Time

This little guy has really changed my perspective on time. Before I even knew he existed, time seemed to be going by so fast I just felt like I couldn't catch it. Afton and Grayson are growing so fast and the summer, which was long awaited, seemed to be slipping by in the blink of an eye.

Then toward the end of July, we got great news. I was pregnant! We really wanted just one more baby in our family. If you want to slow down time, get pregnant. Time is measured in weeks and the weeks sure go by a lot slower, especially when you are sick. At about 6 weeks, the nausea really set in and it seemed like there wasn't a medication that could help. I started counting down every day until I would be out of this horrible trimester. Of course, this makes time go even slower.

Well, I made it out of my first trimester and the nausea hasn't disappear but it is so much better. However, the second trimester has brought on a whole new onslaught of problems. Last week, on my poor Afton's 6th birthday, I found out that the baby's placenta was detaching from the uterus which caused a whole lot of bleeding and cramping and a 50% chance of the baby's survival. I got put on bed rest for the weekend and that made time really slow down.

This week, I got upgraded to "limited activity" but I quickly found out how limited that really is. Thank goodness the bleeding stopped but even the most minimal activity brings on cramping. I want this baby so bad that I am willing to lay perfectly still if I have to, to get him here healthy and to his due date. Totally easier said than done.

So two days ago, I started thinking just how long it is going to take to get him here. My due date is March 31. That's about 6 months. 6 months. Suddenly, if it's possible, time seems to move even slower. Kind of like I am counting the hours of each day.

Sorry, this seems like kind of a downer post. But I have really been doing my best to stay positive. I am positively planning for our new brother's arrival. Planning his new room and where the other kids will end up. Searching the internet for baby boy blue. And dreaming up what Afton and Grayson's new rooms should look like.

It is going to be a long road but like I said, I am determined to get this baby here. I feel lucky that it has been a rainy week and i really don't want to go outside anyway.

New Style Obesessions

So I saw these boots in the latest issue of Lucky a few weeks ago. I resisted from tearing out the page and saving it because I am trying to discriminate more on what mag pages I keep since my pile has gotten way too large. However, I just could not stop thinking about these boots. They are kind of awesome. I already have plenty of boots for the fall but just in case you don't, maybe you will obesess over them too. You can pre-order them on the Tory Burch website.

I also can't stop loving this bag. It is from Dolce and Gabbana and I found it early this morning on the Ideeli website. I was excited/terrified to see what the "reduced" price would be. Well, let's just say it was under $1000. Like, a penny under $1000. So, no I am not going to buy this one either and really I am not at the point in my life where I even want to be responsible for a bag this nice. But isn't it just beautiful to look at?

Don't miss out!

I just wanted to give everyone a head's up. Ideeli is selling Hobo again on Monday morning starting at 10 am MST. Last time they had amazing stuff including my most favorite wallet ever for great prices. If you are not a member of this site yet, click here and it should let you register and start shopping.

I can't wait to see what they have this time!

decisions...

So, two years ago when we moved into this house and I was doing my best to decorate this new challenge. I really wanted this wall paper for my dining room.

It is from Anthropologie and of course was quite expensive. Well, now it is on sale... finally. And now I really don't need it but it is so unique I am sure I could make use of it somewhere. The only problem is that the sale price is still alot... $299. Probably too much money to spend on something I don't need. So I just keep staring at it, trying to decide if I add it to my cart or not. Any input?

P.S. Please don't tell David, he already thinks I am crazy enough.

Top 5 Reasons

The top 5 reasons why I love my kids today:

Afton

1. When saying her prayers tonight she said "please bless the Earth that it will be healthy and good. And please bless Pluto that it will grow stronger and bigger and it won't be a dwarf anymore."

2. I let her stay up a little past her bed time and she watched "The City" with me. She asked me what it was about and I told her. And then she said to me "but what is it about? what happens?" She is right, it is about nothing.

3. When I asked her about her day, with huge eyes she said "IT WAS GREAT!"

4. When in the car today, she said "I wish you would have kept your old car because then we would know which channel Radio Disney is."

5. There is nothing I love doing more with her than cuddling in a chair and talking about fashion and all her grand plans (believe she has a lot).

Grayson

1. Out of the blue today he invented a "dolphin robot" voice which pretty much is amazing because it sounds just like a dolphin robot.

2. When I picked him up from school today he handed me a caterpillar made out of an egg carton and said "I worked really hard on it." He has never said that about anything so it must be true.

3. Tonight, when I was reading him his book about reptiles. He pointed to an alligator with a long narrow nose. He said "mom, what fish does this alligator look like?" I said I didn't know because it wasn't a fish, it was alligator. He said "I know it's an alligator but the fish it looks like is a Sword fish." He was right, it looked just like a sword fish. His memory surprises me every time.

4. He had our new next door neighbor, Michael over to play today and while they were sitting on the couch together Grayson hugged him and said "I just love my new friend" and Michael hugged him too and agreed.

5. During the day today, out of no where he said "when are we going to go on our date?"

Shades

I am a big fan of the "sample sale" websites as many of you may know. And I also like to share a good deal when I find one with all of you. Today Ideeli has Chloe sunglasses for $100 and under. I love sunglasses and I love Chloe and I love deals. I am so tempted this morning. The sale opens in less than 10 minutes and I am sitting at my kitchen table to trying to reason both sides with myself. I have had my eye on this pair...

Any advice here? What should I do? Are you going to snag a pair?

My sister, the stylist

For those of you living in Colorado, I have a great opportunity for you. My cute sister, Shea has some great hair specials going on and is now doing hair in Castle Rock as well as Littleton. She is a great hair stylist and I haven't found anyone to replace her out here in Utah. I wish I were closer! Here are her new deals:

Kate Spade

Over the past year, I have really come to love Kate Spade and her retro-ish designs. Today she is having a sample sale with some pretty great prices on bags, clothes and jewelry. I have my eye on this one:

Happy Shopping!

Baby Booties

I love these little baby/toddler boots. If you also love them and have a child to fit in them, go to Babysteals right now. The last time they had these, they went fast. If they had sizes for my kids, I would snatch them up in a minute. They are by Livie and Luca and are normally $47 but are $26 today. When I saw them this morning, they had 4 different styles and sizes 4-7. Happy Shopping!

One of my favorite things

I bought this wallet around Thanksgiving last year. I am so obsessed with it. I felt really guilty about spending so much money for 2 weeks after I bought it. But I have to say, it is seriously one of my favorite things. Hobo makes the greatest wallets and purses. I especially love the way this one is organized. I can fit EVERYTHING in it without it seeming bulky or disorganized.

Ideeli has this wallet in 6 different colors for $47 today on their website. If you are not a member of Ideeli and you need an invitation. Email me quick and I will invite you so you can get in on this great deal. I am ashamed to say I spent double this amount on this wallet. Don't miss out on this great deal!

Maternity Jeans?

No, not for me. But I know a few of you out there that are pregnant or planning to get pregnant. Babysteals has Paige maternity jeans for $78 today. Hurry and get them fast if you need them, the deal only lasts today and could sell out before the day is over.

2009

I have seriously been thinking about this blog lately. It is totally pointless and I obviously haven't had the time to keep it up. I had decided to just delete it (and I just might one day) but today I decided that I kind of need it and I should use it more. The reason that I say I need it is because I need an outlet to just write IT all out. I don't keep a journal. And I guess this kind of serves that purpose. So for now, I am going to keep writing. :)

The beginning of 2009 seemed pretty uneventful, but as the year gained momentum, so did the eventfulness in our lives. Here is what happened in a nutshell month by month because now I think I am finally ready to write about some of the more difficult stuff.

January:

Believe me, January last year was not fun. Being stuck in the great inversion in Utah put me into a dark depression. Blah, I don't like thinking of it. P.S. - we are currently (Jan. 2010) in another deep inversion but this time I am too busy to dwell on it.

February:

David and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. For me, I think it was one of the nicest anniversaries that we have had. Paige babysat the kids. We went to dinner at a healthy place since David was doing one of his legendary "eating plans". We then tried out Frogurt for the first time. Heaven! I am still obsessed with that place. After that we went to Old Navy and stocked up on their "Take an extra 50% off all sale" sale. I love it when that happens. Then we saw "He's just not that into you." A perfect date in Draper, UT.

March:

I honestly don't have much memory of March. Except one thing... Afton coming home from school after she had learned to do a jig. It was the cutest thing. She just kept singing "We're doing a jig for the Irish" while she actually did the jig. I love that little performer.

April:

April was a good month. I had an awesome swimsuit party at my house with lots of girlfriends. I modeled in a photo shoot for Wasatch Woman Magazine which turned out better than I expected. The best thing we did though was go on that vacation to Cancun. One of the best ever. I love that vacation.

May:

I love seeing the green pop up in May. It really puts a smile on my face. My little brother, Nash, graduated from high school in May. He is currently going to BYU and I think he is finally learning that life isn't as easy as he thought. Good lesson to learn before you go on a mission.

June:

We had a great visit from David's parents in June for his birthday. With Hollie's help, we finally decorated our master bedroom. Finally a room to match my beautiful bed.

At the end of June I also found out that I had abnormal cells on my cervix. Definitely a downer. More on that to come.

July:

We went on a really fun family reunion with my family and my dad's side of the family. We visited Ouray, CO and I would highly recommend this vacation. Beautiful scenery, quaint little town and plenty to do. We also went to California and had so much fun just hanging out by the pool and beach. Warning, this may be TMI... I also had a biopsy done this month on my cerix to check the abnormal cells they found. It turned out to be worse than they had thought. I had pre-cancer cells at a level 2 and had to schedule a surgery to have part of my cervix removed. Pretty scary, I was pretty stressed about it the whole month.

August:

I had my surgery the first week of this month. I wasn't as long as I thought and definitely not as painful but not fun at all. The recovery was horrible. I mean seriously horrible. I totally wasn't prepared for that. Again, TMI... I couldn't stop bleeding for weeks to the point that I started hemorrhaging at an event for my friend, Stephanie. To make the bleeding stop, I had to lay in bed perfectly still for 2.5 days. And then I got a call from my doctor saying that when they had tested the tissue they removed, they found no healthy tissue. That means that there is a chance they didn't remove all the pre-cancer. Pretty hard pill to swallow. The last thing I wanted was to have to go through this again, but I wouldn't know for sure what the next step would be until I had fully recovered and had another biopsy.

On the bright side, it was my cousin, Mckenzi's wedding in August. I drove the kids down to Arizona for it all by myself. I got to do all her bridal pictures and help her prepare for the big event. It was a lot of fun. I wish I would have been healthier so that I could have been a bigger help.

September:

The thing I love most about September is the end of it. That is when we celebrate the birth of Afton. Oh, how I love that girl. Never a dull moment when she is around. She turned 5 this year and she thinks she is 30 just like me. She is so cute... she is always making lists for me, she signs everything "love Afton", she writes prescriptions for me simultaneously with the doctor, she plans everyday down to the minute and is constantly singing and dancing. She also thinks that she is Grayson's mother. She takes care of him and he lets her.

I also got to go NYC in September which was amazing. I know I already wrote about it, but New York that time of year is truly magical. I wish I could make it a yearly trip at exactly the same time.

October:

All of us had a great time in October. David and I went to Hawaii for his business trip. I felt really lucky to be able to piggy back on his trip. We stayed in Waikiki and drove around Oahu too. It's always nice to go somewhere sunny and pick up a good book. I could actually use a trip like that right now.

The kids played soccer again and loved it. Afton scored two goals this season! Grayson barely made contact with the ball during the season but he still says he loves it. The kids also got really into Halloween this year. It was very hard for them to decide what they were going to be. In the end, Afton chose Ariel and Grayson chose the HULK.

November:

I had great plans for November starting off with a trip to L.A. during the week of my 31st birthday. Seems like the minute the kids and I got on the plane for that trip, we were sick. Afton's stomach hurt, Grayson spiked a fever and I started getting body aches. The next day we were worse but I was determined to make the most of this trip. Looking back, we probably had the swine flu. If we did, I am glad we got it over with but it was sure bad timing.

Afton and I had planned to go to Disneyland for my actual birthday since I got in free and I had promised to take her for her birthday. After we got sick, I knew that we probably wouldn't make it but I still kept the option open. I felt fine that day as long as I took dayquil. Afton also woke up feeling fine. So we packed up and went. We had fun the first half of the day but at lunch time, Afton fell apart and wanted to go home. I am incredibly stubborn and wouldn't let her go home. I didn't care how much she just wanted to sleep in a bed. I put her in a stoller and let her sleep and force fed her medicine and chips. Magically, two hours later she felt fine and ended up wearing me out to the point of me losing my voice.

The flight home was ridiculous and if I had had a voice I would have said that I would never fly alone with those two kids again. But I am glad I didn't say that because we all know it's not true.

After we got back, I had an event for my friend, Somer called "Taste of Salt Lake" benefiting Cystic Fibrosis. It was so much fun even though I couldn't talk. Luckily Somer kept her distance because I would have just died if I had been contagious and got her sick. In an auction there, David and I won tickets to a Jazz game and the last U of U game. We had fun at both events. Thanksgiving was also fun. We were in Colorado with my family and I always love the Thanksgiving spread there.

This month, my hair started falling out which was terrifying. I immediately went to a doctor to find out what was going on. I found out my Thyroid and Adrenal gland weren't working properly which was a big surprise to me. I have been taking lots of supplements to correct it and so far so good. No more hair lossage.

December:

This month was INCREDIBLY busy for me. I started working this past year and most of that work fell in December. I got involved with getting sponsorships for some events at the Sundance Film Festival. December brought me lots of late night meetings to try to get things done. This month was also filled with family drama which I am not ready to talk about but was incredibly stressful for me.

However, December is also always filled with lots of other events. Class parties, work parties, friend parties, dance recitals, etc.. And of course, Grayson's birthday. My baby turned 4! Can you believe it? I still pretend like he is 2, that is probably why he still doesn't do much for himself or know his colors. He does however know all his letters/sounds, he has a ridiculous sense of humor, he is incredibly kind and gentle (until you send him into a rage), he is very thoughtful and loves to be a little charmer. As you can tell, he definitely has me wrapped around his finger.

Who could forget Christmas in December. We had a nice one. We just stayed home and had a great time doing nothing. I did clean out the whole house and re-organized closets during the break though. My favorite part was never having to leave the house.

And as an end of the year present, I received the results from the biopsy I had done in December. Cancer free! Yay! I barely had time to think about it and I was so relieved to get the good news.

Seriously, what a year. And it went by so fast too. I am still busy getting ready for the festival so once that is done, I will be a happy, more relaxed girl and ready for another vacation. ;)