Almost ready!

Things have been a little crazy around here lately as we have been getting ready for baby-still-yet-to-be-named to come. We still have quite a few things left on our list of to-do's, but we have crossed some of the major hurdles now, and things seem to be calming down a little bit.

Our home study last week went really smoothly. Our caseworker this time was a lot less....let's just say "picky" than our last one. Last time, our caseworker opened nearly every drawer and cabinet in our house making sure that if there was anything that could somehow be dangerous, the drawer/cabinet was childproofed. She even made us move our unused rolls of paper towels to the top shelf of our pantry because they still had plastic wrappers on them. And don't get me started on the fence issue! :) This time it was a breeze, and I was so glad! For example, our caseworker just asked us where our cleaners/medicines/etc. were and made sure the drawers and cabinets they were actually in were childproofed! Hooray! We have now completed all of our paperwork (at least until the baby is born) and other adoption agency hoops!

We are also nearly done with the baby's room...we just have a few touch-ups left. This last weekend we moved Arden into her BIG GIRL BED and moved the crib into the baby's room. Now, of course I need to figure out what to hang on the walls of the baby's room and reorganize the walls of Arden's room since everything in her room has moved around now....but we are getting closer! I promise I will post pictures of the baby's room as soon as it is done. Other than her room, we just have some odds and ends to finish up and we will be officially ready! (Too bad one of those "odds and ends" still out there is picking out a name).

Winter seems to be dragging on forever and ever, but the kids are handling it much better than I am. Daxton is crawling and standing now, and he and Arden love to play in the playroom. One of Arden's favorite things to do is to pretend she owns a restaurant and "cook" food for Dax and whoever else she can get to sit at the playroom table. Daxton just LOVES Arden, and wants to be with her and be doing whatever she is doing. Whatever she is playing with, he will crawl over to her and try to join in the fun. She is such a good big sister, I am so lucky to have her!! It is so nice to be able to let them play together...Arden always needed me to play with her every minute when she was a toddler, and it is soooo nice now that Arden and Daxton can entertain each other, at least for short periods of time :) Here is a picture of them from this morning, they were cooking together this time:

Preston is going out of town this week and we will miss him as usual! Arden loves to play with her Daddy, he gives the best horsie rides!

Luckily, Preston's company is trying to cut down on the travelling because of the economy, so he hasn't had to go out of town as much for the past couple of months. I hope it stays that way!

Ups and Downs

We have been having our ups and downs around here lately. Most of the time I can remember how lucky I am to be me. I have two adorable kids (and one on the way), a great husband, wonderful friends and family, plenty to eat and a nice house to live in. But sometimes I really let the little things get me down. For example...it is snowing right now and those pretty little fluffy white flakes are just annoying me to no end.

Last week was sooo beautiful and we were approaching 70 degrees. I wore flip flops for the first time this year. We took the kids to the park Friday and had so much fun. Daxton did his first real park swinging, and LOVED IT:

Of course, Arden wants her picture taken too:

Arden always wants to try the monkey bars and things that are for older kids. I humored her and held on to her legs while she tried to cross the rings. Then Daxton wanted to do it too:

I tried to go down the slide with Daxton because he didn't like to go alone. My feet were practically on the ground while I was still sitting at the top...which really helped me win the "race" Dax and I had with Arden. Here is the photo finish:

I was feeling all happy and springy. And then WHAM! Spring is over and it is winter again. What about summer and fall??

I am also a little annoyed tonight because Preston and I spent the evening cleaning our house...not my favorite activity. But we have to do it because tomorrow our adoption case worker is coming over to look at our house and make sure that it is a safe and suitable place for children to live in. (Last time we did this little exercise before we adopted Daxton, we ended up with a $6,000+ fence.) Of course I know why they have to do it, but sometimes it irks me just a little bit that we have to do all this, because no one comes to check the houses of people who have babies the "old fashioned way" to make sure they are suitable! Maybe they should start :)

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Anyway, enough whining.

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Arden went to one of her friends' birthday parties this week, it was a princess party. She has been wearing her princess dress every day since. She is soooooo cute:

However, when she is not wearing her princess dress this week, she suddenly has the urge to run around shirtless. She takes off her shirt and yells "I NAKED!" (even though she is only technically half-naked) and runs around the room laughing. The girl is shirtless every time I turn around. Sometimes she wears her shirts around her neck as a scarves. I ask her why she isn't wearing her shirt, and all I can get is an "I just wanna be naked!" Hmmmm...hopefully it is just a phase and not an indicator that she is going to grow up to be a nudist.

Dax is growing up too. He is now officially mobile and crawling all over the place. He learned a new word a few days ago goo...."uh-oh." He has heard me say it when he dropped his sippy cup or cracker or something while he was in his high chair. Then, one day he dropped his sippy cup on purpose and looked down at it and said "Uh! Uh! Uh!" I wasn't sure what he was doing until after a day or two of just "Uh! Uh!"s, he dropped some food on the floor and yelled "Uh! Uh! Uh-OOOOH!" I was surprised, so I smiled at him and said "Good job, Dax!"...but that totally backfired. For the last few days he has been throwing EVERYTHING he can get his hands on on the ground and yelling "Uh-OHHHH!" and then looking up at me expecting me to be proud of him. I guess I should have been a little more specific when I told him he did a good job. Now that the damage is done, I am having a hard time communicating to the boy that I want him to EAT the food, not just throw it on the ground so he can show off his new word. It doesn't help that his little face is soooo cute when he says the "uh-oh"s that it is hard for me not to smile.

Wish us luck tomorrow!

New Playroom! (I may have gone a little crazy)

With baby Brenna/Bryony/Colby/Cora/whatever on the way soon, we needed to do some reshuffling around the house. We had kind of been stashing the kids' toys in the "extra" bedroom with plans to turn it into a playroom. However, that room is no longer "extra" and so we decided we would have to move the playroom somewhere else. Since Preston works from home sometimes in our basement, it wasn't really feasible to have it down there (the kids aren't quiet enough for conference calls to take place within 100 meters). So, we decided to move the playroom into what we had been using as our piano room. The good news is that there wasn't really anything in there except our piano, and we didn't use that room very much. The bad news is that it is right off of our "home teacher room" (you know...the room in front of your house that you always keep clean in case people come over) and there is only a big archway separating the two rooms...no doors. Oh well. So, if you come over to my house and right away notice that it looks like a hurricane hit the playroom, please use your imaginations and pretend there is a door.

I have talked in a prior post about how our house has always pretty much been painted boring white with boringer whiter white trim. Over the past few years we have painted Arden's room, Daxton's room, and the master bath, so I was feeling a little bit better. But, I decided since this was going to be the playroom, I was going to really PAINT IT COLORS! I think I may have gone a little overboard. Anyway, after a lot of painting and a couple of trips to IKEA, the room is done! Here are some before and after shots of the room:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:
And here are some "after" shots without befores:

So...what do you think? Did I overdo it a little? Are my kids going to get brain damage from too much color? Oh well, they seem to really like it so far, and we don't have time to fix it anyway! Next we are going to paint the baby's room. (stay tuned to see what I do to that).

Eulogy for my orange bag

If any of you have spent any amount of time with me in the last year and a half, you have probably noticed my big orange diaper bag. I love my bag. LOVE. I don't love very many inanimate objects, but this was one of them. I have loved this bag since I first saw it online for 75% off (plus free shipping!). I was so excited when it finally came in the mail, and moved all of my stuff into it within an hour. It is a little loud, but I have never lost it or forgotten it, and I have got a lot of compliments on it. I even won a prize with this bag once at a Relief Society party. Here is what my bag looked like when I first got it:Sadly, if you stuff even the best bag full of bottles, diapers, toys, wipes, clothes, books, food, phones, crayons, etc. etc. etc. and take it with you pretty much every where you go with your toddler and your baby for a year and a half....your bag ends up looking like this (brace yourself, it ain't pretty):

Yes, there is permanent marker on the side (thanks to Arden), and the orange has been scraped off of the leather on quite a few places, especially the bottom. Also, the little magnetic clip that holds the big pocket on the front closed has mysteriously disappeared. :(

**sigh**

This bag feels like an old friend, but I guess the time has come to say goodbye. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to find a replacement at 75% off plus free shipping. Until I do, here is my "rebound" diaper bag:

I saw it at Bed Bath and Beyond and grabbed it because it needed SOMETHING to put my stuff in. It is kind of cute and it was really inexpensive. It is kind of springlike with all of the flowers, and I know it will last because the whole bag is laminated and it even has little metal feet on the bottom. But I don't love it. I have had it for over a week and still haven't moved anything into it.

Maybe it is just too soon to fall in love again. (I know, I am a dork. I can't help it.) In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the "Chrystie Needs A Cute New Diaper Bag Fund."

Moving on: We are finally finished painting our new playroom and will be moving the toys out of the baby's room and into it this week. I will post pictures when it is all done. Then we will start painting the baby's room. We are still struggling with names (every day I change my mind. Today, Preston still likes Cora and I like Bryony. We decided to nix the E-names because we don't want her initials to be E.Z.). Arden and Dax are doing great. Here they are, aren't they cuuuute?

Dax can now crawl, but he doesn't go long distances. He usually just goes a few feet to get to a toy or something. He hasn't wrapped is mind around the fact that he is now mobile, which is fine with me!He can pull himself up, too. He is just starting to be dangerous (to my stuff, but mostly to his own head! He is really bad at getting back down). Here he is in the process:He also does the laundry and makes me french toast every morning.

Finally, tomorrow is my mommy's 60th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! Love ya!

What's in a Name, Part Two

Okay, we are finally trying to get serious about this name stuff! (Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who commented on my last name post! I really liked a lot of the names you suggested, but many of them were too close to names that have already been taken by nieces or nephews, etc.) Anyway, after a LOT of discussion we have come up with our current top picks. Here they are, in alphabetical order. Let me know which ones you love, which ones you hate, which ones you think will cause teasing, etc. Also, middle names are just for fun, not set in stone.

(WARNING: Please don't be mad at me if I completely disregard your advice and pick the name you hate or don't pick the name you love. Sometimes all it takes for me to really make up my mind about something is for someone to tell me to choose A, and then and only then will I know that I really wanted B. Ask Preston, it is true.)

Bryony Grace (pronounced /BRY-uh-nee/. meaning: A flowering vine. This name is more popular in the U.K. One of the Olympic athletes from Great Britian had this name and I liked it.)

Brenna Everly (It means "ravenlike woman" which probably won't apply since the baby will probably be blond. Nickname "Bren." Kinda cute, but is it too close to Brynn, which is a niece and also a little girl in our neighborhood?)

Colbie Annabel (I think this is cute, but it is pretty close to Kohl, my nephew's name. It means "from the coal town," so the meaning doesn't really apply. I have thought this was a cute girl's name since I first heard of Colbie Callait the musician.)

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Corah Bryony (meaning: a young maiden. This is Preston's favorite. Arden LOVES the name Corbie, which I think is cute for a baby, but might not work so great when she is 40. Corbie could be nickname. I wonder if Corah Zaugg sounds too close to Corazon (Spanish for heart)??

Emsley Isabelle (this name means "a Gift from God," which is a lot of the reason that I like it, because that is what this baby is. Nickname could be Em or Emmie, but I like that it is not as common as just naming her Emma.)

Everly Annabel (no official meaning I can find, but I like that "ever" is part of it since she will be ours forever. Nickname could be "Evvy." Too cute?)

Gwynna Isabel (Welsh-one who is fair. Nickname: Gwyn or Gwynnie.)

Norah Everly (means: The shining light. Nickname: Norie. I think it is kinda pretty.)

On another note, I took Arden to get her 3-year old pictures taken, and Dax tagged along. Arden wasn't feeling too great, and developed a cold later that day so she wasn't super-smiley. Now both Arden and Dax are sick. But, there were some pictures that turned out ok anyway. Here are a few of my favorites:

Thanks again for your help!

Happy Birthday #3 Arden!

It was Arden's third birthday yesterday!

I told her she could have her first "friends" party this year, and she decided that she really really wanted to go to Kangaroo Zoo for her birthday and have just a couple of friends come with her. We were practically the only ones there which was great, and it was nice to be able to let the kids run around everywhere and go on the biggest slides without fear of them getting squashed by a 9-year old! Arden had sooo much fun, and it was nice for the moms to get to sit around and talk instead of following the kids around. Arden is fearless and would follow her friend Jaycie up the tallest slides there. Daxton really liked bouncing around too, and he can't wait until he is big enough to play with the "big kids." Arden had the best time, and completely wore herself out! Thanks everyone for coming!

That evening my family came over and we had cake and ice cream. Here is Arden taking a BIIIIG breath right before she blew out her candles:

After cake, Arden talked us all into playing chutes and ladders with her, and she beat us all (of course, she wasn't really paying attention by the end, but oh well.) It was a fun and busy day, and now I have a 3-year-old! I am so proud of her, she is so smart and so brave. She makes me laugh every day, and she gives me so much help (when she is in the mood :). I love this kid!

(By the way, if you haven't given me your thoughts on baby names, please see the post below! I am still waiting for something to start growing on me!)

What's in a name?

I need your help. Desperately. I am having a really hard time trying to find any names that I like for our little baby girl to be born soon! I looked all through our baby name book and I looked on a few web sites too, but nothing is grabbing me. It was the same with Arden and Daxton, neither of those names jumped out at me at first, but they eventually grew on me. This time around, nothing seems to be growing!

I was hoping that if I listed a few of the names that we are thinking of, maybe you could either let us know if there are some that you like (or hate) or if you have any suggestions for names you think we might like that aren't on the list (we are still soooo open to suggestions!!!). I like unique names, but nothing too crazy. I don't want them to have to have an initial after their names in elementary school (I was always Chrystie H. since there were a bazillion Kristy's running around when I was young), but I don't want to get out there so that they will be made fun of. I am trying to walk the line between too common and too weird.

Anyway, here are a few of the ones that we don't hate so far (in no particular order)

Ainsley Everly Austen Colbie Camdyn Darby
Annabel Cassidy Wendie Trinly Shelbie Keelyn
Corbyn or Corbie Elsa Delaney Daisy Emsley
Zaylie Rory Maylie Jenna Ellery

So, if you have a minute, let me know what you think about the above or if you have a brilliant baby girl name you wouldn't mind us using! I would REALLY appreciate your help!! In my next life I am going to be one of those girls who has their babies' names planned out when they are in junior high :)