One long ultrasound...

I went in for a routine ultrasound today and the tech was having waaaaay too much fun! My doctor's office just got in these new machines that can do 3D and 4D ultrasounds, as well as the good old 2D. My question was what the difference between 3 and 4 D is. Apparently, the 4D ultrasound is in real time or something. Anyway, she seriously spent the first 20 minutes getting "cute" pictures and making a DVD movie of the ultrasound as well as a CD of still images. I also scored about 20 printed pictures! Then, after the fun part, she did all of the measurements and that took another 20 minutes! (In case you were curious the estimate of his weight at this point was 4 lbs 1 oz). I was feeling pretty gross from laying on my back for 40 minutes - I couldn't breathe and felt light headed. I had to take several "breaks" and lay on my side. It was so funny - I really couldn't believe how long it was taking! The whole time, the baby kept moving all over the place - he had the hiccups for a while and was just extremely active throughout the entire ultrasound. It is pretty cool to see what my little guy looks like - I think he looks a little like Stephen. :) Before this experience I was so worried that I wasn't being a good mommy because I didn't bring in my VHS to record all of my ultrasounds like I did with Stephen! This little guy definately got the sweeter set up!

What can I say? So much fun!

My good friend and former roommate, Tina, came for a visit this past weekend. She called me out of the blue one day and said that she wanted to come to Arizona to see me and our other friend, Ashley, who just moved to Gilbert. The next thing I knew Tina was hopping a flight from Salt Lake to Phoenix! She stayed at my humble abode for four days and we played the whole time she was here.

Then...

Now

There were a total of four of us girls who lived together our sophomore and junior years at BYU - Tina, me, Ashley, and Ashley. We were best friends and as close as you can be - for me, my roommates became my temporary family and were an amazing support when I was away from home. I still consider those years as some of the most fun I have experienced! We were crazy and weird and would eat junk all of the time somehow never gaining weight - why doesn't it work that way now?

Some of our fun activities this weekend included:

eating jell-o cake and grahm crackers with frosting

walking around the mall (where does a single hottie, big fat preggo lady (me), and a cute new mommy go to shop that is fun for all of us? the answer is that it doesn't matter we were just gabbing the whole time anyway!)

going to the temple

getting a pedicure - LOVED IT!

talking

playing games

watching movies

talking

more talking

reminicing about BYU days

lots of laughing

going to the Salt River to talk and eat more grahm crackers with frosting - such beautiful weather!

eating at Oregano's

It is hard to return to normal life now...

I have to elaborate on our trip to the Salt River because it demonstrates what a FABULOUS husband I have. Scott, Stephen, Tina, and I drove in one car to meet up with Ashley and her little baby, Taylor at a gas station on the way to the park. Our plan was to take both vehicles but then we realized that if we crammed we could fit both car seats as well as all 3 of us girls in Ashley's truck and then Scott could drive us. So, Scott spent about 20 minutes getting the car seats strapped in (there was a weird seat belt giving us crap) and then we all piled in and were off!

As we were going down the road, Tina looked over and saw a man laughing at us. He must have found it amusing to see one man, three women (one big and pregnant) a baby and a toddler all crammed into a truck together. Who knows what he was thinking but we must have been a sight! This guy was seriously still smirking at us as we passed him up on the road. We were all just laughing and laughing! Scott was such a good sport about the whole thing.

Our original plan was to go to Usery Pass park but somehow we were talking too much and missed some of the turns so we ended up on a road that took us near the Salt River. We just laughed and decided to stop at a picnic area there instead of trying to find our way back to Usery Pass Park.
It was a really pretty spot and we just sat and talked while enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather. Scott took pictures for us and kept Stephen entertained. I love my hubby!

You'll have to turn your head sideways for this one!

By the way - Stephen said he needed to go potty while we were there so rather than brave the nasty bathrooms we decided to have him pee in the bushes. I make my boy pee sitting down so he has never tried it standing up yet. He refused to pee when daddy took him, but when mommy showed him the bush to aim for he did the job perfectly! I was proud but felt that maybe Scott missed out on some manly bonding with his son... :)

It was so fun to see Tina and get to spend time with her and Ashley. I have the best husband in the world. He watched Stephen pretty much the entire day on Friday while I was at the temple and getting a pedicure. Also, my family was fabulous for watching Stephen while Scott and I went on a real date on Saturday night!

After Tina left on Sunday, we were driving to church and I mentioned that I felt sad. Stephen said, "you ok mommy, you ok." So sweet! We miss you already Tina!

Mamma said there'd be days like this...

(Warning - if you don't like to read about potty training you might want to skip this one!)

Today was not one of my favorite days...

put big boy underwear on Stephen after breakfast

"Do you need to go potty?" - "No"

literally one minute later I am cleaning pee off the bathroom floor

try again - fresh undies...

watching Clifford makes Stephen too busy to mention that he needs to pee again

clean up and more clean undies - oh and a successful poopy in the pot - yea!

eat lunch together

blow dry my hair and return to a smelly boy who has pooped in his underwear - what the? he JUST went!

okay, now we are going to be late for preschool (I am an assistant for my friend at her preschool - Stephen is allowed to tag along out of the goodness of my friend's heart!)

wash poopy undies out in toilet...

Stephen dons pull-ups

arrive at preschool a little behind schedule

Stephen refuses to try to go on the potty when mommy asks him

one of the little girls in the class asks if he needs to use the potty and THEN he was all excited about it - whatever - at least he went

(I felt very ashamed of myself for being so irritated because as I was helping Stephen zip and button his pants he threw his arms around my neck and said "ohhh, I wuv you mommy, I wuv you so much!"...he has never said that to me on his own before)

in a fit, Stephen smears green paint all over my freshly washed maternity jeans (my ONLY pair that fit right now and I JUST pulled them out of the dryer before comming here)

WHAT is that smell??

POOP AGAIN???!!!!

(a side note - as I was doing the "pull and check" on the back of Stephen's pants the poo was so high up his back side that it got on my fingers...nice)

clean up in the bathroom at preschool - at least it was in pull-ups this time

fresh pull ups

oh, he peed in the toilet again at this point (yea!) except that somehow some got in my HAIR??? (Don't ask...)

put together 4 puzzles that Stephen has pulled off the shelf

put Stephen's shoe back on

go outside to play - put Stephen's shoes on again

in the car heading home Stephen says he needs to go potty when we get home

he does succesfully except that he got pee on his hand and before I could react reaches out and touches my face near my mouth - OH MY SICK!!!

Things have improved since we got home from school - we both had naps and I plugged in Wall-e for Stephen to watch while I blog.

I don't really expect that anyone would read all of that but if you did sorry for all of the poo and pee! I had to write about it because it has literally been my entire day!



(I absolutely adore my little Steve. He is a really happy and loveable little guy! We have been working on potty training for 2 weeks now and things have been going quite well so far. We have even had a few accident free days. This is probably one of the worst days but still not like it was in the beginning! Tomorrow will be better I hope...)

Organized!

I have been itching to organize Stephen's toys because they were all stored together in one big basket and he never played with half of them. When Target had a sale on all of their plastic bins we finally bought bins to sort his toys. Now they are all clearly labeled with pictures and fit nicely in his closet so that he can get them out easily. We had a lot of fun working on this project!

The final product and a little happy dance from Stephen!

Networking

We need a little help finding a part time job for Scott. He is looking for something in the accounting field and would be able to work 15-20 hours a week. He is available all day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. At this point his goal is to gain experience in anything to do with accounting so that when he graduates he will be more marketable. We have discovered that these part-time jobs are hard to find unless you have some sort of connection.... We are hoping that someone who is reading our blog knows of a family member or friend who is looking to hire someone to help out a little. If you know of anything let us know! You can leave a comment or email: smith.cami@gmail.com

ACT

Scott had to take the ACT yesterday...that's right - like in high school. Apparently, he has to have a 25 or better to get into ASU's accounting program in the fall and since he never took the ACT in high school.... We went to the library last week and got two old ACT study guides which he dutifully studied every day. Judging by the results of his practice tests we were not expecting that he would get a high enough score on his first attempt. Well, imagine our delight and surprise when he scored a 25 on the first try!!! This is proof that prayer works miracles when we put in the effort required. We are soooooooo excited and relieved that he doesn't have to take it again (it is $50 just to take the test)! Yay for my sweetie!!

Christmas Day

When we woke Stephen up to go open presents we said, "would you like to go and see what Santa brought you and open presents?" he said in his sleepy little voice "that'd be fun!" Christmas Day was fun because we got to see both the Quists and the Smiths. The day was full of driving back and forth and to and fro. We started out opening presents at my parents' house which was nice because all of my siblings were there this year and this is where Santa delivered the bulk of the presents for Stephen. Later we joined the Smiths for more gift opening and a little Rock Band. It was thoroughly entertaining to watch all of the "boys" work to set up the new game system and then see their serious faces as they "rocked out."

If this isn't a Christmas morning face... and yes, that is a candy cane for breakfast!Daddy was too slow with the camera to capture the speedy little guy as he rushed to see what Santa brought.Too slow again...Ahhh there he is finally!They are a real rock band.

Pre Christmas Fun

We had a blast this month. Stephen especially loved all of the fun Christmas decorations and lights. Every morning he would remind us to plug in the lights on our tree and garlands. Whenever you asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him he said "TOYS!" Lucky for Santa that leaves a lot of room for interpretation and price range! We spent tons of time with the Smiths and the Quists - mooching food and just hanging out.

Jingle Bells is Stephen's favorite Christmas song - he liked singing it in the car especially. This video is taken at the Smith's house.

A first "real" haircut in a salon on Christmas Eve! Aunt Shay did a great job. We had to bribe Stephen with candy, Wendys and we convinced him that the cape was a Batman cape. No tears - a miracle!

The finished hair cut and a gloating smile over his Wendy's take out...looking good.

On Christmas Eve we also went to the Mesa Temple to look at Christmas lights - Stephen absolutely loved it!

Birthday Parties

I was fortunate enough to celebrate my birthday two days in a row! On Thursday the 18th, Scott made me a delicious cake with homemade fudge frosting and we hung out with the Smiths. Then on Friday my mom made me a yummy cookies and cream ice cream cake and my brother, Allen, and sister, Chery arrived home from BYU just in time to celebrate with us! It was so funny because everytime we would tell Stephen that it was "mommy's birthday today," he would insist, "No! it Stephen's birthday!"

Contemplating the ripe old age of 27...

At least someone is excited about blowing out the candles!

I could get used to this birthday thing if cake is involved every time!