Ready to Go

I went to the doctors on Thursday and the doctor says I am ready to go! I am at about 36 weeks. I am now able to move about as I please. If I have contractions, I am free to have them and don't have to take any medication. I am excited and nervous. I am also worried that now that it is ok to have this baby, the baby will decide she wants to stay in. Anyway, it is nice to be able to do all of my housework and play with Alex again.

We are in the house...

We are in the house! It has been crazy busy. I haven't been able to post for a few reasons. First we had internet problems. All the companies we called claimed not to have service in our area. Second, I went into preterm labor the night before our stuff was delivered from PODS and have been on light duty ever since. That was April 21st.


Okay, back up. I had a regular doctors appointment the middle of April when I mentioned I was concerned about my rapid weight gain my doctor was also concerned. He told me to "lay off the Big Macs and try to get out and walk a little." I politely told him a already had a pretty strict diet and was really very active considering the weight I was carrying around. He didn't seem to believe me and told me Weight Watchers was a safe diet when you are pregnant. And so the appt ended. I decided I would show him. For the next week I was super strict on how much and what I ate and began going on walks as many times a day as I could. April 21st, I landed my self in the hospital in labor. I got a few shots and the contractions finally quit. I week later I was back. Also, I hate Jordan Valley L & D (another story for another time.) I was told to take it really easy and not lift anything over 10 pounds. So I had my regular appointment the middle of May and was really afraid to get on the scales. After 3 weeks of "taking it easy" and a not so careful diet, I was sure I would brake the scales. However, to my amazement I had gained 2 pounds. Since then I have been watching my weight on my own scales and haven't seemed to gain. It doesn't make sense but I will take it.



Back to the house. I have been wanting to post pictures but I haven't got everything quite right yet. We are also trying to get ready for a baby. I am due July 8 (less than 6 weeks) but will be considered full term in 3 weeks so with my history on this baby I may have it early. We had most of the furniture in the nursery set up when we found out (Thanks Mom!) that our crib had been recalled and would most likely kill our child if we used it again (I guess we just got lucky Alex survived it). The solution was to take it back to the store you got it from for a full refund. The store we got it from was being less than cooperative so thank goodness good ol' WalMart will take anything back. Just yesterday we got our new furniture and I have spent most of the day being impatient and getting it put together.


So for now I will post what pictures I have and call it good.






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Alex helping Dad with the brakes on the car.

Shawn is very happy to have his own garage and tools.

Grandma 'Rille came over to help Mom and Alex with the house the week we moved in.

I really needed the help. I really don't want a baby in the NICU and that it the ONLY reason I haven't gone nuts with the whole "light duty" crap! Thanks for the help, Grandma! You amaze me that you can still handle a 2 year old in your 70's!

So I really hate that this picture is sideways. On my computer it is the correct way but blogger can't figure it out. Alex got the chance to ride on Uncle Steve's tractor. Alex and Steven both LOVE tractors! I am so glad that my children are able to play with Uncle Steve and enjoy his sweet spirit the way I did when I was little. He is certainly a little piece of Heaven on Earth.

For those of you who don't know my Uncle Steven, he is my dad's oldest brother. He is in his mid sixties. Due to complications at birth, Steve has been lucky enough to stay right about 9 years old his whole life. Doctors initially thought the brain damage was so bad that he wouldn't learn to do anything and probably wouldn't live long. Steven has really proven them wrong. Not only can he walk, feed himself, take care of himself - but he can read, write, do simple math, fix ANYTHING electronic, drive a tractor, and not too long ago Steve was given special permission to go through the temple. Although it is not necessary for Steven to have these saving ordinances, Steven understood that all of his brothers and sisters had been to the temple and he knew it was important. What a great example he is. We are so lucky Heavenly Father sent him to be our Uncle Steve!

Grama 'Rille!

Alex has a new found obsession with Grandma LaRille. He has always liked her but lately it has been a bit ridiculous. He talks about her all the time. "Grama Rille, Grama Rille, Grama Rille!" is all I hear. If we get in the car to go anywhere, he thinks we are going to her house. If anyone walks in the door or knocks, he thinks it is her. He always asks if Grama Rille is sleeping before he will go to sleep. If the phone rings, it must be Grama Rille. Alex was happy that Grama came up for the easter egg hunt. Alex gets to spend the day with Grama Rille all by himself when we finally get to move. He is very excited or as he says, "I cited!" We love Grandma too and are so glad she takes the time to be his special friend. He enjoys talking with her on the phone and hugging her with sticky hands. I, too, have fond memories of my Grandma LaRille from when I was little. I am so glad I still get to spend so much time with her and share her with my children! Love you Grandma!

Snag

So we were supposed to be moving in this weekend, but, for reasons too complicated for them to explain or me to understand, we are not! For some reason - this has never happened to the builder - the lender wants the bonus room over the garage finished. So this week we (the builder and us) will be busting a move to get the room finished. We are just sheetrocking over the door to the bathroom instead of finishing that now. It would take too much time to get the tub, shower, etc that we want and have them installed. Then when we are ready (after we close) we can cut the hole for the door and work on the bathroom. With a little luck maybe we can move in next weekend. Darn!

This is IT!

We are REALLY close. We had our final inspection yesterday and should be able to close this week and move in this weekend! Keep your fingers crossed. We are so excited. Here is a link to some somewhat recent photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/shawnrnageli/House?feat=directlink

Tons of blogging!

YESTERDAY AND TODAY I HAVE POSTED SEVERAL TIMES SO MAKE SURE TO CHECK ALL THE POSTS IN FEBRUARY! STILL WORKING ON THE BABY MOVIE...ENJOY!

My Big 2 Year Old!

We are so proud of our little Alex and are grateful for all the joy he has brought to us these past 2 years. Alex is a little fireball of energy and has been from conception. He keeps us on our toes. He is so smart. He likes to learn letters and numbers and songs and has mastered quite a bit. He likes to sing ABC's and can count to 10. He loves to sing "I Love to See the Temple" and knows every word of the first verse. He loves all kinds of songs and music. He knows colors. Alex can spell his name. When completing the milestone test at the doctors office he tested into the 4 year old level. He likes to run and jump. He loves cars, trucks, motorcyles, diggers, skid steers, big trucks (semi trucks), buses, bulldozers - and any other manly vehicle. He loves all stuffed animals. He loves to go and see temples, especially the one by our new house. He loves the new house and has enjoyed watching them work on it as much as we have. Alex hates to get dressed or be dressed. He doesn't like to eat healthy food. He loves candy and donuts and icecream as much as his Daddy. He likes to drive the car (we don't actually let him drive it). He likes to dance. He loves to watch movies with his dad. He loves the TV shows "Dinosaur Train" and "Super Why". We love doing anything with Alex, as long as he is happy. We have a hard time staying mad at him when he is naughty because he is so dang cute and always says "Sorry" and gives us a kiss. Hope you had the best birthday ever, Buddy! Mom and Dad love you so much!

Because we didn't have our own place to have a party this year we decided it would be easier on everyone if we had a party with the Bjarnson family one day and the Nageli family another. My camera died at the Bjarnson party so I will have to steal some pictures from Lyndsie. We also decided to make Alex's actual birthday a play day for the three of us. Just Dad, Mom and Alex. Overall, we spent way more than we planned but it was so worth it. You can't put a price on memories like these.

The Nageli Party

The Dinosaur Train Cake

Thanks Mom for the creative help. We always had such cute cakes when we were kids. Alex loved it!

Kylie is happy to be there even if she doesn't get cake. What a cute mommy-daughter pair!

Can't get enough of those cheeks!

Aly smiling

Zacky

Kylie standing next to Alex. Taylor on the other side.

Whoa! How am I going to blow these all out?

Ready...

Set...

Blow!!!

I want this piece!

Kylie taking a whack at the pinata

Alex's turn

Taylor

Zacky

Aly put some good muscle into it but ultimately it was up to the big kids. Susan took one swing and then Shawn took the stick and busted it open. The kids where just happy to have the candy out. It was a great party. We are so glad that people came and that Grandma and Grandpa were willing to let us have the party at their place. Thanks to everyone for the cute gifts. Alex's grandma made a temple blanket and pillow that he loves! He got trucks, chalk, coloring books, crayons, bubbles, yard tools (we plan on putting him to work), some stuff to play in the mud with, and was absolutely just spoiled!

Alex's Family Day of Fun!

We started off Alex's big day going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. He is a bit obsessed with dinosaurs. If I could have brought Buddy and Tiny from "Dinosaur Train" to life I would have. The next best thing we could think of was to go see their bones at the museum. He enjoyed looking at the exhibits. I think Shawn and I found it amusing as well.

Alex and Shawn in front of the big T Rex. Alex likes to sing the T Rex song from "Dinosaur Train". If you haven't heard it, you should ask him to sing it!

Alex with Daddy digging for dinosaur bones.

Alex checking out the other kids' findings.

Mommy and Alex in front of a big dinosaur

The next thing we decided to do was have lunch. We had brought a picnic to have but it was cold and rainy and there was just nowhere we could take a lunch inside to eat, so we ate in the car. Alex thought this was fun so we accomplished our goal of making him happy. The next thing we decided to do was have a nap. This was an important part of the day to make sure the rest of the day went well. Then it was off to Build-A-Bear! Alex loves stuffed animals and we thought he would like making his own. He of course picked the frog! We tried to convince him to pick an outfit but he looked at us like we were crazy and said "No". Why would a frog wear clothes anyway, right? He settled on picking a guitar for the frog to play. This makes much more sense because frogs often play guitars but never wear clothes.

Alex cleaning his Froggie

We decided to take Alex to dinner for his birthday. He loves pizza so we went to California Pizza Kitchen. We had not been there before. The pizza was good but pretty expensive for the portion size. Alex enjoyed his pineapple pizza and sundae for dessert. We all enjoyed spending time together.

We ended the day by going to possibly Alex's very favorite place - Our New House! At the new house you can have it all! The temple, diggers, skid steers, the new house....what more could you want? Here we let Alex "drive" the car for a while before going home to Mamah's house.

Happy Birthday Alex!