early anniversary get-away

Last weekend, Scott and I spent a night in Salt Lake at a bed and breakfast to celebrate our 5th anniversary 3 weeks early (we will be in St. George watching my niece's play on our anniversary).

The evening was full of mishaps, starting with Hannah waking up from her afternoon nap super sad and crying for 30 minutes straight (including part of the car ride to meet my brother-in-law to take her to be watched overnight by my sister). Thankfully, Hannah finally calmed down and had a wonderful time with her cousins, aunt, and uncle.

Scott and I got on the road to Salt Lake about a half hour later than we had planned. We soon discovered that some plastic cover thing was dragging on the ground under Scott's car, so we got off the freeway and headed to the nearest Jiffy Lube to get an oil change and the plastic cover screwed back on. Good times.

We finally made it to Salt Lake and got checked in to our bed and breakfast. Then we headed to a sushi place that Scott had looked up online, but it was temporarily shut down. Bummer. So after getting a bit lost on some side roads in Salt Lake, we ended up at another sushi place where the sushi was delicious but the service was insanely slow (don't worry--my pregnant self only ate cooked sushi rolls).

By the time we got back to our bed and breakfast, our favorite Friday night show (Dateline) was halfway over and boring to boot. So we went to bed early, and I got the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. Nice.

Scott and I got to chat with an interesting couple at breakfast. Scott was laughing on the inside when we were first served a roasted pear (I HATE pears). I choked down half of it and felt like I was on the mission again, afraid of offending the cook. Thank goodness the rest of the breakfast was good.

Overall, Scott and I enjoyed our night away and had some much-needed, good quality talk time. We were happy to see Hannah again, and she was happy to see us.

Some pics...

 We stayed at Wildflowers, a historic home turned bed and breakfast.

 We loved the claw-foot bathtub.

It was quaint and cozy.

I got a picture of our last of 5 sushi rolls. Yum!

Adorable, random pics of Hannah...

 I had to get a pic of Hannah in her hand-me-down Clifford pajamas before she outgrows them soon.

Woof woof. Adorable!

Hannah has been on a hat kick lately. She loves wearing Scott's Red Sox beanie--backwards and homey style. She looks a little Asian, eh? She got mad every time we tried to help her pull the hat up. Silly home girl,

She also loves to wear her adorable snow hat backwards.

By the way, I'm glad I married Scott almost 5 years ago. Very glad. :)

"My new kitchen!"

No, I do not have a new kitchen (nor will I probably ever have one). But Hannah has one, and she often exclaims "my new kitchen!" while playing with it.  After all the shopping we did for Hannah for her birthday and for Christmas, the only thing we didn't get her that I thought she would really love was a toy kitchen. But I couldn't justify it because of the price and because of our lack of space in our condo. But after the holidays, while I was trying to figure out what to get Hannah with her gifted birthday and Christmas money, I ran across the perfect kitchen for her. Perfect price. Perfect look. Perfect size. And boy does Hannah LOVE it.

I think it's adorable, and it only took me almost 3 hours to assemble (I'd read online that it would take 1-3 hours--I'm slow).

 

 It's the perfect size for Hannah and for our condo. And all of the toy food she got for Christmas fits inside it perfectly.

Hannah loves to make us food and to wash her hands. "I washing my hands." "I making _____." Super cute!

Bonus pic of Hannah half-dressed and mesmerized by American Idol. That's my girl! Notice she has a spoon from her kitchen in her hand.

And now the potty-training update some of you have asked for:

It's going about how I thought it would. Hannah uses the potty when she wants to (which varies depending on the day and her mood but averages to be about 75% of the time). We don't push her when she doesn't want to because we certainly don't want a repeat of her refusing-to-walk stubbornness. :) I actually think she's doing quite well, but I don't have any previous experience to compare it to. After only 3 days of training, she pooped in the potty. Yay! And she has repeated that since then. We put her in underwear instead of pull-ups for the first time last Saturday. Unfortunately, Scott and I hadn't thought that through. It was also Hannah's first day with her new kitchen, so she was too busy playing with her kitchen to give a rip that her pants were all wet. Silly us. We also haven't been able to be as consistent as we had hoped. Sunday and Monday were complete washes due to church, a trip to Salem, and then coming home to a broken furnace on Sunday night. And then it was still freezing all Monday morning, so I was not about to have Hannah sitting half-naked on the potty all day. After the repair guy finally left and Hannah woke up from her nap, we visited my grandma, and no potty-training had occurred for 2 days. Oh well. Hannah actually has done pretty well the rest of this week. She even only had 2 accidents yesterday. Today has been another setback thanks to our furnace breaking down again last night (lame). But now it is fixed, and potty-training shall resume.

So that's our potty-training in a nutshell. I didn't have super high expectations going into it. I'm in it for the long-haul, just hoping she gets it down in time for the arrival of the baby. I'm just glad that when Hannah's in a good mood, she still really loves reading books on the potty, washing her hands afterward, and getting a little M&M afterward. We actually have a lot of fun with it.


A funny side note. Some good has come from having our furnace break down twice within a few days during one of the coldest snaps in Utah's recent history--Hannah has picked up on saying "ridiculous." And it's ridiculously adorable. :)

Let the countdown begin!

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday, and he found a healthy heartbeat right away. Thank goodness! He also said that I can start exercising (moderately) and doing a little more because I haven't had any bleeding in several weeks. Yay! I'm feeling quite well, although I still haven't regained much energy yet (I'm 3 weeks into my 2nd trimester now). Here's hoping that it comes back soon. I have an ultrasound scheduled for February 6th, and we will definitely be finding out the sex of this baby. More than anything, I want a healthy baby. I truly don't care if we have a boy or a girl. However, part of me would like to have a boy so that I can have a son. But a bigger part of me would like to have another girl. I think it would be easier to have a girl because we already have so much girl stuff. But more importantly, if Hannah only ends up with one sibling, I would like her to be able to have a sister. Scott would prefer a girl too, but he will definitely be happy with a boy.

With each doctor's appointment and seeing or hearing my baby's heart beat, I have been able to let my guard down a little and get more excited about having another baby. It's still a little hard for me to get my hopes up too high that this is really going to happen, but I'm feeling more and more peace and assurance about it. I even just made a countdown on the side of this blog. I also made a poll for you all to guess if Hannah is going to get a brother or a sister, so be sure to vote!

A few pics of Hannah playing in our first snowstorm back in November...

 

Hannah is going to be such a fabulous big sister!

Let the potty-training begin!

Today was our first day of potty-training Hannah, and I feel like it has been successful. She really enjoyed sitting on her potty about every hour for like 15-20 mins each time (minus the couple of hours I spent trying quite unsuccessfully to get her to nap). Hannah's favorite potty past-times were reading books, singing songs, and placing several of her dolls on her doll potty. And she loved getting an M&M every time she tried to go potty. Hannah finally had success (peed in her potty) once in the late afternoon and once in the evening. Boy, were we proud! And so was Hannah. Super cute!

Some pics of the potty-training cutie:

She refused to wear a (princess) pull-up until late morning, but then she loved them.

What a big girl!

Here's Hannah right after her first success in the potty, eating one M&M for trying and holding another one her for success. Happy girl!

We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Christmas 2012

We had a fabulous Christmas! Hannah was super cute and really got into it all this year. We spread the festivities over a few days.


December 23rd:

After our delicious, traditional dinner of cheese fondue and chocolate fondue at my grandma Meservy's house, the kids acted out the Nativity while my dad read it from the Bible. Hannah Mary was Mary and absolutely loved baby Jesus.

Clay was Joseph, and Cole and Faith were shepherds. Hannah was a little jealous of Jesus' spot in the manger/wagon...

So, yup, she sat on baby Jesus. :)

I love my baby Hannah.

Hannah with her great grandma Meservy.

Christmas Eve:

I talked Scott into taking the day off. In the midst of our last-minute Christmas preparations, we enjoyed taking time to help Hannah act out the Nativity with our non-breakable figures.

After a delicious ham dinner at Grandma Meservy's, some of us enjoyed drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn while watching The Polar Express.

Hannah with her cousins in their Christmas pajamas from their Clayson grandparents.

Christmas Day:
 

We spent the night at my sister's house in Santaquin, and Santa managed to find us there.

Exactly half of our Clayson family was there together. Fun!

Scott was a little late getting a pic of the kids bursting through the paper to see their gifts. :)

Hannah got really excited opening each of her gifts, but this was definitely her favorite. I guess Santa must have known how obsessed Hannah is with my nasty broom and dust pan at home. She really needed her own. :)

She opened most of the rest of her presents with one hand so that she wouldn't have to let go of her beloved broom.

Cole with some of his gifts.

Faith loved this blanket her mom made her.

Clay was super excited to get Madden 2013.

Mom and Dad on Christmas morning. I also had a pic of all the uncles and aunts, but I have no idea what happened to it. Bummer.

Faith was so sweet to let Hannah play with some of her new toys.

We spent the rest of the day with the Carters--eating, talking, and playing games. Oh, and Hannah spent it "leeping" with her new broom. :)

Hannah with her Carter cousins. Good thing she likes boys!

As soon as we got home, Hannah went to work sweeping our floors. That's my girl. :)

And I made an attempt to get a Christmas family photo. Scott looks a little crazed and neck-less in this one. Apparently, he was trying to avoid looking like a bird.

This is my favorite. I sure hope Hannah picked a winner!

This is the last of 6 attempts and probably the best shot. I don't think Scott looks like a bird, do you?

Hannah's Christmas haul. We're still figuring out where to put it all.

Scott's and my Christmas haul (minus our new tv stand). Scott surprised me with an electric blanket that I love even more than I thought I would.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

end-of-first-tri sigh

Yesterday was the official end of my first trimester with this pregnancy, and I breathed a pretty big sigh of relief. I'm guessing I'm not the only expectant mom who feels relieved at the end of the 1st trimester. While I'm well aware that there's still plenty that could go wrong later on, I feel so relieved to get through this riskiest trimester. Phew!

Last Friday (the 14th), I had a doctor's appointment. The first thing he did was search for the baby's heartbeat with the doppler thingy. Well, he searched and searched and wasn't finding it. Needless to say, I was freaking out on the inside and trying not to look at Scott because I knew I would burst into tears. The doctor played it cool though and said that it happens a lot this early into pregnancy, and then he took us on a "field trip" to another room to have an ultrasound. He found the heartbeat fairly quickly. Phewy McPhewerton! Apparently my bladder was too full and had pushed the baby off to the side. Kind of weirdy. Anyway, my doctor said that things are looking good. He also said that if I go at least 2 weeks without any bleeding (I've still had light bleeding off and on), I can start doing a little more. That would be nice. I really miss exercising. And Hannah really misses me carrying her.

I must admit that this pregnancy hasn't been quite as enjoyable as my pregnancy with Hannah was. With Hannah, I had all the time in the world to bask in the delight and awe of finally being pregnant. And I could rest whenever I wanted to. Also, I actually reveled in any and all symptoms I had because it was proof that I was finally going to have a sweet baby. This time, I'm too busy and too tired to bask in much of anything. However, I do feel gratitude daily that I have this blessing of expecting another baby. And I've actually been able to feel movement for about 2 weeks now (much sooner than with Hannah) which makes it more real and amazing.

I have been quite a bit more nauseous with this pregnancy than I was with Hannah, but I haven't thrown up (knock on wood). Many people say this must mean that I'm having a boy. Who knows?! I have also felt a lot of normal fatigue and some moodiness (just ask Scott). And I've felt even more cold than I did with Hannah, thanks in part to the cold weather. I seriously think I'll freeze to death at times. I'm pretty sure this is an unusual pregnancy symptom. Scott thinks I'm a freak, so please let me know if you've heard of anyone else getting super cold throughout their pregnancies. :)

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers. I know that every little prayer helps.

A few random pics of Hannah...

Hannah concentrating on the potty. Don't worry--we've moved it to the bathroom.

 Hannah insisted that I help her put her new Hello Kitty underwear on over her jammies. Fashionista? :)

Hannah the homey Cougar fan during the bowl game. Go Cougs!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Terrific two-year-old!

Today is Hannah's 2nd birthday (or yesterday, by the time this post actually gets published). It has been a great day!

Last year, after spending much of Hannah's birthday in a car on our way home from a wedding in Vegas, I vowed to just sit and play with Hannah all day on her next birthday. And that's basically what I did today. Hannah and I played and sang and danced and read books and watched "Fwotty No-man" (Hannah loves the classic cartoon) this morning. And then during Hannah's nap, I frosted 24 cupcakes for her party tonight. After Hannah's nap, I let her watch Bubble Guppies (her favorite show) while she had a snack. She then got a visit from her aunt Jana. When Scott got home, I went to do my group (I debated getting a sub, but I figured Hannah would enjoy alone time with her daddy on her birthday). After my group, Scott and Hannah picked me up from work, and I drove us through some snowy weather to Santaquin to have a little birthday party for Hannah with my side of the family.

Funny side note: I drove about 40 mph the whole way to Santaquin, so I kept my hazard lights on. As we exited the freeway in Santaquin, a UHP officer pulled up to the side of my car with her lights on, and when I rolled down my window she actually asked me if I was being kidnapped. I assured her that I wasn't, and she smiled and said she just didn't want to hear later that someone was kidnapped and a UHP officer had just passed them by. Way funny. I wonder how many kidnappers/car-jackers actually let their victims turn on their hazard lights. :)

Anyway, we had a wonderful time with my family and are glad we made the rather treacherous trip. Hannah had been talking all day about seeing her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and she would have been very disappointed if we hadn't gone. She's a wee bit obsessed with her cousins. :) She played hard and zonked out on the way home.

And now for some cute pics...

On Sunday, we celebrated Hannah's birthday with Scott's side of the family. Doesn't she look beautiful in her new Christmas dress?!

 Hannah enjoyed opening her presents and looking at her cards.

 We let Hannah open her new backpack early. It's a fabulous replacement for her worn out diaper bag.

 Hannah loved it when Matt read her the fun new book from her grandparents.

 

 Hannah wasn't sure what to think of the lovely singing, but she enjoyed the cupcake I made as well as the cake Scott made.

 I just had to take one last pic of my cute, just-bathed 1-year-old the night before she turned 2.

 This morning, we let Hannah open a couple of gifts. She was quite happy to see her potty again, which we had put away about a month ago. We're going to start potty training after the new year.

 Hannah enjoyed playing with these cute, German "boy" and "girl" dolls from her family in Germany.

 And she really loved sitting on her potty off and on all day. She even pulled down her pants before sitting down a couple of times. :)

I treated Hannah to a sucker after lunch.

Hannah insisted on putting on her new shirt from her aunt Sandy over her pajamas. Yes, she stayed in her pj's until after her nap. So did I. :)

 Hannah's cupcake tree. She picked out the Tangled  ("Punzel") theme at the store.

What a cute little 2-year-old!

Hannah got totally spoiled.

She got a lot of good help opening her presents.

Hannah was thrilled to get 2 new baby dolls from her aunts and cousins. She went right to work nurturing them.

 Hannah with her cousins. I'm pretty sure I hear their names at least 50 times a day.

Half of the party gang.

 

And the other half.

Hannah with her mommy and daddy.

She would not put her new baby doll down.

 See? Don't worry--I checked, and she was still breathing under her hood.

Hannah's birthday haul.

A few things about our terrific two-year-old:
--Hannah is acting so grown up lately and copies just about anything we say and do. We really have to be more careful now. :)
--Hannah is super smart, but she still hasn't figured out that she could squeeze past the guard rail to get out of her toddler bed on her own. (I guess she believed me the first day we installed it--she tried to climb around the guard rail, and I told her she couldn't.) Scott and I are very happy about this.
--Hannah continues to love to sing and dance and do song actions, and she is getting really good at singing the actual words as well as singing the right tune and notes.
--Hannah still loves playing pretend with her dolls as well as with many other toys. She is getting more and more creative every day.
--Hannah loves to count and to sing the alphabet song. She can identify the numbers 1-10 as well as the majority of letters of the alphabet. Her pediatrician was impressed when Hannah started singing the letters that she saw painted on the walls of his office.
--Hannah still randomly gives out sweet and sometimes intense kisses and hugs all day long.
--I finally figured out how to get Hannah to let me cut her toenails. I just have to keep saying how pretty her toes are over and over again. Now, every times she takes off her socks, Hannah says "pretty."
--Hannah has been so good not to mess with our Christmas tree. She'll touch some of the ornaments, but the only ones she has removed are the candy canes because she wants to eat them. I don't blame her. Yum.
--The past few weeks, I have been telling Hannah that she will be 2 on her birthday. So today when I would ask her how old she is, she would say one. Then I would remind her that it's her birthday today and ask again how old she is now, and she would say 2. But when Scott got home, Hannah told him that she's one. So Scott told her that she's 2, and then Hannah repeatedly replied, "No, I not." Way funny.

We took Hannah to her 2-year well child check yesterday, and it was wonderful to have no more concerns about her gross motor skills (or anything else). Hannah now weighs 27 lbs. 6 oz. (73rd percentile), is 34.5 inches tall (65th percentile), and of course continues to have a large noggin to house her large brain (99th percentile). We were excited to see how well she is doing weight-wise. But the doctor said we can take her off of whole milk and give her skim milk now, so we'll see if she can keep her weight up.

As I reflect on these past 2 years that have flown by, I feel so incredibly grateful to be Hannah's mom. She is such a bright light in my life. Hannah has such a sweet personality and a strong spirit, and I can't wait to find out all the wonderful things she is going to teach me throughout our life together. While I often feel nostalgic and somewhat sad about my sweet baby growing up, I am even more happy and excited to see her developing into the amazing little person that she is.

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet Hannah!!!