Family Home Evening: Wheeler Historic Farm

Monday, October 18, we went to Wheeler Historic Farm for FHE. We paid for a full activity pass for Ella (wagon ride, straw and corn maze, and "pumpkin patch") and just wagon rides for us since we could go through the maze for free and help Ella pick her pumpkin. We had so much fun! Ella loved walking around and looking at and chasing the roosters, finding the cows and horses and ducks and goats and rabbits.

We then went on the wagon ride which took us around the farm. We saw the silly little Halloween things they set up like a mock graveyard and spider webs in the trees. It was so nice to look at the scenery and just enjoy being together as a family. After the wagon ride Jared wanted to go take a picture by this really neat tree that we saw on the ride, but I needed to use the bathroom terribly bad and then Ella did too (thank goodness) and so we set out to find the bathroom.

After the bathroom we did go back to that tree and attempted a picture with it, but by that time it was quite dark out so we decided we will go back later and try again.

We then decided to head back to the maze and pumpkin patch since Jared's birthday lasagna was in the oven at home and it would be done cooking soon.

This was the most fun part of the whole night. We let Ella lead us through the maze that was her height. She would go in a dead end and say "nope, no hole!" It was so cute! Funny thing is that in the corn maze part, she would go down a row thinking that was the path and because she is little she fit just fine and couldn't understand why we couldn't follow :)

 

When we finally made it to the pumpkin patch she got to pick out her own pumpkin. She loved to pick out the tiniest ones, that she could pick up herself, OR she liked to pick the greenest ones in the bunch. She was just too funny.

 

We finally got a decent sized one and headed home for our yummy dinner in our warm house.

It was such a fun FHE. I sure love my little family!

Ebony

On July 2, 2010 we welcomed a new family member into our home, Ebony. Ebony was a beautiful black, curly, toy poodle puppy and Ebony was a girl! We were so excited to buy a pink carrier, pink toys, and eventually to put cute rhinestone collars on "her" and bows too of course.

A couple of days later our neighbors came by and we showed them our adorable Ebony. Ebony then proceeded to be inappropriate, something we had never seen "her" do. Which led to the discovery that Ebony was in fact a HE not a SHE!

I texted the people we bought him from and said we specifically wanted a female dog and wanted a replacement (we had specific reasons for wanting a female). They said that they didn't have a female right then but that we could wait for another. When I asked for my money back they said they couldn't give it back for 2 weeks after we got him. I spent tons of time looking online for a female poodle puppy and we found a brown one that we were interested in. The lady was willing to meet us where Ebony's previous family lived (1.5 hours away). We met the female puppy (twice the size of Ebony but only a week older) and I just couldn't do it. I cried the whole way there and the whole time we were meeting our possible future pet. I couldn't give him back! So Jared said, okay, we can keep Ebony!

So here is my post: We have a new family member! His name is Ebony! We got him July 2, 2010. He is black and curly and very very energetic! He weighed 1.5 lbs when we got him and now weighs 3lbs. He was born May 24, 2010. Ella loves him and loves to carry him around and act as if he is a rag doll. He puts up with it most of the time. We have been piddle training him since day 1, NO PIDDLE PADS, and he has done so well. We have kept him in an exercise pen that Jared made for him to prevent accidents, and to keep him where we can see him at all times. He rarely barks and when he does it is pitiful. He loves to run and play and chew on raw hide sticks. When we got him he wasn't even 6 weeks old and his teeth weren't even in all the way. He couldn't eat hard food so I bought him soft. Luckily that only lasted a few weeks. Jared is training him and doing so so well! He sits, stays, lays down, plays fetch and is learning new things every day. When he needs to go potty he either whines in his cage which he can now get out of or he sits by the front door. Who knew that we'd be dog owners. Ha!

Pictures of Ebony:

And my very favorites:

Prenatal Appointment and Ella cuteness!

Today was Jared's 28th birthday! We are celebrating tomorrow, however, because he is working a waterfall shift tonight.

 We had our second prenatal appointment today and everything looks great! My blood pressure has slightly increased but watching 2 kids including my own and having a 2 year old that has selective hearing (meaning NOT hearing ME) causes a little bit of stress. Also, the nurse said it could be due to the fact that we were rushing to the appointment and I didn't really have time to rest before she took it. There is nothing to be concerned about though. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat! 150 bpm. So nice and strong. Yay!

I just have to include Ella since this still is her blog. She has been so cute lately with her infatuation with the Primary song "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" or in her words "poppy in the tree". She sings it so cutely and does the hand movements and expressions as well. I will have to get a video of it to share. She is just so fun!

*The picture at the beginning of this post is of Ella and her balloon hat that she got at Jared's work carnival. She really loved that hat! Glad for it too since we waited in line for an hour and she had an accident while waiting to get her hat!

Finding out about Baby #2

This was our last attempt before going through more expensive procedures to get pregnant (we've been trying for 1.5 yrs). I took a test on August 6 (day 10, too early, negative result) and thought well, I really have no symptoms unlike with Ella (super duper sore chest!) except for a little bit of heartburn but I will take a test again on day 12. August 8 (day 12) I took another test and it said I was PREGNANT! I walked out of the bathroom with tears in my eyes and woke Jared and said "I'm pregnant!" I didn't believe it so I took another test, Pregnant it read. I used digital tests because I had 5 of them but have had a bad experience with digital tests before (said I was pregnant a year before Ella came along, and it was devastating because I wasn't!) so I kept not believing it and ended up taking all 5 tests with the same results. I then went to the store the next day and bought a non-digital test just to be sure. Sure enough, 2 lines! All of our many prayers were finally answered! We are so blessed!
The tests:

I emailed my doc and was told to go and get my blood drawn to check and make sure I had hCG in my blood. It was positive. I was then told to go back in 48hrs and get my blood drawn again to make sure my hCG levels had increased. They had more than doubled! Yay! I was officially pregnant! I found out at 4 wks. I then made a doctor appointment for a viability ultrasound at 6.5 wks. I had my ultrasound and sure enough there is a baby in there, in the right place, and I was also able to find out more about my ovaries and my PCOS. It is actually a very mild case and according to an article I read, I wouldn't even be considered to have PCOS because I do not have many cysts on my ovaries! Hooray! Let's hope we can get that taken care of before #3. Anyway, we heard his/her heartbeat (160 bpm) but we also saw another heartbeat! I was then scheduled for another ultrasound in 1 week because there was the possibility of identical twins (although if there were twins my doctor told me that one would likely not survive as they were so close together). We prayed for 2 healthy twins, or 1 healthy singleton. At my second ultrasound we found that that other heartbeat must have been the umbilical cord. We got to see and hear the heartbeat again and it was so neat! Here are pics of the first 2 ultrasounds:

August 25, 2010 (6.5 wks)

First photo, just the baby, second photo the heartbeat and the little dot that is the baby

 September 3, 2010 (7wks 6 days)

The head is supposedly the top little white spec, the majority of the rest is the yolk sac (did you know that even though a baby's gender is determined at conception, a baby actually doesn't become male or female until about 6.5 wks. There is a germ sac that feeds the information into the baby and he/she becomes a he/she. Interesting!)

At almost 10 weeks I had my first OB appointment and got to meet my new doctor. She was nice, spunky, and seemed like she would be very personable. She decided to do another ultrasound just to make triple sure that there was just 1 baby in there and there is. Strong heartbeat! We got a good picture too! He/she was floating right in the center of my uterus and we were able to see the head and the little flippers, I mean hands and feet!

 September 17, 2010 (9 wks 6 days)

Baby head down, little arms and feet almost visible

I have my next appointment on Friday, October 15. We are so excited! That is Jared's birthday too! So far, I had nausea from 7wks to 8.5 wks and haven't since. I am slightly hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) but the doctor said that is normal and to eat more protein. I feel great, just am soooo tired. Oh, and I'm already showing! Apparently that is normal after the first baby. And even though everyone and everything says it is impossible, I've been feeling the baby move since about 9.5 wks.

Approximate due date: April 16, 2011!!!

Ella's New Shirt!

This is Ella's ADORABLE new shirt:

SURPRISE!!!