Lazy Days and A Growing Belly!

I know, I know, I said that I would do better at the blogging. I lied! Well I guess technically I am doing better than my previous 8 months of no blogging, but I know that I need/ could do better. So in the past month and 12 days there has been little, and a lot that has occurred.

Nathan and I decided to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house for my family. This is the first Thanksgiving dinner that I have cooked and I was nervous, so we decided to do a trial run. We invited some friends to come over for a pre-Thanksgiving feast. Two of our good friends Hammond and Stacy came over. The turkey, green beans and potatoes were good. The home made stuffing and rolls needed modifications. All in all we had a good pre-feast fest with great company!

Nathan’s parents (Reed and Saundra) called and asked if they could stay for a few days around Thanksgiving, because they decided to come to Salt Lake. We were excited to have them, but they would not be staying for dinner on T-day but attending another dinner at a relatives home in the Salt Lake Valley. We had a great time with his parents while they were here and feel so lucky that they have been able to visit so much this year!!!

Relaxing on "the cloud" couches... what a wonderful way to spend the evening!

Thanksgiving day came and went, with great people and good food! It was my uncle Dave’s birthday and I was able to make him some yummy turkey day birthday cupcakes. It turned out that there will need to be some re-arranging of things in order to have another family holiday dinner at our house but I think all things said and done it was a success.

Uncle Dave's Birthday Cup Cakes

We put up our new Christmas tree. It was fun to have this first in our home and I do have to say that I love our tree it is lovely! Nathan was very brave/ crazy and decided to hang our outside lights by himself one day while I was at work. Now we don’t have a 3 story home but we do have a pretty steep roof and with no one there to call 911 if he were to fall it made me nervous. But in true Nathan fashion he texted me as he started the project and when he finished to let me know what a success it was. I do have to say we have a festive house!

Our lovely tree all set up in our house!

Nathan's handy work, in all it's glory!

Last but definitely not least it was my Poppa Ron’s birthday. Now if you know my dad you know that he is a difficult man to buy gifts for, if he wants something he just goes out and gets it. So we decided to do a dinner with the family. We all had a great time eating out with Ron and can’t wait to celebrate many more birthdays with him.

Pregnancy wise I am getting bigger and bigger! We have chosen a name for our precious little girl, Alice Olivia Little. Alice is quite the mover and shaker, she is constantly kicking, wiggling and letting me know that she is here and needs attention. Alice loves fruit, Thai food, music and me dancing. So far she will fit in nicely with our family! We have the most generous family and friends who have been willing to share baby items with us and give us gifts already, we don’t know what we would do without you guys!!! We will be forever thankful and will never be able to repay you for everything you are doing for us. WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Me at 6 months and growing by the minute!

Trick or Treat

This was the first Halloween in our new home in Herriman, and it wasn’t quite what I expected.

Lets start with the fact that VaRonica and I have been very sick for the past week. Because of this we didn’t decorate the house, at all. This afternoon I thought about going and just picking up a few small pumpkins just to place on our doorstep. But I didn’t so anything of the sort. Other than the empty houses where no one lives, we have the only house on the block with out decorations. A few houses down the street there is a yard driveway and porch set up like a haunted house. I think the neighbor is trying to embarrass the rest of us.

Earlier we did our weekly grocery shopping and bought some candy to hand out. We bought four extra large bags of candy, and I thought that we would have lots left over. Last year in our apartment in Sandy we had a total of ten children ring our doorbell. Because of all the children that live in our neighbor hood we thought we would get more, but we were not sure how much.

The trick or treating started a little later than I would have guessed, but when it started there was no holding back the hoard. I have never seen anything like it. Instead of a family or small group of friends going together, there would be a very large group of kids, maybe fifteen at a time. And they are ravenous, trying to get to the candy. But I do have to mention that they were very polite, all saying thank you.

The four extra large bags of candy went in less than two hours. We had to raid the pantry and gave away bags of popcorn. We had to put a sign up saying “sorry, we ran out of candy.” About half an hour after putting the sign up I took the garbage out, and I could see the street from over the fence. There had to be at least fifty kids on the street, and now a full hour latter, there are still people on the streets.

Next year we may have to double the amount of candy that we buy. We will also have to put up some decorations so that we at least fit into the neighborhood.

A few Highlights of the night…

We had a Devil Princess come to our house as well as a horse dressed as a banana. Yes, an actual horse dressed like a banana being walked down the street by it’s owner. One kid was forced into our house because all the kids behind him were eager to get candy. And also, the kids outside right now are howling at the moon.

And last, an awkward moment…

In one group of kids came to the door, a girl in the group says “this use to be our house.” Then a boy in the group said “yeah, until you bought it.” The sad part about this was we bought the house in foreclosure and had been empty for almost a year.

So overall I would say that this was a very interesting Halloween.

How do you spend your sick days?

Since I have been sick for the past 5 days I have been at home and trying to heal. This pretty much sucks!!! I have ventured out three times, twice to go on a walk with the husband and puppy and once just to hang in the back yard and get some fresh air (this is a testament to how sick I have been, I hate just sitting at home). So I know that everyone has a different sick day routine, but I am just wondering what yours is.

I am a sleeper, I will sleep almost all day, wake up watch a bit of TV or a movie before falling asleep again. I enjoy sitting on the couch and finding any marathon there is on to tune into while I doze in and out of consciousness. I am a big fan of pudding, especially banana pudding, but it is all I want when I am sick. The other comfort food that I have fallen in love with is Tom Yum Guy, which is a Thai soup with coconut milk, lemon grass, chicken, mushrooms and a whole lot of love. For some reason this soup always makes me feel like things are getting better!

Nathan is not a sleeper. He wakes up and plays video games, or gets onto the internet. He is still fairly active and has taken Sir on walks every day. He focuses on drinking tons of water and eats everything that he normally does.

I don’t know if there is a right or a wrong way to spend a sick day, it’s just about what makes you feel better. So please share what you do!

Our Baby Girls Photo Shoot!

Today despite being sick I went to my 20-week ultrasound. It was definitely worth it, we got to see our lovely little baby girl (who has yet to be named). Everything looks good, she is developing well, her heart and head look perfect. No problems with her spine or lip (no cleft palate) and her size is on target for a due date of March 14,2012 (one day earlier that we were originally told). And here she is…

Her face and big belly

Her cute little profile!

Chillin looking all comfy

Look at her long fingers

The only little picture of her legs crossed... the rest she was flashing her lady parts all over!

I hope that everyone is fine with all of the baby talk and posts, but that is what is going on in our lives and it means a lot to us to share this with everyone.

Lots of love being sent to all of you, as we hope that love is being sent to us and the baby!

Gender Reveal Party!!!

So many people have been interested in what this whole party thing is all about. Well thanks to my amazing, creative and always down for a party sister-in-law, Jessica Sellers, I now know what a gender reveal party is. Apparently it is a new trend that I personally think is awesome! Parents to be head in for the ultrasound and gain all the information with the exception of the gender. The doctor or tech is asked to write the gender of the baby in a card and seal it in an envelope. The parents then either ask a friend or family member to help with the party, or they just take the card straight to a bakery. There are different ways to reveal the gender but it seems that hiding the gender of the baby in the center of a cake or cupcake has been the most popular. Then everyone, family friends and parents all get to find out the gender together when the cake is cut or the cupcakes are eaten.

When Jessi told me about this type of party I knew that we had to have one. Nathan agreed that it would be fun (really I am sure that he just agreed because his pregnant wife wanted to do it, but either way he agreed J ) so we started planning. We invited some of our close friends and family to attend, we also enlisted a sister-in-law in Montana, Rebekah Little, to also help in our little plan. Rebekah and Jessi were in charge of knowing the gender, not telling anyone and getting a cake with either blue or pink icing inside to the big events one in Salt Lake City and one in Montana. I don’t have any pictures of the Montana festivities yet but here are some from the Utah party.

We had so much fun and at the party and Skypeing with the Montana family during their party!!! We had everyone pick what gender they thought the baby would be and wear the corresponding blue or pink. In Utah we had a little competition between the pink and blue team, each team had to pop balloons to find baby items written inside, the first team to get everything needed to change a diaper and bring it to the judge, me, won. Now the winning team gets their picture first on this blog!!!

And finally for the big reveal…

And the new addition to the Little family is a GIRL!!!!!

Normal or Hypochondriac you decide!

So I am usually not one to worry about the small things or changes in my body, but I am now realizing that this is changing. This use to be Nathan’s thing, to find oddities and obsess about it over and over until he was sick because of it, but I guess it is my turn.

I can recall one time in the past that I was entirely convinced that I had Marfan’s Syndrome for those who want more info on this please refer to http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/marfan-syndrome/DS00540 . Now I do feel it necessary to add that I do have 6 out of the 8 symptoms of Marfan’s Syndrome, it was about 3:00 in the morning and once my mom got on the phone and told me she was sure I didn’t have it I dropped the subject.

Now a days I am less worried about Marfan’s and more concerned with;

possible stretch marks all over my body, and being here so early in my pregnancy

the odd mole that I never knew was on my tummy until it is now tripled in size

how my tummy is soft and squishy on top but rock hard on the bottom

if I am getting enough water, because drinking water has been increasing my heartburn so much I want to scream!

the food I am eating and if it is going to affect the little one in one way or another

if my feet are swelling, and if it is too early for my feet to swell

I am sure that there have been more odd things that I am now hyper vigilant about but this is all I can think about now. So the question that I have for all of you is did you get worried about these types of things when you were pregnant? Is this typical for first pregnancies or for those who have struggled to get pregnant? Or am I just turning into a Hypochondriac?

DIY or Nesting?

Nathan and I have never been what you could call “handy” people. We can do little things here and there, anything electrical Nathan can fix but we are not Do It Yourself people in this Little house. The good thing is that we know a lot of people who are very handy people and have been able to get a lot of advice, help and great idea’s. Here are some picts of our attempts at DIY projects that we have had to undertake as new home owners. I do think that we are getting better and better as time goes on, but if anyone loves to do these types of projects, know that we have lots of them waiting to be done and would love any help that people want to give!

We didn't fix the toilet, that was McKay, but we monitored it like champs!

Nathan and I both worked on getting this room together

Nathan's first wall he ever painted

I have a couple of lists of things that I would like for us to get done before the baby arrives. I am not sure if I am getting more motivated now that I am not as sick and that these DIY projects we just things that were bound to happen eventually, or if this is me starting to nest. Any thoughts?!?!

We have done more than just paint, but they were the only pictures that were decent

A Quinn-tastic Day!

We had the great opportunity to attend a baby blessing today. As most of you know Quinn is my niece and one of my favorite people on earth. Quinn, or the Mighty Quinn was born at 25 weeks and only weighed 15.5 oz. She is now a bright bubbly and very spirited little girl!

Today her and one of her BFF’s Odessa were blessed and it was a wonderful experience. Nathan and I have learned so much from Jesse and Dalan about wonderful parenting and are excited to have them and Quinn a part of our lives! Happy Blessing Day!!!

Catch up on 2011

It’s about time to catch everyone up on what has been happening in the life of the Little family. We have been so bad about blogging and I am not sure how that happened or who is to blame, so lets just say I am working on it! So this is going to be a wrap up of 2011 up to this point!

January

We bought a house, no big deal right hahaha. We love our little house and have been slowly but surely working towards making it all ours through and through. Don’t get me wrong, we are still working on some things, but getting closer!

Oh yeah and Sir had to have 7 bits of cancer (small tumors) removed from all over his little body. He has had this done before, but never so many at once and he was not happy about having to wear his collar of shame while he healed.

February

I changed jobs. After working at Valley Mental Health ARTEC for 7 ½ years I was transferred to Valley Mental Health ASAP. I was super nervous about this switch, but it was just what I needed to grow and keep my drive up as a substance abuse therapist! I love my co-workers and have been so lucky to have kept a job while so many in the company were laid off.

We had a pipe coming off of our main line at the house break, and spendy thing to have happen when you just buy a house, but we got it taken care of! (Thanks McKay)

March

Reed and Saundra had come to Utah a few times throughout the start of the year but Saundra was able to spend her birthday with us, which we enjoyed very much!!!

April

Sir was able to go to Puppy Prom and ... he won Prom King! We were so proud of our little man!!!

May, this one was a big month.

Nathan and I celebrated our 4^th wedding anniversary. We have been so happy and lucky to have found each other that sometimes we forget that we have only been married such a short time.

Quinn turned one! This is a huge deal for our family and to celebrate we were able to participate in the March of Dimes walk for babies to honor her huge success in not only beating the odds but doing it in style!

This is also the month that my best friend Misty told me that she was engaged! Let the planning begin!!!!

My dad went into the hospital for a knee replacement. Now this turns into a long story that will definitely be told in another blog.

June

I began preparing our yard to be less of a crazy jungle and more of a put together livable and calm place to hang out. I spent just about every weekend out in the sun weeding, trimming and planting so that we could have something that fit us better!

July

Wedding prep for Misty was in full bloom! I hosted a bridal shower, bachelorette party and a weekend trip to Vegas. I was all about having a month of Misty!

August, another big one.

Now here is where things started to get a little crazy… I hadn’t been feeling good and didn’t want to celebrate my big 30^th birthday, but this ended up being for the best. It was a bitter sweet day on August 5^th when we celebrated my life we had to mourn the loss of our amazing Grandma Little. Grandma had lived a wonderful life and was always so giving, kind and loving. We miss her and think of her often.

Next was Misty’s wedding. I am sure that I will be posting more on this in another blog, so lets just say it was unforgettable!

Sir had to have his 4th surgery of his short life. He had to have his knee worked on and is still recovering from this, but has been a champ throughout the whole process!

Nathan’s birthday picked up the rear of the month, Nathan doesn’t celebrate his birthday, ever, and this year was no exception however he got some amazing gifts that I am sure will be shared in future blogs as well.

September

Finally we are here and catching up for the year and I guess the only thing to say about this month so far is this…

WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!

That’s right peeps we are expecting a new addition to the Little family, coming in March if all goes as planned. We are so excited that this little “parasite”, as Nathan calls it, has decided to join our lives!!!

I am 13 weeks along and have been sick to say the least. I am starting to feel a little better now and hope that this is a new trend and not just a fluke. (we found out at the start of July but the news just didn't seem to fit in there so we waited until now to share with everyone)

Well that will end this super long catch up, but I felt it was important to let everyone know what has been going on in our Little life!