While my mom was here last week for Maylee's birthday she took my maternity pictures. I was nervous about having pictures taken with this one because I seem to be so much bigger than I was with Maylee. But there are a few that turned out pretty cute that don't reveal just how large I feel.

And a bonus one of Maylee...

Mini Van Mom

I always swore growing up that I would never be a Mini Van mom. I guess I was young enough and spoiled enough to believe I was above and better than a Mini Van. When I bought my first car I was 17 and I had saved up 9000 waitressing to buy a car. I bought a black brand new 2002 Nissan Sentra and it has been a great car. But I have driven it for the last eight years and she is old and too tiny for our family. When I got my permit 10 years ago I learned how to drive a stick shift and I have never driven anything else. The few times I would borrow my moms car which was an automatic I almost didn't know how to drive it, I would occasionally hit the brake thinking it was the clutch. But I was so tired of driving a stick, I kept telling David how excited I would be for the day that I wouldn't have to drive a stick, 10 years was long enough. For about the last year Dutch has really out grown our car. When we put him in his car seat, if the passenger seat wasn't scooted up far enough his feet would get stuck between his seat and the front seat and it would make him cry. So for about a year now, every time David was in the car with us I would have to sit with my knees touching the dash so that there was enough room for Dutch and both Davids knees touched the dash while he was driving to make room for Maylee behind him. It's pretty much been miserable. But we have happily endured. Then at the end of last July the A/C in my car went out. We didn't have the money to fix it, but winter was coming so again we just endured. We drove everywhere with the windows down, not a great thing for hair do's on a Sunday. But no big deal, the heater still works so once winter came we were fine. But for about the last 2 weeks it has been warm enough that the inside of the car is hot when it's been sitting in the parking lot for a couple of hours, so we've been back to having the windows down. Like I said it's been a great car, we have never had any big problems with it beside the A/C going out. But we have definitely been itching for a bigger car. And with a third baby on the way it was the perfect excuse to finally make it work. Because there is absolutely no way on earth that three car seats can buckle in the back seat. I know you can put three in there, but one can't buckle and you have to slam the door really hard to get it to close with three back there. So I knew that without a bigger car I would be home bound after the baby came. Not something I'm good at. So we have been anxiously awaiting our tax returns to finally get a bigger car. They came last week and on Friday we went car shopping. We found the perfect car for us at only the second dealership we went to. They were able to get us a great deal. So we are now proud owners of a 2009 Toyota Sienna. The room in it is amazing. There is plenty of room for Dutch's feet with out my knee's being anywhere close to the dash. And the storage space is amazing. I'm in love. Dutch's favorite feature about the van is pushing the button that makes the door shut, he loves it. And my favorite thing, is the space, the sliding downs, it's an automatic, the working A/C and not only does the A/C work but is has rear A/C so I now longer have to give up all the vents for the kids. I actually get two to myself. We are so super excited. It is used so there are a couple of dings on it. But it's new to us and that's all that matters. The only problem I see with buying used is you don't get to pick out the color. Our van is tan, not my favorite color, but David promised and crossed his heart that one day I'll be able to buy a car and pick out whatever color I want, (I'm lame I know). But for now I am so grateful that we were finally able to afford a bigger car before baby number three arrives and that we can all be a lot more comfortable.

And not only did I get a major upgrade on a car but so did David. For almost the last four years David has been driving a 1994 Honda Civic hatchback. We are so grateful for David's brother in law Jeremy and his sister Dawn in giving us the car so that we would be able to make ends meet during college life after we had Dutch. But the car is old and it has definitely seen better days. It never had power steering, no A/C, the gauges only worked when they wanted to. And talk about horrible profiling in that car. People were so rude when you drove that car just because of the way it looked. David had a gun pulled on him once while driving down the freeway, he was pulled over several times just from the look of the car, but once the officer got to the window and saw a (and I hate saying it) but saw a white guy, he would tell him to have a good day and be on his way. He was just assumed to be illegal. So now David got to upgrade from his car to my car. Still old and still without A/C, which I feel really bad about. But he is excited for his "new" car. He got to upgrade 8 years from the two cars, while I only upgraded 7 years (at least that's what I tease him about). So we are both happy with our "new" cars. It's been a good week for us.

Happy Birthday Maylee!

Maylee Jane turned two on Wednesday. My mom came up Tuesday night to help celebrate. We did our birthday tradition with the kids and filled the living room with balloons for when she first came down the stairs. It was a pretty lazy morning with how I was feeling. We hung out and let the kids play and then after we finally got ready for the day we took Maylee to Wal-Mart so she could get her gift from her Grandma and pick out something from Mimi. Grandma got Maylee her very first tricycle. She doesn't quite understand the pedaling yet but I'm sure it won't take long to get there. She loves her bike and it's so nice that now she has one of her own and doesn't have to covet Dutch's anymore. Mimi got her a Tinkerbell doll and Tinkerbell dress. Tinkerbell is Maylee's favorite movie right now. And Maylee loves and adores her Tinkerbell doll. She carries it everywhere. The only problem is that Dutch loves the Tinkerbell doll too. He even likes it better than Gordon right now, so we are dealing with a lot of fights. I have to keep reminding him that Tinkerbell is Maylee's special birthday present. After leaving Wal-Mart we took the kids to the park so Maylee could try out her new bike. She needed to be pushed the entire time but she loved it. She can only focus on one thing at a time, which is either pedaling, steering or saying cheese for the camera, so she was all over the place.

Playing at the park...

When Daddy got home from school we opened presents. This was a hard year for Dutch, he loves and understands what presents are but doesn't understand why only Maylee got to open them. So he wanted to open all her presents for her. Which she was ok with him helping a little bit. David and I got her a bunch of dress up jewerly, princess shoes, sunglasses and some clothes. And she loved it all. She opened her sunglasses first and had to wear them while she opened the rest of her presents. It was so funny and cute.

Trying on her shoes. It is so funny watching her walk in them.

Blowing out her candles...

Maylee wasn't very sure about her Tinkerbell dress. When we got home from the park we tried putting it on her but she literally freaked out. You would have thought the dress was attacking her from the way she reacted when we tried to get her to wear it. Well while I was at the hospital on Thursday David put the dress on her and then flew her all around the living room like Tinkerbell and after that she has loved her dress. Now she asks to put it on. She looks so cute wearing it. I am pretty sure she had a great birthday. And I loved spoiling her with gifts. She is such a fun little girl. I am so glad that she is apart of our family. She is wild and crazy, sweet and sassy but I wouldn't want her to be any other way. We love you Maylee Jane!

What we've been up to lately...

This month is passing by so quickly, it seems that March is just around the corner and then we will be a family of five. Which is crazy.

Maylee is doing really great with the potty training we hardly have any accidents unless she is upstairs and her potty chair is down, or if she is wearing panties she sometimes forgets. So we still pretty much have a naked little girl around her all the time. But she really is doing awesome. I don't worry about her at all when we go out. She can hold it for about 3 hours and she has done great at telling me if she needs to go and she even uses the public potty. It is so awesome to have both my kids potty trained, just in time to start over at square one. She is still wearing a diaper at nap and bed time but she will not pee it in if she is awake, she'll take it off and insist on using the potty. I am so glad. That's 40 bucks that we are saving every 5 weeks.

For Valentines Day Grandma sent both the kids a Valentines day card with 5 dollars in it. So I took the kids to Wal-Mart to let them each pick out a toy. Dutch was dead set on getting the Gordon train. And he's been wanting it for about the last 7 months, so even though it was over his budget, I decided to cover the rest so he could finally get his beloved Gordon. Maylee carried around the largest baby doll she could find and was dead set on getting it. Seriously the doll came up to her shoulders. I finally was able to convince her to get a little baby that she can take in the bath with her. I figured that would get played with a little bit more. But without me even knowing it that baby also came with it's very own potty chair. And oh my, Maylee loves it. On the car ride home she kept putting the baby on the potty, then she would say, "Baby go poop-pooh on the potty, YEAH BABY!" and she would clap her hands for the baby. It is very cute. She loves the baby and she loves congratulating her and making a big deal every time the baby uses the potty. The same night that she got it I was sitting at my craft table and the kids where playing. And then pretty soon I heard both Dutch and Maylee cheering for the baby because she went "pee pee" on the potty. Then I heard the toilet flush. Well once Dutch got in on the game he would take the potty into the bathroom and pretend to dump it in the toilet and then flush it. That went on for about 45 minutes. It was really cute.

Here's a picture of the kids opening the cards from Grandma... Here is Dutch with his new Gordon the train... And Maylee and her baby using the potty... Maylee has started showing a lot of interest in picking out what she wants to wear lately. Nothing matches at all but she loves putting outfits together. Dutch got a few puzzles for Christmas and the kids are obsessed with them especially Maylee. We usually put the puzzles together at least 10 times a day. And of course it's not something Maylee can do on her own, she needs to me to help her with each piece. But she is actually getting a lot better at it. Maylee has also figured out how to climb the fridge... David has had block week all this week. So the kids have been "helping" him study... And trying to get as much Daddy snuggle time as possible before he leaves for school every day since they don't see him a whole lot during block week. Here are the kids all ready for church on Sunday. For Valentines Day David and I got to speak in Sacrament meeting. That makes for a pretty much forgotten Valentines Day. All we (or I should say I) could worry about or focus on was preparing and giving my talk. The last time I had to speak in church I was pregnant with Dutch so it's been about four years. Lets just say I was more than a little nervous. But everyone said I did great, so hopefully they weren't just trying to be nice. Regardless I am glad it's behind us. As for me I have still be crafting a lot. Last week I made a slip cover for one of the pillows that goes on my couch. I have hated that pillow and thought about just trashing it and then I got the idea to cover it. It looks so much better and it matches my other pillow finally.

Before... After... And if you follow Make It and Love It blog at all you know where I have been getting all of my ideas...

I also made a sewing machine cover so my kids would stop unraveling my thread when I have it left out and I made a car trash bag which is the greatest thing ever. I love it. And yes it's all the same fabric, might as well use the left overs. And my latest project that I finished on Wednesday was a table fort for the kids. When I saw this on Make it and Love it, I just had to make one for my own kids. I knew that I would have LOVED it when I was little so I figured my kids would love it. And they do, which makes me so happy. It turned out better than I could have hoped for. I made one side all girlee with flowers and the other side all boyish with cars and trains. And last of all the latest update on me. On Monday I was sitting upstairs cross legged in front of my closet mirror door putting on my makeup. Maylee had been playing upstairs with me. But pretty soon I heard her fall down the stairs and then the loud thud when she hit the bottom. So I jumped up really fast and ran down the stairs to her. She was fine, she got a little bloody nose but other than that fine. As for myself, that was probably the quickest I have moved or stood up in months. I have been saying that my pubic bones hurt really bad with this pregnancy but when I stood up and moved that fast it was like something snapped. I hurt so bad after that I could hardly walk. I couldn't even lift my legs up onto the couch. I was in a lot of pain. And it started sending me into a lot of braxton hicks. I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday so I brought up the incident and really made them understand how much pain I am in with my bones because I really think that it is more than just normal pregnancy stuff. Well the PA really listen and she even voiced my own concern out loud. She wanted to do an ultrasound since an x-ray is out to see if maybe baby is just positioned funny. But she said her concern is my pelvic bones cracking or breaking during delivery. Which has been on my mind. Because I can't image being able to push this child out when I can't even lift my legs onto the couch without wanting to cry. Anyways they did an ultrasound, according to that everything is normal except babies head is already as low as it can get and I have a cyst on my right ovary next to babies head. She said maybe it's too much stuff in my hip bones, but with out an x-ray it's just guesstimation. My mom got to my house after my doctors appointment to celebrate Maylee's birthday (more on that later) and by Tuesday night I was having some contractions. Enough to worry me but I knew I wasn't in labor. Although I know I don't want to start progressing I'm only 33 weeks. All day Wednesday same thing, braxton hicks and lower back cramping. So by Wednesday night, my mom, David and I all felt like I should probably see the doctor just to make sure I wasn't progressing. So Thursday morning I call them up and explain and ask if I could see the doctor. They told me I had to go to the L&D triage. I was not very happy about that. Lets just say I don't love the doctor's office that I found here. So I went to the L&D triage and of course they have me lay comfortably on the bed and hook up the monitors, that's not what I do at home, so of course there not going to see the same braxton hicks as me.. So I sit up and move around, try to make it like if I was at home. The nurse told me I wasn't having contractions but that my uterus was definitely active and distressed. So the doctor finally had her check me, I'm dilated to a two but luckily my cervix is still thick. If my cervix was thinned out she'd be really concerned. After checking me I started having a few contractions, so they gave me a shot of terbutaline and sent me home, telling me to "take it easy", easier said than done, when you don't live by any family and you have two needy children at home. But luckily I haven't had anymore of the lower back cramping (I only have back labor, which is why it concerns us), just a ton of painful "braxton hicks". I have a hard time with braxton hicks and true contractions, its hard for me to distinguish even though I've had two babies. I dilated to a five with Maylee on what I thought were just braxton hicks, which is why I'm concerned. So hopefully I can keep this little girl in me for another three weeks, to put her past the preemie stage. So my house will probably be even more trashed and my kids even more whiny from not be able to go and do as much. But I'd really rather not have a NICU baby. So wish me luck.

Potty Training Update

So I started potty training Maylee yesterday just like I said I was going to. And it was a very long day. Not once did she go to the bathroom on the potty. But I told myself I would go til Friday before giving up, so when we woke up this morning we started in on it again. She hadn't gone all morning and I knew she needed to. Well my upstairs bathroom was in desperate need of a good cleaning so I locked her in there with me. I had the potty chair set up and the potty ring on the big toilet. And after 45 minutes she peed all over the rug. Then about 20 minutes later she had a poo accident and it doesn't even phase her. I was so done. I decided I was not going to do this anymore, what was I thinking. So I decided after she woke up from her nap I would have the potties put away and I wouldn't even mention it again until March 1st and then we would try again. I just couldn't do it anymore. She obviously isn't ready. So then about a half an hour before her nap, right after I had fed the kids lunch, I sat down on the couch to eat my very delicious grapefruit, when I noticed that Maylee was sitting on the potty. I walked over there and to my surprise she was going pee pee. Lets just say I was a little over dramatic on my excitement. I praised her, gave her candy and would not stop telling her over and over again what a good little girl she was. That was enough encouragement for me to keep going til Friday. Now I knew that it was clicking a little bit. So I put her down for her nap and when she woke up she used the potty two more times, no more accidents for today. So I think we are finally on the right track. I'm just hoping that when she wakes up in the morning that she remembers that she can use the potty. I sure there are still plenty of accidents in the very near future but at least she gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going.