Just an update

4 lbs. down, only 56 to go...for now anyway. I guess exercising for a couple hours a day works. Geez!

Can I just say...

I am so frustrated with Wasatch Homes right now! We've had Ram builders come and give us a quote to repair the stucco on our house. They basically said that the builders did the stucco incorrectly and that is why it is cracking and breaking off. He also said that a lot of the houses in the neighborhood he noticed many problems with how the stucco was done. We've emailed the builder with the quote from Ram builders ($3K to fix it) and they will not answer us! Nick is going to call the guy again tomorrow and talk to him about how our house is only 5 yrs old and the condition was in no way caused by something we did, or did not do. We've also told him if he'd like to foot the bill for a stucco inspector to come out and do an inspection to "certify" that things were not done correctly or per code, we'd be happy to do that...but nothing. I don't think he understands that this isn't something we'll just let go of. There have been too many things they have not finished with this house or done incorrectly (not to mention not finishing many things from the walk through!). I mean is this something that you'd expect a newer home to have happening? When I first bought the house the roof starting leaking during some rainstorms and it took me going over to the model house almost every week and faxing in complaints for them to come out and look at the problem. When they did end up coming they just put a tarp over the skylight where the leak was for weeks. The skylight has still not been completely fixed from them sealing it off.
If anyone has any advise or has dealt with this before, we'd really appreciate your input!

Time flies...

This week went by pretty fast, it seems. Today Madelyn and I missed church because she wasn't feeling too great and was pretty ornery. I think it's just all the teeth she's getting in lately.
Andrew is really excited about his birthday being on Saturday and he can't wait to send out invitations. Hopefully I can get them finished up soon. I can't believe he's 3 on Saturday, it's so weird! I feel like I'm still 18! I keep having dreams where I'm in high school still and guys will ask me out, but I tell them I can't date because I'm married and after a while in my dream I remember that I have kids too. I think maybe that's just me trying to hold onto being young and carefree...but those days are long gone.
Tonight I saw a picture that was taken in Oak City at Nick's grandpa's 90th birthday celebration, Nick took me with him to meet his family there right before we were engaged, and we both looked so skinny and young! It's crazy what married life will do to a person! Just kidding, I think it's the kids' fault... seriously! Anyway, I'm back on the weight loss shenanigan again. I only have 10 weeks as of tomorrow to lose 60 lbs. That's probably when I'll start clomid again. I've been doing really well, eating 1000-1200 cals a day and exercising. I'm pretty much to the point where anything is better than nothing, so I'll give it my best. One thing is for sure, I get so sick being pregnant I always lose at least 15 lbs. and keep it off almost the whole pregnancy. With Madelyn I gained about 8 lbs. and that was only the last month when I had to take it easy.
Well, this next week should be a pretty good one. I imagine most of the time will be spent in the basement and hopefully outside (if it gets cooler).
I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

So cute!

Here he is!
Jackson Douglas Smith born July 15, 2008 at 6:18pm weighing in at 4 lbs. 5 oz. and 16 inches long.
He is seriously the cutest premie I've ever seen and we're very excited for Doug and Shellie! He's almost back up to his birth weight and doing really well.

Well, in two weeks from this last Saturday Andrew will be three years old. I can't believe it! We haven't really decided what to do for his party yet, but I think we'll have a friend party and then a family party. Last year we didn't have a friend party for him (that I remember), so this year we will definitely be doing one. He's been telling me forever that he wants a spiderman cake this year, so we'll see how that one goes. So for all his friends' parents keep Saturday August 2nd from 1-3pm open on your schedules. I think that's when we'll do the friend party.
I don't have much new to report with Madelyn...she just gets into everything and is a big time busy body! Oh, today she did come down a flight of stairs at Nick's parents house all by herself. She did it very cautiously! The only way I got her to do it was to take a toy from her and move it to the bottom of the stairs. It worked like a charm. She's also been standing on our baby gate waiting for Andrew to open it so she can swing back and forth on it. She thinks it's pretty funny.
Nick gets to register for class next week and then starts school in a month. We're both pretty nervous about it because it seems like there's never time as things are now, and then we're adding more to the pot.
We've bought the whirlpool tub, vanity, sink, faucets for the tub and sink, and tub surround for the basement bathroom now. My dad and Nick are going to try and finish the plumbing this week. Last minute we decided to put hook ups for a washer and dryer in the bathroom down there, so that changed some of our plans, but I think we're back on schedule now. There's only a tiny bit of framing left to do and then we'll be on to wiring and insulation. So far this year we've spent a little over $3K on the basement and about $5K total in the past 2 years. Luckily that includes most of the expensive items for the bathroom. I can't wait until it's ALL done and then we can get on with our lives! Like actually exercising and going to the gym...
Well I guess that about wraps it up. I hope everyone has a great week!

Here's some pics from the past couple weeks:
Madelyn getting all her dinner in her hair and everywhere, as usual!
Andrew learning how to suction cups onto his chin, that'll come in handy for sure!
My sister Jenny pulling the kids around, while pretending to be a horse.They seemed to enjoy it!
Picture of Madelyn's crazy teeth. If you look closely you can see the front top one is through.
Andrew kickin' it after a long day of putting barrettes in his hair. It's hard to be beautiful!
Madelyn doing her silly smile...

A New Baby!

I just wanted to write a quick post that Nick's sister, Shellie, just had her baby boy today! He is so cute! She was 32 weeks pregnant when her water broke today on her way home from having some prenatal screening. He weighs 4 lbs. 5 oz. and is doing really well. We couldn't be happier for them! Last year on the 4th of July they lost their little Max when Shellie was just 18 weeks pregnant and her water broke. Since then they've been sealed together and to their daughter, Sadie, and now have their sweet Jackson. I'd say they've been busy! It's pretty neat that he came on their anniversary and my birthday! We can't wait to meet him! I'll have to put up the picture they sent of him, he looks so good for being just 32 weeks. Any prayers in their behalf would be much appreciated!
Love to you all!

I'm too busy!

This has been Andrew's answer to anything I ask him to do. He also wanted his sippy cup filled up so he threw it to/at Nick and said "fill up my water bottle dad." No please or thank you...fun times.
We've been thinking of selling our van and just using Nick's car. With trax making it's way out here, he could just ride that to work because there's a station directly behind his work building. It would save so much money. So if anyone is, or has family that is looking for a new vehicle let them know about us. It only has 12K miles on it and is a 2006. We bought it brand new and it's still under warranty.
Today Madelyn finally said mom and mama for the first time. It was cute she kept patting me on the back saying it. Every time we'd ask her to say mom in the past, she'd just say dada and smile.
We've also moved Madelyn into Andrew's room and it's been going pretty well. She's been a little fussy because her other front tooth is about to pop through, but it hasn't really bugged Andrew too much. Today she was crying after naps so Nick went up and got her. When he went in the room Andrew informed Nick that he was still going to sleep some more, and he did for another 2 hrs!
I need some ideas on how to decorate the room to accommodate both kids. I was thinking of painting 2 walls a nice chocolate brown and then putting up pink vinyl dots (or flowers) on Madelyn's side and then light blue dots on Andrew's side. My dad thought of the idea of doing the saying of what little girls and boys are made of in each color. Anyway, any thoughts would be nice.
Nick's brother in law came on Saturday all day, and framed most of the rest of the basement. It looks so good! We love it! He just has a little bit more to be finished. Tomorrow my dad and Nick are renting a cement cutting saw and going to do some major work to get the bathroom down there ready for plumbing. The retarded builders had the shower drain too close to the stub out for the toilet, so we get to move the toilet over. Then they also put the sink right next to the toilet, so we get to move that way over too. It takes so much work to do, so I'm glad my dad has dealt with this all before.
Well I guess that's the end of my random thoughts for the day.

Funny Nana

Yesterday was a long day. I woke up at 6:30 am to make Nick and my dad breakfast before they went to work(not to mention went to bed after midnight the night before). Then we had a dentist appt. for Andrew and after that we went to a free movie in Bountiful with Monica, Jacob, Joseph, Porter, Shellie (Nick's sister) and her daughter Sadie. Then we got some party supplies for Andrew's birthday party (not for another month). Needless to say when we got home, I put the kids to bed and then had a little bit of quiet time to myself to pick up the house. I had just laid down on the couch when my Nana called. I answered the phone with kind of a yawn. The first thing she said to me was "Are you pregnant?" I was a little surprised and asked her where she came up with that. She said "you just sound really tired." I told her I was very tired, but very NOT pregnant (at least not that I'm aware of)! I need to lose at least 30 lbs. more and be on clomid or something before that happens...
Anyway, I just thought that was kind of funny...

I did it!

With the help of Gatsby from the Blogger Team I was able to fix the blog! Yeah! I also updated and personalized my blog, finally! I wasn't in love with the pre-made templates so I experimented and this is what I came up with...Fun times!
I'm so happy! Well it's off to bed for me, Nick is probably wondering where in the heck I am!

Oops

I was trying to update my layout/template, which happened successfully. But then I had to delete the add from the pyzam website from the html code and some how screwed up everything! Now I don't have the option to add back some of my page elements that are missing and I don't have a layout tab. Lovely little mess! I know Nick will know how to fix it, but I wanted to do it myself. I should have just left well enough alone! Oh well, at least I can still post...

Today...

Nick made me breakfast this morning, it was so fabulous! The kids both stayed asleep, so we got to eat in peace which rarely happens. Nick's parents are having some problems with their sprinkler system so we were at their house most of the evening with him in a 5 foot hole, trying to fix things. Nick's mom, Mary, was nice enough to buy pizza so I wouldn't have to cook on our anniversary. We had fun in the yard with the kids running/crawling around. Madelyn still hates grass, so we had her on a blanket. She would try and play peekaboo with Nick while he was in a huge hole he and his dad dug the day before. Today Madelyn had her 9 month appt. (she's almost 10 months old, but they couldn't get her in sooner) and she is doing really well. I was really surprised that she's almost 20 lbs., she seems so small! She's in the 60th percentile for her weight (up from the 30th last time!), in the 70th percentile for height, and 80th for head circumfrence (thanks to both her parents having huge heads)! She now acts like she's talking on the phone all the time, regardless if she has a pretend phone or not. She just holds her hand/fist up to her ear and talks endlessly...She also plays peekaboo all the time, but fails to actually cover her eyes. She's taken 1-2 steps by herself and stands for short periods of time by herself too. I can't believe that she is already almost a year old! This year has gone by so fast! We love her so much and she truly adds spice to our lives.
Andrew is pretty much totally potty trained now. Four nights ago he was begging and crying telling us, while we were trying to put a diaper on for bedtime, that he wanted to be a big boy. So he promised us that he would keep his diaper dry that night and then the following nights we would let him go to bed with only undies on. The next morning I came out of my room and he was in the bathroom washing his hands and told me he needed his treat. I told him he couldn't have one because his diaper wasn't dry (I hadn't checked it, I just assumed he was trying to hide it because he had already taken it off and thrown it away). He pulled the diaper out of the trash, and thrust his hand in it saying "it's not wet mom, it's all dry!" Sure enough it was, he had woken up and gone to the bathroom and kept the diaper totally dry. I was so happy I gave him a brownie for breakfast! It's the best thing in the world! I told my mom I could have 10 kids if they would all be potty trained when they were two. The kid even goes in the kitchen and gets his own treat when he's done! It's freakin' amazing! Sometimes we have to remind him that washing his hands is a must BEFORE treats are given, but not too often. He's gone three nights without diapers and about a week without diapers during the day. Last night he pee'd a little in his undies which woke him up enough to stop, but I think he was confused because he got in bed with me (I felt him and he was dry) and I asked him if he had wet the bed and he said "no." Nick took him back upstairs to bed and said that his undies were wet but not through to his jammies.
Good times! I guess that's enough of a novel for today. I'm just so proud of my big boy!

I love my husband!

Well, it's been four years tomorrow that we've been married and I love my husband more than ever! He is the best! I can't believe how much patience he has with the kids and especially with me! I remember the first time I met him playing human foosball and how I know he thought my best friend Kelli and I were/are so crazy! It's crazy to think of all the places I could've bought my first house and I ended up being 1.5 miles away from him! I always get excited to think that we get to be together forever, especially with our crazy kids! I love the gospel for the truth and joy it brings to this world and our lives. I am so grateful we were able to be married in the temple for time and all eternity. I couldn't imagine a better (or hotter) man to spend all that time with-he is the BEST! I love my monsieur! Oh la la!


These are some of my favorite pictures of him/us...