Webcam Shenanigans

First, the world debut of Reece and mom singing "You Are My Sunshine."




And now a bit of "Little Boy Blue." You don't have to think it's cute. This is all for me.

25 weeks!!!

For some reason I feel like being 25 weeks pregnant is significant. I mean, I still have 15 weeks left (hopefully...or hopefully not? Hard to tell). At this point nobody is wondering whether or not I'm pregnant, but I still feel pretty good. Not too huge to be uncomfortable (but getting there), still able to sleep most of the night (though the insomnia is definitely increasing), and maintaining a pretty healthy level of energy to play with my super active toddler. We'll see how quickly that energy depletes.

Here are some videos for all you curious folk out there. Yes, I stick out much more than I did with Reece (which I didn't think was possible), but don't forget that I still have 15 glorious weeks with which to grow this little doll. So I promise the videos and pictures will get much more shocking as the weeks progress. Yipee.







And we can't have a post without some cute thing about Reece, so here is his latest: He has a crazy-funny imagination. Yesterday he wanted to climb on the table and I wouldn't let him so he tried to convince me that he was a cat (because it's apparently okay for cats to climb on the table). I'm talking meowing, crawling around, licking stuff, the works. He found out that cats don't get to climb on the table, either. He also likes to invent games. This game I dedicate to my dear friend Laurel, with whom I created several couch games our freshman year at BYU. We even had Couch Olympics, they were so elaborate. Apparently couch games are genetic. Reece's favorite is called "Really Hurt," in which he and his dad pretend-fall off his little couch then exclaim, "Ow! Really hurt!" Poor kid has had so much head trauma already in his life. At least he tries to make the best of it.

Two Wild and Crazy Guys

Sometimes it's overwhelming being surrounded by such charming, sophisticated, beautiful men. I thought you should all share a little in my constant joy:

Last night Reece and I built a fort and played our harmonicas. He's actually a pretty good harmonica player, able to play single notes and such. This is his new camera face. He even says "cheese!"

He normally hates to wear hats, but I guess he was feeling like a thug (does the pink detract from the "thug" appearance?).


Reece got new superman pajamas and even though he has no idea who Superman is, he has taken to flying around the house (with dad's help...disappointing, I know) and flexing his muscles. I mean more often than normal.


I just love his face.
We've had unnaturally good weather this January, so we took a hike in Forest Park, near Pittock Mansion. Every trail in Forest Park looks exactly like this (about 5 minutes drive from our house).

Now my other handsome guy. I shrunk his wool sweater, but I think it looks better than ever.

Did you forget this face? The widow's peak is not on purpose. He just gets tired of me cutting his hair, and that part always comes last. It adds a little shape to his huge, round head, I guess.


This is not as obscene as you think, I promise. Reece declared himself "Bubble Man," though he got a bit of help from his dad.

Don't you love them?

22 Week Fiesta!

We had this great idea to have a Mexican fiesta. We were going to invite friends and have all this amazing food and music and maybe even watch Three Amigos. What actually happened was we had no friends over, but I made honey lime enchiladas (amazing, by the way...got the recipe from my friend Jenny's blog), we wore sombreros for about 30 seconds, and we watched one youtube video of a mariachi band. That counts, right?




Happy 22 weeks, everybody!

Cape Disappointment

We spent the weekend trying to be cool, and thus "camping" on the Oregon Coast. It happened to coincide with the worst thunderstorms of the season, but also with a rare three-day weekend, so off we went. We went KOA camping, which turned out to be awesome, as we got our second night free. We had an indoor pool and warm showers, WiFi in our cabin (which had electricity and heat), not to mention the raccoons living under our cabin. I think it may have changed the way we camp forever.Above is one of our only pictures with somebody in it. There is a shipwreck in the background, dating back to 1906 or so. The rain was too heavy to take out our camera most of the time, and often too heavy to get me out of the car either.

We did a little Lewis & Clark tour, visiting Fort Stevens State Park, Fort Clatsop, Astoria, and Cape Disappointment (which Paul insists that he "did wrong," because we weren't disappointed at all). We happened to catch a special event at Fort Clatsop called "Wintering," in which we got to travel back in time and talk to members of the Lewis & Clark expedition in the (recreated) fort where they spent their winter in the Northwest.

Paul and Reece loved it. Paul had recently watched a documentary, so he picked the brains of the actors, who were actually quite savvy in their history. Reece got to trade some of his snacks for beads and buttons, which he carried around all day.

Recreated Fort Clatsop.

One of the actors.


Across the Columbia River and at the southwest-most tip of Washington.


On the way home we had our one last adventure, which was finding out that the road was flooded and having to backtrack and add an extra hour on to our drive home. Luckily Oregon is beautiful, even with all the rain.

So all in all we had a good time and may even try "being cool" again. We want to get in as many adventures as we can before little Skittles is born.

Goonies house (it says that on the map). We had a nice Goonie-filled tour of Astoria.

Ooh, Baby Baby!

Anybody who reads this blog already knows, but let's celebrate anyway: we're having a GIRL!!!

We had the 20 week ultrasound on Monday, after begging the doctor to let us find out before Christmas, only to be rejected. Had we found out, it surely would have increased the amount of pink in our suitcases.

We are super excited to welcome this little girl into our family. Reece has already taken to feeling my belly, including kissing and cuddling with it. Now we can start teaching him how to take care of a little sister. He is already so caring and loving and gentle that I'm sure he'll be an amazing big brother.

We saw some great profile shots during the ultrasound but we didn't get any super good pictures to take home. Here, at least, is proof she has a head:


Paul claims that when we got our first look of her, he knew it was a girl because she looked "more feminine." I think that just means that her head isn't quite as huge as Reece's head was. Thank goodness!

Sideways shot, but check out those guns on that arm! I don't think she'll have any trouble defending herself against her big brother.

And of course, her perfect little foot. She hasn't reached my ribs yet, so I still love this foot.

We're super excited and can't wait to meet our new little one. We're taking name suggestions, and may even consider naming her after a favorite aunt/uncle/friend, for the right price. Let the bidding begin!

Christmas Vacation

We spent the last two weeks in Utah and Colorado partying with family. We had a blast playing with family and enjoying plenty of snow. Grandma Nancy picked us up from the airport and we spent the day playing at her house. Reece immediately recognized snow, though the only time he's ever seen snow was in Switzerland this summer. They got nearly two feet of snow in 24 hours while we were in Sanpete, and another nice snowstorm while we were visiting Adam and Kerrie's family in Colorado. So Reece got plenty of chances to don his awesome boots and his "pirate" gloves (they have skulls and crossbones...he picked them out).

Reece LOVED Grandma Nancy's house. He even woke up super early so he could play with her train (mom took a nap on the floor next to the train).


This next picture is not indicative at all of Reece's time at Grandma Nancy's. He LOVED his grandma and had a blast at her house. But what's Christmas-time without a few tears?


We then headed down to Sanpete to spend some time with the Carr family. Reece had so many uncles around, he didn't know what to do. He eventually just started calling all adult males "Uncle," but did not hesitate to spend any and all of his time cajoling them into playing with him. Mama Wendy loved having four willing babysitters around. Dave and Teresa's family stopped by for a day on their way to Idaho and Reece got to see his other favorite person, Eva. In fact, while posting this blog Reece kept asking for "More Eva."




Reece also learned very quickly that he loves his Grandpa Mel. He took to calling him just "Mel," and never hesitated to cuddle up with "Mel" to get some cookies and some cartoons.


We got to spend some time painting Grandma and Grandpa Allred's new apartment in Wales and show off Reece's love of horsey rides to Great-Grandpa Allred. One of Reece's favorite games to play with dad is "pick the color of horse" and daddy Paul does a great job of making sure the black horse bounces the highest and eventually bucks you off (just like Grandpa's horses).


Now on to our Christmas Eve extravaganza. Paul and I made a game we called "Carranium," which is basically a rip off of the Cranium game, but involving activities catered to the Carr family Christmas traditions and history. Here's dad acting out a Christmas memory. It didn't take long for everyone to guess:



Our teams also took turns acting out the Nativity. Teams got points depending on how many elements of the Nativity they included in their 60 second presentation. Strangely enough, both teams included a caganer. They got points, but they were reluctant points.


Here's one of the "penalties" each team got if they landed on a yellow square. They don't seem to be suffering too much.




Our gingerbread house competition was spirited, though Grandma Terri's team kind of ran away with it.








Another of the competitions, each team wrote an original Christmas song, getting points for creativity, rhyming, and number of team participants. The teams tied on this one.






I think we'll probably try this game again. We had a blast. Other highlights included: watching Jim push Bryce down the hill (and ripping his pants in the process), Matthew and Jason both putting their own faces in the snow, Dena getting sent to stand under the "Mistletoe of Shame" (Reece kissed her out), and dad's penalty of running three times around Jim (the "ginger"bread penalty). Thanks to everybody for being such good sports and putting up with our crazy games.

Moving on, Reece has trouble differentiating between "pee" and "poo." Possibly too much information, but makes for some funny situations.




Rounding out the vacation, we got to spend a night with Great-Grandma Carr:


And I promise we spent some time in Colorado with Adam and Kerrie's family, but we hardly took any pictures. Here's a bit of proof:

Reece keeps asking for his "cousin's house," or for his "uncles." We had so much fun and loved seeing so many people we love. That's the best part of Christmas (that, and the presents), and I'm so grateful that I have such amazing family. We really are incredibly blessed. I would wax more prolific, but this is taking forever and Reece is threatening to eat an entire box of chocolates. Merry Christmas for the last time, and Happy New Year to everyone!