Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas! We woke Sawyer up around 8:30 am cause his grandmas and grandpas had come to watch him open his presents! He was so adorable as he ran down the hall to see his presents! He even did an excellent job opening most his presents himself! He got some new motor cycles, play doh, a wiggle car, 2 race car tracks, a choo choo train, a sled, a coloring book, Everyone Poops book (he loves this book!), clothes, dinos, paints, an M&M backpack and probably some other things I can't think of! Yes he got spoiled rottne!

Brandon and Sawyer got me some wonderful gifts. Brandon got me a pearl necklace that is GORGEOUS!!! Yes, yes I am spoiled! I also got the Burlesque sound track, Eclipse, House of night books. I got Brandon some snowboarding gear, a book, and some nice pants for work. After we opened presents we had some German pancakes, bacon, and hashbrowns. Nummy! We had to hurry and get to my mom's to open up presents there. Then headed to my step-mom's then to the in-laws. It was quite the busy day. It was so wonderful spending time with family though! We had a really great Christmas this year!

Maxfield Family Christmas Party

At grandma and grandpa Maxfield's, all the kids got to open up their Christmas Pj's and put them on! It was adorable! So much fun!

Lee Family Christmas Party

The Nutcracker

The Tuesday before Christmas my wonderful husband got tickets for us to go to the Nutcracker! I was so thrilled! I have never been but have wanted to go for years! It was awesome! The dancing was amazing! Such an awesome Christmas present! It was also very nice to dress up all nice and go out! :)

Movement

Last night, Brandon and I were watching a movie in bed and I had my hand on my belly as usual. All the sudden I felt a little kick! I wasn't sure so I waited and felt another and another! I was hoping it wasnt all in my head so I grabbed Brandon's hand and he felt them kicking! He was able to feel them for the first time last night! Oh how I love this part of pregnancy! It becomes so real once you can start to feel them. My mother-in-law told me to remember this moment when I am so excited cause in a few months I won't be as thrilled about it! lol Its probably true but I still love to feel the movements!

Zoo Lights

Last night we took Sawyer to the zoo! They had amazing lights! I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I ended up having a great time! They even had Santa there. Sawyer said he wanted to go in and see him but when we got in there he kept saying "No Santa. No Santa." Hopefully next year he will like Santa a bit better. I think we will do the Zoo Lights every year from now on! It was great. Nice way to spend a Family night!

18 Week Appointment

Had my 18 week appointment yesterday and we think we know what the other baby is but my doctor still isn't 100%. She thinks its a girl. The baby showed us a good shot of herself and none of us saw boy parts but she said when I get my BIG ultrasound they will be able to tell me for sure what it is. Bah. I wish I knew 100% right now. I am going to say its a girl until i hear other wise. I won't be upset if its another boy though. I'll be happy with whatever I am given!
Good news, I have started to gain some weight! Yay! I probably won't be saying that long but right now its good! The doctor asked if I could feel the babies moving around and I can't really and she was surprised. She thinks that my placenta is in the front of my belly and that is why I can't feel them yet but they were sure moving a ton! She said within a few weeks I should start to feel them more and more. I can't wait for that! It always make me nervous to go into the doctor cause I felt them for a while then I couldn't anymore so I always panic and think there are problems. Nope! They are growing well and they are both 8 ounces! My targeted ultrasound is schedule for January 13th and that is where they do all the checking and measuring and in 4D! My doctor said we will know for sure when we do that ultrasound what they both are. Wish I didn't have to wait that long but its how the cookie is crumbling! Things are going well still so I am so grateful!

Belly

18 weeks 2 days
Getting bigger bigger!

Comfort Food

Found this recipe and made it last night. I LOOOOOOVE these kinds of potatoes! I could have eaten the whole 13X9 pan full! With pleasure! :)

Cheesy Potato Casserole
Ingredients:
1 bag contry style hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded cheese
2 cups corn flakes, crushed
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cups melted butter

To Make:
Mix soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, green onions, and cheese in large bowl. Add hash browns and stir to combine and place in a greased 13X9 pan. Top with butter/corn flake mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes!
DIVINE!

Here Comes Santa

Saturday was Brandon's family Christmas party and all the kids got a wonderful surprise.... Santa Clause came to visit and bring gifts!!

Sawyer was not happy about sitting on Santa's lap so my nephew Brayden went up and held him next to Santa. He did enjoy his present he got though! He got a hummer with a trailor on back carrying a 4-wheeler! Oh yeah, He loved it!!

Dinner, Lights, & Choo Choo

We have started a little tradition of going to dinner at the Gateway then taking tacks to Temple Square and seeing the lights. We were able to do that again this last Thursday and it was wonderful! We went to Applebee's for dinner and it was great as always. When we headed to get on tracks Sawyer decided he wanted to sit on Great grandma's lap. He loves riding on her wheelchair with her!

Its so wonderful to watch Sawyer grow. Last year he was only 18 months so the lights weren't that big of a deal to him but this year he loved them! Sure made things much more fun!

Sawyer's been watching The Polar Express a lot lately so he is very into trains now so riding on tracks was awesome for him! He loved it!

Thankfully this year it wasn't freezing but it was raining quite a bit. We still had a great time though!

A Lil Charity

Each year my family and I aways say we need to do some sort of charity for Christmas since that is a great part of Christmas but we have never done it until this year! I decided to rally us together and the end result was fantastic I think! I decided that since my brother has volunteered for the Utah Aids Foundation that that would be a great place to do some charity. I got on their website and found that you could donate money, adopt a family, make necessity stockings, or food baskets so I put feelers out and we decided to adopt 2 families, do a food basket or 2, and do some necessity baskets!

We met at my mom's on a Thursday afternoon and brought with us some bathroom necessities that we already had at our home that we had extras of such as: shampoo, tooth paste, tooth brushes, body wash, soap, etc. We didn't have tons so we went to All A Dollar (don't dis cause we were able to get loads of things for little which meant more stuff for others!).

What adopting a family is is a family puts what they need/want most on a card and people get those items for them. For example, one of our families had never had any sort of baking things. No cookie sheets, baking pans, measuring spoons, cups etc so that's what we bought! Then we went a little further and got them stuff to make with their new bake ware like sugar cookies with sprinkles, cupcake mix, cake mixes, cooking spray etc.

Our other family needed some sheets and an alarm clock. Derik was in charge of the sheets and man he bought the really nice like 500+ count sheets! What a lil giver he is! lol We added a few extra things in their basket as well.

Since we were able to get a lot of items at All a Dollar we were able to make quite a few little necessity baskets! We also made a random basket too that had soup, detergent, toilet paper, paper towels and a few other randoms thrown in. Then my brother has a good friend who travels a lot for his business and he always bring home the shampoos, conditioners, lotions, mouthwashes etc. He donated those to us so I made little necessity bags that were just simple but nice. These weren't the crappy kinds of shampoos either. They were nice stuff!! We didn't end up getting done until 11pm. I was beat! It was so much fun though and we felt great after we did it! When my mom and Derik brought all the baskets to the UAF, they were all so excited to see all the stuff we made. Wish I could have been there just to see their faces. Still knowing we helped others has made a great impact on this Christmas Season for me!

Although we all didn't have tons and tons of money to spend we did what we could to help out others. My sister wasn't able to join us for the packaging in person but she was there in spirit and she made a wonderful donation to help us bring some comfort to those in need! I think this will become a Christmas tradition! Helping others.... is there a better tradition?!

Grateful

Today, I am so grateful for Brandon and Sawyer. I have never loved two people more than them. I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband. I am so blessed to have him as my eternal companion. I love you Brandon!!

Today, I my heart has been tender. Probably the result of yesterday but Sawyer has been giving me hugs like crazy today! I have sure needed and loved it so much! He is getting so big and is getting so good as putting both those little arms around my neck and just squeezing all my problems, fears, hurt, sadness, and sorrow away! I love his hugs. I can't express just how much I love them! I love him like crazy!

We took some cute family pictures last weekend and I thought I would share some...

One Year Ago...

One year ago this day my father passed away. The wound is still as fresh today as it was a year ago. I was able to go up to his grave and bring flowers. I had been able to keep my composure pretty well through the day until I got to his grave. Then the tears flowed and soon I was out right sobbing and snotting all over myself. Its hard to believe its been a year since I was able to touch, hug, talk, or see my dad's face. I miss him and think of him everyday.

Dad, I love you and miss you so much.

Concerns

I called my doctor yesterday with a few concerns of mine with the pregnancy and didn't love the response I got back. First of all, I have had major major charlie horse cramps in my right side the last 2 weeks or so. Just about every night and they wake me up. Seems like no matter how I stretch they don't go away. Real pain in the side. So my doctor said to eat more bananas. Well DUHH!! Been doing that ever since I started having the problem and its not helping. So she said it is probably because I was so sick before and unable to retain many nutrients that the babies have taken all the potassium and calcium from my body. Lil' stinkers. Thankfully, I am able to take my prenatal vitamins now without being horribly sick so hopefully that will help along with eating a little more balanced high potassium/calcium diet. That particular concern wasn't anything too major. The other concern I have been having is that my heart seems to race all of the sudden when I am doing absolutely nothing and after it slows to a 'normal' pace again I feel completely drained. I told her about that and she was much more concerned about that. She said I need to start monitoring my heart rate when it starts to accelerate and if it goes over 120/minute for longer than about 5-10 minutes I will need to be seen by a cardiologist. FREAKY! Babies sure take a lot out of the body! lol Hopefully everything stays normal and I am just overreacting. (crossing fingers)

Other than those few little things I am feeling better! Haven't vomited in over 2 weeks and all 3 Thanksgiving dinners stayed down! Yay! I am going to have to take another picture of my belly cause in the past month I have doubled in size! lol I know I have 2 babies in there so I should expect it but it is still nuts!

Thanksgiving this year was interesting. I was very VERY moody. Holidays are hard since my dad isn't here. It seems to always bring a heavy cloud when I think about him not being here. I know he wouldn't want to any of us to be sad but at times is difficult. On Thanksgiving Brandon, Sawyer, And I went and saw Tangles. LOOOOVED this movie! So dang cute! Probalby one of the best animated shows we have seen in theaters in a while. I will definitely be buying it when it comes out!

This week has been busy! I decided to try to go shopping Thanksgiving night but ended up going home about an hour later cause it just was too crazy to be worth it. So instead I went shopping for three hours this week and got about 90% of my shopping done! Awesomeness! I still have a few other little things to get but most everyone is taken care of. Gotta love being done early. I also went and saw Burlesque this week. Wow! I loved that show! Didn't expect to but I was shocked at how much I loved it! The music was awesome, the dancing was great and I didn't even mind Cher being in it or the fact that Christina couldn't act a bit. Going to be buying that movie and probably the sound track as well! Wanna go see that again Saturday!

Sawyer got a black eye this week. He was running away from grandpa Max and of course wasn't watching where he was going and smacked right into the corner of the pool table. BIG OWIE! Left quite a mark but thankfully it is only a brusie and not split open. He has been so funny lately. His talking is improving so much that sometimes is surprises me! He has also been saying "My mommy." or "My daddy." its so dang cute! Potty training is still a mess though! He is at least starting to tell me when he goes potty. Its after the fact but still he will come tell me. His reflux has been kept in check for the past little while which still amazes me. Now that I have said that he will probably wake up with reflux tonight but that's just how it goes! lol His eating has been horrid though. It seems like he just doesn't want to take the time to eat. He's just too busy! Stinker. He has also learned out to open our bedroom door! He is a nightmare to put down at night now that he knows he can get out of his bed. He opens and shuts his door a million times and if we shut our door he will do the same things to our door. I try so hard not to laugh but its just funny sometimes! The day after Thanksgiving we headed to the cabin and it snowed a ton so we were able to make a sledding track and do some sledding. Well, it was more everyone else was sledding while I was standing around taking pictures! Sawyer loved it though!

He sure loves the snow!