Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween from Dracula!

Our ghosts - freeze dried apples dipped in caramel and white chocolate, yummy!

The crazy trick-or-treaters that came by - disco scarecrow, bat, cowgirl, china doll, monk, dracula, and a couple others we're still trying to figure out :)

He's Here!

Sawyer Lewis Bates

Our wonderful baby boy arrived 6 days early on October 25th at 4:16 pm.

8 lbs 10 oz - 21" long

He is perfect! Mom and baby (and daddy) are doing great. We feel so blessed and happy :)

Alethea Was Here

My little sis came for a visit on Friday afternoon...she drove 6 hours out of the way to come hang out for the afternoon and evening. Such love! We naturally had to have a party. We decided to have an 'orange' dinner. The menu consisted of orange chicken, mac & cheese, cheetos, carrots from the garden, sweet potatoes, orange soda with dry ice, and a pumpkin roll! Very well rounded and FUN :) We had a treasure hunt after dinner collecting makings for reese's and oreo milkshakes, mmm :) Although it was a short visit it was SO fun to see Alethea. She is off in Colorado now pressing fresh apple cider...we're missing out!

The orange soda brew

Playing on our walk up the canyon - beautiful fall day!

Joe recently returned from a business trip to China - check out the kimono on Sadie, what a lil China doll!

Candy Corn Craft

I got this idea from my friend's blog. I'm always looking for fun stuff (i.e. easy if it's going to be a craft) to do with my niece and nephews.

Kaitlin made the wreath pictured above and I thought it turned out so cute and wanted to try making it.

Unfortunately styrofoam wreaths are hard to come by in Cedar, so we opted for styrofoam balls instead. I think the pokey balls are kinda fun and Sadie and Kaden loved eating/making them. Sadie continues to ask when she will be able to eat hers. Hmmm. Next year I will paint the styrofoam black first...

Snow on the Mountain

George and I took a pleasant Sunday drive up the mountain. There is a skiff of snow on top! The leaves are still gorgeous colors. We took a nice jaunt, enjoyed the fresh air, and did an impromptu photo shoot. Just 2 weeks to go, yes!

Home, Sweet Home!

I know, I know...all I've been posting about is baby stuff....but here is something different!

When we moved back to Utah my generous sister and her family offered their basement apartment to hang out in until we figured out what we were/are doing with our lives. I told George we could live 'in limbo' until the beginning of October and that was my deadline for needing a place to set up to have the baby. Well it turns out I really meant the beginning of September, I was getting anxious to get settled somewhere to bring our baby home!

So on September 1st we moved into a cute little old house in Cedar City, UT. Some people say it's painted pink, but really it's more of a salmon color.

Home, Sweet Home!

It's so nice to have our own home again. And for once we have all our 'stuff' under the same roof. Not that stuff matters so much, but it's been a great opportunity to go through things that have been in storage for years and get rid of the unnecessary. I couldn't believe how many winter clothes I had packed away...George made so much fun of me. I had enough sweatshirts to fill an entire closet. I don't like being cold though, so can you blame me?? Bring on the snow!

The house is small, but will fit our family's needs quite nicely. I enjoy having a house so much more than an apartment...maybe it's my own yard or driveway, not sure what the draw is. So here is a picture tour:

The Living Room - I love the hardwood floors.

The Kitchen - I love the large window above the table. George put in the shelving, it doubled our cupboard space!

The Nursery - almost ready for our baby boy to occupy! My moti, Eliza, is going to do his name for above his crib, but we have yet to officially decide on a name, so that might not come until after he's born. I doubt he'll care though :) I didn't bother putting a picture up of our room...it was hard to get a good angle and all you could see was our bed, although I do love the quilt we have on it :)

The Bathroom - who knew we could get an even smaller bathroom than the one we had in Florida...impressive!

My George, grilling on the back porch. I love autumn.

The Middle Wife

Maybe it's due to my current state, but I was laughing so hard while reading this I wanted to share.

The 'Middle Wife' by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher.

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands mimicking water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes along.

10-10-10 oh Baby!

I told Ichabod it would be cool if he came today because it's 10-10-10 and he'd be considered full term since I'm exactly 37 weeks. I guess he doesn't think it's that cool of an idea, dang.

On September 24th Aly, Lisa, and Lisa (Aly's mom) threw our baby boy a baby shower! It was so fun to get together with my friends up north. I hadn't seem some of them for over two years, so it was awesome to get to visit and catch up. Thank you all so much for coming and also for the wonderful gifts!! I still can't get over all the cute stuff there is for babies. Now our baby just needs to come out and play so we can use all this fun stuff on him! At the shower we played some funny games...like who can break their water the fastest, and a relay popping balloons...too bad all this water breaking and popping didn't result in real labor, haha. We played the "Guess How Big My Belly Is" game...I must look huge because everyone, including myself guessed that I was bigger than I actually am. For the record I am 37 weeks today and my belly measures 43 inches around. Only 21 days to go, wooHOO! This end stage of pregnancy is SOOO much better than the beginning, the end is in sight!

Aly and her mamasita - look at that cute towel Aly sewed..it's the perfect hoodie towel!

I can't wait to take Ichabod (what will his real name be?!) camping in this adorable outfit, thanks Lisa!

Kaitlin - friends from our freshman year of college in Hawaii...such a fun year in our lives! She is expecting her third in just a few months, go Kaitlin!

Lena & Gina went crazy and got so much cute stuff for da bebe. Thanks ladies! I need to see you more often than every two years please.

Funny story about this quilt - I actually helped sew this up at the Denali Branch about 8 or 9 years ago. We made it for Tracy (Keay) Fonger and her first little boy, Nate. She's passing it on to me now. Also my mom had given Tracy a baby food grinder that my mom had used on me and all of my siblings. That thing has been around forever, I recognized it right away, and now I get to use it for Ichabod!

The whole baby shower weekend was even fun for George because he got to go flying with Mike, Aly's dad. He was in heaven as he spent all Saturday morning at the Mountain Green Airport. They did all kinds of aerobatics in Mike's plane, which he built himself, it's called The Rocket. I've been wanting to get George up there since we got married so I'm glad it finally happened!

A BIG thanks to my girls, I sure love you! And lil Ichy sure is a lucky guy coming to this world where so many people already love him :)

"It's SO big!"

I repeat this to George multiple times a day...referring of course to my belly. IT IS SO BIG! I lose my breath frequently and I'm worried because I still have 4 weeks to grow...how is it possible that I will get even bigger? I don't like carrying around this uncomfortable bulge. I do enjoy feeling him move around inside, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more seeing him move around outside of me! Some women think pregnancy is wonderful in the sense that they enjoy being pregnant...that is a completely foreign idea to me. Yes, it's miraculous, but it doesn't mean it's enjoyable :) These next 4 weeks cannot go by fast enough for me, but for the record I do have to say this stage in pregnancy is WAY better than the first 5 months.

Look what my niece and nephews found in Dr. Seuss's ABC book! Ichabod (almost spelled right) is famous! And he really does cause me to be itchy these days as he stretches my belly beyond belief.

So when I was little I had the perfect smiley belly button...it seemed as though I had outgrown it...until I got a big tummy again. The smiley button is back. So cute, yea? Haha

Today began my weekly doctor appointments. They've been boring which is a good sign because everything is normal...although I am measuring a week later than I actually am...which could mean he'll come early, but probably just means I'm gonna have a big baby, eek! I've gained 30 lbs. to date...I was hoping to stay more towards the 25 lb. range, but it looks like it'll be around 35 lbs, although that is still 'in range'. A weird 'side effect' I've had lately is that my arms go numb, especially when I sleep. The doctor says it's because I have excess fluid and it puts pressure on the nerves in my wrists. which cause my whole arm to go numb. That's mainly what has been keeping me up at night, ugh. Oh and he prefers my right side...he's always up in my ribs, but only on the right-hand side. I guess Kaden was like that for Sara too.

I'd always thought George was an 8 lb. baby, but his mom informed me a couple weeks ago, that he was in fact her biggest baby (out of 7 kids) and weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 11 oz, yikes! I hope Ichy stays under 9 lbs, please!

What Have You Been Up To??

Lately we've been up to a lot of WORK...for which we are very grateful!

George has been working at The KeyMaker Locksmith during the week. He worked here before helicopter school, and we're so grateful that he can continue to work there now while we are here in Cedar expecting our baby. It's wonderful having such a skilled husband! On the weekends he works at the St. George Airport for an FBO. And we just found out that they bought an R-22 (helicopter) so he'll be able to trade work for flight time...yay! It's great for him to be around the aviation industry and we hope he can do some beneficial networking with his time there.

Handsome George in his KeyMaker shirt :)

I work for a doctor up in Beaver (45 mins north) that has been doing research for the past two years on a medicine called Numune. He is finally to the point where he is ready to produce and sell. A little over a month ago I was able to help make his first batch. It's very interesting to be a part of such a process. I can't believe the time and effort he's put into perfecting this product. Right now it is considered a 'nutritional supplement' until he can get FDA approval, which takes millions and millions of dollars and about 6 years if you're lucky. This medicine has incredible effects on wound healing and MS patients, although he's not allowed to claim that until he gets it all approved through the FDA. Did you know Beaver County has the most MS patients per capita in the entire world?! Crazy. That is how Dr. Melling got into researching this medicine in the first place. Right now it's a small operation out of his home. He's built a clean room and anteroom for production. We get dressed up in our sterile garb to do the whole process. As a pregnant lady I can hardly stand wearing the mask because I feel like I'm suffocating, but fortunately the room is kept at a nice chilly temp of 5C. It does make for a long day with 1.5 hour commute, but I'm thankful I have work and can be a part of this unique production! And there is quite a variety to the job with it being a fairly new company...like last week I got to figure out how to shrink band the neck of the medicine bottle and order a capsulator for the powder. I also get to mess around on Adobe Photoshop creating different labels and excel sheets to get the company organized and running smoothly...or at least trying to anyway.

Getting prepped in the anteroom before entering the clean room.