the home stretch!

I only have 4 weeks to go... yahoo! Here is my tummy at 36 weeks! (Why do I feel so monstrously huge when in pictures I only look big??) I wish I had some pictures of me pregnant with Gabe to compare. Oh well. I think I'm about the same although I weigh as much now as I did with Gabe at 41 weeks... uh oh! :) I am getting so excited to meet my little darling. I'm really getting into that baby mode where I imagine cuddling and kissing and nursing my new baby and her smell and the feel of her little body in my arms and all the wonderful things about having a newborn. It's great because up until now I've been more concerned about knowing that I'll have no sleep for months and juggling 2 children, etc. Haha! Nature sure has it's ways of getting us ready for these little ones. I even feel softer inside, emotionally - do you know what I mean? Anyway, the big day is getting close...there is a light at the end of the long, dark, pregnancy tunnel! I'm just kidding (kind of). I know I'll miss the feel of her inside me for a little bit but I'm getting more excited to have her on the outside!!

catch up!

Hey everyone! It has been an absolutely crazy past 2 weeks but I am back online and ready to go! We are in our new, beautiful home and we are so happy! Even though I am stepping over boxes where ever I turn, it still feels great to be "home"! Unfortunately it has been a lot more than just unpacking and setting up internet, tv, energy, garbage (you know, all the annoying things you have to spend hours on the phone dealing with)... Gabe needed all new furniture since someone is taking over his stuff in a few weeks! So we have been shopping and he has a big boy bunk bed just waiting to be set up in his new room! Our little baby doll is going to need a whole bunch of girly stuff too so I'm set to go shopping, shopping, shopping in the next few weeks. Eric is thrilled, let me tell ya! :) But first things first... I've got to unpack a few more boxes. Once things get cleared up around here I will take lots of pictures of our home to share with you all. Maybe we will have a housewarming party... wish all you Utahns could come!

There are a few things I want to catch up with on. They were too cute not to share...

XOXOXO from Utah

Mom and Dad sent us the cutest package for Valentines. It came at just the right time too - I was up to my eyeballs in packing for our move and more than a little overwhelmed. Well, this sweet box full of treats and family love made Gabe and I super happy! He was SOOOO excited about the Thomas the Train movie... and the suckers! Haha - what a cutie pie! Thank you Mom and Dad - we sure love you!!

Grandma Cheryl (Eric's mom) also sent us a package that just arrived today. Gabe was ecstatic to be getting more surprises! He loved the train James (he has a real obsession with trains right now) and was so absorbed that he didn't even ask to watch a movie all afternoon and evening. Wow! :) Thanks Cheryl!!

Mmmmmmmm!

(This was so funny, I had to document it with pictures and all on our blog!) My friend brought over a some treats one day and Gabe and I enjoyed one each -yum! Then we covered them up (after I explained to Gabe that they would dry out if we didn't) and left them on the counter. Well, we both went about our business of packing and playing... after a while I came back in the kitchen to find this:

...the remains of our large plate of treats on the counter, missing it's tin foil and with a chair pulled up next to the counter. Note that each piece that was left over has at least one bite out of it and some have all the frosting missing. Those with frosting that survived were suspiciously wet... perhaps from a little licking?! Gabe was innocently playing with his toys on the floor. Hmmmmm.... I just busted up laughing - I could not believe he could eat that much! Of course I tried to keep a straight face and ask him what happened to our goodies. Well, he ran over and climbed onto the chair and explained to me that they were "not dry anymore, Mommy - not dry anymore" (referring to my explanation of why they had needed to be covered). No, they definitely weren't!! That got me laughing again. It was so funny! He certainly got his quota of sugar for the week (perhaps month) in one sitting! :)

(Here he is testing the brownies, yet again, to make sure they are not dried out! haha!)

Crash and Burn...

I really hate to say it but... Gabe is back in diapers. He started out so well - that is what is so frustrating! He can do it but the bottom line is: he won't! He doesn't want to. At first he did great - almost perfect from day one. I was so happy and so was he! But pretty soon he wouldn't go #2 on the potty... not at all, not for anything in the world! And I tried all kinds of fun incentives, treats and bribes. Gabe would get really enthusiastic about it all but when it came down to it... no way! Then in the last week he started having more and more #1 accidents as well until I was doing 2-3 batches of laundry a day and cleaning up messes (some of which you really don't want to hear about) several times a day as well. It was really discouraging to see him regress and pretty much refuse to do it even though he had been successful and I knew he was capable.

This morning we didn't start off very well - 3 fresh pair of undies before 6am - but I was still optimistic and determined to see it out. Well, by 6pm he had had 4 more #1 "accidents" during the day( I don't even count #2), a record high for him and I finally admitted defeat and put a diaper back on. He didn't seem to care at all. So after 2 weeks and 2 days, we are throwing in the towel. I can't tell you how disappointed I am! Not in my little boy or in myself either since I know we both did our best, but I'm just very discouraged about all the time and energy wasted these past 2 weeks. And also I feel guilty and worried that I've really screwed things up for him and that he'll be so confused about the whole thing now. He informed me he had had an accident while I was putting him to bed and wanted me fix it... what am I supposed to say? "Oh that's ok, honey, just pee your pants now that you have a diaper again. I know I have ingrained in your brain that we go on the potty but just forget I said that!" And I know he is going to keep waking me in the night crying that either he needs to go potty or that he had an accident.

What would I give to be able to go back to the bliss of easy life with a diapered 2 year old that would play in his bed until 7am and was so chill and relaxed. I wish I could go back and make the decision again- to just wait until he was 3... but the thing is I knew he could do it and I was right, he could and did. But I didn't consider if he would want to! Now I realize what a mistake that is. He has his own little personality and when push comes to shove, you can't force a child to potty train! (Not that I tried to force him but you know what I mean!) If things were different in life right now (like we weren't moving ourselves in 5 days and I wasn't over 7 months pregnant) I really would stick to it and keep working. But honestly, I just don't have the time or the emotional and physical reserves to continue this way!! So even though I envisioned a perfect situation of a potty trained Gabe when the baby came... I have been reminded again that life isn't perfect and you really can't plan it all out. Everything involving toddlers is unpredictable!

I don't often vent on our blog so thanks for indulging me! I have to end by saying that even though I'm really discouraged about the whole thing, I'm not disappointed in Gabe at all. He is the funniest, sweetest little guy. He is my buddy every day, all day. He constantly amazes me with how intelligent he is - the things he says and remembers are incredible and often hilarious! And he has the most tender and sensitive spirit. I couldn't love him more or be more proud of him. I'm just sorry I put us both through this ordeal because I hate to expose him to failure of any sort. Hindsight really is 20/20 though and in the long run it doesn't matter! Eric reminded me tonight that I did my very best and there's no manual for parenting (which made me feel better for some reason but also made me realize that there are a lot more experiences like this for me in the future... oh boy!) Well, all we can do is live and learn, I guess! :)

Eric's birthday surprise....

VANCOUVER, CANADA!! Where Eric and I spent the entire weekend...what a gorgeous city! My hubby has been saying since we moved here how much he wants to go see Vancouver but we have never made the time soooooo I thought it would be perfect to just kidnap him away for the weekend - force him to leave his work and enjoy himself!! Eric and I had a blast visiting Gastown, Granville Island, Robson Square, China Town and my favorite, Stanley Park. Even our little monster Gabe had a great time at home with Eric's parents (thank you Cheryl and Don!!) and didn't even miss us, I hear. Which I guess is a good thing, although I have to admit I was just a tiny bit disappointed to know that I could disappear one day and his happy world would go on as usual! I just tell myself that it's because he is such a well adjusted, cheerful child! hee hee :)
(There is Canada Place on the far left of the skyline in the picture below.)

Stanley Park is beautiful with its huge green trees covered in moss, view points like Lion's Gate Bridge and Prospect Point, and the Seawall surrounding the entire park where cyclists and walkers enjoy ocean and forest all at once. There are all kinds of things to see and do there. I can't begin to describe it - it's wonderful! Unfortunately it lightly rained all day (and to be honest I'm not in any condition to walk for miles at this point in my pregnancy!) so we didn't take advantage of any of the trails through the park but we did have a lot of fun driving around and seeing all the sights, getting familiarized with it all and planning our next trip this summer! We are going to bring the kids, our bikes and bike trailer, and picnic basket and make a day of it at Stanley Park... I'm so excited already! The totem poles...a must see in Stanley Park.Eric's favorite was downtown Vancouver for sure. He loves to see all the big buildings and beautiful architecture of different cities and this one was really pretty, even I have to admit! The cobbled streets and gas lights of Gastown were so quaint and picturesque...probably my own favorite part of the city. We only got to see Canada Place from a distance as it was closed in preparation for the Olympics but it was fun to see in real life anyway. What a neat building! China Town was spectacular with it's enormous gate and bright red lamps and banners. The markets and shop fronts were so fun to see there! But the highlight for Eric was definitely Robson Square where a lot of the Olympic preparations were being made. That was the place where things were happening, that's for sure!Aren't the blue roofs on those buildings behind Eric beautiful?!The ice skating rink at Robson Square.

These steps led down to the ice skating rink that was located directly under the street! The paintings on these steps were really fun to see. The pictures don't capture the scenes very well, sorry!

Gate of China Town...

What a fun get away! Can't wait for next time!!

Eric's family b-day dinner

Gabe and I decorated the house and made our birthday boy a delicious steak dinner (check out the menu and recipes on Sisters Cafe). A homemade cheesecake, as requested, topped it off well I think! We even went outside and lit sparklers for this special occasion! :) It was a fun evening, celebrating our wonderful husband and Daddy. A little strange to be by ourselves though... we are used to tons of family around! But it was still a fun and relaxing night. Eric still has a special birthday surprise waiting for him this weekend... hee hee, I can't wait!!!!!! :)He wouldn't let me put on 30 candles, dang it!! That would have looked great! :)

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY ERIC!!!!!!

Eric is finally joining me in the fabulous 30's - yay!! He is slightly less thrilled at the prospect, let me tell ya. :) Poor guy views this landmark as the "beginning of the end" to quote him directly. His doom and gloom attitude last night had me laughing so hard... he was even laughing by the end! I keep telling him that turning 30 is truly great... it feels really good to be old enough where you feel like you have enough experience of life to really know what you're talking about and it's young enough where you can still do whatever you did in your 20's (it's just finding the time!) Also it is so fun to be in the stage where you're established in building your family and career. The 30's are exciting from my point of view - seriously! Eric just doesn't know it yet... but he will soon enough!

Honey, if you ever get a chance to read this today... I LOVE YOU and Happy Birthday, babe!!

time for a break

This morning I had an ob appointment, went grocery shopping, cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes, folded laundry, dealt with Gabe pooping in his Big Boy underpants 3 times (yes, you read correctly...3 times, grrrrr!), super cleaned the fridge, and have a clean, fed, and sleeping toddler upstairs... so I decided I deserved a nice break! I realize I have just described an average morning of a stay at home mom, in fact many are far more busy (like my sis Melanie with 5 boys!!), but still... I am not a work-and-no-play kind of gal. I need my down time every day! So I thought I'd sit down and give an update on what is going on around here.

First of all, everything is going great with our baby girl. Only 9 more weeks to go! I feel good, just super tired all the time... in fact Eric and I went to bed last night at 9:30! He gave me a back massage (back pain is another annoyance of pregnancy at this stage) and I guess it really wiped him out! No I'm kidding - by the end of his long days at work, he is just as tired as I am. (We are a load of fun lately! hee hee!)

Gabe's potty training is going really well... with the #1 part of it. #2 on the other hand is more of a challenge, as you guessed from what I said earlier! The last few days he has had an accident either during his nap or during the night (never when he is awake) until today when he blew that in a big way! So we are still working on it...

Our house is to be finished on February 8th! We are so excited to move in our new home and be settled! We went to see the house and its progress last week and it looks great. I can't wait to take a bunch of pictures to post on our blog.

The weather here is record breaking warm. I heard on the radio that it is the warmest January since 1891!! Wow. The sun was even out today - it felt great.

Well, I guess that is all. I'm done with the rambling! Now I'm going to go write up a post for Sister's Cafe to schedule for tomorrow morning. If you haven't checked out our food blog lately, you should! We have a bunch of new and delicious recipes posted. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

PS: A post with no pictures is just too boring so here are a few of my 2 guys driving Gabe's new Jeep (that his Grandma and Grandpa Richardson gave him for Christmas) around the front yard. Daddy has worked (or played) long and hard to get Gabe over his fear of his cool new Jeep! Poor little guy would like to sit in it but did NOT like it when it moved - he would say "no thank you! no thank you!" :) We are happy to say that he has had a change of heart and loves his new toy now!

wild horses!

I had to post one more entry about our time in Utah... I couldn't leave out these great pictures of Gabe and Jack with Grandpa and the horses! One afternoon Dad let the 4 horses out into the pasture together where they really let loose, wildly running and kicking their way around - it really reminded me of little kids let out to play after a day cooped up! It was so fun to watch. After they settled down a bit, Grandpa took the boys out to pet them, feed them apples and sit on their backs. Mindy and I were snapping pictures the whole time - it was so cute! Those little boys were loving it! Are those the happiest looking boys or what?! I just love the funny faces Jack pulls - they are so endearing! What a quirky and lovable personality he has! Gabe just adores Jack and could play with him all day. They both think the other is so funny... I love it! While Jack was getting his turn to ride the horsie, Chief (our most affectionate horse) was all over Gabe, just nuzzling him to death! In the pics above you can see he always has his nose against him. (He loves Gabe but I think he was also searching for more apples!) Gabe didn't mind at all until at the very end when an overzealous Chief accidentally nudged a little too hard and Gabe landed on his bum in the snow! Gabe was terribly offended... I think the whole neighborhood heard him screaming his outrage!! oh boy... :)

It's for real...

My good friend Raelynn threw me a baby shower last night with girls from the ward... it was so fun!! And it made the whole thing so real all of a sudden. I really am going to have a baby girl in 2 months - aaaaah! I'm so excited! :) These girls in my ward have been so sweet and friendly... it's made my transition here so much easier. I have not shopped for one clothes item or anything really besides nursery bedding so it was so fun to get all those cute girly items! Life has just been so busy lately with the holidays and now moving... I'm going to have to do some make up shopping before March 28th! Our house is supposed to be finished before February 8th so we are planning on moving Valentine's weekend (how romantic). :) I'm really looking forward to being settled finally - to really feel like this is home. I only wish I could fast forward the next month - it is going to be so crazy. In the next few weeks I need to finish potty training Gabe (which is going really well, by the way), pack my house up, move, unpack, and try and get prepared for this little girl coming soon! Sounds a little daunting, especially with all the details of moving that have to be dealt with, but I'm excited to be in my own house soon. Only a few weeks to go!

Big day for Gabe!

This is day one of potty training!! Gabe is a Big Boy now... wearing Big Boy pants and going on the Big Boy potty! :) He has a potty chart that is a train track - I bought star stickers to put on each portion of the track for every time he went on the potty but instead (or I should say in addition) Gabe wanted to cut out the train so we could physically move it down the track! What fun! haha :) I hope the "fun" lasts! No accidents yet though and he already had 3 stars on the chart by 7am! Yes, we started early here... not mommy's idea!

Check out the cool new Thomas the Train behind! :) Gabe picked them out!Gabe's super cool football seat- another Gabe selection!