ummm. pregnant much?

so...this pic makes me look REALLY REALLY preg...but then again.... I am really really preg. I am much bigger with baby logan than I was with Zoey! Zoey I could hide my pregnancy pretty easily up until that last few weeks. Not so much this time.

I am 38 weeks in this pic. Today I am 39 weeks and 2 days. After a great week off of school, I go back to teaching tomorrow. It will be hard going back to the grind after such a great relaxing week. As long as I can make it through each day without going into labor at school I will be satisfied.

This pregnancy has been much harder than my first. For 3 weeks I had really bad back pain that made it so hard to walk, sit, stand, roll over in bed, bend over and work in general! One day last week, it just went away I think due to the baby moving off the nerve causing the pain!

Logan moves so much more than Zoey. You can see my entire stomach moving. He is not afraid to stretch out that little body of his. I often can feel his feet and arms punching out on all sides of my stomach and his head smashing into my bladder ALL AT ONCE!
I haven't really felt any contractions during this pregnancy and have been feeling pretty great this last week making me think I might have to induce this lil sucker out like his sister, but in the last day I have been having more natural signs of labor that give me hope to going into labor on my own this week!

Jake's mom is coming out next Wed to help us and I am sure my mom will be on her way down as soon as we give her the "it's time" call. I have def learned to not expect much when it comes to labor and delivery. All I am hoping for is a smooth, shorter labor and smooth shorter recovery.

I can't wait to meet my little boy and put a name with a face!

Getting the Tree

I had a whole week off of school for Thanksgiving and it was just the break I needed! Jake and I took the opportunity to get into the Christmas spirit not knowing how into Christmas we would be able to get with a newborn and Zoey keeping us busy! We got out the lights, decorations and most importantly, got our Christmas tree!

Mom Dad and Charly came down to spend some of the week with us and we had so much fun bringing them with us to the Pine Valley Christmas tree farm. We were the only ones there on a Tues afternoon (cause apparently everyone else gets their tree AFTER thanksgiving!) but we loved having free roam of the place....zoey especially.

Jake took to tree hunting VERY seriously and after a good hour back and forth we got the perfect tree! Jake cut it down, threw it in the back of truck and then we all went out for Mexican food! It was a great day!

Zoey holding 1 red m&m that got all over her clothes and face!

The tree hunting crew!

She loved every minute being in the cool fresh air!

Jake with the tree! (and his fly down) :o)

Uncle Jake and Charly

13 months!

I have just been fascinated watching her learn so fast! It seems like every day she is picking up a new word, or new baby sign, or making a new animal sound.

She loves her books. She will carry a book to you and demand it be read! lol. She LOVES LOVES her book of words and if you say "What does a monkey say?" she will say "oooo ah ah ah" (like a monkey) then go to the other side of the house, find her book, bring it to you and open to the page with the monkey and show it to you. She loves all those words in the book and finding the ones she knows when you ask her.

Today the babysitter was reading her a book about baby Jesus. When she said the word Jesus, Zoey turned around and pointed to the picture of Jesus on her wall. She loves her pictures of Jesus around the house!
We have been working a lot on Baby Signs. I look up the American Sign Language Sign for different words and teach them to Zoey. She is learning them really fast. She does MORE, ALL DONE, SLEEP/NAP, PLEASE, EAT. Of course when she wants something she will not do PLEASE. She prob wishes she knew the sign for GIVE ME NOW!

I am just loving this stage of her life!! The only complaint I have is that she does not say Mama. She says "ma!" sometimes but we think its only when she is tired. Maybe she just thinks I am the hired babysitter! lol. She doesn't say dada a ton either though. Either way, we love her!!

Halloween 2010

Our neighborhood really knows how to do Halloween! Every year they have a huge parade right down our street with firetruck and all with kids and families of all ages trailing behind in their costumes! The parade goes down to the park and everyone hangs out until they start doing costume judging! After all the prizes are given out everyone takes off for trick or treating. Our neighborhood is perfect for trick or treating with the houses nice and close together!

Everyone just sits outside on their lawn and hands out candy. Jake and I thought having 100 pieces of candy we would be set. Nope. We ran out within an hour and had to go inside and feel guilty! It was fun to dress up Zoey and Linkin as bumble bees. Yeah for Halloween!!

This little bumble bee won for her costume in the 0-2 year old category!

Zoey and Jake. Jake wasn't dressed as anything. He just hadn't changed since church.

Walking in the parade

Zoey got this adorable outfit from a family friend for her Birthday! It was perfect that Halloween fell on a Sunday. She looked sooo cute! Thanks Ann!!

My Oct Wedding

Here are a few pictures from the Wedding I ran in Oct! It was physically just exhausting being so pregnant and putting the whole outdoor wedding together...but it was a huge success and I loved every second of it!

The wedding was super casual. No assigned seating, buffet style food, beers etc... Her colors were grey and yellow which came together really nicely. It was the perfect fall day for this outdoor wedding!

More of Zoey's Birthday Party

I finally got a second to put some pics on the computer and thought I would share a few more from Zoey's party!

Here is my best friend, Aunt Melissa (20 week preg) trying to open a present for Zoey! lol. I found this slightly amusing! (Meliss had just found out that week she is having a boy!! We are having boys 3 months apart! It's perfect!)

The pile of presents!! Zoey is one loved lucky little girl!!!

Jake did such an awesome job with the streamers I had to get a picture of them! I HEART the black and white polka dot streamers!

We have a 1 year old!

On Oct 15th Zoey turned 1! We just love our Gooey! She is learning and growing so fast. We are fascinated and entertained by her on a daily basis. Here are some things we know about Zoey:

~She weighs 20lbs 7oz (1 week before her bday)

~She has 6 teeth with the 7th coming in next to the bottom two

~She says dog, cat, that, ma!, dadada

~She is a great sleeper, taking 2 naps a day and sleeping 11 hours at night.

~She loves to put herself to bed with a bottle and a binkie.

~She still loves her baths and gets them almost every night

~She loves to watch me cook ( I sit her in her chair to watch me)

~She is a daddy's girl!

~She knows "more" and "all done" baby signs, waves hi and bye, does So BIG, patti cake, clap your hands, knows where my nose and belly button are and where her own belly button is

~She loves big open spaces to run around. Always on the move!

~She dances

~She points to everything

~She loves animals...poor linkin and bentley (our cat)

~She loves her little movies (Baby Einstein etc...)

~She scrunches her face when she smiles, bearing ALL her teeth

~She grunts when she is frustrated and arches her back (We can see future tantrums in the near future)

~She has a bleach blonde spot in her hair that Jake loves and I am unsure about!

Well there are millions of things about Zoey. I could go on for days like any proud parent would. We can't wait to see what the next year will bring! We love you Zoey!

Zoey's First Birthday Party!

We headed to NY to spend Zoey's 1st birthday with Family! We had a polka dotted cupcake party (of course). It was so nice to spend Zoey's special day with people we loved! The people who came were grandma, grandpa, Aunt Jessy, Charly, Aunt Melissa, GG(grandma), Aunt Julie, Uncle Bob, Chris (Katie's boyfriend), Debbie and Barbara.

Zoey got sooo many gifts! It was so fun to open presents (well....Charly did most of the opening) and have cupcakes and see Zoey make a mess of herself!

Strawberry and Choc Cupcakes!

Zoey being Zoey!

Daddy, Zoey and Pregnant Mommy

Yummy Cupcake!

"what in the world?"

Zoey getting her first baby doll!

Pressing Buttons on a new toy!

The desserts

Zoey and Daddy

Zoey loves Charly!!

Oct 4th - Zoey's Due Date

I have been really reminiscent lately as I watch Zoey running around the house doing her own thing and really growing into a special little person. I think back to last year how Oct 4th (Zoey's due date) came and went with no inkling that she was coming. Today last year I was going to school annoyed to still be teaching over my due date! I felt great and was bummed I wasn't timing contractions (or even having 1 single contraction!)

Zoey 3 days old

Zoey 11 months old

Well in 10 days Zoey will be 1 and this past year will just be precious memories to me. In 2 months I will have a new little one and Zoey will be my big girl. I know that this 1 year when I had Zoey all to myself will hold a special place in my heart!

Happy Birthday Jake!

27 on the 27th!!

In the midst of our crazy semester, Jake and I found time to celebrate his Birthday! I surprised him by taking him to get Korean BBQ! It is always so great to see Jake shocking Korean people with how well he speaks the language. I let him just do all the ordering and sat back as he chatted it up with everyone! He said it was pretty authentic to what it was like when he was in Korea. Each table has its own grill and our server cooked the food in front of us. (In Korea you cook your own!) We got pig bellies. I don't have a huge taste for Korean but I always enjoy going with Jake for the experience!
Cooking up some pig bellies!

Jake with all of the side dishes that come out the SECOND you sit down!
Looks like bacon, but had a really mild taste more like a pork chop.

For Jake's actual Birthday (Mon Sept 27) I had work and Jake had class so it wasn't the most exciting day, but Zoey and I had some presents, mexican food and a carvel ice cream cake waiting when he got home!

We hope you had a good birthday Jake! We love you!!!

Ready for Bed

After a nice bath, a fuzzy pair of slippers and a bath robe, Zoey is ready for bed. In this picture she is telling me "make my bottle and put me to sleep NOW!"

Horray for Souffle!

This semester I am teaching ProStart 2, which is a professionally based class for students looking into the culinary industry. I love it because it is such a small class....only 6 senior boys, and we get to do a lot of cooking. Most days I just give each student a recipe, we put on the radio, they put on their chef jackets and we all just get to work. It's a great atmosphere for them and they are all relaxed and enjoy the class a lot. I enjoy the class a lot too!! It is nice to work at this level with students, really seeing them learn and knowing them and their capabilities. My other classes are just jammed packed with kids and it becomes more about babysitting and making sure they aren't hitting each other with wet towels! Lovely right?

Last week we tried to make a cheese souffle and they all came out bad!! So we did a little research (aka watched Alton Brown from Good Eats makes a souffle) and we tried again! This time we did Chocolate Souffle and they turned out great! This is a picture of them with their souffles.

Here is the recipe for anyone daring to try:

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
pinch cream of tartar
Directions
Heat oven to 375° F. Use 1 tablespoon of the butter to grease on 16-ounce or two 8-ounce ramekins. Coat the ramekins with the cocoa, tapping out the excess.
In a large bowl, over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and remaining butter. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Whisk in the yolks one at a time until smooth. Set aside.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar, salt, and cream of tartar until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Gently fold the egg-white mixture into the chocolate. Spoon into the ramekins. (The recipe can be made to this point up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)
Bake until puffed and set, 40 minutes for a 16-ounce soufflé, 20 minutes for two smaller ones. (If baked directly from the refrigerator, add 5 to 10 minutes.) Serve immediately with Custard Sauce.

Gog and Cak

Somehow Jake and I had a feeling mama and dada wouldn't be the first words Zoey would say. We were right. Zoey's first words are GOG (dog) and CAK (cat). We read a little book all the time that says how "little dogs go ruff ruff ruff" and "cats and kittens say 'meow' " Well, Linkin and our temporary cat (he is leaving us on Wed due to my allergies ) certainly do a lot of "ruffing" and "meowing" so whenever they do she says "GOG!!" or "CAK". It's pretty darn cute! We have yet to catch it on camera!

And no these are not my cute animals, but I wish they were!!

Together...

...Is my favorite place to be! Happy 3rd Anniversary To Us!

Our Trip To Utah

In August, we made a trip out to Utah! It was our last horrah of the summer...a summer we were not ready to part with! We got to do so many things while we were out there and it was so nice spending time with Jake's family and seeing his friends.

We got to attend Lindsay's wedding while we were there (my college roomie). The temple sealing was really beautiful and the whole day was perfect for her. It was the first sealing Jake and I have been to since we got married and I have never been in the Salt Lake temple, so it was a special day for us! We even got to go to the Macaroni Grill where we had our first date and also ate the night Jake proposed!

Linda is such a great Grandma and threw our upcoming arrival a little shower to help us get in the zone for having a boy! She is a pro when it comes to details and put so much thought into all of it. It was the perfect weather and great company and I'm glad we got to do that!

Zoey loved all the attention she got from Jake's cousins! She is so excited to have a brother to play with!!

While we were in Utah we got to go to the temple where we were sealed, got to go to some Education Week classes at BYU, got to see a bunch of Jake's friends and Jake got to go on a weekend camping trip with his buds, and Zoey got lots of love from Jake's family! It was really great!

We love you Nelson Family!!! Thanks for a great trip to end our summer!

Zoey 10 months