Last week

What a week we have had with all that Claire is learning, all the things we got to do, and especially the fun I've got to have with my best friend who came to visit. We have been very happy as our little family for the past year and a half but we are very excited for the next addition. For anyone who wants to know, we will be calling into the hospital this Friday and if there is room for us, we will get induced. Less than a week until we hopefully get to meet our beautiful baby girl and we are both very excited!

Events

Last week I got a new hair style and I've been getting used to it but still find myself surprised sometimes when I look in the mirror. Luckily Claire still knows me and doesn't think it is too different and not too many other people seem to have noticed either. I was able to surprise my best friend though so it was fun, and we have been able to have a lot of fun so far while she has been here. Just spending time with her is fun but we also visited the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium with our kids and even though they won't remember it, I think Claire had some fun. It was more about getting out of the house and doing something than it was about remembering anything from the experience.

Claire

I wish I could figure out how to get the videos from my phone onto this blog! Claire has been learning some very funny things like spanking her daddy, kissing my baby bump, and the best laugh while playing on our yoga ball. It was so precious when she kissed my bump for the first time and it gives me hope that she finally understands she is about to get a sibling! I can't wait to have her kiss her baby sister for real hopefully in less than a week! We got Claire her first backpack, it is really small and can only fit a few things, but it is perfect and so adorable for her, plus it comes with a leash that attaches to the bottom so she can't run away from me when we go places.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Celebrations

Although we didn't plan a specific date for this Valentine's day, I didn't have energy to cook what I wanted for our dinner so we ended up going out to eat. We are looking for a new good sushi place near where we live so we went to a place near us, but I doubt we will go back to this particular one. Claire enjoyed coming to dinner with us and tried her first sushi, the shrimp tempura roll, that was very hard for her to eat take a bite out of. We went with simple gifts for each other, I got him a new oil vile shaped like a bullet that has the title of liberty on it. Chris wrote me a beautiful love note to wake up to when I taught my classes and let me pick out something special for myself.

Claire

She was so excited to get mail, she held it to her chest and smiled when I let her have as soon as I pulled it out of the mailbox. She carried it inside and when I opened it, she was happy to play with both envelope and card, then was even more excited when the card opened. We have a really good routine going these days and she doesn't like when it gets messed up since her naps are weird on those days. Maybe it's more me that doesn't like when her nap schedule gets ruined...I don't like her being grumpy after only sleeping a little. She is a perfect little angel most the time when putting her to bed but can wake up a little disoriented sometimes. 

Earthquakes!

We had two earthquakes this week! They were on Friday morning at 5am when I was in a classroom waiting for a student that never showed up. I felt the first one and after realizing it wasn't our garage opening, started looking up how to find out if there was an earthquake. Then the next one hit and I saw our TV sway back and forth a little and found a website that told me they had just happened.. It was exciting and woke Chris up from his sleep of the dead even though they were only 3.2 and 3.7 according to Google. The epicenter is about 4 miles from our house though and it was the talk of the day around here with anyone you ran into.

Baptism

We had a very awesome event this Saturday, which you can tell by the section title was a baptism. We went up to Tremonton and Chris was the person who baptized and confirmed his best friend since middle school, David. It was beautiful and his daughter cried when she gave the closing prayer which was the most precious thing I've seen. We are very happy for him and hope this is the start of good things to come, especially if plans come together and he moves closer.  This was one of those weird days for Claire's naps and she slept in her car seat reluctantly but was able to handle the day's events pretty well. 

Taxes

I am one of those over achievers that like to do taxes as soon as we get all the documents which happened to have been this past week. It took a couple hours two different days and now we just have to wait for the money to get to us, it is a relief and a reason to treat ourselves. We had talked about what we would do if we were going to be getting a good refund and decided that investing in a new a better bed was the best option. I didn't want to wait for the money so we put our new Purple bed on our credit card and it was shipped to us within 2 days! Good thing the main headquarters is so close because we've been enjoying our sleep the last couple nights.

The Month of Love

February is coming along great and we had two days this week that felt kinda like winter with snow and cold. The other days are still sunny and melt our snow away pretty fast, but I don't love winter so I'm not complaining! Along with Valentine's Day, we have some great things going to happen this month including Chris's best friend's baptism and my best friend coming to visit Utah! Then once all the fun is over March and a newborn will be here!

Claire

She is just as active as ever and is still enjoying visiting the KidCare at the gym every day with no real clinging problem. I'm sure the few times it happened a few weeks ago was because she was sick and wanted lots of cuddles, but now she is excited to be let in to play with all the toys. I've seen her dance to the end credits of Wreck it Ralph on their movie day, climb up the slide they have, sit at their table to eat some snacks, and even slightly interact with some of the bigger kids. The interacting isn't much but she does watch them intently and its fun to see her learning new things when I come to pick her up. Altogether, she's had a great experience and I'm grateful for her friendly and happy attitude since everyone there thinks she is great, too.

Cooking

This week, Chris expressed how much he has been missing a really popular dish he used to eat in South Korea so we attempted to recreate it like I have with a few other dishes. This dish is called Bibimbap and is usually eaten out of a stone bowl that cooks and hardens the rice at the bottom. We tried using our cast iron skillet to get this affect after the rice was cooked, we just put it in with some sesame oil to harden the bottom and it worked well. Eventually we will invest in the stone Dolsot bowl but it worked good enough our way this time that Chris was happy with the outcome of our meal. There are colorful side dishes that are added all around the sides to make it a good looking food, but then when you eat it, it's all mixed together and tastes great. We considered our first attempt a success and plan to get better next time.

Baby #2

This baby is getting really big or is stretching a lot because I feel like my belly is constantly pulled to the limit and I have to lean back when she is moving or I will pop. I can't wait for next month when I will have room in my stomach again and be able to hold her in my arms as she wiggles instead. I once had a conversation with someone who said that baby's could technically stay in up to a year to fully get all the development they need but that they would be too big for delivery. I cannot imagine her in here any longer and I still have a month to go! I'm also just really curious to see what she will look like, how much she will weigh, and then see all the smiles and giggles that come soon after.

The count down begins

Over the cold

I love not being sick! It feels like I was sick all last month and now that I'm 100% again I am so relieved to breath and have energy. I'm grateful that Claire was able to get better too and we get to go back to kid care at the gym and even join nursery! She technically isn't 18 months until the 13th of February but the leaders in there took her the last two weeks for the second hour of church. It makes it so much easier to participate and follow the lessons again and when we go to pick her up she is always giggly and happy. There will be even more happiness in there soon because Chris just got a calling to be in the nursery, I don't know when they plan to give me one though.

Claire

We are so happy our little cutie is now feeling better and enjoying playing and getting out of the house with the nice weather we've had here. There were a few days that were so nice out that we went for walks down to the church with just a jacket on and Claire enjoys the time she gets outside. Along with kid care and nursery, we have had a play date with the downstairs neighbors and it was fun to see them interact. They are only about 2 weeks difference in age and seem to be learning all the same things about wanting toys all to themselves. They could be happy with one toy until they see another kid playing with a toy, then they have to go play with that one too! 

 Baby #2

I've been feeling pretty big and whenever someone asks that's always my answer with how I'm feeling, just big. There's pressure and a lot of feeling uncomfortable trying to pick up after Claire and sit and teach my classes in the morning but nothing like the numbness that I had with Claire. I used to wake up during the night and in the morning with no feeling in either of my hands and have to get my blood flowing while trying to teach classes. It was awful and I'm so glad that hasn't happened again and I just get to feel her moving around and playing in there as the worst of it. I've felt very lucky to be blessed with an easy pregnancy and being able to work out and enjoy time with family.

Workouts

I want to record for myself, and not really for anyone reading, what I've been doing with my workouts during this 3rd trimester. Every week day is a different muscle group that I lift weights for: Monday is chest, Tuesday is back, Wednesday is shoulders, Thursday is legs, and Friday is arms. Each day has 4 workouts that work the area I'm focusing on and then I spend 15-20 mins walking on the treadmill as a cardio workout some of the days. One the days I get my workout done in a short time I go for a 30 min swim which is my favorite way to do cardio at this point. I've started to swim for 45 mins on Saturdays and it is still feeling good so I will keep it up and maybe try an hour next week.