First Halloween..yeah I'm that far behind

It seems like we did a million Halloween activities this year. I guess that what happens when you have a child to entertain.

Discovery Gateway (the children's museum) had a fun Halloween event the weekend before Halloween. Charlotte was a little young to really care but she loved all the new toys.
 

One day Matt had a few hours between rotations so we went to This is the Place State Park since it is just a couple miles form the hospital. They had trick-or-treating at the houses, a petting zoo, a donut shop (Matt favorite), train rides, panning for gold... Charlotte was more than entertained for a couple of hours. We have been there for their Christmas thing but this was the first time we have been there on Halloween. It was lots of fun. Can't wait to go back next year when she will really enjoy it.

 

 We took a couple of trips to Gardner Village. The weather the week before Halloween was awesome. It was in the 70's almost 80s the first day we went with some girls in my neighborhood. Charlotte (my usually easy going child) was having a hard.time at first but she snapped out of it about half way through.

The next day we when with my parents and sisters We walked around and had dinner.

Charlotte "Defying Gravity" :)

The week of Halloween our ward did a trunk-or-treat. I found this costume the day before and decided to  get it. Still not exactly sure what it is but she looked cute.

On Halloween a bunch of girls in my neighborhood went trick-or-treating on main street in Bountiful. It was awesome because all the businesses pass out candy at 4:00 so it is light and you don't have to go to a bunch of strange houses or walk around forever. Charlotte actually loved it. Afterwards we had five couples come over for dinner. Matt got the old smoker going and cooked up some delicious meat. Besides having 12 adults and a load of kids scrunched into our little condo, the night was great. Matt was on call that whole week and luckily he didin't have to go in. It made the night even better. My parents stopped by while we were trick-or-treating and of course brought Charlotte a load of toys and Matt his annual Halloween basket. Matt's parent's stopped by later that night and brought Charlotte a Halloween present. Holy cow her grandparents spoil her rotten.

A Thanksgiving Secret....

Well, we decided 19 weeks was long enough to keep a secret. On Thanksgiving we finally told our families that WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!! It was tough keeping a secret for so long (and in fact Matt let the cat out of the bag just 72 hours in advance to my mom...as explained below) but it was fun to tell everyone on Thanksgiving. We actually found out on August 25th. After two negative pregnancy tests I gave up and figured it was a no. On Friday the 24th I was eating Cafe Rio (my favorite) and all of the sudden nausea hit. I thought it was weird so a bought some tests at the store that day and took one the next morning. Sure enough it was positive. I was freaking out of course after being a little sad for a couple of weeks. I turn into kind of an emotional roll-a-coaster when we are trying to get pregnant...poor Matt...I really feel bad for him.

But luckily everything worked out. We decided to wait a while to tell everyone at least until we found out what we were having. I went to the doctor on October 11th and they confirmed a baby was there. I was more sick, well at least more consistent in being sick, with this baby than with Charlotte. I would get sick right when I woke up and then was generally fine. It is so nice to be past that part. We decided we would tell our families on Thanksgiving. It was hard to keep a secret and we almost made it. Matt accidentally spilled the beans the Sunday before Thanksgiving to my mom and sister. They were good about not telling anyone. We actually didn't find out it was a boy until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. My doctor wouldn't check because we weren't 20 weeks, so we went to Fetal Fotos and he was NOT shy. Within 2 seconds it was obvious he was a he. We made Charlotte a little shirt and at dinner we took her jacket off and let everyone see. I don't think she understands much but anytime we say baby she pulls my shirt up and gives my stomach hugs and kisses. It seriously makes my heart melt. My mom got her a little boy baby for her birthday and she loves to feed it its bottle. Hopefully she likes the real thing as much when it comes.

Right now we are almost 23 weeks, so five months. We are so excited for April (and a bit scared to have two little monsters around). But ready or not he is coming. I guess I better get out the old natural child birth books and brush up. I hope it is true that the second is easier than the first :)

 



 

 

Here are some belly shots. It is crazy how much faster and bigger you get with number two!!!

 

1 month

 2 months

 

 3 months

 

 4 months

 

 



Animals, Animals, Animals - the Circus and the Zoo

A few weeks ago we went to the zoo with my best friend growing up (also named Melanie) and her little boy Owen. We had planed it a couple weeks in advance and sure enough, that morning we woke up to a little SNOW! We decided to brave the weather and go for it. We bundled up the kids and had a great time. It really wasn't that cold and we had the place to ourselves. It did make me miss the Omaha zoo. That place really was awesome and so close to our house. Charlotte and Owen had a great time. I think their favorite was the polar bear. He was pretty friendly. And the baby giraffe (three weeks old). 



In September we took Charlotte to the Circus with my parents. I actually don't ever remember going to the circus. Honestly, I got a little bored by the end. Charlotte was a trooper and lasted the whole time...secretly I was hoping she would have a meltdown so we could leave :) I think you just have to be a kid to love it. It was kind of funny during intermission I was walking to get a drink thinking "ok, I'm ready to go" and a couple of girls - maybe 10ish- were talking next to me and one said "this is the best night of my life, I hope if never ends" I thought yeah it is a whole different experience for a kid. We did have a good time though and Charlotte was entertained. Of course grandma had to buy her an extremely overprice stuffed animal. Those vendors must make a killing...dirty badgers :) 

Sledding and swimming in the same week

When we moved back to Bountiful we signed up for memberships at the rec center just a few blocks from our house. We signed up so we would have a gym and I didn't realized they have an awesome aquatic center open all year. We never went in the summer because we have a pool at our house and most swimming sessions with Charlotte were less than thirty minutes. One of my friends was telling me how fun it was for kids so a couple months ago we decided to go. It has become almost a weekly tradition now. It is fun because of bunch of girls in my ward have passes so we can take the kids and let them play and have some company. Everyday from noon to 2 is a mom and kids only swim so there is hardly anyone there and it is pretty much babies and toddlers which is nice (no big monster kids to splash everywhere). I've never taken my camera but Matt asked me to take some pictures so I finally remembered last week. Charlotte and her buddy Elise had a ball. It has been a fun thing to do since the weather has been rotten. Charlotte loves the water. She doesn't seem to mind being splashed in the face or going under when she falls. Hopefully it lasts...

Last Friday it started snowing and it didn't stop for almost three days. We got a ton of snow. We went sledding with our friends Brett and Carlee and their two boys. There is a great sledding hill at a golf course by our house so we headed up there. Their youngest is under 2 so him and Charlotte weren't quite sure about it. Matt took Charlotte on a couple of runs. The she got cold pretty fast so we only stayed about 30 minutes.

We had dinner at our house after. Nothing like a Costco box to entertain the kids.

The first day it snowed Charlotte wouldn't leave the window so I dressed her up and headed outside. She loved it. It started snowing hard while she was playing so I took her in and she started crying. She didn't seem to mind the cold.