Some Advice

A few things you should not do/attempt when you are 8 months pregnant:

1. Take the stairs up to the 3rd floor of the hospital
2. Try to paint your toenails
3. Check yourself out in the full size mirrors on every wall when you pick your daughter up for dance
4. Try to wear any non-maternity article of clothing
5. Take your 2-year-old into the fishing (specifically fly rod and flies) part of a Sporting Goods store
6. Take your 2-year-old to any store (if she's Kate and won't sit in the cart and tries to run away any chance she gets)
7. Ride your daughter's Razor scooter
8. Jump as high as you can to get a bowl out of a high cupboard
9. Lift the really stocky kid in nursery
10. And lastly, most importantly, don't weigh yourself

Not that I've attempted any of these-- just some friendly words of advice...

Kate the Great turns 2!

This is crazy for me that my little baby is 2! I know that sounds so cliche to say, but I'll say it anyway because that's how I feel. She's our little sunshine, even though she's feisty and a stinker a lot of the time. It's a good thing she's so cute! She's been obsessed with "Buzz" lately, (which means all things Toy Story) so we had a Toy Story party. When I say Toy Story party, I mean we had a Toy Story cake, napkins, plates, and cups. That's the extent of it. But it was a good time. Here are a few pictures:


(She looks sad in this one, but she's actually super excited to open her Jessie doll from Grandma)

I'll do this at the end so you can skip it. It's for my journaling purposes because it's amazing how much I forget about my kids! Here are a few things about Kate right now:

- She loves the Woody and Jessie dolls at nursery so much that she hoards them the whole time and can hardly play with them for fear another child might take one (I'm one of her leaders in there so that's how I know)
- She talks and talks. Her little voice is so adorable and I often tell her things to repeat just so I can hear her say them in her cute little munchkin voice.
- She says "wucky" instead of "yucky" and likes to suck on the toothpaste tube, while saying "it's wucky mom, it's wucky mom" since that's what I've told her.
- She went through a major hair pulling phase that is, thankfully, over (knock on wood). Poor Marin took the brunt of it.
- She loves strawberries, pizza, and "qwot-qwut" which is "chocolate." That one took me awhile to figure out.
- She just recently grew out of all of her 18-24 month pants, they are all now floods. She'll have to be nerdy, I'm holding out buying her any new pants in hopes that summer will arrive SOON!
- She's super tall and skinny. When she gets out of the bathtub she asks (okay, demands) to "wun and wun" which is "run and run" and she tears around the house naked until I can wrestle her into a diaper and jammies.
- She loves dogs. Every animal that is not a horse is a doggie. She sleeps with a stuffed bear from Yellowstone, that she thinks is a dog.
- She loves her Aunt Avree and calls her "Bavee."
- She is a major daddy's girl and only lets him wake up with her in the night or rock her to sleep (darn!)
- She is obsessed with the potty, and asks to sit on it a bazillion times a day. However, I will not be potty training her for awhile yet because I am too lazy.
- She loves Marin and copies everything she does. My girls are actually starting to play together often and Marin is very kind to Kate most of the time (this has not always been the case).
- She has really curly hair that usually looks like a rat's nest! She refuses to wear bows in it, of course :)
- She is the cutest little 2 year old ever and we're lucky to have her feisty little self in our family!

Social Skills 101

I know I haven't updated my blog for awhile, and I don't really have anything profound to post. Things are going great here, nothing new. My kids are still cute, I'm getting huge but feel great, Mitch is BUSY at work. However, there have been a few thoughts that keep going through my mind that I feel like blogging about. My hope is that word will get out and hopefully the 5 of you who read my blog :) will pass it on to 5 people, who pass it on to 5 more people, etc. Not that any of you have ever done any of these things, I'm sure (ha ha, I've been guilty of some of these myself, so I shouldn't really talk... but I will anyway). So here is Cara's list of some basic social skills:

1. It's not polite to ask someone when they plan on having another child unless you are that person's a) immediate family, or b) bestest friend in the whole wide world. This is an intensely personal issue that I can't believe random neighbors or mere acquaintances feel is their business.

2. It's not polite to hint and make funny comments about why someone doesn't have more kids than they do. There are so many people who struggle with infertility that it simply is not a joking matter.

3. Do not ask if someone is pregnant. Ever. No matter what. No matter if you think it is obvious. Ha ha, once I asked someone if they were pregnant and they weren't. Trust me, it's better not to even ask. I will never make that mistake again.

4. On that note, don't comment about the size of a woman you know is pregnant. My sister had a woman in her ward who would always say, "Gosh, I can't believe you're not having twins!" Speaking from someone who gets pretty darn huge every time I get pregnant, pregnant women are very aware that they're "growing," "blossoming," or "blooming," so there's really no need for you to tell them.

5. Don't ask someone what their salary is. You would think this was common social sense, but oh no. I have had several people ask me straight up how much money I make or how much Mitch makes. It's so awkward! I don't even know how much money my parents make or my siblings. In fact, Mitch's salary is the only one I know about besides my own.

I think I will be done for now. Reading over these, I sound harsh and scolding. Picture me saying this with a smile on my face, in a somewhat joking manner. I don't get offended, like EVER, like even when a lady told me I led the music in church with my hand like a dead fish. You could tell me I was huge as a barge right now and I would just laugh. I've just had friends and family go through several experiences lately that have appalled me at the insensitivity of some people and I feel like getting my thoughts on this in writing. So let's get the word out.