Four Fabulous Years

Four years ago today, our family began. Basically, we were made for each other. In case you're not convinced, I'll give you one example:

Chad typically peels the pasta layers off his lasagna preferring to enjoy the pasta without all of the sauce and cheese.

I, an avid pasta hater, typically wait for everyone else to get their serving of lasagna before helping myself to all the goop and cheese left in the bottom of the pan.

Therefore, between the two of us, perfect lasagna consumption occurs. What's more perfect than that? It's probably a good thing we didn't eat lasagna on our first date. We may have discovered we were soul mates right away and rushed into things.

Sorry girls, but I'm incredibly grateful to have the world's greatest husband. Don't argue with me on this one, did your husband do all the dishes, laundry, and child rearing during your 1st trimester while he was going to school full-time...without complaining?

Happy Anniversary Chad, maybe we should go out for lasagna tonight!

Week at a Glance

• Chad's massive paper has been cleared for graduation. Yay! The end is in sight! Only one more final and graduation on Friday! (We've heard from a reliable source that his name is already on the program, so no worries)
  
• I am now officially too big for 90% of my clothes. This is freaking me out as this stage did not happen with my last pregnancy until I was 7-8 months along.
  
• The packing has begun! I'm trying to be so good at getting rid of things, which is sometimes difficult since I have some pack-rat tendencies. The DI pile is already overflowing and I'm quite sure it's going to be several car loads by the time we're done.
  
• Some of my extended family from Arizona made a surprise visit on Monday and we chatted and ate dinner with them. My sister and I went up to Salt Lake on Wednesday to watch their little boy so they could go to the temple. He was the most well behaved child I have ever babysat! Even when Jay was stealing his toys left and right, the kid just smiled.
  
• Jay broke his crib this week. He jumped too hard too long and popped one of the screws out. He continued to jump and bent the whole metal frame underneath. We thought about attempting to fix it, but since we were planning on getting him a toddler bed when we got to Ohio, we just trashed it. This was a hard decision. It's hard to see something you spent so much money on that was perfectly good the day before go into the dumpster. However, I wouldn't put my newborn in a jerry-rigged crib, and wouldn't want anyone else to either. I did make Chad keep it in the room for a day to see if I could think up any fabulous new home decor ideas with a broken crib, but I couldn't. (Please don't tell me if you think of any good ideas, the trash has already been picked up).
  
• Jay's phrase of the week "That's kinda funny, yeah"
  
• We've secured an apartment in Ohio! It's twice the square footage of our current apartment and includes a washer a dryer and dishwasher, my prayers have been answered!
  
• Ohio apartment bummer: only potty trained children can swim in the pool. I'd already gotten Jay super excited about having a pool at our house in Ohio. Maybe I can get him super excited about using a big boy potty with the pool as incentive. Yup, that wouldn't stress me out at all.

Jay playing with Baby Ryken. Don't you just love that chubby face?

Jay almost smiling (we're working on it), too bad his eczema is out of control.

Jay feeding the duck that hangs around in front of the store. The lady at the store gave Jay a pile of chips to feed the ducks (I think she was just trying to get Jay out of the store as he had begun to explore what's underneath the dressing room doors). Jay and Chad kept occupied with the ducks while I struggled to find clothes that fit (I did find a new outfit for graduation). Thankfully Jay didn't get bitten by this duck.

Jay flying a kite at our friend's BBQ. He just jumped in with the big kids and flew the kite.

Jay is totally ready for a little sister. He looks so great decked out in pink and purple. The helmet was totally his idea. He took a tumble on the bike down some stairs and all he was concerned about was his pink helmet falling off. (If you look closely you'll also notice he is only wearing one shoe)

Sunday Best

On Sunday morning, Jay decided that his "Sunday Best" included these fuzzy blue slippers in mommy's size. I found him on the front steps heading off to church on his own. Thankfully he didn't put up much of a fight when I informed him he had to wear shoes to church.

On another note, we had a fabulous Sunday that hopefully wasn't a once in a lifetime occurrence. Jay was an absolute angel in sacrament meeting. No wiggles, no screams, and no bribes of M&Ms. We had to remind him to whisper a couple of times, but other than that he was fabulous!

Maybe this crazy little boy is starting to grow up. Maybe we'll start training him to change diapers and care for baby sister when she comes. On second thought, maybe we'll hold off on that one.

The Scoop

Many of you may have made observations given my current physical state. You may wonder if I've given up running, or perhaps just made a habit of eating junk and sitting around. All of the above is actually true, but in addition, I've been tired and barfy and working on creating a small being in my belly.

It's true. Somehow this news has been absent from the blog, but we will indeed be having another child come August. Chad and I are thrilled to announce (Jay not so much) that this baby is a girl! Jay has had his heart set on a "baby brudder" for a few days now and is thoroughly disappointed.

Alas, Chad and I have no girl names as of yet, but we're (I'm) still eager to buy pink clothes.

Some funny Jay happenings related to the upcoming sibling:

For awhile, whenever you asked Jay if he wanted a baby boy or a baby girl, he would just repeat whichever one you said last. However, a few times he got creative and declared that he wanted a "Baby Shrek". (Unfortunately, the ultrasound showed no sort of horns on the baby's head)

When proposing potential boy names to Jay, he would simply declare "No". I then asked him what boy names he liked, and he replied "Like Baby Thomas", "Like Baby James". (These names happen to be the same as his favorite trains)

Sorry there are no fun ultrasound pictures, we don't have a scanner. Just trust me that's she's freaking adorable. She even gave us a thumbs up, it was great.

Jamaican Jay

A blog without pictures is boring. Here are a couple to hold you off until our lives get more exciting. Jay received a surprise package a couple weeks ago from Grandpa Carl and Lois. Jay was thrilled and insisted on wearing the outfit all day (ok, well until his belly of baby pudge popped the buttons off the shirt). I think they bought the outfit on a cruise in Jamaica or something. They also sent an old hot wheels car, so Grandpa Carl is now refered to as "Grandpa Car".