oh the woes of a pregnant lady....

I am up in the middle of the night, not feeling so great. I can't sleep...

I was thinking about being pregnant earlier today and here is what I have decided:

1. I am super grateful that I can get pregnant so easily. Or at all. I got pregnant less than two weeks after I stopped taking birth control. (TMI?) I read so many blogs written by women who struggle with infertility and how sad it is! I am glad Heavenly Father knew I couldn't handle that type of problem.

2. I have not puked this entire pregnancy. I didn't with Liam either. I feel sick in the beginning, but not too bad.

3. The baby is super healthy and kicks me a lot. Which is a nice reminder that everything is ok in there.

4. I feel pretty normal. I'm just a little tired.

5. The only thing I can 'complain' about: how boring and slow pregnancy is. I just want to meet this baby! I keep imagining if he is going to look like Liam, act like Liam, have blue eyes like Liam, etc.

6. What are we gonna name him? I really don't want to bring a nameless baby home from the hospital.

7. When I am pregnant I become super OCD and maybe a little bit of a hypochondriac. Any other pregnant lady that way? "Something is wrong with my baby cause my ankle hurts..." etc.

8. I'm so grateful that this baby is a boy. Of course I kind of wanted a girl, just because their clothes are so cute. But it will be so good to have our two little boys. I know Liam will get along better with a boy. Plus I can torture them by dressing them as twins.

9. I am really going to miss my sleep. Liam usually sleeps 10 hours a night without making a peep. I guess I should enjoy that for the next 4 months.

10. Are Liam and the baby ever going to nap at the same time? Will I be a crazy tired lady by the time Austin gets home from work?

I think that is all for now. How random this is, but I am tired. I am feeling a little better so I'm gonna try to go sleep. See ya!

Buying a house is not fun...

I have had some people asking me whats going on with the house we are buying. Lets just say it has been a total nightmare.

We made the offer on the house back in July. Its a short sale, so we knew it would be a long process. (Why do they call it a 'short' sale?)

Our offer got approved by the bank the end of August. But the bank we were getting our loan from wouldn't close on the sale until a couple things were fixed with the house. The old owner of the house was on the verge of foreclosure, so obviously he didn't care about fixing those things. We had to put some siding up on a little area of the house because they hadn't finished an addition. Apparently appraisers don't like exposed wood. After that we still couldn't close because we had to patch the holes inside the house. And then we still couldn't close because we had to paint the exposed beams on the addition. Thankfully we didn't really have to spend any money.

So finally we closed the last week of September. It was a Tuesday and we were supposed to get the keys on Friday. Wednesday morning the Realtor called me to tell me there was a problem. The owner had taken out a second mortgage and the bank had never approved the sale. So pretty much the process started all over.

Last week we found out the second mortgage wanted to get $3,000 from the sale. If everything had gone correctly, this would simply have been in our mortgage.

So they went to the old owner and he could only pay about $800 or so. The sellers Realtor is the one who screwed this all up, so she paid $300. (How generous...not)

So they came to us, asking us to pay $1800. Isn't that the dumbest thing ever!!

We suggested they just try adding it to our mortgage, even though it was a little late. The bank agreed that was fine, so we were on again! Woo hoo!

Later that day I find out that wont work because we got our loan from a rural development fund aka the government. And their department had run out of money for the year. But our mortgage lady said she would try anyway.

But then we found out that the RD fund got more money, yay!

So that is where we are right now, waiting to see if the RD fund will add the money on to our loan. Hopefully we will know before the weekend.

Basically everything that could have gone wrong, has.

The one good thing is that we got an interest rate of only 3.75%

But that expires on November 15, so lets hope this gets all straightened out before that day!!

Well, that was a long explanation. But that is why we are still not in our house, even though we started this process 3 months ago. Thankfully Austin's grandparents are nice enough to let us live with them. They have actually been gone more often then they have been here since they travel to stay with all their children.

Anyway, hopefully the process will be over in the next week or so! Wish us luck!

I think summer is over...

I am actually kinda glad that the weather is finally cooling off. Liam and I were cozy all day in a warm house while it was raining. I pulled up the blinds on all the windows so I could see the rain fall. I was tempted to make some hot chocolate and cuddle in a blanket.

So all summer we have been living with Austin's grandparents. We started the process of buying a house in July. We made an offer on July 22. The offer wasn't accepted until the end of August because it was a short sale. Since the owner was on the verge of foreclosure, he obviously walked away and didn't care about the house. In order to get the money loaned to us for the mortgage we had to fix a few things. Finally we had a closing date at the end of September. Three days later we were supposed to get the keys. I get a call after the day after we close that there was an issue. Turns out the previous owner had gotten a second mortgage that never approved for the sale. So now we are basically back to square one, waiting for the second mortgage to approve the sale. I am feeling a little pessimistic. I should have been in my own house for a week and a half now. Such a frustrating experience, but hopefully we will be in the house in the next month or so.

But I am still feeling pretty happy lately, with our second baby on the way. I am almost 18 weeks along. On November third I have an appointment to find out the gender!! That is seriously the best day of pregnancy. I started feeling better about a week or so ago. Unfortunately I started getting braxton hicks yesterday. I was kinda concerned to be getting them so early, but I did some research and apparently you can get them earlier with a second pregnancy.

Back in August, Austin and I went to Mccall for our anniversary. It was nice to have a few days just to ourselves. although we definitely missed baby Liam. We stayed in this nice hotel right on Payette Lake. We ate lots of yummy food and went kayaking on a really pretty river.

It was nice to sleep in and do whatever we wanted. Of course there was only the two of us so we don't have so many good pictures....

Employed

We have been living with Austin's grandparents, right next door to his parents. We have been here since we graduated in April. It has been very nice, especially for Liam. He loves his Grandma!

It has been hard for me to give up some of my independence. I'm used to living in my own apartment, taking care of my own house. But it has also been fun to be with family, especially with the wedding plans going on for Hyrum and Emma.

Austin and I have been very stressed as it had been over a month since we graduated and there were still no prospects for a job. We really wanted to stay in the Boise area so that we could stay relatively close to family, both mine and Austin's.

I was about to give up hope that we would be able to stay. This week Austin decided to email a man who owns a small landscaping company. He had been talking to him in May but it just didn't seem right at the time. He decided to check if he was still hiring and he was!

Austin went and talked to him on Wednesday and he offered him a job on the spot.

He starts on Monday and he is going to be the crew leader. This means that the owner can leave the job site to deal with and find more clients. Austin will be left in charge of the job site to make sure productivity remains high.

The owner is LDS also and went to BYU-I, so he has practically the exact same education as Austin.

Hopefully this means in a couple weeks we can start looking for our own apartment. Houses are actually extremely cheap here, so we will probably look for a house within the next year or so. We will just find a super cheap apartment and start saving!

We are very excited that we get to stay in the Boise area and don't have to make a major move!

Attention all Provo Mama's....

We found (well Austin found) a super cool indoor pool. It has some baby pools, a normal sized pool to play around in, a lazy river, a water slide, a playground thingy in the water and a lap pool! It costs $5 for adults and under 4 is free. We were pretty excited because we didn't want Liam to be scared of the water, so we knew we needed to get him to a swimming pool pronto!

The pool is called the Legacy Center and it's in Lehi. All of the pool floors are super soft and squishy, which I loved.

Anyway, it is a really nice place. They require the babies to wear a swim diaper and a plastic covering. Liam looked pretty silly before we put on his swim suit (please try to ignore my makeup-less face):

There were some people standing right by us, so of course he had to look at them instead of the camera.

This is what we were worried about, him being scared of the water. This was the right when he got in.

But he eventually became more comfortable and he totally LOVED it. I think he is going to be a little water baby after all. He really likes to splash you, he thinks it is so funny.

Austin started putting his mouth under the water and blowing bubbles, just to see if Liam would copy him. There was a couple times where he tried to and he didn't even care when his face went under. That was a relief. There is nothing more dangerous than a child who doesn't know how to swim and is uneasy when in water. So hopefully if we keep going he will learn to swim well.

I can't wait....

...to stay home all day with this little boy. All summer we are just gonna play.

Isn't this face the funniest. Liam: "Mom, I am much more sophisticated than you, but I suppose I will allow you to take my picture. But hurry."

This picture turned out a little blurry, but his face is so cute. He was running to grab the camera, didn't work out to well for him.

Sometimes as a mom you just need some time to make dinner. So you let your baby destroy the fridge. There were bottles of lemon juice and BBQ sauce in my living room.

Also, I know no one cares, but I cleaned my "laundry room (closet)." We haven't been able to see the dryer since we moved in. But now look at it! I even dusted the top.

Anyway, student teaching is so tiring sometimes. I feel like it is so monotonous, doing the same thing day after day after day after....

Mommyhood is much more varied. Which was surprising to me. Can't wait till summer.....

Supa Bowl...

What a big baby! This face is because I wouldn't let him play with our camera. Seriously he is a little spoiled. Sometimes cry faces are cute though.

We had our own mini Super Bowl party. Austin has a business marketing class where they learn to analyze advertisements. So he had an assignment to watch the Super Bowl commercials. The game is playing in the background right now. Why is it so long? Holy moly.

I'm so glad I had a boy first. Now I have my two boys. I love them. But I need a girl to join forces with.

Liam had some chips, which he handled pretty well. I thought he would just cough them back up. But nope.

Because he has to have two of everything. He also liked to take a bite of a chip and put it back in the bowl. So if you come over, you might eat Liam reject chips.

He also decided he was old enough to eat Lil' Smokies. I was surprised he ate them so well with only 7 teeth, all of which are in the front.

So, earlier in the day we had pizza. Needless to say, I feel sick to my stomach from all the crap I have eaten today.

Our church building was mysteriously unavailable this week so we became refuges in some singles ward. We only stayed for sacrament meeting cause we are terrible people. Turns out our building was flooded and there was quite a bit of damage. Hopefully we aren't forced to be refuges again next week, I don't like it.

I only have two months until my last day of student teaching! Yay!

The last day of teaching is April 8th. Graduation is on the 21st. I can see the end!

Oh dear...

Sometimes I love student teaching. Sometimes I can't wait for it to be over.

The last couple days, I just keep telling myself that I am almost done and then I can stay at home where people love me and I don't have to be treated like crap!

There was just this teacher at the school that was so rude! Thank goodness I don't normally associate with her. My cooperating teacher totally had my back, which really helped! I am sure some other people can relate that student teaching is sometimes a real bummer.

(Now I will return to my mantra: "only 2.5 months left, only 2.5 months....)

mixing patterns and other Sunday adventures...

Liam in his new shirt (birthday present from Aunt Savanna! Thanks!)

(also, disclaimer: ignore my messy apartment. thank you.)

What a poser!

This picture just makes me laugh. He is having some issues lately keeping his eyes open for pictures.

Mixing patterns adventure:

Doesn't match at all, I know. But some how it just works. And Austin said it made me look "Fashionable," so that works for me.

Liam is a cry baby. But a very cute cry baby.

I have been reading a lot of fashion blogs lately and they are so interesting to me. So I will probably copy them a little bit. (This is my favorite one: http://tandsdaybook.blogspot.com) It is just fun to get ideas from different people. It is a great way to save money too. It helps me think of different ways to wear what I already have and avoid going shopping.
I have been thinking lately how important it is to dress nicely and present ourselves well. And I do not mean that in a shallow way. We don't have to be wearing brand names and dressed to the nines all the time. I think it just shows others a lot of respect when we take care of ourselves, thats all. Seriously, you can dress nicely even when you shop at DI. If you take your time searching the racks, you can find some good stuff.

On a different note, I just made the most fattening meal I have ever had. Fettuccine Alfredo, 'the right way.' That's what I heard anyway. You just melt some butter and cream, add salt and pepper, and pour it into a bowl with some Parmesan cheese. Then you just mix in some noodles. Super quick and easy. Plus if you wanna have a heart attack, eating this is a great start.

On another different note, Liam is having issues at church and we don't know what to do! He seriously fusses the whole time cause he just wants to run around. I even brought his new zoo animal book hoping it would keep him occupied. It did for a while, but he also made animal noises the whole time while pointing at the animals. Really loud noises. Apparently there was a lion in the chapel.

Anyway, we end up spending most of church in the hallway. What are we supposed to do? Part of me is glad he is so independent and curious, but we also want to teach him how to act at church. The second I tried to go sit down with him again in the chapel, he just started squirming and whining. So any advice is helpful!

feelin' crafty...

Look what I made!

I am not a creative person, so when the creative-bug bit me today I had to roll with it.

The big colorful one has pins on the back to put on a sweater or headband. The others have bobby pins.

Here is how I made them:

1. Cut paper in increasingly small circles...

2. Use the paper circles to make fabric circles.

3. (no picture cause I only have two hands) Burn the edges with a lighter. It makes them curl.

4. For a broach type thing-I used felt and hot glued some safety pins on. Wal-Mart didn't have broach pins. lame. Or you can do the same with a bobby pin. I just glued a piece of felt to the back of the flower, with the pin in between the two. Did that make sense?

5. Hot glue the flower layers on top of each other.

6. Add to a cute outfit!

I just glued on the jewel from a super old pair of earrings.

So multipurpose! I have a cute outfit planned for church tomorrow using the colorful big one. I am kinda nervous to wear the outfit cause I'm gonna mix patterns- it's the new thing to do, don't ya know.

Here is where I got the idea:

http://wearingitonmysleeves.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-01-05T20:30:00-08:00&max-results=7

Just scroll down like halfway and she gives you step-by-step instructions.

I don't know how to do hyperlinks on blogspot. Feel free to tell me...

stop growing please...

3 week old Liam:

One year old Liam:

I like how he is eying the cake..."I'm going to destroy you."...And he does.

I really cannot believe I have a one year old. How did this year go so fast?

He is getting such a personality. He is so silly. He is also a little spoiled. He likes

to whine when we don't let him play with certain things, like scissors.

Love my baby so much.