Trip to the Zoo

Our Trip to the Hogle "Zo"

(yeah, I cut off the "o" in "zoo"....I'm not much of a photographer)

Here are some fun pictures from our trip to the Hogle Zoo! It was so much fun this year, especially now that Malea is a little older and can recognize the animals and what sounds they make. It was such a beautiful day, perfect for a trip to the zoo (except, that is what everyone else and their dog was thinking too, because it was PACKED!). We still had so much fun despite the busyness of it.

They have the cutest little park inside the zoo that Malea loved playing at.
She wouldn't go down this "snake" slide last year :)

I love Malea's face in this picture

Daddy and Malea looking at the Praire Dogs

Going down the elephant slide

Malea inside a giant egg

On the way to the zoo, all Malea could talk about was the elephants and giraffes.
Well she got her wish!

There is the cutest little baby elephant there right now!

All of the giraffes were outside lounging, it was great

"Look Daddy! A turtle!"

Waiting in line for the carousel (isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?!)

Mommy and Malea :)

Daddy and Malea on the carousel

All tuckered out on the ride home.....what a great day!

Pink Eye

So a couple of weeks ago I woke up with my left eye almost completely swollen shut. It was pink, goopy, and watery. Yuck! I randomly got pink eye somehow. I started reading up on it, and turns out it is extremely contagious. Like so contagious you shouldn't even share the same pillow with anyone else. You can even give it to your other eye inadvertently just by rubbing the infected eye and then touching your other eye. :P Great, I have a 2 year-old that doesn't understand personal space and always loves to snuggle together in the morning. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me this ointment that you rub on and around your eye (which I thought was better then eye drops personally) and it started to clear up within a day.

(I couldn't get a good picture of my own pink eye, so this is from google)

Well despite my best efforts to avoid contact, wash any blankets/pillows that I used, and use lots of purell/wash my hands 100 times a day, Malea ended up with it too. Luckily we caught it early enough (before it went really pink) and got her in to the doctor. Turns out she also had an ear infection, so luckily we were able to give her an oral antibiotic to treat both.

I thought Keith dodged it, but he woke up with it this morning too. I guess its for the best, because now we have all had it and can just get it over with. Now I just need to go through and scrub my house from head to toe so that we don't all get it again! (Uggh)

Nie Nie

I have been coming across this blog called the Nie Nie Dialogues, some of you have probably heard of her. I didn't know that much about it but I kept coming across her blog through other friends' blogs. It is the blog of a woman named Stephanie Nielson, a mom who shares inspiring and funny stories about her family, and about motherhood. People all over the world follow her blog and enjoy reading her stories.

In August of 2008, Stephanie and her husband Christian were in a serious plane crash that left Christian with burns on about 35% of his body, and Stephanie with burns on about 80% of her body. They were both in a coma for weeks, and miraculously they both survived (although another man in the plane with them, a flight instructor, didn't make it). The burns from the crash left Stephanie's face looking much different than she did before. Many people in the community, as well as followers of her blog, rallied together to raise money to help them and their family. After 6 or so months, Stephanie was able to start blogging again, although it was a slow process. Since then, she has shared stories of her recovery, as well as her new appreciation for life. This blog is extremely inspiring, you will want to make sure you have tissues when you read it. I am completely amazed at what a positive attitude Stephanie continues to have, despite the hardships that have come to her and her family.

Here is a link to ksl where I found a story that was done back in November of 2009 on Christian and Stephanie Nielson.

www.ksl.com/?sid=8572451&nid=148

Reading her blog makes me want to be a better mom, wife, friend, and overall, person. She is able to find joy in the little things of life, like sweet things that her kids say and do, or something beautiful in nature, or a love note from her husband. She and her family are members of the LDS church, and I am just amazed by her faith. She has never let the accident cause her testimony to falter. She lets her kids be kids, lets them get dirty, explore, and doesn't stress about it. Reading her blog, especially "AC" (which she refers to as "After Crash"), helps me to realize that my trials are not so bad, and that things could be a lot worse. It makes me appreciate my husband and daughter. It helps me to not get as frustrated with them for the little things. It helps me to have a more positive attitude about my life.

For some of you the Nie Nie blog is probably old news, but having just come across it myself I haven't been able to think about anything else. I feel like I was meant to find this blog and that reading it will help me to be a better person, and will help me to get through my own trials.

I HIGHLY recommend you read and follow this blog. It will leave you feeling uplifted and inspired.

Here is the address to her blog: nieniedialogues.blogspot.com

Here's where you go if you want to add a "I Read Nie Nie" button to your blog.

nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/2008/05/buttons.html

We are having a......

So we went to have the ultrasound today, and we found out that we are having a.......

BOY!!!!

(Its kind of hard to see, but that is a picture of his head and chest and you can see his little arm and hand underneath)

We are so excited! I wasn't that surprised when she said it was a boy to be honest, because I have been so much sicker with this pregnancy, and it has just been so much different this time around. It took her about 10 seconds after she started the ultrasound when she said "so do you want to know what it is?" I guess she could tell right off the bat. I am just thrilled to have one of each, it will be a fun adventure to have a boy this time around.

Here are some pics from the ultrasound:

Now I just need to go and get some boy clothes! :)

Please take a minute to read about my friend!

Please check out this blog:
thestrasburgfamily.blogspot.com

This my dearest friend Jill, she has to have a life-saving surgery next week that her insurance won't cover. It is a $20,000 surgery, and she has to raise $5,000 by Monday to add to the $15,000 they already have. Any donations big or small are greatly appreciated! They are also auctioning off some REALLY cute/cool stuff on her blog that will be donated to the cause. You can bid by commenting on each post of her blog. If you look on her blog there is a pay pal account set up for donations, and it also has the information to donate directly to her bank. So far she has raised about $1,000 but she still has a ways to go.

Sure love you Jill! ♥ We're gonna get to $5,000!

If you read some of the older posts it goes in to more detail about her story. She is such a sweetie, we have been friends since 1st grade and I just love her to death! Brent Brown Automotive Group in Orem is also going to match ever dollar donated up to $500, and the General Manager of Brent Brown, Jim Hoban, will match every dollar up to $250! There is also a facebook group set up called "Help Jilly Strasburg Live", you can find it through my facebook page if you would like updates.

They grow up so fast!

Malea's "Big Girl" Bed!
(Yes, she has "Cars" sheets lol)

Yesterday we set up Malea's new toddler bed, and we tried it out for the first time last night! She looked so grown up sleeping in a bed instead of her crib. I had heard from someone once that it helps if you keep the crib in their room for the first few days too, and if they try to climb out of the bed you just say "I guess you aren't ready for a bed" and put them back in the crib. Well last night we put her in bed, did our usual bedtime routine, and that was the last we heard of her! She stayed in it all night and didn't try to climb out. I was also a little worried about her falling out in the night (even though there is a rail) since she wasn't used to it. We put a thick blanket folded up on the floor underneath where the opening is just in case she did fall out. I went and checked on her a couple of times in the night, and she did great! She did wake up an hour earlier than she usually does, I think because she wasn't used to waking up where she was. I'm hoping that she will get back to her usual 7:30 am as opposed to 6:30 am. I am anxious to see how she does at naptime today though, since it won't be so dark in her room.

She looks so big!

Ironically, the same day that we set up her crib for the first time, Malea decided she wanted to go pee in the potty for the first time!

(Sorry for the nakedness, this particular day she was in the tub and told me "I pooping" so I hurried and put her on the potty so that I didn't have to deal with poop in the tub....she didn't end up going, but I snatched this picture of her. She likes to read when she does her business lol).

We have tried to put on her on the potty a few times (by her desire, of course) and each time she has never been able to complete a #1 or #2. Well yesterday she decided that she wanted to sit on the potty, so we put her on it and walked in the other room to give her some privacy. I knew it would take a while, so the last few times I have put her on the potty I give her a stack of books that she can look at while she goes. We did that this time and maybe it was just a good book but she peed a little bit in the potty! We were so excited!

I had this cute potty training chart I've been waiting to use, so we put a sticker on it and told her that every time she peed or pooped on the potty she could put a sticker on it. At this point I just want to take it slow, she has the type of personality that you cannot force her to do anything she doesn't want, so we will just do it at her pace! Hopefully she will be completely potty trained by the time the baby comes in September, but if not, oh well.

I took this video the same day as the picture on the potty above....it is so dang funny, it just goes to show that even 2 year-old's want privacy when they "go"

We're moving!.....in July.....

Home Sweet Home

We have been planning to move out of our apartment when our contract ended on August 1st, and once we found out we were expecting baby #2 in September, it became even more essential. We have just outgrown our current apartment, even though we have enjoyed living here (for the most part) for what will be 2 years when our contract ends. We have had our eye on a nice townhome in Provo (under the same management as we have now), and there were a couple of units sitting open for the last few months. We tried selling our contract, but didn't have much luck. Then after a month or two of trying to sell our contract, we found out that both of the units were taken, and I was really bummed. They told us that there was a unit that was going to be opening up in the same complex at the end of July, which is when our contract was ending anyway. We looked around at some other places, but we just had this other place in the back of our minds. We kind of compared everything else we looked at to this place. Even though we could have moved in to the complex when our contract ended August 1st, I really didn't want to be moving just a month before I'm due. I felt like it was going to be really stressful to get everything settled in time, and I just didn't feel like a month was going to be enough time. I also didn't want to cause such a big change for Malea so close to when the baby was going to be born. When we found out that the two open spots got filled, we decided that we would just go ahead and wait to move in when the next unit opened at the end of July (even though I didn't want to). I was talking to Keith today about how I wished we could at least move at the beginning of July, because that extra month would give us more time to get settled, and I wouldn't be as big (7 months along as opposed to 8 months along....not a huge difference, but a little bit better).

So the point of this story is.....

The management called us today and told us that the people who were moving out at the end of July decided that they wanted to move out a month early! They would be moving out at the end of June, which means we could move in July 1st! It was so exciting, and felt like it was meant to be. It was just so funny how I had just told Keith today how I wished that we could move in July instead of August, just because one extra month would make a big difference. And then we got that phone call! And because we would be moving in within a month of when our contract was going to end anyway, they aren't going to make us find someone to take over our contract (and since we are moving in to another one of their properties). So we are going in tomorrow to sign the contract for our new place!

Here are some pics of the inside that I took from the management's website:

I am excited that we have a plan, and that we know where we will be moving. I'm also excited to have a dishwasher again! :) We are going to miss our neighbors and especially our ward, but it will be great to have a little more space for our ever-growing family :)