"I'm a Survivor..."

Mom mom left Sunday morning, and we're actually surviving. I figured that I'd hurry and post this before something big blows up and we shift from surviving to barely hanging on... (knock on wood that doesn't happen!)

Sunday actually went really well. Hunter was still young enough that I didn't want to take him to church yet to encounter all the people and germs. So he and I stayed home. But the evening went well and everything. I got some organizing done (scheduled our week and stuff), did laundry (which I actually put away!) and even made dinner and cleaned up from it! I was pretty proud of myself for the first day mom was gone.

Yesterday went alright too. I didn't quite accomplish everything on my to-do list, but we didn't have too many temper tantrums (mine or Gabe's), Hunter survived, I got some Blind Guy work done, and more laundry washed, folded and put away! Gabe and I did some coloring, played cars together, played play-doh and overall I think the day wasn't too bad.

Today we're not quite doing as well...Gabe seemed to pick up some of those germs at church on Sunday and over the last couple of hours seems to be coming down with some kind of a bug. He's stuffy, runny, grumpy, whiney (more than ever) and just really struggling. I'm hoping and praying that he'll stay down for his nap because he and I both need the break! Keep the little guy in your prayers - with all the changes in our house with the new baby he doesn't need to be getting sick on top of things. (this is a picture of Gabe with his morning ritual. He likes to come in and get in our bed - he prefers if I stay in with him - and watches a PBS or Disney show. His favorites are Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse Playhouse. He likes to have juice and a snack (fruit snacks) and recently has added asking for a glass of milk too. He brings toys, kicks back on the pillows and veg's out. I love hearing him sing along with the characters, and it's fun to see him start to catch on to the alphabet and numbers from Sesame Street).

But as for today - I do have plans for dinner tonight, have a very organized grocery shopping list for when that finally happens (hopefully tonight when Cory gets home to watch one or both of the boys) and I am hoping to cross a few other things off my to-do list if these boys nap at the same time. Oh - I guess I should try to eat something for lunch too....since it is 2:30 already...

I also thought I'd throw a few pictures up here though. I know it's hard for family to not be here with us with new baby Hunter, so I want to be as good as I can about posting pictures when I can.

These couple of pictures are of Hunter at bathtime the other night. He's started to actually enjoy bathtime (it took a few times). He likes the warm water but gets fussy if it starts to cool off, and fusses right when I get him out and he's not totally wrapped up in a towel. It's been fun to watch him warm up to the water. I hope he'll enjoy bathtime like Gabe always has. It can be a really fun part of the nightly routine.

Meal Ideas - need your help!

I'm working on making my life more efficient and organized - something that is a necessity now. One of the biggest problems I have had in the past is mealtime. Both coming up with what to have for dinner, and making sure that I have all of the ingredients before I start cooking. I have never been really great about planning our meals - and I've been led by what sounds good at the moment. This strategy hasn't worked really very well lately, and so I'm revamping my approach. I'm hoping to make a menu for a week at a time (I'm going to work up to two weeks at a time - and maybe even further if possible) and see how that goes. I'll make my menu over the weekend (by Sunday evening at least) and do my grocery shopping on Monday's.

Here is the list I've come up with in the last couple of minutes. There are really easy recipes, and use ingredients I either already have, or basic ingredients I can stock up on at the grocery store.

• Baked potato bar with green salad
• Taco salad
• Cobb salad
• Spinach Salad
• Oriental Chicken and cabbage salad
• Creamy Chicken casserole
• Shepherd’s pie
• Fred’s Sweet and sour chicken
• Curry Chicken with rice
• Hamburgers/veggie burgers
• Grilled chicken breast (marinated and bbq) with grilled veggies
• Stuffed bell peppers
• Kraft magazine recipe for Alfredo sauce with chicken and pasta (with veggies)
• Lean Cuisine Skillet dinners
• Frozen Lasagna
• Beef Stroganoff
• Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
• Cream chicken enchilada’s
• Green chili chicken enchilada’s
• Spaghetti and meatballs
• Fajitas
• Lemon chicken quesadilla’s
• Breakfast burritos
• Pancakes/French toast
• Sloppy joes
• BBQ pork/chicken sandwiches
• Crock Pot recipes (look for more of these)
• Jessica’s chicken
• Chili and cornbread muffins

So - this is where you can help. I would love suggestions for easy, healthy, possibly make-ahead meals that I could add to our dinner list. I'm going to make a big list of dinner ideas, and then each week I'll pick enough for the week and we'll call it good. Hopefully that will help me with the classic question,

"WHAT'S FOR DINNER?!?!?"

Thoughts at one week after Hunter's birth

So it's been one week since our sweetie was born. It's gone by fast, and slow - depending on the moment. The sweet moments go by too quickly, and the grumpy moments drag on. It's hard to stay too grumpy though when you see a sweet scene like this:

• Before Hunter was born I started getting worried that with two little boys only two years apart that we'd be dealing with a lot of "hand-me-downs" and shared toys. Now that's not a bad thing for our pocketbook - it's a relief actually. But I just feel bad and hope that Hunter doesn't feel cheated. Anyway, it seems that I have also fallen into the same problem that all parents have - I have been calling Hunter Gabe's name over and over again. I guess it's out of habit. But I feel bad because it seems that not only will this little guy not have any of his own "stuff" - but he doesn't even have his own name!
• I'm already apologizing to Hunter that he can't go to college. Apparently with all the wet/messy diapers he has (SOOOOO many! That little guy 'goes' more than any baby I've known!) we are going to have to use all of his college money to buy diapers :)
• Hunter sure is a cutie! He's been a little more alert/awake the last 24 hours. He spent some time last night on the floor playing with Gabe. Gabe sure thought that was funny.
  


• Biting, hitting, tearing library books, licking cabinets, spitting, whining, time outs, yelling, throwing things...yeah - I think we've hit the terrible 2's. (this all happened in a matter of minutes)
• Going to the dr for well baby/kid checks with 2 little kids is enough to cause a minor meltdown for a new mommy - especially if the visit includes waiting for almost an hour. (Even if Grandma comes with them - heaven knows how we'll do it in the future by ourselves). Thank goodness it didn't involve any shots today!
• I have little (small) kids. Gabe in particular. He measures in the 10-15% for his height and weight. Hunter has a smaller head than Gabe (he really hasn't gotten anything from me, if I can't even pass on my large head....) and he's in the 20-30% for height and weight. Hunter had gotten back to his birth weight this past week, which the dr said they don't expect until 2 weeks. So he's happy with how much he's put back on. I still think the little guy is pretty skinny....
• Simply thinking about starting Weight Watchers again somehow has a way of making me want to eat chocolate, fast food, chips, and cheese. And try as I might - I swear it makes me hungrier just thinking about the points I shouldn't be eating.
• Getting a little worried about how we're going to manage on our own when my mom goes home...she's been particularly helpful at mealtimes. Especially making sure we have a well balanced dinner to eat. I'm a little worried about the frozen/takeout meals we'll be eating in the upcoming future (see the last bullet point - pretty related).
• Hunter isn't a huge fan of being awake and not eating. He has a hard time sometimes when we try to play with him, or keep him up before it's time for another feeding. I do feed somewhat on-demand, but there are times when it's simply not time for another feeding. Poor guy.


• If nothing else - having Hunter has made Gabe more excited about having his picture taken. Anytime I take the camera out to get a picture of Hunter growing up right before our eyes Gabe gets all excited yelling "CHEESE!" the picture with his tounge sticking out was me trying to come up with something other than the signature smile he's created.

Sleeping the day away

Hunter is quite the little sleeper. He's either sleeping, or he's awake and wanting to eat. So far he doesn't have much time where he's just awake and chilling (except ocasionally in the middle of the night when I'm 1/2 asleep myself). I guess in time... But he's pretty precious when he sleeps.

He prefers to be swaddled, and in fact - swaddling him is a sure-fire way to put him to sleep! If he's not swaddled his hands are up by his face - and more often than not he'll startle himself awake. He also likes to be snuggled up on our shoulder with his legs all tucked underneath himself. Cory likes that Hunter will sleep on his shoulder - Gabe prefered a softer environment (like on mom's shoulder).

I sure love the peaceful look on his face when he is sleeping, it's pretty sweet.

Party time

Digging into his presents.
Hunter was quite the party-er!

Some of our decor. My favorite part of the decorations was the balloons Cory hung from the ceiling fan, and then turned it on low so they floated around.

Trying out the new trike (in his new crocs). Gabe's legs are still a little short (a problem I've always dealt with....) but he'll have fun soon racing around outside on his bike.

The birthday boy!

Here are some photos from our little party last night. When Gabe woke up from his nap Cory put on the Cars soundtrack (loudly) and we danced around the house looking at the decorations (crepe paper and balloons everywhere!). Then we settled down to open presents. Gabe wasn't content with just taking the wrapping paper off the presents - he wanted to open all of the boxes and start playing. He loved the gifts he got and had fun playing with all of them! Thanks to everyone for being so generous.

Then we had a birthday dinner of pancakes (one of Gabe's favorite foods) with strawberries and whip cream. He still wanted CAKE for dinner - so we thought that pan-CAKES would work so we didn't feel too guilty for a sugary dinner :).

After dinner we got out the cake - a CARS cake. (Everything was CARS themed). Gabe was super excited about it and loved blowing out the candles. However, the minute we put the piece of cake in front of him I think he ate all of 2 bites, and played with the frosting some. But after all the fuss he'd been making for the last weeks and particularly all day of his birthday - he didn't dig into the cake like we thought he would. It was pretty funny.

Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes and the gifts - you were all so sweet!

2 years ago today...

...our life was changed forever.

We welcomed Gabe to our family on August 7th, 2005. In some ways it seems that he's always been here, always been a part of our lives - a lot of times I have a hard time remembering a time without him and without being a mom. I guess in a lot of ways my life up to that point was just preparation. I've become what I wanted to be when I became a mom, and in a way that is really when my life started.

There are moments like today when I sit back and think - NO WAY! I can't believe that it has been two whole years - time is racing by too quickly. And I know that with the addition of Hunter to our family that time will only speed up faster. That makes me so sad. Today I was thinking that in the future we'll be facing things like boy scouts, first dates, his mission, girlfriends, and someday a wife. Someday I'll be spending time with Gabe when he and his wife welcome their new babies into their home and I'll get to watch him be a daddy. I know these things are in the distant future, but scary enough the distant future has a way of becoming the past faster than we realize.

But for right now I'm going to try to enjoy these moments, capture these feelings and live in the here and now. I can't believe that my little boy talks now (and oh boy does he talk!), that he is so independent at times, that he has opinions and desires. I love that he has favorites, dislikes and that he is so sweet at times. I love how he loves his new baby brother. I love the sweet voice he uses when he says, "Morning mama", "Morning Hunter". Or when he says, "S'rong Hunter?" (what's wrong Hunter - when Hunter is crying). I love how excited he's been today to have cake for his birthday and how simple things make him happy - like his favorite pair of shoes (his Crocs). I love when he tells us stories about things that go on in his days. He gets so excited and it's amazing what things he remembers, and the vocabulary he uses to tell us about it. He's a crack up!

So tonight we'll celebrate my baby's 2nd birthday. We're having a Cars cake, and we've decorated the house with black and red streamers and red balloons (Cory's even hung balloons from the ceiling fan and they're spinning around - it's quite festive!) Cory even went all out and got some Cars party favors, Cars dishes to eat on - the works. What a fun daddy!

He also went out on a birthday date with Gramma this afternoon. She took him to Wendy's for lunch (where he ate all of his nuggets - a pretty big accomplishment!), and then they went to Deseret Book where he got to pick out a fun new book. Gramma was very proud of him - he was on his best behavior.

We've been asking him for a few weeks what he wants for his birthday and all he answers is, "Cake" but that's expanded to "cake with candles" - like he had at Aunt Ashley's house. We asked what he wanted for a special birthday dinner and he thought about it for a minute and then whispered in the sweetest voice, "cake!"

The first few days

Well here we are in the midst of the first days of Hunter's life. We left the hospital Friday night around 6:30 and have been making it work at home. It's an adjustment, but it's good to be where things are familiar.

Here are some promised pictures of Hunter, our new sweetie. This little guy is sleeping like crazy, and if he's awake, wants to eat. He's so cute and tiny and SKINNY! He looks more like Cory than Gabe did I think (if that's possible) - right down to the L-O-N-G fingers and toes. In fact, we compared Gabe's toes to Hunter's - and Hunter's are either as long, or longer than Gabe's! And Gabe will be 2 on Tuesday. Kind of funny.

But he's eating well - which is good. He really took to nursing immediately, which was such a relief and a surprise. Gabe did well - but this has just gone smoother with nursing than I had planned. Still painful....but that's to be expected at first I guess.

Gabe is doing OK with the idea of being a big brother.....not fantastic, but ok. He wants Mom and Dad a lot - and won't let Gramma help him with much - but he's been sweet with Hunter. He and Cory went on a LONG ranger ride yesterday with a bunch of Cory's friends and their kids (5 "daddy's" and 9 kids). Cory's Ranger broke down and they had to be towed back to the trailer by one of their friends, but they made it home in one piece (and covered with the most HORRIBLE smelling mud. UCK!) It was good for Gabe to have a day with Dad. It's funny because 2 of the little kids that they went on the ride with commented on how much Gabe talks (these were little kids too). One little girl said, "How old is he? (Cory answered almost 2) Then why does he think he needs to talk so much?" :)

I'm feeling pretty good too. My back is still sore (I had a lot of back labor - and it feels like it), but for the most part I feel pretty good. My feet are swollen too - but it's getting better. It does feel great to be able to sleep on my stomach at night and to be able to bend over without a large beach ball in the way is wonderful. I'm tired, but that's to be expected, and as I get more rest I can feel a difference.

Well I'm trying to get Cory and Gabe off to church now, so I better go. Gabe's taking a picture of he and Hunter to Nursery with him to share with everyone. The day after Hunter was born everywhere my mom and Gabe went he told EVERYONE about his new little brother Hunter. It was pretty sweet I hear. He couldn't pass someone in the hall at the hospital, or at the store - or Wendy's without sharing his news. Let's hope he keeps feeling excited about it.

Welcome Hunter Harding Ellis

Just a QUICK post to tell you that Hunter Harding Ellis made his way into the world this evening at 5:05 pm. He weighs 6 lbs 12 oz. and is 19 inches long. I'll post more about the specifics later - but knew lots of people were anxious to hear news. He is precious, and actually looks a lot like Gabe did...just smaller. He started nursing and made some of the cutest little grunts and noises. Can't wait to get to know this little creation.

Gabe is getting ready to meet his new brother - who is getting cleaned up in the nursery right now. He was concerned that Hunter had an owie (because he was crying) but when Gramma reassured him that Hunter was ok Gabe asked if Hunter could go swimming. Then he was worried because Hunter wasn't wearing a shirt :) Should be an adventure for all of us.

The date and time are set

It's official! I'm going into the hospital tonight (middle of the night...1:00 am) to start the induction process. At my doctor visit earlier today he just said that I'm not progressing at all - not dilated or anything. He said that since at this point I'd already had Gabe - he was fine with inducing me. He even said if it was HIS wife - he'd do the induction. So I take that advice and we're going for it.

I'm pretty nervous about the process - but I guess part of it is just nerves about this big new change in our life. I'm thrilled, excited - but nervous.

We'll update when we get a chance with some pictures and info.

Ellis Grandkids

Ashley was daring yesterday and took all 5 of the Ellis grandkids out to Kiddie Kandids for a group picture. Gabe's smile cracks me up - we're going to work on his "cheese" smile....it's cute, and kind of silly. But we're excited for the picture - thanks for thinking of doing that Ashley!

Not today

Nothing happening today in the baby department. However, I did look online and TONIGHT is actually the full moon.... I also heard that fresh pineapple can induce labor. I ate almost a whole pineapple today. It might not work, but it was a tasty treat :)

Weekend with fam

I loved these pictures of Gabe from this weekend that my sister-in-law Ashley posted on her blog tonight. She posted a whole bunch - so check out her blog: http://mullenspage.blogspot.com/ I appreciate so much when family has Gabe with them and they document the things they did. It's hard to have him away from us (we miss him!) - but we feel so reassured by the sweet memories he is creating with others who love him. Gabe has had fun eating berries from Grandma (YUM!), playing the piano, Raging Waters, Linzy's birthday cake - he's just had a blast all around. What a fun experience for him!

On another note I was talking to a good friend of mine this afternoon who has a little boy who is about 3 months younger than Gabe. She was complimenting Gabe on his large vocabulary and language skills. She said, "When I see my son next to Gabe it makes me think my son is dumb". It sounded kind of mean - but I knew what she meant. Gabe really does talk a lot more than most of the kids his age - at church anyway. But she just made me feel good about Gabe's vocabulary - even if his sentence structures don't always make sense :) She also suggested that with his linguistic skills that I encourage him with foreign language and music (she's studied education and said that children with early language skills frequently excel in these areas.) So when I saw this picture of Gabe playing Uncle Spencer's piano I was pretty happy!

No baby yet

No baby yet.

But I DID go to church wearing flip flops (the beach kind - not the nice leather looking ones - none of them would fit on my swollen feet). As I walked into church I looked in a window and saw myself walking in with these horrible sandals on and I felt really silly. But hey - I was there, I was listening, and no one even made mean pregnancy comments that made me cry.

In fact - a couple of my girls in young womens came up to me and said, "We're so excited - you have less than a month till the baby comes!" I said, "Oh girls - I have less than a week - I'm due on Thursday!"

Then after church one of the cute 13 year old girls came up and so sweetly said, "If you don't have any family coming on Thursday I will clear my schedule so that if your water breaks I can come take care of Gabe and you can make it to the hospital." I love the fact that I not only have great family to take care of me, great friends - but even my sweet young women. It's a relief to know I have some great back up.

Speaking of great back up - I have a pretty great sister-in-law (well who am I kidding - I have fabulous family all around) - who has been watching Gabe all weekend. Ashley and the family invited Gabe up to Eagle Mountain to spend time with cousins and the rest of the family. I met Ashley 1/2 way on Friday, and we'll go meet up with her on Tuesday to pick him up. They have had fun celebrating birthdays, playing with cousins, swimming at Raging Waters, loving on Grandma and Grandpa, Coby, Chase, Kori, Ashley, Spencer and all the kids. Ashley said he's having a blast, and from talking to him last night on the phone - he doesn't miss us much at all.

So I've gotten to sleep in, relax, watch some movies and enjoy some time with Cory. I haven't worked on a lot of stuff - but I've been saving up some energy just in case I ever do go into labor with this baby - I can do it without being EXHAUSTED.

So thanks for all who are such great supports in our life - we are truly blessed!

(Oh - tonight is a full moon - so if that myth has any credibility maybe we'll luck out....And my doctor is back in town as of tomorrow morning, so I could maybe even deliver with him. So send all of your labor vibes - let's get this baby here!)

And so the 25th comes and goes....

Some of you might remember a while back when I mentioned that I wanted baby Hunter's due date to be 07-25-07. There were a couple of reasons for that.

#1 - it's 8 days before our due date, Gabe was born 8 days early - so I thought it was appropriate.

#2 - I like numbers with 5's in them. Kind of strange, but like when I buy cardstock at a scrapbook store I always buy in increments of 5 (5, 10, 15, etc). Anyway, I like the number 25.

#3 - 2+5=7. So then it's kind of like 7/7/7. And then tonight I realized that if you add up all the nubmers 7+2+5+7 it equals 21 - another number I like.

Anyway - kind of quirky - but like my mom mentioned the other days - I like to see patterns in things.

BUT - it is 10:24 pm on the 25th and this baby isn't here, and isn't showing up in the next hour and 36 minutes. So we'll have to find some other kind of pattern with his birthday when he does make his grand entrance.

I did have a dr appointment today, and I'm not dilated, not progressing - and the dr filling in for my doctor (who is out of town until Monday) said I shouldn't worry about having the baby before my doctor is around again. I guess that's good - I really like my doctor. But it makes me anxious and sad at the same time. I would love to welcome this little guy to the world soon...but I'm nervous about having #2 - so I guess that in the long run though, a few more days of swollen...everything....won't kill me.

And here are a couple of pictures from lighting some sparklers tonight. As many of you know - July 24th (yesterday) was our Pioneer Day celebration in Utah. Our town does a huge parade (which we were in) as well as games and dinner at the park put on by our stake. It's fun to see the city and stake come together to celebrate our pioneer ancestors who made it possible to live in this wonderful state.

Anyway - we did some sparklers last night - but Gabe managed to burn himself (a tiny burn) on his finger. So he wanted to finish them tonight. That is unti lwe actually lit them - and then he freaked out a bit and wanted mommy and daddy to do them. He's a funny kid and he definetly enjoyed watching Cory and I entertain him by dancing around the yard with our sparklers.

I wish that the pictures of him dancing around would have turned out clearer - but he was groovin, and it was getting dark - so there's only so much this amature photographer mom could do...

And the last picture is Cory's signature pose every time I work on getting Gabe to pose take pictures for me. Cory ALWAYS asks Gabe how big he is - and this is how Gabe responds....we will have hundreds of pictures of Gabe showing us that he's "SOOOOO big" (as well as Gabe showing us his "guns" (muscles))

(Thanks Grandma Tammy for sending Gabe those fun sparklers!)

TAGGED

My cute cousin Rachel tagged me - so here you go:

Jobs I've held:

1. Co-owner of The Blind Guy of Southern Utah
2. Marketing Director/designer for Kopp Design
3. Marketing Coordinator for The Scrap Coop
4. Assistant Manager at Memory Lane

Places to go for a weekend getaway:

1. Grand America hotel in Salt Lake - complete with spa treatments and tasty food
2. Bed and breakfast
3. Anywhere we can take the Ranger out for a ride

Movies I can watch over and over:

1. How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days
2. The Italian Job
3. Message in a Bottle
4. Father of the Bride (1 & 2)

Guilty Pleasures:

1. ICE cold Diet Dr Pepper in my frozen mug...ahh...
2. Big pink Granny B sugar cookies
3. bubble baths while reading cheesy LDS novels
4. Sleeping in

Places I've lived:

1. Southern Utah
2. Rexburg, Idaho
3. Detroit, Michigan
4. Spanish Fork, UT
5. Cleveland, OH
6. Orem, UT

What were likely the 1st things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?

1. Don't my roommates know I just broke up with my boyfriend - and they bring a bunch of guys over to our apartment - how rude!
2. So that must be the guy who got home from his mission like 2 days ago...he looks terrified of girls. And he keeps trying to say things in Spanish...must be from his mission.
3. Hmm.....he must have lost all of his clothes when he went on his mission, because I'm pretty sure he's wearing his little brother's clothes.

Places I've been on Vacation:

1. The carribean
2. Hawaii
3. South Africa
4. Disneyland

Favorite foods: (at least for today)

1. Key Lime Pie
2. Chips and Salsa from Los Hermanos in Lindon
3. ANYTHING from Kneaders restaurant
4. Anything I don't have to cook, or decide to cook

If in a "jam" with your spouse, what tactics do you use to get out of the doghouse?:

1. Iron something (especially sheets)
2. Offer to do some yard-work
3. Let him spend outrageous amounts of money on something unimportant. (at least to me)

Websites I visit (ALMOST daily):

1. Hotmail
2. www.twopeasinabucket.com
3. blogs
4. Old Navy, Gap, Pottery Barn Kids, etc - just to check to see if anything new is on sale

Best First Kisses Landmarks:

1. Intermural fields at Ricks College.....

Places I'd rather be right now:

1. In a recovery room in the Labor and Delivery wing of the hospital - holding our new baby
2. Hawaii - specifically Maui
3. Disneyland (and not pregnant)
4. swimming in an indoor pool

Who sent this to me: Rachel

Now I get to pick 4 other blog buddies to do this "survey":

1. Laura
2. Mom
3. Ashley
4. Kori

Chase & Kori

I did a quick scrapbook page this afternoon. I am hoping that the scanning job is what's making it look funky.....I thought it looked a bit better in real life....

Anyway, it's just a quick layout using this super cute picture my sister in law Kori sent me last week with some journaling about how cute Chase and Kori are. They are seriously one of the cutest couples ever. Every time we see them I wish my Cory and I were more giddy still....

The journaling says:

Chase and Kori - the two of you make me smile! I love how sweet, giddy, and loving you are to each other. There is rarely a time when the two of you are in a room together when you are not gazing into each other's eyes as if you've just fallen in love. You're always patting each other on the back, holding hands, snuggling - I love it! And you also speak so kindly to each other. I've never heard a negative or sarcastic comment from either of you about each other. I hope we can learn from you guys and have a better marriage, more love, and more giddiness. Love you guys! (July 20th, 2007)

A little contest...

I have seen quite a few people have little contest regarding when they'll have their babies, the size and stuff. So I thought I'd have the same contest on my blog, and we'll see who gets the closest. Guess the following:

• Date:
• Time:
• Weight:
• Length:

For the record I am due August 2nd. And as far as with Gabe - he was born 8 days early, and he weighed 7 lbs 14 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.

Can't wait to see what you all predict.

random stuff

• Went to my weekly dr visit yesterday and I'm not having this baby anytime soon...bummer huh? I haven't made any progress (not dilated or anything) and then I found out that my doctor will be out of town ALL of next week. Lovely huh? So any of those "tried and true" home remedies for inducing labor myself will have to wait because I really don't want to deliver with anyone else. We'll see. He did offer to set an induction date for when he gets back - so we'll see how next week goes. I'd like to deliver on my own...but I also don't want to be pregnant until this little guy can just walk out (and based on how big he feels right now, and how strong he feels from his kicks and jabs - I have a feeling he'll be doing that soon...)

• Last night we were eating Ceasar Salad for dinner. Gabe was having a tough time eating the lettuce, and at one point started to kind of choke on it. We made sure he was ok - but the episode scared him. Cory said, "Are you ok Gabe?" Gabe said, "No, go doctor". We thought that was funny because Gabe never goes to the doctor - except for well-baby visits. It was interesting that his throat hurt and he thought he needed the doctor.

• My house STINKS right now. I had bought some stew meat to make beef strogonauff for dinner this week, and keep putting it off (I hate cooking and heating up my house/kitchen in the hot summer weather - we've been eating things like salads, carryout, sandwhiches, and milkshakes for dinner lately). But today I realized I really needed to get the meat cooked. So I put it in the crockpot to let it get going. BLECH! Now my house smells like meat. Cory came in a while ago and looked at me and said, "are you ok?" Not really....I'm not sure I'll even be able to eat it when we get it all made into dinner. Bummer huh?

• This morning I was showing Gabe a website of the place we're going to stay when we go to Mexico as a family in a couple of months. (Yeah, we're nuts - Cory earned a trip to Mexico and to Hawaii a couple of days apart. We'll all go together to Mexico, and then Gabe will stay home with Gramma Rhien when we go to Hawaii with our friends the Cheneys. We took Gabe to Hawaii last time when he was about 3 months old, and it looks like Hunter will be about that same age. We just can't pass up a trip to Hawaii - even if it does involve taking a newborn!) I was showing him how pretty the pools and ocean are. I asked him if he was going to swim in the ocean. He got really concerned and said, "No swim - SHARKS!" I hope we can get over his fear of sharks before we go on our vacation!

• My family is coming this weekend! YAY! My mom, dad, and Julia will be coming to visit us this weekend on their way home to New Mexico. They've been in Idaho to see Paul, Nicole, and Taylor - and for Paul and Nicole's commencement exercises (Nicole finished school in December 06, and Paul will be finished December 07 - so they walked together last night in summer graduation). Gabe hasn't seen Julia or my dad since Christmas time, and we've only seen my mom once since then - so we're really excited for all of them to get to see each other for a day or so (quick trip). I keep saying, "Gabe - Gramma and Grampa are coming this weekend!" And he says, "And Julia!" - making sure I don't forget her. He's excited to see them all. I think they will be blown away at how much he's grown up in 7 months! I sure am.

• Speaking of Gabe - he's obsessed with the computer and looking at blogs. He constantly wants me to pull up Coby (and Grandma and Grandpa Ellis)'s blog, Paul's blog, Ashley's blog and to look at any babies I can pull up from miscellaneous blogs. And then today when he was eating lunch he asked me to look up "kitty's".... So everyone - keep putting pictures on your blogs - Gabe checks them several times a day :)

• Gabe loves music lately. We've downloaded some fun stuff for him from itunes (theme from Bob the Builder, Rubber Ducky with Ernie, C is for Cookie - by Cookie Monster, songs about tickles, Mickey Mouse...and the list goes on and on), and he loves listening to them and dancing around the house. He does the funniest thing when he wants to twirl. He holds his arms up and whips his body around by swinging his arms fast in one direction - giving him lots of momentum and almost knocks him over. Hard to explain, but funny to watch! and he loves me to dance with him - in fact, insists on it. Last night he wanted "baby Hunter" to dance too. So I got on my knees and Gabe danced with my tummy. I guess these are the times I should be getting out the video recorder huh....?

• Gabe loves music, but at the same time - I guess he doesn't always want me to sing to him. Last night I was singing silly songs while we were getting ready for bed. He looked at me with the most serious face, pointed at me and said, "STOP! No songs mom!" I kept singing and he'd get madder and madder and telling me to stop. Apparently I am not as good as listening to the songs on the "pod" (our ipod).

• I'm so sad I'm going to miss my 10 year high school reunion. It is August 11th, and even if I have the baby today - I'm not going to have the one time I see these people in 10 years be right after delivering a baby...with all this baby weight. Plus that is just kind of soon to pack everyone up and head up to Orem. I wish I could plan a seperate reunion with the people I'd like to see - a lot from other high schools, working at Wendy's in high school, those who were a year younger than me...oh well. I think that since my family doesn't live in Orem anymore (and haven't for 9 years) that I feel a little more disconnected with Orem, and the idea of going "home" still. I don't know what's going on in anyone's lives in Orem really...kind of sad that we have to grow up and have this happen huh?

• I am really nervous about being a mother of 2 little boys. Terrified really....Gabe has so much energy, and wants "Hep Mommy" so much (basically says he wants my help - but it means that he wants me to be doign whatever he's doing with him) - that it will be interesting to see how he and I adjust to this new little guy. I think he'll do great - he loves babies, and wants to hold every one he sees. (I let him hold my friend's little 5 month old the other night on my lap and he LOVED it. He kept saying, "Ohhhh, Baby....") I'm nervous about sleep schedules, jealousy, being able to spend enough time with both of them and having the energy needed for all of it. I know I can do it (I keep telling myself, "I can do hard things") - and I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have more than 1 kid and do just fine - but I'm just nervous. Any advice anyone has - I'd love it!

• One of the things I'm really nervous about is how much love I'll have for this little guy. That sounds weird I'm sure. But when I was pregnant with Gabe there was so much that was "unknown". I didn't know how it would feel to be a parent, how it would feel to love someone so much - I thought I knew - but I had NO idea. And I remember holding Gabe in the hospital even - and it feeling surreal, not really sure how I felt, and how I was going to feel - it was weird. And when it sunk in (and has continued to do so over the last 2 years) I have been totally overwhelmed by it. So when we welcome Hunter into the world, and our family - I think it will be VERY emotional from the get-go. I'll have a different idea of what being a mommy means, and I think that will make me pretty teary-eyed right away. It's weird how I already feel differently about him. Not because I love him more than I did Gabe - but because I understand it a bit differently now. Does that make any sense...?

• Well this random list has gotten too long - sorry....hope you are surviving summer in an airconditioned place, and that you have a wonderful glass of ice-water to enjoy. :)

My brother Paul

Well I know that not everyone who reads Paul and Nicole's blog reads ours....but I thought I'd catch a lot of the same people.

My mom called this morning and said that Paul's computer has broken (yet again...) so they won't be posting any graduation (which is tomorrow) or baby pictures anytime soon. My mom will try to update you when she gets back from her grandmother duties in Rexburg - but until then - be patient :)

Baby's middle name

Hey, everybody! We need your help choosing a middle name for our baby. We've narrowed it down to a chosen few, and we'd like all our friends and family to vote for their favorites. We're eager to know what you think, so vote now!

Click HERE to vote!