oh baby :)

As of today I am 12 weeks 5 days along with baby number 2

Oh the roller coaster of emotions a baby is!

I have gone from utter elation to I am a terrible mom and probably shouldn't even have one baby let alone two.

But come April 23, 2012 2 kiddos (hopefully!) will be a reality.

I feel like I got hit by a freight train and really sleep and sit on the couch way to much. 

Hence, the I am a terrible mom thoughts. Entering into the 2nd trimester I hope some energy returns. 

That's all the griping I am allowing for now.

We are thrillllllled. 

Timing? perfect.

They will be just over 2 years apart.

Fun fact? Brooke and I officially have the same due date.

We've come a long way together that sister and I.

We ourselves are only 16 months apart and apparently there are two little spirits that really like each other and need to come to earth together.

Really, we never could have planned this.

We both found out we were pregnant the same day while we were on the phone together

and now our due date and all our dr appointments are coinciding. 

It's really very exciting.

For a few weeks there we thought this little babe might have another cousin but the timing wasn't right.

I am still heartbroken.

little 12 week baby

When we went to Brig's 12 week ultrasound we both immediately thought "that's a boy" we could see Brig's personality through the ultrasound.

Although I love this little tadpole more than anything.

Baby was a stranger!

I kept looking at the baby thinking "who are you little babe?"

My gut says this is baby is girl.

But my gut has been wrong many a time before.

Little baby was very still for this ultrasound, the technician had to be very patient with us.

Toward the end however, little baby got the hiccups or something and started bouncing around like a mexican jumping bean. Nate and I are still imitating the adorable whole body jolts.

But at the end of the day with all my worries and all my excitement I am perfectly happy with an overly rounded tummy and an image of LEFT LOWER EXTREMITY because it really is amazing that 12 weeks ago that LEFT LOWER EXTREMITY didn't exist and that now it is my world.

A few of my favorite scenes...

Just cause there is little else I adore more than this...

(sorry so blurry!)

Little engines peeking over my counter, cause of course Thomas wants to drive on the counter!

And this seemed like a good place to secure their couplings

Oh I love watching this boy play.

Just the way his mind works and how he knows that trains and cars well, drive.

I hope you keep playing forever 

because I for one could watch you forever

a petrified forest

I see the sign all the time "Petrified Forest 10 miles <--"

I, for one, find such things interesting.

So when Nate got invited to go to niners first pre-season game... Brig and I needed a few tricks.

It also happened to be the same weekend as "Wings over Wine Country" so we stopped by the cemetary to catch a bit of this. It was not very entertaining this year :( 

Petrified forest it was!

Brig needed no promptings to know what to do with a petrified tree.

You climb over it of course.

It was very overpriced, full of tourist, Nate would have hated it, and really it was not much of a "forest"

but

It was the perfect little "hike" for a Brig and a good "once every few years" kinda things.

They were cool though.

And with all their claims of "largest petrified trees in the world" and "7 million years old" and "Robert Louis Stevenson" I did feel a bit awestruck.

And again, Brig knew just what to do.

Find a seat on a petrified tree of course!

Oh I love that curious boy.

It was on this visit that I learned Brig's love for uneven surfaces.

Rocks, sand, dirt, sticks, leaves. Yes, please.

We started exploring baby hikes after this discover.

Much to Brig's delight.

A shakespearean girls retreat

Coleen and I have been talking for years about how much fun going to the Shakespeare festival would be. I went with my grandma in high school with a group Michael Wilcox took down. We read and studied the plays we were going to see, discussed them most the way down and it is one of my favorite memories with my grandma. I remember feeling so grown up.

Coleen is quite the reader and the kind of person who has her favorite passages memorized and can spout them out in the perfect time, place, and scenario.

Anyway, we finally worked out a time to go. It was last minute, no kids are allowed, and I knew if we didn't just do it, it would never happen.

Luckily it did!

"the globe"

where we watched Romeo and Juliet

Misty and Cass joined and we were the perfect set of 4!

We met up around noon and went and got ourselves tarts before our first show "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They were all they were talked up to be and we even got to witness a man truly hitting on our gorgeous mother-in-law ;)

Intermission we entertained ourselves in the gift shop.

And guess who I ran into there? The Michael Wilcox. I went right up to him and let him know I was Johnnie Belle's. He loves her :)

For last minute tickets we were very strategic. We didn't sit next to each other but we all had aisle seats right behind one another. perfect.

The girls at "Romeo and Juliet."

After our first play, at 2 pm, we went to a lovely dinner at the Garden House. We sat on the lawn and over stuffed ourselves and I think all of us were ready to call it a night. Coleen is the only one who actually did. We missed her but we really couldn't blame her...

Cause this is where we stayed and we had the entire top level to our selves.

It was simply charming. 

When we returned from the play we all climbed in Coleen's king sized bed for a Dickens movie.

We lasted 5 min before we all found our own beds :)

oh and Brig?

He was at the Lamoreaux and happily calling Robyn "Mom"

traitor

We had a leisurely morning enjoyed stuffed french toast on the big yellow inn's big white porch then it was time for Cass and I to hit the road.

What a fun little 24 hours we had.

The return home does however merit a mentioning.

Cass's nicest family took both of us and the babes to Vegas to catch our flight that night. The two little goobers did great. They enjoyed a lovely nuggie meal from Wendy's (sweet and sour for Brig, honey mustard for Cleo), a treat and toy airplane stop at the gift shop, very quick diaper change, then boarded in a timely fashion and seated next to each other. Then a seat change mid flight "because two babies can't sit by each other" and TWO poopy diapers on our 60 minute flight we made it to Oakland. Seriously Brig... those bathrooms are not meant for changing diapers. 

Anyway, it was fun and we made it back to two very excited daddies.

August Reunion Part II

look at that belly.

oh dear...

The August visit to Utah was only supposed to be through the weekend. Partly because I hate flying by myself at this point, partly because my parents were just out, and mostly because Natey boy was pulling his weight to get me to stay home.

So I didn't book my flight any longer than Sunday night. Then I get to Utah and I was enjoying things and thinking I was not there long enough and Coleen and I were looking at Shakespeare tickets.... and then Coleen told Nate I was staying :)
The man really can't say no to his mom. It's really lovely.

So after the weekend with the Clark's we headed down for a very short Sunday visit at my parents.

Brig enjoyed his first ice cream cone.

THEN

Cass and Misty decided Shakespeare festival sounded too fun as well and lucky for me Cass's family lives in St George.  So I hitched a ride with the all to nice Clements down to St. George and went for a visit with the Lamoreaux's until our Shakespeare retreat the following Thursday. 

That Lamoreaux lady is one busy lady. Brig and I pretty much just watched her life swirl by :) Teenage boys hanging around, cousins who want to play with you, a house full of 5 kids worth of toys. It was busy and lovely. 

These two, while bound to be best of buds, kinda just haggled each other  for toys. They sure looked cute though. Even if Sully shows Brig up in anything water. He's crazy.

And the cozy coupes...

They love them. 

Oh, and please note Brig's head that is triple the size of Sull's.

Oh cute babies :)

And thanks Robyn for the last minute hosting, babysitting, and sistering.

love you.

August Reunion

I've reached August

phew....

And what starts August off every year?

 A Clark reunion of course!

This year it seemed a little round 2ish after us all having been together in July 

but we still manage to simply have a wonderful time.

I was already behind on blogging at this point and did not do a good job taking pictures so I shall summerize.

There was Lagooning, which was not Brig's cup of tea this year. Thank goodness they have a train.

There was the visit to Snowbasin.

There was swimming, sewing, and the ingestion of yummy food.

Natalie and I have been wanting to do a little sewing projecting and we thought there was room during the reunioning. It was a lovely addition and that is why Brig looks like Huck Finn on mountain day. The little nieces were so excited about what we were creating so he HAD to wear it the next day. Nate was appalled, after pictures I feel similar but those little nieces loved our creations :)

New to this year with the Clark's was accidents.

Unfortunately, I think this is the beginning to a lot more scary accidents.

I mean it's a sheer numbers game at this point.

ahh... the mountains.

these two toe heads.... 

And this?

Abe and Brig bridged the gap.

Trains.

I see a long and fruitful relationship blossoming.

Ray joined in on bridging the gap as well.

3 cute boys.

One of the best parts of a Clark trip is the girl time/ boy time we get.

At Lagoon we had a prime example of the joy of boy time.

6 boys all lined up for a little shooting competition.

Probably $100 later, and a lot of plush toys

it was for moments like this that Nate will never miss a family reunion.

Our last night we all went to a yummy BBQ joint then headed over to the park across the street for a night of family games. Oh... Clark boys.

 August Reunion 2011 chalked up to be one for the books :)

Harry Potter Baby

What?

I couldn't resist.

I mean I am one of those people.

Nate, not so much.

But I simply can't imagine a childhood without Harry Potter and it's one of the things I am very much looking forward to sharing with Brig.

So never to soon.

My library put on a Harry Potter party in honor of the new movie.

I talked Asher into joining since there was no way I could go with out a kid the proper age.

So I whipped up a robe for Brig that morning and Asher donned my graduation robe.

Brig went as Harry and Asher as a "Hogwarts Student"

We totally rocked the costume portion. Brig got an honorary mention cause he was to young to really be there and Asher didn't win the contest but did when the grand prize, his own hardback copy of the Deathly Hallows. He's a quick one that Asher :) I told Asher anytime he thought it was getting lame we'd go get ice cream and call it a day. That didn't take to long.

It was fun and it won Brig a bit of notoriety the next day at the park

-little boy at the park, staring us down across the yard. Slowly walks over to the toddler slide.

"Is that the baby from yesterday?"

pause, what is this little boy talking about?... yesterday?

oh!

me- "yes, yes it is"

him- "He was a good Harry Potter"

boy keeps smiling and staring then walks over to all the other kids at the big kid land

"That baby was the one dressed like Harry Potter yesterday, go look at him!"

me- smiling inside :)