Little Mr. or Little Miss?

From the beginning, we have said that this would be our last baby. My body just doesn't handle being pregnant very well. It has always been so miserable, like beyond miserable. With that in mind, I found gender reveal parties on Pinterest and wanted to throw one this time around. The only thing was, I didn't want to be surprised at the party with everyone else (I know, I'm boring like that). I wanted to be the one to make the cake and regardless of it being a boy or a girl, I needed to get my emotions in check before the party. I didn't want any hormonal, emotional, or irrational tears. I liked the idea of mustaches or bows? Little Mr. or Little Miss? Instead of blue vs. pink though, I did brown for the boy/mustache color.

Because of a lot going on, it was thrown together last minute. So it didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but it worked out. 

This is hard to read, but it was my banner that said "Little Mr. or Little Miss?"

The cake! I'm glad this worked out. I was having issues with it all day long!

I wanted a voting area where people got to show if they thought it was a boy or a girl. Then they got to wear either a mustache or a bow so everyone knew what they guessed it was. 

Lincoln didn't feel like looking at me, but he was sporting his bow!

Ethan was funny. For a week leading up to finding out, he guessed girl. A couple of days before he told me he thought it was a boy and a girl like Zach's mom. (My friend Seantae just had twins, a boy and a girl) and then after I told him repeatedly that it was just one baby, he changed his mind and insisted that it was a boy. So he got to sport a mustache (or a beard as he called it all night). 

I also wanted to make some props and have a photo booth! I thought it might be a fun way to kill some time and for people to relax and have some fun. 

Here are the results of our photo booth! Again, not quite what I wanted, but some of them turned out alright. Ethan was obsessed with it and it was by far his favorite part! He would dress up and tell everyone to come take pictures.


Grandma Erm and Ethan

Ryan and Kace

Grandma Ilene and Ethan

Me, Mart and Ethan

Mart and Ethan

Rachel, Devin and Ethan (Do you see a pattern here? He had to be in everybody's picture! Silly boy)

Ethan

Kace and Ethan

Mart and Zack

Me and Debbie

Me and Lincoln

Debi

Amanda and Ryan

We ate some dinner and then people started to get antsy. Debi was all for cutting the cake before dinner and then just saving it, but I told her we should wait. (I wasn't nearly as antsy, because I already knew!) But after dinner, I finally decided it was time to cut the cake.

 

It's pink!!

That is definitely not a color we are used to at our house, but we are excited to add it! Out of everyone who was there, we only had 3 (plus 2 more who weren't there) votes for a boy, and everyone else guessed girl!

During the ultrasound, she was very stubborn and we were lucky to get photos of all the medically necessary stuff. All she did was curl herself into a tight ball and hide behind the placenta. We couldn't get a profile shot at all, and only had a quick half a second window to check her nose and lips for cleft. Everything looks great! I am very grateful that we were able to at least see what we were having, I was starting to go bananas not knowing!

We are so excited to have her a part of our family. For a long time, I've known that there was a girl waiting for me. I'm just glad to know she's finally going to be here and that I wasn't crazy. *wink*

20 weeks down, halfway there. So excited for summer!

Ethan turned 5!

At the end of January my little Ethan monster man turned 5! He's been so anxious to be 5 all last year, that we kept forgetting how old he already was and started thinking that he was already 5. I told him that instead of turning 5 this year, we would go backward and he would turn 3 instead. He didn't think that was funny at all.

This year because of so much going on, being pregnant and busy we decided to do fun things with him, but keep it low key and not throw a big party. Mart took the day off and that afternoon he took him to a movie by himself and when they got back we met friends and family at the bowling alley to go bowling! Ethan loves bowling and going to movies, so he had a fun filled day! After bowling we picked up some pizza and went to my moms house for dinner and cake. It was low key but Ethan seemed to have a good time.

At the bowling alley:

Ryan and Mr. Zack

Lincoln loves bowling too! (Not that you can tell in this picture)

Ethan was so excited to get started

Mart and Dallan

I was there too. :) Once again, I wasn't quite sure how to pose all by myself, so I just pulled my "I'm feeling weird standing in front of a camera by myself" face.

Kace and Tyler

Debi and myself

My mom and crazy Ethan

Me and my other half

For the last few months I had been asking Ethan what kind of cake he wanted, and up until a month before his birthday he told me he wanted a super hero cake. "Batman and Robin with the batmobile". About a month before his birthday he changed his mind and wanted a monster cake instead.

Much easier for me (besides the hand cramping from all the piping with the grass tip!)

I can't make a cake without making cupcakes too ...

Traves looks almost like his cupcake. :)

Ethan really liked it, but wasn't very interested in posing with it. He was too excited to blow out the candles.

He was so excited for his birthday and I know he was sad he didn't get to go to Disneyland this year, but I think he had a good time anyway. I can't believe I have a 5 year old ... it feels like I just had him a couple years ago. Crazy. Even though he can be a stinker lots of the time, I can't imagine life without him. He's such a sweet boy and we love him so much.

Happy Birthday little Monster!

Christmas

I know this is a little late, but better late than never.

Each year when we get out the decorations, Ethan gets his own little tree. He was so excited about his tree this year! Since I was 5, my family has had a Christmas tradition of going to the Hallmark store and picking out our own ornament for the tree. I have a lot. Some years, I've managed to get more than one. *wink* It might be because I'm the only girl, or maybe because my mom is a sucker when it comes to the cute ornaments. :) Anyway, Ethan got to put some of my old ornaments on his tree from when I was little. He loved them! The boys couldn't leave the tree alone the entire time we had it up!

Our finished tree before it would get destroyed by little hands and a cat who likes ribbon. 

 A couple years ago I taught my boys about Christmas magic! I thought I posted a video or photos about it when I taught them, but I can't find the post. If you sing a song to the tree and fill your palm with magic dust, you can blow it on the tree and the lights will turn on and off! This year when the tree was setup, Ethan remembered and got started singing his song to try out the Christmas magic!

Mart has never been to see the lights at temple square, so one Sunday in December we drove down to see the lights and show my boys the temple!

 

Ethan was super anxious for Christmas and was getting so excited!

His cute little face Christmas morning! He was a little bummed he had to wait for Lincoln and sick Mama to wake up.

 

Kya even had a good Christmas! She was so happy about her Christmas bone. 

Both of my boys were so excited and had a fun day

 

After Christmas Kace's family, Ber and Dallan and MarDee came over for Christmas lunch. That evening we went over to my moms for dinner and Christmas at her house.

It was a good day and my boys had a good time! It was a little harder on me because I was still super sick and just wanted to sleep, but I made it through the day with my family.

Lincoln and my mom elbow bumping Christmas night. :) What a silly boy.

Update

There has been a lot going on, hence the lack of posts lately. So here is my update since Halloween. 

Since Lincoln was about 6 months old, I've had serious baby fever. The problem is that they grow up way too fast. Then this last year Kace was pregnant and about every other lady in my ward was expecting a baby sometime at the end of last year or the beginning of this year. I thought that would be fine and I would get to hold enough brand new babies that it would hold me over for a while. I just didn't feel like I could go through another 9 months of torture this soon. But I'm tough and my babies are cute, so here we go again! 

In November my cute friend Trisha took some announcement pictures for us. It was freezing so my kids were having a hard time, but we got a few good ones. :)

At around 6 weeks, the dreaded morning sickness hit. And it hit hard. I was so sick , especially at night. I could barely function and spent most of the day laying on the couch. Our original plan was to tell my Mom at Christmas. I thought this would be easy because I didn't see her all that often and I would be able to hide it until then. Then something clicked in my Mom's head or something and she started inviting me to all sorts of things (very out of character for her) and I was feeling very guilty for lying to her. I just didn't feel well enough to go or to go and hide it. The end of November she just kept pushing to do something for my birthday (also very out of character ... she usually will throw a "party" in December some time and we'll eat dinner and she'll buy a cake ...). My Aunt was in town and they wanted to go to a movie for a girls night out (also not very in character ...) so they invited me. I couldn't say no, so I just said about 50 prayers on my way to the theater that I would survive and not throw up all over the place. I actually made it and I did great! After the movie, I decided to just tell them and get it out in the open so they would leave me alone and quit inviting me to do things that I couldn't do. Ha ha.

I said we should take a picture and when it went off I just said "Say Kelsie's having a baby!" because at that point I was feeling yucky and was ready to just be done and couldn't think of anything else. Lame, I know. My Aunt was so cute and was in shock and just kept hugging me over and over again. My mom looked completely stunned and Debi actually told me after that she had had the thought to ask me when I was having another baby in the car on the way there ... ha.

(Not a great picture, but that's what I get for talking while the guy was taking it)

Because twins run in my family, I have been super paranoid with each pregnancy that it will be twins ... so when I go to the doctor I tell her to double check that there is only one in there. :)

Right before Christmas we confirmed just the one!

Both of my boys act just like they did in their ultrasounds. Ethan NEVER stopped moving, and he still doesn't! Lincoln had spurts where he was super wiggly and then he would calm down, and he is still like that. When she put the wand on my belly and the image of the baby came up, I honestly forgot it was an ultrasound. I was thinking it was a frozen image of the baby like right before they print it out for you. The baby was so calm and didn't move at all! It's little legs were straight up and crossed and it must have been sleeping. It was eventually annoyed by getting prodded and it rolled over onto it's side and then stopped moving again. Maybe this will be a sign of a super mellow baby! (Wouldn't that be nice!)

I am 14 weeks this week and the babe is a size of a lemon. Growing fast (but sometimes not fast enough). I am so anxious to find out what we are having next month! It's starting to drive me a little bonkers. 

Everyone has always told me that as you enter the second trimester, the morning sickness should go away. It never did with my boys so I wasn't expecting it to this time. It has started to go away and I've had way more energy and been able to eat and actually drink something!

Here's to hoping for a much smoother ride this time!