The goings on...

I have been meaning to post a picture of the mostly completed paint job on our home. It was so much work for my sweet husband! There is still a little bit of trim to do, but we (especially Ty) have been burnt out on the whole project for the past month or more. :) At least the areas that are left are on the back of the house so nobody who sees us from the street is aware that our trim in the back is only painted as high as this short pregnant lady can reach. Apparantly I am not allowed on the super-high ladder in my current condition.

Here are the "before" pictures (they don't show how discolored some of the siding looked just from being old and in the Washington rain for so many years):

These are the "after", although it's hard to really capture the color of the house on camera. In some lights it looks more like a brown and in others it's more green. We love it! Ty chose the door color and I thought he did a great job. In the door picture you get a better feel for the color, I think. Anyway, here they are! Sorry it's taken me so long, Margaret!

In other news...

*We finally got a start on our food storage! We went for a date night to the local cannery and got a bunch of flour, some hot cocoa, potato flakes, rice, wheat and I don't remember what else. Besides having a great time, we looked really good too so we thought that we should put this out there for all the world to see!*We got a package with packing peanuts and I decided to let Max go to town. It was fun to watch! Dad got in on the action and made a peanut angel. I love giving him permission to make messes (Max, not Ty. I never give Ty permission to make messes :) )!*Max got a toddler bed! We haven't started him sleeping in it yet - probably won't for another month or more - but it was a great deal on Craigslist and matches the other furniture in his room. So for now it's something to play on, but sometime we'll start him sleeping there. We're still trying to figure out sleeping arrangements once the baby arrives since our 3rd bedroom is occupied by Sariah until the end of the school year. We'll see what works out!

*Max had his very first sucker. I know a lot of kids have suckers a lot earlier, but we never have them in the house and until this Halloween it just hadn't crossed my mind. He loved every lick, but not the sticky hands afterward.

*We have a climber! So I thought we'd totally avoided having a crazy climber, but I was wrong. Max is all about climbing these days. We had to rearrange some shelves in his room because one day he used them like a ladder and was perched on top of the highest one. He's taken a few spills off of some chairs and caused his parents some stress. Today I was in the kitchen and hadn't heard him for a bit so I went to see where he was...

(Right before this he had taken his PJ shirt off all by himself, which was a new feat as well.) I assume he used the toilet to get himself up on the counter? You can't see it here, but there's a good gap between the two. I am pretty amazed, if not a little freaked out, by his new abilities. No rest for the mother! I love the look on his face here. :) Busted! After this he was just plain proud of himself and wouldn't stop smiling.

So that's what's up in our lives as of late...too much excitement, I know!

'twas a hit!

Halloween was even more fun this year - it makes me so excited for the years ahead with Max and our future babes! On Monday for FHE we went over to our friend's (the Lintons) home and carved pumpkins. Ty was the carver, I was the scooper. Oh, and Max helped a bit with the scooping. Marcela is from Chile and this was only the second time she'd carved a pumpkin - the first was on her mission. I, of course, picked through to get all of the pumpkin seeds for baking. I love baked pumpkin seeds! This is Sariah Miller, the young woman living with us, and her jack-o-lantern!

Last night to kick off the festivities we had a chili and breadstick dinner (we were going to have tacos, but I felt like it was just WRONG so I went out and purchased some good ol' Nalley's chili). Then we got dressed up and met our friends, the Kellys, to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. It was a hoot to me! Max could barely see since the horse head blocked a lot of his vision, but he wanted to walk a lot of the time so he would just put his head down and go. He even rang one of the doorbells by himself! It was cute to watch him grab a piece of candy at each house. I wonder what these little people think of this holiday?! Max seemed kind of shell-shocked, but he accepted it. Kind of a strange holiday...

So I bought this shirt a month ago thinking that it would still fit...it wasn't so. Not even close. :)

With Grandpa Ted - Max's Tutu wasn't home when we went. :(

Next we were off to the Trunk or Treat. I felt weird collecting all of this candy that Max is so obviously not going to be eating. Oh well! Tyler didn't have his cowboy hat for that part of the night - we think that he left it on top of the car. It's lost to us now...



Then we came home and had some of our friends over for hot apple cider, hot cocoa and donuts. That was a tradition in my family and so I felt like I needed to carry that on. Any excuse to have friends over! It was fun to get together and hang out with everyone for a bit. All in all, I think the night was a total success! Happy, Happy Halloween, indeed!

The Smitleys

The Lintons

1st Counselors

Tyler and I have a really equal marriage and we like things to be EXACTLY equal. :) Just kidding, but this is a bit funny to me. Last week a member of the bishopric asked to come over and we, of course, said yes. Well, he chit-chatted for a bit and then got down to business. Right now I am serving as 1st counselor in the YW Presidency. He said that they (the bishopric) have gone around and around with Tyler's name for a certain calling. They would move onto someone else, but kept coming back to Tyler. The concern being that this calling would require us both to be in the same place at the same time often and we have Max and another babe on the way. Valid concern. However, we both felt like we would work it out and the Lord would provide a way since He is the one extending the call. So the call was extended and Tyler has been called as 1st counselor in the YM Presidency! It will, admittedly, be a little tricky. However, we have a great ward family and already had an offer from our friends to watch Max on Tuesday nights. I don't worry about it working out. I have felt like Tyler either would or should be called to work with the YM for the last few weeks. He is such a great role model and relates so well to the youth. I know that they are going to be so excited and love having him in there! Congrats on your new calling, babe!

Fosters = Fun

I have been posting so much about our baby-to-be lately and have neglected to post about all of the fun things we've been doing. Let's see...

*We took the ferry over to Seattle, this time just walking on and leaving our car behind, and went to the Seattle Aquarium. It was awesome - so much to see and cool things for little kids to do there. Then we ate at Ivar's and I had the best New England clam chowder of my life (Max dug the bread bowl). We walked all along the piers and the shops there. I love going into cool little shops like that. It was a perfect day!

* We've been hitting Waterfront Park a lot lately. Max can't stand having full days cooped up inside the house. So even when it's chilly, as long as it's not raining, we try to get out. He loves to hang out by the water and throw rocks in over and over and over again. He also loves chasing the birds and running along the pier to peek down between the cracks and see if he can find any hanging out below. Often we are the only ones at the park since it's pretty cold - sometimes I think I probably shouldn't have my kid out there if nobody else does. :) Oh well.

* A few Saturdays ago we decided to go looking for salmon. This time of year they are making their way upstream to lay eggs and die. I know, really pleasant. It's a natural process, though, folks, and that is beautiful. But it is cool to watch them swimming upstream against the current. Well, we decided to go along the Clear Creek Trail this year, which runs through the town where we live. Alas, no salmon to be found. But it was a beautiful day and a gorgeous walk through the trees. I can't believe it's taken us this long to walk along there - it's minutes away from our house! We decided that since we'd already gone so far we should walk over to our favorite park. It was further than it seemed. :) I think it was a four mile walk altogether, so not really that bad, just more than we'd anticipated. After that and playing at the park with Max we were pooped!

*No pictures of this, but last week Tyler had to be at a training all week long in Kent, WA. So on Wednesday night Max and I packed up and headed over to hang out with him that night and on Thursday. We had a great time; it was nice to not be away from Ty for the whole week...and to break out of our normal routine here at home. We got back on Thursday night. Then on Friday I left Max with his Tutu (his Hawaiian adopted grandma in the ward) and headed over to meet Tyler and go to the temple. It was the perfect end to our week! I love my husband and our little man. I am getting more and more excited every day for this new little person who will be joining us. She's sure an active little thing! Oh, and I also had a Dr. appt - we went over the ultrasound results and everything looks great. It's a miracle to me. I know I say this a lot, but life is really, really good.

A little more detail from the detail queen...

Tilt your head to the right, this is a great face shot. Eyes, nose, and she totally looks like she's smiling with that tiny mouth!

You know I couldn't just leave it with "It's a girl!"; I've got to give you the whole story. :)

First of all, this was my first time having an ultrasound tech do my ultrasound. I had two private practice doctors with Max (one in NY and one in WA). Both had their own machines and did their own ultrasounds. It was always really quick and I got several ultrasounds with them. I really loved that. But the doc who delivered Max retired from OB, so now I'm with a nice family practice doctor. Anyway, so I had never had to do the full bladder part of having a real in-depth ultrasound. Drink 32 ounces of fluid one hour before your appt. and DO NOT empty beforehand. I thought I was going to die! Well, not die, but it was excrutiating. She checked out my bladder and whatever else she needed to see with that first and then let me use the bathroom. Sweet relief!

It was so fun to see our little baby. I always feel like I need to talk to the screen and say hello, which I did. At one point during the ultrasound she did a huge yawn or something and we got to watch as her little mouth opened so wide and closed. It was very cute. She looks to us to be healthy! At first she wasn't very cooperative with the gender check. Legs were pretty firmly crossed. So we went on with other measurements and went back to that. Just as the tech was telling us that they were still crossed and was pointing out the legs, our cooperative little babe opened up. I've seen a lot of ultrasound pictures, not only my own, and so I stole the tech's thunder a bit, I think, when I saw the three lines and said, "That's a girl!" She said that she definitely agreed. And she says that nobody has ever come back to tell her that she's wrong. She also told us that she wouldn't say anything unless she was quite positive. Nice to hear! So we're planning for a little woman to join our family! Tyler knew it all along - he's been saying that it's a girl from the beginning. I guess he stole all of my mother's intuition because I just wasn't sure. We are so, so thrilled!

We'll keep you all posted on the name. We're pretty sure on it, but are going to give it a little time amongst ourselves. Thanks for all of the well-wishes! We can't wait to meet this new little lady; we're halfway there!

**In case you were wondering, we did take the header picture ourselves. I know, I know, we are so talented with the camera! Not sure if this was me or Ty, we both took shots like this. It's a view from our favorite park - Waterfront Park - where Max and I go a lot. When the tide is low we can head out on the "beach". We throw rocks into the water, look for little crabs and I keep Max from heading straight in. I love where we live; it is so, so beautiful!**

The polls have closed, the results are in....

Babe Foster #2 is a......GIRL!!!

(More on this later - we're goin' on a date)

Do I have to vote?

I'm here to provide a safe environment for the babe to grow and develop. My emotions and eating habits are all over the map - I need a good cry much more often than the non-pregnant version of myself and any little thing can bring tears to my eyes; I really need something sweet, just a little something - wait, salty - wait, vegetables - wait, yet another pickle - no, what I really want is a doughnut, a HOT Krispy Kreme doughnut. :) My belly is expanding so that if something drops from my mouth or fork it doesn't fall to my less-conspicuous lap, but to my belly. I realized I was to that point when I looked down after Young Women in Excellence last night to see two spots on my shirt at the top of my belly. Hopefully I acquired them after I stood up in front of all of the YW and their parents. Yep, I'm just here to provide that safe environment and let my entire world be changed. I'm just the mom. So why should I have a feeling one way or another what the gender is of this little person I am housing? Why should I be so privileged? :)

I even took this highly scientific test :) and these were my results:

Congratulations!

You have a 50% chance of having a boy. And you have a 50% chance of having a girl.

And Here's Why...
You are carrying the extra weight out front, so it's a boy.
The hair on your legs is not growing any faster during your preganacy, so it's a girl.
Girls are carried high. You are going to have a girl.
Sleeping in a bed with your pillow to the north indicates that you will be having a boy.
Your feet are not colder than they were before pregnancy. You are having a girl.
You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread. You are having a girl.
Dad-to-be hasn't been gaining weight along with Mom-to-be, so it will be a girl.
The maternal grandmother doesn't have gray hair (dyed or natural), so a girl will be born.
You had morning sickness early in pregnancy, so you are expecting a girl.
You are looking particularly good during pregnancy. Therefore, it must be a boy, because girls steal their mother's looks.
Your chest development has not been very dramatic during pregnancy. You should expect a boy.
Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is an odd number, it will be a girl.
Your urine is a dull yellow color, so you will have a girl.
You have a craving for salty or sour foods, which means that it is a boy.
Your nose hasn't changed during pregnancy, which indicates a girl.
You have been craving meats or cheeses, so it is a boy.
Your baby's heart rate is below 140 beats per minute, so it's a boy.
You have no desire for orange juice, so it's a boy.
You are having headaches, so it's a boy.
Your belly looks like a basketball, so it's a boy.
You show them the palm of your hand, so it's a girl.
You use the handle of a mug, so it's a boy.

See what I mean...so scientific! :) I see that many of you have voted on what you think this babe is going to be. It's been neck-and-neck the whole time. I guess that shows exactly how I feel. I don't have a clue. I would be equally happy with either one. I would love to have a girl; a mini-me. Well, that is unless she has my childhood temperament. I want a girl-version of Ty. I want all of our kids to be a lot like their dad, actually! I would love to dress her and do her hair and just see what it's like to have a little woman around. A little friend for me. I would also love another little man. I am so in love with the one I already have! When Max was born 17 months ago I quickly became convinced that I would like a whole mess of boys, like my mother-in-law. She had 6. I know that some women have a "feeling" one way or another and sometimes I feel like I'm kind of an out-of-touch mom since I don't have that, but I just don't. I'll be waiting to see with the rest of you. Friday at 3:00 will hopefully be the "hour of truth"!

I know that I sounded sarcastic in the first paragraph, but if you had a sincere conversation with me you would know that I really, really love being pregnant. I love the way I look (most of the time). I love that I have this incredibly personal bond with this miracle who I will soon hold in my arms. I love that I get to feel the movements and by so doing get a bit of a feel for his/her personality. I love the moments when I am alone - meaning without Ty or Max or anyone else - but I am not really alone. I have this precious time to put my hand on my belly and sit in awe of this amazing process and the spirit that will be housed in a tiny, helpless body that I get to care for and raise. I feel honored to be the mother to this new tiny person - girl or boy.

I couldn't avoid it forever...

I have managed to avoid being "tagged" thus far. However, since so many of my friends have done this on their blogs and since one friend has given me the tagging " honor" I feel obligated. :) So here is some rather uninteresting information about me! As usual, I give too much detail.

4 jobs I've had:

1. When I was 14 my friend Cathy got me this job to dress up as Wendy of Wendy's Hamburgers and go around Las Vegas for some promotional things. Wig, drawn-on freckles, the outfit. I think I did it three or four times. One time I even had to dance with a guy in a huge bowling pin costume. Every little kid thought I was Pippy Longstocking. I got paid $10 an hour, though, and had tons of free frosty coupons!
2. I worked at a little mom & pop Church bookstore with all of my friend's moms while I was in high school. I LOVED that job and I love my friend's moms.
3. I had a short stint working for a Pakistani Allstate Insurance agent named Shamim who didn't like women and whom I could barely understand. He didn't want to train me, but he wanted me to know exactly what to do and when to do it. I felt like I was going to vomit every morning when I had to go to work. I worked with a lady who wanted to get full-body plastic surgery so that she could 'dance' on the strip and she tried to get me to call her ex-boyfriend and pretend it was her even though she was married with two kids. It lasted all of two or three weeks before I'd had enough.
4. In New York I was working as a receptionist at an orthodontist's office and convinced him to train me to work in mouths. He thought I was the best employee ever :) so he agreed and I became a full-fledged orthodontic technician - taking braces off, putting them on, adjusting them, taking x-rays. Shouldn't you have to go to school for something like that?!

Places I've lived:

1. Kearns, Utah
2. Las Vegas, NV
3. Rexburg, ID
4. Hawai'i (Big Island and Oahu)
5. Niskayuna, NY
6. Silverdale, WA

Movies I love:

*I am not very critical of movies, I just enjoy a good break for my brain and to feel better for having watched it*

1. Fried Green Tomatoes
2. Pride and Prejudice (A&E version)
3. Contact
4. Cast Away
5. Life is Beautiful (not the dubbed version)
6. Rudy
7. Remember the Titans
That's all I can think of right now...

Favorite Foods:

*This is dangerous for a pregnant lady...now I'm going to crave it all!*
1. Anything Mexican
2. I love the chicken alfredo pizza at Olive Garden
3. Tyler's garlic, super creamy mashed potatoes
4. A good, ripe tomato from our garden...good veggies from any garden!

4 weird things about me:

1. I can flip my eyelids inside-out. Max loves it and often tries to do it for me.
2. When I sit in one position for a long time, my hip gets all jacked and I walk like a 90-year-old woman for a few minutes before everything goes back where it's supposed to be.
3. When I get tired I cannot look at sharp corners - it hurts my eyes. Tyler read me part of an article in TIME magazine that said that is a symptom of OCD. We laughed because I am a little on the OCD side with some things.
4. I couldn't say my R's when I was little and so I was in speech therapy for a bit. Now I overenunciate and it's especially noticeable on some words. My little brother always had me say "green grass". I love good enunciation in all forms, it makes me happy!

Favorite Shows:

1. LOST
2. The Office
3. TLC & Discovery Channel shows - Baby Story, Trading Spaces, Cash Cab, Dirty Jobs
4. 24 - except last season stunk

Places I'd rather be:

1. Visiting family
2. On a date/at the temple with Ty
3. At the park with Max and Ty
4. Hanging out with some of my best girlfriends

People I'm tagging:

1. Kristen
2. Angie
3. Liz
4. Bethany

Packs a Powerful Punch

So I felt the babe move for the first time kind of early - 15 weeks and 2 days. I thought maybe I was further along, but when the doc measured me and asked if I was sure about a certain date, he said that I seemed to be right where they thought I was. Hmph. Even a week earlier would be a happy thing for me. Anyway, the babe has become quite active and I can feel him/her move a lot during the day and sometimes the kicks are pretty hard for someone so little. I never even went through the fluttering movements this time - it was straight thumping from the get-go.

Last night Tyler and I were watching a movie and the baby was thumping all over the place. I told him that and he put his hand on my belly (because, as he says, he's the dad and he should be able to feel the kicking when I do :) ). Well, neither of us expected him to feel anything since I am just 18 weeks, but he felt two good thumps right in a row! We are both pretty amazed. This is so different from Max and so early in general. I go in for THE ultrasound two weeks from yesterday and I guess that should give us more info. But for now we just think this little one is pretty darn spirited and wants to make his/her presence known. Sound like anyone else you know?! :) Like mother, like child...

And so it begins...

Last week Max came up to me saying "football" (in a dramatic, gravelly, manly voice that Ty usually uses when he says the word), doing some sign that he apparently made up for this word. He continued to say it over and over. I got him a football, I acknowledged that he was saying football, but he still kept going. Finally, he goes over to the remote, pushes a button, looks up at me, says the word with the sign and the light bulb finally goes on. "Oh, you want to watch football?!" I ask. "Yes," he responds with an emphatic head nod and a big smile. Thank goodness for the NFL Channel and ESPN to appease my son who seems to want to watch football all of the time. This is especially surprising to me since we usually don't watch TV during the day and only for a short time in the evening when Max is awake, if at all. And when it is on he doesn't pay much attention to it. But he has watched some football and Sportscenter with his dad. When he has me turn it on, he usually watches for a second, says "Football!" several times and then gets down and plays. He still wants it on, though, in the background so that he can look up and say "Football!" whenever the heck he wants. I usually keep it on mute so that I'm not overloaded with this sport that I do like, but do not want to watch quite that much. So the sports obsession begins! I really thought I had a lot longer. It is super cute, though, so I'm not minding it. And after football comes basketball which is an even bigger draw for his dad, so we'll see if his son follows suit. The up-side for me is that I actually kind of know now what's going on with a few of the players on my Fantasy Football team. :)

Below are some recent pictures and a video that mostly family will enjoy - it's kind of long, but since we're so far away I thought that especially the grandparents would like to see him in action. Enjoy!

Coloring: the other most recent obsession. That, and horses.

A Sunday afternoon walk near our home. I don't know why we took the stroller! Max had so much fun running on the rocky road.

He ate the whole thing by himself. So cute to watch! (Max, not Ty...although I was proud of Ty for eating the whole thing by himself as well. :) )