changes BIG and small.

So once again I find myself wondering how to say what I'd like to.  As I talked about when I was reviewing our last year, I have felt so incredibly overwhelmed with God's goodness, mercy and miracles in my personal life the past year and in this new year.
Most especially having our little miracle baby Lee join our family last year.

Not so little "little" changes.
We found out in December that another miracle baby would be joining our family *mid-July* this year.  It is still hard to believe sometimes.  I remember so distinctly when I was in labor with Lee, wondering if I'd ever have that experience again.   We are SO excited and overwhelmed by the coming miracle.
Through the months of non-stop sickness that accompanied the first 16-ish weeks of this pregnancy I felt so much anxiety about being able to be a good mom to two when I felt like I was failing so miserably with just one.  Once again I found myself (and find sometimes) struggling with guilt because of my fears of inadequacy when the blessing of children is something I waited and longed for.  I again find myself struggling to be fair to myself and the fact that the miracle of pregnancy and child raising is also a tremendous opportunity for personal growth. 
I've had a lot of fears about this baby's health and wellness. (again) I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that wants us to come to Him (again and again) for peace and guidance and strength.  For me, it's so easy to get into a "if I need help I don't have sufficient faith" mindset.  I know deep down that ultimately God is in charge but sometimes it is so hard to give up the control that comes with worrying about it myself and wanting things my way.

*baby boy*

 
We found out today, most importantly, that this baby is developing healthily thus far AND that Lee is going to have a *baby brother.*
I hope that they are the best of friends, growing up myself directly in-between two boys, having two of the same gender so close together makes me a little nervous since it's unknown territory. (They will be 14 months apart.)
 




Big changes.
We also have been blessed with a job offer from one of Kevin's top company choices for when he finishes his Master's Degree this April.   This job (that we are honestly really excited about) will take us down south to the Houston area in Texas.  Kevin starts the end of May and so we'll be moving just in time to have our baby. 
I'm so excited for Kevin to be done with school and have a "real job" that we both feel so good about but I'm also pretty anxious about moving across the country to a completely new and foreign (to us) place just in time to have a baby. :)
Moving to Colorado for the summer just after we had Lee proved to be very difficult for me which makes me all the more anxious about doing it again this summer and permanently this time.  I know that we'll (I'll) be just fine and I'm confident that we are going to love where we live.  We've felt such good things about the community, city, etc... but I also know that it takes time to feel at home and comfortable in a place. As my cousin and I remarked (often) after moving from an incredible university ward to a much less incredible one..."change is hard!" (of course we ended up making some fantastic friends as the year went on.)
We've been so blessed during our time in Utah, not only to live close to a lot of family but also to have an incredible neighborhood and church community where we are.  We have loved living here and love the people who live here.  We are so sad to say goodbye. :(

Mostly though, I feel SO blessed.
Challenges, I know, will come during times of "drought" and "abundance" because we all desperately need to remember how much we need our Savior's Atonement in our lives, we  really can't do it alone.
I am so grateful that through it all God has set up a plan (with clear guidelines for us to follow) so that we can live "after the manner of happiness*" as Nephi (a prophet from the Book of Mormon) taught.

*2 Nephi 5:27


 

birthday love.

We definitely spread the "birthday love" out over a stretch of a few weeks this time around. Kevin and I have birthdays that fall in the same week each year and this year we have celebrated and celebrated.  We have had Such a fantastic time with family and friends.

The fam before Tucanos.

Ann and Lee.

We went out to eat at Tucanos with Annie, Scott, Jenna and their baby Emily. (they give a buy one:get one free coupon for birthdays. sign up here.) It was deliciously FILLING. (I can only eat so much meat...)We couldn't feed Lee fast enough. It was fun to spend time eating with S&J without all of us chasing kids, and of course we are getting in as much "Annie time" as we can before she leaves in a few weeks.

 Mostly it was *REALLY FUN* to actually get out. Admittedly Kev and I have never been good at that and it got worse once we had Lee, we've been on one whole date since he was born.... Well, two now if it counts to take him with us.:)

We had a celebratory dinner with my whole family on Sunday, and for dessert Annie made this *INCREDIBLE* cake which actually isn't too tricky.  (try it! get the recipe here.) Chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache...
Kevin blew out half the candles but...he was the one taking pictures so we missed it.  :( We are trying to soak up the times that we can all be together before Annie and Dave leave on missions and we move this spring when Kevin finishes his Masters.

Of course he was laughing right Before the pic.

Lee and Ann.

On Monday we took Lee swimming for the first time at the Bountiful Rec Center.  It was PACKED because of the holiday and Lee didn't care much for the crowd in the main pool area. But had a *blast* once we took him in the lap swim area.  We all had a great time, my mom even went on the water slide. :)

 After swimming we went out to dinner at Arella Pizzeria in Bountiful.  Every-Single-Pizza was amazing.  Kevin, being the food connoisseur that he is, was in *heaven*. We had a traditional margarita pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil. (my favorite) We also had an Alfredo chicken and bacon pizza, a arugula and blue cheese pizza with caramelized pears and candied pecans and a pesto chicken pizza with tomatoes and mushrooms.   It was all delicious.

*Annie, David, Mom and Dad.*

*Kevin, me and Lee.*

*alfredo chicken and bacon pizza and arugula pizza.*

*pesto chicken pizza.*

Ann and Dave.

On my actual "birth-day" my cousin and friend Ashley Anne surprised me by coming over with Clara Mae to cook us a delicious lunch, give me a hand and foot massage and spend the day chatting.  It was wonderful.  (Ashley's birthday is this week too and we're going out tonight with the hubbies and kids to celebrate together!)

Mostly, I am a sucker for good food and even more for good company, I have felt showered with both and so blessed to spend my last birthday around my family...with them.  Thank you, thank you!

a *love*ly day.

*on our way to visit friends.*

We had such a great Valentine's day.  Lee and I started it out visiting our besties; Nicole and Calvin in their new house in Herriman.  It was SO good to be able to chat with B.  We decorated heart-shaped sugar cookies, (Lee wanted to eat all of ours) took a house tour, (speaking of lovely...it really is) and talked about everything as usual.

*I meant to finally document a visit but of course got caught up in everything and forgot...this is my only proof, the last cookie.*

*It is such a blessing to be best friends with someone for SO long (I guess it's been 20 years now.), they know all about anything you could possibly want to bring up.  Ahh! And they tend to be really good listeners too. (thanks for being my sounding board yesterday B)

*It was delicious!*

We got home to a surprise dinner made for us by Kevin; lobster tails, mashed potatoes with roasted red peppers and asparagus (my favorite).
Lee *LOVED* the lobster...and everything else. Ha. It was fun to share our meal and holiday with our little Lee boy.

*lobster!*

 

 

We took a walk to get our mail after dinner and enjoyed some r&r for the rest of the evening, sharing our FAVORITE chocolates. (Dark chocolate with sea salt caramel.)

*Ready for our walk. Lee LOVES his Dad.*

*from Kevin*

Such a great day to be with some of the people I love the very most. 
*Happy Valentine's Day!*

*Happy V-Day*

Valentine's family night.

After hearing that both of my parents had a hard week my sister Annie, (Who has been living with us while working a temp job before she leaves on her mission.) thought it'd be nice to do a surprise family night that allowed us to let Mom and Dad know some of the *many* reasons we love them.  She was going to be home the next Monday and just asked everyone to participate digitally. We all sort of last minute decided to actually be there for the surprise family night. So Annie and I prepared the meal and lesson etc... so that Mom wouldn't wonder why the portions were so big and wouldn't plan family night herself (she's a superstar like that). 

We've always had a family focus for Valentine's in our family, so it's always been a holiday that was fun to celebrate for me, even though I never had a *special someone* before Kevin. (we got engaged a few days before Valentine's Day.) Our family always decorated brown paper bags with our name and hearts the first week of February and hung them on our doors.  We then gave each other handmade Valentines throughout the month.  It's a tradition I LOVE and will carry on with my family.  Valentine's is about love but not just romantic love, there are so many people who have touched my life through their love and friendship, why not celebrate it?
 
Annie was absolutely the mastermind behind the whole thing, and she likes to go big...always.  So, on top of a delicious meal she also decided to try a new recipe for dessert. Mini conversation heart cheesecakes.  (see recipe here.) And wanted to decorate a little too.  So, I made a banner with felt hearts, card stock and twine.  Lately, I tend to do enough to *get by* but I'm glad Annie pushed for the details that made it a really special night. We'll miss her in Australia. :) (as she reminds me frequently)

conversation hearts. (unfortunately I didn't get a pic until they were almost all eaten.)

*banner to celebrate the parentals*

Happy Valentine's Day!

catch the sunshine. (while you can.)

Kevin and I decided to make the most of a sunny Saturday a few weeks ago. I have had intense "cabin fever" this winter and I just couldn't stay inside when the sun was actually shining and the inversion was *momentarily* gone. 
We went to a favorite walk spot near our house called Dripping Rock.  It's a little nature walk along a stream  that has a spring flow into it from the east side (down the mountain) thus making the rocks along the east side "drip". 
Our walk was actually completely covered in snow but we decided to do it anyway.  It was great.  It's been so long since Lee has been outside for any substantial amount of time that it tends to kind of daze him.  Ha, poor winter boy.  All the "drips" were frozen into icicles, which looked pretty rad.  Mostly I'm just glad we got out while we could. :) (can't wait for spring)

*the frozen "drips"*

He had basically this same expression the whole time.

I couldn't blame him, it was really bright.

f/u:anemia

Lee's eating=I'm happy. 

So, just thought I'd share my findings so far with you.  I have been able to feed Lee his full portion of iron supplement IF I mix it with fruit baby food. I don't know if the fruit flavors are just stronger or what but I'm happy that it's working. 
The one negative side effect that hasn't gone away is a return of spitting up.  Lee was a "spitter" when he was new but several months ago he outgrew it. (wahoo.) But ever since I started feeding him extra iron he'll spit up about 1-3 times a day, any time during the day even though he always has his iron mid-morning.  I know that iron has a tendency to be hard on the stomach so it seems that's what it is. It's nothing compared to him throwing up like before though.