The Big Room Change

Original plan:
Move Lauren into Mya's room Christmas Eve.  Set up bunk bed in Lauren's room as a surprise for Christmas morning.
Mya would then get used to sleeping in Lauren's old bed in her room {which we assumed would be super exciting and fun for her}, and Lauren would get used to sleeping on the top bunk of the new bed.
Once Mya was used to sleeping in a big girl bed, move her into the bottom bunk in Lauren's room.
What actually happened:
Christmas Eve went as planned.....except it took them almost 3 hours to go to sleep.  Oh well, that was kind of expected, right?
Christmas night was a nightmare.  Mya was terrified of both of the big girl bed options.  Finally, at 12:30 am, the crib was put back together and we all had a "good" night's rest.
New plan:
Leave the crib up and talk up the new bed like crazy, giving her the option every day.  Decided the idea of the "interim" bed in her room {Lo's old bed} was a stupid idea and went straight to telling her the bottom bunk in the new room was her new bed.  We were preparing for this process to take weeks, possibly months.  Mom and Dad had serious anxiety.
What actually happened:
She slept in her crib for a nap, night, then next nap.  Next night, she decided she was ready for her bed.  End of story.  Now we are just dealing with little girls who like to talk and giggle for about an hour before falling asleep.  That was expected, and I actually find it quite cute {for the first few minutes, anyway}.
All that stress and anxiety over nothing.  She decided she was ready, end of story.
This kid never ceases to amaze me.  She's so different from her sister, who moved into her new bed happily, never got out, and never lost a minute of sleep during the transition.  Mya just likes to do things when Mya wants to do them.  I've never met a more obstinate child.  She gives me heartburn, headaches, and makes me want to scream from time to time.  But I wouldn't trade her for anything.
She's just Mya.  You'd think I'd be used to this by now :)

Christmas Festivities

 We tried to do a lot of Christmas-y activities during December.

Here are some little craft kits I bought thinking they would be easier than actual gingerbread house kits.

Yeah, right.  Nothing fit together and I had to find myself some serious glue to make anything stick.

But the kids sure had a blast!

  

I apparently got the worst seat to take pictures of Lo in her very first dance concert.  She's in the far right of the picture.  Next time I will be asking her teacher where she's at before I run down to take pictures.

Her class was #16 to perform, and she just kept asking if it was her turn.  She wasn't even nervous, just super excited.  I think I was more nervous than she was - she was just excited to wear makeup :)

She did great - didn't miss a step {though she was looking around more than straight ahead, as seen below} and loved every minute of performing.

And on to Christmas morning.

Since we had 2 trees this year, Santa put all of his presents to the girls under their tree.

Lauren's favorite present from Santa was her Lalaloopsy doll.  She must've been a very good girl.  It was all she asked for this year.

Bryan has decided to let the girls get me what they really want to get me.

This year it was a dolphin pillow pet.  It is my most treasured gift this year.

Lauren told Bryan it was because she wanted me to be able to hang out in "the big TV room" with her & Mya and their pillow pets.

Is that the sweetest thing, or what?

So now I have a pillow pet of my very own.  And I am not allowed to go anywhere in the house without it.

It is now hidden from plain sight for that reason.....it was kind of getting ridiculous.

But I love it, and I love why it was given to me.

Do You Speak Myan?

If you did, you'd know that:
Cor Fry = Corpse Bride
Princess Teet = Christmas tree
Eeyor = Igor
Keekabew = Tinkerbell or Jingle Bells
Geekamow = Drink of milk
Wen = Lauren
Weewen = Uniqua
Iwageekiss = I want to get a kiss
Dis Baket = "This" blanket (a pink camouflage blanket)
Woken = Broken
Susan = Monsters Vs. Aliens
Foosack = Fruit snack
{and until recently} Deedoo = Thank you {now it's "kiku"}
C Cup = Sippy cup
Dia = Darrell
Fapy Waity = Sleeping Beauty

This kid has her own language.  I think I only understand about 75% of what she's saying.  We do a lot of "OK"ing and head nodding around here.  And a lot of "What are you saying???".

Just the 3 GIRLS!

At the risk of sounding like a horrible person, here goes.

I wanted this baby to be a boy.

Really, really, really badly.

And I honestly thought it was.

I have been a lot sicker and not as tired as I was with my girls, and I'm carrying differently.

I just really, truly felt it was a boy.

So imagine my surprise when the ultrasound tech at Fetal Fotos confirmed those "3 little lines" this afternoon.

I was fighting back tears, because we're about 99.9999999% sure this is our last baby.

But you're not supposed to cry because you're having another, what I'm sure will be, BEAUTIFUL baby girl.

So that's why I feel like a horrible person.

Both of my girls are 100% Daddy's girls, and I really wanted to have a Momma's boy.

I was so sure, I had this in the cart at Old Navy last week.

Good thing Bryan reminded me it was "bad juju" to buy it, so I put it back.

But within minutes I was just excited again.

I get to have 3 girls.
I was a little worried, because I've been referring to it as a boy, and Lo also was convinced it was a brother.  We took her with us to the ultrasound, and she is just thrilled!
She got to see the baby on the TV {was completely obsessed with the gel on my tummy - would not stop talking about it} and is now all about helping us choose a name.

I told Bryan, maybe it's because I'm going to get so good at handling girl drama, that I get it times 3 {whatever you've got to tell yourself, right?}.

The sharing of bedrooms becomes not so much of an issue.

Not to mention the clothing situation

{Was I excited to buy an entire little man wardrobe?  Heck yes.  But that's OK, girl clothes are WAY fun!}

See: 

.

So I am blessed.
I got to see my little girl moving around today, and her beautiful profile.
Bryan gets to bless another cutie in the blessing dress my mom made out of my wedding dress.
I got to see a strong heartbeat and what looks to be a perfectly healthy baby.
I'm so happy and lucky.
And I'm used to girl.  I know girl.
Our house has already been invaded with princesses and Barbies - why not keep it coming, right?
And I have plently of adorable nephews to get my little boy fix.
And now, how in the world do we pick another name????

It's Time to Leave

These are the words that cause Lauren to lose her mind.
At Grandma's house, at friends' houses, any family's houses, the park, the Play Place, and even the grocery store (from time to time).
We try and prepare her very far in advance - "would you like to leave now or in 15 minutes", we count down the minutes to leave starting at 10.
We stay as calm as possible, and sometimes end up carrying her out to the car.
I am at the end of my rope with this!
Today we were leaving a friend's house and she had the most epic tantrum ever - screaming at me, stomping her feet, crying.
Luckily, my friend is very well acquainted with this behavior and has seen it happen many times, so it was nothing new to her, which makes it slightly less embarrassing for me.
I'm just so tired of it.
So I'm asking you, moms who follow my blog, moms who are way more experienced than I am, moms who I have received awesome advice from in the past.
Have at it - let me know ANY suggestions you may have about what to do.
I've already exhausted every avenue we learned about in our Love & Logic class (which helped at first, but not anymore).
So please, I beg you, HELP ME!
The Holidays are here, which means a lot of parties, and a lot of leaving houses and places that are fun.
And I will be able to get a lot of practice with whatever genius suggestions you all give me :)

Thanks, Martha

I came across this last Christmas while doing a search for advent calendars.

It's from Martha Stewart Kids, and I just loved it!

So I spent the entire year collecting 12 pairs of green, red, white and brown kid/baby socks to make it.

A couple of Command hooks, some twine, and clothespins, and voila!

 We did one of those paper ones from Walmart last year with the horribly nasty chocolate candies in them, and every night when we did them I thought "THESE ARE SO LAME!"

And I vowed to find something better, and I did.

It's just so cute!
Some of the socks have little treats {candy} in them, some have a piece of paper with an activity listed {Dec. 2 we are going to the Festival of Trees} or do something fun {coloring Christmas pictures, reading a Christmas story, making cookies}.

I get so excited to find something new, easy, and inexpensive to do for my kids for the Holidays.

I'm so excited that tomorrow is December 1st!

Just thought I'd throw in a little bit of Lolo sass

 And a sweet Mya moment :)



Daisy Dog was Found!

After the worst night of sleep in my life, as I was getting ready to take Lo to school the next morning, I got a phone call from Animal Services.  Someone had found Daisy and she wanted to check some information, and call her back.  After I hung up with her, a nice lady named Heidi called me and told me she had kept her warm and fed in her garage overnight.  I started crying - all night I kept saying to Bryan that I just hoped someone had taken her in and kept her warm.  But I was seriously worried that someone was thinking of her as an early free Christmas present.
Luckily, there are some good people left in this world.
She gave me her address, and she was only about 3 streets over from us.  Not shocking for me, since in the previous 2 times Daisy has Houdinied her way out of the yard she has been found no further than the corner of our circle :)
We had a lovely conversation with Heidi the Dog Rescuer - she said Daisy was wonderful and her kids didn't want to let her leave. 
I thought it hilarious that when her daughter spotted her in their backyard, she said "Mom, there's a little dog in our yard".  Little?  If Daisy is little, I hate to see what a big dog is :)
So, anyway, she is back home and happy, and so are we.
Who knew I loved this stupid animal so much?

Daisy Dog

Came home from Bryan's mom's house tonight to find that Daisy is missing.

I say is because she still is.

We think she somehow snuck out in the 10 minute window between letting her out to go potty and us leaving to go to dinner.

Bryan left the garage door open to air out after snowblowing and the man door to the back yard looked closed, but wasn't latched all the way.
She must've nudged it open.

So our dog is gone.

It's been snowing all day/night.

Bryan drove around for 2 hours and still nothing.

I left a message with animal control.

And updated my FB status so anyone that happens to see her in my neighborhood will know.

We're freaking out, and don't know what to do at this point.

Lo said in her prayers she hopes Daisy comes home and gives her "one kiss".

I pray she's OK and we find her tomorrow.

It's Beginning

To look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

I usually wait until the day after Thanksgiving to deck my halls, but I just couldn't wait this year.

Lo woke up Sunday morning dying over the snow and going on and on about how it's Christmas time now.

So I decided that we might as well join in her holiday spirit and decorate!

 This isn't a very good picture, but this is my most favorite Kinyon Christmas tree ever.  I went the day after Christmas last year and bought all sorts of new ornaments, and haven't seen them since then, so I was a bit nervous to pull everything out and see what I had.

 Lo helped put some ornaments on, and I of course moved them, which made me feel bad.

So yesterday I went and bought a little 4 foot tree and pulled out some of the old plastic ornaments from a few years ago and let the girls go to town.

And I vowed to not move a single one.

And I won't because the finished product is just so dang funny.

 Mya's idea of decorating was taking the ornaments back off the tree and putting them away in the boxes they came out of.

She still very much enjoyed herself.
**On a side note, when Mya says "Christmas tree" it comes out "princess teet".  Funniest thing ever.

This little grouping at the bottom is my favorite.  On 3 branches are 3 bulbs, and 4 sparkly jewel things.  And the big sparkly bulb is way too heavy for where it was placed, so it's only about 2 inches from the ground.

I never felt bad about not having a "kid tree" until this year, because my kids weren't really old enough to care.

And I guess I'm kind of a brat for wanting my big tree to be all pretty and (somewhat) perfect.  But I think this is a good compromise. 

I had thought maybe Lauren wouldn't like that the tree was small, but she loved that she could reach everywhere and it was "the perfect tree for kids".

I'm so excited to get this holly jolly season under way this year - partly because the kids are old enough to get both the Santa thing and really begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas and learn the story of our Savior's birth.

Let the Holidays begin!!
ps - enjoy the Christmas playlist.  Love it.

gWo

That stands for girls' WEEKEND out.

Oh yeah.

We ditched our families this last weekend to head down to St. George for a little R & R.  Just wish it would've been slightly warmer.....

But alas, it was heavenly.

We did a lot of eating, laughing, not enough sleeping, and hung out in our jammies waaaaay too much.

Here's Shauna, Janie, Amy, and Amber.

Is it just me, or does it look like Amy is auditioning for a Quaker Instant Oatmeal commercial?

I don't know what happened while I was taking this, but please draw your attention to the right hand side of the photo.

Outside the Bear Paw Cafe is a toilet planter box, that is just full of dirt now.

And, of course, Shauna cannot pass up an opportunity to pose in a compromising position :)

The Brick Oven.  So happy they have one in St. George.

When we were all first out of HS that was one of our favorite places to eat - so this was completely nostalgic for us!

Outside the beautiful Las Palmas condos the morning we left.

We were a little sad to leave, but a lot ready to see our hubbies and kids.

This is officially the longest I've left the kids without Bryan, so it was a bit strange for me.

More of the condo.....how else would you pose with a wall?

Crystol, Amy, Shauna, Janie.  Showing the wall some more love.

I feel so blessed to have these girls (I guess we're women now?  yuck) in my life.  We all had such a good time, and we never run out of stuff to talk about.  I love hearing their stories, their experiences, their trials.  I'm sure I interject my 2 cents a bit (or a LOT) too much.  But I just love having these ladies to talk to and share my life with.

Here's a little story about how we met - my older bro was dating Janie (girl in the plaid coat) before his mission, and she was more than nice to me and started inviting me out.  And they could never shake me.  I'm the "outsider", I guess you could say.  They all went to high school together, and I didn't.  But I could tell you the names of their friends, who they dated, who their cuddle buddies were, etc.  Because I know it all.

These girls are my besties.  We are solid.  They can spend 3 days with me  listening to me talk way too much, and deal with my pregnant mood swings (sorry ladies).

Words can't express what they have meant to me the last 12+ years, and we're not going anywhere.

For the record, we are short 3 lovely ladies and they were sorely missed.  Julie - missed your laugh and your hilarious stories.  Lisa - missed your sense of humor & how you take care of everyone, always making sure nobody is in need of anything.  Abby - missed your words of wisdom & your cleaning tips.

Next time, right?

Thanks again for taking me in.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

You May Have Noticed...

The pregnancy ticker.

Yes, I'm pregnant.

Hence the lack of blogging.

I haven't een feeling so hot, and therefore, have felt like doing nothing except hanging out on my couch.

But I'm starting to feel better, yippee!

Lauren is too excited for words, she is constantly rubbing my belly and asking me how I feel.

{Bryan told her by mistake. I wanted to wait until after my first appointment, to make sure everything was OK before we told her}

She might be devastated if it's not a boy.
Above all, we hope it's a healthy baby.

And yes, we hope it's of the male gender, but we'll be ecstatic no matter what.

So here we go!

Can't wait to find out what we get to call this little nugget, and to start getting things ready!

We're moving the girls into the same room in the late winter/early spring.....I'm just a little bit nervous about how that's going to go.

And then I get to decorate another nursery - woo hoo!
We had an ultrasound Oct. 18th, and saw the heartbeat, and everything looks fine thus far.

So now you all know, and I can stop trying to keep this a secret.

I don't like secrets....I can keep other peoples' secrets, but not so good at keeping my own.

What can I say, I just like to share :)

On another note, I turned 30 a couple of weeks ago.  The day was spent doing household stuff & watching my nephews (who were awesome and kept Mya busy enough for me to do said household stuff).  The evening was spent trying not to throw up at Chik-Fil-A and taking the girls to hunt some witches at Gardner Village (where we parked right next to some fresh puke.  Not good).  It was a lovely, relaxing, enjoyable day for the most part.
And yes, I feel old.

And there are some random posts about earlier in the pregnancy....these are totally for journaling purposes for me (I wrote them before I was telling anyone), and are probably completely uninteresting to you. So I understaned if you choose not to read them.

I've Forgotten How to be Pregnant

Yep.  I've forgotten how to be pregnant.  It's like I've never done it before.  Apparently 2 years between pregnancies is too long for me.
Maybe it's because with Lo, I was so focused on every little thing, and so I remembered more by the time I got pregnant with Mya.  I don't know.
But I feel like I have no idea what's going on with my body.
Maybe (and I say this at the risk of jinxing everything) it means I'm having boy.  I hope so.
I feel horrible from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.
And, so far, the only thing that makes me feel better is a Jr. bacon cheeseburger from Wendy's or a bean & cheese burrito from Taco Bell.  I think they might be my "things" this time around.
With Lauren, my things were KFC and Little Caesar's pizza.
With Mya, it was just all things greasy - Wienerschnitzel, Crown Burger, just about anything that was incredibly bad for you.
We went through some boxes in the basement the other day and found our folder from our Hypnobirthing class we took when I was pregnant with Lo.
Hilarious.
On it are scribbles about the weirdos in our class like Tank Top Girl and how Cafe Rio smelled like dirt.
It made me think about what it was like to be carrying our first child when it was just me & Bryan. 
How the Hypno CD's would put me to sleep in 5 minutes flat and give me funny dreams.
How Tank Top Girl needed to wear a bra, and her baby daddy seemed so completely uninterested in her.
How I used to lay every outfit I bought across my belly and smile.
How Lo got the hiccups every day, numerous times a day, to the point of my exhaustion.
How the night we found out we were listening to Nora Jones & looked up Ford Racing & Led Zeppelin onesies.
How I dragged Bryan down every baby aisle in every store, and he pretended to hate it.
How all I had to worry about was myself & the baby inside my belly.
How there is nothing like your first pregnancy.
Now I have meals to cook, diapers to change, children to bathe.
It's completely different.
I haven't told Lauren yet, and I can't wait until we do.
Mya won't understand until I'm as big as a house, but Lo will.
She will touch my belly, and talk to her little sibling.
She will give it kisses and tell us what she wants to name it.
2 more weeks until my first appointment and then I'll tell her.
I can't wait.
There's nothing like your first pregnancy.......and your second, and your third.
All are special, and wonderful, and so amazing.
And I'm hoping I won't forget certain things about all of them.
Like how on Saturday night, Bryan made me an egg salad sandwich at 10:45 pm, because it was the only thing that sounded good to me.  And I fell asleep on the couch before it was done, but when I woke up, he jumped up and brought it to me.
He sure is a keeper :)

Week 4-5

Today is Wednesday.
Found out I was pregnant last Friday.  Thought I started my you know what on Wednesday, but obviously didn't. 
A bright red dot appeared on my hand Thursday.  Sound odd?  Well, for me it's not.  I get a bunch of red dots on my skin when I'm pregnant (very strange, but we all have strange things happen when we're with child.  This is mine), and it ONLY happens when I'm pregnant.
I stared at the red dot for a solid 10 minutes, then decided I would take a test the next day.  Because why else would the red dot appear, right?
Not much morning sickenss yet. 
Went to a vegan restaurant last night and thought I was going to lose it when I tasted the consistency of the dessert.  Vegans shouldn't try and make dessert.  It doesn't work.  Either that, or I shouldn't try a vegan restuarant when I'm pregnant.  Or maybe ever.
Had my first toothbrushing gag last night also.  Ahhh, the brushing gag.  So familiar.
Dying to tell everyone.

Oh, and ps......I'm totally showing already.  I look like I'm 12 weeks along.  Just thought I'd throw that in there :)

This is Halloween

So, um, sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  We've had a lot going on, but none of it seems to be very blogworthy.  And I've been feeling very uninspired.

Anywho, here are some pics from Halloween.

The girls were both witches, and I know, I know.  I didn't get very good pictures of their costumes.

Under the jackets are just plain black shirts, so you're not missing anything spectacular.  We went for simple this year.  Which should've meant buying something from a bag, because even making 2 tutus & hot gluing flowers & feathers to 2 hats seemed so overwhelming :)

Here they are, dying to get out of the house to start trick-or-treating.

This picture of B is just too funny.  Gotta love her matching rain coat & boots!

Bryan braved the weather while I stayed home to finish our early Thanksgiving dinner & handed out candy.  For some reason I've been DYING to have turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and rolls.  Homemade from scratch Lion House rolls that, I have to say, turned out WONDERFULLY for my very first time making them.  I have never had luck making anything involving yeast, so I was more than thrilled that they were as delicious as they are supposed to be.  Mmmm, even the memory of them is making my mouth water :)

Here is Lo with her school class at a farm in Draper earlier in the month.  That was an adventure.  Let's just say, I won't be in any hurry to take my kids to another farm any time soon.

But Lo and her friends sure had fun!

My Kiddo Turns 4

I know this post is a little late.....sorry.

Lo's b-day was Conference Sunday, so we celebrated the day before.

I wasn't up for a repeat of the extravaganza from last year, so we thought of something a little different. 

She could choose 1 friend to take to Ultimate Pizza with her.  She chose the lovely Makayla - they had so much fun!  I couldn't get any pictures of them playing games because it was really dark, so nothing really turned out.

But here they are eating their pizza - these 2 are really too cute.  They said the funniest things and giggled the whole time.

Since we were having my family over for Conference the next day, we had Lo's cousin Lexi come sleep over. 

We painted nails, decorated crowns, and ate junk food all night.

Here are their beautiful crowns.

I set up a comfy place for them to watch a movie in Lo's room with some popcorn & candy.  When it was finally time to go to bed, all we heard was giggling for at least 45 minutes.  Too funny.  It reminded me of when I used to have sleepovers with my cousins when I was younger.

I was a little nervous about Lex sleeping over, but they both slept so good, and she came running into our room the next morning saying "It's really Lauren's birthday today!"

The girls did makeup right before bed.  Beautiful, don't you think?

This cake was for all of the October b-days in my family, which happen to be all girls.  My brother, Andy, was included in the celebration, and I know he enjoyed his princess cake.

My sister outdid herself once again - it was delicious!

It was a crazy weekend, but Lo had so much fun with everything we did.  Thank you everyone for the gifts & cards!

Some things I want to remember about my Lo at this age:

Spontaneous "Mom, I love you so much"

Always defending her little sister

So helpful

So smart - constant praise from her preschool teacher

When she just wants to hang out with me

She's so sweet, there's not a mean bone in her little body

"I just want to give you a hug and a kiss"

Her ever growing personality

I just love this kid so much, and I can't imagine my life without her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LO!!

Cabin Leaves

We went up to the cabin this last weekend, and wow.  The leaves were incredible!  It seems every year when we try to go see the fall leaves, we are either too early or too late.

Well, this year it was perfect.

The view from the deck

The weather was beautiful, and we had so much fun.  I'm so sad they will all be gone the next time we go up there, but I'm so glad we got to enjoy them!

I'm so ready for summer to be over.  I'm ready for jackets, boots, soup and bread bowls.  For the smell the heater makes the first time it gets cold enough to turn on at night.

Isn't it wonderful - when you start to get sick of one season, another one begins.  Let's hope we get some good fall this year instead of just going straight to winter, right?

WELCOME FALL!!!!

School Days, School Days

Lo started school and dance on the same day this year.  She was too excited for words.

Here she is, posing for the obligatory front-porch-on-the-first-day-of-school picture.  She's adorable, I know.  Pay no attention to the filthy storm door.  I clean it once a week (sometimes more), I promise.

Getting started with her new teacher, Miss Hilary.  We are so excited to have Miss Hilary this year, she's awesome.

And, after dinner, all ready for her very first dance class.

Once again, she was so excited.

Here she is, warming up at the first of class.  To be honest with you, I'm not thrilled about the outfits they ordered for her class.  But at least she's mostly covered.  We might only be going to this studio for this year.

Anyhoo, she was so hilarious during class.  She kept turning around and whispering "Is it time to put on my tap shoes?" and was thrilled when that time finally came.  She loves it, and I think she'll do really well.

Ever since Mya's birthday, Lo has been asking me very single day if it's October 3rd yet.  Her birthday.  Sometimes it was more than once a day.  It got very old very fast.

So finally, I resorted to an old faithful.  The paper chain.  I hung it above her bed, and told her that when the papers are all gone, it's October 3rd and she will be 4 years old.

Works like charm.