2019 Summary

 January

We celebrated our little Gwen turning 2 months old. I was actually able to watch the ball drop on New Years, but didn't stay up late (but traditions are traditions!). We also had our first date night since she was born and it went pretty well. Not a lot happens with a 2 month old, but it was still a good way to start the year (Gwen it pretty chill)

February

I went back to work this month. It was hard, but at least not as hard as when I went back after Cara was born. We celebrated Valentine's day with homemade eggnog and eggnog cookies. They were a yummy treat, very different. It got a little stressful with two young kiddos, but still turned out a fun day.

March

We got our first visit from the Wilson's since Gwen was born and we went out to dinner. It was our first real dinner with her, we stayed out a little late, but she was a little sweetie (once I picked her up). I also embraced my inner 90s child and got my first set of overalls I've had in decades. I'm so glad the 90s are coming back! Gwen turned 4 months old so we started solids, which is one of my favorite milestones with a new baby.

April

 I discovered a new insane craze of "clean with me" on YouTube. This isn't something I should like, but I do. I LOVE it! It's inspired and motivated me so much! We also celebrated a really fun Easter! I decided last minute to hide eggs and we had SO much fun eating a big Easter dinner. One of my favorite holidays this year for sure.

May

 We started the month celebrating Cara's 2nd birthday (with a HILARIOUS reaction to us singing her happy birthday). I also had my 2nd Mother's Day (and with 2 babies so it's fitting) and Larry got me my gorgeous birth stone necklace. Gwen turned 6 months (which is another favorite milestone of mine)

June

June was ROUGH with our attempt at potty training Cara (that did NOT end as well as I had hoped). Larry had a special Father's Day. We also had a visit from Nana that was definitely a great one for the books!

July

We started the month with a fun 4th of July (which totally inspired my holiday totes and wanting to create traditions for every holiday). We had a VERY special kind of birthday celebration for Larry this year. We took our family vacation to San Diego for Gwen's 7 month trip and it was SO much fun! And one of the best memories was going to Lagoon and taking Cara on her first roller coasters!!

August

 While August didn't have a lot of posts and seems slow, there were some VERY momentous moments. For one, I finally met ALL of my siblings on the Wilson side and it was a day I'll ALWAYS remember. We also went out a bunch now that Gwen turned 9 months and was more awake. It was a great month.

September

September marked the end of Summer and we had a fun one to look back on. We also took another family road trip up to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. We made the decision to go a bit last minute and it ended up being to check out possible areas we'd want to move to and it was a great trip (who knew I'd fall so hard for Montana).

October

Obviously the biggest moment this month was finding out our next baby is coming! It was quite the surprise, but a very welcome one! We also celebrated Halloween and had a ton of fun trick or treating for the first time (although this lady was feeling so sick she couldn't hang too long, but we still had fun and the girls looked so adorable!).

November

Gwen turned one this month! We had a fabulous, fabulous party for her (where we decided to always have parties outside our house now). And we had another visit from Nana that was even better than previous ones! We also had a great Thanksgiving Weekend ( much better than last year with a newborn haha)

December 

I had a really great birthday this year! Again, one that inspired years to come for me. We had a really good Christmas this year, as per usual. Such a great way to wrap up the year and I am so happy with how we spent it. Now on to the next decade, it should be a great one!

Goal Check-In

So it's my annual "let's see how I did on my yearly goals" post...let's just get to it:

• Potty train and move Cara into a toddler bed. We successfully moved Cara to a toddler bed before her 2nd birthday and we haven't had a single issue with it! Potty training - that's another story. She was definitely not ready (too early) for that so we're hoping to move that to next year - hopefully before preschool time.
• Compliment Strangers. I didn't do so well with this one. I did it if I noticed something I liked, but I don't feel I paid attention too well.
• Give Larry more "me" time. Didn't do well on this one either - boo! I was too scared to take both girls out on my own too often. It's only been the last few months that Cara has learned not to run away (although sometimes she tries in parking lots). I was so worried she'd run away and I'd have to either chase her and leave Gwen in a stroller alone, or stay with Gwen and try and catch up to Cara with a stroller. Luckily he gets nap time to himself every day.
• Keep to my weekend plans. Nope - big fat F for this one too. I didn't bake, I didn't visit family like I'd like, I didn't do a service project, no spa weekend, nothing. I did clean more than usual, but not like I'd have liked.
• Workout regularly (including Diastasis Recti workouts). Hey! One I succeeded on! Up until finding out I was pregnant again I was working out 3 times a week and doing my ab workouts every time too. It was great and I look forward to getting back into it again. 
• Break my sugar habit. Up until the pregnancy I think I did good with this one. I hate to use the pregnancy as an excuse, but it really shook things up with the sickness. I had bad weeks, but I think I had more good weeks throughout the year.
• Reach my savings goals. I did pretty good on this one too. I even have a plan for next year. I have two dedicated savings that have earned some nice interest, I'll be closing those at the end of the year mark and I'm going to open an IRA and just movie my savings into two savings so they can earn more interest. I have until February/March to get that going.
• Update blog regularly. Oops! I failed on this one more than usual! I have so much catching up to do. I've actually started a new blog I'd like to do more with. We'll see if I can keep on top of it with 3 kids.

Here's to hoping I have a more successful 2020 (I have a ton of ambitious goals!), because I did not so well this year.

My Birthday Celebration

So 32 isn't a big milestone so I didn't really have super high hopes for my birthday this year. I honestly didn't think I could ever top our Hawaii trip (we came home on my birthday that year and it was my 30th birthday - it was a big one). My actual birthday day was pretty great - my work day was easy, I got a cake from my TL, I got a funny (actual birthday) card signed by my team, I got free food (lunch was provided to us) at work, just really nothing I could complain about. Larry got me my new planner - always a big hit for me - and it was just a great day.

Well Larry was asking how I wanted to spend my birthday day "celebration" (I wanted to wait until the Saturday after Christmas because we were so busy all the other weekends in December) and I never really had an answer. I figured I'd just wing it. Then we got some good gift cards for Christmas (Hobby Lobby, Olive Garden, Kohls) and I figured why not have a little shopping spree with those in the morning? Then we could go out for dinner at Olive Garden (which isn't a favorite of mine, but we hadn't taken the girls yet and we figured they'd like it). I also thought we could take the girls somewhere fun after their nap - originally I was thinking the Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point, but I was open to anything. Then I had a brilliant idea - I wanted to go see a movie! There were a few that looked decent enough and I hadn't been to the theater in so long! I figured I'd go during nap/quiet time to make it easier on Larry. I settled on Knives Out at 12:30 and I was going to get me some concessions (yum!).

So we went shopping in the morning, I got me a new jacket and hoodie from Kohl's - I couldn't find any ONE thing at Hobby Lobby I wanted to buy yet so we waited on that. We grabbed some Zupas for lunch (which we ate at home), Larry sent me out with $10 for my snacks and off I went. I have to say I think I picked a good movie, I wasn't disappointed. After the movie I went home to be with my family again. We decided on ice cream at Arctic Circle to let the girls wiggle around (it's cheaper than Thanksgiving Point and it was closer to dinner). We literally had to beg Cara to have some of the ice cream (I ordered 3 different shakes for all of us), she was throwing such a fit about having to eat some, but once other kids came to play she got over it and then loved the ice cream. Then we had to drag the girls away from the playground and go to dinner. We had quite a bit of a wait (even after putting ourselves on the wait list in the car on the way over), but once we sat down the girls were so excited to eat. Cara, surprisingly, ate so much salad on her own - I didn't have to force her and she kept eating it (strange girl). We all had pretty yummy food and then headed home to relax for the rest of the night.

Overall it was SUCH a great day! I got to spend time with my family (which is the best part of any day), got to spend money on cute things, see a movie with some theater snacks (even though the theater was insanely busy). Then we had some yummy ice cream and then an almost free dinner. As far as non vacation birthdays go it was an amazing one! Now I'm just so excited to take down Christmas and start the new year!

Christmas 2019

Christmas this year was a good one. I will admit as Christmas got closer, I didn’t feel a big Christmas spirit. I had a lot of fun shopping for others, but then, as usual, I got to getting things too late and had to ship gifts out, and I shipped them late – I just hate that I end up doing that EVERY year and it ends up costing me so much money, and the gifts end up showing up late. I did order things online for those people so that they did get something on Christmas, but it felt rushed and frustrating. I feel like I ended up spending more doing it this way. I didn’t feel like I got Gwen a lot of toys (which is hard because she just shares toys with Cara so I didn’t feel like I needed to get double gifts, but more of the toys were definitely geared towards Cara more). I also was wrapping gifts up to Christmas Eve and it got to the point where I left some unwrapped because I just didn’t care anymore, and my belly and back weren’t allowing me to do too many each time I finally did get around to wrapping. ….these are lessons to learn for next year!

How cute is this gingerbread house (the box, not the one 

We actually tried making haha)

We finally got a picture with Santa this year!!

Christmas Eve I had to work (again), but it was from home (again). I watched more movies, snacked all day, I created a nice pillow stack to lean on during slow times during work (so that I could get a good view of the movie around my screens) - it wasn’t too bad. So that day was uneventful. Although I love when the girls go down and it’s finally time to bring down all the gifts and put them under the tree! That is the best time.

My movies for this year

Christmas Day Cara had so much fun opening gifts, she wanted to just dive in! We had so many gifts for them to open that she got a bit overwhelmed and found a point where she didn’t want to open anything else (it didn’t help that I had her open her new toy camera – that takes real pictures – first so she really just wanted to play with that immediately). I told Larry that I think in future years we should just each buy the kids 3 gifts and one for each other and call it good. Especially since my mom and grandma get them so many things as well. The good news is we can put these toys and gifts up and just bring them back out throughout the year since there is so many of them.

We went to my Grandma’s for “breakfast”, which we haven’t done in so many years as well. I put breakfast in quotes because it was supposed to be at 10, but we didn’t start cooking it until around 10-ish and we didn’t eat till 11:30, so basically lunch time (luckily I gave the girls a pouch of food and some snacks that morning to hold them over). We had scones, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and orange juice and it was all so delicious! It was late, but very good. Afterwards, we kind of rushed opening the rest of the gifts and got out of there so the girls could take a nap when we got home. I felt bad rushing out, but we had been there since 9:45 and I was feeling done (not to mention the girls were getting sleepy).

At the end of the day I’ve been feeling very…conflicted. I love Christmas time, but I’m feeling like we buy so much and waste so much and we just add so much clutter to our house with it and while I love that people want to show their love this way, it just feels wrong. I’d much rather spend more time with family than just have them buy us gifts and call it good. I do my best to really be thoughtful with my gifts to people, but I feel like others just buy what stores push on them. It feels so commercial. I’m hoping I can find ways in future years to celebrate this holiday and make it feel more special and heartfelt. I don’t want my girls to just think of this as the holiday where they get a bunch of things. That being said, I’ve loved watching them enjoy each gift they were given and get so excited about them being built and getting to play with them. I think I’m just very excited about 2020 and all the goals I have planned for next year!

So with that I’ll say Merry Christmas to everyone out there! I hope it was a happy day filled with love!

3 Months (Weeks 9 - 13)




Compare/Contrast: So far this last month has been a bit easier. I decided to stop taking the meds over Veteran's Day Weekend (I had to go the ER due to some breathlessness and heart palpitations, but it turns out everything is fine and we suspected the breathlessness was due to the pills so we decided to take a break and see) and I got SO sick by the third day I literally couldn't keep anything down. I decided to start the pills again, but only taking 1 in the middle of the night instead of 2 and it is like my body realized it was exactly what it needed so I've been feeling so much better. Plus the breathlessness stopped pretty much instantly.

My new cravings include tomatoes and ice cream (but not together). I also absolutely love eating salads, which is new. I'll still eat junk foods, but if I can have salads I'm all for that! I'm still pretty tired and I smell all the smells, but other than the fact that I need pills for the sickness it's been a typical pregnancy for me.

Best Moments This Month: Definitely going to the doctor's on the 19th and getting even more confirmation that everything is going good. We got an ultrasound to confirm how far along I am and my official due date is now set to June 5th. The baby was wiggling so much and kicking the cord and looked like he/she was sucking on their fingers. I also got to tell the family and make my announcement on the 20th to lots of supportive comments. Which means I get to start parking in the maternity parking again :)

Luckily the sickness is subsiding, it's been only hitting at night and so as long as I go to bed early I usually handle it well enough. And we've been able to run errands on the weekends! My motivation and planning moods have come back!

Also, the holidays! My mom came to visit for Gwen's birthday party and we also had my side's Thanksgiving dinner, which was pretty good. I'm all for eggnog! I'm also all for lots of food and holidays that encourage that. We also did our own Thanksgiving again this year, but it was by accident - I didn't realize we didn't have an official invite to any other ones and they all had plans that were too far away and since it was snowing like crazy that day anyways we were happy to have it in our own home. But we just did rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, olives, and raspberry cheesecake for (my) dessert.

Not baby related, but I picked my planner for next year for my birthday gift and I'm REALLY excited about that!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Definitely getting to the 2nd trimester (hopefully feeling better), getting to know the gender (I really don't care which one it is, but I'll be happy to know and start making plans for him or her), and feeling movements!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving this year was so much different than before. I assumed since we did an early thanksgiving with my mom, we’d have the freedom to spend a full thanksgiving with Larry’s side this year. So on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving I text Marie to see what time they were doing dinner since we hadn’t heard up to that point, but she let me know they were switching years between her kids and her husband’s kids and this year was his kids’ turn. I felt so dumb because I remember she had told me that before and I completely spaced it. My family obviously wasn’t going to do anything, so we had to plan a super last-minute thanksgiving. 

We knew we didn’t really have time (or the patience) to do a whole turkey so we figured an already-made rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, olives, and chocolate raspberry cheesecake (I will always have the time for that dessert! Haha). Unfortunately, this did make us one of those last-minute shoppers at the store the day before Thanksgiving, but it was okay. They luckily had everything we needed, and it all turned out good (we just reheated the chicken in the oven on Thanksgiving Day). The girls ate little bits here and there but had enough to call it good (I’m not sure why Cara is suddenly the pickiest eater lately, she seems to only eat mac n cheese, pb&j, fruit, or pasta noodles).

Friday, I had to work (kind of had to, kind of voluntary). It was actually kind of nice because I got to work from home, so I loaded up our  DVD player with my Christmas movies picked for this year (I have too many to watch all of them every year so I have them divided between odd and even years), I stayed in my PJs, and worked from bed watching movies all day. Normally, I like to put up Christmas decorations on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but since Larry always has to work it seems pointless and we might as well just wait till the weekend to do that.

Saturday, I wanted to do some shopping. I make it a point to not do any shopping on Friday since I hear it’s crazy with crowds (and I absolutely hate crowds). I had wanted to start my shopping earlier in the month, but since the pregnancy sickness has really kicked my butt this was the first time I felt well enough to be out in public. We went to our shopping area in American Fork and oh my! The crowds there were insane! It didn’t help that the freeway in that area was shut down due to a tanker moving hazardous chemicals had flipped over so they had to clear the whole freeway (both sides) all day long – I guess all the drivers decided to go to shopping in the mean time haha. We were still able to hit up a few shops and I found some really good gift ideas for my list of people. I actually got really into in-store shopping that I might have to do this every year! I’ve decided online shopping is great if you know what you want to get someone, but if you’re looking for ideas, then shopping in stores to browse ideas is better and it made me feel like I got a bunch of good ideas.

Sunday, we did our usual grocery shopping and then put up Christmas. I will say we decorated a bit more than usual (and our new tree we got is so beautiful!), but I still want to do more! I really want to get outside decorations on this year for once, but I have a feeling it’s still not going to happen. I’m just hoping Christmas will be great this year, I’m very excited for it since Gwen is finally over a year and Cara is finally to a point where she can open gifts and is excited about them (anytime a box shows up she starts yelling excitedly “open it, open it!” haha).