My plans for the night?

Watching the pirates show from the window of our hotel room at Treasure Island in Las Vegas!

I would have to say I have the best husband in the world.

Big Brother Basket

I got a great tip from my friend Chandler who has 2 girls and is having a little boy ANY DAY! She said that when she had her second child, they put together a big sister basket for the oldest to be able to help when the new baby came along. It had all the supplies for changing diapers in it, along with a treat for helping. I got online and found that Target had a great, cheap basket for us to do the same thing.
While Cody was at preschool yesterday I put it all together for him with wipes, diapers, desitin, lotion, shampoo and powder. When I showed it to him this morning and told him it was his to help change baby Cade's diapers he was so excited!
However, he quickly rearranged things the way HE wanted them and included one of his big police cars for Cade to play with while he is getting his diapers changed.

Check out these 2 cutie pies

Cody, getting ready to go see Scarlett last week. He insisted on putting make-up on to look pretty like Mommy.
And here is princess Scarlett herself! We love her!

Beef Stew

Last night we had a few people over for dinner, and since its been cold and snowing I decided it was time to try to make a beef soup/stew. I don't know what the difference is between the 2. Anyway, I used a recipe from a ward cookbook that looked yummy and then I tweaked it to my liking :)

BEEF STEW

2 lbs-ish beef stew meat
1 med onion diced

Brown meat and onions together in 2 T oil.
add:
2 cups water
1 tsp paprika
1/2 T salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
dash of allspice
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

stir and let simmer for 1.5 hours. (add more water if needed)

add:
4 reg sized cans stewed tomatoes 2-3 cups water and 8 beef bullion cubes. Let simmer for another hour or so.

add:
4 med potatoes
3 large carrots
1 can corn
1 can green beens

bring to a boil and cook for 45 min. or until potatoes and carrots are tender.

This made enough to feed 6 adults with about 2 bowls left over. So... I would say it feeds 8.

I was very pleased with my first attempt at beef soup, even Chris liked it. :)

Sledding

Cody has been begging for us to get him a sled since it started snowing in Utah. We meant to get him one for Christmas but I didn't look hard enough. I finally went yesterday since we got fresh snow and got him his own sled. We haven't taken him to a big hill yet but he had a blast for a few minutes on the small one that Chris created shoveling the driveway.

Sleep schedules

I started reading the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" when my sister in law recommended it. I wanted to read it before I had Cody but like I have said before I was in denial when I was pregnant with Cody so I didn't do much at all to prepare for him. This time, I need to be more prepared. Cody has always had an interesting sleep pattern. I would say that we were fairly selfish with Cody's bedtime. Chris and I don't go to sleep before 11 or 12 so we would keep Cody up til 10:30 or 11 so he would sleep in. I figured he might as well be up while I am up. It was convenient when we wanted to stay out late. He has always taken naps, like 3 hour naps all the way up until last month. When I decided it was time for him to start preschool, I also decided it was time for him to get on a better sleep schedule. We knew we wanted to have him at least sleeping in his own bed consistently before baby #2 arrived. We decided when we moved that that would be a good time to start over. We slacked for a while and then I started reading this book at the same time Cody started preschool. Starting preschool also meant that naps would disappear. He goes M.W.F. from 12-2:30, which doesn't leave a nap time. I started putting Cody to bed around 8 so he would be asleep by 8:30 and he slept the first night straight to 8 am! I was thrilled, the next night he came into our bed at 2:30 and neither of us noticed so he finished the night in our bed. From there, we struggled a little keeping things consistent. Some nights he would fall asleep in our bed and we'd take him to his room, some nights we would move him back into his bed if he came into ours, some nights we wouldn't. So, I decided it was time for some consistency. Now, he goes to bed at 7... that's right... 7 pm. He is asleep by 7:30. We start the bedtime process at 7.
I decided to do this because he wakes up at 7:30 am no matter what time he goes to bed.
As far as him staying in his own bed all night, I won't lie... we have a bribe system going on. It is working for us. He gets 3 pieces of candy every morning that he sleeps in his bed all night. Not like candy bars, these are like 3 good and plenty candies, or 3 sugar babies. He gets super excited about them and its the first thing he asks for when he wakes up. We still have to lay down with him at bed time, but we are hoping to work our way out of that too.
Right now, I am very pleased with the progress we've made. I know Chris doesn't like it very much because he leaves for work at 7:30 and doesn't get home most nights til 7:30 or later so there are days that he doesn't get to see Code at all. And I am not very nice about it when it is bed time, I have to stay strict, not with Cody, with Chris. He likes to play, Cody needs to be asleep but I know he sees how well this is working.

Just yesterday we decided for the first time to give Cody an early afternoon nap so that we could all go to the BYU mens volleyball game that night. Cody took a 2 hour nap and was still half asleep on Chris's lap at the game by 8:15. When we got home he even went to sleep by himself, in his own bed, and stayed in there all night. I just hope this keeps up. He seems to understand that he needs to sleep in his bed now.

I am excited to do it again with Cade. I have learned so much from this book I am reading that I think I will do a better job with keeping a better schedule. It helps to have more than one kids schedule to take in to consideration.

Classic Skate round 1

I say round 1 because I know we'll be going back. I heard about Classic Skate a few weeks ago, that they let the kids ride their scooters around and knew we had to try it. Cody has been riding around on both his scooter and his skateboard inside our house, but I think he was ready for a little more room to roam. He only fell one time on his scooter... mainly because it is a "prescooter" with 3 wheels on the back. He played for 3.5 hours!!! Between the one little bounce house in the corner and his scooter he couldn't get enough of the place. When it was time to go I even tried to bribe him with going to see Daddy at work and he said, "no I want to stay here." Needless to say, a few tears were shed as we exited the building. The pictures didn't turn out great, I am having issues with my new camera. I can't figure the darn thing out!

My favorite moments from the skating ring were:

When I saw Cody charge out of the bounce house clear across the ring from me and briskly walk all the way over to tell me that a boy pushed him. I told him to ask the boy to stop and he said ok and briskly walked his way all the way back. (picture of him walking toward me below) I couldn't stop laughing at how he was walking with purpose!

Not really a favorite moment, but when Chris got home from work tonight I was telling him about our day and how I was almost in tears at points throughout the day because as I watched Cody, all I could see was a big boy. Other than needing help putting his shoes on, he didn't need me anymore. He would have been completely content if I weren't even there. This has become a hard thing for me apparently. Maybe it is the pregnancy hormones, but I seriously had to tell myself to pull it together multiple times. I think its the fact that he has started preschool, moved up to primary and started filling the roll of big brother all at the same time. He is so sweet and always wants to take care of me. *this morning he told me that Daddy told him that he was supposed to take care of Mommy today while Daddy was at work. So, he climbed into my bed and started rubbing my face and asked if he could sing me a song.*

One time I looked over to check on him and he was helping a little girl get the lid off of what I assume was a new lip gloss she had been given for Christmas... I was so proud as I watched how proud he was that he was able to help her.

MY FAVORITE from today was when they did a girls only skate and they played Beyonce's "Single Ladies." Cody knows the song from Alvin and the Chipmunks (we have the soundtrack) and it is definitely the catchiest song on the CD. Cody started jumping up and down and ran to a boy he was playing with and said, "Hey! Its Single Ladies from Alvin!" I wont lie, I was a little embarrassed but got a good giggle out of it too.

my first earthquake

I know after the tragedy in Haiti this probably shouldn't even be posted but I survived my first earthquake a couple weeks ago. I just forgot to record it! Chris was in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl, Melissa was asleep downstairs, Cody was in his bed and Lori was downstairs asleep. I was sitting up in bed when I felt it. I honestly thought maybe Melissa had gotten up to go to the bathroom and tripped on her way back to bed... her room is directly below mine. It was just a small shake, and since I have never been in an earthquake before I didn't know what it was. I read the next morning that is was like a 2.4 or something, right underneath us.

33 week picture

I got a cute new shirt last night on clearance at Kohls thanks to a gift card from Lori, and I did my hair today so I thought I would try to get a "good" pregnant belly shot. One of my other regrets from my first pregnancy. I hid from the camera.

33 weeks

Are we there yet?

Around Christmas and New Years I was thinking... How did 2010 come so fast? Now... I am thinking, is it February yet?

Time is still going relatively fast like yesterday I thought it was the 5th, but it was the 10th but I kind of wish it was February 10th. I am ready for this little guy to be here. More than just the fact that I am uncomfortable and tired because sleep just doesn't happen much anymore. We are ready to start this new journey. I keep walking by Cade's room and wishing there were a baby in there already. My feelings during this 3rd trimester are SO different from when I was in my 3rd trimester with Cody. I was SO not ready to be a mom that I would have to say I was almost in denial the 3rd trimester if not the entire pregnancy. It wasn't until after my water broke, I was sitting in the hospital bed and the nurse told me that I had 24 hours to deliver after my water broke or they would do a C-section and I remember thinking to myself...

"You are having a baby in 24 hours, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!"

I panicked a little.

I also didn't have everything ready when I had Cody. I had ordered Cody's dresser the morning my water broke. I was due June 1st but was fully prepared to not have him til the 14th so when my water broke on May 16th, I got scared. We didn't even put his crib together until after we'd been home from the hospital a couple days.

This time, I am READY! We finished the babies room Saturday, all the clothes are clean and put away. They only things I still have to accomplish is buying a glider/rocking chair (which I found a couple on walmart.com I just hate buying without trying) and I would like to sell my carseat/stroller travel system and get a different one. It wasn't my favorite.

I had a Dr appt today, where they just measured my ever expanding belly. I had a night last week where I thought I might have the baby, so I asked the Dr today if the chances of sending yourself into preterm labor are higher if you delivered early on your first... apparently not! That makes me feel better. As much as I could handle not being pregnant anymore, nothing is worth putting the baby at risk. He did say though that because of the different issues I have been dealing with throughout my pregnancy there is a REALLY good chance I deliver really close to 38 weeks if not a little sooner. but I am not getting my hopes up.

Next check up is in 2 more weeks and then I go weekly after that.

Primary

Cody is officially a Sunbeam at church. He graduated from nursery! YAY! He went right into Primary with no problems, I didn't even get a goodbye. Then the primary president told me that he was in charge of saying a scripture the next week. REALITY CHECK! I have a boy not a baby!

The scripture he shared was supposed to be something related to the 1st article of faith, so we picked Mosiah 4:9. We started practicing on Saturday to make sure he could at least say all the words correctly. It began with, "Believe in God, and that he is..." he has been walking around the house for the last few days saying, "BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE IN GOD" I was so proud of him when it was actually time to get up in front of everyone and say the scripture. He wasn't shy at all, and spoke loud and clear. Next time, we are going to start sooner and see if we can get him to memorize it.

Cade's Room

Yesterday was the most productive Saturday we have had in 4 months. Thank you college football. One of the tasks that was completed was the baby's room. I slowly started working on it at the beginning of the week but when I realized I didn't have a dresser to put most of the clothes in. When we bought furniture for Cody we got the crib and a dresser to match from Walmart.com and have just moved the dresser around with Cody, so its his now. Even though Cody doesn't even technically have a bed still. He sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor with his Spiderman sheets and comforter. That however, is a project for another time. When I realized I didn't have a dresser for Cade's room I started looking online. The crib is black and we wanted a black dresser to match, but black is the most expensive finish so I thought we could buy something used and refinish it ourselves. As I looked on craigslist and ksl.com I realized we were still going to spend anywhere for $100-$150 for a dresser and still have to do all the work so I went to a couple thrift/consignment furniture stores around here. The second one I went into I found a great old dresser for $75 that we could sand and repaint and one that was already refinished just like I would do it for $175. Chris and I talked about it that night and decided with that between his busy work schedule, my inability to do just about anything right now without contractions following, limited garage space and cold weather we decided it might be better to buy something ready to go. I went back two days later to see if they had anything similar for a little less and the one that was originally $175 was marked down to $135 with an additional 10%. I was so excited! I paid $130 total for exactly what I wanted... ready to go, no work involved. Saturday while Chris and Cody cleaned the garage and worked on one of the cars, I unloaded and reorganized baby clothes. I can't believe how many clothes this kid already has. I won't buy one single thing! The only things I can think that I still don't have from when Cody was a baby is a rocking chair or glider and a boppy. I had seen the boppies but didn't realized how helpful they were until other friends told me after I was done nursing.

After the boys were done in the garage, I took a nap :) and they put together the crib. It was super cute, Cody had a blast having a boys day with his Dad. He kept following Chris around saying, "Want to go work on the car Dad?" "Want to go fix Cade's crib Dad?" "Hey Dad, lets go work on the car for a minute!" He was loving it! and while they were working on the projects together Cody had to do everything Chris did.

Here is the finished product: The Crib The Dresser
and the crib 2 hours later... Cody had been bringing toys in that he though baby Cade would enjoy playing with. Stuffed animals, books, cars, toys and a hammer.
He also insisted that we turn the CD player on with lullabies playing.
He is going to be the sweetest big brother.

The Closet:

Top drawer: these are ONLY onsies size newborn to 3-6 months!

and those drawers are DEEP!

Second Drawer: again ONLY sizes newborn to 3-6 months!

The room is not as personalized as I would like it to be, but when its not my house and we don't know how long we'll be here, its hard to make it yours much more that a few pictures on the wall.

Pictures 2009

For one of Chris's Christmas presents this year Cody and I went and took pictures so he would have some updated pictures for his new office. We went down to BYU campus and my cousin Maddi volunteered her services. She did an amazing job.

I am 24 years old and ordering books from the Scholastic Book Order Form for my preschooler.

How did this happen?

I can't believe how big my boy is!

In case you wanted to know, we are getting

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (with the CD),

Alvin and the Chipmunks the squeakquel

and some flash cards for learning sight words.

Baby Scarlett

December 31st was a full day of fun for us! Cody and I got to spend time at the hospital with Marissa and Micah while they waited for baby Scarlett to come. Cody has been so excited to meet her, and as soon as he was able too... he wouldn't go near her. He was so timid with her. eventually he became more comfortable and got to hold her. I was shocked at how long her held her. He wouldn't move a muscle. He just stares at her. Even when he isn't holding her, he has to be somewhere that he can watch what she is doing.