what?? an update??

wow. it has been way way way too long since i have blogged. this is the longest i have ever gone without blogging! i post most everything on instagram now days. but i felt like i need to get back to blogging. even if i don't get every picture up, at least i can put updates about our life here.

yes it's true! baby #2 is on the way! we are very excited. i am 14 weeks today. this pregnancy so far has been very different from my first. i have been a lot sicker. with ben i got sick but it wasn't until almost the second trimester and it was basically only at night. with this pregnancy it hit me way earlier on. i also found out a lot sooner though. maybe i should start from the beginning!

in july i went off birth control. it took us almost 10 months to get pregnant with ben. that might not seem like long to some but when you decide you are ready, it's already too late. i had a feeling it might take us a while for baby #2 as well. i didn't go off birth control with the intention to get pregnant right away. i actually went off because i thought it would help the melasma i was dealing with. basically we weren't trying but we weren't preventing. my cycles were way out of whack. i would sometimes go 10 days between a period and sometimes 40. it was annoying and was never consistent. at the beginning of december, i just had this feeling one day. i knew i was pregnant. i had thought that so many times while trying to get pregnant with ben, but this time i just knew. i knew it was probably wayyyy too early to even get a positive. even with my cycles being so long sometimes i just had a feeling. even if it would have been a normal 28 day cycle it was still early. i asked my neighbor if she had any tests and she didn't so that day when sean got home from work i ran to walgreens and bought an early response test. i think sean thought i was crazy for testing. i have wasted SOOOOO much money on negative tests. anyway i snuck into the bathroom and took it. and it seemed to be negative. but after a few minutes i noticed a second pink line start to appear. it was very faint.

i kinda started to freak out. i came out of the bathroom and showed sean. this same thing happened with ben. we didn't believe the line. it was way too light. so sean ran back to walgreens for a digital one. and sure enough it said pregnant. we were in shock. if i am being honest i immediately felt so guilty. my sister in law had just lost her first baby at 8.5 weeks in october. i really wanted her to be pregnant before me. i felt bad. we didn't tell anyone for a few days. it also seems like the minute we found out ben got a lot harder. i was starting to doubt myself and if i could handle everything.

the day we found out i was 3 weeks and 3 days pregnant. with ben i didn't find out until i was almost 5 weeks. when i hit 5 weeks with this pregnancy i got incredibly sick. like i couldn't keep water down at all. i was so afraid that it was morning sickness but it turned out to be the stomach flu. thank goodness. that didn't stop the nausea though. i have definitely been a lot sicker this time and have thrown up a lot. especially at night. it seems like 5:00 hits and all the sudden i am so sick. i have had no energy and have been so tired all the time. i feel like i have no patience and a short temper. i had to go off of my anti-anxiety/depression medication so that probably didn't help things. i have gained weight a lot quicker too and thats been hard. i know i shouldn't complain though.. and i probably sound so ungrateful to be pregnant. but thats not the truth. i am excited. its been a slower growing excitement this time. i am soooo scared out of my mind. i am scared of getting post partum depression again. i am scared of having another challenging baby. but at the same time i feel like i learned a lot and i can handle more now. i guess we will see. i get more excited every day though and can't wait to meet this little guy or girl!

we find out in about a week and a half what the gender is. i am so excited! at 8 weeks we went to a fetal studio and paid $25 for a gender verification. we also got to hear the heartbeat. that was neat because my doctor doesn't see patients until at least 10 weeks and doesn't do ultrasounds until 19 weeks when they do the full body scan. unless you pay $25 for a gender check which we are doing at 16 weeks. here is our little Roo at 8 weeks! (the nickname for now!)




not much to see but i am still glad we did it! it's so hard to believe that there is anything in there at the beginning. my pants definitely beg to differ on that though haha. i am hoping that now that i am out of the first trimester hopefully i start to feel better soon or at least get some energy back! i have been pretty hard on myself about it. i really am getting excited though and cant wait to see ben be a big brother!

speaking of ben... he just turned 2! i cant believe it.





my little boy is growing up way too fast! he is all over the place and so much fun. he definitely is a handful and keeps us on our toes but he is the best thing to ever happen to us. he is starting to talk a lot more and it has been so fun. he has been a little behind on the whole english thing but he is getting there. my little cousins asked their mom if ben was speaking spanish haha. he is very smart and he talks all the time in his own little language. but now he is starting to say words and that is fun. his first real word was go. we were at the part and he was going down the slide and all the sudden he just said "GO!" as he went down. the next time he said "Set. Go!" and now he says that all the time. along with Dad, Mom, Moe, puppy, cookie, ball, milk, juice, shoes, jack, papa, mama (grandma). he says Ewee (for elliette) and K-ee for Katie. wawa (water), hi, bye, nigh nigh (good night), car..etc. he knows where all his body parts are. he is into picking out his own clothes lately. you have to give him options and let him pick. its so funny. he is so sweet and so hard at the same time. i love him so much though. he fights naps nowadays and doesn't go to bed as easily as he used to but he has been sleeping good and so that is nice. i am trying to enjoy the sleep while i can before we do the whole newborn thing again!

sean is doing great. he got a new job in august at rock canyon bank and it is going great. he loves it there but he did love his old job too. luckily he still does a lot of work with them and we were lucky enough to be able to still go on their cruise in november! we had soooo much fun. we left from puerto rico and went to Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and.... shoot i forgot the 5th one. oh well i am hoping to post about that trip soon and i will remember eventually!

we have been painting our house and that has been quite the process. sean is such a saint and such a hard worker for doing this for me. i have been sick of the beige everything that we have for so long. we have the house halfway done and it is looking so good. i cant wait to have it all done.

overall life is going pretty good. we are very blessed and very lucky. we definitely have our hard days but that is life right? i am hoping to get back into blogging more regularly. i want to document this pregnancy like i did with bens and i want to blog about our trip! i am going to go to bed for now though! goodnight!!

little life update.

6 months ago from this exact minute i was walking the halls of the hospital with sean. moaning in so much pain. having intense contractions that were 2 minutes apart but not making any progress. i literally felt like my hips and back were going to break in half. it was the most painful night of my life. and it has been a painful 6 months if i am being completely honest. i have always promised i would be real and open on here. but on that note, if i am being completely honest, he has brought me more joy than i ever thought possible. i love being his mom. he is the happiest, saddest baby in the whole world, haha. i tell people that he is kind of bipolar. he is very dramatic in his emotions. which is hard when he is unhappy, but when he is happy? gosh, it sure is amazing. his smile is infectious.

i plan to write a 6 month post eventually, but he doesn't have his 6 month appointment for a couple more weeks. i will probably still write it and just update after i get some stats on him. we have confirmed finally that he is definitely allergic to milk. had i known he wasn't just intolerant to it, but actually allergic, i might have tried to keep pumping. but let's be honest, completely cutting dairy out of my diet would probably be impossible. i am sad it took 6 months to learn all this but i am happy we finally know. i know it's not like the worst thing in the world. i am not trying to be dramatic about it. it was just hard for us to diagnose because he really does still have acid reflux. he is now on soy again, but this time a soy that he seems to tolerate. he is drinking double what he used to just within a matter of days. it is pretty neat to see. so many people have commented lately on how happy he is. when we go to church he usually screams and cries the whole time. this last week? we could not get him to stop smiling and laughing. it was such a sweet change. i know there is a happy baby in there. it has been nice getting to see more of him these past few days. he still is very dramatic when he is unhappy, but that's okay. he has quite the personality and i can tell he is going to be quite the social butterfly.

sean and i are doing great! sean is just working like crazy and i have been working a few hours each day this week. i have been answering phones while the receptionist is on vacation. i am going to go back to work 2 days a week and then on 2 of the days that i am not working, i will be watching my nephew jack! his mom sarah will be watching ben on the days that i work. it's a nice little trade off and a win win for us both! we both get to know our nephews better and make some extra cash!

we have been toying with the idea of selling our house and moving closer to orem. property values have gone up quite a bit in our neighborhood and we have had lots of people on our street make some good money by selling. we aren't sure that this is the right time for us, but we also like the idea of making some money off this house. we never planned on living here forever. we will most likely stick around, but it is nice to know that we can sell if we need to! we love living in this neighborhood. we love this ward. i just wish we could move it closer to orem!

let's see.. what else is new? oh yes! i almost forgot! i am going to washington D.C. in a month! i am so excited! i have never been! my friend juli has rheumatoid arthritis and has been selected to go speak to congress about it! she just had a baby 3 days before ben but she invited me to go along with her for a girls trip! i booked my flight today. i am so excited. we will be there for 5 days. just her and i! we have lots of fun things planned! she has been before so she knows the ropes. i got a great deal on a flight and her friend hooked us up with a deal on a hotel! 2 of our nights are free thanks to her for getting selected to speak, but we decided we might as well stay a few extra days and make it worth it! i will miss ben and sean so much, but it will be nice to get away and to possibly get some sleep. i have such a sweet husband for letting me go do this.

that is about all that is new with us right now! i haven't updated on all of us in a while so i thought it was time. this blog has turned into benny's blog :) that's okay though. he is pretty darn cute! also, it seems like all i do in my free time is play around with this blog layout. just like old times. i will admit it has been nice to get my mind off things and it has given me something to do this week at work while i answer phones.  i better get to bed though! ben will probably wake up soon haha. good night!

life lately

• i have finally gotten motivated to start working on the nursery. i am ordering the crib tomorrow and plan to get that faux sheepskin rug. i have purchased those deer antlers from hobby lobby like the one in that picture, i just need to paint them. trying to decide if i want to do that bronze color like she did, or paint them a different color. the nursery is going to be very neutral colors. browns, blacks, whites, creams, with a few pops of gray and mustard yellow. well, at least that is what i am saying for now. i have a beautiful afghan that my grandma made me a few years ago that will go perfect with all those colors. i wasn't planning to really have a theme for the nursery, but the more i get into this, the more i realize it's becoming an animal theme. but kind of in a more adult way if that makes sense. i have tons of elephant figurines and african stuff. throw in the antlers and the sheepskin rug? yeah. it's animal themed in a subtle way. i guess..
• i ordred the diaper bag! it's a men's diaper bag actually. and it's a little pricier than i probably every would have spent, but my sister maddie really wanted the diaper bag to be a gift from her so she gave me a budget and told me to order one. she is the best! i love the bag. it's from the petunia pickle bottom men's collection. i read great reviews about it and love it because sean can carry it around if needed and not feel as silly.
• weeks 21-23. i almost feel like i look smaller in week 23... hmm. oh well! i went to the dr. again this week and plan to do a separate post on that tomorrow for the official 24 week post. seems like i am just gonna post every time i go to the doctor. works for me! i can handle that. i would love to update every week.. but i just don't have the time or energy. so expect more on this tomorrow... or sometime this weekend.
• we went to sundance a couple of weekends ago with my family. it is so beautiful up there! we ate at the owl bar. i think i had the best burger i've had in a long time there. then we rode the ski lift and enjoyed the changing leaves!
• moses has been as adorable as ever lately. he is truly one of my best friends. i know i always say it.. but i mean it. he is family. he is good people. i love him so much. he thinks he is human. he also thinks he is little. he loves the car so much and freaks out anytime he hears us say car. i love it. him and sean are my best buds. can't wait for baby boy to join in on the fun!
• we have received some awesome stuff for the baby lately. everyone is so generous! i finally found out who sent me the diapers and wipes! let's just say she knows who she is and i love her to death! you are amazing girl! thank you so much!!!
• heartburn. ughh. i hate it. but my friend juli (who is 2 weeks behind me in her pregnancy) gave me some almonds and seriously? they do work! and they are good for you! thanks juli!!
• my mom took me shopping for some maternity clothes and she had to get us that little elephant. it is so soft. i love it! more on the maternity clothes in the next pregnancy update...

i will update more about the pregnancy later, like i said. things have been going pretty good for us though! sean's sister amanda (also one of my best friends) and her sweet family just moved away to vernal! we are super sad and miss them so much but know that it's the best thing for them. devin and katie moved away too so it's been an interesting adjustment having everyone so far but i know we will all still see each other as often as we can! work is busy, the weather is cooling off. we are enjoying that! i watched all three seasons of vampire diaries in a 2 week period and i am soooo excited for the season premiere tonight. sean thinks i am crazy. i am obsessed. i never thought i would like a show like that. haha. lets see.. what else? oh, we are really working hard to pay off sean's student loans. it's been interesting trying to do that and add in the cost of getting ready for the baby.. but we feel it will be worth it! we are so close to being done! 2/3 of it has been paid off since he graduated! just a little bit more to go! we are trying to do this so that if i can't go back to work after the baby, or if i only go back part time it will make things easier since his loans are no longer on hold starting this month. we have no clue who can or will be able to watch the baby, so we are just trying to plan for that in case we can't find anyone. it will all work out how it's supposed to though! well, that's it for now! off to a wedding reception! it's been a busy week... the whole rest of this month is crazy!

feng shui?

so we finally have the internet... and i was so excited about it. sean was like "now you can update the blog all you want!" which is so true. but i don't even know what to write about. i think this break gave me bloggers block. i am not sure how to cure it....

we are enjoying the new house! sean is scared to put holes in the walls so we haven't done much decorating. he also doesn't want to paint any walls at all. so yeah. we are real exciting people, let me tell ya. lots of people have asked for pictures, but it just looks the pictures with the empty rooms, except there is furniture in them. i just ordered a new duvet cover for our bedroom, so maybe once we get that and make the room look more put together, i will post some pictures. we bought a new bedroom set right before we decided to buy the house, so you will get to see that too. right now our bedding is black and white. and we have dark brown furniture. it doesn't look terrible, but i am pretty sure that a designer on HGTV would tell me that it's not feng shui or something and i really don't even know what that means but if you could pretend that i do, that would be great.

i have never been really good at decorating, but i have some ideas for the bedroom, so i hope i can manage to pull it off. and i must say that overstock.com? pretty awesome. i found  our duvet cover with 2 pillow shams for $37. yep. and shipping is only 2.95 for all orders. even if you have 100 items! i only know that cuz i saw the commercial last night and thought that was pretty sweet. i was tempted to order over 100 items because it would be like i was saving a million dollars but sean thought that was stupid. to each his own i guess. here is a picture of the bedding i got. its the mocha color. the reviews on it were really good, and i want to accent it with some light blue or grey colors. not really sure if that will look good but i have this plan in my head and i hope it works out.

we bought our very first refrigerator. that was exciting. used almost my whole paycheck for it. it really makes you feel like a grownup when you have to spend your extra cash on appliances. i would have way rather bought a bunch of candy, clothes, and a puppy friend for moses but apparently a refrigerator is a more realistic. i hate being a grown up. although i do love the fridge. it has an icemaker dispenser thingy in it. and the ice cubes are so beautiful. i mean it. they are. they are shaped to fit into water bottles. so clever. and we even give mosey ice water now and he loves it. he is pretty spoiled if you ask me. the other night he jumped up on the counter and grabbed a towel. and i chased him around the dining table over 30 times. i am not exaggerating. and what did sean do? he just stood there and laughed. thanks for the help. how come mosey obeys sean but not me?

we don't have a yard right now. all it is is dirt and rocks and weeds, so it's been pretty rough for mosey. and by mosey i mean us because mosey loves dirt, rocks, and weeds more than anything. but when a dog pees in grass? you can't really see where all the pee is going and it doesn't look like they are peeing on themselves. i am sure they are but i just prefer to live in denial. well let me tell you, when it is on dirt? all four of their paws are covered in urine by the time they are done. and then they make sure that they step in it right after. it's super fun. and whats even more fun is when they jump on you right after that when you have a white shirt on and you know what is even more fun than that is when you come home from work and mosey has managed to get himself wet, *crossing my fingers it was from his water bowl, which is pink by the way(sean picked it out) and hooked on to his dog run* and then rolls around in the dirt. which then turns into mud. its so much fun.  

we are hoping to get some grass next month. sean is closing quite a few deals at work this month, so we should be able to finish our yard. or at least part of it. oh and if you guys need a mortgage loan officer? sean is your man! interest rates are really good right now... like as in historically low. so if you need to refinance? think about it. just sayin... anyway, i hope everyone is doing well! i have hardly had time to comment on anyones blogs, so please forgive me. work is going to be even crazier than last month, so hopefully i will still be able to find the time to update more regularly. hope you all have a great day!