SPRING BREAK!

Spring Break... An ironic name for a holiday in March, because around here there is NO sign of spring. But I will take the holiday anyways and even better I will leave Wyoming and go to the sunnier states of Idaho and Utah. Ok again not that much better but if it is warmer than 30 degrees I'll take it with a smile. Can't wait to see all my family and friends and enjoy some time with my long lost husband. Ahh holidays.

Parenting FAIL

So Phillip and I have a dirty little secret. We are guilty of watching fail blog for "date night". And if that wasn't ghetto enough we have also been guilty of letting Porter watch the falling, dancing, and driving fails (don't judge too harshly, we mute it). So being the awesome mom I am I gave Porter a talk during one about good choices vs. bad choices and how these people were making bad choices. Well I felt super good about myself and justified him watching by saying he was learning good vs. bad.... Just an FYI he thinks they are hilarious and belly laughs whenever someone falls, just like his father.

So it has been a while since we watched and the other day Porter came up to me and asked to watch "people doing bad things". Uhh excuse me?!?! It took me about 30 seconds to realize what he was talking about and boy did I feel dumb. Now my kid is going to tell people that he watches "people doing bad things" on mom's computer. Great. PARENTING FAIL.

Talking Lincoln

I figured if I was going to post one of Porter I might as well do one of Lincoln too. This one is for Grandma. We can't wait for Spring Break! 

And this I just find funny because he is SO pear-shaped!

Talking Porter

I had a good friend make a request for a video of Porter talking; so I took this one at breakfast this morning. It is not a great one he wasn't feeling very talkative, go figure.  Good luck on Wednesday Shannon! 

This one's for you Dad

I got a letter from my dad in the mail today (haven't got one of those since the mission) and in it he casually mentioned they've been checking my blog to see if I've updated it... Yeah, about that... I haven't in a while so to remedy that and to apologize for my slacking here is the best I can do. 

 

Family of Four

It has been three weeks and I still can't believe we are a family of 4! We are adjusting and on some days are doing a little better than "surviving". Here are some pictures of what has been happening since baby has come home.

A lot of this:

 

 Made it to church once

 Had Thanksgiving with the Wulfs

 Too much of this (he is awake a lot just like Porter was)

 Luckily some of this (Phillip has taken some time away from school to play)

Way too much of this (Don't judge me!) Thank heaven for Curious George! 

 A bit of this; Yep I made bread! WHAT!?!? Phillip said he'd get rid of my bread machine if I didn't use it by the end of the year. Had it for 4 years and finally decided to use it right after I have a baby, go figure... 

 Can't have too much of that face! So concerned.

 Thankfully Porter is good at entertaining himself!

I love my beautiful family of 4!

Happy Birthday Lincoln

Lincoln Spencer Wulf has arrived safe and sound! Delivery was great (like 3 pushes great)! He was 7lbs 10oz and 21in. He has a full head of hair, which was a HUGE surprise for both Phillip and I. He is perfect, and so far he loves to sleep (we are keeping our fingers crossed that this lasts). We are home and feeling good. Pictures and full story to come...  

After my water broke

 Right after delivery getting cleaned up

 Snoozing away...

Porter update

I thought a Porter post was in order because it may be his last as a solo-child. Porter is becoming more set in his ways than ever (if that is possible). You will notice in the recent pictures his hair is longer than it ever has been. Well not because I want it to be but he has decided that haircuts are not for him! He fights like a demon when I even suggest it so... I am waiting on a miracle. He still lets me dress him but refuses to wear certain coats. How is that for ridiculous, especially here where a coat is a MUST. 

He is talking up a storm, can count and knows his shapes and letters. He is like a giant sponge which is awesome and so NOT awesome at the same time. The other day he wanted my attention when I was talking to a neighbor so he began yelling  "focus mommy, focus." Uhh ya that is definitely something I say to him when he is not listening to me. 

He is convinced that he is Buzz Lightyear and that we are going to name the new baby Woody. I can't say that I agree with his choice but it is the only indication that he knows a new baby is coming; so I am grateful he kind of gets it, maybe... Ok Probably not. But this baby is coming and we are hoping it doesn't destroy his entire existence. 

 This next picture is a testament of my awesomeness as a mother. We got snow here (and not a little, 4+ inches) and Porter wanted so badly to play with the snow. Well there was no way I was going out with him so we brought the snow in to him! He lasted an hour (I changed the snow once) and we had no clothes to dry and fingers to unfreeze, it was lovely. I am converted to bringing the snow inside :) 

 A random habit he is into right now is wearing his socks on his hands. My guess is winter will cure this habit. 

 Picking pumpkins with Grandpa Gardiner. He loved washing them off. Wonder where he gets his strange OCD clean tendencies from...?

Man I love this kid! He has recently learned the concept of big & small; I don't know if I appreciate being told I am "big" ten times a day but he is so smart and I appreciate him understanding the concept :)  Here is to my soon to be big boy and how wonderful he makes every day! 

One Month

One more month... Saying that should make me feel better but somehow it just sounds depressing. A whole month of no sleep, feet in my ribs, heartburn that is seriously killing me, waddling around, blah blah blah... All you mothers out there know the drill.

Like Phillip says "it is only a month!" So why does another month sound so awful?!? To end this rant on a high note: At least I'm not an elephant I'd have like 16 months to go (not to mention I'd be birthing an elephant). :)

Playing catch up

Does it ever feel like "catch up" is the only mode available in life? Around here that is my middle name :)

School started a few weeks ago for Phillip and so far so good. We don't see him much but I suppose it makes us appreciate him when we do see him. Porter has adjusted to a new place fairly well and has taken some big steps; he now sleeps in a big boy bed (and stays put ALL night), no more bottles (I know a bit late), and he doesn't take a rag everywhere we are down to a rag at sleepy time only. If only I had accomplished so much since arriving!

I can't believe August is gone and Summer is coming to a close. I am super excited for fall but I hear fall in Wyoming lasts about 2 weeks and then we are on to winter so I am a little afraid to say goodbye to summer. The last few months of summer were good ones and we had the opportunity to spend time with a lot of family. A big thank you to everyone who we stayed with! I will recap some of the month in pictures, much more fun than me rambling...

Porter LOVED the beach! We went to Bear Lake with my family and had an awesome time. 

Then off to Wyoming to see Phillip's family. Porter was especially fond of Grandpa. But notice the clock next to him. 9pm and we are still working on getting him to bed. Yea 10 or 11 was normal bedtime this summer :(

Porter spent a lot of time in the water. He has a nasty habit of drinking the water so I try and avoid public pools, for obvious reasons. But watering the plants with grandpa was just as good, and he could do it in his pjs. 

Went to the fair and Porter was afraid of the animals, go figure. However, he was over the moon for the rides!!! So much so that taking him off the rides was painful to say the least. He threw the BIgGEsT fit I have ever seen from him every time we took him off. So my father-in-law being the good sport he is just handed the man a fist full of tickets and said "let him ride". No wonder Grandpa is Porter's favorite.

We learned a bowl full of uncooked rice could provide hours of entertainment, who knew?

This is the best updated shot of pregnant me I could find. I am just over 6 months in this pic. 

Back to SLC and to the zoo! Audri was awesome and took all 6 of her munchkin's out for a zoo day which was no easy task (see picture below). We  got to see our good friends the Becksteads from Mass. (and  failed to take a picture)... O and did I mention it was raining cats and dogs half the time. Thanks for being such a trooper Aud!  

FINALLY after a month of being apart, Phillip came home!!! We all jumped for joy; well not me but only because at my size it goes against all the rules of gravity. I was SO happy to have him back! Side note:  here is a shout out to all you moms who go it alone; so hard!!! 

Happily reunited we moved to Wyoming and celebrated our 4 year anniversary. To celebrate we unpacked boxes because that is what you do when your life is in boxes. But we documented with a picture, not a good one, but a picture to remember this crazy time. Phillip promised that next year we would celebrate 5 years with no moving. I will hold him to it.