I SWEAR my belly is bigger than this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know if I was doing some serious sucking in or what but I’m telling you my stomach sticks out at least 4 inches further than this picture depicts!!

On a long side note: The shirt I’m wearing is one of the new ones I got from Burlington Coat Factory. I HATE looking for maternity clothes!! My body is so different from anything I find that it gets me depressed and I have been known to cry when trying on maternity pants. However, with that said I swore to myself after I had Hallie that my next pregnancy I would buy more maternity clothes. (We were so flat broke last time that I only bought like 4 things TOTAL) So anyway, this time around I knew I needed to search high and low to get some good clothes so I could feel good about myself. I went to Burlington Coat Factory and low and behold they had several  (4) shirts that fit me and even a pair of shorts. I got all of it for….$60 bucks. For maternity clothes that is steal!!

Like  I said in the last post I dedicated to my 2nd pregnancy- this time around things are so different. I thought about my little Hallie all the time but with this little guy I’m so busy that I have to remind myself to talk to him and enjoy the stage of being pregnant. I’m not able to forget I’m pregnant as often anymore. My belly gets in the way a lot and every time I bend over now I get the sensation to throw up. YUCK!  Hallie still keeps me busier than ever and she still lets her little brother know who’s boss by kicking him and sitting on him all the time!! I swear all of a sudden my stomach is a magnet to her. She is constantly sitting on my belly…which is not comfortable.

At my last midwife appointment I was 9 pounds over my pre pregnancy weight. However… after this past week I’m sure it is much higher than that! The holidays really bring out the sweet tooth in me. My hypnobirthing has been coming along beautifully and I get more excited every day for the birth of my new little guy. (Which is saying a lot if you know my labor story with Hallie!) With hypnobirthing there literally is NO PAIN!!! Yes I will say that again NO PAIN!! When you tense up your uterine muscles can’t naturally do what they need to do. They fight against each other and that causes pain and usually a longer labor. With Hypnobirthing you train yourself to deeply relax so that when surges (contractions) come you let your body do what it needs to do while you are relaxed. It’s not about controlling the pain or checking yourself out mentally so you don’t feel pain. There literally is no pain. Don’t believe me? You should look into it and I will tell you my success story in 3 months. I’m a believer! 🙂

Yesterday my friend Lindsey and I took our kiddos downtown to the Cherry Blossom Festival. It is just another reason why I love spring so much-SO BEAUTIFUL!  It was a nice, yet windy, day and we were able to just go with the flow and relax. (Mind you both of us are pregnant-Lindsey happens to be 36+ weeks)

Hallie being the independent girl that she is. Mom can’t even have her hand on the stroller!!

She LOVES bikes and thinks every one she sees is “Hallie’s”

Lindsey captured this tender spur of the moment kiss. Man I love my little stinker!

Hallie insisted that she throw sticks in the water. (Like 7 of them!)

Cute little Hallie Bug

Hallie and Payson. Payson is 1o months-Hallie is almost 20 months. Notice not much of a size difference.

Hallie and Payson kissing!

Beautiful pictures Lindsey and I managed to take. She’s a much better photographer than I am!!

This is me and Hallie LAST YEAR at the festival. Man how things have changed! She’s so grown up now!

Last weekend Ben and I took the opportunity to go on a date. The Utah Jazz were in town playing the Washington Wizards so we thought it would be fun to support our home team. It was probably the quietest game we have ever been to. (Nothing like the Delta Center) I think there were just as many Jazz fans as there were Wizard fans lol. We bought tickets off of a scalper and ended up getting a really good deal. Once we got inside we found some great upper level seats and enjoyed the game while eating our home made banana muffins instead of an $8 hot dog. (haha gotta love being on a budget!)

And of course what is a blog post without pictures of Hallie. This past Sunday was our Easter service at church because General Conference will be next week. My wonderful mother bought Hallie 4, yes 4, Easter dresses. They are all so beautiful she couldn’t choose. (Guess that’s what happens when you are the only Granddaughter in the family!) Hallie wore my favorite southern bell dress along with matching hat to church and got more compliments than she ever has-which is saying a lot! Once we got home I attempted to hurry and snap some pictures.

Not the best pictures but she just won’t hold still! 🙂

I know the last post was about enjoying the spring. Well along with spring comes the rain. The last couple days it has rained a lot so we have been busy inside. The following pictures are when we made an Easter Sugar Cookie House. As you can see from the pictures Hallie couldn’t stop eating it. Haha Gotta love her!

The finished product. Beautiful isn’t it! As you can see Hallie really enjoyed herself.

Good thing Hallie likes to clean up.

On a different day we went out to play in puddles. It’s funny how you don’t have to teach kids to stomp in puddles they just know. 🙂

This past weekend we had 70 degree weather in Virginia and so we took advantage of it. We went downtown to the tidal basin and rented a paddle boat then we walked around the World War 2 memorial. It was so nice to get some sun!

We love where we live!

I have photos of Hallie that I have been meaning to post (mostly for grandparents sake). All the pictures are pretty random but they are also very cute so I can’t not post them. I am falling more in love with Hallie everyday. She makes me smile and she is all I ever talk about. I can’t help it she is just so funny these days. I love this age that she is at. She has become our little parrot; she repeats everything we say. She is a gabber and talks constantly. We went to the doctor today for a normal checkup and I was excited to finally know her percentiles.

Weight: 22 lbs. 3 oz. 16%  She’s so tiny but yet she is so so strong. We defiantly need to put her in gymnastics soon.

Height: 31 1/2 inches. 37%  Our little shorty, but hey we weren’t expecting anything different.

Head: 46%  She’s got her dad’s big head which she needs to house all those brains. She’s so stinkin smart!

My little cinderella. She loves to help clean the house. On this particular day she insisted that she wear her pretty Christmas dress over her pj’s.

Hallie loves all fruit and can peel her own clementines. Very impressive!!

She constantly says diaper or potty and so we bought a little toilet seat for her to try out. So far she loves it (as you can tell in the picture) but she also never pees in it. She sits down, wipes, and then gets off, flushes and washes her hands. We are still working on the peeing part. 🙂

My mom made us these matching aprons when she was here visiting a while back. Hallie loves helping cook in the kitchen and she always wants us to wear our aprons.

My BF Tiffany came out to visit a couple weeks ago and boy did we love it. I am waiting to get a bunch of pictures from her camera before I blog all about it. Anyway, Hallie loved her and always had to be right by her. Here they are coping recipes.

Another thing Hallie loves to do is watch movies of herself. She is quite the narcissist. 🙂

Something I didn’t get a picture of is Hallie drinking her left over cereal milk right from the bowl. I think it is so cute to see her tip her bowl back and drink from it just like mommy and daddy do. She thinks she is a grown up!

Ahh I just love my Hallie Bug!!

Hallie can finally go to nursery!  She turned 18 months a few weeks ago but because of snow storms canceling church and all of us being sick it wasn’t until yesterday that she was actually able to go. We have been waiting for this day for what seems like forever and yesterday was the beginning of a beautiful thing…NURSERY!  She loved it and we loved it!!! The nursery leaders said: she was an angel, they found a new crayon dumper, and she liked to follow the rowdy boys. I kept peeking in to see what she was doing (she never saw me of course) and she always looked like she was having so much fun. I was so elated! She is such a playful little girl she belongs in nursery. YAY that she can finally go!

Before church I got Hallie all excited to go to by telling her that today she was going to go play with new friends and toys, plus sing songs and eat snacks… it was going to be GREAT. She was so excited she got dressed and did everything I asked. After I got her all dressed up I asked her to stand against the wall so I could take her picture. This is what I got.

BTW: If you look closely you can see one of the two pigtails I put in her hair. Another thing I’m so excited about!

Well I thought it was about time I wrote about this second pregnancy. After all I am half way now! This 2nd time around things have been very different. First of all I was sooo much sicker this time. I got down to a weight that I’ve only dreamed about and never really thought possible. As nice as it was to weigh so little I was miserable being so sick. Shortly after the second trimester hit I started feeling better and was able to start eating again. Unfortunately I took advantage of food and gained back all of the weight plus a couple pounds. (I blame the cruise for most of it!) Plus, I haven’t been good at exercising this time around. I need to be better. I kick myself everyday for not going to the gym. I felt the baby move earlier this time around.I guess I knew what it felt like so it was easier to recognize. Ben also felt the baby much earlier than he did Hallie. He felt the baby kick at my 20 week mark.

So far I feel like this baby is already neglected. Now that I am feeling so much better I often forget I am pregnant. I am so busy with Hallie that I don’t think about the cute baby in my belly constantly like I did when I was pregnant with Hallie. This poor kid already has second child syndrome I’m sure of it. 🙂  I was going to post a picture of my belly but when I did it just looked like I was fat and not pregnant so I decided against it. I’m barely showing at this point. I feel way fat but I’m carrying the baby so low and in my back that my pouch is just starting to get big. I’m sure in the next few weeks I won’t be able to hide the belly any longer.

I officially switched over to the birthing center (where I had Hallie). My insurance makes me see a regular OB for the first trimester and then lets me switch over. It was harder decision this time around. I remember the pain so vividly from Hallie’s labor and delievery that I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it again. However, after much contemplation and prayer I decided to go back to the Birthing Center. I really did love the midwives and how special and comfortable they made me feel. I also love the fact that midwives see birth as natural and not as a medical procedure. I discovered I’m scared of hospitals. I’m scared they won’t follow my birth plan and I’m scared that one medication will lead to the next and before you know it they are telling me I need a c-section. Plus, with my insurance it’s just the luck of the draw which doctor is there when I deliver. Which I’m not a fan of! I like the fact that the birthing center is so comfortable and homey. I like that I have two women who are all about me and my labor. I like the fact that I get to move around without  IV’s and needles or monitors stuck to me. I also like that I get to go home so soon after I have the baby as well. This time I am going to try something called Hypnobirthing. It is a form of meditation that you train yourself on throughout your pregnancy and then perform while in labor. I’m actually really excited about it and most of the fear about labor has already left me. I start my classes in March so I will keep you updated with how it’s all going.

After finding out on Thursday that this baby is a boy it makes sense why this pregnancy seems so different. I’m excited to get a little Ben (although Hallie is pretty much a little Ben in appearance). It will be interesting to see how different Hallie and this new baby boy are. (Hopefully much different newborns!) It’s fun to see how excited Ben is to get a little boy. He jokes that he wants a kid that he can say “shut up” to. (Girls are too sensitive.) I told him that’s what brothers are for not kids. 🙂 He cracks me up.

Well, that was quite the journal entry for me. I guess it’s about time. I’m so grateful I feel so good now. It truly is a blessing. I’m also grateful for the new little man that is going to enter my life in 20 more weeks. 🙂 YAY for being a mom!

I’m the luckiest Mom in the whole world! I get to hang out with this silly little girl all day.

Ahh what an adventure!!!  My parents sure know how to spoil us when it comes to Christmas gifts.  We were able to go on a 7 day western caribbean cruise.

1st let me point out some things that I learned.

• I have amazing parents!! (already knew that one but had to throw it in)
• Never take your kid/kids on a cruise!
• Don’t go on a Carnival cruise (pick a different company)
• Room Service ROCKS!!!
• You don’t have to have a good body to wear a bikini. 🙂
• It’s easy to gain weight when you can eat, eat, eat with no preparation or clean up.  Don’t worry I gained 3 pounds in a week!! Hallie on the other hand decided to go on a purple grape diet and lost weight.
• Weather plays a huge roll in a cruise.

PRE-CRUISE: MIAMI

View from our hotel window. It was too windy to swim dang it!

Memories:

• Ordering pizza and hanging out with my parents.
• Feeling the baby move for the first time that night.
• Thinking my dad was silly for wanting to go out so late and get food for the next day. (We forgot the next day was Sunday. Opps! Dad’s always know best!)
• Seeing a toilet seat on the balcony across from us. I sure hope it was because they were remodeling. wink, wink

DAY 1: BOARDING THE SHIP

The view getting on to the cruise ship.

Me and Hal as the ship was leaving

We called her Hollywood Hallie with those sunglasses on.  So CUTE!!!!

Memories:

• Seeing my Aunt Tammy and Uncle Brett for the first time in a long time. (They went on the cruise as well.)
• Realizing just now many people were going to be on the boat with us.
• Noticing our fake tans really weren’t so tan after all.
• Watching people get drunk of their rocker before the ship even took sail.

DAY 2: ALL DAY AT SEA

Everynight at dinner we chose a starter, main coarse, and dessert. But wait it gets even better than that-you can have as many of each as you want!!

Me and Ben on our formal night.

My amazing parents!

Hallie refused to eat in the dining room so here we are later that night letting her eat in my parents cabin.

Memories:

• Dressing up and getting our picture professionally taken for free. Too bad only the “taking was free” to buy the picture (that turned out super cute btw) cost $22. Too much for me!
• Eating amazing food that I had never tried before.
• Having my parents watch Hallie so Ben and I could go see a show, play air hockey and go dancing. So fun!! Well, until Ben twirled me and showed the room what was under my dress. 🙂

DAY 3:  COZUMEL, MEXICO

First time off the ship.

The above pictures are all of the ancient Mayan ruins. It was awesome! Don’t miss the huge Iguana in the last picture.

The jeep we rented for the day.

Memories:

• My mom and Hallie shopped.
• My dad and Ben and I rented a jeep and went and saw the Mayan ruins. It was about a 30 min drive so we got to tour Cozumel on the way.
• Stopping at some little resturant off the side of the road and eating the best tacos we’ve ever had. I made the mistake of putting their home made salsa on my taco before trying it. I have never eating something so spicy!!!!
• Stopping at a beach and playing for a few minutes.
• Seeing whole families on little scooters going across town. Seriously we saw a family with three little kids and two parents on one little scooter. Hilarious!! Everyone drives scooters in Cozumel.

DAY 4: BELIZE

One of the nicer houses in Belize.

Ben and Hallie on our city tour. Hallie was awful the entire ride. Ahh the stress!

The view leaving Belize.

Our cute little family on the Tender boat bringing us back to the cruise ship.

Memories:

• Experiencing a 3rd world country first hand.
• Being humbled to see the massive poverty. Wow we are blessed to have all we have.
• Passing an LDS church house (didn’t get a picture). It was the nicest building in the city and it had a 12 foot barbed wire fence all around it.
• Telling our tour guide (who was hilarious) that we were Mormons and finding out that he had started reading the Book of Mormon a while ago but had gotten busy. (IF only I had a quarter for every time I heard that on my mission.) I told him to start again. He was such a good guy I hope he does.
• Seeing where the tour guide gets his hair cut.
• Seeing shacks with menus written on the outside wall. (They were restaurants)
• Seeing little kids fill up soda bottles with water that was from the gutter.

DAY 5: ISLA ROATAN  (our favorite)

The view from our breakfast table. GORGEOUS!

The port we docked at.

Ben and my dad left the girls and went scuba diving. They LOVED it!

Another gorgeous view! Roatan is a quiet beautiful place. We are hoping to go back for a future anniversary!

Memories:

• Docking at a different port because of the wind.
• Spending the day with mom, Hallie, aunt Tammy, and uncle Brett
• Seeing the LDS church house surrounded by fence. This time the Church lot even had a huge basketball court.
• Finally swimming in the ocean. Hallie LOVED it- she was laughing the whole time!
• Hallie burying everyone’s feet in the sand.
• Having a million little kids try and sell us things. (Reminded me of slumdog millionaire.)
• Getting sunburned because I didn’t put on sunscreen with the overcast weather.
• My mom and uncle paying a little boy to be me and Hallie’s bodyguard for 15 min while we shopped. He stopped cars for us as we crossed the street, shewed dogs away from us, and helped us with the stroller.
• Eating Iguana!!!! It actually wasn’t bad. It is what they eat a lot of on the Island so I had to try it.

DAY 6: GRAND CAYMAN

The town named HELL. We just had to get our picture!  hahaha

We had to take this picture to depict what Hallie was like on the cruise ship. Don’t ever take kids!

To be continued….