Negative Nancy . . . Be Gone!!!

Ok, I am feeling better, thanks to everyone who commented on my last blog, I really did just need a swift kick in the butt to get me going. So now I thought I would write a more positive post about all the things I love in my life right now . . .

1. I am more in love with my husband than I ever have been. Being married was such a big adjustment for me, and there were hard times. But I love looking back at our marraige and seeing all the joys and trials we have been through and seeing how close they have bonded us. It really does just keep getting better . . .

2. Seeing Scott learn so many new things and talking about his memories. I feel so amazed at the mind of a child, how they pick up things so fast and then they remember them. I feel so excited when he has friends come to play, because I remember how much fun I had playing with friends when I was younger. I love when he will remind me of fun times we had together, and I have so much joy in realizing he has so many happy memories of time he has spent with me and our family.

3. Bonding with Stacey. Stacey is so stubborn and she does things on her own time, you cannot force this child to do anything!! But it makes it that much sweeter when she wants to be close to you, because you know it's what she wants to do. I love going placer with her and spending time with just her. I feel like since she is the middle child she sometimes gets lost in the mix, so I love being able to sit and talk with her. She is quite the conversationalist.

4. Loving on Daniel. To say this kid is happy is a huge understatement. He always laughs and smiles at me, which makes me feel like I am his most favorite person in the world. I want to kiss and hold him all day, and I sometimes want to wake him up at night to play with him after he's gone to sleep (I seriously d0!).

5. Where we live. I absolutely love our house, I love our neighborhood, I love our ward, I love my friends here. Seriously, I have never felt so much at home as I feel here. I miss family and friends in Utah of course. But I KNOW I belong here. I have been so blessed by the people I know here, I really do have "family" in Texas.

6. The gospel. I feel like I know my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much better than I have for most of my life. I feel so much inspiration in my life, that comes from the Holy Ghost. I honestly don't know what I would so without it. I couldn't function.

7. Honesty. I feel like I have more honesty in my life than I have before. I feel like I can be honest with myself, it's ok for me to have strength and weaknesses. I don't feel like I have to be perfect or that relationships have to be perfect. Sometimes people fight, we get upset, hurt people's feelings and that's ok, nobody's perfect. We are all working together. For most of my life, I've been a people pleaser, but now I feel like I can be myself and tell people the truth (and not what they want to hear), and it's refreshing. At least I can be honest with myself and others and I feel free.

There are SOOO many more, I was gonna write about my family and Greg
s family, but there are too many amazing people to start on at 1:00 in the morning. That's a blog for another day . . .

Gone, Gone, Gone!

Gone like a freight train, gone like yesterday, gone like (I can't remember the rest).

Yes, I have been gone from the blogging world for awhile. The main reason is because I had SO MANY fun people come visit me in October and Greg is out of town.

Basically, this is a venting blog (just a disclaimer). Not because I am jealous of anyone, the people I am mentioning in my blog I admire, but I just wonder how they do it. I feel like I never have time to blog, never have time to read, my house is never clean, I don't play with my kids enough, I don't bathe them everyday, I get mad at my kids, I'm not organized (that's an understatement, I am the complete opposite of organize, I basically feel like I live on the verge of chaos), I don't work out as much as I should, I don't get enough sleep, I don't make anything crafty or scrapbook (I can sew, I just don't feel like I have time to), don't read my scriptures enough, I can never remember to say my morning prayers, etc. Sometimes I just feel like I am one of those frogs in the boiling water and I am just swimming and swimming and barely keeping my head above the water.

And then I read other people's blogs and these are all the cool things they do: read at least 3 books a week, have triplets, run marathons and half marathons, have special needs kids that they are amazing with, shoot music videos, write books, teach parenting classes, scrapbook, sew, make crafts, cook yummy (and healthy) dinners every night, have all there kids do chores everyday, and so on. And alot of these people are moms who have just as many (or more) kids as I do, are wonderful moms who always do fun stuff with their kids, and some of them have part-time and full time jobs (really easy jobs like, school psychologist, nurse, medical transcriptionist, nurse, etc.)! And all I'm wondering of all you wonderful people out there who do all these cool things, is honestly, how do you have time? I love the people who do these things and admire them and want to be more like them for all the things they accomplish, but where would I find the time?

So this is an honest question to all of you out there doing all these "cool" things, is there some secret way for me to manage my time better? Please share it with me, I need help! I really didn't post this blog for everyone to write things like "oh Christy, you do so much, you're so amazing!" I really do want help!!

ALso, I screwed up my blog! How did I do that? I am also not very good at blogging! Can someone tell me how to fix it?

Sorry, I don't mean for this to be a negative post. I love my life, I have such a wonderful family and such amazing friends, I am truly blessed way beyond anything I deserve.

I just wish I wasn't so overwhelmed all the time . . .

Vacation over the Border

I just got back from a fun-filled exhausting vacation.

First, we went to Spokane for a very fun, well-planned reunion. Unfortunately, I got sick (strepth throat) and didn't take any pictures. If you are just dying to see how much fun we had you can click here http://www.everydayromneys.blogspot.com/. It was at the Daines lake cabin at Hayden Lake. I seriously have the best in-laws! We all get along so well, and I WISH I lived closer to ALL of them!!

Next, we headed to Canada with just our family to see Vancouver. We stayed at the Sutton Place, a five star hotel at a 3 star price, thanks to hotels.com, thank you Greg! When we told our trolley driver where we were staying, he asked me if I was famous. That's seriously how nice this place was folks. Everyone looked at us like we were crazy we dragged our three snack covered, messy haired, homeless looking kids (we'd been in the car for 5 hours) to check-in to the hotel. It was I'm sure one of Greg's all-time favorite moments of our lives. Seriously, he loves to look ghetto in nice places. It's a weird quirk he has.

Here's a view from the hotel.

Ok, I have to admit, I don't usually take the shampoo and all the stuff from the hotels, but this seriously was nice stuff!! I could've stayed in this hotel all week!

In Vancouver, we rode the trolley around, played at Stanley park, and ate yummy crepes. Daniel fell asleep on the trolley and played with a straw the rest of the day(I know am not good at taking pictures, I'm working on it. Just don't read my blog for the pictures, just read it for the captivating story-telling). Then we had to leave that night to go on a ferry to Victoria.

We checked-in to our hotel at midnight in Victoria. So our kids were passed out until 11:00 the next day. In Victoria, we rode the trolley around (Greg likes taking the tour trolleys), fed a seal (the highlight of our day), and went on a whale watching tour. We also went to Buchart gardens, which is beautiful, but it was at night and my phone (I forgot my camera on the trip, does that surprise anyone?) doesn't have a flash so I couldn't take pictures. I'm sure they have a great web site, with better pictures than I could take anyways!

Next, it was on to Seattle, where we met my parents, my uncle and his family, and my brother and some of his friends for the BYU vs. Washington game. It was a really fun game to be at and I even took all my kids!! I don't know why I don't have any pictures of this! We had so much fun!! I think my dad took some pictures, when I get them from him, I'll post them later. So long blogging world . . .

Paved with Good Intentions

I don't know if this blog will make me feel better or worse about myself, but I have been feeling overwhelmed so I thought I would put in my blog some of the things I did and didn't do this week.

I did feed my kids this week.

I didn't keep them or my kitchen clean while doing it. (At least the broom is out in this picture, at least I intended to clean it.)

Sidenote about Stacey:Holy cow that girl is one messy eater. At least once a day (really this is not an exaggeration), she spills yogurt, oatmeal, juice, etc. on the table AND on the floor! She also has the wonderful talent of table finger painting. This is where you take whatever is in front of you (yogurt is especially lovely) and dip your finger in it and make beautiful edible artwork all over the kitchen table. Hopefully on day this is a sport in the Olympics . . .

I did take 30 minutes (to get toys, snacks etc.) to get my kids in the stroller to go running stroller and then take a picture because they looked so darn cute. And then Greg came home so I decided to take them back out of the stroller and leave them with him. (It's hard enough for me to run let alone push two kids!!)

I still went running!! Just not with them!

I did sit down in my office to get all my bills done, but I didn't get any work done. Can you guess why? That's right, Daniel was in there with me!

But I did get some really cute pictures of Daniel!!!

I DID go to my 10 year high school reunion! Which was a blast!! Thanks to ya'll for planning it!

But I didn't get a new outfit or lose 10 pounds or rent a hummer or show up in a limo!! Am I lame or what?

Other cool thing that happened: Scott wrote his name all by himself! Way to go buddy!! He did such a good job!! I didn't even help him at all!

Other funny thing that happened: Stacey put this shirt on as a skirt, it was hilarious!

All in all, it wasn't a bad week!

Scott's world

My friend Andrea did this post because with her daughter Skylar and I wanted to do it with Scott to see what he said.

1. What is something dad always says to you? go play tennis

2. What is something mom always says to you? When it's thundering, you cannot go outside without asking to go swimming.

3. What makes dad happy? When you give him a present

4. What makes mommy happy? Giving hugs

5. What makes dad sad? I don't know

6. What makes mommy sad? If you don't go to school and take a school bus

7. How does dad make you laugh? when we play funny games

8. How does mom make you laugh? she makes me music

9. How old is your dad? I don’t know.
10. How old is your mom? 4
11. How tall is your dad? 10

12. How tall is your mom? 14
13. What is daddy's favorite thing to do? play games with me

14. What is mom’s favorite thing to do? hold daniel

15. What does your dad do when you're not around? he looks for stuff
16. What does your mom do when you're not around? go in the car

17. What is your dad really good at? tennis
18. What is your mom really good at? soccer sports

19. What is your dad not very good at? hitting the ball, when he doesn't hit it high

20. What is your mom not very good at? basketball

21. What does your dad do for his job? work, kill spiders

22. What does your mom do for her job? work, kill spiders (never!), on the computer

23. What is your dad's favorite food? hot dogs with bread

24. What is your mom’s favorite food? tortillas (what!?!)

25. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be? Goofy

26. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Minnie Mouse
27. How are you and your dad the same? We're both boys

28. How are you and your mom the same? when we match colors
29. How are you and your dad different? when we have different shirts on
30. How are you and your mom different? when we have different shirts on

The funniest one to me is the hot dogs and bread because when greg is on weight watchers he eats 4 fat-free hot dogs everyday (1 point each) and 4 slices of light bread (2 points), so Scott does see him eat it alot, no wonder he thinks it's his favorite food. I was surpirsed that Scott said tortillas for me, but I guess I don't usually eat sandwiches on bread, I usually do put it in a wrap, so I'm assuming that's where he got that answer from!! It's just funny to see how your kids see things!

Today when he told us what he learned in primary he said the learned about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of the United States of America. Now that's a long name for a church!

There's somthing about Daniel . . .

I'm kindof backtracking here, but I never posted any pics of Daniels blessing, but here are a couple of pics I took on my phone. My uncle Denny, the family photographer, took more but I can't get the disc to work :(

Okay, I need to brag about Daniel for a little bit. He is seiously the best, happiest baby ever!! I seriously can not get enough of him!! I want to hold him, kiss him, cuddle and play with him all the time. He has the cutest laugh and smile. I think he even looks cute when he has a blank stare on his face!! One day when I was preparing my lesson on Sunday and it was crunch time (I'm a procratinator, remember? Hopefully, no one in my ward reads this, I want to give them the impression that I prepare my lessons months in advance), so I asked Greg to keep Daniel in the living room while I shut my door and worked on my lesson, bccause I couldn't get anything done because I would see him smiling at me and then stop working on my lesson to go play with him! I don't know what it is about him, maybe just the fact that he is a baby or what, but I seriously can not get enough of that kid!!

Scott's 4 Birthday Bowling Bonanza and My Very Special Cake Decorating Talent

Scott is four!! WE had such a fun day!! We let Scott pick an activity during the day and he picked bowling. Check out these cute pics.
My favorite part of bowling was the little bowling shoes they had for my kids!! They looked so cute in those shoes. Stacey is throwing a tantrum because she didn't get her own ball (she will turn 3 one day, right?)

Here's the exciting birthday breakfast, with Scott's choice of cereal, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Later in the day, he got to watch a movie during quiet time with the boys.

Then on to Chuck E. Cheese for the birthday party . . .

The best thing about Chuck E. Cheese is that there is no setup and no cleaning up after!! The kids all had fun, with the exception of Daniel, who sat in his car seat almost all night. But he looked really cute doing it.

I don't want to take anything away from Scott's bday, but I wanted to show everyone my hidden (very amateur) cake decorating talent. Here is Scott's cake decorated by ME!!

The ball is a cake too (it's supposed to be a basketball and hoop)! My mom always made us homemade decorated cakes for our birthdays, so it was fun for me to make one of my own!!

Scott is so much fun, and I am so greatful to have him in our family! I can't believe he is already four!!

100 things about Christy . . .

Sorry to the blogging world (especially you, Ryan, I know a good portion of the excitement in your life revovles around what is on my blog) for my long absence. At least this is a long, VERY informative blog!!

My friend Andrea (who I love reading her blog, her daughter Sklar is HILarious) did this and I thought it was really cool. Don't compare my 100 to hers though because she is way more talented and cool than I am!!



1. I have lived in Texas for 5 going on 6 years.
2. I thought I was only here for 3-5 years (per Greg's promises we would go back to Utah soon), but am glad we are still here, because I love it (Sorry friends & family in Utah, I still miss you lots)!!
3. I loved New Kids on the Block when I was 9 or 10 and had a florescent NKOTB fanny pack.
4. I met Greg at school at UVSC with his friend Justin. Justin actually talked to me first. I was staring at my orange (it's a long story why I was staring at the orange). The conversation started like this, "How's that orange?"
5. I lived in White Rock, NM until I was 10.
6. I was on a chess team in elementary school in NM, and I used to love playing chess with my dad. I only beat him once (and I think he let me win).
7. I LOVE kickboxing and want to be a teacher someday.
8. I love when you pick up newborn babies when they are sleeping or tired and they pull their legs up and scrunch into a ball, its so CUTE!
9. I eat alot of things I don't think taste good because they are healthy.
10. I love Dance Dance Revolution.
11. I love playing sports, but not watching them.
12. Two sports I have come to really like playing in the past 5 years: tennis and golf.
13. I like ketchup on mexican food (like burritos and tacos) better than salsa.
14. I love Harry Potter! I've read all the books at least twice except the last one.
15. My sister is the only one who has done (colored & cut) my hair in the last 5 years and she lives in Utah. Needless to say, you can tell how recently I have been to Utah by how my hair looks.
16. I am obsessed with my parents cabin in Sundance, it is one of the coolest places in the world!
17. I really want to go to Europe.
18. I drive a Toyota Sienna (it's a mini-van, come on I have 3 kids now!)
19. If I could have any car I wanted I would pick a FJ Cruiser.
20. I don't really care for motocycles, but I ride on them more often than probably most people because my husband loves them!
21. I started to really like Diet Dr. Pepper during my last pregnancy (I know, great time to start loving caffienated soda).
22. I've always wanted to live in a big city like boston or new york and live in an apt. and not have a car, and ride the subway everywhere.
23. I don't want to do that anymore now that I have kids.
24. I am very spacey and forgetful.
25. I love Masimoto's and Bahama Bucks shaved ice.
26. Greg used to buy me a ice cream called Dreyer's White Out when we were dating. It was white chocolate ice cream with white chocolate covered pretzel balls.
27. White Chocolate used to be my favorite, but now dark chocolate is.
28. I don't really like cooking, but I love baking.
29. One of my favorite treats is rice crispie treats!! I do weird things to try and make them more healthy so I don't feel guilty about eating the whole pan. Like last time I made them with puffed millet instead of rice crispies because it has more fiber. (It was really good)
30. Who am I kidding? There's still butter and marshmallows in it!
31. One of the reasons I love my husband is because he makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the whole world!
32. I really came to love yoga in college, but haven't found a class I like in texas.
33. I hate sweeping.
34. I am obssessive about cleaning ear wax out of my ears (with a q-tip).
35. I love pedicures.
36. I played soccer growing up but was never very good at it.
37. I played forward my senior year, but didn't score any goals.
38. I have a cut up quilt in my sewing closet that I have been working (not working) on for 8-9 years.
39. I like wearing hats.
40. I can do my hair curly and strait.
41. I hate doing my hair.
42. Greg picked the temple we got married in (SLC).
43. I hate washing my face, so I use those PONDS cleaning wipe things. I just don't like when I'm washing my face with water and my shirt gets wet.
44. I have fantastic in-laws!
45. I worked with troubles teenage girls for my internships in college and loved it. I would really like to do that again.
46. I want to get my masters degree someday so I can be a licensed counseler.
47. I love donuts with sprinkles.
48. I love sprinkles.
49. My first job was working as a pharmacy technician at Macey's (love Macey's).
50. One of my favorite jobs was working as a pharmacy tech. at Utah Valley Hospital because I got to wear scrubs to work!!!
51. I am obsessed with the musical Wicked!
52. I also love the movie Phantom of the Opera.
53. I wish I could sing and dance well because my (non-realistic) dream is to be in musicals.
54. I have always been blessed with amazing friends!
55. Holy cow? Am I only at 55? (Andrea, how did you think of 100? I'm starting to think I'm not that interesting. . . )
56. One of the people that I knew for a very short time but made a big difference in my life and the way I view marriage and family was one of my professors in college, Davee Chandler.
57. My family (with my brothers and sisters) growing up seriously hardly EVER fought (I have people who can vouch for this).
58. Now that I have kids, I wonder how my parents pulled that off! My kids fight ALL the time.
59. I only have one blood related Grandma still alive and I love her so much!! She is amazing and so much fun!!
60. My Grandpa (Dad's dad) died before I was born.
61. My Grandpa Elkington (who married my Grandma after my grandpa died) has been such a wonderful grandpa to me, and has been such a blessing in my life as well.
62. I have 3 sisters and two brothers.
63. One of my favorite vacations growing up was going to Lake Powell in the summer.
64. My most memorable vacation was when I went to Cancun with my sisters and parents after I graduated high school.
65. My favorite restuarant is probably Cheesecake factory.
66. I got engaged on Pier 39 in San Francisco.
67. That is also the place where Greg told me he loved me for the first time (this is where you sigh and say, oh how cute)
68. I like golfing with Greg.
69. I don't really like playing tennis with him, but he is the only person I know who will play with me.
70. That's not mean because he doesn't like playing tennis with me either, because I'm not a challenge.
71. I've been to Canada twice for an hour when I went to Niagra Falls.
72. My favorite Canadian candy bar is Crunchie.
73. I am worried that too many off my 100 things revovle around my favorite foods.
74. I have had two of my kids natural and one with and epidural.
75. I have all of my kids now through a midwife.
76. One reason is insurance and the other is my recovery has been better.
77. I miss having the last name Hill.
78. I get sick of always having to spell the last name Romney.
79. Stacey has the same middle name as me: Diane.
80. I have tried to dye my hair darker, but honestly I really only like my hair blonde or with blonde highlights in it.
81. My calling right now is Relief Society teacher, and in the last 5 years that's the calling I've had for 4 years (in two different wards).
82. I always want to get a calling in Young Womens.
83. I go to Chik-fil-a and McDonald's at least once a week (for the kids, and so I don't have to make lunch).
84. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart, but I still go there because you can't beat the prices.
85. My favorite clothes store is American Eagle.
86. I am so bad at sending out thank you cards!
87. I have never sent out Christmas cards.
88. Honestly, those things just overwhelm me!! Just know I thank you and wish you a Merry Christmas for all the years to come!
89. I just finished reading These is My Words and am now reading Hoot.
90. If I was a teenager I would have a crush on Zac Efron (I like High School Musical). He seems so nice.
91. I am really bad at putting my laundry away! I always get it washed and folded but I never put it away.
92. I am not a very good house cleaner at all actually. But I have been ALOT better now than I have moved into my new house.
93. I would love to have a pool in my back yard (the summers are so HOTTT here).
94. I love miniature things.
95. I love baby animals.
96. I love playing outside with my kids.
97. I love reading with my kids.
98. I love the way kids see the world, and how they explain the world around them.
99. My mom made me a stuffed monkey when I was a baby, that I still have.
100. I have the best friends and family I could ever ask for (I am blessed way beyond anything I deserve)

I made it!!! Yeah!!!

Who does he (Daniel) look like?

You know how people are always asking you who your kids look like, and you have no idea. With Daniel sometimes I look at him and see Scott, sometimes I'll see a baby picture of Stacey and think, "no, wait Daniel looks like Stacey." I don't think that Scott and Stacey look anything alike, but people have told me you can TOTALLY tell they are brother and sister. I've had people tell me that Scott looks exactly like me and I can see the Hill side in him, but I don't know if he looks alot like me or more like my brothers. So I am opening up the question to the blogging world, who does he look like? Sorry there is no picture with Greg and Daniel, just refer to other pics to compare (he's at a baseball game right now). Let me know . . .

March 2008 - A blur

Hey all! He's so cute huh? I've made it through my first month with a newborn!! The last month really has been a blur. Life with a newborn for me has gone pretty fast but all the days seem to run together from lack of nighttime sleep. Although I am happy to say that Daniel for the last two nights has slept 8 hours straight (10:00 pm. - 6:00 pm.) . So after my first two nights of decent sleep, I felt I has enough energy to blog. This blog is going to be pretty random though because my camera is lost again (really it is, I know, who loses their camera this much?), so the pictures are the ones that I took with my phone.

After Daniel was born, my mom flew down for a week which was so nice, so I could lay in bed for the first few days, plus I didn't have to do my dishes for a week! Thanks mom, you really are a lifesaver, I couldn't have done it without you, especially because Daniel slept an average of like 4 hours at night the first week of his life! We had a really fun St. Patrick's Day celebration that my mom put on, and the kids had alot of fun hanging out with Grandma.

Then later in the month, Greg's mom (Grnadma Nut) flew down for a week too! Am I spoiled or what? The kids had a great time with her! We went to the zoo, and basically just hung out all week. But it was a very fun, relaxing visit! Daniel loved being held by his grandma! Thanks Karen for all the help and fun when you were here!

These are the silly zoo pictures we took. Can you believe we all fit on one turtle?

Scott also started Blast Ball. For those of you who don't know about the exciteing game of Blast ball, it is intense, let me tell you! All this kids hit from a tee, and the opposing team stand in a line on the pitchers mound and take turns fielding the ball and throw it to first. There are no outs and no score, even though at Scott's game today, the kid on the other team standing by Scott said, "There's no way your gonna win!" Scott didn't say anything back because he is such a polite boy, but he could've said, "Well, no duh, because theres no score!" Anyways, he loves it, plus they look so CUTE in there uniforms!!! For some reason Scott sticks his tongue out when he hits and runs, I'm sure too intimidate the other team. That's probably why that one kid was taunting him, because he was sooo intimidated!

Well, now I'm in trouble becase my phone is having trouble exporting pictures to my computer. I really have to find my camera . . . .

Daniel Andrew Romney

He's here finally!!! Daniel Andrew Romney was born March 12, 2008 @ 8:52 pm. He weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz and was 22 inches long. As you will see from the pictures, he is a very big boy!

I had my normal checkup on Tues. of this week and did a non-stress test on the baby (because I was over due) and Daniel was fine but I still had to have an ultrasound on Wed. to make sure everything was ok. When I went to get the ultrasound Daniel was still fine but my fluid was a little low and the blood flow through the umbilical cord was not as high as they would've liked. So they called my midwife at the birth center and told her I should probably try to deliver the baby today. I got to the birth center at about 2 p.m. and through "natural" inducing techniques we were able to get labor going and I delivered him at 8:52 p.m.

We are at home now (you don't stay overnight at the birth center) and everything is going great. My mom is her watching the kids for me so me and Daniel have slept all day to recover from yesterday. We are all grateful he is here.

40 Weeks and Beyond

Disclaimer: This is going to be a pretty whiny, cynical blog, so for those of you who know and prefer me as happy-go-lucky Christy, please feel free to check my blog again in 1-2 weeks, when there will be a picture of that Christy will be smiling with her new baby in her arms!

Okay, okay so now I am officially "overdue", and I thought I would post my favorite things about being 40 weeks and beyond for those people "who always have there babies early" so they can know how much fun it is. And also for those of us who are always overdue, maybe you can relate and tell me a story of someone being over due that is worse than mine to make me feel better.

1. Only 3 maternity shirts fit me now, so when I'm going out of my house I have to try and remember who I saw 3 days ago and if I was wearing the same shirt so people don't know I can only fit into three shirts. Plus, the shirts I have been washing over and over now are coming unthreaded around the belly line, which makes me feel even better.

2. EVERYWHERE you go, people ask when are you due, and you get to say, "yesterday, last week, etc." and a see look of horror cross their face. Then it's always, "well, is your doctor going to induce you?" Then I get to explain the whole birthing center, midwife thing and then you get the whole "you are crazy" look. Usually they walk away muttering something under their breath.

3. I cry my head off everytime I leave my weekly check-up because again NOTHING IS HAPPENING in my uterus that even indicates I will go into labor anytime soon. Thanks mom for talking to me on the way home (I think she was worried she will have to fly down to keep me from going into depression and when the baby comes!).

4. Greg tells me when I get home from the appointment (still crying, I've read you can only really cry for 45 minutes at a time, but I have disproved that theory MANY times), "you should always plan on going late, you're ALWAYS late." When I explain to him that every labor is different and most people have some kids early and some days late, he says. "well, YOU just need to plan on always going late, you wil NEVER go early." Thanks, hon. After this discussion we changed my due date to March 20th on the calendar, so that now I can be surprised if I go earlier than that.

People really do say some of the funniest things when you are pregnant. One of the new funny things someone said to me a couple days ago, after asking when I was due, "Oh, you're due that soon, you shouldn't be out. I don't like when people go out that close to there due date you could get hit by a car. When I was 9 months pregnant, I almost got hit by a car." What? Why? Because you can't walk as fast? I'm sure if I was threatened by oncoming traffic, I could go pretty fast for a pregnant lady. "Okay, I'll try and be careful, " I said.

Really, though I am grateful to have a healthy baby and I know that is the most important thing, so I will continue to wait (just maybe not patiently). We are all excited to have a new baby in the house. Even Scott will ask me everyday, "Mom, when is your baby coming out?" Scott, not you too!

Week without Greg

Okay I wasn't as good at taking picutres as I thought, but I did take this one of us having heart shaped muffins with srpinkles that me and the kids made together. It was one of my "good mom moments." Trust me, those seem to be happening less and less the longer I am pregnant.

I'm not sure if the next pictures are embarrassing, pathetic, or downright cool! One of the fun things I did the night before Greg came home was have a SOLO GIRL'S NIGHT! I got a babysitter and went shopping at the craft store, ate at Panera Bread (thier french onion soup is so good!), and went to the temple. I was thinking that I might feel dumb sitting by myself at Panera Bread eating dinner. But when I got there, I realized there were lots of people sitting by themselves, you just had to have a laptop you were using. I didn't have a laptop, but I did have my new cool phone that Greg got me for Valentine's Day that is Wi-Fi compatible. So I checked my email while I ate at Panera. I did feel dumb asking people to take my picture (but I knew Ryan & Jessica would be proud), but I already had the excuse if people asked me why I would tell them I was on one of those picture scavenger hunts. It really was a fun, relaxing night and I was grateful to get to go to the temple one more time before I have my baby!

The last day Greg was gone we went to a party for one of Scott's friends Evan. Here are pics of the kids there. Scott LOVES birthday cake and ate 3 pieces and would've eaten more if I would've let him.

Belly Pictures

Okay, so I promised some of you belly pictures. Please note that the fact that I am posting pictures on my blog 9 months pregnant means I feel some very strong love for those of you out there. The other wonderful thing about this pictures is that since Greg was out of town Scott was the photographer. Scott loves taking pictures and usually takes them when I'm out of the room. I have posted some of Scott's other photography masterpieces at the end of the blog.

Here's when I was trying to coach Scott on how to take the pictures (Don't get the lower half of my body, just get the top half). I figured this is probably really how I look the last month of pregnancy, annoyed.

Here's some of Scott's other masterpieces:

Stacey's B-day

Stacey's birthday was a little sad this year as far as party planning went. We didn't really have a party that day, we just had cake and ice cream for her that night. She did get some cute clothes from her Grandma Hill and a very cute Cinderella dress up outfit from her Grandma Nut. She had a fun day, but Scott still reminds me often that we still need to have a REAL party for Stacey. Hopefully he will forget and not remind her that her 2nd birthday was lame, since she can't remember!

For those of you who don't know Stacey, I will tell you about her. She is alot of fun and has alot of energy (I mean alot). She is very independent and determined at everything she does (it takes me about 10 minutes to get her dressed because she wants to do it). Her favorite saying is "by myself." She has a love/hate relationship with her brother, maybe that's normal I never had an older brother. She is her daddy's princess, and has him wrapped around her little finger. She loves singing "I am a Child of God" really loud. Scott yells at her to stop singing in the car because no one can hear the music when she is singing. She loves princesses, babies and puzzles. I love her so much and am glad to be her mom.

Here she is wearing one of the baby's hats. It was really funny when she put it on, I thought she looked like a little thug rapper girl!