Attempt #1

Since the day Brandon and I moved into our neighborhood we noticed cars drive pretty fast around our corner and in our neighborhood in general.  We have quite the mixture of ages in our area from retired to young couples like ourselves, and there are a lot of new teen drivers as well.  I would even hear my neighbors across the street complain about how fast people would drive and we even made it a joke that we were going to all sit in our front yard and spray the cars that were going too fast with our hoses haha.  I knew it was just a matter of time before something happened... and it did early Saturday afternoon.

Kinsey and I were upstairs.  She was playing with her baby dolls and I was preparing dinner to put in the crock pot for that night when I heard a very weird noise.  It sounded like a soda can was crushed but 10x louder..  I ran over to look out my front windows and saw something that NO ONE should ever have to see in their life!  A boy was laying in the road right in front of a truck... I ran to put my safety gate on my stairs so Kinsey would be safe and dialed 9-1-1 as a ran out my front door.  When I got there the boy was crying (I was soooo relieved to hear him cry!) and I continued to ask him questions like his name, age, thing like that too tell the dispatcher.  It seemed like forever before anyone else came to the scene and once there were a couple people there I handed my cell phone to one of them and went back in my house to keep Kinsey safe and I didnt want her to see that poor boy laying in the road.  Soon the paramedics arrived and the scene was cleared up and I went to get my cell phone back from the nice man!  I was so shook up from the whole thing because this is the second time I have been in the front row seat of a automobile and bike accident.  The first time was when I was driving to high school and a man was hit and it actually took his life.  I was affected by this for a very very long time and I still get clammy hands and nervous when driving near cyclists.  Brandon thinks I am phyco when I yell at him when I think he gets to close to someone on their bike.  I am just so so THANKFUL that the little boy was responding and will be ok.  I have had nightmares since Saturday evening and it plays in my mind all the time.. and now that I am a mom I am more scared to see it happen to one of my kids.  I just cant even imagine!!!!

So Saturday after I laid Kinsey down for her nap I got on my phone and made multiple phone calls.  My plan is to get our yield signs changed to stop signs, and those signs that say "slow, children at play" or something to get more people aware that there are LOTS and LOTS of little kids in this area and to slow down!! I called UDOT and spoke to a really nice guy who gave me a ton of information on what I needed to do.  He directed me to call Layton City and talk to them.  Well, they were closed since it was the weekend so I had to wait until today to get ahold of anyone.  When I called, I got the administrator who then transferred me to her boss, who then transferred me to the police department, who then transferred me to the sheriff, who then transferred me to the traffic engineer and thats where I left a message.  I will NOT stop until something is done!! I am so frustrated that something hasnt been done sooner... So today is attempt #1 of getting something done and I will keep you all updated to how many more attempts it takes me!  I WILL NOT GIVE UP!

32 Weeks!

is it just me or is time on super fast mode lately!?!?  I feel like I have only been pregnant for a couple months, and in reality I could have this baby in as little as 6 WEEKS! Im stressing out trying to get everything done on time and so far I am on a good pace to be done by Thanksgiving :) I will be done with finals at the end of this month and Harper's room should be done in the next week or so, then I just have to worry about getting the carpets cleaned, finishing up her crib bedding and a few other little things.

My appointment was yesterday and everything went pretty good.  I have not gained 1 oz in the past 4 weeks and that worries my Dr a little bit, but Harper has def grown and is right on track so I think my body is giving its "extra" weight to her and I am TOTALLY fine with that lol.  I eat at least 3 times a day, usually 4 but I have a very active toddler and a big house to keep clean all day so I burn lots of calories!  Everything else looks perfect and I have lots of fluid so I know she is happy :)

Things are getting a little bit more difficult for me now with my bigger belly.. Sleeping is a JOKE! I move so much and can hardly get comfortable.  And when I finally do get comfortable I have to get up to go to the bathroom, take care of a crying puppy, help Kinsey get tucked back into bed, or take some tums because my heartburn is killing me haha.  Its a never ending cycle and I know I wont get much more sleep when I have a newborn so I am just thankful for what I do get :) Simple tasks are no longer simple... I struggle with scrubbing the bathroom (especially the tub), picking things up off the floor is 10x harder then what it used to be, and chasing after Kinsey is quite funny because she can usually out run me now lol  I also have a very hard time rocking with Kinsey :(  Sometimes she needs to just have a few min of my undivided attention so we rock in a rocking chair and since my belly is in the way she has to snuggle up with it instead of me! Another thing I have realized it my energy level is not as good as it normally is. I painted 95 percent of my house all on my own and in about 2 months plus had Kinsey to watch.  I got it done and felt fine.  Then when it came around to me painting the nursery that was a different story!  I would do one wall and have to take a break and not get back to it until the next day usually lol.  Lets just say it has taken me 2 weeks to paint that one room!  Its almost done though!!!!!  I am feeling great and enjoying every second I can with just Kinsey and I because I know when Harper arrives, my life will be 3x as busy :)

tin tins!

I LOVE family traditions and wanted to start a bunch once I had my own family! So one of them we started this year was going to a pumpkin patch, ridding on a hay ride and picking out our own pumpkins. This totally beats going to the grocery store to pick out pumpkins that have been picked over a million times haha. We went to Black Island Farms this year in Syracuse. They have the largest corn maze in Utah and have a huge field full of perfect pumpkins, and a ton of stuff for kids to do. I cant wait to take Kinsey back there when she is a little older so she can play the games but she def had fun this year. While we were standing in line, Beatleguise came over to talk to us and Kinsey wanted to keep a nice 10ft distance from him haha She was totally fine if she could see him and he wasnt too close, but as soon as he would get closer she would hold onto Brandon tighter and tighter. We managed to get a pic with him though haha! On the hay ride Kinsey had a BLAST! She saw cows and just enjoyed everything about it, then when we got off to pick out pumpkins she was even more thrilled. She was right along side her dad while I was trying not to fall haha. Being pregnant and walking on very unstable ground that sinks in certain areas just isnt a good mix! we got her a smaller pumpkin and she was very proud! She even helped me carry it to the car and she wouldnt let us forget about them when we got home. Now every time we go out our front door she grabs her pumpkin and says "tin tin!" I LOVE it! :)

she was just a little unsure about him..

happy girl with her tin tin :)

Drum Roll!!!

Well folks we have decided on a name for our little girl!!! 

Harper Lucille Kunz

Let me just say this has been one of the HARDEST things Brandon and I have had to do.. I have no idea how we agreed on Kinsey's name so fast lol.  I have liked the name Harper from day one.  (I got the name from the Beckham's)  But Brandon would always say it sounded like "hopper" and wasnt a very girly name.  Anyways, we went back and forth from name to name and the only name we could agree on was Aspen.  Well we soon remembered and found out that there is a little girl on Brandon's side of the family named Aspen and she just turned 1 a couple months ago.  They would be too close in age and that just wouldnt work out having them with the same name lol So it was back to the drawing board!  We came up with Elizabeth and a few others but I just wasnt crazy about them so I guess you could say I was the picky one.. We would also come up with other names like Lucy, and a couple other names ending in "y", but I didnt want to have my girls have similar names and since Kinsey was already a "y" name we couldnt have another lol 

Then one night I finally told Brandon we had to agree on a name before we went to bed!!  We spent a couple hours talking about names and to be honest I just didnt like ANY of them.  (girl names are hard!) Then Brandon told me he didnt mind the name Harper, but still wanted to see what else there was. (this was the first time he actually had something positive to say about that name lol) So after a long time later he came up with the idea to flip a coin!  We did best out of 3 and I called heads and WON! The deal was if he won he had to name her but the name had to go with the middle name Lucille, and if I won her name would be Harper.  After I won Brandon seemed just fine with it :) and I am SOOOO happy! 

Her middle name is our Great-Grandma's name on Brandon's side and she passed away not too long ago from pneumonia.  She was truly an amazing woman and I felt like I knew her my whole life!  We never saw her out of her nice dresses and her hair and make-up was ALWAYS flawless.  She was very conscious about her health and had the best body I have ever seen an elderly lady have.  When you would ask her what her secret was, she would tell you she exercises everyday (thats the truth!) and eats all low-fat ;).  I love her and miss her everyday and wish I got to spend more then the short 5 years knowing her.  I am so excited that our little girl is going to carry on her beautiful name :)

Well there you have it! Thats one less thing on my "to-do" list and now i have much more stuff to do!  I started to paint the nursery and her quilt is almost done.  So I hope I can stay at a good pace and have everything done by Thanksgiving!!!