Quick Baby Update

I just thought I would let you all know that she is still a she. We weren't able to confirm last time because she was sitting breech though they were fairly certain that it was a girl. This time she was still sitting breech but after a little pushing and shoving we were able to get a good picture that confirms what we have been suspecting.
Like I said, she is still breech but they said that there are still a few weeks for her to turn before they will get concerned. Other than that everything is marvelous. She is measuring 32weeks 3day and I am 32weeks 2day according to my due date so we are right on. They also said she is about 4lbs. though that could be totally wrong since ultrasounds aren't the most accurate when it comes to weight but I will take it.

Hey There

Well, I haven't updated in approximately, um, forever. Things have been going well. Little Walter keeps me VERY busy. Usually I will read other people's blogs to keep updated on everything going on but just don't write. Well recently he has kept me so busy (plus I am quite pregnant and quite tired these days) that I haven't even read any other blogs. So, I really hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and Christmas because I haven't read in a while.
Little Walter had a great Christmas. There are way too many toys in our house at this point in time but he is thrilled to have so much to play with. My parents came for the few days before Christmas and it was nice to have the opportunity for the little guy to see them at both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
I don't really know what else to tell you about in regards to Little Walter so if you have any questions, just ask.
Big Walter is still doing the same things he usually does but now he is working on a massive bathroom remodel in his free time. Ha ha, free time. Yeah, like he gets a lot of that. We are working on the master bathroom and it is quite a project. I would love to help him but construction work isn't really my thing. I think I would be more in the way than anything else. I do plan to help when it comes to the finish work so I will feel better about my contribution at that time. I took some pictures of the before and will get some pictures of the after so that we will always be able to appreciate the work that he has done.
I am still pregnant. I didn't start to look pregnant until this last month. I am hoping that will mean that this baby is small but I am not holding my breath. I will have another ultrasound on Monday to make sure everything is where is should be and I am hoping they will be able to tell me gender for sure this time. During the last ultrasound the baby was sitting breech so we could get 100% but the tech said she is fairly certain it is a girl. This is what I thought all along so I am pretty confident that it is a she but I would like the ultrasound to tell me for sure before I buy too many dresses and pink things. The rest of the pregnancy is going as planned. Starting to get uncomfortable, eating like crazy, ready for it to be over. You know, the usual. If you have anymore questions about the pregnancy, me, bathroom remodel, Big Walter, or me just ask those as well. I might even answer.

Oh, and no, we do not know what we are going to name the baby. I can't decide for the life of me.

And here are some pics.
Family Christmas Pic:

At Hart Park feeding ducks:

Halloween:

Just Do It

GO VOTE!!!

Oh, and don't forget...YES ON 8!!!

That is the most important thing going on today so I will update you on everything else later.

The Best in the West

I figured that I was doing such an awesome job of posting (this makes 6 posts this week) that I should keep going. So, you lucky readers will get to hear about our trip to the fair.
On Monday, Walter, Bradon, Little Walter and I all headed to the great Kern County Fair. In case anyone is wondering what the title of this blog means, it is the theme of the fair this year. I don't necessarily agree that it is the greatest fair in the west but we had a good time none the less.
We started a tradition a few years back of going to the fair for family home evening. It is much less crowded on Monday night so the guys don't have to wait in long lines to get their massive curly chili cheese fry (a.k.a. a heart attack on a plate). We decided to split our eating up this year by visiting various kid attractions. The main reason we go to the fair is the food but we decided that we over did it last year so we enacted a new routine to help avoid this problem.
We started with a philly cheesesteak sandwich for Walter and Bradon. That firemens' booth makes a mean cheesesteak. We then moved to the animals. There are way too many animals for my liking so we stuck to the outskirts to avoid the smell and my son's need to touch EVERY SINGLE ANIMAL. After animals we hit up the funnel cake stand, then the pedal tractors/fake cow you can milk/old farm stuff that you can make music with section, then curly fries with chili and cheese thing, then the other kiddie tents with reptiles and music, then the kids karaoke stage and lastly, my amazing fair cinnamon roll. I wait all year for this thing. mmmmmm.



I think my favorite part of the fair was the karaoke stage. It was for kids 7 and under and little Walter had a blast. He was hesitant to get up at first until he heard two little boys sing the ABCs. Though I do sing the ABCs to him he doesn't really know them yet. He has a few favorite letters that he likes to repeat but on Monday night there was no telling him that he didn't know the song. Not only did he get on the stage in front of everyone to sing it but he got up multiple times and sang with conviction. It was really cute. Here are a few video of the ABCs and one if his drum solo.




This picture is just for Bradon. I convinced him to take a picture milking the cow because it would be cool to have it on the internet. I don't know if it is cool. but it is on the internet.

Beautiful Lengths

Well, I did it. It took me two years but I finally grew my hair out long enough to donate it. I decided to donate the ponytail to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program because I only needed to donate 8 inches of hair. I ended up with a ponytail that is 9 inches that I will be mailing in. I am really happy with the hair style and I even decided to throw in some highlights. When you are going to donate your hair you can not color it so it has been at least 2.5 years since I colored or highlighted my hair. I was definitely ready for a change.
Here are some before and after pics for your viewing pleasure.
Before:


After:


I totally look thinner with short hair.

Pictures

This is our new trampoline. Actually it is just the matress to the bed that will be going in the baby's room as a guest bed. However, for now it sits behind the front door and the boy can knock it over and jump on it. It is pretty fun.

Our little family on the Train Town U.S.A. mini train.

Feeding the animals at Train Town.

Riding the carousel. He liked it after the first few turns.

Feeding the ducks at the park.

Sticker time with mama. This is what happens when you leave me home alone with the kid all day. I need to entertain myself somehow.

Walter's 28th Birthday

Saturday was Walter's 28th birthday. Wow, he's old. : )
We had a nice day together. It was Stake Temple day so we were able to go down to L.A. and attend the temple together. On the way back we ate at Claim Jumpers with Mom and the V's. We ate too much as usual but it was nice. The rest of the day we spent with little Walter since we hadn't seen him all day. We were pretty low key in the evening since we were a bit tired from all of the driving.
Sunday we went to church during the day and then had Walter's family over for dinner in the evening. Walter, being the non-conformist that he is, wanted pizza for dinner and pineapple upside-down cake for dessert. Sunday dinner is not usually a pizza kind of meal (I much prefer something like roast and mashed potatoes) but it was his birthday so he got to choose. We got tome papa murphy's take and bake on saturday night and cooked that up for everyone. For some reason we thought we would need 3 family size pizzas. Well, we were wrong and we now have and entire family size pizza worth of leftovers. Don't worry though, Walter won't let it go to waste. The cake was also quite lovely but of course he picked the one cake that you can't write "Happy Birthday" on.
Little Walter and Andi loved the birthday cake regardless of writing. Every time the two of them see a cake with candles on it they are convinced it is their brithday. Little Walter started blowing candles out while we were still trying light them and the to of them were super excited when we sang the happy birthday song. It didn't matter that we said "Happy Birthday, Dear Walter" because they were convinced we were singing to them. Walter was kind enough to let them help blow out his candles and upwrap his presents so that made their worlds a little brighter.
I am pretty sure Walter had a good birthday. I hope he did because he is a wonderful husband, father, priesthood holder, provider, friend and so many more things and he really does deserve the best.

Pregnancy Update

Not much to tell but I though I should record it just in case anyone was curious. I am a little over 18 weeks. I feel pretty good most of the time. I still don't really look pregnant which is a little annoying because I just look like I have put on a lot of weight right around the middle. It will be just a matter of time before I look back and think how nice the stage of pregnancy was, but for now I would just like some clothes that don't look silly on me. The diabetes thing is going fine. I did not end up needing insulin, at least not at this point. My doctor told me at my last appointment that if I were going to cheat that it is probably better to do it now while my sugar numbers are low. So, I have taken him up on that. I am not too bad but now and then I have a little cake or a cookie. Trust me, this is much better than the half dozen cookies I used to eat. And yes, I will be having a cinnamon roll at the fair tonight. : ) The only other news is that we are hoping to find out the gender this week. I am not holding my breath but it would be nice to know. If not this week I will find out on October 13. I think that is about it.

Napa Trip

Let me start out by telling you that there will not be any pictures in this update because I am on the laptop and I am too lazy to get the pictures off the desktop and move them to this computer. I will add pictures later.
Now, to the update...Earlier this month the Walters and I went to Napa for the annual birthday trip. I am pretty sure I mentioned this trip last year, but in case you didn't know this is a trip we take every September to celebrate the family birthdays. My Grandpa's birthday is August 31, my Grandma's is Sept. 3, my mom's is Sept. 6 and Big Walter's is Sept. 20. Every year we head up north, have raviolis and malfottis for birthday dinner, eat too much cake, have pizza from my family's pizza shop, and open presents. Big Walter especially loves this trip because pizza and malfottis are two of his very favorite foods. They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and I agree. If you come to my house with good pizza and malfottis I can almost guarantee that Walter's heart would be bursting with love for you.
We did add something new to our trip this year. We took a trip to Train Town U.S.A. It was pretty fun. The have a miniature train that you ride around whole place. You cross mini bridges, ride past mini cabins with mini animals and eventually stop in a mini town with a petting zoo. Little Walter really liked the animals and even fed them some food. After a few minutes at the petting zoo we loaded back up in the train and rode back to the beginning. After our train ride we took the boy around to some of the amusement rides. He was scared of the rollercoaster but rode like a champ.
After Train Towm we made our way to the park where we were able to feed the ducks. It was so cute to watch the little guy throw the bread and get so excited when the ducks would come up to eat. The bread lasted longer than I thought and we had a really nice time.
The next day we made our way to church with my Great-Grandma and Great aunt and uncle and then drove home. It was a really nice trip. I don't love the drive and I certainly don't love sharing a bedroom with Little Walter, but all in all it was a very nice vacation.

Detestable Injectables?

In case you have been wondering how we have been doing. We're fine. Little Walter is still full of energy and spent his morning harassing the other kids at play group. Yep, that was my boy locking people in the play house and having a slapping fight over a Care Bear. What can I say? I am pretty sure he gets it from his father.
For those of you that don't know I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I know many of you know because I find it calming to complain about it on a regular basis. This means that for the rest of my pregnancy (a mere 26 weeks or so) I will have to watch everything I eat and test my blood 4 times a day. I am allowed approximately zero good desserts. I can have anything sugar free, in moderation of course. Unfortunately, the sugar free desserts do not appeal to me at all. I have been trying them (ice cream, jello, pudding, etc.) and it isn't working. I also only get fruit the second half of my day. This isn't too bad but I would occasionally like a banana in the morning or maybe a peach, strawberries, anything. And, the hardest part of all is the lack of carbs. I get anywhere from 15 to 45 carbs depending on the meal or snack. Did you know that one serving of Freschetta frozen pizza in 48 carbs? A piece of bread is 20ish carbs which means a sandwich is 40ish carbs. That means that regular sandwiches are pretty much out.
It hasn't been fun or terribly easy but I am pulling through...I think. The bad part is that even though I have been good about my sugars and carbs, my sugars have still been high the last three mornings. I was told to keep up with my testing through the weekend and if they continue to be high then I will be put on injectable insulin next week. I am hoping that my pancreas will kick into gear and this won't be necessary but we shall see.
That is my latest update. Everything else is still right on track. I am still able to wear my normal jeans and at the end of the day, that makes me really happy. : )

The Rest

I really intended to do this post earlier but well, I don't feel good. I am exhausted pretty much all the time and the nausea is about to kill me. But enough about my whining.
Here is the rest of vacation:

Some more beach action

A trip to the Morro Bay aquarium. Walter really liked these guys. The rest of the stuff scared him. I think this is mostly because it was so dark and the fish were half dead. I suppose you really get what you pay for (it was only $2 each).


Best investment we made on vacation...matching seals. Inexpensive and they didn't fight over them. Marvelous.

We (not me) had a rousing game of horseshoes at the beach.

Tuesday (I think) we took a trip to Pismo Beach where we had delicious cinnamon rolls and did a little shopping for sunglasses. We also walked the pier where my son kept trying to climb over the railing into the ocean.

In the evening we took another trip to the park. This time my son was trying to figure out how to steal some kid's car. He really was eyeing it.

Wednesday, Walter and some of the family took a trip to Hearst Castle. Since I had already been and I knew that Little Walter would take to it so well I decided to stay home with him.


Wednesday or Thursday, I can't remember which, we took a walk and my son decided to climb on/dance with some rocks.

Thursday we took a trip to Cambria where I got a massive peanut cup. It made me quite happy, if you couldn't tell.

And, afterward we drove to the sea lion place. I am not sure what it is called but I am sure most of you have heard about it. It is the place where something like 10,000 sea lions come each year as they migrate. This picture is Walter pinching a sea lion.

The last day we took a family picture in this big patch of ivy. Luckily, we all made it out without poison oak or ivy.
The end of the trip was the long drive home and all of the laundry and unpacking. We didn't get pictures of that because it isn't very exciting.
The End.

Vacation

**I will break the vacation recap into multiple posts because it was a long week.**


We had our annual Ray Family vacation last week. It was wonderful to be able to get away for a week. It was especially nice for me because I have been REALLY tired and quite sick at times due to this pregnancy so I actually got to relax.

As soon as we got unpacked we headed down to the water. I always worry how Little Walter will take to new experiences and it seems that every time I think he will dislike something he does the exact opposite. The beach was no different. I was sure that water would be too cold, the waves too big, the sand too um, sandy. But, no. He loved it. It was like pulling teeth to get him to go back to the house.


Saturday was more beach going. Some of the guys even tried skin boarding. I don't think it went as well as they had hoped but it was sure entertaining for those watching.



Doesn't Walter look skilled???

In the evening we headed to the park. The weather was amazing during the weekend and we were actually able to enjoy the park, which didn't happen later in the week. The boys played soccer, the kids played on the toys, and I took pictures. I took so many pictures, in fact, that I forgot that I had even participated in a lot of the activities. There is very little photographic proof of my existence on vacation. I guess that is what happens when you spend all of your time behind the camera. I guess I need to master the skill of taking pictures of myself.


If you look closely you can see what appears to be Aunt Lisa playing a little soccer. She's got moves.

Here is Morro Rock in case you forgot what it looks like.

This kid cracks me up.

Sunday we went to church and tried going to the tide pools in the evening. Unfortunately, the tide was too high so we didn't get to see anything.



Hey, look. It's me.

That is pretty much the end of the weekend. I will start the rest of the week when I have a little more energy to write.

Okay, I will give you one more picture. I find this one pretty funny. Big Walter has his thinking face on. This wouldn't normally be funny except that he was the one taking the picture and he was concentrating so hard on getting everyone in pic that he forgot that he would be in it too. Thus you see the thinking tongue.

The New Baby

In case you haven't heard yet we are having another baby. I had an ultrasound done yesterday which put the due date at February 27. We got a picture at the ultrasound(which I will post if I ever figure out how to scan it). We are pretty sure that this baby looks just like me; it has a really big head and little tiny arms and legs. Just like me, right? : )
Yes, I know that is reality the arms and legs will grow and it will probably come out looking exactly like Walter. That is what happens around here.

4th of July

A little rundown of the Fourth of July:

Woke up
Worked in yard
Took nap
Headed to Mom and Dad Ray's
Had BBQ and swimming
Realized we forgot the camera
Thought "Darn, I was supposed to post pictures of the 4th on the blog"
Quit caring about the camera and ate more potato salad
Boys built the TOWER OF FIRE (Brittany has a pic on her blog)
Had our own fireworks show
Kids nearly caught each other on fire with sparklers
Watched the BC fireworks
Thrilled that the kids loved the fireworks
Went home and to bed

That was pretty much it. I was worried that Little Walter would be frightened of the fireworks but he wasn't at all. That was quite a relief.

A Whole Lot of Nothing

I don't have anything specific to talk about, nor do I have any one event that has been particularly blog worthy. So, for this reason, I am going to put up a bunch of recent pictures and tell you what they are. How does that sound?
Here we go:

I got home from date night a a week or so ago and found a couple pictures like this on my camera. I always have to be afraid when someone from the Villanueva household finds my camera because pictures like this (the hold-the-camera-yourself-self-portrait) become inevitable.


I made strawberry-apricot jam and it is MARVELOUS. The first jar made it two whole weeks. I am pretty impressed. Yes, I know I am dressed in ill-fitting, jelly-covered clothes and that my hair looks bad. It is my jelly making outfit. Sorry.


Kate (who now walks in case you were interested) had her first birthday party. Walter was kind enough to eat a large part of the frosting off her cake. He is such a helper. A messy, messy helper.


Little Walter found his monkey pajama top in his drawer and made me put it on over his clothes. Apparently it is some sort of monkey/banana sport coat. Nice.


We are trying to transition Little Walter to a big boy bed. The first step of the transition was to lower the rails on his crib. This way he gets the freedom of getting out of bed but still has the familiarity of his crib. Well, as everyone might expect it hasn't been perfect. I found him stuck behind his door a few days ago and this morning he was up and in my room at 5:30am. Not good. We locked him in his room until 7am. Much better.


I just think this pic is funny and gross. We had spaghetti for dinner last night and about half way through his meal he got something in his eye so he had to rub it. hehe.

That is pretty much it for now. There are some things coming up that I hope to get pictures of. Note to self...Must remember camera.

Upcoming events: Family vacation, finishing the backyard, finishing the front bedroom, Little Walter's birthday, Girls Camp, and hopefully some family pictures. Hopefully I will be posting about some of these things soon because that means a) I remembered the camera and b) I actually got stuff done. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Poor, Poor Walter

More than once this past few weeks my poor husband has been forced to sit and read a book in the evening instead of enjoying my company. Why, you may ask, do I not visit with my husband in the evenings? Well, here is why...





It is really sad, but I just love it. I hope he gets on the bandwagon soon so he can join in my fun.

A New Do

Walter and I gave little Walter a hair cut the other day. I think he looks quite handsome so I thought I would share.
Before:

Oh, and that second picture is a darn cute pic of him sleeping.
After:


Well, what do you think? I know it is short, but it is not nearly HUGE and PUFFY. Oh, and it is adorably when I put gel in it.

Park Hoppers

Our ward (more specifically Laura Pollock, the new enrichment leader) recently organized a park day each week for the moms and their kids. I can not tell you how much I needed this park time. We go out on Thursday mornings and the kids get to play while the moms get to visit. I love the adult interaction, Little Walter loves the toys and playing with the other kids, and Kate enjoys eating stuff off the ground. Finding stuff on the ground to eat is one of her finest talents. If anyone wants to join us we meet on Thursdays.