Paige's First Day of Preschool

Paige has been SO excited to start preschool. She's basically been waiting all summer long. She's so excited to get to play with her friends, and do something that's just for her. I'm excited too. I love the opportunity to be creative and do fun things with my kids. I volunteered to take the first turn teaching so the first day was at our house. We had a little sign to welcome all the new preschoolers.

Paige was making the most ridiculous faces, it was hard to get a good picture because she was just too excited to hold still.

She is just the prettiest little give I've ever seen. I'm not biased at all.

There are three girls in our preschool class and only one boy (poor little guy) for a total of 4. It's the perfect size for this age group. They have all just turned 3 or are about to turn three so they are young. These girls are all very girly and silly. It's going to be a fun year.

 Here's the whole group sitting for circle time. They were pretty good for their first day.

 Waving hello!

 Working on a craft project.

 And everyone's favorite - snack time!

Good thing we have this trampoline in our backyard now, because when I taught preschool with Lucas there just wasn't anything to do in our backyard so we had playtime inside. It's nice to be able to send them outside for a change of scenery to get their wiggles out and let me prepare for the next project. They were all holding hands and it was adorable!

 We're so ready and excited for this school year!

38 Weeks

38 weeks!  I'm finally almost done!  I overlapped these three pictures on top of each other so I could compare the bellies and they are actually all pretty close to each other.  With Paige I was a little smaller than I am now, with Lucas I was a little bigger, but overall I guess this is just the size I get when I'm pregnant.

On the one hand I know the baby will be here pretty soon, but on the other hand I don't feel too different than I have for the last month.  With Paige I had braxton hicks contractions all the time for the whole last month.  I've had some this time around but not nearly as often and not as painful either.  I had some pretty bad ones with Paige, and this time I've only had a few that made me stop and think about them.  And I'm hot and tired and feeling huge, but I've been feeling that way for about a month now.  I just don't feel very different than I have been feeling.  I know at some point I have to go into labor, but it doesn't feel like it'll be any time soon.  But I really want it to be soon!!  

I'm trying to not plan on him coming before my due date so I won't be disappointed.  But I am getting everything prepared ahead of time just in case.  I've been cleaning and organizing and making lists.  I LOVE making lists.  And something about having a baby makes me feel like I should deep clean the whole house.  We're talking cleaning baseboards and blinds and stuff.  I'm about 80% done.  I think part of me is hoping that with all this cleaning and being busy I'll put myself into labor.  :)  Once I'm all done with the house I'm not sure what I'll do to distract myself.  I'm thinking a pedicure!

Any guesses as to when I'll go into labor.  My due date is the 23rd.  For some reason I'm thinking the 19th - not sure why.

Business Trip to London

Here's the last of the catch up posts.  Ryan took a business trip to London a few weeks ago.  We had known about this trip for a while but when it actually came time for him to go I was a little worried about having the baby early, or just not being able to manage the kids and being hugely pregnant all by myself.  Everything worked out pretty well, though.  My mom came and stayed with us for two days, and then we went down and stayed with her for two days.  Playing with family kept us distracted and entertained.  My dad made yummy shrimp for me to eat.  We never have seafood at home because Ryan hates it.  We spent most of our time just hanging out at the park or at my brother John's house in their new playroom.  Here's Joseph entertaining the kids.  They all thought Joseph was the best ever.

One of the days we were down in San Jose we went to Happy Hollow.  The kids had so much fun going on the rides and seeing the animals at the zoo.

 The park wasn't very busy so the kids got to ride the rides over and over again without getting off.

 Paige thought she was awesome getting to ride this car all by herself.

 Paige has been super in to babies lately, and her cousin Jonah is no exception.  Despite the fact that he is about the same size as her, she kept trying to love him and hold him.  He liked it for the most part so it was okay.

They had this roller coaster there, and Lucas has never been a fan of roller coasters and usually refuses to go on them, but for some reason he decided to give this one a try and it was mild enough that he liked it.  He rode it 4 times in a row, because there was no one in line behind his group.  Then we went back and rode it again later and he rode it another 4 times.  I couldn't go on it with him so Joseph had to.  Poor Joseph got a headache from riding it so much but Lucas thought it was a blast.  Here's a video I took of our group on it.  You can see how excited Lucas is.  Don't be distracted by the person waving at the beginning, our group is in the first three cars - Lucas and Joseph are in the second car.



We spent the rest of our time at home, getting ready for Lucas's birthday and going to the park.  We did alright, but the kids were definitely a little grumpy without their dad.  Paige took a few days to realize that daddy wasn't just at work and coming home soon, once she did she was pretty clingy and sad.  We made it through, though, and I told Ryan he's never allowed to travel again.  :)

Ryan was mostly going to meetings the entire time he was in London, but he did get to go sightseeing the first two days he was there.  He packed a lot into just two days.

 He took the Tube everywhere he went.

St Paul's Cathedral

 The National Gallery

 The Tower Bridge

Big Ben and Parliament

 Westminster Abbey

 The London Eye

View from the Eye

 Changing of the guards

 Windsor Castle

 Stonehenge

 London Temple

We're glad he had a good time, and we're glad he's back again!

31 Weeks Belly Comparison

It's getting kinda hard to compare since they are all taken from slightly different angles, but I think I'm not quite as big as I was with Lucas, but still bigger than I was with Paige.  From the picture I look about the same size as I did with Paige, but I just wore that shirt yesterday, and let me tell you it did not cover my belly quite like it did the last time around.  I'm definitely feeling huge lately.  And hot!  It's like 75 degrees outside and I'm dying.  It was a hot summer when I was pregnant with Paige and I was fine, but not so much this time around -- and it's not even hot yet.  I'm getting a little nervous about everything I need to do before the baby comes, but I just keep reminding myself that I have 2 months left and most of it can be done after the baby comes anyway.  Oh well.  Time to take the kids to the park before it gets too hot, and by hot I mean above 70.

28 Weeks

This poor third child is getting very little coverage.  I keep forgetting to take belly pictures and I hardly ever write about him on the blog.  Poor little guy!  So far, this pregnancy has been a lot like my pregnancy with Lucas.  I remember at this point with Paige I was worried that she wasn't kicking enough because I remembered Lucas kicking ALL THE TIME!  This baby is just like his big brother, he kicks me all the time!  Luckily I have no problems sleeping through it.  I'm still up 6-8 times a night going to the bathroom and adjusting my pillows from being uncomfortable, but the kicking is no big deal.

I think I've discovered why I can feel the kicking so much, though.  Lucas was posterior when I was in labor, meaning that his head and back were along my spine and his feet and arms were towards my belly.  I'm starting to think, though, that he may have been posterior the entire time, because when they are turned that way, you can feel all the kicks and wiggles because their feet and hands are always hitting your belly, rather than your back which isn't as sensitive.  This baby is currently posterior and has been for at least the last month since I've started paying attention.  I remember being able to feel Paige's back on one side of my belly or the other when I was pregnant with her, and she stayed like that the whole time and during labor.  She was a very good girl.  Lucas and this baby on the other hand seem to be my naughty ones.  I've started doing some exercises to try to turn this baby the right direction but he seems to be pretty comfortable right where he is.

I've also been gaining weight with this pregnancy just like I did with Lucas.  I've already gained 30 lbs.  It's just so funny because I've been eating and exercising exactly the same with all three pregnancies, and yet with Paige I gained 30 lbs total and was significantly smaller.  I'm not super concerned about it, though.  This is just what my body does with boys apparently.  It gains a ton of weight and turns them the wrong way for super fun labors.  It's a good thing I've been lucky enough to get doctors that don't care too much about how much weight I'm gaining.  I've never been told that I'm gaining too much, even when I put on 50 lbs with Lucas.  I appreciate that.

I tried to find some belly photos from when I was pregnant with Lucas and Paige as a comparison, but apparently I didn't take a belly photo anywhere near 28 weeks with either.  I did at 32, so I guess I'll just need to make sure to remember to take one then.  In the mean time, here's my belly right now.

Overall I'm feeling great right now.  For the most part I have a ton of energy and I'm always looking for some new project to start.  I just wish we could come up with a name for this little guy.  The whole name thing is so stressful for me for some reason.  I feel like I'm not ready to have the baby unless we have a few names picked out.  I'll take any and all suggestions. 

Teaching Preschool

I've been the preschool teacher the last two weeks.  This is probably my favorite time teaching so far.  The group we have right now is really good, and the kids liked the stuff we've been learning a lot.  This month we've been learning about ponds and the types of animals, insects, and plants that live in and around ponds.  On my last day of teaching I decided to take the kids on a nature walk to the stream by our house so they could explore something similar to a pond.

Zac was the first one to show up, so he, Lucas and Paige read books while we waited for everyone else.  My friend took Paige for me so I wouldn't have to chase after her on our nature walk.  That was probably another reason why I liked teaching preschool so much this rotation - I had friends take Paige almost every day.  Paige has a lot of energy these days and is an expert at getting into trouble so she's a bit of a handful.  Teaching preschool is almost easier than having to take care of Paige!

Here's Lucas and Alyse inspecting the water for tadpoles.  We were really hoping to find some to catch.

We had little plastic containers and spoons to gather up samples of plants and mud from the pond to make our own mini ponds.  I scooped up algae and muck for the kids.  Some of them were more excited about it than others.  Here's my cute little preschoolers.  We were missing one of our usual kids.  I like having such a small class to teach and they are a pretty well behaved group.

And here is Lucas's mini pond.  He had a fun time tromping through the grass, exploring for stuff to add to his collection.

And as always, we ended class with snack time.  I made the kids popcorn and they ate it like frogs by sticking their tongues to the popcorn.  We had a fun two weeks!

Preschool

Preschool is starting up again, and we are all so excited!  Lucas is excited...

Paige is excited...

And Paige usually takes a nap during preschool time, which she is doing right now, so I'm going to go take a bath. I won't post a pic, though.  You'll just have to believe that I'm excited too.  :)

Amber's Wedding

One of my best friends got married the middle of June, and I went out to Utah to be there for the wedding.  Amber and I have been friends since sophomore year of college.  We were both Mechanical Engineering majors, we were in the same classes, we studied together, got awesome grades together, and graduated at the same time.  Paige and I flew out to Utah, and Lucas stayed with his daddy.  This was Ryan's first time being alone with a kid for a long period of time, so he was pretty nervous.  Here's me and Paige getting ready to leave.

We had a dinner the night before with all the friends and family from out of town.  Here's our little group of friends, and the bride and groom-to-be.

That night Paige threw up all over the hotel pack-n-play, so I let her come into bed with me.  I really was hoping she wouldn't throw up all over me, and she didn't.  She was so cute and cuddled up the next morning.

Grandma and Grandpa George came up to the hotel to watch Paige while I went to the wedding.  I didn't think to take any pictures of the happy couple, since there was a photographer there, but then I realized, that meant I didn't have any photos of my own, so I stole this photo from facebook.  They were so cute and looked so happy!

And here's our little group in our fancy clothes.

The luncheon/reception after the wedding was downtown at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  I picked up Paige from grandma and grandpa and took her along.  We wandered around a bit and took pictures in front of the pretty view of the temple.

After the luncheon was over Paige and I went to city creek, which was just right next to us, and we walked around and went shopping.  My friend Shannon met up with us and we had a good time talking, laughing, and getting hand massages at Lush. On my way back to the car, Paige fell asleep so we stopped to relax for a bit before the chaos of the airport.

Since our flight out to Utah was delayed for 3 hours and everyone was in a rush to get on the plane, we didn't really have time for pictures.  The way back home was much more relaxed so I decided to ask the pilot to take a picture with Paige to remember her first, almost first flight.  He was super nice and excited about it and he held her out over the controls and stuff.  But Paige was pretty grumpy after a full day of not very good sleep and still feeling a little sick and she was not very excited about some random stranger holding her in a weird place.  We settled for the pilot taking a picture of me holding Paige in the cockpit.  Almost as good.

The flight was empty so they let me bring her car seat on the plane.  Paige was like this for the first few minutes...

And then as soon as the flight took off, she fell asleep.

She slept the entire flight, woke up for a bit on the walk out to meet daddy, fell back asleep for the entire car ride home, stayed asleep for the transfer to her crib, and slept till morning.  Yep, she's amazing!  We had such a fun time!  Thanks again Amber for getting married and giving us an excuse to get together again.