The weather is FINALLY getting warmer which is amazing! The other day Graham and I met up at the park to socially distant feed ducks with a friend. And then a few days later we went to our future neighborhood and did a great walk around the lake and played at one of the playgrounds! Graham is getting SO brave about the playgrounds and wants to climb up the ladders and go down the slide and it makes my mama heart so happy!

Lately I want to remember how Graham calls McDonald’s “Old McDonald’s” and how he wants to play chase every day before bed. How he loves having the Alexa timer go off and is super obedient when it does. How he wants to cook me food in his kitchen or fight off bad guys in the car. How he still is a little shy and the neighborhood kids know to give him space when they’re all outside, which is funny and sweet. How he’s so particular about where things go on his chair and which outfit he wears which makes me laugh. How he wants to tie his hair up and wear blue light glasses just like his daddy. How he is trying to tell us he needs all new toys because when his baby brother comes, he will get all his old toys 😂 He’s the sweetest little boy and I don’t know what I would do without him.

I was also able to get my COVID shot! What a BLESSING! A hidden blessing of gestational diabetes. I did have a little crying breakdown the other day about not being able to eat a sticky finger salad, but that is what it is haha! In a lot of ways GD is actually harder this time around. My fasting numbers are little bit harder to control and I learned that in subsequent pregnancies it can be harder to manage overall. So I’m going to keep doing my best and we’ll see where we land.

Graham still loves his little preschool that we do at home every day, I still love work and it’s going really well, Randy is almost done with busy season HALLELUJAH and we are getting excited for everything ahead! Graham’s birthday, our anniversary, warmer weather, then BABY BROTHER, my sister coming home from her mission—it’s going to be an amazing spring and summer and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s around the corner.

Birthday cake and celebration with Grandma and Grandpa! We love them and had a great time spending time together.

Gestational diabetes round TWO for this mama. I went in for the test at the normal 24 weeks and lucky me, I developed if later in pregnancy. So back to finger pokes and low carb. But this little boy will be worth it! I feel much more in control of it this time and like I can manage it.

Graham wants to be just like dad! He loves taking his glasses, wants his hair tied up, wants to sit in his office, it’s too cute!

Gestational diabetes means lots of walks and runs for me and Graham and Randy are great to tag along! The weather is getting warmer and I love spending time with them outside.

We had an early Easter celebration with Melanie because she would be gone for Easter and it was so fun! We went to Top Golf for Grandma and Grandpa’s birthday which was great, and then we dyed Easter eggs in the evening. Randy did a Jazz theme for his eggs this year and they turned out AWESOME. I love how engaged he gets in making the eggs and how much fun it is for everyone.

It’s been one year since the pandemic started and it’s crazy to think how things have changed. I wonder how Graham is affected because we haven’t gone to play with friends or done other activities that we normally would do. I look at our home church and think about how it has changed the way I feel about the Gospel. I’m hoping so many things are going to be part of our new life, like working from home and taking things slow and being cautious when we’re sick. It’s crazy to think that we had no idea how long this would go on and what it would mean. My heart aches for all the things we have lost. The people who have died, the families that have been forever changed, jobs lost, lives permanently altered. We’ve been so insanely lucky. But I hope we take every day moving forward in stride and know how lucky we are have it.

I can’t believe it but we are building a house! So many things have shifted and come together for this to work out for us and we are so happy! We were under contract on another home and didn’t feel great about it, especially after the inspection. So we backed out and we were sad. I was feeling pretty hopeless and unsure that anything would ever fall into place. The housing market is so crazy and I wasn’t sure how we could afford anything. I had liked the neighborhood in Syracuse and had toyed about building there a year ago but it hadn’t seemed right. The prices kept rising and I just wasn’t sure how it would work out. I’d been looking at smaller houses and decided to look at some of the bigger ones instead. The smaller houses had a 3 month wait and then an 8 month build which was really crazy. When we started looking at the bigger houses we found the waitlist was much shorter and we could maybe have a lot in just a few weeks. So we started really investigating it and pricing everything out and it just seemed like a good fit. The builder was SO great working with us and let us know that a lot would be available in a couple of days. They got us the lot we wanted with the color house we wanted and everything. The day came and we were able to sign the papers just hours after the lots were released!

I went to the design center a few days later and picked out allllll the stuff we wanted and it was so crazy and stressful and also fun! It’s so fun to envision all the things that will come together for our home. We are so excited. It won’t be done until October or November which is sooo long to wait but it’s also not too bad in the grand scheme of things. I can’t stop myself from driving over to the lot even though they won’t break ground until May! We’re just sure it will be a great house and neighborhood for our family.

We took Graham and Mel to Disney on Ice and it was AMAZING. They loved it so much and they were so cute and excited. They loved the music and were dancing in their seats the whole time. Graham loved Malificent blowing fire on the ice, seeing Ursula fight, he was obsessed with Micky and Minnie, and the entire crowd of kids went WILD when Frozen came! It was interesting to do it all with COVID but the kids were SO GOOD at wearing their masks and it all felt really safe and great. Graham alternated between having to stand up to watch, leaning back in his chair, sitting on the edge of his seat, and more. He also was waving at the characters the whole time which was adorable! There was a boy behind us with a Buzz costume and in some ways I think that was Graham’s favorite part!

Even though we are in busy season we had a great time celebrating Randy! I made him a quiche for breakfast and his favorite chocolate cookies to eat throughout the day. He loved his Apple Watch, Donovan Mitchell hoodie, books, and new shoes. He had to work all day long so Graham and I ran to In N Out to get him lunch, and then we sang him a quick happy birthday between meetings! He got Crumbl cookies from friends and from work, so many kind texts and messages, and then his parents stopped by with a cake! We got a charcuterie board for dinner to have with shrimp cocktail—his absolute favorite things. It was a MUCH better busy season birthday than the last one and it was just a great day to get to celebrate him!

Graham and I went sledding while it was snowing like crazy and Graham is totally my child! He didn’t love being cold but he was a good sport and went down the hill a few times before wanting to throw snowballs and eat the snow. I was really proud of him for being brave!

We had a great Valentine’s Day! On Saturday we had Chinese food at my mom’s house and watched the Rodger’s and Hammerstein Cinderella! It was awesome to get to show Graham such a wonderful movie that I loved when I was a kid!

On Sunday we had a yummy breakfast, Graham got some puzzles, Randy got a shirt and I got some running shoes—it was such a fun and relaxed day! I made a delicious pasta and chocolate souffle and it was just a really great and relaxed day. We bought little tattoos and Graham, after much convincing, LOVED them. I love celebrating LOVE and it was a wonderful day.

House hunting is no joke right now. It’s a seller’s market and prices are SKYROCKETING and it’s been a wild ride for us. We were under contract on a house and after the inspection we didn’t feel good about it, so we backed out. It was disappointing but we also knew it was the right thing. It’s so hard right now to know what to do, there are so many people putting in offers on a limited number of houses and it’s a ride. And as first-time buyers, it’s been nuts for us. But we know the right thing is going to come and if there’s one thing I’m learning it’s just that letting go of the things I can’t control helps the right things fall into place.

Randy is busy busy BUSY with busy season but it’s still a dream to have him here at the house. He will pop out and have lunch or dinner with us and sit by me in the evenings and it’s really nice.

The other day for pre-school we had a tea party while learning “I’m a little teapot” and Randy came out and had a cookie and some tea for a few minutes and it was just lovely. It made me remember that these little moments are what matter and I’m SO grateful we’re getting to have more of them as a little family thanks to COVID.

Graham is quickly learning all the letters and their sounds, can count really well, knows the colors and shapes, and I’m just so proud of all the things he knows and does. He can recreate music videos or scenes from movies and is obsessed with jamming in the kitchen or the car. He finds dinosaurs in our ears as part of the doctor checkups, and runs away from neighborhood kids if they try to say hi. We’re working on the social aspect hahaha. Life is just beautiful and I’m so happy!

I can’t believe we are HALFWAY to meeting baby boy! I honestly am shocked! The time is FLYING by and it’s so wild that the halfway point is already here.

Some things about this pregnancy:

Not craving anything in particular.

Sense of smell is STRONG and random things smell off or weird, including Zao when Randy ordered it for lunch haha.

Random things make me gag still.

SUPER EMOTIONS gosh it’s been a wild one. We’ve been looking at houses and the process has been a ROLLER COASTER for my emotions.

I’m still doing HIIT workouts 3 times a week and running every day. I’m running slowwww and sometimes not as far which has been hard for me to adjust to.

Feel baby boy move alll the time, usually at night when I lay down. It’s so awesome to feel him.

Gained 8 pounds so far.

I MELTED A METAL PAN the other day. It was wild. I accidentally left the stove on (pregnancy brain) while I ran to the store. When I got back the bottom of the pan was RED so I moved it and the whole bottom MELTED OFF onto the stove. It still works but the plastic case looks awful which makes me feel so bad.

I also burned my arm, spilled milk on the floor, dropped salmon—it hasn’t been a banner week for me cooking-wise hahaha.

On the plus side, we went and got purple yam or ube ice cream and it was SO GOOD. Reminded me so much of Japan which made me so happy.

Graham is growing up so fast and it’s crazy. He is loving preschool, recognizes all the letters and sounds, loves doing nursery rhymes and making up songs, finds the most random toys that he is obsessed with which makes us laugh, and life is great!

Randy had the WEIRDEST bruise on his back and we had no idea what it was. And then it went away. VERY strange. but hopefully he’s ok now!

Things are a bit stressful as we are trying to figure out housing. There’s been lots of tears from me as I try to navigate what to do, and with Randy so busy it’s been extra crazy. But we will figure it out and stay here where we love, or find another place we love, and it’ll be great!

We had our halfway ultrasound and got to see our wiggly little guy! He was moving all over, but then refused to move when the tech needed him to so she could get a better angle. Such a stubborn little boy! Everything is measuring perfectly and all looks great, which is such a relief and we are so grateful! Little guy is moving a LOT now and I can feel him all the time, which makes it much more real that we’re actually having a baby!

Graham is SO cute and fun right now! He can recognize most of the letters and know the sounds thanks to The Letter Factory and our little preschool that we do which is so awesome. He loves singing songs, jamming in the car, and lately he’s SO into the drums it’s adorable!

We play lots of Candyland, color, do stickers, and build lots of train tracks which is so fun!

We’re just getting ready for baby brother, trying to stay sane during the crazy age of COVID, and surviving busy season with dad work a lot. OH and we are house hunting which has been CRAZY in the current market. We’ll see what happens!