A General Update

The move went well and we are now pretty settled into my parents' house. We had lots of help from our old ward and our new one, so the entire thing was over and done with by 12:30 Saturday afternoon. Although this is our fifth move since we've been married, this is the first with a baby and all that goes along with a little one. We just have a lot of stuff, so we've decided that the next time we move, we're hiring professionals! (Much to the relief our our families, I'm sure).

The pre-move packing job. Not bad for three women and a toddler!

In Everett news, he just turned 20 months last week. He is pretty funny most of the time, but totally entrenched in "The Terrible Twos". He can go from super happy and smiling to on the floor throwing a tantrum in literally two seconds. According to all my books, he's "asserting his independence" and "testing boundaries". Great, just great!He's really enjoying this stay at the Casa de Kilgore for several reasons.

1) He LOVES to play with the family dog, Bailey. I'm pretty sure Bailey doesn't return Everett's affections, but Everett can chase that poor dog around for hours, squealing the entire time.

2) He LOVES to play outside. My parents have a good-sized front and back yard and Everett has quickly learned the word, "outside". I think he'd stay out there all day, except that his other true love is inside.

3) Everett has now moved on (or backwards, however you want to look at it) to his new favorite movie, "Shrek". He usually watches it, in small spurts, a couple of times a day. He particularly enjoys simply standing in front of the TV, leaving his Elmo chair quite alone.

4) There's simply so much more for him to mess up. Things neither I, nor my parents, would have ever thought he'd touch, he touches. He loves going up and down the stairs and running all over the downstairs. I'm glad he has more room to burn off some of his energy.

In Will news, he is working hard! He has reached some new highs professionally and things are starting to fall into place. I know I've said this before on here, but he really loves what he does. And I get the added benefit of feeling smarter about all things financial. One of the perks of this job is that we get to take a little overnighter at the end of August. Of course, I'll be about 37 weeks pregnant by then, so I hope Juliana doesn't come early and spoil my day at the spa!

This is his headshot he had taken for work. Thanks to Eric and Janet for your help!

As for me, I'm now 30 weeks pregnant. I had an appointment last week where I found out that 1) I don't have gestational diabetes and 2) My iron is low. Both of which came as absolutely no surprise. When I was pregnant with Everett the nurse called me, concerned about how low my iron count was. "I can't believe you can even get out of bed in the morning, " was her comment. As a remedy, they had me add two slow-release iron pills to my daily routine of one prenatal pill. For a normal person, I'm sure that would've made their iron count increase, but not me. I seriously wonder if I'm iron immune or something ridiculous. So, here I am, one pregnancy and almost two years later, back on the same "iron building" routine. I'll let you know if it's more successful the second time around.

To those of you who have seen me pregnant, one thing is clear: I'm not a tiny pregnant woman. Tiny is not a word to describe me period, least of all while pregnant. And so it should come as no surprise to me that words like "huge", "pop", and "enormous" have been used to describe my current condition. I understand people think they're being cute/funny, but folks, I still have 10 weeks to go. And no, telling me, "You know, I was always huge with my babies too", is not a compliment, nor does it make me feel one iota better. I don't think I'll ever understand other people's propensity to remark about weight and size to pregnant women. At a time when hormones are raging and sensitivity is at an all-time high, comments about weight and "how many do you have in there?" and "you're never going to make it to September" somehow seem slightly inappropriate. Anyone else agree?Me, in all my 30-week hugeness. Yes, I know I'm huge and no I really haven't gained that much weight (18 pounds). Keep in mind Everett was over 9 pounds and 21 inches long. My theory is he really stretched out the living space in there and that Juliana is reaping all the spatial benefits. My other theory is Juliana's going to be one big gal!

Also on the topic of pregnancy (wow, I'm really on a roll today), my skin does some wild and crazy things when I'm pregnant. No, I do not get the "pregnant glow". Mine is more of what you could call the "pregnant facial explosion". I get the worst case of acne while pregnant. It really stinks and according to Will, it's "not that bad". But of course, it seems worse to me, since I have to look at myself in the mirror. Taking Heidi's advice, I tried the no-name brand of Pro-Active.I got it at Target and have used it for about three or four months now. While it helped initally, it dried out my face in certain places and I still had acne problems. So this past weekend, I picked up something new. Neutrogena's Advance Solutions Complete Acne Therapy System. I'll keep you posted on how it's working for me. Has anyone else tried it?

And lastly, I've been on a reading kick lately and since everyone and their mom has raved about "Twilight" and since I have a lovely, kind, dear, wonderful friend who sent me a copy, I took to reading it. While I can easily admit that it's a good read and that Meyer really draws you in, I wasn't the biggest fan. That being said, I immediately checked out "New Moon" from the local library and read it just as quickly as "Twilight", but still, wasn't a huge fan. I think it's the whole vampire thing (not really my style) or maybe the fact that Bella is only 17/18 and seems too young to me to really know true love, love-worth-dying-for kind of love. I don't know. Just curious as to what you guys like or dislike about the series.

Lessons Learned From Harry Potter

Well, to be more accurate, lessons learned from going to the 11:59 pm viewing of Harry Potter on the opening day:

1) We're not as young as we once were. A midnight showing and going to bed at 3 am make for a very tired Mom and Dad.



2) Some Harry Potter fans are freaks. We saw folks in full out Gryffindor Quidditch costumes, lots of wizard hats, a gal with a "Weasley is our King" t-shirt and loads of girls in the Hogwarts' school uniforms, minus the capes.



3) Harry Potter really does appeal to everyone. We saw every race and just about every age of people there. Lots and lots of adults. Some alone, some with kids.


The review? AWESOME! We really loved it. Definitely go and see it - you will not be disappointed!!

*And many thanks to Will who helped me keep my "Opening Day/Night Viewing of Harry Potter movies" streak alive and well. I was content to see it sometime soon, but he insisted we keep the streak going.

Ch-ch-changes

I do realize that by putting two or three weeks between posts that I'm losing a vast majority of my blog readers (not that I'm entirely sure I had that many to begin with!). My excuse? We've simply had a lot going on in our household during the past couple of weeks. Our biggest piece of news is that we're moving!! It's not a permanent move, but we're excited nonetheless. We're actually moving in with my parents until we figure out where we want to live next. Seeing as how we pretty much live in the ghetto now, and our lease is up, Will preferred for his wife, son and daughter to live in a place with less of a chance of the following:

* A break-in

* A shooting

* A death (Seriously, they found a dead guy about a mile from our apartment)

* General "shady" people wandering about at all hours of the day and night

My parents are gracious enough to let us stay with them, which is a huge blessing and means we don't have to sign another lease here. So now, we're in the throws of packing and getting ready to move. With Will working full-time now and sometimes into the evenings (It's after 7 and he's not home yet), this move has fallen basically to me, the 27-week pregnant woman. And I, of course, enlisted the help of my mom and Paula (the 30-week pregnant woman). Needless to say, we're an amazing team. We take breaks often and there's lots of grunting when one of us has done too much bending over. Plus, add in the Everett factor and I hope I've painted a pretty accurate picture for you. My goal is for us to be completely packed by Friday morning, with moving day being Saturday. Here's a look at our progress/diaster area (whichever way you want to look at it):

Everett finding a creative use for the as-yet-unused boxes.

Um, yep these two photos should give you a pretty darn accurate look at the mess we're dealing with. Honestly though, we made a lot of progress today and I'm hoping tomorrow is even better.

And for a bit of fun, check out the quiz below. I have to give Heidi props for this one, since she put it on her blog first. For all of you Jane Austen fans out there, definitely give it a whirl!

Weee!!!

On our trip to Texas last week, we got to visit Ty in San Antonio. After lunch we walked around the outdoor mall, La Cantera. In the middle of the mall was this great playground that Everett simply LOVED. Check out that grin:

He could not get enough of this slide and, much to my surprise, he enjoyed sliding the traditional way, as well as head first, on his belly.

It was a good trip, even considering the 18-hour car ride both ways. We saw Grandma, who will turn 89 this November, as well as the other big sites of Eldorado (ie, the water tower, the snow cone lady, the library, the gas station, the cemetary AND the big FLDS compound that Warren Jeffs' followers have set up just outside of town. Exciting times, I tell ya!).

In other Giddens family news, Will is really enjoying his job at MassMutual. He's as excited as can be and is super busy following leads and drumming up business. It's actually pretty inspiring to see him so satisfied by his career choice. Of my very brief stint in the working world, I was never half as content and excited about my job as Will is about being a financial professional.

I'm doing great too. I'm 25 weeks pregnant and I feel like September 24th will be here in the blink of an eye. We've officially decided to name our little gal Juliana Brooks (pronounced AWNA, not ANNA). Brooks is actually a family name on my paternal side and on Will's materal side, so we feel good about knocking out just about every limb of the family tree with her name.

And the little guy is too cute. He has so much personality and although he doesn't actually say much (at least not much that's decipherable), he definitely communicates. His latest loves are the movie "Shrek 2" and spaghetti. He's also a sucker for peppermint candies and my old baby blanket. Go figure.

Who Sleeps Like This?

Does this look uncomfortable or what? And for whom do you suppose he's "posing"?

Home Improvement Projects

I began 2007 with a long list of "crafty-type" goals. And although it's already May and I haven't made much of a dent in my list, I am really excited that I can cross off another item. I think vinyl-lettering is the neatest thing! I did a couple of projects in February using 8x10 tiles, but this time I wanted to use wooden boards. Many thanks to Will who sawed one very long piece of wood into manageable pieces and then even routed the edges for me! I primed and painted the board and here's the result:

Gold lettering with black overlay.

In case it's difficult to see, the overlay reads "Families are forever"

Also, a very nice family in our ward gave us their old, antique dining room table. They're a family of eight, so this table includes two leaves (not pictured) to make it even longer. Will and I (mostly Will) sanded the table down (it had been through six kids), re-stained it and then put on a sealant/gloss. It took us a couple of days, but we are so proud of our "new-to-us" table! Plus, now we have a killer game night table! Bring on four couples and one crazy game of "Settlers of Catan" please! Now if only we could find some chairs that match...

And the Verdict is...

We had our 20 week doctor's appointment today. You know, THE super, duper, muy importante appointment when you can find out the sex of the little one. Everything looked great and I was pretty proud of myself since I recognized what it was before being told. That's right folks...

We are just beyond thrilled and so glad that she looks healthy. She was a feisty little thing, literally doing somersaults in there. My only concern is that she's measuring a bit big (already 15 ounces! Yeah, that's a tad on the big side. Normally at this time they should measure about 10 ounces). I had a C-section with Everett and if this gal gets to be too big, they might make me have another one. Yikes!

So, here we go! We're going to have one of each and it's going to be great! I already have visions of all the pink, red, yellow, purple frilly things we can put on our little gal. Plus the bows and ribbons, cute shoes and of course, pierced ears (it's a Latin thing). I would love to hear some name suggestions though. We think we've got one, but I'm curious to see if one of you mentions something else we like. And no worries, I'll definitely let you know what we've decided as soon as we know (Will and I aren't very good about keeping secrets)!

Yea for little girls!

For Hire: One Strawberry Picker

Skills include:

1) Many muscles to lift numerous buckets

2) Agility to navigate even the peskiest of bumpy paths

3) Discerning tastebuds to discard any strawberries that aren't up to snuff

Only request after a hard day's work?

Plenty of time for an afternoon nap

*For more info, contact Everett's mom

Playing With the Men

We had a Kilgore family dinner last week since Ty was in town and we were all here at the same time. Good food and fun company meant Everett had plenty of willing playmates for the afternoon.

Everett loves for Will to toss him up in the air. And if Will's not fast enough? Well, Everett has his own way of communicating.

This is Will's "Everett" face

Uncle Logan was kind enough to wheel Everett around in the wheelbarrow. Everett LOVES to ride in the wheelbarrow! He thinks it is the bee's knees.
Uncle Logan showing E some love.

The whole family, grinning for the camera.

(Minus Everett and my mom, whose eyes are closed)

One Little Monkey Jumpin' on the Bed

Whenever I change Everett's mattress, I put it on the floor. His face LIGHTS up and he gets so excited, as evidenced below:


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Playing Catch-Up and an Anniversary

Sometimes I'm really good at taking pictures of Everett and updating this blog. And other times...well, let's just say I leave something to be desired. But the lack of updating doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We celebrated Easter and have been busy getting Everett outside to play almost every day. He LOVES to be outside and I've noticed that the more time we spend outside, the lighter his hair is getting. Yea!! As a gal who's hair stays the same color no matter how much sun I get or how much swimming I do, having a child who's hair is blond in the sunlight AND getting lighter is such a treat!

In typical boy fashion, Everett loves dirt. He gets a kick out of grabbing handfuls and then throwing them down. Of course, no romp in the dirt would be complete for him without getting all over his clothing and in his hair. Naturally.


He also LOVES to chase my parent's dog, Bailey. Bailey is a good sport because if I were him, I'd go running in the opposite direction whenever I saw Everett approaching.

Another reason I haven't been as diligent in taking pictures of the little man is because he's on this "I'm not going to smile for the camera" kick. Somehow he's decided that the furrowed brow look is in. Am I missing something here?

He's become the King of Crusty Looks!

This is the closest we've gotten to catching him smiling, but you can see he's about two seconds away from giving us "the look".

Everett is growing in to his own personality for sure. Among some of his favorite things to do are the following:

Turn the power button of the printer/copier on and off. On and off. On and off.

Stand on the kitchen counter and mess with the bread box. I'm baffled sometimes at his ability to be so easily entertained.

Whew - I think I'm caught up on all things Everett...

And now on to an anniversary celebration. April 19th is a special day in the Giddens household. Today marks FOUR years since Will's life-changing accident. It was four years ago that he fell 40 feet rock climbing in Big Cottonwood Canyon in SLC. That fall has affected his life in just about every way possible. Due to that accident he was in the hospital for six weeks, he moved back to Atlanta, we met, dated and married, he transferred back here for school, he's had to learn how to walk all over again, the list goes on and on.

Will is such an amazing example to me of one who has faith in the Lord and an incredible "can-do" attitude, despite how much physical ability has been taken from him and the fact that he lives in constant pain. I have been so blessed to have him in my life and I'm grateful that our Heavenly Father saw fit to spare his life so that he could be a blessing to so many. Will is an amazing husband and incredible father and has a patience and compassion that have developed a hundred fold as a result of his accident. He is a pillar of strength - all kinds. Plus, he has a great sense of humor that has helped us both to deal with the trials we've been given.

Thank you Will for all you are and all you do for our family. We love you!!

Comfortable TV Viewing?

Despite all of my efforts to the contrary, Everett has decided that his favorite way to watch "Sesame Street" and "Clifford, the Big, Red, Dog" are as follows: Diaper (and pants) pulled down, with the occasional scratch, for good measure.