worry about. I met mothers at the Ronald McDonald house with babies who had the same problems, only they knew something was wrong early on in pregnancy. None of them knew for sure what the problems were until the babies were born. They thought their babies would be severely disabled with lots of other problems than the small bowel atresia. These moms also got HUGE due to the levels of amniotic fluid building up inside of them. I had tons of amniotic fluid, dangerously high levels. We never tested for it though! My belly never got that big, and I delivered 3 weeks early because of it. I had a really great birth story and I know things would have been a lot different had I known what to expect with Bode after the delivery.

My 18 week check up is April 4th (I might be 19 weeks along by then.. we still don’t really know) and I am anxiously awaiting to find out the sex of the baby! I really hope it’s a girl, but I think Bode would have so much fun with a little brother as well. I  hope they don’t find any issues with the baby! I was told that what happened to Bode was a random thing, and we have no reason to think this baby will have it. No matter what happens we’ll be fine and love him/her just the same. It sure changes everything going through an experience like we did. I kind of miss going along with out a care in the world.  

Baby #2 8 weeks long. I know you can’t see much, but it was really neat to see the heart beating along! Bode and Clint came with me to this appointment. I’m glad they did! Bode was all over the place and I had to give lots of blood so I was very thankful Clint kept an eye on Bode. No one knew I was pregnant and everyone was suspicious already, so I didn’t ask anyone to babysit.

Here is baby at 13 weeks along. The tech was trying to measure fluid in the back of the neck and this baby didn’t want anything to do with it! It was moving all around and she could not get what she needed for the longest time! I had to get up and go to the bathroom to see if it would move. Then I had to lay on my side for a few minutes to see if it would move. The girl kept putting tons of pressure on my belly with the thing to try and move it. It was crazy! Then all the sudden it started doing flips in there! It literally did a bunch of somersaults. It was so weird to me to see it moving around so much when I felt nothing!

Ok so this is from the same appointment. I asked the girl to check the sex of the baby because she had been talking earlier about how she could. I didn’t realize you could tell so early on before she mentioned it. Clint was pretty upset I would have her check for that when he wasn’t there. Sorry love! She said it looks like a boy. It’s totally obvious to me it looks like a boy too. She said that when babies are that little it’s easy to mistake a girl for a boy because their girly parts can protrude to look like a boys. She said not to go out and buy boy stuff or tell anyone it was a boy because she had been wrong in the past. This view was still on the TV when the Dr. came in and I had him look at it and tell me what he thought it was. He wouldn’t say a word! He said it’s way too early to see anything and to wait for my sex check u/s. Clint has been calling it buster ever since he saw this picture, but I’m still hoping we could be surprised and it will be a girl!

 

I sent cell pictures to my sister Kelli showing her what I look like. Not like she cares.. haha but I figure she’s not here to see me so what the heck! I was freaking out because at 8 weeks along I felt HUGE. I didn’t show with Bode until like 5 or 6 months so I was really worried this time around I was just going to look like a whale.

8-9 weeks 

(I really hate not knowing for sure. I hope they can give me a for sure due date at my next appointment.)

Don’t look at all the crap behind me! I had just gotten home from Costco and hadn’t put anything away yet.

12-13 weeks

I feel like I looked the same as I did the month before so I was a little relieved.

15-16 weeks

So I was wearing a maternity shirt in this picture. I’m not sure why because I haven’t gained any weight yet and it’s still baggy in the belly! I kind of want a belly already though! Maybe if I could just skip the stage where people don’t know if you’re pregnant or just gaining weight would be great.

Clint thinks when I take pictures of my belly I push it out. He says it doesn’t even show normally. Maybe I do? I don’t know what I look like to other people! Friends: Am I showing? Do these snap shots do the belly justice??  I’m curious because what does Clint know. (j/k love… )

I was telling my sis Kelli ya know how you try to stand up straight and suck in your gut normally? Maybe I’m crazy and people don’t do that normally… but these pics are me letting it all hang out! Why take a picture of nothing.. I kind of want a belly!

 

I’ll be really surprised if anyone reads this all the way through. I’ve already forgotten so much about my last pregnancy I am going to try and document better this time around.

 

Oh and my due date is either August 28th or September 4th. It was Sept 5th at some point. So annoying! I’m either 15 weeks and 3 days or 16 weeks and 3 days.

OH another thing! I felt the baby move for the very first time when I was at a fly fishing film tour with Clint. I thought I had felt it before then but wasn’t sure, but that night I knew. Clint was so stoked and thinks it’s a boy who is destined to fly fish because of where we were.

The Maiden Voyage

Clint has been wanting a drift boat for the longest time! He’s been on many trips with friends that have boats and was constantly researching them out. He searched and searched until he found the boat of his dreams. It was at a dealership in Idaho and he worked it out with the owners for him to buy it in a few months when the weather warmed up and he could get the funds in order. He went back and forth about going in with a friend and ultimately decided that’s what he would do.  They picked it up a few weeks back and yesterday we finally got to try her out! Clint was just giddy all day long. We took it out on Utah Lake, which ended up being a good thing. Clint’s a pretty good rower, but we all got some practice before trying it out on a river. They also found a problem with the size of oar locks, so it’s good they know to fix that before going on an 8 hour float down stream.  Clint’s fly fishing days just got a whole lot better and I’m so happy for my love. He deserves it!

Clint and Josh getting ready to launch her. Isn’t she a beauty!?

Bode was such a great helper.

Bode took along his fishing pole, tackle box, and a HUGE bag of rocks to keep him entertained. He did pretty well. He definitely had his moments and was not happy when we tried to grab his hood or life jacket to keep track of him. It was very nerve wracking to have him in there with us. Maybe I won’t be so worried when the water warms up, but I kept thinking he was going to fall right in! Ahhh! Clint had the highest hopes that Bode would love it and do so well and be a dream on the boat etc etc. I kept trying to remind him that he’s a 2 year old and acts just like one! Clint was kind of bummed it didn’t go as smooth as he had hoped with the buster, but I’m sure he’ll get better as he gets older.

Josh and Ashley ready to go, and Bode with his bag of rocks.

“I’n fishin’ dad!! Yook! One’s comin’ dad! I see it… “ Bode was SO cute fishing away with a hot dog for bait. We didn’t catch any fish! Bode kept at it for the longest time, not deterred. I would have been bored long before Bode, he tried and tried.  On the way home Bode kept saying, “We got skund’ dad.” Yes, we got skunked.

Josh, Ashley, me (My dr. keeps going back and forth on the date so I’m either 15 or 16 weeks prego) Clint, and Bode. (Obviously..)

 

Here’s to many more fishing trips on the newest member of the family!

My 27th Birthday

Birthdays around here are pretty low key. Clint and I buy stuff we want through out the year because neither of us has the patience to wait for any period of time. This last year Clint got me a new computer and a new camera. Both were pretty pricey and with each item he told me, “Ok this is for every holiday, birthday, and anniversary next year combined!” I agreed of course, and every major Holiday etc since I ask for something new. He reminds me of the things I got and I agree I’ve been pretty spoiled. I do the exact same thing to him when his bday comes around so I can’t complain too much. I’ll just wait a few more months and talk him into something else I really *need* and he’ll give in. {Ehem.. external flash!}

So this year for my birthday I went to lunch with some friends, and dinner with my little family. I called Clint to let him know I had to go grocery shopping, but that afterwards Bode and I would head to the restaurant and he could meet us there. He agreed, but didn’t think we’d be as fast as we were apparently. He usually gets off work around 5 and comes home around 6, so 6:00 rolled around and Bode and I were waiting for him at this Hibachi grill place. He wasn’t even close and I thought it was pretty odd. I felt bad because those places fill up a whole table of people at a time and so I couldn’t really wait for him. He said traffic was really bad and that he would hurry. They served the soup, then came the salad. Pretty soon the fire was lit and the Japanese man was cooking up our food. Bode was so scared! We’ve been to this place 3 times with Bode and he had never freaked out like he did for my birthday. He screamed, “Fire is hurtin’ my face! Owie!” He started shaking and begging me to take him home. I was kind of embarrassed, because everyone around us kept looking our way and laughing and saying, “Aww poor kid.” I picked him up and walked him away from the table for a minute while he watched. After a few minutes he was calm enough to go and sit down again. What an ordeal and Clint happened to miss every second of it. The food was just about done when he finally showed up. He told me that he stopped at his sister’s flower shop and that is why he was so late. I felt really bad I didn’t know ahead of time so we would have known to wait for him. Oh well! We had a fun time anyway. I got this lovely card.

And these lovely flowers.

Thanks Clint for making me feel special when I really felt old.

I will have to say the BEST part of my whole birthday was that Clint scratched my back the entire second half of the Jazz game later that night. It wasn’t his usual crappy scratching where his hand barely moves and he gives up after 30 seconds either. It was a wonderful full back kind of scratch. I fell right to sleep! I never fall asleep before midnight because I have serious falling asleep issues, so this was amazing. Thanks love!

Utah State Fair

We ended up spending a ton of money for basically nothing. It was hot, dirty, in a scary part of town.. but Bode did have fun. He was super tired and wouldn’t eat anything so most of the rides he was kind of out of it! He didn’t really smile and laugh like he normally does. Maybe because it was nearly 2 by the time we were done and he usually naps at 12. He didn’t complain or fuss at all though! Clint and I looked at the photography exhibit for a long time and he was such a good little boy just riding in the stroller minding his own business.. well, until the very end. I don’t think we will go next year, but it’s fun spending time together no matter what you do, right?! :)

 

I volunteered to go on this kiddy ride with Bode and I thought it would be a leisurely little car ride and it wasn’t! That thing whipped us so hard around every corner. I had to brace my neck and I couldn’t believe how rough it was! Bode didn’t act like he cared at all. He just sat there, unamused, while I was freaking out.

Bday Party

Bode was invited to his friend’s birthday party last week. Cooper turned 2 and for the party they had 4 wheeler rides! It was so much fun to go for a ride with my little family. Bode loved it and had to try and drive it just like his daddy. It was pretty cute. He was loving the presents and so curious what the party was all about. It’s crazy to think that in 2 months my little baby will be 2 years old!!! Time flies by way too fast.