Life in Portland, Baby Gender!

So we've been here in Portland for 2 weeks but it seems like we've been here so much longer. The weather here has been incredible and we've been soaking it up.

But to start, I forgot to announce our baby's gender earlier so I'll just do it here. We did a fun little gender reveal with Josh's parents. We bought a huge balloon and stuffed it with colored confetti. We honestly though Emma would love it but when we popped it she just got scared and cried. Or maybe it was the whole fact that she'd have to share her clothes:)

We're so excited to have another little girl coming to our family! She kicks all the time, just like Emma did. I hope they become the best of friends!

Graduation was wonderful and we were so grateful to have the love and support of family. Josh was on the front page of the graduation program for his high marks so that was really cool! 

So here we are in Portland and I have a lot of pictures to post so get ready:

Here we are at the Tillamook factory. It was fun but smaller than we expected. I've been before but everything seems bigger when you're younger. We loved getting the free cheese samples though, especially the cheese curds, yum!

We took a stop at this beautiful lighthouse. I went for a little tour up top where the light is but it was so tiny I felt pretty claustrophobic. So I told Josh he should skip it since he's almost a foot taller than me.  

Here's my awkward baby bump pic, but the lighting looked cool. We were so excited to see the ocean. This was at the beach at Oceanside. Emma was in heaven and had a blast! It was so sandy and muddy afterwards. It was everywhere...and I mean everywhere. In all her clothes, in her diaper, everywhere. But totally worth it!

We went to Multnomah Falls and it was gorgeous of course. Josh wanted to hike up to the top but I used the "But...I'm pregnant!". So he'll have to do it another time. Emma and I were content to just go up to the bridge, which was pretty spectacular. Someone visiting told us it's amazing in the winter because it ices over and there are icicles all over the rocks. So we'll have to come back. Also, note to anyone who wants to visit. We went on a Thursday and it was still packed! And it's only May, so in the summer in the weekend would be a no-go. 

 

We visited downtown Portland last Friday and that was a fun adventure! We hit the famous " Food Cart Corner". There are actually food trucks everywhere but we went to the most popular cluster; A whole city block of food carts! There were a ton of Greek and Asian trucks. But we went to the " Grilled Cheese Grill"  where they serve the "Cheesus". The name alone shows they think it's pretty good. Josh and I bought one to split. And here's whats on it... A hamburger patty sandwiched between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. Each grilled cheese had different cheeses and one had grilled onions. Yum!

 

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We also went to the famous Powell Books Bookstore. It was huge!!! I think we only made it to a few rooms, but it also takes up a whole city block. Pretty cool and you can find any book you could want. I didn't get a chance to buy one since Emma went a little crazy but it was fun while it lasted. 

Here's us by the Willamette River. We went on Cinco de Mayo weekend so we got in to a free carnival down by the river. Cool bonus!

We had a really cool day this Tuesday when we went to the Portland Zoo. It's pretty awesome! Maybe it's because there are trees everywhere, but you really feel like you're in the forest when you're walking around in there. Maybe it's because it's not quite summer yet but the animals were so close! This is Emma ( in her hat) right next to a cheetah. Crazy! And we saw a cougar up close and personal.

Our last stop so far was Cannon Beach. Seriously, we've had the best weather! It was in the 60's and beautiful at the beach. People were in their bathing suits tanning, which is not normal for the Oregon Coast. We bought some water shoes for all of us and Josh was psyched to go explore the tide pools. We saw lots of anemones, a couple star fish, hermit crabs, etc.

We bought a dollar store kite and were impressed with how well it did. It had a pirate skull on it, in honor of the Goonies. We just watched that and were excited to go see Haystack. Sadly Astoria was almost an hour away so we'll have to see the Goonie house another day.

We also ate at Mo's. After we ate there, I could see why everyone raves about it. The food was super yummy and fresh and we had a view of the ocean and Haystack Rock. Usually you pay top dollar to eat at a restaurant with a view like that!

Such a beautiful place and I'm sure we'll be back visiting soon!

Baby, Graduation, and Moving!

Lots of life changes happening over here at our house! The biggest one is baby #2! We couldn't be more excited to be expecting in September. We just found out the gender which we're revealing to family on Sunday so we're doubly excited, if doubly is a word.

Here's our little peanut:

Taken at 10 weeks

So yes, this was 7 weeks ago so this baby is a lot bigger now. When we saw this ultrasound at 10 weeks we could see the baby wiggling around. But a week ago I swear I felt the baby kick. Josh got really excited and tried to feel too and said he felt something. When we went to the ultrasound to see the gender, the baby was kicking again ( doesn't like to be bothered:) Actually he/she kicked so hard the technician could feel it! She said "Wow! I've never felt a 16-weeker kick before!"  Emma kicked non- stop when I was pregnant so maybe we've got another crazy mover. I didn't get very big so it was easy to tell ( I guess I hold the baby pretty far back which is fun for back pain). But it makes it really easy to tell with the baby's movement. 

I'm still not really showing. I mean Josh and I can tell for sure but to the outside world not much. So it's actually reassuring to feel the baby moving already.

Also, Josh is graduating next week. What?!? It's really here? And he just found out a few days ago he'll be graduating with "High Distinction", top 5% of his class, which is so awesome! I think it's like

"Magna Cum Laude" or one of those cool titles. It'll be in the graduation program. So he's basically amazing and such a hard worker. Sometimes I felt like a little devil telling him to just take it easy. " You've already got a job, so whatever! Play with us, let's go get ice cream!" Haha, but he stuck it out and I am so proud of him. Considering he's in the business school, in his masters program, all which are really hard to get into in the first place. So way to go babe! You did it!!!

And we're moving to Portland 2 weeks from today for Josh's new job with a consulting company. Super excited!!! We're moving there a month before his job starts so he can have a good solid vacation, because that boy deserves one! 

We've been planning out vacations to different Oregon Coast beaches, Seattle, and San Fransisco so it should be an amazing month. I am really excited to show Emma and Josh my old stomping grounds in San Fran from the mission. Yay!!!

So yes, wow, I think that's all our big life changes so far. That seems like a major overload! Usually our life is pretty quiet so all this change is exciting. 

Here's some pics of Emma because she's just the cutest:

Cute dresses from her Grandma's!

Winter

January 2016

Woops, I forgot to post this ages ago, so here it is, from back in January:

Is winter over yet?! Seriously, can we go outside and breathe yet without sucking in all this yucky gunk called inversion? I always have to brace myself for January and February because all the excitement from the holidays is done and you're stuck inside while the cold really kicks off.

I've felt especially bad for Emma these last few months. Now that she's walking and in that exploratory phase I want to take her outside and let her run around! But the times we've done that it's ended with her falling in the snow and crying after a few minutes. A couple times she loved it, but that was mostly when Josh was around to play with her too. He's obviously more fun than me:) He's not as worried about her little hands freezing or the aftermath of her crying when she's soaking wet. But that's a dad's job, to be fun and adventurous.

Christmas was wonderful back east. We went to Michigan to spend it with Josh's family and had a great time. Emma loved getting to know that side of the family better. Josh's family took our only cute pictures over the break so I'll be using theirs here.

Funny things Emma does now:

-steals things she shouldn't have and goes to her room and shuts the door on us. She's very sneaky!
- sits in boxes...well, lays down in them sometimes

-Says "no" to everything, but is starting to say "thank you", so that's progress.
-She says "stinky" when Josh changes her stinky diapers. Then she'll laugh like crazy and try to flip over every which way so we can't wipe her bum ( at this stage it's become a 2 person job ).
-Whenever she toots, she looks at us, smiles and laughs haha.
-She is obsessed with belly buttons! She pulls my shirt up to try to find mine and then looks at hers.
-Waves to everyone, at the store, church, everyone! If they don't wave back she gets really confused.
-She likes to sit with random people. She'll ever snuggle random people ( at church ). She's very friendly right now and likes attention. If people don't look at her, she'll wave at them till they do.
-She LOVES brushing her teeth. When I say " let's brush your teeth!" she'll run to the bathroom day and start shaking, like she does when she's really excited. But her toothbrush has to have her toothpaste or she won't take it. She's a smart cookie that one.
- The other day Josh showed her how to dip tater-tots in ketchup and now she wants to dip everything in something! Potstickers in soy sauce, bread in ketchup, basically everything in ketchup and Chick-fil-a sauce ( yes we're super healthy, I know). She actually really likes salmon, black beans, peas, lettuce, and tomatoes so we're getting some healthy stuff right.
-Loves playing horsey while riding on Josh's back, but forgets to hold on.
-Likes to talk on the phone.
-Still eats mac-n-cheese without breathing between bites. We don't know how she does it!:)
-We snuggle and nap and I love it:)

Fun things we did lately:

We finally made it to the ice castles up in Midway since is this is probably the last time we can go. It was AMAZING! So fun and pretty. Emma didn't know what to think at first but liked it as time went on. We went down the giant ice slide there which was really fun minus the fact that Josh and I have huge bruises on our left hip from the same spot going down. Ouch! But it was worth totally worth Emma's screams and giggles going down.

We went to the Provo City Center Temple Open House. It is a beautiful building, full of history from the original tabernacle. I'm glad we were still in Provo to this year to see it finished and the soon to be dedication.

So I guess to be honest, these last few months haven't been that bad, and we've been able to go see some fun things. So winter, sorry I've been ragging on you so much. I'm sure I'll want you back real quick when July hits.

13 Months, what's new!

Update on Emma! Another month has past and she's in the early toddler stage.  She's finally getting her 3rd tooth, which is exciting! She's been a little crankier than normal and wants to snuggle instead of laying down in her crib to go to sleep, but that's okay in my book. It does make it hard to do anything else, but snuggling with a baby is the best. Some new things she's learned:

-Walking. She's doing great and doesn't look like a teetering drunk now:)
-folding her arms. If she sees food now she'll fold her arms. So cute!
-she can officially stack rings on her ring-stacker toy. (We've been working on that)
-She loves putting toys and other objects into boxes, bowls, trashcans, etc. Today she tried to put her binky in the trash. And the other day we found her night light in our DVD bin. I think it's her new favorite game! We're just hoping she doesn't discover the toilet anytime soon.
-She's good at throwing stuff and has a pretty good arm.
-She LOVES dancing! Anytime music comes on, she bounces up and down.
-She does a lot of actions and understands what we ask her to do, but her favorite and constant word is still Da-da. The other day, our neighbor came up the stairs and she thought it was Josh. She looked at me and whispered "Da-da" and then ran over to the door. Sadly it wasn't him and she was disappointed, but she just had to wait an hour to do it again!
 -Master control of the TV remote. This one is a little scary. She know you have to point the remote at the TV to make it work and she's really good at turning it on by herself. Bah! Not the best skill to know, but I guess it was going to happen sometime.

I forgot to post some pictures of her birthday party a month ago so I'll post them here:

Your very basic smash cake

My cute sister decorated for it

This is my favorite face!

Those lashes, so jealous!

End update!

Christmas Time

Josh told me today, "You know, you're doing way more for Christmas this year than you've ever done." I guess he's right. I made my advent calendar months ago, and I've been trying to deck out our apartment more than normal. well as much as one can on a college budget. We actually put up lights outside our apartment and I splurged and bought some more ornaments at the dollar store;)

I decided the reason is because we have a kid now, and I want to start traditions and memories for her, as small as they are. When I turn the lights on the Christmas tree, Emma breathes really deeply and just stares at it. She's saying "wow" in her only little way. I know she doesn't understand much, but the little she does, she's really excited about. And that makes me excited!

Tonight we made gingerbread cookies and they turned out delicious. We topped them with cream cheese frosting and chocolate chips. I'm glad Josh liked them because he normally doesn't like gingerbread. Success!

1 Year

Happy Birthday sweet Emma! How is it possible you're already a year old? I keep flashing back to the first time I saw you and held you in my arms. I tear up every time. You are growing up so fast! Too fast for this mamma. Your Dad and I are so blessed to have you in our family. Your happy little personality shows more and more each day. You've always been quick to share a smile and laugh at the funny faces we make (generous laughs:) Everyone who meets you can't help but smile when you make your scrunchy face and laugh at them. They all think you're the cutest little thing. Every time we walk in a store, everyone comments on how cute you are! Hopefully it won't go to your head:) You started walking this week, something we're totally not prepared for! But we love seeing your curiosity and excitement about everything. Your big blue eyes melt our hearts and I think dad is going to have a tough time saying no to you. You love us so much that you still want to see me 3 times a night and hang out. But hopefully you'll get over that soon:) Your favorite word it still Dada and you light up when he walks through the door. You love your stuffed animals and love snuggling them. Thank you for being you! We're so lucky to have you in our family!

1 day

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We love you Emma!