Changing Times

Once Jason graduated we had a few things on our minds. Where is Jason going to get a job? Architecture is not a great field to find a job in at the moment. How are we going to start paying off student loans? Where are we going to live, especially if he doesn't find a job by the time we have to be out of student housing? Will I get to keep my doctor (because I will probably cry if I don't)? Can we find a good van in our price range? Umm....stress weighed down my life. Prayers ascended to heaven at a steady pace. Pretty sure, Heavenly Father's inbox was full just from me. I kept thinking, "Well, the Lord led us down this school path, and led us to this point where we are about to have a baby. He can't let us fail now, right? I mean, maybe my pregnancy hasn't been a hard enough trial. Maybe I need bankruptcy and homelessness to really make things hard."

So after a couple weeks of sending out resumes, calling, visiting firms, and emailing, Jason found a job temping at an architecture firm here in SLC. What a great blessing! It was supposed to last at most 2 weeks. They couldn't hire full time. So week after week they keep telling him to come back the next week (which was excellent) and he kept looking around for permanent work.

The week after I got back from AZ, the Lord took pity on my poor soul. Jason's dad called us on a Monday and said he found a van that was really a pretty good deal, really clean, and seemed to run well. We trusted his judgement and had him buy it for us. Hooray!

Then on Tuesday, Jason got a call from a firm that really wanted him and made him an offer after only 1 of usually 3 interviews they do. So Wednesday he tells the firm he's temping for that he was made an offer and would be finishing out the week with them then going over to the other firm. Well, I guess they saw how valuable Jason's experience is and they didn't want to lose him either, so they said they would match the other firm's offer! After some quick praying, Jason felt that he should stay with the firm he's been with. He really likes the atmosphere and the people he works with. Insert a big hosanna shout!!

So now that we know we are going to be in SLC for at least a few years, I started looking for places to move.....that Tuesday night. I figure that it will be a little easier to move a couple weeks before the baby comes rather than a couple weeks after. I made appointments to view a couple places on Thursday night. We really liked and felt good about the first place we saw. I kept thinking about it Friday and Saturday while we were in SG getting our van. So Saturday I called and said that we wanted it.

So in the same week we found a van, got a permanent job, and found a place to live. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel to Heavenly Father for opening the windows of heaven and pouring out His blessing on us.

We can start moving into our duplex/house tomorrow, but have to be out of our current place by Nov.12. We'll start moving boxes and small stuff over, and then on Nov. 5th we'll do all the big stuff. And by we, I mean anybody else but me:) I can pack boxes, but I can't move them. (Insert evil, sadistic laugh here.....jk......but not really;)

***************************

I was hoping that this baby would stay put until after the 12th, but I'm getting more and more uncomfortable and miserable. I'm sick of being sick, and not being able to breathe, and feeling 100 years old every time I get off the couch, and not being able to do much of anything without feeling like I just ran a marathon. In other words, I'm ready if she is. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound like a complainer. I'm incredibly thankful to be pregnant and know that a lot of women would trade places with me any time. I've been in their shoes. I just want to document what I'm feeling and going through at this point.

I had Sophie the day I turned 36 weeks and she was nearly 7 pounds.......a month early!! She would have been huge if I went to 40 weeks. I wonder what this one will do. Makes me nervous. Dr. has been saying that I'm measuring just right though. (I get to keep my same doctor. I'm so happy, you don't even know) She moves so much! She also stomps on my bladder a lot, and gets the hiccups constantly:) I can tell she is sideways because my left side gets the hiccups and the right side gets pokey foot jabs. So I wonder when she is going to head south for the winter and drop. It's a crazy, weird, amazing thing to watch my stomach rolling all over the place. For a long time now, every time I think about her I just feel so much sweetness from her spirit. I can't wait to meet her!

Sophie's favorite shirt. She calls it her exercise shirt.

She is pretty picky about her hair and I finally found a new way to do it that she actually likes.

27 wks

32 wks

I took the girls down to AZ a few weeks ago to spend some time with my parents. My moms yard was gorgeous as usual.....even after Regan and her decimating crew went through and ripped off all the flowers on my mom's plants. Sorry about that mom. Kandra was there with her two boys. Brett is so stinkin' cute and gave me lots more kisses than he even gave Kandra. Gavin is a little ball of energy and is starting to show some attitude.

Since Kandra didn't share this story about sweet Gavin, I feel the need to share. It is pretty dang funny actually. It was almost dinner time and we had set the table. Sophie took a seat at the table and Gavin wasn't happy about the seat she chose. So he took a fork and poked her in the face. Well he got in trouble and went to time out. Kandra made him come out and apologize to Sophie and if you've heard him talk you know he talks about a mile a minute and it can be a little hard to understand.
"I-I-I- sowwy Sophie, (insert mumbling you can't understand), I-I sowwy, (more mumbling), but you jus-pissa-me-off, (more mumbling)."
I look at Kandra, "Did he just say what I think he said?" Her eyes are wide. My mom's eyes are wide. Big confirmation, YES he did! "Hhhhmmmm, I wonder where he learned that Kandra!"
We laughed about that for days. Still makes me laugh.

On Sunday, I was getting ready to leave and it started violently hailing and raining. It was sooo crazy!! The side walks had 2 inches of rain with hail floating on top of it. Looks like a snow storm hit. I couldn't leave for about a half hour because it was so violent out there.
It was a long drive and hard to do with a big belly that doesn't like to sit up for long. But the Lord really blessed me to be able to make it safely, with little fatigue and nausea, and fairly good girls. I couldn't make that trip now. I went to St. George the very next weekend to get our mini van and it was a hard trip. Lots of contractions and I was miserably uncomfortable. Jason is going down with the girls next weekend and I will not be going. I'm done traveling for this pregnancy.

Our pretty princess

Regan is what you would call a tom boy. Her two favorite books are about bugs and snakes. On a particularly rough Sunday morning she yelled, "I hate dresses! I hate pink! And I hate princesses!!!" Have you seen that Tide commercial about that mom with the girl who likes only cargo shorts and hoodies? That commercial cracks me up cause I can kinda relate. I have these beautiful dresses that collect dust in her closet because she won't wear them. The plainer, the better. She has even turned my prissy, froo-froo luvin' Sophie against them. It vexes me greatly :<

So imagine my surprise/shock/bewilderment when Regan comes up to me and asks me to help her become a pretty princess. She wanted the make-up, the crown, the dress, and the shoes.
So I had to take some pictures to memorialize the event. Who knows when it may happen again.

She has been wearing pink a little more too. Crazy, I know!

Sophie has to do whatever Regan does, so she made her own crown too and put on a dress-up dress.

My pretty princesses

Back to School....

.....to prove to teacher that I'm not a fool:) Yes, I'm still trying to play catch up before all hell brakes loose around here. Regan started kindergarten this year and is doing so well. She is smart and soaks up everything she's learning.

First day of school. (Sophie had to be in the pictures too.)

After she got on the bus we headed over to the school with another mom to watch them get off. We waited for a few minutes and Sophie and her friend, Jessica, had fun picking "flowers"(weeds), and posing for pictures.

Finally made it.

A few weeks ago, Regan came home and was telling me about her bff, Rowan.

Regan: Mom we are name twins because we both start with R and we are color twins because we both love blue.
Me: Oh, so do you sit by her in class?
Regan: Rowan is a boy, not a girl.....and we love each other SOOOOOOO much!!!

So it begins. She wants a play date with him and we just haven't been able to work it out yet. We went to St. George one weekend to pick up a mini van that we bought, and Regan was hysterical that we were not going to have a play date with Rowan. Even the lure of Grandma Joy was not enough to settle her. That's pretty amazing since G-ma Joy is Regan's most fav-o-rite person in the whole world. This must be true love:)
Regan's hair grows so fast. Just a year before she had chopped it and had a boy cut for a while. It got long again and she whined every time I did it so I had it cut the day before. So much easier!
Miss Mary is her teacher and I love her!! She has been so good for Regan and Regan adores her. I feel so sad that we are moving and she will go to a new school.

Sophie is doing Headstart preschool again this year and has the same teachers as last year. She loves it and is a little social butterfly. I asked her to pose for me and this is what she came up with. What a dork.

So I had to start telling her some jokes to get some smiles....

Much better:)

Sophie's teachers told me a story about her and one of her many bff's, Ella. They were going outside after getting a drink and Ella asked Sophie if she wanted to open the door. Sophie said, "Why don't we do teamwork to open it?" Haha, what a girl.

Both girls go to school in the afternoon and it has been really nice to have my afternoons free. I've been able to take a few naps, pack boxes, and run errands. So nice!