Lincoln Doxey Plowman

I got to take some pictures of my new nephew Lincoln in his blessing clothes. He could not be any sweeter or look any less like his mother. He is definitely his daddy's son!  I had so much fun snuggling and kissing him over the Thanksgiving holiday.  He and his parents live in Kansas City, so I won't get to see him often.  I'm sure next time I see him, I won't even recognize him, he'll be so big.  What a sweetie!

Santa and Satan: Not Much of a Difference in Eli's Eyes

Let's just say he didn't do as well as last year. His new cousin, Lincoln, was a much better sport, although I'll take the amusement I get from these pictures over perfect smiling ones anyway.

Home Buying Update

I've so busy lately, I haven't even made it a priority to write about what's going on with our house.  Remember how I blogged a few weeks ago about how we put an offer on a house, they countered, we accepted the counter offer, the house was inspected, some issues came up that we asked the sellers to fix, they refused to do anything about any of them, so we walked away?  Well, after we walked away, we felt really good about it.  We couldn't believe they were so unwilling to fix the few basic things we asked of them, and we didn't want to stretch our budget too thin by fixing them ourselves.

A week or so went by, and one afternoon, we got a phone call from our realtor, telling us that the seller's agent had contacted her to let her know that the seller had had a little "change of heart."  Basically, he was crawling back to us, on his knees, begging for us to make another offer on his house.  In the week since we'd walked away, he hadn't had any other offers or even much interest, and he wanted to reconsider our initial offer.  Ha!  We were so glad that we had played hard ball with him.

So after Adam and I thought about it and talked about it for awhile, we decided to make another offer.  We put it in and waited.  The seller came back with another counter offer.  They hadn't gone down at all in their asking price like we had asked, but they agreed to fix all of the problems that had come up in the inspection and had even agreed to give us a carpet allowance that would be enough to put new carpet throughout the entire basement.  We figured it was as good of an deal as we were going to get out of this guy, and we didn't want to lose the house again over nit-picking, so we accepted the counter offer.

The past few weeks have been very stressful for us because we've never bought a house before, and frankly, we're kind of idiots when it comes to all of this stuff.  We've had a few hiccups during the process, but nothing major.  We close on December 5th, a week from today.  We're crossing our fingers that everything will go well until then.  I can't wait, mainly because that means all of this stress will be over, the house will be ours, and we can get back into our routine.  But I guess it won't really be over for awhile because the house is a major fixer-upper and we have a lot of work ahead of us!  But we are excited to make it our own, and hopefully, it will look really good when we're done with it.

By the way, I would NOT recommend buying a house while you're pregnant.  All of those hormones flying around in my body have made my anxiety level fly through the roof lately.  Things that normally wouldn't upset me too much are making me freak out.  I'm not looking forward to all of the packing, cleaning, unpacking, and organizing we have ahead of us during few weeks, but we'll get through it.  We feel very blessed to be able to buy a house and begin this new chapter of our lives!

16 Weeks Pregnant

I had an ultrasound when I was 14 1/2 weeks along, and the doctor told us he could tell us the baby's sex if we wanted, but we decided to wait another month for two reasons.  #1) I was worried that it would be a little too early to tell us the sex with 100% certainty.  I didn't want them to be like, "We're pretty sure it's a _______, but there's still a small chance it could be a _______.  I wanted to know the sex for sure, or not at all.  #2) My little sister Rachelle is pregnant with her first baby, and even though she's 2 weeks farther along than I am, her ultrasound isn't scheduled for a few more weeks.  I wanted her to be able to find out what she is having before me, so I told her we'd wait until after she found out.  I didn't want her to feel like I was stealing her thunder by finding out first, especially because this is her first baby, and my second.

I've been feeling really great still.  I haven't felt the baby move yet, but I'm sure it will happen any day.  I can't wait!  My only complaint during this pregnancy is that I haven't been sleeping well.  I fall asleep really quickly and easily, but every night, I wake up around 3:30 a.m. and can't go back to sleep.  This has been happening pretty much since the beginning of the pregnancy, so I've been taking an over-the-counter sleeping aid which has really helped me sleep through the night.  The nights I forget to take it though, I'm up in the middle of the night, without fail.  It's so annoying.  My doctor thinks it's caused my hormonal changes in my body.

A couple of times in the past few weeks, I've felt like I've had some mini panic attacks.  My heart starts racing, I start sweating, and my mind goes a mile a minute.  I feel completely overwhelmed by fear and anxiety.  It happens out of nowhere and lasts a few minutes.  I don't know why this is happening.  Frankly, I don't even know if it's related to the pregnancy or just other factors in my life.  Maybe because we've had a lot going on with the house - did I mention we're closing on our first house in a week?  More on that later.... Maybe it's because I'm scared of the upcoming responsibility of having 2 kids.  I don't know, but I hope I can get a handle on it soon.

17 Months Old

Dear Eli,

More of your spunk and personality are showing every single day, and life as your mama is becoming even more fun.  You are absolutely hilarious!  I'm constantly laughing at the things you do and say. My favorite part of the day is when your dad and I go over our "favorite Eli moments."  We lie in bed together and laugh about you for a good 5 or 10 minutes.

This month, and especially the past few weeks, your most commonly used word has been "no".  But you don't just say "no"; you say "NOOOOOO!!!!!", with tons of vigor and feeling.  You love holding out treats for the dog, but as soon as she eats them out of your hand, you yell "NOOOOOO!" at her, like she's doing something wrong.  It's like, don't hold them out to her if you don't want her to eat them, Eli!  Yesterday, you said, "DON'T!!!!!!" for the first time when your aunt Michelle took something dangerous away from you, and we all cracked up.

You are basically down to one nap a day now.  You've only taken two a handful of times this month, and of course, they were always on weekends when your dad was home to wrestle with you and wear you out.  He's good at that. Whether you take one nap or two, you usually only sleep for about an hour and a half.  I wish you'd sleep for a little longer on the days when you only take one nap, but I'll take what I can get.

You now have 12 teeth (your 8 front teeth and 4 molars), and they look adorable on you.  But now that you have so many teeth, there is no excuse for not eating!  You are perfectly capable of chewing real food, and I wish you would.  Your diet still consists mainly of baby food and yogurt, but you have added raisins and craisins to your reptoire, which I'm happy about.  After nearly a year of trying, I finally got you into the pediatrician that I've heard so many good things about, so I can't wait to talk to him about your eating issues next month at your 18 month appointment.

You have become quite an accomplished climber this month.  I've walked into the room more times than I can count to find you standing proudly on top of the kitchen table after having pulled a chair out, climbed up on it, and pulled yourself to the top of the table.  You seriously scare me.  You also love to climb onto the couch and stand on the back of it.  I secretly love the proud look you get on your face whenever you've climbed somewhere high and dangerous.  It's like you're equally scared of the punishment you might receive and proud of your accomplishment.  I keep you out of danger the best I can, but I can't watch you every single second, and I know you're going to need stitches someday after getting yourself into trouble.

You talk and blabber from sun up to sunset.  This month, you've added the words shoes, hot, no, don't, fishy, Mickey, football (sounds more like "OOOT-BAH"), and "all done" to your vocabulary.  You've also done this funny little chant a lot where you chant either "mommy! mommy! mommy!" or "daddy! daddy! daddy!", like you're our cheerleader.  We love it.

You've been a trooper this month as we've been busy buying a house.  We've dragged you around a lot as we've looked at houses, met with our realtor, shopped for new carpet, met with the plumber and window people to get bids, bought new furniture and appliances, and met with the lender.  Your grandma has been a huge help by watching you quite a few times while we've taken care of business.

Eli, it is such a pleasure to be your mom.  I love spending all day, every day with you.  I love watching you learn new things.  I love seeing how smart you're becoming.  I love watching you develop your personality and preferences.  I hope I'm doing a good job with you!  Thanks for being the best baby toddler I could have hoped for.

Love you to the moon and back,
Mama

17 month stats: 
Weight: 26.0 lbs (56th percentile) 
Height: 33 1/2 inches (86th percentile) 
Head Circumference: 19 inches (67th percentile)

14 Weeks Pregnant

It's time for a pregnancy update!  Here's what I look like at 14 weeks:

I am definitely showing a lot earlier than I did last time.  I looked through pictures from my last pregnancy and decided that now, at 14 weeks, I look about like I did at 24 weeks last time.  Here's the proof: 

Sad, huh?  I guess I didn't realize how saggy and stretched out my stomach muscles were.  Eww!  Since I'm looking 10 weeks further along than I really am, does that mean that when all is said and done, I'm going to end up looking 50 weeks pregnant when I'm actually only 40?  I hope not!

This pregnancy is flying by and has been super easy so far.  I forget I'm pregnant all the time.  I can't wait to start feeling the baby move, because then everything will seem much more real.  One benefit of having an old, stretched out uterus is that I'll probably be able to feel the baby move within the next few weeks.  I didn't feel Eli move until a few days past 20 weeks last time, but I'm guessing I'll feel this baby around 16 or 17 weeks.

I have been trying really hard to keep in shape by working out 3-4 times a week.  I've been working out harder than I did last time too, so hopefully it will pay off and I won't gain a ridiculous amount of weight.  I've been mixing it up by going to classes at the gym, doing weights, and running.  Last weekend, I ran 3 miles in 29 minutes (without resting even once!), and was pretty proud of myself.

I have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and I'm really excited.  I have the world's awesomest doctor who does an ultrasound at every. single. appointment.  Can you believe that?  With Eli, I only got 3 ultrasounds the whole pregnancy, but I'll end up having at least 13 with this one.  A few months ago, I got really sick with a high fever that lasted for days, and I got worried about the fever affecting the baby, so I called my doctor and he told me that if I came in right away, he would do an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay.  I don't think he was really worried, but he wanted to ease my mind.  Of course, everything looked fine, and I was so grateful to him for being so nice and willing to make me feel better.

Pregnancy FAQ's

Q: How are you feeling?
A: Awesome! Just like my last pregnancy, this pregnancy has been completely "symptomless."  I haven't been sick or tired at all.  I feel great!  I try to be grateful for the blessing of this easy pregnancy every day because I know there are tons of women that can barely function because they are so sick during their pregnancies, especially during the first trimester. I admire those women so much for what they go through for the sake of their children.  I know I couldn't do it!

Q: Do you think it's a boy or a girl?
A: Obviously, we don't know for sure yet, but Adam and I both feel like it's another boy.  I think the reason for this is because this pregnancy has felt the exact same as the last one.  Honestly, I would be shocked if they told me I was having a girl.  We should find out the baby's sex around Christmas and can't wait!

Q: Do you want a boy or a girl?
A: I will obviously be happy with either, but I'm kind of leaning toward a boy because A) It would be so fun for Eli to have a little brother that close in age to play with, B) I've had a ton of fun so far raising a boy and I would love to do it all over again, and C) I'm totally cheap and don't want to have to go out and buy a bunch of new baby stuff just because we're having a girl and she needs everything in pink.

Q: Do you have a nickname for the baby like you did for "Merlin?"
A: Yes, in fact, we do.  Because we called Eli "Merlin" the whole time he was in utero, we felt that it would only be appropriate to give this baby a nickname too.  We felt weird referring to the baby as an "it" all the time.  So we settled on "Albus," going along with the whole wizard theme from last time. And it doesn't hurt that "Albus Alba" has such a nice ring to it.  But don't worry.  I can promise that the baby's name won't actually be "Albus."

Q: Are you scared to have two under the age of two?
A: Heck yes!  I worry all the time about the logistics of it.  Like, how will I breastfeed a newborn 10-12 times a day while trying to entertain my busy toddler at the same time?  How will I have the energy to keep up with everything I need to do?  From what I remember, one newborn baby kept me sufficiently busy, exhausted, and overwhelmed.  How am I going to be able to do it all?  When I start thinking about all of this, I have to take a deep breath and change the topic in my mind or else I start to feel panicky.  I'll just have to figure it out as I go!

Q: Whoa, how much weight have you gained?!  You're looking CHUBBY already!
A: Just kidding, people don't really ask me this, but I ask myself this every day when I look in the mirror.  I am definitely showing way earlier than I did last time and I have definitely already gained more weight than I had at this point in my last pregnancy.  I pack weight on really easily when I'm pregnant even though I really try to watch what I eat and work out consistently.  It must be a hormonal thing.  It's funny how even though I've been through this all before, it's not any easier the second time around.  You think it would be, but watching the scale climb is not fun, no matter how many times I've been through it.

Q: Where are you delivering the baby?
A: It works out perfectly because my OB is in Bountiful, so it's super convenient to go to all of my appointments, but I'll be delivering the baby at LDS Hospital in downtown SLC. LDS is the same hospital I was born at, so it's fun to see things in full circle.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Happy Halloween!

Eli dressed up as Nacho Libre a few weeks ago for a trunk-or-treat, but it was too cold on Halloween night to let him go bare chested, so he dressed up as Rex from Toy Story.  I found the costume on the clearance rack at the Disney Store a few days after Halloween last year.  It was normally $45, but I got it for $6!  Score!  I was glad I switched the costume up because it kept him nice and toasty while he was out.

It was hilarious watching Eli try to trick-or-treat. He totally didn't get the concept. He didn't know to hold his bag out, say "trick-or-treat," or even put the candy in his bag after he took it from the bowl. He insisted on walking around holding a candy bar in each fist with a death grip on them. At a few doors, he even gave candy from his bag to them instead of the other way around. It was so funny! I'm sure he'll understand a lot better next year. I can't wait!