Happy Birthday, Ian

Yesterday, Ian turned 30. Most of his day was spent working, but we tried to work in a few fun things during the day. Serra was most excited for him to open his presents, so he did that first thing in the morning. Then Ian accidentally packed only a pb&j sandwich for lunch, so we went out to eat. The evening was spent doing some critical errands and then playing games. Today, he has some friends coming over for a Magic Tournament- so the fun continues! I can't believe we've reached the 30's [I have a couple more years, but time flies].

Serra and I moved back a week ago- just in time for Easter and Ian's birthday. We're pretty much all unpacked and moved back in. Now we just have to remember what we used to do during the days when Ian's at work! It's good to be back- it's been hard, but overall I'm very glad to be here. And Serra is back to her "old self". I didn't realize just how much she'd changed because of the recent circumstances. So overall we're all a lot happier and working toward some excellent goals. :)

On a side note about Ian, he had another stomach pain attack that lasted 16 hours and the doctors are completely baffled. He's been under a barrage of tests- all coming out negative. Which is good because so far they've eliminated his H. Pylori coming back, gallstones, and cancer. At the end of the month, he's going to have an EGD [where they stick a camera down his throat to see what's going on]. Hopefully it will shed some light on what's going on and we can finally fix it!

Alex is continuing to grow and kick more every day- he's such a mover that I'm a little worried about how "active" he's going to be once he's out! But we're anxious to have him join us- Serra asks every morning if we're going to see Alex. Nope, Serra- two more months.... It's weird because the time has really flown, and yet at the same time I feel like I've been pregnant forever! But I'm sure these last 2 months will also fly by and before you know it we'll be enjoying Alex's company- at all hours of the night. :)

Busy, Busy Month!

A lot of stuff happened this month, so I'm sorry that there are so many pictures, but I couldn't just leave some out!

I was making a birthday cake for the Relief Society birthday party and Serra wanted to make a cake too.

Serra walking in the snow.

I made a slightly bigger version of a blanket that I had made for baby doll before- Serra loves that they have matching blankets.

One of Serra's favorite past-times is to pretend she's taking a nap. [Daddy is better at faking than Serra is...]

I finally finished Serra's quilt- now I need to get a jump start on Alex's and finish his sooner!

I also made 5 sets of Christmas cards this month. I'm all set on Christmas cards for the next few years. :)

An outfit I made for Alex- they were both harder than they looked!

6 Months Pregnant

Serra going swimming- the one day I bring a camera and she doesn't want to do anything. In fact, she's turned around and telling me to get in the water too.

Serra blowing bubbles in the pool- something she learned from her swimming class.

We had an early Easter egg hunt this year- and Serra was a little confused at first.

But then she got the hang of it and loved picking candy up.

Serra's showing me how heavy her bag is getting.

She was so intrigued by the candy coming out of the egg, she kept closing and opening it- probably trying to figure out how to get it to make more candy.

Another one of Serra's favorite past-times: putting stickers on anything that doesn't move for at least a minute. Today's subject: Daddy's arm.

A third favorite past-time is watching movies with Aunt Paige.

We had a garage sale this last Saturday [made over $300!] and sent Serra over to play with a friend- she took a nap on their living room floor instead.

And finally, my last craft for the Craft Month- a summer pots wreath!


FYI- April is International Guitar Month, National Humor Month and Uh-Oh Month. April 28th is Kiss Your Mate Day- make sure to take advantage of that one! :)

Happy March!

We have quite a few plans this month. At the end of the month, I'm going to have a garage sale- get rid of the last of the junk I've had stored here in Lehi that I don't really need. And anything left will be going to DI! Also, on April 3rd, Serra and I are planning on moving back up to Idaho. Ian and I have been making some real progress- working things out between us. It's still a long road ahead of us, but we're on the right track- thanks for all the support and prayers!

It snowed again the other day and I was actually glad because I hadn't had the chance to get pictures of Serra in the snow yet this year. So I finally got some, but I haven't put them on my computer yet- so I'll post them next time. Also, Serra had a swimming class last month that she really loved- basically a parent/toddler class to learn to get familiar and comfortable with the water. It was a lot of fun and she asks every day if we can go swimming. She is growing so tall and thin that everyone assumes she is a 3 year old when they see her- which can be annoying because they expect more out of her when they think she's older. But she is typically a very well behaved girl.

And lastly, as a side note this month is Craft Month! More specifically, it's also Crochet Month. So pull your supplies out of your closet and get some of those craft projects done- I'll try to post about some of the stuff I get done this month at the end. Hope you all have a happy March!

Potty Time!

I'm SO excited I want to run outside and shout down the street- "Serra used her potty!" Out of no prompting on my own, she was sitting in her bath [which did take some prompting] and she turns to me and says, "no stinky bath". To which I quickly reply, "yes, we don't go stinky in the bath! Do you need to go stinky?" Serra says yes and I fleetingly offer for her to sit on her potty which she just happened to pull out of the closet the other day and set on the bathroom floor- I was of course thinking she'd say no. But to my surprise, not only does she say yes, but she climbs out of the tub, sits down and promptly starts to go to the bathroom! After she saw my reaction and had the fun of helping me clean out her potty she sat in the tub again and then quickly asked if she could do it again. I said yes, and get this- she did it AGAIN!!! I was so proud of her! And while all of me wants to start pushing potty training, after some thought I've come to the conclusion that I should keep it at her pace. I'll occasionally ask her if she wants to use her potty- as a reminder of how much fun she had. I'm not going to pull out the underwear and start insisting on using the potty instead of diapers. But I'm excited that this is a first big step and I'm hoping it means we're on our way to potty training finally! Hurray!

Meet Alex

Here are the ultrasounds from our baby boy, Alexander [Alex for short- still working on a middle name.] Below each picture I've tried to give pointers so you can understand what's really in the picture.

Alex was not shy- anyone familiar with how to look at an ultrasound can see he's "pointing" to the top left.

Took me forever to see this one, but I finally did just today! His face is on it's side with his chin pointing right. If you look closely, you'll see a skeletal-looking face with black eye sockets, a tiny nose and frown [his two hands are right up to his face too, which makes it difficult to decipher.]

His shoulder is in the middle near the bottom with his upper arm pointing to the top left, elbow bent and lower arm pointing back down to the middle- his hand is nearly touching his shoulder.

His feet are on the far left with his leg extending all the way across the screen to the right.

His feet are on the far right side [this one is a little harder to see, too].

His profile is the easiest to see, but it was blurred a bit by movement- you can see the shape of his head and he's facing upwards [chin is on the left].

Happy Valentine's Day

Ian stayed over an extra night so he could spend a little time with us on Valentine's Day. But he had to leave before I had a chance to shower- or do Serra's hair. So I'm not in the picture, and Serra looks like a mess. But at least we got a couple of pictures! Ian gave Serra a cute Valentine's outfit- unfortunately, all you can see in the picture is the shirt [the pants are light pink with dark pink and red hearts tacked all over them- super cute!] We've also been dealing with colds/coughs. Serra is finally better, but it's my turn now. Hopefully today I've hit rock bottom and can start mending tomorrow! Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

It's a Boy!

There is a lady in our ward here who works at the women's clinic that I had Serra at- and for fun she lets anyone come down when she's not busy to do an ultrasound and find out what they're baby is! So when she heard that I didn't get my ultrasound last week like I should have, she offered for me to come tonight if she wasn't busy. Well, I got the call and ran down there. She hasn't been wrong yet, I don't think [but even I agreed with her after seeing the ultrasound]- and she says it's a boy! So I'm nervous, but excited- and in a lot of ways I'm glad that I'll have 1 of each, especially with the circumstances and not knowing if I'll ever have any more. I still have my official ultrasound with the real ultrasound technician next Tuesday, but I'm confident that they'll just confirm what we found out tonight. :)