Another angel in heaven

In the early hours of March 2nd, Justin's dad left us for a better place. Not everyone knows but for pretty much our entire relationship, Justin and I have stayed with his dad to help care for him because of his medical problems. Bella has never lived in this house without him. While his medical problems didn't make it easy for him to play with her, he always did his best to give her attention and she already misses him so much!  I'll miss "Papa Mike" call her "peaches".. I always thought it was the sweetest (of his many) nicknames.

I can't even tell you how proud I am of Justin. He has never had it easy with two sick parents and now he has lost both of them before hitting 30. He is an only child so the responsibility has always fell on his shoulders to make sure that they were taken care of. Did living with his dad make our marriage rocky at times? Heck yes it did. I won't pretend that it's always been easy for Justin's time to be divided between taking care of his family (and our business) and making sure that his dad was taken care of too. But he can go on with the rest of his life knowing that he kept his dad out of a nursing home and did his best to help him everyday. I love him more because of it and I know that his dad appreciated him and was so proud of the man that he has become.

The services were Tuesday, March 6th. Everything was planned and arranged by Justin. I supported his decisions and gave him my opinions but he did everything to what he thought his dad would have wanted and according to his dad's final wishes. Not an easy task but I know his dad was smiling that day. In the morning before the funeral, Bella asked if she could see grandpa's angel wings. I know he got a laugh out of that one.

It's not fair to think that between Justin and I, we have lost 3 parents in the 8 years that we have been together. But we know that everything happens for a reason and we are closer and more devoted to each other because of it. I can't even begin to tell you how loved we feel and we are so grateful to our family and friends and the support that they have given to us over the past week. Thank you all!

20 Questions with Isabella

I've been waiting to post this until I could take Bella outside to take some pictures but it has been soooo cold! I'll edit this post later on to add some pics once it warms up. Hopefully it's soon!

I saw this cute idea to ask 20 questions to your children on their birthday starting at 3. Perfect timing! I asked Bella the question the other day and she did great answering them.

Here are her answers word for word:

1. What is your favorite color? Pink & purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Uhh the pig toy
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples and peaches
4. What is your favorite tv show? Wonderpets and Dora and Go Diego Go
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & Cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? My new birthday dress
7. What is your favorite game? The teapot stuff. It's in my room
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish crackers
9. What is your favorite animal? Crocodiles and elephants and tigers
10. What is your favorite song? The duck song
11. What is your favorite book? The cook book and the Dora one
12. Who is your best friend? Tayzhia and Emma
13. What is your favorite cereal? Crackers
14. What is your favorite thing to do? I don't know. Go to the mall and to the store
15. What is your favorite drink? Strawberry milk and water
16. What is your favorite holiday? I go to parades a lot (4th of July)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Books
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Mac & Cheese
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a doctor

Bella's 3rd party at Chuck E Cheese!

I can't believe that I have a 3 year old! It's just crazy how fast my little sweetheart is growing up!

Since we officially have a "big girl", Bella was given the choice this year on what she wanted to do and for a solid 6 months all she talked about was having her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.

So that's what we did!

Bella and her Chuck E Cheese balloon. So cute! She loves playing the games. She could care less about the pizza, drinks or cake.. she could have just played games the whole time.

Tayzhia, Gretchen and Bells all had fun dancing before the Chuck E made his appearance. They liked watching themselves on the screen while they danced.

We went all out and got a birthday cake too :)

Bella loved meeting the big C and loved the birthday hat and medallion he presented to her during the birthday show. Seriously the happiest kid ever! She grinned from ear to ear the whole time!

Bella got to go into the ticket blaster and was lucky enough to bring someone along with her (just in case she got scared). Her cousin Emma was the lucky gal to go in too. She did great and caught the 1000 ticket! Bella ended up with a little over 2000 tickets. All her cousins gave her their tickets too. They love her so much!

 Bella got lots of fun gifts for her birthday this year. Justin and I gave her presents to her over a few day period because she got a little bit spoiled this year!

After the party, we took the cake to my parents house and picked up some ice cream too.

We love our sweet 3 year old!

Disneyland 2013!

We had every intention of going to Disneyland this year but since we were blessed with a bun in the oven, we decided to go next year instead. I'm thinking sometime in the Fall when the weather is beautiful and hopefully it won't be as crowded. Bella will be about 3 and half and our littlest one will be 15 months-ish. The furthest Bella has traveled is Las Vegas and I haven't been to southern California since my sophomore year in high school. I can't wait!

My plans..

• I actually only want to spend one or two days at Disneyland and plan other activities (the beach!) for the other days.
• I'm hoping my mom and sister's family can go too!
• We plan on flying. I do not love road trips and with Justin's back problems I think it would be better to hop on a plane!

Putting it in writing makes it set in stone, so we are for sure going! If anyone has any suggestions on things that are must-dos at Disneyland.. do tell!

Checking in..

The stomach bug is sweeping it's way through our house this weekend. I thought there was nothing worse than having the worst cold in the world plus being pregnant but boy was I wrong!

I can now say, I'm pretty sure that having me AND Bella having the stomach bug at the same time PLUS being pregnant is the worst thing in world.. but I don't really want to jinx it. Justin isn't feeling good today now. I think we will be staying home today for the superbowl. :(

On a happier note, I ordered this cell phone case last night and I'm so excited for it to get here.
Did you know that I LOVE bees? I think bees and their whole colony is amazing. The artwork is by Katie Daisy and I think she is pretty amazing too.

This little sweetheart in my belly is so active. Way more active than Bella was. I worried so much about Bella while I was pregnant because she would go forever without letting me know she was okay. I don't have to worry with this one. Feeling the baby move is the best part of being pregnant.

We still haven't decided 100% on a name. I'm thinking Katelynn for a first name. Katelynn or KateLynn? And middle names are still up in the air. Katelynn Eliza.. Katelynn Mae, Katelynn Hope, Katelynn Navy (I LOVE the name Navy.. but I don't know how it sounds with our last name)..

GTG BBS! :) Have a happy Sunday!

It's a...

GIRL! For sure this time! We had our targeted ultrasound and a regular appointment and both my doctor and the ultrasound specialist agree that it's a girl. And the best news was that she is perfectly healthy. I was a little bit nervous for the targeted ultrasound this time just because I knew how much they looked at and just really wanted that confirmation that everything was going well. We feel so blessed lately!

I love the 4d ultrasound pictures that they do. We have gotten so really fun shots the last couple of appointments! I was too lazy to scan them in so I just took pictures on my cell phone.. story of my life..

These next ones were from my last doctors appointment and we caught her while she was yawning. I'm pretty sure that we woke her up because she had been relatively still that morning and was kicking like crazy during the ultrasound. Sorry baby!

And this little one is extremely excited for her little sister to be here! She has been so much fun lately and never stops talking. I have a big post coming up soon because she is our little birthday girl this month. I can't believe she is almost 3!!

I've been feeling pretty good lately. Only a week to go until my third trimester starts. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. Only 98 days to go until my due date!

Choose Joy

My one new years resolution for 2012 (ya know, besides losing weight, having a healthy family and happiness..) is to CHOOSE JOY. I have been so incredibly inspired lately by Ashley from Lil Blue Boo. In 2011, not only did her father pass away very unexpectedly but she was also diagnosed with cancer at a very young age. Read more about her story here. Not only is she a great story teller but she also has some amazing tutorials.

The happiest people don't have everything, 

they make the best of everything.

I know that everyone has ups and downs. That's life. But I'm a firm believer that we all have a choice in life to choose happiness. I've always believed that but some days it's harder to remember than others. I bought this bracelet from Lil Blue Boo not only as a reminder to Choose Joy but to also show my support to Ashley, I know she can win this battle!

The bracelets also came with some Bella sized bracelets. She is my little model in the above picture :)

I really feel that 2012 is going to be a fantastic year. I'm so excited to see what it has to offer us!

Top 11 in 2011

11. Shop success!

We have lots of markers of success for our little business. Lots of new designs. Justin joining the team full time. Lots of sales and making Handmadeology's list of top 1000 handmade Etsy sellers.. sliding in at #802! Not bad!

10.  Vegas!

Our first real vacation as a family! It was a blast and Bella did so good in the car. Especially due to my iphone, snacks and the portable DVD player that my sister loaned to us. 

10. Bella's first dance recital!

Bella loves dance and still talks about her dance recital. She loved dancing on the big stage. Probably her favorite moment of 2011!

9. Lazy summer days at the park and zoo!

There is nothing more that we love than hanging out together and the park (or zoo!) is the perfect place for us. We always have so much fun!

8. Celebrating our 5 year anniversary in Park City

Our over night trip to Park City was so much fun! We celebrated our 5 year anniversary. It was our first (and only) overnight stay without Bells and while it was much needed, it was so hard! We came home so early the next day because we both missed her too much.

7. Spending lots of time with my favorite girl!

Making cookies!  Note: Check out the PJs! Those Teletubbies pajamas were uncle Ty Ty's and she LOVES them!

Lots of parades!

Swimming

Car rides!

We always find lots of fun things to do! I love these times where we are making memories and spending time together as a family.

6. Relay for Life

Celebrating my mom as a cancer survivor. Celebrating life. Celebrating HOPE. I love it! I'm on the planning committee for next year and it's going to be great!

5. Spending lots of time with our BFFs!

I love getting together with my best friend Steph. Her little boy, Jake is 4 months older than Bella and they are best buddies. They get along so well! Steph has been my best friend since I was about 3 or 4 years old. We were neighbors growing up. We all love to go shopping, make crafts, hang out at the house, go to the park, go to lunch.. we have so much fun!

4. Carver's Cove

Carver's Cove! It's my favorite place to go to in the springtime. Definitely a family tradition!

3. Polar Express

I don't know what it was about the night we rode the Polar Express but it was something magical! I think about it all the time. For sure one of this years highlights!

2. Bella turned 2!

We loved celebrating Bella's 2nd birthday.. circus style! It was so much fun. Next year she is insisting on a Chuck E Cheese's birthday, so that's what we will do!

1. Our big surprise!

Finding out that we were going to have another baby was definitely our biggest surprise of the year! We have so much to look forward to in 2012. Bring it on!

Our Christmas Surprise..

 A few days before Christmas, we went to the doctor for our regular pregnancy checkup. The doctor was doing an ultrasound when she asked, "so.. how much have you bought for the baby?"We answered that we really hadn't bought anything of significance. She said, "good because you might be having a boy!"

The doctor got a good shot of what could be "boy parts" but there was so much cord in the way that she couldn't get another good shot. She looked and looked but just couldn't get another view to tell us what we are having. So we don't know! We will be so excited to find out what we are having.. again. I don't care either way. It was exciting to think of having another little girl and to give Bella the sister that she really wants but of course it would be fun to have a little boy too.

We should find out at our targeted ultrasound at the end of January!