Weeks 30 & 31

Well, we're past the 10 week mark!  Yahoo!  At this point, even with being a week overdue, I won't have more than 10 weeks to go.  I'm pretty sure that will be manageable. :)

At 31 weeks, I couldn't be more ready to be done!  The reasons are two-fold, really.  The first, and biggest fold, is (of course) the fact that my body is just absolutely done.  Every activity is exhausting, my belly is constantly in the way, I'm not sleeping, yada, yada, yada.  But the second-fold is more fun.  I am really excited to meet my son!  I think a lot about what he'll look like.  If he'll look as much like Johnny as the ultrasound pictures indicate that he might.  I wonder what his temperament will be like, and even what his cry will sound like.  I of course wonder about how big he'll be, and whether or not I should bother washing the 0-3 months clothes at all.

Luke has gotten even more active the last couple of weeks, which reminds me how much room he still has to grow!  It seems as though he's discovered his acrobatic side, and has been practicing is somersaults day and night.  He's had more regular hiccups, too, which is just adorable.  I've got another appointment on Monday, and am excited to see him and hear how he's doing.  I expect he'll be big and fine. :)

In the last couple of weeks, Danny and I have purchased a crib, a car seat, and a swing.  I'm realizing it's time to get some of these things in order, which again reminds me that I won't be pregnant forever!  Time really is going by fairly quickly, so I shouldn't complain.  Before I know it, I won't be pregnant and will instead be recovering with a newborn...

A Taste Of Springtime

Back around the weekend of my birthday, we had our first glimpse of spring.  And boy, was it a beautiful sight!  In the weeks since, we've had quite a few beautifully warm days outside, and the kids absolutely LOVE playing outside.  And I absolutely LOVE them playing outside! :)  Claire and Sophie wait all day with the hopes that the triplets next door will come ask them to play in their backyard, with the swing set and trampoline.  Johnny is fine just playing in Grandma and Papa's sandbox, getting as dirty as a little boy can.  Pure joy.

On this first day of springtime weather, the kids were beside themselves.  And we were having a ball watching them be kids.  Kids outside.  In grass.  Without snakes and poisonous spiders. :)  In all seriousness, one of the reasons we moved back here to Utah was to have a place for our kids to play.  It is immensely satisfying as a parent to see your kids have the type of environment they need to thrive and be happy.  

It is also immensely satisfying to have a camera that so beautifully captures them thriving happily. :)

We have the cutest kids.  Ever.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

About two weeks ago, on March 2nd, I turned 29.  Yup, that's right.  I've entered my last year in the twenties, and 30 is now less than a year away!  This was a wonderful birthday for me.  We had bits of birthday celebration over the course of a week or so, which is always fun.  And it was automatically better than last year since Danny didn't have to be out of town!

I got my first (and most awesome) present about a week before my birthday.  After Claire's first performance of "Beauty and the Beast", I was frustrated that my little beloved point-and-shoot camera just wasn't going to be capable of getting any decent pictures of Claire on stage.  So, while we were walking through Costco getting groceries, Danny decided on my present.  We walked out with a new Canon Rebel with zoom lens and the whole nine yards!  We've talked about getting this camera for over a year, and we know we'll use it a ton.  As you can tell from the "Beauty and the Beast" post, it is an amazing camera!  We've had so much fun with it already, and we've only kept it on auto mode!  Now I need to find a class or something to teach me all the many tricks our new toy can do.  Thanks, Sweetheart!

My actual birthday was on Friday, and it just so happened to be an off-Friday for Danny.  Yay!  We arranged for the kids to spend the afternoon at Grandma Candy's, and Danny took me out on a date.  We went to the Ogden Home and Garden Show, and had so much fun looking at all the cool stuff.  After that we made our way to dinner.  Danny wasn't telling me where we were going, but as we got closer to our final destination, he decided to give me a hint.  "It rhymes with Lexas Codehouse...", he said.  Classic Danny!  I was able to stop laughing at his hint long enough to eat some majorly delicious food at Texas Roadhouse, and too much of it!  It was a perfect day.

Then, on Sunday, we had David, Camillia, and Ruby over for Birthday Cookie Sundaes.  For some reason, I had been in the mood to bake cookies for days, and had managed to hold off until my birthday dessert.  We made our classic Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies from Our Best Bites, and tried a new recipe from another food blog...Rolo Stuffed Cookies.  Yummers!  Aunt Katie helped me get our six dozen or so cookies baked and ready for that evening.  We had fun in the kitchen!  And we got to snitch as much dough as we wanted. ;)

The cookies turned out amazing!  And beautiful!  And we love that we can now take delicious food pictures with our awesome new camera! :)

After assembling our delicious Cookie Sundaes, we sang "Happy Birthday" and blew out my candle.  Johnny was on hand to help.  He's such a good son. :)

Then everyone dug in!  It was a fun dessert to have as a birthday treat, and it was fun to make something besides a cake.  I'm also feeling more and more confident in my ability to bake, which is good, since Moms do a lot of baking!

We had a delightful evening!  Unfortunately, we weren't able to celebrate my birthday (and Grandma Candy's birthday a week earlier) with my family since there was some sickness going around both houses, and we needed to be conscientious of little Ava.  But later that next week, Grandma Candy took me out shopping for my birthday, and I ended up with not only a nice evening out with my Mom, but the ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid!  Thanks, Mom!  We put it to good use making Divine Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream for the Vigil Family dinner that weekend.  Matt smoked some awesome beef ribs, and Grandma Candy made her famous baked beans.  We provided the ice cream, along with a Banoffee Pie that was nothing short of amazing and should definitely only be made once a year.  

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday this year, thanks to all the people in my life that love me.  It's truly humbling to see how much everyone cares.  Thank you everyone!  I love you, too!

Claire's Big Debut

One of the first things that I can remember being discussed when Grandma Call came to Lancaster to help us move back in November was the possibility of Claire being in Clearfield High's production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" with Aunt Julie and Aunt Katie.  The minute it came out of Grandma's mouth, Claire thought of virtually nothing else.  Luckily for us, Mr. Uminski (the theater teacher) OK'd Claire's participation. :)  

Starting early in February, Claire started attending rehearsals with Aunt Julie and Aunt Katie.  She was playing a little village girl, and would be participating in both the opening village scene (the "Bonjour" scene) as well as the mob scene towards the end.  I had no idea how much time Claire would be spending at rehearsals before opening night, and I have to be honest, it wasn't easy for me!  In fact, I struggled with her participation more and more as opening night got closer and closer.  She's still just a little girl!  But, I'm glad Danny is around to balance me out. :)  

While Claire was busy with rehearsals, Grandma Call was busy making costumes for Aunt Julie, Aunt Katie, and Claire.  Claire literally spent whatever hours she wasn't at rehearsals sitting next to Grandma and her sewing machine, watching the costumes take form.  She.  Was.  Obsessed!  When Grandma wasn't sewing, Claire would convince Aunt Julie or Aunt Katie to watch musicals with her on You-Tube.  It was incredible to see this passion start to bloom in Claire.

Finally, after a month of waiting not-so-patiently, the big day came!  Opening night!  There were a total of four performances, starting on Thursday, February 23 and running through Saturday the 25th, with an additional show on Monday the 27th.  Claire could barely eat on Thursday night, she was so excited!  As soon as we convinced her to take at least three bites, she quickly got dressed in her costume and was ready to get her hair done.  I think she was definitely the cutest little villager!

Claire made a couple of very good friends during all her rehearsal time.  One of her teachers at school, Mrs. Moss, had three kids participating in the show.  Her son played Cogsworth, and her two daughters played village girls like Claire.  The three were instant friends, and since Brynnlee and Presley (both 8) were older than Claire, they were in charge of watching after her.  They did a great job!

The show started out with our very own Aunt Julie, playing the Enchantress.  (Side note: I did get an early birthday present from my wonderful husband.  A new camera!  More on that in a later post, but that's why we were able to get some awesome pictures!)  Aunt Julie did a wonderful job, and definitely got the cast started on the right foot.

I couldn't believe how much confidence Claire had on stage.  She had absolutely NO problem taking her place, and she remembered every cue.  Even with all those people in the audience.  I was so proud of her!  And I couldn't believe that I had anything to do with that beautiful little girl up there.  I won't lie.  There were tears.

At first, during the "well scene", I was so sad that Claire wouldn't sit closer to Belle and the rest of the kids.  But she would consistently sit in the exact same spot, no matter how often we told her to scoot in.  Turns out, there were a few kids that were there for dress rehearsal that weren't there for the performance.  Claire was blocked in that spot, and that's the spot she was going to sit in.  No matter what.  That's my girl!  She took this whole acting business very seriously!

As mentioned, Claire was also a part of the mob scene, and she did a wonderful job there as well.  Because of the action in the scene, it was incredibly difficult to get a decent picture.  :(  But I can absolutely guarantee you that she was every bit as cute during the mob scene as she was during the "Bonjour" scene!

Perhaps Claire's favorite part of the show was the end and the grand bow.  Again, there were usually tears involved for me.  I just couldn't believe how wonderful she did!  I couldn't believe my little baby was big enough to do anything like this.  And I just couldn't get over how amazingly beautiful she is.

What an incredible experience for our Claire Bear.  But, believe it or not, four performances wasn't the entirety of this experience.  There was so much more!  Someone from our family was at every performance.  All of us went to support Claire, Aunt Julie, and Aunt Katie on opening night.  During the second performance, only Danny went, and I stayed home with two sick kids.  In fact, Sophie had one infected ear and the other was on the cusp of infection.  Sheesh.  During the third performance, Danny stayed home with Johnny, and I took Sophie and Isabelle.  And, of course, we were all in attendance for closing night.  But we weren't the only ones to make a point of supporting all our budding actresses.  Uncle Kenny, Aunt Susie, and Braxton and Tavin came to support Claire and their aunts during the Friday night performance.  From what I understand, they loved the show!  But Braxton had something special for his favorite cousin after the show.  And he worked extra hard that day to earn the money.  What a special guy, and wonderful friend!

The productions department at Clearfield High had the fun idea of having a "Be Our Guest" party before the Saturday performance.  Kids could come early and meet the cast, get their pictures taken, and make crafts.  The price of the party also included the price of a ticket, and special seating was reserved for those who attended.  Obviously, we weren't going to miss that!  But if the girls were excited, Grandma was twice as excited.  See, she got this idea during the first performance of how cute it would be to see Claire and Sophie is real Belle dresses during the party.  She sewed, and sewed, and sewed up to the very last minute to produce two absolutely gorgeous Belle gowns for her two oldest granddaughters.  The girls were so excited!  What an industrious Grandma they have!

The party was so much fun.  The girls enjoyed making crafts with Aunt Julie and Aunt Katie, decorating crowns, and coloring pictures from "Beauty and the Beast".  We were lucky to be able to take Isabelle with us, and she had so much fun supporting Claire and being a princess with her cousins.  I can't believe how grown up all these kids are getting.

Grandma was so proud of how cute her girls looked!  Can't say I blame her. ;)  And she brought her emergency needle and thread, just in case it was needed.  Which is was.  Both Claire and Sophie stepped on their skirts within about 3.6 minutes of putting them on, and pulled the gathering out.  Good thing Grandma could fix it!

And even though we were too late for cast pictures (Grandma had to get those dresses finished!), Aunt Julie was able to pull some strings.  We were able to get our own private photo shoot with Belle...AND the Enchantress!  It's nice to have connections. ;)

During intermission on closing night, Claire was sought out by an admirer.  We have no idea who this boy was, but he took a liking to Claire, and stayed right by her side throughout intermission.  At one point, Claire brought him over to meet her family, then they went over to meet his parents.  I know!  It was simply crazy to watch.  I was transported 12 years into the future, and it scared me to death!  I was able to catch a picture of these two just when he got brave enough to break the touch barrier. :)

And with the curtain down on closing night, "Beauty and the Beast" was over!  Honestly, I don't think any of our family could take one more late night!  Sophie was still struggling with her ear infection, Johnny was teething and running fevers, and even Claire was running a fever off and on with a horrible cough.  But we were happy to have made it to every performance!  Grandma Candy came for closing night, and brought some flowers for Claire.  Danny brought her a single red  rose, in recognition of the enchanted rose, and even Grandma and Papa brought Claire flowers!  She was absolutely overwhelmed with joy (and exhaustion!) :)

Claire, we're so proud of you!  You did a wonderful job, and we all know it won't be the last show you're a part of.  It's so exciting as your parents to watch your talents and passions emerge, as we get a little more of a glimpse into the daughter of God that you are.  How humbled we are to have such a special girl to call our own.  Love you, Claire Bear!!

Weeks 28 & 29

I'm realizing a trend here.  I have to apologize for being so behind with every one of these posts!  I have some major blogging to do about Claire's performance in "Beauty and the Beast", but after sorting through almost 1000 pictures, I'm kind of burned out on it.  I've had a birthday, and the kids had some wonderful fun outside that also needs to be blogged.  So...consider that a preview within an apology... :)

Well, I did have a doctor's appointment during Week 28 that went well.  I did my glucose test, and it's been almost two weeks and I haven't heard back, so I'm assuming that means I'm within normal range.  Which means I have no one to blame but myself for this ridiculous weight gain!  Sigh.  We got to see Luke again, which was good for my soul.  He still looks great, and is measuring in at about 2-2 1/2 pounds.  Which means I could easily pack NINE MORE POUNDS on this kid!  Nine!!  *Shutter*  He did give us a chuckle, though.  During my previous ultrasound, Luke wouldn't give us a clear shot of his face.  He likes to sleep with one arm over his face, just like his Daddy and a couple of his siblings.  His arm was in the exact same position this last time!  Silly boy.

With that, there's honestly not much else to report.  I'm still so very tired all the time, and I can easily say this pregnancy is taking the greatest physical toll yet.  Which again, is probably largely my fault.  But for the life of me, I can't seem to muster the energy or self-control to change it.  Excuses, excuses.  Does it count that I day dream about all the awesome exercising and eating I'll be doing once I've healed from the section?  Cause I'm going to have a lot of exercising to do!

The kids are so excited to get Luke here, and both Claire and Sophie are of the opinion that my tummy is big enough for Luke to come out now.  I was surprised to hear Dr. Davis tell me to schedule my next appointment for two weeks.  Apparently, we're close enough to be going every two weeks, and after that it'll be every week!  I suppose, whether it feels like it or not, we're getting closer.  Next week brings the big 3-0...only ten(ish) weeks to go! :)