Finally, New Pictures!

I finally got around to getting professional photos of the girls done. I had heard recommendations for FotoFly in Draper because of convenience and price, so I went ahead and took the girls. Lucy wasn't having any part of the shoot, so the fact that we got a handful of good pics of her is a modern day miracle! All in all, our experience was really good there, and I would go ahead and recommend them to anyone looking to get good pics done at a really good price.

These are some of my favorites.

Easter 2011

Easter this year was nothing but great. Again, the weather wasn't ideal, but we had a heck of a good time. We participated in 3 egg hunts, colored eggs and attended parties. Holidays get more and more fun the older the girls get.

Note: The traditional Easter dress picture has been trumped by the post about getting new professional pictures as I had the girls wear their Easter dresses for their photo shoot. The second ones look better anyway!

Go Panthers Go!

Wow! Look who's updating her blog! This is the first of several posts to come.

Sabrina came to me one day and mentioned that she would like to play soccer this year. I was a bit surprised seeing as I never had even the slightest interest in playing team sports, especially those where I may get knocked down, but I have to remember that she is not me in a lot of ways.

So we signed her up, and she was placed on the team, the Pink Panthers.

It was a rough year for the Panthers as I believe they went 0-8, but it was very entertaining to watch Sabrina run up and down the field staring at us, not caring where the ball was, and smiling the entire time. Really, she has a natural enthusiasm for things that makes most stuff twice as fun.

Some games were lovely to sit in the sun; others, not so much. Gotta love Utah in the spring. Lucy loved running around at the games, and tried on several occasions to join the Panthers in their quest.

It's a Girl...Again

Copying my PST post for tomorrow over here to announce our news...two blogs, one stone.

Welp, we just found out that there'll be no lack of estrogen around here. We're having our third girl.

Really, who'd of thunk it?

When we were first married and thought of future children, I would have never guessed in a million years that we would have three girls. But that's just the thing about life. You never can tell.

Thoughts:

1. My 5 year-old had to rub it in right after we heard it was a girl by promptly telling her dad, "Wow, now there's 4 girls in our family and only 1 boy." Yeah, I think he knows.

2. Right after that my husband mentioned something about the cost of weddings...

3. But then I jokingly made the statement, "Yeah, but girls don't have to go to college so..."

4. Then the husband jokingly made the statement, "Well, but who's going to teach them to cook and sew?"

5. Right about now I'm feeling really good about the following purchases:



6. This pretty much ensures that we will never be called as leaders in the scouting program. (Lucky?)

7. I'm the third of three girls so I have a strange connection to this little one. I know what she can expect...hand-me-down everything (clothes, books, toys), endless advice, and friends for life.

8. You know what they say (I actually have no idea who "they" is), "A son is yours until he gets married, but a daughter is yours for life." I think we're pretty set for life, lucky dogs.

9. I've checked out (albeit, briefly) the baby boy clothing section, and I think I'll happily stay on the girl side for now.

10. Ultimately, the true blessing of the ultrasound is to see that things all look good physically with the baby, so for that we are very thankful.

11. And of course, the two big sisters couldn't be more pleased.

Happy Birthday to My Subby

I have a 5 year-old. I can't believe that I was pregnant for the first time 5 years ago, that we made it through baby-hood, toddler-hood, almost preschool, and that in 4 short months I will send her to Kindergarten. I cleaned out the girls' closet today to make the transition from winter to summer clothes and to get rid of all the grubby things that are unwearable and as I packed away the clothes I thought would still work for fall, a tear came to my eye thinking that I will have to send Sabrina away to school, in Virginia, all day. This is pregnancy hormones at work, I am sure. While I NEVER in a million years thought I'd be THAT mom, I am going to have a hard time with it and so is Lucy. The three of us have become quite the trio.

Some things I love about Sabrina:
*She came good. Sometimes we would like to take credit for how obedient and well-mannered she is in public, but that is just not deserved. She is that way naturally and we are the beneficiaries. She holds on to shopping carts, sings loudly in Primary, and listens to her teachers and soccer coach well. I'm pretty sure on most days, she's raising me.

*She is so imaginative. I love that. I remember playing pretend for hours as a kid and to get to watch her do that too is fun for me.

*Her voice. Anyone that's heard her knows what I'm talking about.

*She was meant to be a big sister. She knows how to get Lucy to do ANYTHING (good and bad). She is thrilled to be having a new baby, kisses my belly every night, tells me what the baby needs and is doing.

*Her funny sayings...example:
Sabrina: Mom, I know what our baby needs.
Me: What?
Sabrina: Yobaby Yogurt. It's love on a spoon.

(Wow! That advertising on the Sprout network is really effective. And she must have seen that commercial several times to get that down...see what I mean about raising me?)

Anyway, we couldn't love her more. For her birthday we went swimming with Shelley and Nolan, ate out, and had cake and ice cream. The thing about setting a precedent with birthday parties (I'm on an every other year rotation) is that you have to stick to your guns. So it was pretty low key. She got a new bike, and if the weather would ever cooperate she could ride it somewhere other than around in circles in our kitchen.

Happy 5th Birthday Subby!

Note: I don't know why I always insist on putting a baby pic with every birthday post I do. It just makes me cry (or I'm just pregnant...you be the judge).

The Day I Fainted

For documentation purposes:

I have never fainted before in my life. Never. I've rarely even gotten light-headed.

I went walking the other morning with my sister, Natalie, at the temple. We walked quickly, but I wouldn't say that we were over-exerting ourselves by any means. When we finished our walk, we stood in the parking lot talking for a minute when all of the sudden, mid-conversation, I got extremely hot and light-headed and my vision began to blacken. I said some jibberish to Natalie to which she said, "Go sit down." I looked over at the curb and was headed there when apparently I started to stagger left and fell to the ground. A fall I don't remember. Natalie helped me to the curb where I regained consciousness and wondered why my knee was skinned. After a few minutes, I felt fine. I called Paul and white-knuckled it home. I went to the dr. later in the day to have my blood pressure checked and to see if I was anemic. Turns out, my blood pressure is fine and I'm not anemic.

I came home only to learn that Natalie herself fainted several times during pregnancy and so did my mom. Also, due to some internet research, many people faint randomly during pregnancy. It's not all that uncommon. Just another fantastic side-effect of bringing babies into the world; the scariest one I've ever experienced. Good thing my babies are cute!

Tiny Dancer

Well, both children just got done throwing fits. Looks like I need to do a post about them to remind me of how especially adorable they are.

We took advantage of Orem City's dance program again this winter and Sabrina just had her concert. Her two dances were each about 30 seconds long. Glad I spent two hours making a tutu! All in all though I have to give Orem 2 thumbs up when it comes to these types of programs. And you can't complain when you pay $40 for 3 months of dance classes two days per week! She was very cute at her concert. She smiled through both performances and paid close attention to her teacher. Such an ideal student! She told me the other day that she's more excited for the new baby than she is for summer. That's saying something, and I think I'll have a lot of help from her when the baby comes.



And as for Lucy, do you see that finger? Any guesses where it might be headed? We're working on it. I'll take this disgusting habit, however, when you've got a child whom after only two weeks of diaper free living (and a mom who wasn't very diligent) is staying dry through the day and through the night and never fights going to the bathroom. It brings a smile to my heart just thinking about it. Although, I know how this process works: Two steps forward, two steps back. I'll do a back flip, pregnant and all, and post it on this blog if she has no regression. She is extremely personable, perceptive, and cute right now. She loves to tell us when things are funny. Most of the time I think I'd like to freeze her this way, and other times, I think I'd like her to get past the age of two.