Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Lilypie second birthday ticker

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Hello there! So much has happened since my last blog that I actually had to go back and re-read it so I didn't miss anything. It's been over 3 weeks, and I have MUCH to report as usual!

Sue took a day off a few weeks ago and she and Grandma Joy took Payton to a show, "Sesame Street Live" in Eugene. We were afraid she would be a little frightened, but Sue said she was glued to it like the TV. When it was over, she said "can we watch it again?" She had a blast!

Payton with Oscar the Grouch

And Zooey!

Weekend before last Lindsey threw me a baby shower at her house. It was wonderful! She did such a great job, and I so appreciated her doing that for me. I got to celebrate my little guy with lots of family and friends, I had a blast. I got a MAJOR surprise too; a bunch of my family drove down for the shower and surprised me! I couldn't believe it, you almost had to scrape my jaw off the floor when I saw them! I was shocked they took so much time to come visit, I felt very special. Thank you to everyone who came to my shower! My mom took some pictures on her camera, but she said she hasn't quite figured out how to get the pictures onto her computer yet. When I get some pics of the baby shower I'll post them! 

 The next day we all got together to celebrate Granny's 80th birthday at Pam's house. Lots of family and good food, and the weather even cooperated with us! There were other kids there too, so Payton got to play. Made me excited for when she gets her own little playmate!

This last weekend was a super busy one! Kyle's friends from college JJ and Richard came on Friday, Richard was visiting from Washington D.C. The boys went golfing, then we all went out to dinner together. They went out again after Payton went to bed, then spent the night. We had a nice relaxing morning on Saturday just hanging out, being entertained by Payton. She loved playing with the boys and wanted their attention all the time! Saturday afternoon we met up with my friend Jamie to do some family maternity pictures. Luckily the weather held out for us! I did her maternity pictures a couple weeks ago, it's so nice to have a friend who's as into photography as I am :) Especially since we're both pregnant, it works out great! When our little boys get here we're going to do newborn pictures too. I can't wait! I never got maternity pictures when I was pregnant with Payton, which I always regretted. Jamie and I did each other's pictures, which is a perfect trade.The pictures turned out amazing, Jamie took almost 300! I actually just got them all downloaded to my computer tonight, so I still need to look through them and edit them. I'll make my next post all about those pictures, I promise!

My parents also came down this Saturday to officially move into the trailer park! My dad starts his new job next week, hard to believe it's already here. Saturday night we went to a BBQ at Sue's house, it was fun to all get to hang out. Makes me look forward to this summer, especially since my parents will be here too! My parents even did some house hunting, and found a house they put an offer in on! Actually, it's a lot. There's a new neighborhood that has sprung up behind my neighborhood, less than a  mile from my house. They are going to build a house, which hopefully should be ready in several months. Very very exciting! 

Sunday morning after church we all went out to breakfast, then Kyle and I packed up to leave town. He had talked about going away for a night, but I was a little hesitant because I knew it was a busy weekend and I was also studying hard for my breast registry (which was today). He reminded me that it was probably the last time that the 3 of us would be able to do anything like that, since our weekends are pretty much booked from here on out until the baby comes. Once I thought about it like that I wanted to give Payton a last little vacation as an only child, where she had all of our attention. So he booked a night at the coast in Newport, which is an easy drive from Albany, about an hour away. We took off Sunday afternoon, hoping that the rain would stay away long enough for us to get some time on the beach. We weren't disappointed! 

Our hotel was right on a cliff overlooking the beach; you just had to walk down the stairs and you're there!

I loved playing in the sand!

On our way into town, we found a kite shop and let Payton pick out her own kite. She picked out one with a fairy on it, really cute. She loved the kite for all of about 5 minutes :)


 Making a sandcastle with daddy!


Posing with the finished product!

Heading out towards the water

Hi mom!

Having so much fun!

I actually got tons of pics on the beach, but I haven't had a chance to edit any of those either... maybe I'll post some extra ones on my next blog :)

We stayed at an amazing hotel called The Inn at Nye Beach. We had a two bedroom suite with an ocean view, it was amazing! It was located in this really cute area that had lots of restaurants and trendy shops. We spotted an Irish pub on our way in, and decided that would be a fun place to eat dinner. After playing at the beach, we walked to the pub (which was delicious), then on the way home found an ice cream shop. Payton got a chocolate peanut butter ice cream cone all to herself, she was in heaven!

After we put Payton to bed, I got down to studying and Kyle read a book. Even though I had to study, it was very relaxing to do it in front of a fireplace overlooking the ocean! The next morning, we took Payton to the aquarium. It had been over a year since we'd been there, and they had made a lot of great changes! Payton had a blast!

Going fishing

Got one!

So fun!

Did you know boats have slides??

Catching animals in my net

I even touched an anemone! 

Waving at my sea otter friend

Big girl!



After the aquarium we went to lunch at Mo's, which is a staple for the Hall's on any coast trip. Then it was already time to head home! I'm so glad we went though, Payton had so much fun and we made lots of memories as a family of three. Hard to believe Payton's time as an only child is coming to an end! 

Speaking of... we have big baby news! After a long conversation with my doctor, Kyle and I have decided to schedule a c-section. She reminded me that although it is safe to try a VBAC, my odds of being successful are another story. Especially since the last time I measured him he was about 2 weeks bigger than my dates, my odds of having a successful VBAC with another large baby are even lower. I decided in the end that it's not worth the risk, and so I officially called and scheduled it. I'm happy with my decision, I just hope it all works out and he stays in until we're ready! I'm scheduled for a c-section on the morning of July 9th. That is 41 days away! Yikes!

As many of you may have heard or seen on the news, Kyle's school has been in the headlines because of a bomb plot that was uncovered at West. Kyle was pretty shaken up for a few days, just thinking about the "what ifs". We are so thankful that God was protecting him and so many of our friends. To think that I could have been welcoming this baby as a widow... I don't even want to think about it, it's disturbing. The boy was one of Kyle's math kids, and it's just hard to believe that something like that could happen here. It really makes you look at life as a gift everyday, and be so thankful for brave kids who are willing to come forward and voice their concerns. He averted what would have been a huge tragedy, and made sure that his school stayed safe, which is how all schools should be. A big thank you to Truman Templeton, you are my hero! 

It is way past my bedtime! I will work on those maternity pics, and hopefully get to blogging again soon. By the way... I passed my breast registry! Woo hoo! It's so nice to have that done and out of the way, so now Kyle and I can focus on finishing (or I guess starting) the baby room. Have a great week! I can't believe it's almost June!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Oh where to begin... goodness gracious, we have been BUSY. It's never ending around here! Kyle's baseball season is ending this week, seems like it flew by so fast. I'm grateful for it to end though, not only because Kyle will be around to see Payton in the evenings, but also so we'll finally have time to start getting the baby room together, and getting organized for this little guy's arrival. We have literally done nothing! It seemed like July was forever away and we had lots of time, but he will be here in just 2 months... we need to get moving!

We've had some exciting new changes around the house recently. Last week we had our windows replaced, and they are sooooo pretty! Our windows were native to the house, single pane from the 1970's. We got brand new triple pane windows with craftsman trim, and it's amazing how much better it looks! I was able to find some pictures I took of the house before we bought it to compare; it's such an improvement!

Before


After! Took the shutters down too around the window, I think it's a cleaner look

Master bedroom before (yikes!)

New window! Plus new blinds, new paint, new carpet... we've actually made quite a few improvements! I forget how much we've done until I see the before pictures!

Family room before...

... and after with the new window!

We finally accomplished another important project as well... I have been meaning to get our wedding picture that all of our guests signed framed, but kept putting it off because I knew it would be expensive. Behold, almost 5 years later! Better late than never I guess :)

Now that it's up, I'm so glad I finally bit the bullet and did it! It looks great!

The next project we're probably going to tackle (besides the baby room of course) is our yard. There's so much we would love to get done this summer, but we know we have to pace ourselves. Rome wasn't built in a day! We bought this house knowing it would take a lot of work to get it the way we wanted, but we were willing to put in the work because we love the location and the neighborhood. More than a year and a half later we have made a lot of changes, but we still have a very long way to go! We need a new lawn, and Kyle and I have plans to rip up a section of our yard to put in bark dust and a play structure for the kiddos. Our deck also needs to be replaced badly, it's almost becoming a safety hazard so that is a priority too. Will it all get done this summer? Only time will tell! 

We're also getting our new air conditioner installed tomorrow, which we are VERY excited about! Woohoo! It has been beautiful lately, but hot. Consistently in the 80's! I love the nice weather, but I hate feeling sweaty... especially pregnant and sweaty. Not a good combination! I'm grateful I'm not due in September and have to endure the entire summer pregnant. Instead I'll get to enjoy the nice weather in my air conditioned home with my babies! Very much looking forward to it! Speaking of all the nice weather...

We've been taking advantage by having meals outside!

Watering the lawn

Hanging out in the backyard, cooling down!

Feels good!


Running through the sprinkler

Or away from it!

Payton has been great, and doing AWESOME on the potty! She's been wearing underwear for over a month now! She has had the very rare accident, always #2, but I can't even remember one recently. She stays dry for her naps too, but not always completely at night, so she's still in a pull up at night just in case. I am SO proud of her! She has been doing great at school too, learning so much. She only wants to wear dresses lately, which drives me a little crazy. She is VERY particular about her wardrobe! She has to pick it out, or it just isn't right. I miss the days when I dressed her and didn't have to hear "I don't want to wear that!" I bought her all these cute shorts and tops for summers, and she just wants to wear the same 4 or 5 dresses over and over. Don't even get me started on her shoes! If she had it her way, she would wear her dress up high heels to school every day. I finally had to categorize her shoes into "dress shoes" and "school shoes" so she could know which ones she could choose from to wear to school. Because of course she has to choose them, not mom! She has to help us do everything, which means she usually just gets in our way. I try to be patient though, and hope that she still wants to be this helpful in a few years! 

Once I saw daddy weeding, I had to get in on the action!

I got some!

She also likes to pour her own water, buckle her own seatbelt, wash her own hands, put on her own shoes, zip up her own jacket, do her own dishes... the list is endless! Miss Independent. Good thing she's so cute :) 

Onto baby boy... 30 weeks tomorrow! 75% done. Now the time is really going to start flying! Kyle and I still have not decided on a name, in fact we've been so busy that we haven't even discussed it very much. Much like his room, I have a feeling that's one of the things that we'll figure out when it's much closer. I don't feel rushed to pick one, and I want to make sure we make the right decision. A name is a big deal, he's going to have it forever! 

Bump!

My co-workers threw Jamie and I a joint shower at work a few weeks ago, which was so fun! We both got lots of great stuff for our baby boys, we are grateful to work with such generous ladies.



So fun to have a pregnancy buddy!

The agenda this week is pretty full... Payton has swimming on Tuesday and Thursday, Kyle has his last baseball games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and I'm also squeezing in time to take some maternity pictures of Jamie (she's going to do the same for me in a few weeks!). Plus Payton has a fun date planned for Wednesday with her grandma Sue and great grandma Joy. They got tickets to take her to a live Sesame Street show in Eugene! Hopefully she's not scared and really enjoys it. I'm also working this weekend. Whew! Better get to bed, this mama needs to rest up! Have a great week!