Baby Shower!

Momma Kimball and Anne threw me a baby shower on Saturday and it was awesome! Momma Kimball is so creative and made everything look great and taste great. It was a lot of fun!

Kristy decorated this cake for the shower. It turned out so cute! Yummy too.

Super cute M&Ms and truffles with "It's a boy!" on them.

These were a party favor. They are bags of popcorn. Momma Kimball is so creative!

Nicole thinks that this is smiling. She was wild over the M&Ms at the party. She kept asking for more and more.

Nicole also loves the balloons. She is still dragging them around the house. I'm tempted to just pop them and be done because they are driving me crazy!

Momma Kimball and Anne made a bunch of brunch food for the shower. We had yummy quiche, banana bread (made by DJ), Blueberry muffins (Anne), Fruit, and cake. It was a delicious spread.

Nicole and Hailey. Nicole followed Hailey all around the party. They are good friends.

My Marie.

Anne and her baby Olivia.

Olivia is so stinking cute!

Here is my Sarah, and a very pregnant shot of me in the background. Ugh.

Okay, this is a little better of a picture. I look less pregnant.

Matt came home from school and crashed the party. Here he is with Momma Kimball.

Nicole playing.

A ton of people showed up, more than I thought would because this is baby number two, so I assumed that people would think, "What? She already had one baby and I gave her a gift already." But no, a lot of people came. I totally banked on presents for baby boy. Here are some pics of the presents I got. Try to look at the presents and not my pregnant face.

Sarah got me this shark towel and I love it! It is awesome.

I didn't think I would get a bumbo because they are a little more pricey, but I ended up getting two at the shower. Yay! Presents.

I love monster boy clothes!

My Mom got me my crib set and I love it! I wanted a turtle theme and now I have it. But don't take the bedding out of the package unless you never intend on putting it back in. How do they get it all in there?

I got a ton of really cute stuff and a lot of baby clothes, which is what I really needed since I've never had a boy before. Thanks to everyone who were good enough to come and give me presents!

My aunt Kathy, Ree, Sarah, and Hailey

Ree, Sarah, Hailey and Corinne

CarrieAnne, Anne, and Miranda

Momma Kimball and Chris Bacon

Momma Kimball made a game for the shower that everyone seemed to really enjoy. It was quite an interactive game. Momma Kimball passed out papers with celebrity heads on baby bodies. It was super funny. Everyone had to write down who the celebrity was. It got kinda crazy because things were not passed around in an organized fashion, but it was fun to watch. I had already previewed the game, so I didn't play, but I enjoyed watching all the ladies trying to remember the names of celebrities.

I believe that Erin, Jill, and Marie won the game getting all but a couple of the celebrities. Marie was kind enough to give up her prize because we only had two winner prizes. Way to take one for the team Ree.

For the record, I would have done awesome at the game if I had played. I knew all but 4 of the celebrities.

The whole event was awesome and Marie helped me sort baby clothes afterward. This is an essential part to the process. Deciding what to keep and what to return. Mostly, I was able to keep things because people bought clothes in the correct season. It is when the baby clothes are the wrong season that I have to do a lot of exchanges. Luckily, my guests are baby savvy and know this stuff.

Post Spring Break

Here's the thing about spring break. It is awesome having a lot of free time and being able to see my husband when I get home from work... and then it ends. And, all the homework that was not done during spring break (because we were too busy partying) has to be done the next week. So, this has been post spring break homework week for Matt.

Which means that he gets home from school and is up late studying. It sucks. Probably more for him than me because he is the one doing all the work, but I still miss my man.

On the bright side, I invented two new dinner recipes this week. One was better than the other. Nicole would only eat one of them. But, here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Chicken, Potato, Green Bean Stuff

5 Potatoes
A bunch of frozen Green Beans
3 breasts of Chicken
1 Cube Bullion
1/2 c Water
2 small cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Lowry's Salt
Pepper

Wash and dice potatoes into bite size chunks and place in 9x13 pan. Place a layer of green beans on top of potatoes. Cut chicken into serving size chunks and place on top of green beans. Add broken up bullion cube and water to pan. Add soup over everything. Season pan with seasonings (just a layer of seasoning over everything, I never measure). Bake for 40 minutes at 425 degrees. Eat.

Nicole would not eat this dish. She had two bites of potato and two bites of chicken, tried one green bean and then told me the whole plate was yucky and wouldn't let it near her. Literally, she kept pushing it away from her and when I  would scoot it back to her, she pushed it again and had a fit. Ugh.

Broccoli Chicken Pasta

1 Head Broccoli
1 pkg noodles
2 breasts Chicken
2 T Olive Oil
2 T Butter
1 t red pepper flakes
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Lowry's season salt
Pepper
1/2 c whole milk
1/4 c Parmesan cheese

Cut broccoli into bite size pieces and place in boiling water for 3 minutes. Then, drain and set aside. Boil noodles and drain when cooked (any noodles you want, I use ones that look like wheels from the bulk section of Winco because Nicole will actually eat them). After you have drained the noodles, throw a little olive oil on them and stir it around so that they don't get all stick togethery.

Heat olive oil, 1 T butter, and red pepper flakes in frying pan on med. high heat. Butterfly chicken breasts and season with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. (Again, I don't measure, I just sprinkle a bit of eat on both sides of the chicken.) Saute chicken in butter and oil until cooked.

(Trick with chicken: put it in the pan and don't touch it. Don't fiddle with it, don't turn it a million times, just put it in and leave it until you see it turning half way through the breast, THEN you turn it and you once again leave it. After 3-5 minutes, bend the breast with a fork or tongs; if the chicken breaks, then it is done. If it bends, it is not.)

Remove chicken from pan and let rest for 5 minutes. Chop chicken into bite size pieces after it has rested. Add milk to saute pan and deglaze all chickeny goodness from the bottom of the pan. Add cheese and more salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Add the other T of butter. When sauce tastes yummy and the butter is melted, add the noodles, broccoli, and chicken to sauce. Stir until the sauce gets everywhere and then serve.

Nicole at this meal. I told her the broccoli was little trees and the noodles were wheels and she ate it up. She wouldn't touch the chicken though. If it doesn't look like chicken nuggets, I swear that child doesn't believe it is chicken. But, she does call fish sticks chicken because they DO look like chicken nuggets. I just can't win with this girl.

Busy Weekend

This was a busy weekend at the Kimball household. Friday we had the Kimball clan over for pizza because Matt's Uncle Mike was in town. I had never met Uncle Mike before and I really liked him. I can definitely see the family resemblance between him and Mamma Kimball.

So, we had everyone over for homemade pizza because everyone loves our homemade pizza. Then, we went to the MOA to see the Carl Bloch exhibit. It was beautiful! I didn't realize how many of the recognizable paintings of Christ were done by him. Matt was good enough to procure a wheelchair for me and wheel me around the exhibit so that I didn't have to do extensive walking. Too much walking equals many contractions and an unhappy Becky.

On Saturday, we ran some errands with Uncle Mike and Momma Kimball, and then we went to visit Dad Kimball's grave. It is really nice to have the cemetery so close so that we can visit. My own Dad is in an urn somewhere in Washington with my step-mother, so I don't really get to visit him.

We had lunch at Mimi's Cafe with Momma Kimball, Uncle Mike, Aunt Francine, and Anne and the kids. Then, we headed home to rest. I like midday naps, they are the best.

Saturday night, Matt and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We decided to celebrate this weekend rather than on the actual date of our anniversary because this was the night we had a sitter and we could stay out later on a weekend. Norm and Miranda were kind enough to watch Nicole for us.

Matt planned our anniversary date and it was a recreation of our first date. It was not exactly the same as our first date, but it had similar aspects. We went to Tepanyaki (this is where Matt took me on our first date), but because we were dropping off Nicole in American Fork, we went to the Lehi location rather than trekking back to Provo. The food was super yummy, but I had forgotten how expensive it is. Matt was certainly trying to impress me on our first date with his money spending skills.

On our first date, Matt took me to Blockbuster after dinner and we picked out a movie, then we went to Albertson's and picked out snacks.  Then, Matt took us up to Rock Canyon park and we watched our movie on a blanket with a portable dvd player until the sprinklers came on and we retreated to his car to finish the movie. It was a very good first date.

But, seeing as I am enormously pregnant, and it was cold on Saturday, a movie in the park was not going to happen. So, we went and got our snacks at the grocery store formerly known as Albertson's, then we went to AF theaters and watched the Adjustment Bureau.

Even sitting through a movie in a theater was tough on me. Sitting for prolonged periods of time just does not work when I am this pregnant. So I had contractions during the movie and was very uncomfortable the second half, but I made it through! Thank goodness the armrests come up in those chairs because when I first sat down, I didn't really fit. The thing about carrying a baby low is that the baby is always resting on your legs and it is much more comfortable to keep my legs apart so the baby isn't smashing into my legs.

The movie was REALLY good. I would definitely recommend it. It is intriguing and exciting and it has a little romance. It is good for a girl and a boy. I haven't been to a movie in a while because Matt and I just don't go that often. It is cheaper to rent movies after they have left the theaters and it saves us from getting a baby sitter, so it was a lot of fun to go to the movies.

Anniversary night was definitely a success. And, Nicole was good for Miranda and Norm, which was a relief. Last year this time, I felt like I couldn't leave her with anyone because she was so stinkin' clingy and she cried for anyone who wasn't Matt and I. But, she has definitely mellowed out as she has gotten older.

On Sunday, Matt and I woke up feeling sick. We both had the aches and nausea. I'm feeling less achy today, but I'm not feeling great. But, I'm still back at work. Gotta make that money.

I miss the weekend already.

Ugh

Contractions when I sit, contractions when I stand, contractions when I walk, and some (but less) contractions when I lie down. Baby boy is moving more than ever. He is not as much of a kicker as Nicole was, but he sure does love to stretch... all the time. I think stretching hurts more than the kicking. But, it is possible that that is because I have a skewed memory of my last pregnancy.

I'm pretty sure that I blocked out this part of the pregnancy where everything hurts and I'm constantly sleep deprived and I can't yet start hoping that the baby will come because it is too soon for the baby to come. In another couple of weeks, I will be able to hope for the arrival of our baby boy, but for now, I just have to endure.

Spring Break!

This week is spring break for Matt. This spring break thing is all new to me. I went to BYU, who does not believe in spring break, so it is a foreign concept. Thus far, it has not been what tv portrays spring break to be. This could be due to the fact that Matt is married, with 1.8 children and is not in Mexico for his spring break.

But, it has been pleasant thus far because we get to spend more time together as a family. Our family time is normally very limited to 2 hours a day and 1.5 days on the weekends. So... Yay, spring break baby!

Technically, Matt has class yesterday and today, but he has opted to not go to class these two days in order to spend time with Nicole and I. I'm celebrating. I love my Matt time.

I know that we will get more time together when the baby comes, but I'm guessing that my six weeks at home will be more devoted to healing and taking care of my newborn baby boy that gallivanting and having fun. Not that I am gallivanting much in my condition right now.

I often feel so exhausted by the time that I am done with work that I just don't want to do anything but put my feet up and read books to my Nicoley or snuggle my Matt. But, I'm doing the best I can to stay mobile and active so that I can work until this baby comes. I fear that if I laze too much, that my body will get complacent and then I won't be physically able to go to work every day.

No big plans in place for spring break right now, but I'm happy for the time together as a family.

5 More Weeks

Went to my baby doctor appointment yesterday. Yesterday was a difficult pregnancy day. Some days are much more difficult than others with the contractions, exhaustion, and pain... everywhere. But, baby boy is doing well. His heartbeat is strong and his kicks are good, so we know he is a healthy growing boy.

Since this is my second baby and because Nicole was a big 'ol baby, I've scheduled an induction date for this little baby boy. April 14th! Yay! Four days before my due date! Now, four days may not seem like a lot, but to me, it is awesome. Now, I feel like I have a deadline, a date when I know my baby will be here. I know that I can do it, I can carry this baby for 5 more weeks. I can make it.

Wordless Wednesday

Ice Castles

Last weekend, Nicole and I went up to Midway with my Mom, Dad, and step-brothers David and Eric to see the ice castle.

I didn't go inside as I am overly pregnant and likely to slip on ice, so I sent Nicole in with Mom, David, and Eric (Dad stayed with me in the car). It was pretty cool looking from what I saw and Mom said that Nicole really loved it.

Nicole HAD to hold the ski pole of course and she wielded it to point the direction she wanted to go in the maze of ice. She is my little adventure girl.

Stuff Nicole Knows

I was quizzing Nicole the other night for the video camera and she got one of the answers wrong and we started laughing (cuz it was funny). But, she does not like to be laughed at and she started crying. She is very sensitive.

ABCs

Popcorn

33 Weeks

How is it that I don't remember this part of pregnancy? I think I must have just blocked out this last trimester because sometimes I think, "If it felt this awful last time, why did I decide to do this again?" I can only blame the evil plot of the babies.

Babies are all cute and make you love them and make you forget all that you went through to get them. Curse you cute, lovable babies! And, if you think it is just my own baby that does this, you are wrong! I see other people's babies and get baby hungry and say things like, "Ahhhh, I want another baby." Evil.

33 weeks is... well, painful. I feel like my belly is so heavy that it is trying to tear my muscles and my skin off with it's weight. My heartburn is just so much worse than it usually is. Usually, I can take my pepcid and I'm fine the whole day. Now, heartburn comes with avengence every time I recline my body.

Sleeping is a non-existent thing some nights and I'm exhausted from trying to sleep all night by the time I am getting up for work at 6am (I work at 7am). Not to mention that baby boy likes to squish my bladder, making me get up to use the bathroom 3-5 times a night. And, he thinks that night time is kick momma a lot time. (not kick momma Alot) It is very difficult to sleep when someone is jabbing your insides continually. Try it, it doesn't work.

Plus, I really miss my husband. We are playing tag team this semester. I go to work, then I go and pick up Nicole at the sitter's and Matt is at school until 8pm. Then, we all go to bed at 9:30pm because I'm pregnant and tired. I miss my husband.

Just a bad week this week. I am feeling a little discouraged. I would like to think that next week will be better... but it will probably be worse because this baby is only going to get bigger and I am only going to get more pregnant.

4:30am

Nicole at 6am

Nicole woke up at 4:30am this morning. Reasons unknown. Matt went in and tried to get her to go back to bed, but after an hour, it was clear that she was not going to do it.

So, despite Matt's protests, I brought her into our room to watch cartoons and hopefully fall back asleep. What a fool I was. Matt and I got a little 30 minute nap before I had to get up and get ready for work. I tried again to put her back in her bed, but it resulted in many loud tears and "Mommy help me"s. So, I let her out and brought her downstairs to eat breakfast with me.

Then, I took a picture as evidence of how cheery she can be at 6 in the morning. I don't think I will ever be that cheery that early in the morning. I then put her back in the love sac to watch more cartoons, snack cup in hand, while Matt continues to sleep. Off to work I went.

Hopefully, she will go back to sleep for a little while and be a happy girl later. Being a parent is not always awesome, but I love her even when she wakes me at 4:30am.

Kangaroo Zoo

I am very happy to announce that Matt and I finally invested in a new digital camera!  After four years of hating how our camera can take 12 pictures before draining a set of batteries, how it takes forever between shots, how every time the flash is used it washes out the subjects, and how we lost the camera cord that allowed us to put our pics on our computer, we finally decided to get a new camera. We got our costco rebate this month and decided this would be the best way to use it. So, you should expect to see a lot more pictures in my posts... hopefully.

Monday was a federal holiday which means that I had work off (because I work with the government) and Matt had school off (yay state school)! So, Matt and I went to Costco on our day off. Shopping together is a rare treat for us. Unfortunately, Nicole was a terror at Costco. She cried the whole time we were there and would not stop for any form of treats, bribery, or comfort.

When we got back to the car, she quickly fell asleep. So, we of course used our new camera to take a picture.

We stopped at Hotdog King for lunch. Sometimes a gourmet hotdog is just the way to go. Nicole woke up after lunch and then we headed to Walmart. We went all the way to the Pleasant Grove for our Walmart trip because the Orem Walmart never has what we want and smells bad. Nicole was so good at Walmart, staying in the cart, no cries, staying in the cart, that we decided she deserved a trip to Kangaroo Zoo.

Kangaroo Zoo is a bounce house/slide play center. We had a coupon, so we went even though it was a holiday and super busy. Nicole has no fear when it comes to these slides even though they are huge!

She loves this place! She was just so happy on every slide she went down, not scared at all.

Some of the slide ladders are really quite tall, like 15 feet in the air, but Nicole conquered them. Matt stood at the bottom of the ladders just in case she slipped, but it was unnecessary.

Every time I asked Nicole to smile for the camera, this is what I got.  Apparently, she thinks this is smiling. I was just glad that she looked at the camera.

After about 2 hours she was so tired that she couldn't climb any of the ladders, but still wanted Matt to put her at the top so that she could slide down. It was tears when it was time to leave.

Valentines

I love my husband!

We planned our Valentines date for last Saturday because we hate crowds and Matt has class tonight.

Mamma Kimball graciously offered to be our babysitter so that we could go out to eat.  We went to Bombay House, which is one of our favorite restaurants and we rarely go there because it is more expensive than most places.  I really love it there because they have lamb dishes.  I really love lamb!  And not a lot of places serve lamb.  Matt and I both got lamb dishes and then we both ordered Mango Ice Cream.  The longer we are married, the more alike we become, it is scary.

It was super yummy and it was nice to have a meal without fielding Nicole the whole time.  Afterward, we picked up Nicole and headed home.  Sarah and Mark came over for games.  I love playing games and we just don't get to do it as often as we used to.  It was a perfect combo for our Valentines date.  Nicoley was very good and watched her Wonder Pets downstairs while we played board games.  Sadly, I won none of the games, so I will just have to have Sarah and Mark back for a rematch!

Today, Matt surprised me with flowers!  I love daisies, they are my favorite flower and he got them for me and brought them to my work.  Then, we went to Cafe Rio for lunch.  I got to spend my lunch with my Man and my Little Girl.  It was a perfect date.

Overall, it has been an awesome Valentines.  I hope everyone else is having an enjoyable day.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday; I turned 27.  Being in my late twenties, I definitely feel old.  But, this could also be due to the fact that I am pregnant and it hurts when I walk, and sit, and sleep.  My body feels old.  But, I'm sure it will all get better when I am all done being pregnant.

I had my third annual Iron Chef birthday party last Saturday.  The secret ingredient was Lime. I love doing the Iron Chef theme for my birthday because not only is it fun to make and try food that everyone brings, but it is also a source of food for everyone at the party that I don't have to make.

I made Key Lime Pie Cupcakes with a graham cracker crust, a key lime curd filling and lime buttercream frosting.  I thought that they were really good and I was really trying to win this year, but I was once again unsuccessful.  I think that I will have to continue having this birthday party until I can finally be crowned the Iron Chef.  I really try pretty hard to be a good cook and try new cooking techniques, but perhaps so does everyone else at the party.

Matt made Lime Steak Tacos with a Lime Mango Salsa and Lime Guacamole.  He also did not win, but I thought his tacos were really good.  I love Matt's tacos.

We had a lot of really good entries this year, including Lime Bread (2nd place), Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (3rd place), Fiesta Lime Shrimp (one of my favorites of the night), Lime Margaritas, and Lime Fish Poppers.  But, the big winner of the night was Miranda's Citrus Chicken.  It came and went so fast that by the time I got to the table to get some, it was gone.  I had to thieve some off of Anthon's plate to even get a taste and it was really good.  So, Miranda gets to hold the title of Iron Chef for a year!  Congrats Miranda.

I wish that I had taken pictures of the event, but I didn't.  Frankly, I spent most of my time on the couch because I had cleaned and cooked all day and my feet were swollen and I was hurting.  If you want to see a few pics of the night, go to Marie's blog; she was smart enough to take pictures. www.http://anthonmariemecham.blogspot.com/

 On my actual birthday, it wasn't too different from every other day.  I went to work, ate lunch at Marie's house, picked up Nicole from Marie's house, and went home.  Matt had ordered pizza for dinner, which was my special treat of the night.  We hardly ever order pizza, we usually make it ourselves because it is a lot cheaper and very yummy.  But, I didn't want the mess and clean up of making my own pizza, so we ordered from Papa Johns.

Nicole and I played with toys and watch tv until Matt came home and then we relaxed the rest of the night.  It was a pleasant, relaxing birthday.  I like days when not a lot of work is required.

It was a good birthday this year.

Josh and Nancy

Meet my good friends, Josh and Nancy.

Josh and Nancy have been married 7 years and are hoping to adopt. http://joshuanancyadopt.blogspot.com/

I have known Josh since I was a kid as his mom and my mom are best friends.  Josh met Nancy while I was in Hawaii for college and I was able to attend their reception when I was home for Christmas break in 2003. I have since then gotten to know Nancy and love her for her joyful personality.

Josh and Nancy are like my extra brother and sister. They have been there for every major event in my life. They are there for all the family holidays, birthdays, and are even in the family pictures at my wedding. I love them very much.

Josh is a soft spoken sweetheart who loves animals, sports, and Nancy. Nancy is what I like to call a "pocket Nancy" as she is so petite that I am sure I could fit her in my pocket. She is very athletic, loves animals, and is always kind to everyone.  Her personality totally fits her size.

I love Josh and Nancy so much and I can't think of a couple that are more deserving to be parents. So, if you know anyone who is looking for a couple to place their baby with, or if you know someone who knows someone... who knows someone, think of my dear friends Josh and Nancy.  And, check out their blog http://joshuanancyadopt.blogspot.com/

To get an idea of the kind of people that Josh and Nancy are, here is a letter they have written to their future birth mother.

Our Promise To The Birthmother

We love you and pray for you.  You are a child of God.  He watches you, loves you and wants you to do the right thing for you and your baby.  If we have learned one thing in our short lives, it is that our Father in Heaven knows us, loves us and if we allow him, will guide us and help us in every aspect of our lives.  He has a plan of happiness for all of his children and will do all that He can to help us attain the ends of that plan.

Life is so beautiful.  You are beautiful.  The child inside of you is a gift from God.  As you make a decision that we cannot comprehend, please know this:  if you choose to place you baby with us we promise to do all we can do be a good father and mother to that precious child.  We promise to teach and lead with love.  And we promise that they will always know, respect and admire you for the amazing person that you are.

30 weeks

30 weeks hurts! I forgot how much the last trimester can hurt. Darn my forgetting being pregnant brain!

I hurt for three reasons... or maybe more.

1.  Baby boy kicks, punches, stretches or just moves and it hurts.
2.  Braxton Hicks contractions. These are not often or regular, but when they occur, they hurt.
3.  General abdominal pain. This is pain in the muscles right under my belly and in my back and hips and all over.  No real reason for this pain, but it usually occurs at the end of a day, usually when I have been more active.

Despite all this pain, I still get up at 6am and go to work and come home and make dinner and play with my girl.  I know what the result is, I know it will all be worth it and I know I have only 10 more weeks to go.  That is not to much at all.

Next week, I will be able to count down in single digit weeks.  I look forward to that.

People have begun to ask if I am "due any time" or "due in the next couple of weeks."  Just a general FYI, this is an awful question, do not ask it.  Do not attempt to guess a pregnant woman's due date if you don't remember it.

Additionally, two people have asked me if I am having twins.  Again, this is an awful question, never ask it.  If a pregnant woman offers up the information that she is carrying twins, act surprised and comment her on how she doesn't look it.  Otherwise, never bring up twins... ever.

I find myself being more irritable, more emotional, and more grumpy.  I'm trying to stay positive and cheery, especially for Nicole who does not understand, but it is a challenge.  I broke down crying last night because I was hurting and emotional and Nicole kept asking, "Daddy, Mamma okay?"  I try to put on a happy face for her so that she doesn't get worried because she will often start crying if I am crying and then try to climb up me to give me kisses, which only hurts me more and makes her cry harder and exclaim, "I sorry Mamma!"

So, you will still get no belly pictures.  Just imagine what I would look like if I were having twins and that is apparently how big I am. (I am not having twins.)

Hashu Hashu

I'm tired when I wake up.  I'm tired in the afternoon, and then I'm REALLY tired at night.  If I wasn't pregnant, I would guess that I have mono... again.  Good thing it is just the third trimester where my baby is huge and zapping all my energy.

10.5 more weeks.  I can do it.

Funeral Weekend

This weekend we traveled to St. George for Grandpa Kimball's funeral.  Matt, Nicole, Kristy, Omar, Momma Kimball, Sheena, and I all piled into Momma Kimball's car, bound for St. George, on Friday afternoon.  I was lucky enough to be granted the front seat (due to my car sickness and pregnancy), but the more unlucky people had to smash in the back with Nicole, laptops, dvd players, and the dog.

The traveling itself was fairly uneventful.  Nicole handled it a lot better than I thought she would, sleeping or watching the "mouse show" (Ratatouille) the whole time.  I did not care for sitting in the car for four hours as it is quite painful on my pregnant body to be in one chair for extended periods of time, but we made it. 

We went to a viewing Friday night when we got in, even though we had just spent a lot of time in the car.  Then, around 7pm, we went to Cafe Rio to eat some food.  Unfortunately, I had waited too long to eat and I was quite sick and did not get to enjoy my food.

The hotel we stayed at in St. George was really quite nice, so we had an enjoyable first night.  Nicole had a hard time sleeping in the play pen, but I missed most of it because I just passed out when we got back from eating at Cafe Rio.  Matt stayed up with Nicole until she fell asleep and I was completely oblivious.

Saturday, we went to another viewing in the morning before the funeral.  Nicole, thankfully, fell asleep right before the funeral and slept through most of it.  She woke up near the end and I took her out of the chapel so that she could be wild and free.  Kids and funerals don't always mix well, but Nicole did okay.

The funeral was really nice.  I feel like I got to know more about Grandpa Kimball than I did before the funeral.  He was a quiet man of not many words, but I got to hear stories from his children and friends about who he was throughout his life.  Even though it is sad to attend a funeral, I felt very uplifted by the love that family and friends had for Grandpa and I know that he had a good life.  It is also a comfort to have the gospel and know that Grandpa Kimball is now with his two sons, Ralph and Kelly.

After the funeral the ward provided a lunch for the family.  Then, we all hopped back in the car and drove 2.5 hours up to Richfield, straight to the cemetery for the graveside dedication.  Nicole had just about had it with all the traveling by this point, so she had a freak out during the prayer.  I sat with her in the car until it was over because she just couldn't handle any more standing around.

We all went to Aunt Janet's in Richfield after the graveside service for a meal.  It was good to have a little more casual time with the family, rather than doing something funeral related.  I could tell that everyone felt a little relieved to just be done with it all.  Funerals can be stressful.

We headed to our hotel in Richfield because we opted to stay the night rather than drive the last 2 hours home.  We stayed at a Travelodge that ended up being a little dumpy, but it served our needs in that it provided beds for us to sleep in.  This place had an indoor pool, so Matt and I took Nicole swimming at 8pm at night.  I know, we are just the best parents.  Nicole loved it!  Those swimming lessons last summer really payed off because she is not even a little afraid of the water.  She is our little water baby.  We let her swim for 30 minutes and then we headed back to the room for bed.

I, once again, just passed out and could not be woken, even by Nicole tackling and climbing on me while I slept.  Matt, once again, stayed up with Nicole until she fell asleep.  He is such a good Daddy.  At about 4am, I hear Nicole, "Daddy, need help!  Daddy!"  So, Matt pulled her out of the play pen and put her in bed with us.  Luckily, it was a king size bed, so there was plenty of room for all of us and we slept great after that.  Most of the time, when Nicole wakes up, she says, "Daddy, yere ya you?"  Which of course means, "Daddy, where are you?"  She is such a little Daddy's girl.

Sunday we went to church with Aunt Janet in the afternoon, then we ate some food and headed home.  We got into Provo around 5:30pm.  Of course, we just vegged and did nothing the rest of the day as we were exhausted from all the traveling.

I got two bereavement days off from work, so I decided to use my second one on Monday and just recover from a weekend of travel.  Matt and I actually were able to sleep in until 8am.  This is truly a grand feat as Nicole often likes to wake up at 7am.

We did some shopping, Nicole and I took naps, and Matt did homework.  It was a lovely and not too eventful afternoon.  We went to Anne's house in the evening for her birthday celebration.  Momma Kimball made tacos and DJ made enchiladas.  It was nice not having to worry about making dinner.  Then, we played Just Dance on the Wii.  Carlos got it for Anne for her birthday and she loves it. 

Thus ended my very long funeral weekend.  It would be nice to take days off of work for reasons other than a family member dying.  I guess I will just have to wait until the baby comes.

Spoiled

The problem with having just one child is that they get spoiled.  Despite our best efforts, we inevitably spoil our little Nicole.  Sometimes, it is just easier and less loud to give her what she wants than it is to fight her on it.  I'm thinking that these things will change a lot when baby Boy comes.

Last night Nicole did not want to go to bed, she did not want to brush her teeth and she threw a huge tantrum over it and threw herself around and bit her lip and made it bleed.  Ugh.  So, I set her down on the bed with me in my room while Matt did his homework downstairs.  I thought maybe she would get sleepy, but I was ready for sleep before she was.

I kept asking her, "Nicole, you want to go night night?"

Her response, "No Mamma, no night night."

Eventually, I had to tell her, "Nicoley, Mamma is tired.  Will you go to bed for Mamma?"

Her response, "Okay Mamma, so tired."

Then she went to bed.

It is sad when I fall asleep at the same time as my one year old.

Grandpa Kimball

Ralph Kimball Sr. (Grandpa Kimball) passed away this morning of complications from prostate cancer.  His passing occurs just a month and a half after his son, Ralph Kimball (Dad Kimball).

We will miss Grandpa Kimball very much.  We will be attending his funeral in St. George this weekend.

28 Weeks

Yay!  I am 28 weeks along and officially into my third trimester.  That means that I am 2/3 done with this pregnancy.  Hazah! 

I had my first bought of "nesting" this weekend where I suddenly felt that the baby was coming very soon and we were very unprepared for it.  I decided it was time to clean the whole house because it was a wreck.  Matt, was very kind and helped me in my endeavor even though I sounded like a crazy person talking about getting the house clean immediately for the baby that won't come for another 12 weeks.

I also began registering for baby stuff on Target.com even though my baby shower isn't for another two months.  It is possible that I am a little crazy.  We also went shopping on Saturday so that I could look at double strollers.  We went to Burlington Coat Factory that has a surprisingly large baby section at the back of the store.  We saw a few double strollers, but none of them are the one that we want.  There was a really nice one that had seats that could face forward or backward, but Nicole was too tall for the seat.  Her head was almost brushing the canopy.  In six months, she wouldn't even fit into it.  Who designs these things?  We tried the InStep Safari Double, but when folded it was huge!  No way was that thing going to fit into either of our cars.  Perhaps, a double stroller is not in our future.

Yesterday I was feeling stuffy and coughy, so Matt told me to stay home from church and rest while he and Nicole went.  I'm sure glad I did because baby boy FINALLY turned while I was taking my nap.  This whole time he has been feet down and I was starting to get worried that he wouldn't turn before he got too big to turn.  So, now I get kicks to the ribs, but it is overall WAY more comfortable than having him kick down.

I am feeling really good still.  I have bad pregnancy days where I get a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions if I am too active or if my body just hates me, but it is still a lot better than my Nicole pregnancy.  I still have energy, though not as much as I did a few weeks ago.  Something about the third trimester just makes me extra tired. 

I am starting to get the swelling of the feet a lot more now, something that I was mostly spared in the second trimester.  Now, if I stand for too long or sit for too long then they will just begin to swell.  Elevation is key.

I am working with Nicole on getting her to realize that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy and that it is her little brother.  Sometimes she remembers and sometimes she thinks that Mommy is a jungle gym, just like Daddy.  But, last night, she said to me, "Baby Brother in Mama's tummy?"  It made me a happy mommy.

The day is swiftly approaching where I will not just be a mommy to one, but two!  It is exciting!

Sick Family

Husband sick, daughter sick, and a tired Mommy.

This week has been long, even though it was short.  I have a sick family at home, and I'm just a tired pregnant lady.

Oh well.

The Things I Want

 This beautiful changing table/chest of drawers from Target.

 This super cute turtles crib set from Target.

 This Phil and Teds Explorer stroller (watching KSL for a deal!)

Or, this very light and functional City Mini Double stroller (come on KSL!).

These are the big items that I want for when the baby comes.  But, it is very likely that I will get none of them.  But, I can dream, and window shop online.

New Schedule

With the new school semester, Matt and I are on a new schedule. Matt is taking like 16 credits this semester, so he has more school than he did last semester.

His classes start at 4pm and run until 7 or 8 pm Monday through Thursday.  Since he has class an hour earlier than he did last semester, and I don't even get off work until 4pm, we have made arrangements to drop Nicole off at a relatives house 4 times a week. (Thanks Marie and Momma Kimball!) Nicole gets to spend an hour at the drop off location, and then I pick her up when I get off work.

It isn't the ideal situation, but we are glad that we have found a system that works so that Matt can go to school and I can go to work and Nicole can still be watched by one of us the majority of the day.

Getting off at 4pm means that I have to go into work at 7am.  This is not an easy feat.  Getting up at 6:15am to get to work by 7am is difficult, especially when I am pregnant and tired all the time.  But, I do it so that I can have more time with my daughter later in the day.

Even though I get about 5 hours a day with Nicole, I only get to see Matt like 2 hours of my day.  I miss him a lot! (Not to be confused with Alot.)  Plus, he has a Saturday morning class.

Every semester will be a new adventure.  We miss each other, but we are happy and content with our little family.  We anxiously anticipate adding our little boy to our family, which will change things even more... I am sure.

Attitude

Yesterday, Nicole's cousins came for a visit and Nicole picked up some "attitude" that I wish she never would have figured out.  First, Nicole heard her cousin using "potty words."  So, Nicoley started chanting, "Pee, pee, pee, pooh, pee."  Ugh!

Later, after the cousins had left, Nicole asked for cous cous for dinner.  I set her down in her chair, gave her the cous cous and went to do some dishes.  Not three seconds later, I look up and she is pooring spoonfuls of cous cous into her hair and saying, "cous cous head."  Then, while I am attempting to get the cous cous out of her hair, she pours more on the table (my fault, I should have thought to move her bowl out of her reach) and spreads it around with her hands and says, "cous cous mess!"  I tell her to stop and tell her that I am mad at her and that she shouldn't make messes.  She takes a handful of cous cous, shoves it in her mouth and says, "Meths," and spits cous cous everywhere.  I'm still kicking myself for not moving the cous cous after she put it in her hair.

Nicole has never done anything like this before.  She doesn't even like messes.  When her hands get dirty, she cries and holds them up for me to clean them off.  She has never played with her food like this, so it shocked me and I just didn't know how to react or what to do.

Then, after I had cleaned up the cous cous, she asked for rice (which is what was for dinner) I put her back in her booster, and gave her rice.  She tasted it, then violently pushed the bowl away and said, "Yucky!  I don't want it!"  Again, I was floored.  She has never acted like this.  I didn't even know that she knew what "don't want it" means.

Having still not eaten dinner, I asked her if she wanted anything, she asked for goldfish crackers (fishes).  I gave her some.  She put some in her mouth, chewed them a little, then stuck both hands in her mouth and stuck out her tongue and shook her hands until the half eaten fishy crackers went everywhere.

I was done by this point, no more food and time out.  She normally stays in time out when I put her there, but she refused and kept coming off the stairs.  Normally, she even cries in time out.  This time, she sang a time out song (that she made up) and just kept coming of the stairs.  Every time that I tried to use my stern voice with her and showed my mad face, she laughed at me.  This is just not my sweet, tender hearted little girl.

Then, Daddy came home and she knew that she was in trouble.  Why is it that she responds to Matt and not to me?  She finally stopped her attitude and naughty behavior when Dad came home and was a sweet girl the rest of the night.

Is it me?  Is she testing me to see what she can get away with?  Did she just discover yesterday that she can play with her food and wanted to try it out?  Will this attitude continue?

I'm just... frustrated and tired.

Finger Smash

Nicole had her first "real" injury yesterday.  Nicole has bonked her head and had minor scratches that she inflicted on her self throughout her life, but nothing that causes pain for more than a few seconds.  Yesterday, she smashed her finger in a door and it cut one of her fingers.

She could not get over this injury, probably because she has never been hurt like this before.  Most bonks are healed with a kiss from Mommy and Daddy, but it did not work with this finger.  When I picked Nicole up after work yesterday, the first thing she did was start to cry and show me her finger (she was not crying before I arrived).  It was like she was reliving the whole experience again and had to tell me all about her pains and woes.

She insisted that I kiss the finger, so I did, but then she kept wanting me to kiss it and kiss it and kiss it and she cried about it for an hour.  I couldn't get her to give up talking about this finger.  So, I put some neosporin on the cut, put her very first band-aid on and she seemed to chill out... a little.

Until, she started obsessing over the band-aid.  She kept wanting to take the band-aid off.  In fact, she got the first one off, so I had to replace it with a new one.  She wanted the second one off, but she couldn't get it off.

Oh, and did I mention that she told me that, "Daddy smash finger"?  Which, he did not, but she likes to blame us for things if we were there when it happened.  But, she also told me that "Daddy kiss finger," and "Daddy fix finger."  She is such a little scoundrel.

She did eventually stop crying about the finger when I turned on Kialan for her, but I did have to kiss it for her multiple times before bed.  I thought that maybe having her able to communicate with us more would lesson her crying fits, but it just allows her to tell us why she is crying.

Last night, when I was trying to watch something that I wanted to watch, Nicole came up to me and said, "Watch Kialan show Mommy?  Okay."  (She likes to ask us questions and put the response to the question right there for us so that we can't disagree.)  When I told her, "No Kialan," there was another crying fit.

Hopefully, today will be a day with less tears and less drama.  Do the terrible twos sometimes start before the child is two?

Christmas

This year we had the opportunity to spend Christmas with my family.  For the past three years that we have been married, we have spent Christmas with the Kimballs, which was a lot of fun, but I was glad that we got to be with my family this year.

On Christmas Eve we went up to my parent's house and settled in as we planned to stay the night.  I helped my sisters and my Mom do a Christmas craft.  Now that I am writing about it, I probably should have taken a picture of the craft... but I didn't.  It was a banner on a ribbon that said, "Let it Snow."  I thought that it turned out really well.

Later that day, we all went over to my brother Jake's house for dinner.  Jill, Jake's wife, really decorated the house and the tables beautifully for Christmas dinner.  The food was delicious and there was more than enough to eat.  After dinner we exchanged gifts among the kids and then amongst us siblings.  Those of the siblings who weren't spending Christmas at the Parent's also received their parental gifts.

We went back to Mom and Dads and put Nicole to bed as she was melting down at Jake and Jill's.  We were the first to leave.  It seems like we are always the first to leave because Nicole gets crowd anxiety.  Sarah, Mark, Marie, Anthon, Johnny, and Krista all stayed the night at the parent's on Christmas Eve.  So, in true Derington fashion, we stayed up really late playing games.  I knew when I had stayed up too late when I started crying over a card game, then it was time for bed for this pregnant lady.

Christmas morning, we got up and made breakfast together, as Dad loves to do on Christmas morning.  Then,we all headed upstairs to do presents.  Since there were no small children anticipating the gifts (unless you count Johnny), we were able to wait to do gifts until like 10am.

Nicole got these Monkey Pajamas the night before.  They are her Christmas pajamas.  I wanted her to have cute pajamas for me to take pictures of her for Christmas morning.  She loves them!  She never wants to take them off once she has them on, so we went back to Costco later and got her two more footy pajamas to wear.

Nicole got a band in a box for Christmas, which included a harmonica.  She loves music and plays her harmonica for us all the time.

 Nicole's big present this year was her push car.  She absolutely loves it!  She tells us all the time that she wants to drive her car.  Here she is on Christmas morning driving her car and reading a book.

Here we are are together as a family on Christmas morning.

Sarah and Mark holding Nicoley's book.

Mom and Dad with their Christmas Gifts

Johnny, Krista and Damon.  Johnny and Krista neglected to bring gifts for themselves, so all they had were these awesome stockings.

Marie, Anthon, and Damon with their new clothes.  Anthon's new clothes were Ditch.

Matt thought it would be fun to decorate Coley's bum with bows.

We had a lot of fun opening presents with Nicole.  She is certainly one spoiled little girl.  Matt got me a new ring to wear while I am pregnant since my wedding ring does not currently fit and it is a beautiful silver puzzle ring.  He also got me a winter coat which was very much needed.  I got Matt some awesome sweaters and an extension cord reel.  I love picking out gifts for my little girl and my husband.

After gifts, we ate "dinner" with my family, then headed over to Mamma Kimball's.  We spent the rest of the night with Matt's family and had Christmas dinner number two.  We were very spoiled by our parent's this year with many gift cards.  Matt and I are already planning date nights.

It was a good Christmas this year.  I especially loved watching Nicole open her presents.  She didn't really get the concept last year, but was very excited to open them this year.

25 Weeks

Bet you all thought that when I finally wrote again that it would be my Christmas post... but it isn't, that is yet to come... still.  I want to include all my pictures and I have as of yet to get them off of my camera.  So, as far as you know, Christmas did not happen!

In reality, this is a pregnancy post.  I have been very lax in writing about this pregnancy because there has not been very much to post.  This pregnancy is a breeze!  I am now 25 weeks pregnant and I am feeling pretty good.  Which is very different from pregnant Becky last time.  Remember my 25 weeks post last time?  It was a list of complaints and grievances.  Nicole really was a mean fetus.

Baby boy is really treating me well.  I am more tired during the day than I would like, but I don't have the constant pain, discomfort, and nausea that I had with Nicole.  His little kicks like to keep me up at night and they don't feel good, but they are not nearly as painful as the last time.  This is perhaps due to the fact that my body has done this all before and my skin isn't ripping with every kick like it did with Nicole.

I hate to say it, but my Mom was right, my second pregnancy is better than my first.  I am sure that this is because I know what to expect this time around and I know what I am getting out of the deal.  This baby boy will be worth every pain that I am experiencing now (well, if I love him as much as I love my Nicole).

I am especially grateful that this pregnancy is not as trying as the last as I am currently the breadwinner and I have to go to work everyday and prove my worth to my employers so that I may keep my job while I am gone having the baby.  Plus, with all the other obstacles that Matt and I have faced recently, we don't need a crazy pregnant lady hanging around all the time.  I am only slightly emotional at times, but not full on crazy like I was last time.

But, as I suppose it is with every pregnancy, I feel a greater gratitude to my mother for enduring this for me.  Thanks Mom for being pregnant a fifth time in order to bring me into the world.  I just don't know if I would do this 5 times. 

Merry Christmas From the Kimball's

Family Home Evening

Last night Matt made pot stickers and I made fried rice for our Kimball Family Home Evening.  We had Momma Kimball, DJ, Kristy and Omar over for FHE.  The food turned out pretty good, but not as good as when we did pot stickers with Sarah and Mark.  Matt made the wonton wrappers from scratch and they weren't quite right, but we will perfect the recipe, oh yes, we will.

It was nice to have the Kimballs over to our house, as we have been gathering at Momma Kimball's so much lately.  Even though I love going to Momma Kimball's, it is a little small to accommodate large crowds and Nicole has a difficult time with crowds in general.  She has a little overcrowded anxiety.

We fed everyone last night and then I made them play games with me because you can't come over and eat my food and not play a game with me.  Games are my payment for food.  So, we played spinner and it was a lot of fun.  Nicole even sat at the table in her booster seat, playing with her own game while we played ours.  Usually, she is running around, causing a ruckus and driving me crazy, but she was such a good little girl.

Then, we played Boggle (one of my favorite games) and I totally annihilated the Kimballs.  It made me happy to be the best finder of words.  That is probably why Matt won't play Boggle with me very often.