Memorial Day at Liberty Park.. who knew?

On Memorial Day we tried to think of something to do that we havent done before. We decided to pack a lunch and head down to Liberty Park to check it out. I hadnt been there in FOREVER, in fact I had no idea what to expect. We met Nate and Lacy there and Grammy and Granddad too. We had such a blast. They still have the old school merry-go-round, ferris wheen and mini airplanes. Dallin was in heaven, and he even got to ride the ferris wheel with his favorite person ever, Granddad. We let Dallin and Lyla run around and explore. After 3 hours, we hadn't even covered half the park. I am told there is a fun water feature the kids can play in and playgrounds. Guess we will have to go back another time for more fun. Here's some pics from the day. Enjoy!

Bye Bye Binkie... it's been real

The time has come that I have been DREADING for months now. We decided to take Dallin's binkie away this weekend, although it all happened without any planning. I have never really minded Dallin having a binkie. When he was little it soothed him, and as he got older he used it for sleeping which has always been an issue for him. I really didnt want to disrupt his sleeping habits in any way in fear they would only get worse. Well on Friday the only binkie we could find was this one that glowed in the dark. Andy was excited as he was showing Dallin the cool binkie, but Dallin wasnt too hot on the idea. In fact, he was so terrified of it that he told us he didnt want the "glow binkine". So we took it away and he went to sleep without one. Seriously. Was it that easy? THe next night the same thing, he didnt want the scary glow binkie so he fell right asleep without it again. Naps were no trouble either, we just told him he didnt need binkies any more. So its been 4 nights and 3 naps now that he has sucessfully gone down without a peep. I love my life right now!

The Countdown

I am freaking out a little bit with the thought that my baby could realistically come any time now. I went overdue with Dallin, but I know so many people who have gone into labor 2-3 weeks early. That is NEXT WEEK. Kind of a reality check when put into that perspective. Needless to say, I am sooooo excited for her arrival and am actually feeling ALMOST ready. My body this week has completely stopped functioning (12 hour shifts at work are really a struggle). I cant wait to be able to sleep on my back or stomach... or sleep at all for that matter. My pelvis feels like a bowling ball is sitting right inside of it (basically there is!!). Physically I am so ready, I go to the doctor on Wednesday where she will check my cervix to see if I have dilated. I would be shocked if I hadn't because I have contractions ALL DAY LONG. We will schedule my induction for 39 weeks on Wednesday, which will make everyting even a bit more real. I am hoping for Thursday June 11. I will let everyone know if that ends up being the date. Of course I am secretly hoping that I will go into labor on my own, just for the whole experience. We shall see. Emotionally I am still a bit unsure of this new journey I am about to embark on is going to change our lives. I am scared because I am going to be alone for the first 13 or so weeks with Andy working full time and then having night classes M-TH. Its all going to work out and be fine, I just am nervous. I hope Dallin isnt a terror and even more so I hope Claire isnt!!!! Overall this pregnancy has gone by incredibly fast, even with my due date getting set back a whole month. I really do love being pregnant, it is an amazing thing women are blessed to experience. I am super excited for the delivery, mainly for that moment when the doctor will lay her on my chest and I get to see her for the firs time. I go through that moment in my mind a million times a day. (Lets just hope I acutally have a good experience and hopefully no C-Section). Less than 3 weeks BABY.

My Boys

I cant say much about this picture except aren't they freaking adorable? I love my boys, and in honor of Mother's day I just wanted to express how much I love being a wife and mommy. Having Dallin has been the most amazing accomplishment/challenge/reward/gift that I could ever imagine. I cannot wait for Miss Claire to arrive in a few weeks so I can experience new joy and new challenges.

Graduation

Andy walked at the University of Utah, despite not being quite done with classes. He has a few more classes to take this summer, but since they dont offer commencement after summer semester, they allow those graduating to walk early. It was a really nice day and a quick and easy ceremony. After we all went to lunch for some yummy Olive Garden to celebrate!

My cute hubby in his cap and gown. I am so proud of Andy for reaching this point in his life. He has been such a great example and I am glad that he accomplished his goal.

Here is Andy with his brothers.

Dont you just love the fattness in this picture. Oh well, I guess that's what you get being 9 months prego! I figured we needed a picture of us together for a keepsake, despite the fact I hate my picture being taken right now.

Some randomness....

I feel like I have been totally slacking in the blogging world. I think I have so much else on my mind, I forget to update sometimes. Well I am now just about 32 weeks prego (by the way I cant believe I am already this far). I feel pretty good, but have been really having a lot of pelvic pain. It is hard for me to get around and working 12 hour shifts are sure posing some problems. I have also sufferred from a few good ankle swelling bouts. Some days are fine, and others they are sooo HUGE its disgusting. I have talked with my Doctor and she is planning on inducing me at 39 weeks because of the nature of my last delivery (for those who dont know I wont go into much detail... let me just say Dallin had a huge head, I had a small pelvis and there was a vaccuum involved and a huge man pressing downward on my belly trying to get him out. Not fun.) I really wanted to go into labor on my own, and am hoping I still do. If not, I understand the concern for wanting to an induction so that works too. Especially since Andy will be in school, it would be nice to be able to plan a day that works best for him. We are thinking something like June 12th. We shall see! Speaking of Andy's school, he is winding down this last semester and getting ready for his FINAL SEMESTER before he graduates. I cant believe the time has finally come for him to graduate. I am so proud of him, and am excited for him to have a somewhat normal life!!! I am just getting started on the nursery for Claire. We had to wait to clean out the office from Andy's old job, and now I am just taping walls off getting ready to paint. It will be a bit more real when I walk into the most adorable pink and brown shabby shic room. I cant wait to be done and I will post lots of pictures. Not much else is going on in the Sylvia world. Dallin is so excited to be a big brother. He loves touching my belly and talking to Claire. We will see if the excitement stays when she actually comes home with us!!! Im not sure if he understands that aspect of it all yet! Well off to go tape!

Happy 27th B-day Andy!

Thursday was Andy's Birthday but I worked and he has class that night. So the big day wasnt full of much fun. However, I had something up my sleeve for him, and I was so excited to surprise him on Saturday. I arranged for my mom to watch Dallin and we headed out without Andy having a clue what was going on. We headed up the street to Tsunami, which is an awesome sushi restaraunt. I am not a sushi fan, but he is and hadnt been forever. It was way yummy and it was nice to enjoy a dinner without having to entertain a 2 year old. After dinner we ran home for a second, and while Andy ran in the house I slipped his Jazz Jacket on the seat. When he came out he realized the next part of the plan. We headed down town to the Jazz game where we enjoyed an AMAZING game. We had been ahead at one point by 20 points, but with 2 minutes left we found ourselves down by 7. Well basically we sunk some amazing shots and ended up tieing the game sending it into overtime. We eventually won so that made it even more sweet! We played the Suns so I got to see Shaq in person. He is huge, and because we were on row 13 I got an awesome picture of him and Boozer. Sunday we celebrated his birthday with his family and yummy German Chocolate cake. Tonight we are headed to my parent's house for more fun and food! I just wanted to say how much I love my hubby. I am so proud of him, he has been working so hard with school, and 2 jobs. I cant wait for him to graduate this summer so he can have some long awaited free time! I love you babe.

Candid Moments

For most of us who blog, it seems that the blog is more about our kids, and less about us. I had some random pictures I wanted to share that really captures Dallin's personality. Enjoy

Here is Dallin and his cute cousin Lyla. They are showing off the gold coins that Grammy hid for them to find on St. Patricks day.

I love this picture. Dallin decided to climb into one of his toy bins and lay on his blanket.

This was Dallin at the zoo. I caught just the perfect angle for this shot!

Dallin and his new cousin, Grey. He is so cute with him and always gives loves and wants to hold him.

Baby Shower

I am so lucky to have such amazing girlfriends at work who offered to throw me a baby shower! There is another girl at work who is just about three weeks ahead of me, so we had a combined shower for both of us. It is always so fun to hang out with my work friends outside of work, so it was a great night for everyone. Baby Claire sure made out with tons of new presents and I had such a good time visiting. Thank you to everyone who helped and for all the wonderful baby things!

Baby Talk

I feel like my pregnancy has FLOWN by. Its hard to believe that in less than 3 months our sweet baby girl will be here. I have been thinking about what this all means for our family, and the biggest adjustment I think I will have to make is finding a balance between Dallin and Claire. It kind of makes me sad to think that Dallin wont be my only sidekick anymore. I am so grateful we have family near by who will still want to spend 1 on 1 time with him. My mom even told me that while I was on maternity leave she would still watch Dallin on her one day! How nice is she? By the way, let me just say I have the best mom ever. She has really been the best "nana" and boy does she spoil my kids. Dallin always had a closet full of clothes and his own nursery which now has become his "big boy" vintage airplane and car room. And now, the extra closet is already jam packed full of baby girl things. I think she has a bit too much fun shopping (but she sure knows where to shop and gets the best deals ever). She also has helped me pick out fun decorations for Claire's room, and has even paid for lots of the stuff. How sweet is that? Love you mom!!! Anyway, I have been feeling pretty good overall. My pelvis has really started bothering me, it makes it hard to move around. I have heartburn all the time (hopefully this indicates lots of cute red hair). I am super excited for the ski season to be over so I can clear out Andy's office and start decorating the cute shabby chic room that I have all planned out in my mind. I was thinking today, what if the baby comes out a boy? I am sure every parent has this thought, but seriously, I would die! I will post some pictures of the finished product once we get started here in the next few weeks.

Sweet Gracie

Most of you know that I work up at Primary Children's Medical Center. I am an xray tech, and for those who dont realize, my job entails way more than just taking pictures of broken bones. I truly love working there, and feel like I am a better person and especially mom because of the different things I face at work each day. There is a blog that many people read about a sweet little girl named Gracie. She was born with a heart defect called HLHS. Now I probably saw Gracie countless times up in the PICU taking xrays, as do I see many kids daily. It is interesting how my job works. I see sick kids every day, I know their names, and recognize them and their families, but I never really get to see more than that. When I came across Gracies blog the other day, I couldnt help but cry. I feel like I know her, and to see the personal side to the story (not just the medical side) made such an impact on me. Usually I go home from work not thinking too much about my patients because I dont get to follow their story. Gracie helped soften my heart and made me realize that each one of these kids that I help each day is someone's daughter/son/siter/brother. They are real people facing real challenges. Working in the medical field is tricky. You really have to find a balance between work and home life. For me, I dont usually get too affected by most of my patients, but Gracie sure hit hard. For those who dont know, sweet little Gracie passed away last week after a failed heart transplant. She was 11 months old. Click here for a link to her blog to hear her amazing story.

The newest purchase

Okay, so I am so excited that I finally found a stroller that I LOVE! Today I bought this awesome Graco Quattro Duo stroller. I have battled with this decision for a while now, and have done tons of research and asked total strangers tons of questions about their strollers. I thought for sure I had decided what kind of stroller I wanted, considering Dallin would be almost 3 when the baby came. The Sit-N-Stand stroller seemed to be the most logical because it allows the older child to have more freedom being able to sit or stand in the back, while the infant was in the front. The more I thought about it though, the more I was worried that Dallin would have too much freedom. He is totally the "run away" kind of child and I feared that he would just take off while I was busy doing something with the baby, or paying at the store etc. I decided I wanted a stroller where he could still be strapped in if necessary, but still have some freedom. Also, for long days at the zoo and other outings, I wanted him to be able to rest or even sleep. Well to make a long story short, I found this stroller which seemed to be the perfect blend of the two. The front allows the older child to easily get in and out, but still has straps, has the recline feature and even cup holders! I was thrilled when I found this stroller, but not thrilled on the $250 price tag. Seriously? I was stumped, but luckily I found an awesome website which had this stroller on sale for $150. That is $100 dollars off yo! I could not believe it, and to make things even that much sweeter, my cute mom and dad ended up buying it as a gift for us. What a great end to my stroller saga.

25 random things about Dallin

I thought I would document 25 random things about Dallin. I urge anyone to do it, it was a lot of fun.

1. He LOVES his "night night" and binkie
2. He still wakes up atleast once a night
3. His favorite food is sweet and sour chicken.
4. He potty trained in 1 day
5. He will sleep pretty much in any bed
6. He has an incredible memory. It just fascinates me.
7. He is obsessed with his Granddad (Andy's Dad). He is his most favorite person ever.
8. He has had all of his teeth since he was 1
9. He loves learning about new people, and places. He asks questions to everyone we meet and everywhere we go.
10. He plays better with older kids than younger ones
11. He was never a cuddly baby, but now he loves to lay on us when he is sleepy. It is my favorite thing.
12. He would be outside every second of every day if I let him
13. He is starting to "pretend" and I love his little imagination
14. He has to wear "comfy pants" for his nap and loves picking out his own PJ's at night
15. His favorite movies are: The Wizard of Oz, Monsters Inc., Kung Fu Panda, Ratatouille, Cars, and Mary Poppins.
16. He loves to help me clean the house, and is great at switching laundry
17. He hates to play by himself... therefore I hardly get anything done during the day.
18. He loves taking showers
19. He never sits still. I dont know how one kid could possibly have so much energy
20. He is very affectionate, always giving hugs and kisses... even to strangers
21. He is quite a picky eater, but LOVES breakfast. Sometimes he will eat two breakfasts.. one right when he wakes up, and another around 9:00.
22. He says the most hilarious things. Some of our favorite sayings are from him.
23. He is going to be a great big brother, and already loves baby Claire so much.
24. He cannot wait to go to school. In fact, he talks about "turning 3" every day and how excited he is because he gets to go to preschool.
25. He is just a delight to have as a son, and I cant imagine life without my little man. Love you Dal.

Kids.....

Lately after reading some of my friends blogs I have been pondering something that Andy and I often disagree on... the number of kids we want. Before we were married, or I should say before we had Dallin we both said we wanted 4 kids. I come from a small family and thought it would be so fun for my kids to have lots of siblings. After we had Dallin, Andy was sure that he only wanted one more. I disagreed, saying mainly that I could not know for sure that I was finished until after our second was born. Well like I said before, I have been reading some blogs seeing people doing all of these really fun things... skiing, going on vacations, hiking, etc etc etc. Basically doing all of the things I cant do because I am either pregnant or our kids are too young to do. The more I think about it, the more I just want two kids. Dont get me wrong, I am not saying this for selfish reasons only. Its not like I am dying to get back on the slopes or be "kid free" its just that I want to enjoy these kinds of things with my kids, not without them. That is the main reason we decided to have kids early. I seriously want to be an active family, camping, hiking, traveling, sports, basically anything fun and adventerous. Sometimes I feel like having more than two kids would limit our options basically because everything these days is so expensive. I had only one sister growing up, and because it was just the four of us we were very lucky to have 100% of our parents attention all the time. They came to every single one of our soccer games, out of town tournaments, and aside from all that, we went on one major vacation a year with my parents. How fun! I know we were lucky, and I just hope that I can share these wonderful times with my babies! Of course, I would love a house full of kids, especially when I am old. Those of you who have lots, or want lots that is awesome, and I commend you for doing so. I just know that for us, smaller is better! I guess after Claire is born I will re assess the situation, cuz you never know, there may be more in the cards for us!

My big boy

I just wanted to take a minute and write about my cute litte guy. Lately, Dallin has been such a character and I feel like he is all grown up! He potty trained so well, which I am completely grateful for. Now I just need to work on taking away his binkie, which I am terrified for. Any suggestions are apprecitated. I just wanted to write about some funny things he has been doing lately. I wish I could remember everything, but here are a few examples. He will pull out a pretend phone and say either, "whats up man" or "Canyon Sports this is Dallin" (like his daddy does.) Then he continues to have pretty long conversations with whoever he is talking to. So funny. He also has such an amazing memory. He is totally aware of his surroundings and if we are driving he might say, "I want to go to the bagel store" as we are driving past Einsteins, or "lets go get rice and chicken" when he see's a Panda Express. He even knows what roads we are on, and where Target, Old Navy and the Bookstore are. His other favorite thing to do is get dressed up in whatever he can find, and then "go to work" or "go to school." This kid never seizes to amaze me. I just wanted to post a few cute pics we have taken of him lately, so enjoy.