A Touch Of Tyrell

Everett and I had an appointment with Dr. Harry Watters today to check on the softball growing in my tummy. (Don't you just love my dr's name!) Everything went well and the softball's heartbeat was 149.  Everybody in the office was in love with Everett.  Several people have asked me what gender I'm rooting for. I wanted both for a long time.  Now I want one more than the other.  I asked if we could find out the gender at the next appointment because I just want to want the one we're getting so I can stop thinking about it.  Here's a view of my softball.... well, all three of them if you know what I mean! I still feel not-awesome.  I'm waiting for the day when I feel normal but it might be a while.  My belly stopped growing out as much when I started walking for exercise in the mornings.  Instead, it's grown up making me look more like an old man with a beer belly instead of a pregnant lady. 

We've been so fortunate to find such great friends here in AZ. We left a lot of special relationships back in Washington and I'm pretty sad about it but I know that we'll keep in touch and that we'll see them again when we visit.  The very first Sunday we were here, we met a couple in church that we have so many things in common with. For starters: The husbands are both named Jake The husbands work for the same company The wives are pregnant Our due dates are both March 10th They have one child... a little boy 2 months younger than Everett His name is Rhett. Crazy, right!! The differences: She has a girl name... lol I look WAY more pregnant than her.  Everett loves Rhett and thinks he's hilarious. We've had playdates and dinner dates and we even ran into them at the mall on Saturday. They brought us brownies last night and then Julia invited Everett and I to the zoo today with her and Rhett. She had two guest passes to the Phoenix ...

The mornings here make me so happy. I used to hate waking up, parting the blinds, and seeing the clouds. Some people really don't mind it or are affected by it and some people even like it, but not me. It wasn't a secret that I really struggled with the weather in western WA. The sun just makes me happy and makes me feel alive and there's a lot of it here! The mornings are the best. Everett and I have been going on walks and we've found a few good routes. The other morning we walked past this neighborhood park and we stopped to play. We discovered the sandy bottom and I loved it.  I'm just one big kid and I still LOVE playing in the sand. So this morning we rode bikes to the neighborhood park with our shovels and buckets. Hopefully we can make it to a real beach someday, but this is awesome for now.  Everett loved to stomp the "castles" and poke the octopus to death with his finger.  I...

I guess we all have areas that we excel in and struggle in... it's just unfortunate that Everett's struggle is in the speech department. I'm still waiting for the day when he wakes up and suddenly talks... in complete sentences as some parents claim their kids do. I've had countless dreams where Everett is talking and we carry on conversations... but sadly they are just dreams. He is still the master squeaker and grunter. He has improved a tiny, tiny bit by actually responding "yes" when that's the answer to a question we ask him. The only other words I've heard him say occasionally are: Dad, Mom, ball, bubbles, pop, and baby. He is probably 9-12 months behind in speech. It makes me so sad and sometimes frustrated, but that doesn't mean he isn't smart. Just a very late talker. Keep your fingers crossed that he starts talking soon! Without him talking, it makes it really hard to teach him anything. Several kids his age can count, name ...

I had to take a little break from my muffin top project when we were in the middle of our two-month-long moving process. Now that we are unpacked, and have an overabundance of limes, I made the lime poppy seed muffins. And. They. Were. AMAZING. I made mini muffins because I couldn't find my regular size cupcake liners and I think that's what made them even more tasty and delicious. Or maybe it's because there is almost as much sugar in them as there is flour. Either way, they were by far the most amazing muffins I've ever had. I almost don't want to continue my muffin top project because nothing will taste as good as these little wonders. I also think I'm finally starting to accept the fact that it's good to have lumpy muffin batter. I just couldn't leave it lumpy before but I finally let go with these muffins and it paid off. Don't over mix. Lumps are good. Got it.

I had no idea that I'd be posting about the rain so soon after leaving the gray skies of WA behind.  The rain came after being here for only a few days. It dumped and dumped.  It came again yesterday morning.  And it was awesome.  There was thunder and it was warm.  The best kind of rain if you ask me... and Everett.  Everett was having such a good time pushing anything he could through the water. Even his potty chair that he hates .  We went inside after we thought it stopped. But then it started again and was coming down harder than the first time. So the best way to enjoy it was to run up and down the street splashing and kicking. Everett even tried to float his cars down the stream. We had a good time and now I know why everyone here likes the rain... because it's awesome. It comes, dumps, and then goes away and the sun comes back. The rest of the day was a good 10-15 degrees cooler and w...

I feel like I should be relaying stories of our new life in AZ but the only thing that I can think about and concentrate on is myself.... my big, huge, giant self. I seriously almost die every time I look in the mirror. I look, examine my belly, and then feel like crying because I'm only 35% of the way there and I look like I should only have a few months left before I cradle a sweet baby in my arms. But the truth is, I still have 6 months before that happens. I am beyond grateful that we will welcome another little one into our family, but I think back to just a few months ago when I actually looked ok in clothes, I could move comfortably, and I felt good and I just want those days back. Really bad. But if I suddenly wasn't expecting anymore, it would be so devastating and the only thing I would wish for was to be pregnant again. I think I would be completely fine if I were 20+ weeks because that's exactly how far along I look and feel. I'm just so concerned how I...