Monday, December 19, 2011

Santa's Village

We went to the little (but wicked awesome) Santa’s Village that they do here in Brigham last weekend to see Santa and all the pretty lights. (Like two weekends ago, I’m very behind. We went on December 10th).

Traegan did better than expected with Santa… he didn’t cry, but he also didn’t really want to sit on his lap either. It was pretty funny.


Right after we got done seeing Santa, Jeremy and Julie and their girls came and we walked through the village part with them. Traegan loves his cousins.




Looking into the Snowman School.


I actually got a Sammie smile!



I love his reflection in the glass on this one.


Traegan and Chloe ended the night with a rousing game of ring around the rosies/chasing each other. They are so cute together.


And since it is a rare opportunity that I have make up on (see post below) I asked Julie to take us a little family picture. And since this is the first time any of you have seen my belly (once again, see post below), I was 28 ½ weeks in this picture.


This last Saturday night, Josh’s parents watched all the boys so that Jason, Noelle, Josh and I could all go to dinner and the Aggie game. We had tons of fun and so did our little dudes. Once again, Trae LOVES his cousins!

I stole this picture of Owen, Jettsen, and Traegan from Kathy's blog. Some cuties right?



And this was Traegan after church yesterday. I’m totally in love with that red and black striped shirt if you couldn’t tell. He looks so dang dapper in it.


And that’s what we’ve been up to. Josh got sick Saturday/Sunday evening with the flu. I’m hoping and praying that the rest of us don’t get it and he gets better by Christmas. So help me if we have a repeat of last year!

Pregnancy Woes

I’m pregnant, you may know this already. ☺ I’m now going to complain about being pregnant. You may wish to not read. I wouldn’t be offended.

So I just have to start by saying that I really don’t have much to complain about. While pregnancy totally blows for me, neither me or my baby’s life has ever been in danger and that is something HUGE to be thankful for. I do recognize that a lot of people, some who I know and love, can’t say that. So I am in fact aware that I shouldn’t be complaining. Just so you know.

I am so sick all the time. My tummy issues are vastly inflamed by pregnancy and I rarely have a day, half a day, or a few hour period even where I feel okay. Me and the potty are buddies. Good buddies.

I have this thing. I vaguely remember it from being pregnant with Traegan. My heart feels like it beats so hard. I can feel it in my fingers and toes and tummy all the time, the way you can when you have a cut or something. With Traegan, my doctor had me drink a half a gallon of water a day, which I’m doing, but it’s a little different this pregnancy. I’m also feeling like I’m on the verge of passing out like 90% of the time. And I’m really prone to overheating. I know they all seem like separate things, but somehow they all compile on each other and I’m ALWAYS dizzy. I ALWAYS feel like I’m going to fall over. It’s rather annoying. I’m not able to get ANYTHING done because I always feel like I’m falling over. And this past week, I blacked out while driving. Scary and not cool. Now I’m just terrified that is going to happen all the time. I have found the silver lining to not having a car since now I’m kind of freaked to drive.

And new with this pregnancy… acne. Yep. I look like a pubescent teen and have since about a month into this pregnancy. Hence the lack of pictures. I meant to take lots of pictures this pregnancy and I wish I had because I feel like I’m doing better huge-ness wise than I was with Trae, but then I look in the mirror. My hair has been in a gross ponytail for 6 months. Every time it comes out of a ponytail for more than an hour, I get a fresh crop of red bumps in my hairline. Anyway, that is really annoying.

I never sleep. Trae is the worst sleeper in the world and that is one problem, but every time I wake up with him, I cannot get back to sleep. My brain automatically starts stressing about my ever growing to-do list and I can’t turn it off. Then I’m up so long I have to eat something. Then when by miracle of miracles I get to sleep, I have some crazy nightmare dream that seems so real it wakes me up and we start all over. Also, I’m having a really hard time telling my dreams from reality lately. A few weekends ago I literally was dialing the phone to remind Josh to do something that he didn’t need to do, I just dreamed it. So, I’m basically insane.

And I think that is about it. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, hopefully I can get some answers/help for the blacking out and dizzy, but other than that… just counting down the days until this awfulness turns into a tiny, squishy, pink princess!

Friday, December 2, 2011

(Late) Thankful

(Pretend this post was in November. And while you’re at it, pretend it was near Thanksgiving. Thanks!)

You know what I’m grateful for this year?

Traegan: He is bomb. He is the cutest little kid ever. He makes me smile everyday and melts my heart. Plus, um… he’s freaking adorable.


Josh: He is double bomb. He loves me unconditionally and he makes me so darned happy. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without him. Plus, he is the reason I have Traegan and almost have…

Avonelle: On Thanksgiving I realized that in exactly 3 months I’d be holding my baby girl. It would be her birthday, I would no longer be pregnant, and I would be HOLDING MY BABY GIRL! Ecstatic. I cannot wait to meet her. I have a feeling my heart might stop when I do.

I’m grateful for tons of other stuff too, but my two and a half peeps definitely top the list!

(We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my parents and Grandma and Grandpa Perkes. It was yummy. Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever to be pregnant. Ever! I spent most of that weekend having my Grandma and mom help me with Avy’s bedding. It’s beautiful. I’m in love with it. And hence the reason the blog has been lacking. I can’t stop sewing things for her and getting her room ready. So much fun.)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Rough Night

We had a rough night last night. I maintain that Traegan is the worst sleeper in the world, but last night was even worse than usual. I think there were nightmares involved. He’s been doing that lately.

Anyway, a rough night means two things:
1- A long day ahead of me.
2- Wicked. Awesome. Hair.


(Oh and Trae fell and cut his little lip yesterday. Sad.)

On the plus side the mailman brought me a big box of clothes that I ordered on the cheap for Avy. Suddenly my day is much better. :) Also, 25 weeks down baby! Whoot freaking whoot!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

P-O-O-H = L-O-V-E

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Josh. He was given a Winnie the Pooh at a very young age. It became his best friend. For about a year, he gave everyone in his house nicknames from the show and would only respond to Winnie the Pooh and call everyone by their “Pooh” names. There is a lot of love there.

(Josh is the one in the front with the cake, also you will see Winnie the Pooh)


Fast forward many, many years. Josh now responds to his legal, given name. He also has a few other things he loves even more than Winnie the Pooh. You know, like his awesome wife and even more awesome son. But he still has that same Pooh tucked safely away in the band room.

His awesome son, Traegan, has managed to collect a few Winnie the Pooh’s of his own. Strangely, none of them came from us. Anyway, he loves them… a lot. I think it has something to do with the fact that daddy sings the Winnie the Pooh theme song to Trae each night and makes them dance. It’s adorable.

Anyway again, he loves them. He carries them around. He refuses to go to bed without them. He eats breakfast with them. He gives them drinks of his milk. The list goes on and on.


Yes, my kid is eating a donut for breakfast. Yes, my kid is in the same clothes he was in the night before at the swim meet in the last post. Yes, his hair is wicked cool! Yes, I’m an awesome mom.


It used to just be the small one pictured above that was the constant companion. Now it is both the big one and the small one. But, if daddy is in the room too, Traegan gives the big one to him. How freaking cute is that?


Traegan says cheese so big when he sees the camera. It almost makes up for the fact that he closes his eyes too.


Yep I’m one lucky mommy and wifey. My boys are the best. And they love Winnie the Pooh.

Oh and Traegan is pretty much the cutest ever!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

"Swim, Swim, Swim"

Hey there. I’ve decided to change things up and put my long ranty part at the bottom of this blog post and the pictures at the top. So if you are interested in reading about our recent health scare and why my week last week was AWEFUL, that’s below. For now, here are our recent pictures…

We’ve had the normal amount of busy since my last post and so these pictures were from Friday night, while Josh was at the USU/BYU basketball game with his brothers and dad and I was at my youngest brother, Tobin’s first swim meet. It was really fun and he did really well!

Traegan was pretty content to climb around on the bleachers.


Then he found a little friend. This cute little boy was dressed exactly how I dress Trae, had the same hair, and was super cute too. If he hadn’t been just a little bit taller than Trae, I’d have been very confused. And when Brandon got there, he rubbed the wrong little boys head. Ha!


Tobin in one of his events, he is in the middle lane in the yellow swim cap.


The last event that Tob swam, my mom held Trae since he was running with his buddy and I was trying to take pictures. Traegan chanted, "swim, swim, swim" the whole time. It was stinking cute.


And now on with the rant.

So here is the very short version of my crappy week last week. Josh started to have chest pains Wednesday afternoon. He was sure he was fine and it was this thing he had once as a teenager again. I was unconvinced. After a sleepless night he allowed me to make him a doctor’s appointment Thursday morning.

At the doctor we did lots of tests and finally ruled out heart attack, which was nice. But after some discussion, and some much needed information from Kathy, we found out we couldn’t rule out this thing he had had as a teen without an echocardiogram. (That thing is called Pericarditis and it is the swelling of the lining around the heart. Which puts pressure on the heart and chest and hurts like the dickens. It is caused by a viral infection, which for some reason settles in his chest.)

We couldn’t get in for an echocardiogram until Friday morning and after Josh consulted Lord Google, I had the LONGEST night ever. I was so sure that Josh was going to die. Not now, but in like 10 years and I had a mental breakdown. I’m not exactly in a normal mental state right now anyway and this was all just a bit much to handle.

Friday morning we headed to Logan and did the echocardiogram. We of course didn’t get the results right away so we had to wait around for a few more hours before we knew anything. Much later we met with a cardiologist and found out that… Josh would be fine! They put him on a really aggressive dose of Ibuprofen to make the swelling go down and help with the pain.

He was still in a lot of pain, but it gradually went away over the next two days and now he is back to normal. And the doctor assured me that this was a very rare thing and it may or may not happen again… in another 10 years. We also did some more testing to make sure that it won’t be a chronic thing that will kill him off. Good news there too!

So yeah, it was all a lot to handle for me. I blame that on the pregnancy, but truth be told, it was really scary and I can’t imagine my life without my best friend and love so it would have been hard no matter what. But all that really matters is that he is going to be fine.

It was kind of a nice reminder of how precious life is though. I am grateful to be reminded of how much my husband and my little family mean to me. It helps me to remember to not take them for granted and appreciate them everyday. The end.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Halloween

Halloween was this week as you probably know. I’m just now getting to blogging about it because I’m lazy. :) You saw Trae’s awesome costume in the last post and I figured that was enough for a while.

Before I get into Halloween night, here are our cute pumpkins, which some how all ended up with triangle noses.


And here are my freaking cute spider decorations that I made at my mom’s Super Saturday. Fun huh?


On Halloween, we spent the day in Logan so that Josh could go to the dentist and I could go to the orthodontist. Fun right? I scored some awesome deals on clothes for Avy during the day and then my mom and I hung out while Josh worked. It was really a pretty fun day.

We stopped and saw both of my grandparents. Then we headed to my mom’s house, saw everyone there, and ate dinner with them. Then we went to Scott & Kathy’s.

First of all, Kathy has awesome pictures of all of Trae’s cousins here if your interested. They are some pretty wicked sweet costumes.

After we visited for a minute, I asked Jason & Noelle if we could do a few houses with their boys so that Traegan would catch on quicker. They obliged, which I much appreciated. We literally just did the five houses that were closest to Josh’s parents, but they had so much fun!

Here is Traegan running across the yard to go trick or treating!


Jettsen (Batman), Traegan, and Owen (Superman) getting some sweet treats!


A nice witch giving my child candy. Don't mind that it looks like his foot is on backwards. Mental note, next time you make boot covers do the elastic thing to hold them on. :)


The best was at the end of the few houses we did, we walked over to Scott & Kathy’s again to get our car. Jason’s family piled in their car to go do more visiting, but Traegan just ran up to the door.

He was so into it by then. He said, “trick or treat”, picked his candy, said “thank you” at my prompting, and turned to leave. He literally had NO idea he was at Grandma and Grandpas. I tried to get him to turn and do it again so he would notice and it went the exact same. Except the second time he said, “more, treat” instead. It was hilarious.

We had a great time trick or treating and so did Traegan. I think next year we may have to hit more than five houses though.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Costume Reveal

Well, I made Traegan’s Halloween costume this year. That’s right…made. MADE! Like, from raw material and with no pattern whatsoever. The fact that it worked is a slight miracle and makes me feel like I can do anything a little bit.

Anyway I finished it late Thursday evening and we took his pictures last night. Can you guess what he is?



He is Link from the Legend of Zelda video game…

My mom told me know one older than Josh and I would know what he was, so here is a picture of Link for reference. :) The one on the left is the older version and the one on the right is the newer one… this will make sense if you keep reading.


Now the question you may be asking yourself is why?

Well about a month or so ago we were hanging out with some of Josh’s friends from high school and Trae was with us (of course). We’d been there for a while and all of a sudden Jesse goes, “I know who Traegan looks like! He looks like Link from the original Zelda game.”

He then proceeds to pull out his phone and show us pictures like the one above and on the left. I have to say, Trae kind of does look like him. It was dang funny and we all laughed for a long time about how much he really does look like him.

Ever since then Josh just thought it would be the coolest if he was Link. And I picked his costume last year so I figured Josh could have a turn before Traegan starts getting an opinion of his own. And so I made a Link costume.

And Traegan LOVES it!

And he is ready to go fight the bad guys! And SMASH THE POTS! (Inside joke from when Josh would NEVER stop playing Legend of Zelda).




Josh put the sword in the ground to get Trae to hold still for a few minutes. He is just the cutest.


It actually was in there pretty good though. He really couldn’t get it out. Ha!


I'm still super in love with Traegan's eyelashes!


Off to go rescue a princess...


He closed his eyes while walking thought the corn and I thought it was stinking cute!



My dude is such a little stud!


This picture is out of focus and blurry, but it just looks to me like he is saying, "I won the game!"


So yeah, Halloween costume. The end.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Beautiful

We went to the doctor for our Targeted Ultrasound on Wednesday. It was so much fun to see little Avy moving around and being adorable.

I’m not going to lie, we didn’t get very good pictures of our little sweetheart. Go figure that she didn’t cooperate for yet another ultrasound. But everything is looking great. All her organs are in there and her heart is going strong.

And even though there is no picture of it, she has THE NOSE!!! She has the same little nose as Josh and Traegan. Hallelujah! I love that nose and it’s really the only feature you can actually tell what it looks like on an ultrasound so that makes me really excited.

Between the legs, making sure she in fact a she.


Pretty sure that's an arm and hand. Though I really could be wrong. I almost didn't put this one up because I couldn't remember what it was. :)


Leg. What a cute little leg!


Her precious little face...



We have almost this exact same picture from Traegan's Targeted Ultrasound (click here). They are definitely related.



Traegan must have remembered the last ultrasound we went to because as soon as the picture came up, he started saying, “Is baby.” It kind of sounds like “it’s the baby”. I’ve been trying to tell him about the baby, but it’s just such an abstract concept, I’ve been struggling with it.

The ultrasound tech was, well, obsessed seems to be the right word, with Traegan. She could not stop talking about how beautiful and cute he was. She kept giving him suckers and just telling us how adorable he was. At the very end she goes, “I just CAN NOT wait to see this little girl because she is going to be BEAUTIFUL!” It made me really happy. Not that you could blame her.

Check out this picture that Kathy took of him while she watched him for me on Friday. Dude is good looking!


Traegan is pretty freaking handsome and if Avonelle looks anything like him… well, Josh is in trouble!