April!

Hey everybody! Sorry for the long silence. Things have been pretty busy around here the past couple weeks. We are all settled in to our new apartment…well, with the exception of a few pictures that Ben still hasn’t hung for me. Maybe (hopefully) he’ll get around to it after finals week. Here’s a picture of Maddie posing the day we moved in.



This month was a pretty big month as we had a few different things to celebrate. First, on the 12th, came my 26th birthday and Easter. We headed down to Goshen to spend some time with our surrogate family, The Reaves. Ben grew up with them in Alabama and since we have moved here to Utah we have frequently traveled the two hours south to spend some weekends with them, just like we would do with Ben’s family when we lived in Missouri. We had a great weekend complete with a birthday cake with my name on it (I don’t think I’ve ever had a cake with my name on it), an Easter egg hunt, and of course, lots of yummy food! Here’s a picture of Maddie finding an Easter egg during the hunt.



Two days after we got back from Goshen we went in for my 20 week ultrasound. Our little Hayes looks great! The ultrasound tech did confirm that it’s a boy so that was a relief. From his profile picture she said that he will probably look just like Maddie. I got out her ultrasound pictures and they do look quite similar. I guess we’ll find out when he’s born. If he does look like Maddie, and therefore, like Ben I guess we’ll know who has the dominant genes in this twosome. We almost didn’t get to confirm his gender because for most of the ultrasound he would not uncross his little legs. He also yawned and stuck half of his hand into his mouth! We just can’t wait to meet this little guy! Here’s a couple pictures we got from the ultrasound.



This picture is a profile shot. You can see his spine at the bottom of the picture. That dark thing going into his stomach is his umbilical cord and just below that are his little boy parts.

Then this past Friday we had another doctor appointment. I had previously talked to our doctor about attempting a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean – remember that Maddie was breach) but ever since I had made that decision I felt really unsettled about it. I was constantly wondering if I was making the right choice because, unfortunately, there are risks to both a VBAC and a repeat c-section. I just felt very uneasy and unsure. Finally, after A LOT of thought I decided to change my mind. I wanted to have another c-section. Since then I have felt very comfortable, very settled, and overall very peaceful about that decision. So, while we were at the doctor I told him that I had changed my mind. He took note of my due date which was September 4th and then noted that in all 3 of my ultrasounds the baby has been consistently measuring about 6 days ahead so he moved my due date to August 28th. When planning a c-section they schedule it for a week before your due date so we are set to welcome Hayes into the world on August 21st! Since he moved my due date up I am now 22 weeks. Little Hayes is about 11 inches long and weighs in at almost a pound. His fingernails have reached the ends of his fingers. His taste buds are starting to form, and he can clearly hear sounds from outside the womb. And here’s an interesting fact – if born now he would have a chance of surviving. This is what a 22 week old fetus looks like.



And here is a picture of my 22 week belly. I was looking back at the last belly shot I put up – what a difference 6 weeks can make!

Pregnant? (Maybe my chubby pregnancy cheeks give it away)

Pregnant!

So, here in Logan it has snowed a few times in the past week. Yes, snowed (yuck!). However, a couple weeks ago we had a few really nice days. One of those days we decided to go up to First Dam which is a little area of the Logan River at the mouth of Logan Canyon. There were lots of people feeding the ducks and birds, walking their dogs, playing guitars, and even a girl laying out in her bikini (it wasn’t THAT warm!). Maddie and Ben got out a ball and glove and played some catch. She’s still needs a little practice but is definitely getting better! At this point she throws much better than she catches.









This past weekend was our 6 year anniversary. I feel like the past 6 years have gone by so fast but we have also done so much! Certainly making the decision to spend our lives together was the best choice we ever made. This year’s anniversary was pretty uneventful. I really wanted to do something all together as a family because I think Maddie is just one of the many things that we have accomplished in our time together. How could we exclude her from our celebration? Friday night we went out to dinner and then headed to the movie theater to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a really cute movie and a really great night. Yesterday, which was our actual anniversary started out pretty quiet until I decided that I really wanted a cat. A couple weeks ago we took Maddie to visit the Humane Society just because we didn’t really have anything else to do. We walked through and saw the dogs but Maddie was much more interested in the cats. There was one there that she particularly liked. He was smaller and younger than the rest which tugged on Maddie’s little heart strings. “Awwww! Did he lose his mommy and daddy?” she asked. I told her that he had and she answered saying, “I can be his mommy!” We left there, much to Maddie’s disappointment, without a new kitty. But we went back yesterday to look again. After looking we found three different cats that we would choose from. We went home to get Lily to see which cat she would get along with the best…or rather, which cat she would not get along with the least. Two of the kitties, including the one that Maddie has wanted, were terrified of Lily and did nothing but hide the entire time. The third kitty just looked at her like she was crazy (which she is). Perfect! He’s a 6 month old orange cat. They picked him up as a stray when he was just 4 months old! Poor little thing! We brought him home last night and he has been amazing! Of course, he has no problem going potty in his litter box. I was sure I would wake up this morning to find slash marks in our leather sofa, or all the dirt dug out of my plants but he was just sleeping soundly behind the couch. He doesn’t let Lily intimidate him, which she tries very hard to do. He is just the right mix of independent and loving. And, the best part, he lets Maddie carry him around everywhere. He’s almost as long as she is so this is quiet an awkward feat! She picks him up under his front legs and he just goes limp in her arms until she puts him down. Even when Maddie gets his little squeaky mouse out to play with him he bats at it without using his claws. We named him Tico after Bon Jovi’s drummer. Here he is hanging out in the living room.



The flash was hurting his eyes.

A few days ago I bought Maddie some sponge curlers. I curled her hair last Halloween and it took an hour! As cute as it is, I (and she) cannot sit for an hour just to curl her hair. Sponge curlers are much easier! The night that we got them she took a bath and I put them in her hair.





The next morning the curls were very tight! But I brushed them out with my fingers and didn’t put any hairspray in them so that they would fall and about half way through the day they looked much better.



Well, that about sums up our April. Ben has finals this week while I still have two weeks of school left. The next exciting thing in our life? Our May trip to Arkansas! Woohoo!