New Year, New Trimester

I am now officially in my second trimester, and so happy to be there. Although if this is like my last pregnancy I still have a couple more weeks before I start feeling like my normal self again, but still it's getting closer one day at a time! Overall I have been feeling better this pregnancy then with Wyatt, but my morning sickness has been replaced with pounding headaches and never ending fatigue. Ugh! I'm hoping by the time school starts up again in a couple weeks I will be feeling better. When I was pregnant with Wyatt, the weeks just seemed to drag by, but this time, I suppose because I have so many distractions, the weeks seem to be flying by, which is fine by me, I'm ready to have a nice round belly to rest my hands on! Speaking of belly, my sweet little boy will now come up to me, pull up my shirt, point and say "baby" then kiss my stomach! It's so cute! Of course Justin doesn't think it's as cute when Wyatt does the same thing to him =) This just makes me realize how quick my (not so) little boy is growing and how smart he is becoming. It has been a wonderful year watching him grow, and we look forward to all the ups and downs and joys that next year has in store for us. Happy New Year!!

Pizza Pizza Daddy-O

Wyatt and Daddy making some pizza, pizza pizza daddy-o!

Wyatt ate just about as many toppings off as he put on.

I Hearby Request a Christmas Redo

This Christmas will definitely be one to remember. Starting with my visit to the hospital Christmas morning. Yep that's right..Christmas eve I felt decent - aside from being on day 4 of being covered in hives, ugh! We went to Justin's Grandparent's house for Christmas eve as we always do. It works out nicely that we don't have dueling families on Christmas day because Justin's family does their festivities Christmas eve and my family does ours Christmas day. We had a great time and Wyatt - who loves a party - had a ball, although he wasn't too interested in opening his presents. After the Grandparent's house we headed to my Aunt & Uncle's for an open house they were having. I was getting progressively itchier but we decided to make a quick stop. After eating there and visiting for a few we headed home. A couple hours later I wasn't feeling so hot, but I decided it was probably just another lovely pregnancy feeling. I decided to try taking some benadryl to see if it would help my hives and then go to bed. While...about 45 minutes after taking that, my guts were not agreeing with me. I'll spare you the details but lets just say I didn't go more then 30 minutes all night without throwing up! I was miserable!! Christmas morning came and I was able to pull myself together for about 15 minutes to get a great video of Wyatt's surprise at what Santa left him (which I will try to upload later) but after that I was down for the count. I wondered if this was a reaction to the benadryl and being pregnant I didn't want to take any chances so my Mom came and got Wyatt and Justin and I went to the emergency room. Three hours and some great IVs later, I was feeling much better. Yet when leaving the emergency room, I noticed my cousin, who was at the same party last night, was in the waiting room with the same exact symptoms as me! So it was an apparent case of food poisoning, and a bad case at that. We went out to my parents after pulling myself together to try to enjoy a little of Christmas. Wyatt of course was having a great time out there playing with his uncles and his new toys. I laid like a dead log on the couch for most of the day, and ate maybe two bites of Christmas dinner. So needless to say it wasn't my best Christmas, but everyone else seemed to have a great time, especially Wyatt. I am feeling much better now though and I think I have found the answer to my mystery hives. I believe I have developed a dog allergy. Possibly one of the worst allergies for me to develop. I'm not sure what we are going to do yet, we'll see if the doctor has any answers for me this week!

Christmas Eve - Heather, Wyatt and Lilliana

Stealing other people's presents and giving them to the dog!

Throwing Keely's ball for her

His favorite present Christmas morning - by far!

Hopefully I can upload the video of his reaction!

The day after - still worn out, check out his hair!

The Many Christmas Faces of Wyatt

In an attempt to capture some holiday memories of Wyatt, I sat him in his rocking chair in front of the Christmas tree hoping to take a few pictures of him. Thinking ahead about my little mover, I gave him a wrapped candy cane to hold thinking it would occupy him for a minute so he would sit still. Well, very quickly, as in before I even took a single picture, he realized that he could break that thing in half and inside that plastic was sweet goodness. So I unwrapped a piece for him, and the result was about ten pictures...all with a candy cane in his mouth. Maybe we'll try round two when Dad's home!

Santa Is Not My Friend

Just as we did last year, for Wyatt's first Christmas, we drove out to North Pole, Alaska to take Wyatt to The Santa Claus House, to visit Santa. We started outside with a visit to Santa's reindeer, which Wyatt thought were dogs, and then we went inside to look at the gifts and ornaments while we waited for our turn to see Santa. I had high hopes that Wyatt would be his friendly usual self, as he normally has no problem with strangers. Yet, that was not the case. Apparently a big guy with a loud deep voice and bushy beard, that somehow knows your name, is not the most comforting sight. I had my camera ready and Justin sat Wyatt on Santa's lap, Wyatt took one look at that guy and started crying! I did get two pictures, needless to say though, neither of them are frame worthy. To top it off, as we continued to look around the gift shop afterwards, Wyatt kept giving Santa dirty looks every time we walked by! Maybe next year will be better.

.2 seconds until meltdown

He did enjoy the candy cane that he got from Santa, so it wasn't all bad!

A Nice Clean Shave

Wyatt is always interested in everything Daddy does, and likes to copy him in every way, putting on his boots, wearing his gloves, shaving. He will often sit in the bathroom with Justin and watch him shave, and occasionally Justin will let Wyatt shave too which he loves. He stands perfectly still on top of the toilet seat while Daddy lathers his face up, and is like a little statue while Daddy "shaves" him. (with the back side of the razor) Afterward Daddy pats him dry and Wyatt beams with pride and smiles as well tell him how smooth his face is.

Our Virtual Christmas Card

And Then We Were Four...

Here's our first look at our new little one! He/she measured in at 10 weeks and 1 day which gives me a due date of July 6, 2010!! It was so fun to see, and the baby was such a mover in there, Wyatt was mesmerized by the screen!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Temperatures climbed up to 30 degrees this weekend, which is a rarity for a December in Alaska. Being that we just had a couple weeks of weather that was 15 to 20 degrees below zero, this felt like summer! So Sunday Justin and I set out to find Wyatt a sled. We found a perfect durable sled that he will hopefully get years of fun out of. When we got home we bundled him up and put the leashes on the dogs, who were so excited to get to go for a walk! Our neighborhood has a great park that slopes down toward the river just a short walk away. At first Wyatt just sat silently in the sled, not exactly sure of what was going on. But after a few minutes he started yelling out at the birds we saw and other dogs we passed, and saying "weeee." When we arrived down at the park, the dogs had the time of their life, but Wyatt was a little frustrated when he realized how hard it was to walk in the snow with his boots on. So we pulled him around the park and let him ride the sled down the little hills which he loved. After playing a little while we made our way down to the river which is frozen now, and Justin and I took turns riding the sled down the hill to the river with Wyatt, he had a great time and kept asking for more! Hopefully this warm weather sticks around for a little while so we can enjoy more family walks.













Down on the river







An action shot!




Hold on tight Wyatt!

Deck The Halls

Today we went and picked out our Christmas tree! I really thought Wyatt would have more interest in it, but once he put his one ornament on it he was done. Oh well, at least we had our niece and nephew over to help decorate. Although now that the tree is lit up and covered with ornaments, Wyatt is much more interested in trying to take the ornaments off, especially the ones that he is quite convinced are balls.

Wyatt enjoyed a sip of his cousin's hot chocolate!

And a little nightly hygiene. This is Wyatt brushing his teeth while Justin trims his fingernails.

Thankful

It's so easy to say "I'm thankful for my family and my friends" but sometimes I think they might like to hear why I am thankful for them.

I am thankful for my family, for Justin and Wyatt. They bring meaning and light to every one of my days. I am thankful for Justin's support and letting me be a full time student and a stay at home Mom. And thankful for his constant support and companionship as a parent and as a husband. I am thankful for Wyatt's smile and wonderful sense of humor. His lighthearted easy-going-ness makes him always a pleasure to be around and I am proud that he is my son.

I am thankful for friends that have stuck with me through the thick and thin. Most of them have been around since elementary school and I am always grateful and thankful to have such loyal friends.

I am thankful for my family, my parents, and siblings. Thankful that my parent's set such a good example for me of how to live my life. And thankful that they always have an open home, and always welcome Wyatt with open arms and take such an interest in his life. I appreciate all the hard work that they put into everything, especially holidays. I am thankful that as my brothers and I have grown up, we have grown closer. And even though now we may be spread across the country(or world at the moment) they are always just a phone call away. I am thankful for such a large extended family who even though I may not see often, always welcome me and include me like I am there all of the time.

And lastly I am thankful for little miracles growing inside... :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday Morning Snippets

Since Dad was gone at work this morning, Wyatt and I sat in the living room and enjoyed breakfast together. He chowed down on a banana and grapes and shared my oatmeal with me. You should see how many grapes this kid can fit in his mouth at once!

Wyatt always wants to copy his Daddy. One of his new favorite things to do is walk around with Dad's gloves on.

I love this picture! It's his moody actor head shot, what a ham!

No Help Required

Wyatt is very independent, and...an acrobat. For having such short legs he can get himself to some pretty high heights. This afternoon I was putting away clothes in his room while he played in the living room, when I heard a loud crash that was undoubtedly glass shattering. I dash in to the living room to see Wyatt standing on the arm of the bench in our living room. Proud as can be of himself for getting up there obviously. I peer over the ledge that separates the dining room from the living room and see the remnants of the picture frame that used to occupy that ledge. I was a little mad at Wyatt but he had such a look of accomplishment on his face that it was hard to stay mad. I guess that bench will be finding a new home elsewhere in the house.

I had never seen Wyatt climb up here by himself before so I had to see how it was done.

Step 1: Pull off cushion and lift leg on to bench

Step 2: Use amazing strength to pull body on to bench

Step 3: Throw body on to bench

Step 4: Climb on to the arm