Winding Down

Time for another pregnancy update!

It is amazing how fast this tiny little person inside of me is growing! This morning I lay in bed thinking about what a miracle it truly is to carry a child and watch them grow. What was once the size of a sesame seed, is now the size of a pumpkin!

And can I just say that this is one squirmy little pumpkin?! My other two were quite mellow in the womb compared to this kid. I am preparing myself for a very busy child!

The first picture shown below is of me at 25 weeks........

5 weeks later............................

..........................................

And this is how I look!

I think my legs decided to balloon up alongside my belly....and the best part is - I DON'T CARE!

This may be our last baby, so I am trying to enjoy every part of this pregnancy. I quit working out at 23 weeks because my contractions were becoming stronger and more consistent, so I figured a 20+ week vacation wouldn't hurt. Plus, I have the rest of my life to work out, right?

Last Thursday, we were able to do a 3d ultrasound. Can you say AMAZING?! I feel blessed to be having babies when we have such advanced technology to see incredible things like this!

This little person spent most of its time sucking on its pinkie finger. We got this picture just in time before it stuck that little finger back in his/her mouth.

We also discovered during the ultrasound that our child is measuring at 32+ weeks. They told me this when I was not even 30 weeks! Lovely.
One of my concerns with this is the fact that I cannot be induced with this child because my last one was delivered by C-section. Because we would like to have a VBAC delivery this time, my doctor says I have to just let this baby come when it is ready - no Pitocin for me!
So we're praying this baby chooses to come a couple weeks early. :)

My original due date: March 4th
New due date: February 17th <--------------we want that one!


Here is one last picture to leave you with. I am already in love with this little face and so very grateful for the opportunity to mother another little one. Life certainly is a miracle and a blessing!

Home For Christmas

I'm just going to be honest when I say that I have become quite discouraged with blogging. Most of my disappointment with it is self-induced, but for the last year I have had little desire to be a dilligent blogger.

Why such little motivation?

There's lots of reasons. Namely, Facebook, life never slowing down, the pregnancy, and just lack of interest have all contributed to such little blogging effort, BUT I want to make changes. I want to make sure the important things and sometimes the not-so-important things are being jotted down because they are afterall what make up my life. As I look back and read previous posts, I realize I would have never remembered some of these things if I hadn't taken the time to blog about them.

SO, here's to a more dilligent blogger!

Now, onto the good stuff.

Most of you know that I am very passionate about Christmas. I absolutely love this time of year! The commercial part of it really bothers me, but when it comes to being snug in my tree-lit home listening to Christmas classics, I'm all for it!

Here is a glimpse of the Epps Family home in 2010.

Above: Our dining room table arrangement. {Frosted berries make everything better}.
Our little tree that I sit and stare at every night before bedtime.

The mantle in all its Christmas glory!

Homemade noel blocks - I was in charge of a project for Super Saturday and came up with this little display. All it took was some 2x4's, a little paint, stain, festive paper, and VOILA!

Our homemade stocking made with TLC by my wonderful mother.

I love her and I love these.

The Christmas cabinet. (I painted it red a couple of weeks before just to make it feel a little more like Christmas in my livingroom). Pathetic, I know. Jim calls it obsessive.

The candy canes that hang on my mantle just make life sweeter.

So there you have it. This is what Christmas looks like in our neck of the woods!

We hope you're enjoying this wonderful time of the year as much as we are!

Dear Santa,

I have been lusting after Petunia Pickle's Chocolate Decadence Diaper Bag for quite some time. .........

I know it's $350.00, but you're Santa, so maybe we can make this work for me somehow.

Ahhh, if only.

Thanksgiving in the Desert

This past Thanksgiving, our family had the privilege of going to our homeland - Arizona. I must say that the weeks before this trip, I was not as excited as I should have been. There was lots of things going on that made me think our family should reconsider and just stay in Utah for the holiday. However, we ended up going anyway and I can now say that I am SO HAPPY we did.

After 10 hours of ongoing driving, we entered the beautiful Phoenix valley and a flood of emotions instantly came over me. In the last 5 years that we have been away from Arizona, I can honestly say that I have never felt so sick for "home" as I did this last time we visited. It was an absolute joy to be with family and friends that we rarely get to see!

Our 11 hr drive there went perfect! My kids were little angels and seemed rather excited to get to be with their Grandma and Grandpa Epps.

Emma spent most of the drive doing this. Sometimes thumb-sucking is a plus!

We spent much of our time at Jim's grandparents, who by the way, took such great care of us! Luckily, the weather was beautiful while we were there ( 70's & sunny), so we took lots of walks around the neighborhood and played out in the backyard. Emma could not believe her eyes when she saw that there were palm trees in Arizona. She thought those were only on "The Jungle Book".

One of our nights there, we were able to go out to dinner with some close friends, the cute Hill family and Tyler with his adorable kids ( I am so mad I did not take more pictures of this!)

I did however manage to get a prego picture of Cara & I.

Look what a cute pregnant lady she makes! She is 4 weeks ahead of me and is as tiny as ever - definitely all baby!

One of the reasons we ventured to Arizona was so that Jim could help his dad remodel their home that they purchased in Queen Creek. My little ones LOVED going with dad to "help" because it meant they got to play outside on the farm.

They spent most of their time running around in the chicken coop. It amazes me that simple things like this can keep kids entertained for such long periods of time.

Also, I must make note that my kids witnessed first-hand the slaughtering of the farm turkey, whom we ate on Thanksgiving Day. It was a first for me to see a turkey's head get chopped off and well.....let's just say my kids handled the whole event a lot better than I did! Braddock & Emma were thrilled with the whole thing and thought it was great that they got to collect all of the feathers that were being plucked off the dead bird while I, on the other hand, laid down flat on my back in the car just to keep from passing out!

Thanksgiving Day was a success! The food was outstanding (even the turkey), the weather was perfect (just right to enjoy our dinner outside), and being with the family was something we certainly treasured!
It was nice to just sit and relax - something we rarely do- and visit with all of the family.

One thing I have come to learn about the Epps family is that they have some great stories and life experiences that I could sit and listen to for hours!

Oh, and we can't forget the wrestling! If you go to an Epps' household, plan on lots of it! I think Braddock is fine with that!

(Braddock wrestling with his Uncle Darrell)

Here is a picture we were able to take of all of us together.

Can I just say I love this family?!

I am so SO grateful for their strong testimonies of the gospel and the great examples they are to my family, especially to my children.

I didn't take any pictures of this event either, but we were able to be at church with Jim's parents when his dad was called to be 1st counselor in the Bishopric. Braddock & Emma thought it was so cool that their Grandpa was sitting up at the stand.

Once again, I am so grateful for these wonderful people!

So there you have it! Thanksgiving in 2010 was a succes! We really could not have asked for a better one. Of course, the time flew by while we were there and I am missing Arizona already, but we hope to take trips down there more often!


Oh, and one more picture that I must post because it makes me laugh every time I see it. One of the days that we were there, Emma grabbed my camera and asked me to take a picture of her (???) So, of course I did because you can't resist when your two year old daughter makes such a request. BUT, the funny part about all of this was that she made specifications of how she wanted to be posed. She wanted to be sitting on the dresser, by the window, looking sideways.

This was the outcome.

Oh, how I love her.

Now, I will end this post.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Halfway Mark

Yep, it's official - We are halfway done!

I must be honest though when I say that this pregnancy has gone by quite slow. It seems like first pregnancies for women always go by the slowest. I remember feeling like I was pregnant for years when I was carrying Braddock because there was so much anticipation in the whole thing, being that it was our first and the unknown was almost too much to handle!

Being pregnant with Emma, on the other hand, was a completely different story! I felt like the time flew by, partly because she was a complete surprise to us, but also because I was so busy trying to take care of Braddock, who was still an infant himself.

Now that we're on to baby numero tres, time seems to be slowing down a bit. Why that is, I am clueless. Maybe because the morning sickness has dragged on much longer than it did with my other pregnancies? Or maybe it's because this pregnancy was planned? OR, maybe it's because my little ones ask me everyday when their baby is going to come home? I guess not knowing what in the world we are having can slow things down a bit too!

Whatever the reason(s), we sure are anxious to meet this little one of ours!

And yes, yes, YES, I realize my blog posting is so inconsistent, so I will share a picture of me at 17 weeks, since I didn't put one up like I should have 3 weeks ago!

And now, here we are at 20 weeks. Yesterday, when I went in for my appointment and stood on that scary thing they call a scale, I learned that I had gained 7 lbs in 4 weeks! What in the??? As a whole, I have gained 12 lbs and am certainly feeling it! I'm still going to the gym - attempting 3 days a week - where I do kickboxing and weights, and am hoping to start running more on the days I don't go. I find that every week gets harder and harder to work out, but I'm determined to just stick with it because I never did with my other two.

I haven't posted ultrasound pics, but we did in fact get to see our little one yesterday as well! Jim and the kids were able to take part in it, along with my mother-in-law, and sister, Alyssa. It was funny that there were so many people in the room, considering the fact that we didn't get to find out the gender, but nonetheless, it was a neat experience to see our little baby. Plus, my kids somewhat understood it!
My favorite part of the whole thing was when the doctor was showing us the baby's vertebrae and Braddock said, "Mom, it's a dinosaur!" I guess all of the baby's skeletal features threw Braddock for a loop!
The doctor did ask us more than once if we were sure we didn't want to know what we were having. That was just pure torture! It is tempting, but we've waited this long...I think we can hold out!

Whatever it is - a boy, a girl, a dinosaur - WE ARE SO EXCITED!

Oh What Fun!

Yesterday, after the kids and I got home from the gym, I made the decision to delegate the rest of our Tuesday as a Halloween Craft Day.

For the last two years, I have wanted to make these adorable bats that I spotted on my cousin's blog back in 2008, but because I somehow managed to consume my time in other things, I never got around to it.

So yesterday, I loaded the kids in the car, headed to the dollar store, bought some craft supplies (and don't forget a few bags of Halloween candy!),

and then ventured back home to take on the task of crafting with two little ones.

We all changed into some old clothes and painted away.

I must say, I was completely taken back by how well-behaved my kids were and how well they did in participating!

It sure made for a happy and proud mommy.

{sorry for the sideways picture. Blogger is not doing its job right now.}

Look at them painting away!

And how CUTE did these turn out?!

Now all we need are some pumpkins!

Want to make some yourself? Here is the link.

Happy Halloween!

Great News!

So I really have not kept this a secret AT ALL, but I have failed to mention it on my blog anyhow - We are having a baby!

Baby is due March 4th, ironically on the same exact day that my sister Jenna is due!

Currently, I am 13 weeks along and feeling......well.....better than previously.

This pregnancy sure has been different from the last two. Although I was extremely nauseous with both kids, it did not start until I was between 8 and 9 weeks.

This pregnancy, on the contrary, has left me nauseated and exhausted beginning at 4 weeks.

For a few weeks, I felt like I was surviving solely on Gingerale and nectarines.

I was throwing up at least once a day and would have to wake up every morning at 4 AM and hurry up and eat something because I felt like I was starving to death! At 11 weeks, I was 6 lbs down from when I conceived only because I could not keep anything down.

Now at thirteen weeks, I am proud to say that I have set a record of not hurling for 8 days straight and I am pretty sure that I have regained those 6 lbs and then some!

I don't mean to have a pity party, but this week I feel especially grateful for good health and the ability to live my life again! Never more in my life have I missed going to the grocery store, cooking, cleaning, and running errands - all the things I take for granted when I am healthy.

Here is a picture of our sweet little pinto bean at 8 weeks.

Great belly picture, eh? No face involved. My hair was wet and I was not wearing any makeup which equals scary. Here I am at 13 weeks. Ghetto bootie included.

Currently, my favorite thing to eat is a tuna sandwich on wheat bread with Claussen pickles and Ruffles potato chips. I like to down it with a glass of red wine.

Just kidding. It's cranberry juice, my new favorite drink!

On to other things. My little ones are growing like weeds! Braddock, my very much introverted child, is beginning to open up to other people much more easily. We still have our moments, but it seems like each day he is improving. Besides that, he is so so funny! The kid quotes movies all of the time and when I say certain things he says, "Mom, what movie is that from?" He's a total movie gu-ru and it is entertaining to see him watch movies. He has the cutest deep chuckle you ever heard.
He loves riding his trike ( I think I need to get him a bike) and playing outside in the sandbox. His current favorite person is Uncle Jerry, which he pronounces Uncle Sherri.
I think that will now be my brother's new permanent name.

Emma is our little sweet pea. She talks non-stop and has a face that you could kiss on all day. She loves to read books and eat fruit snacks. She has an obsession with changing her clothes like 37 times a day and she has recently learned how to use the potty! Potty training has been so easy with her. If I walk in the bathroom when she is going, she says, "Mom, you need to get out of here."
Emma is also our accident-prone child. In her 2 year life span, she has fainted twice, pulled her elbow out of place (okay, mommy did that one...on accident) and recently injured her arm while wrestling with her dad, uncle, and brother. She also always trips and falls! I have always felt a need to keep her under my wing just because I know she is bound to get hurt!
Nonetheless, she is our little angel who truly cares about others' feelings and wants everyone to be happy all of the time.

So here is our life in a nutshell right now! We are so happy to welcome a new baby into the family. Whether it's a boy or a girl, it will be a complete surprise to us! We have decided not to find out the gender as we have one of each and will be happy with whatever we get. Some people think we are crazy. We probably are. Anyhow, more posts to come shortly. Promise.