Lil' Kicker

Brian felt our baby for the first time last night. As we got into bed the little kicker got moving. This little one hasn't been much for moving a lot. I usually get a kick, maybe two now and then and I have rarely felt the baby move from the outside with my hand, maybe 3 or 4 times. I didn't think Brian would be feeling the baby move for a few more weeks so, I was surprised and delighted that Brian felt a few kicks last night. And of course, Brian was pretty excited too.

Prego Update

Today I am 18 weeks 4 day pregnant and all is going well. Here's a little pregnancy news.

Our first ultrasound was on May 4th. We were, of course, excited to see the little gummy bear, most of all Paige. She thought it was so cool to be able to see our baby on the screen in the ultrasound room. She insisted on making phone calls right after the appointment to spread the news that we saw our baby. Baby was healthy and as always it's reassuring to see the little one and see it's heart beating. The official due date is December 9th. It will be excited to have a new little baby at Christmas.

Baby Bump!
This is me about 8 weeks along, some time around the first week of May. I know most don't see the bump, but I can.

The next few weeks I just gained weight and did not look real pregnant; I just look like I was putting on a few extra pounds. Bring on the fat stores for the sweet little nursing baby.
June 30th- I still think I look like I'm just gaining a bit o' chub, but others say this is a definite
baby bump. The last few days I have been popping out. I wake up each morning to find my tummy has expanded. It's fun.

June 27th I felt baby move for the first time. I got out of bed and first thing I get a little kick. I may have felt little flutters before but this was the first definite baby kick this pregnancy. The movements are coming daily and more and more frequently now. This is my favorite part of pregnancy. I like roundness of my tummy, the ultrasounds, and buying baby stuff, but by far, my favorite part is feeling that little life moving within me.

The nauseousness is completely gone. I'm very hungry, though, and have had a few cravings. One day I just had to drink the juice from the pickle jar. I know, not so healthy, but I had to have it. Last night it was enchiladas served with beans and rice, from a Mexican place I went to growing up. I could almost smell it, taste it, feel the messy yumminess in my mouth. Unfortunately the restaurant is no longer there. It was also 9:30 pm so no Mexican restaurant would be open around here anyway. Taco Bell was open, I'm sure, but would not cut it. I went to bed with out my Mexican food.

We will be going to our next ultrasound soon and finding out the gender of our little bundle. Paige is really hoping for a girl. She tells most people she's going to have a sister. Brian and I are also thinking it might be a girl. We've both been back and forth on the issue but we feel it's a girl now. We'll see in a couple weeks.

Lots to Tell

We have been busy so I thought I'd get a post up.
Brian had a birthday. He is feeling old. We're getting closer to 30.
I made Brian his favorite, German chocolate cake. Carter enjoyed the ice cream.

Paige turned 3. She's such a big girl. She was spoiled as usual and loved it. Here are a couple pictures.

Paige chose a fudge, Oreo, and mint ice cream concoction for her cake. She loved it. Sadly these are her first birthday candles. Her mother has bought candles but has forgotten to bring them to the party location each time. Finally she got to blow out the candles and make a wish for her birthday.



We celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 30th of June. Brian surprised me with a trip to Starlight Mountain Theatre in Crouch. It's a good hour and a half drive up in to the mountains. We had a nice drive, a tasty dinner, and saw The Wizard of Oz. It was a great production and very funny.



4th of July festivities.
We spent the 4th with our best buds and had a great time! Wish we had taken more pictures but I forgot the extra batteries. Oops. Ya gotta forget something on a road trip, right. Ha, Brian also forgot his suit for church on Sunday.



The kids both loved the swings. This was a first for Paige.

These girls all had a lot of fun playing together and fighting over toys. Haha! It was great.

We wet bowling. This was the first time for both Paige and Carter.




Miss Champ
She beat us all.

Now you're somewhat up to date. I'll get a baby post up soon.

Thoughts of a surprised mom

Going, er, you know, potty on a stick is a very unromantic way to check if one's pregnant. It seems somehow unequal such a potentially joyous occasion. Despite that, as we all filed into the bathroom, me, followed by Carter, followed by Paige (What mother uses the toilet alone? Not me!), followed by Brian (I think Brian followed partly to keep the kids out of my hair while I was "busy," partly to be there himself when the results showed up), excitement, knowing, accompanied by anxious denial all filled me till I felt I might just burst. . .

~Intermission~

Nothing's happening ... But then color, purplish pink to be exact, slowly seeped across the "window." Brian and I stood, heads together, looking at the "stick" which would determine our future. "There's just one line," came Brian's disappointed but a-little-bit-relieved voice. "No...," I said, "that's a positive sign, honey." We slowly looked up at each other as goofy grins stole across our faces. Surprise, we're pregnant! Ready or not, here comes number three.

Surprise!

We were recently surprised by an exciting discovery. All the signs were suggesting it. We are expecting Baby Raybon number 3. I'm excited to meet this little one. The big day is December 11th or so.
Morning sickness has come on with vigor, and I am so blessed to have such an understanding husband. Yesterday, after a day that was less productive than I had hoped it would be, Brian complemented the cleanliness of our apartment. When I told him that I had fallen asleep putting Carter to bed for nap time, he asked, "Did you get a good nap?" My other saving grace has been the good ol' Unisom and B6 cocktail.
Paige is convinced that she has a baby in her tummy as well which is too cute. "My baby is hungry," she tells me.
Oh and who knew I would start showing so soon. I'm just over seven weeks along and have a little baby bump that family members have noticed. Look out. Big bump coming.

My baby turned one about a week ago. And yes, I'm going to say it, it's amazing how fast that year went. It's crazy to think that just one year ago we had a baby, packed up, cleaned and moved all in a matter of a couple weeks. Nothing was certain; everything was up in the air. A year later my big beautiful 9 lb 6 oz baby is an even bigger absolutely adorable 29 lb 3 oz toddler. Brian has a good job (for which he has even had the chance to live the dream of working on capital hill for the last week). We have our own place. We're even looking in to buying a home (Me a home owner? That sounds weird.) in Nampa or maybe Kuna of all places. Anyway this year has brought some trials that, at the time, felt like we would never get through. It has also brought some awesome blessings and here we are, on the other side, happy!

Good Morning

I get the tunes going in the morning to get me movin'. As you can see from the videos, I have a lot to do. Got to get motivated, right. I feel like our whole house has fallen apart with sickness going through it for the last two weeks, especially since this is the third time in the last two months. This winter has not been good to us. Anyway, I'm feeling better, went to a RS thing last night, and went to bed without cleaning or doing the dishes. I have visiting teacher's coming at 10:30. The apartment is a disaster, the kids are not dressed, nor am I. All we've accomplished so far is eating breakfast. Music is a must-have. Well, it's working and it has my little ones moving too. They're a bit camera shy so this is toned down. Of course, usually Mommy's dancing right along with them, but I'm behind the camera now. So they're not getting much encouragement from me. Crazy house, cute kids. Well, this is my life, and I'm loving it. Hope you enjoy the videos (complete with booger-picking).



One thing I love about Carter is his hips. Most babies do the baby bounce dance. Carter, however, never really has. It's all in the hips. It's like he was latino in a previous life. Haha. What a cutie.
One thing I love about Paige is her back-seat singing. She's like her mom and loves to sing along.

By the way, I got the place cleaned up before my visiting teacher showed up... well mostly clean. Guess I should do more cleaning and less dancing.

I Have a Tesamony of My Very Own!

We were watching a general conference talk this morning in which Elder Nelson spoke about using the internet to share our testimonies. Paige asked "what he say?" I told her that he said we should write down our testimonies. She has been telling me since then that she wants to write her testimony. "I want to write my testimony. Not your testimony, just my testimony." I asked her what do you know about Heavenly Father and Jesus. We talked a little and I decided to help her find some pictures and she could tell me about them and I would type it. These are the ones she wanted "for (her) testimony."

Heavenly Father loves me.

This is Jesus and the Children.
He loves me.

I love Jesus. He gave me my heart.

Jesus bless the children.

The Prophet.

It's Joseph Smith. There's Jesus and Father. They bless Joseph Smith.

I love to see the temple.

They're getting married. Get flowers and get married. At the temple get married. I get married at the temple.
That's Baptize.
That's a Holy Ghost.It's getting a blessing.