I was shocked to realize the last post I have is from Christmas! We have spent the last four months trying to get through this pregnancy and get this baby here. In between we did manage to do some fun things. (P.S. Sorry for the poor images, most of these were taken with a camera phone.)
We had some quality bubble time with the bubble gun. (Hours of entertainment for a $1.99 toy!)
We managed to get to Merlin Olsen Park during the one week that they had the ice skating rink up and running. Rylee
loved it! We put her in a sled and pulled her around and around the rink for a few hours. She giggled the entire time and every time we stopped she cried "let's go again!"
We also had several more good sledding days. Chad spent several days working on a deluxe hill for Rylee and we even bought a new sled to fully utilize the design of the hill!
After Christmas we redecorated Rylee's room and put some fun new furniture in it. She loves her new desk and table (spending hours coloring on them and insisting that everyone who comes to our house come back to see her room). She knew just what to do with the vanity mirror, too.
Of course, after a hard day of playing you need some good friends to cuddle with at bedtime. (Note: Believe it or not, she was tucked in to bed with only 3 friends. The other ones must have "magically" appeared during the night.)
Rylee and I spent a quiet Valentine's Day at home this year. Chad got a new job working on campus (which we are very grateful for), but it takes him away from us during the evenings and nights. We have had some adjusting to get used to our new schedule, but this job comes with a lot of benefits that Chad has never had before (including great health insurance and half tuition)! So for Valentine's Day Rylee and I stayed home and watched movies. Grandma and Grandpa Alderman sent Ry a fun package, too, including this cute shirt, a new coloring book and some yummy treats!
Rylee also got a new cousin! Baby Trace joined the McKnight family (and surprised everyone by coming out a Trace instead of a Maggie) a few months ago. Linda and her family came to Utah a few weeks later to visit and let everyone meet the new addition to their family. Rylee was completely fascinated by Trace and spent all day asking me if she could hold the baby again. She was so sweet and gentle with him and she is very excited to have a baby brother just like Oaklee's baby brother.
In March we got to make the trip to Fallon, NV to see Trace blessed. This was our first trip to see where Linda and Daren live and had a fun weekend visiting. It was great to see the McKnight's and Rylee had so much fun playing with her cousins. (She asks every few days if we can go to Oaklee's house again!) We need to make the trip again when we have more time to stay and play (and when I'm not 7 months pregnant). Of course, I forgot my camera. (I'm blaming the pregnant hormones for my lack of coherent thoughts a lot lately.) So the only picture I have from the trip is from my phone. Rylee got a cold the day before we left and spent the weekend feeling pretty yucky, but she still enjoyed sleeping at the hotels. Hopefully we didn't get Linda's whole family sick, too.
In between snow storms we have had a couple nice days here in Logan. Rylee and Chad have filled them working in the yard and playing outside.
For Chad's birthday he got a fun, new outside toy. He and Rylee have spent hours in the front yard learning how to use it. Chad got a fly fishing pole (so he can begin learning the art of fly fishing) and found Rylee's fishing pole in the garage. They are so cute out there "catching fishies". (Rylee might be very surprised to learn that actual fishing includes water and real fish!) For now they are having fun pretending. I also attempted to make Chad a baseball cake. It didn't turn out very pretty, but at least it tasted good!
Last but not least, we are soooo ready for Baby Brother to get here. This has been a long and very trying pregnancy with eight months of morning sickness, fatigue and migraines. Despite one trip to the emergency room, accidentally discovering that Rylee and I don't both fit on the couch together anymore, several illnesses and killer contractions for the past several months, he appears to be a perfectly healthy (and VERY active) baby. Our family has been amazing at helping out with everything from clothes (a special thanks to Kristy and Dan for clothing our baby for most of his first year!) and equipment to taking Rylee for ice cream dates and giving her baths when I got too big to reach over the tub (she loves her Grandma and Grandpa time). We have the room ready, the baby equipment ready and the clothes ready. Now all we need is the baby! Chad built a motorcycle out of wood scraps and we painted some letters to help decorate his room. (P.S. We have decided to name him Jayden Chad Larsen.) Despite my desires to not have any pictures of myself in this condition, I decided to take one last shot of my baby belly for documentation (in case we are every crazy enough to do this again). For now we are crossing all our fingers and toes that this baby will get out of me soon! Hopefully my next post will include pictures of a cute, scrunched up baby boy!!
