#4....Here we go again!

I spent a good chunk of my Sunday evening reading through past blog posts and being SO sad that I don't blog anymore. I've been trying not to feel guilty. Life is busy. Work keeps me busy, and three little girls keep me busier. And even though I still have things like Instagram and Project Life, it's just not the same. There's nowhere to write my thoughts and feelings on an Instagram post or a 3x5 journaling card. And sometimes I just feel like writing!

One of the things that's hard to update is pregnancy. Baby #4 is joining our family in November, and I've been thinking about how I've kept a record of every pregnancy but this one. Someday, I'll really regret it if I don't write anything down. Mostly because I have a terrible memory and all my pregnancies and deliveries tend to blur together as time passes.

Our little pregnancy announcement. I still giggle every time I look at their faces. :)

So, here we go. I'm 17 weeks along right now. Due date is November 10th. Since this will, for all intents and purposes, be our last kid, I was really hoping for a spring baby so that I'd have one in every season (so far, we have winter, summer, and fall). But that obviously didn't work out. It took 9 months to get this baby here, so we ended up being grateful for ANY due date in the end.

I've been feeling good, just like my first three pregnancies. I feel very blessed to be able to say that. But I can definitely tell this is the fourth time around that I've done this. For one, I could swear I started to show the minute I saw that positive pregnancy test. At this point, I'm in the chubby-nothing-fits-me stage. Like, really. Nothing fits. A little part of me wants to hide in a closet until I have enough of a belly to scream to people, "yes, I'm pregnant!" But I can't do that. Obviously.

The other thing that has been wildly different this time around is how tired I am. If you know me at all, you know that I am NOT a nap-taker. Like, not at all. If I take a nap (even a tiny 10-minute one), I turn into an insomniac at night. So I never take them. That is, until 17 weeks ago. And now, I literally cannot get through my day without crashing for at least a few minutes at some point. And even if that nap is a one-hour Sunday nap, I can still drop into bed at 10:00 and immediately fall asleep. It's crazy stuff. And really annoying. I don't have time for naps!

Other than that, everything else has been pretty typical. A little bit of heartburn has started. I have no doubt that will get worse as the weeks pass. (But that means another baby with a full head of hair, so that's always fun!) A few random cravings here and there - I was craving grape juice and sushi (I love California rolls) for a few weeks. It still sounds good, but I don't have to have it like I did for awhile. I also went through a brief pasta stage. And right now, I love dill pickles. If that's not stereotypical, I don't know what is.

And finally, the girls. Sadie and Ellie are SO excited for another little sibling. They have both had a million questions and it's so fun to feel the anticipation radiating from them. They both say they want another little sister, but they'd be okay with a brother too. Kevin's rooting for a boy, obviously, and I'm happy with either one! And Avery? She could care less. She's finally starting to catch on to the fact that everyone is saying there's a baby in mommy's tummy but she's very confused when she lifts up my shirt and can't see any sign of any kind of baby there. I think she's going to be in for quite the surprise. :) The big gender reveal is in a little over a week. We're all super excited to find out!

And I'd say that's about the long-winded update I was going for! Over and out.

Zion National Park

At the beginning of June, we took an impromptu trip to Southern Utah. While we were there, we spent a day in Zion National Park. I haven't been since I was about 12, but I have great memories of the place and I really wanted Kevin and the girls to experience the same startling beauty I remembered. It didn't disappoint. Kevin and I spent some time comparing it to our other favorite national park, Yellowstone, and we decided they're just different but both equally amazing. Zion is much, much smaller and you don't see as much wildlife (a bit of a let down for Kevin, I won't lie). But the scenery in Zion is startlingly breathtaking. I could have stared at it for hours. Those towering red and white striped canyon walls seem formidable until you look closer and see all the life seeping out of them. Flowers, plants, moss, and entire waterfalls all come right out of the rock, even when it's 100 degrees outside. It's incredible. 

I wish I could say the kids shared my enthusiasm the whole time, but they (and by they, I mostly mean Ellie) were not a fan of the hiking we did all day. Avery was pretty good, but mostly because she got to observe the whole experience from her throne up there in the hiking backpack. Kevin had a great time carrying her 30+ pounds around all day. 

Even though the day had its fair share of meltdowns and downright grumpiness, I hope my kids took away at least a tiny bit of appreciation for this amazing world God created for us. It's places like Zion that make me realize we're lucky to be hanging out here on this place called Earth. :)

Easter Dresses

We didn't go to church on Easter due to General Conference, but I still made them put their outfits on for a little photo shoot.

In case you need narration with these pictures, just imagine a constant stream of "don't do that, you'll get your dress dirty!" coming from my mouth.

Sometimes I wonder WHAT I'm thinking when I plan these things.

A Return (sort of) to Blogging

Well, here I am, back on the old blog. I had pretty much resolved to be done with it. Because of old computers, and Google trying to make me pay an access fee, and a couple of other annoying factors, it takes me forever to jump through all the hoops I need to to make a post. 

But I kinda miss it sometimes. I've started a new scrapbooking project called Project Life that is, for all intents and purposes, going to take over for this blog. But I think I'll still use this as a kind of photography blog. I'm hoping to just post occasional pictures to encourage myself to use my camera more, instead of stressing over spending hours trying to chronicle every little life event.

So, on that note, here are some recent pictures we took when the kids had a day off school and we headed down to Ogden to do a little shopping and wandering. We've had this crazy-warm, crystalline, springlike winter this year, so walking around the temple in February turned out to be no problem!

All About Being One

 I think of all the years kids are alive, their first is the most amazing to watch. I'm three kids into this and it still blows my mind all that my kids learn in 12 short months. Considering they start out as helpless (albeit completely adorable) little blobs...

...and morph into little people is just incredible.

Our little Avery is no exception. She is so busy right now. Here are a few of her favorites:

No walking yet. No surprise there, she's just following in her sisters' paths! She's a pretty adept and fast speed-crawler, and there's just not much interest there. She'll pull herself up to furniture, but that's about it. My kids operate on their own timelines, that much is certain.

Sleeping has very much improved from those very trying first few months. I'd say she sleeps through the night without making a peep about 75% of the time and the other 25% of the time, she only wakes up once or twice when she can't find a binkie. Once I pop it in, she's usually right back to sleep.

She's still taking two naps a day. I would record how long those naps are, but they're a little bit different every day. I guess if we have absolutely nothing going on, the first is usually an hour or so and the second is an hour and a half to two. I would actually be totally okay if she dropped the second nap since it's so much easier to get things done when we don't have to work around a morning nap. But even though they've gotten shorter recently, she still seems to want and need both nap times. And I do look forward them. It's the only time I can walk out of a room without inducing screams of panic.

She still loves to have a binkie in her mouth and one in each hand when she sleeps. Silly girl.

She is very, very good at giving big wet kisses and giant hugs. She thinks it's especially fun to give them to her big sisters.

She has eight teeth - four on top and four on bottom - which she's had for quite awhile and two more bottom molars that are currently working their way in. (They make her randomly miserable for a couple of days at a time and we wish they'd just come in already!)

She can click her tongue. And she thinks she's pretty cool stuff when she does it. She's also a pro at sticking her tongue out at anyone who does it to her.

She's suddenly aware of what's on other people's heads, as well as her own. That means lots of ponytails get pulled out and I rarely put bows and flowers in her hair anymore. She may not like it when I put those things in, but she loves to crawl into the bathroom and sit and try on whatever bows and headbands she can find on her own head.

She's OBSESSED with our phones/iPads/iPods. She's learning quickly how to work them and can swipe, tap, and push the home button at an alarming rate. I don't let her play with them very often because she goes absolutely ballistic when I take it away, but the Fisher Price apps are perfect for her and are great for when I'm desperate for her to be distracted for a minute.

She's still a bit attached to her bottle. We've obviously switched her to whole milk (yay for no more formula!) but she prefers it out of a bottle as opposed to a sippy cup. We're working on her, though, and I think she'll give the bottles up soon enough.

Her favorite toys (besides the electronics) are balls to chuck around the house, toy phones that she can pretend to "talk" on, and anything soft and cuddly which she'll instantly smother in a giant hug.

Her favorite song is "Once There Was a Snowman" - but in our house, we sing "Once There Was an Avery!" Her face instantly lights up when we start to sing and she usually claps and "sings" along.

And last of all, she worships her big sisters. She's getting to the point where she'll let out a giant screech if they start pestering her too much, but for the most part she loves to follow them around the house (as long as I'm close by, of course) and be right there involved in whatever game they're playing. For the most part, the older girls still worship the ground Avery crawls on as well. Sister relationships are so much fun!

Love this little girl and all the challenges and love and silly times that come with her!

Her party was lots of fun and we enjoyed celebrating with our little family. The only bummer was that Kevin was away on a business trip on her actual birthday, but we resolved that by celebrating the night before he left.

The smash cake - we kept it simple this time around!

She wasn't quite sure what to make of the cake. After digging around in it for a minute and tasting it a few times, so finally dumped the entire cake on the floor. Glad I didn't spend a lot of time on that one!