Backyard Summer

I love summertime! Now that we have a yard, my favorite moments are sitting in the shade while Brian does yard work and Porter helps him or plays around him. It's so nice and peaceful!

Even though we're renting, Brian's put a lot of work into our yard since we plan to be here for another year. It seriously looked so awful when we moved in. But we've since put in a garden and planted lots of different bushes and shrubs. Brian took out a jungle of weeds on one side of the yard and put in beauty bark and pavers and everything just looks so nice now. I told him he was crazy when he started doing all these projects . . . because we are renting. But I can admit now that it was totally worth it!

Five Days

My delivery for Baby Lucy is scheduled for this coming Monday, June 18th.  At last!

Which means that . . .

in five days, our little family will be grown from 3 to 4.

in five days, I'll be holding a sweet, little baby girl in my arms. So curious to see what she looks like!

in five days, Porter's going to see that the baby we're always talking about is more than a giant bump in my tummy. Won't he be surprised!

We are SO excited and can't wait to meet our baby girl!

Anyone recognize this location? We took a Sunday walk around campus- I love it when it's empty!

In the meantime, there's much to get done:

1. Pack a hospital bag (probably should've done that sooner, I know!)

2. Stock up on groceries and diapers (it's bad enough leaving the house with one kid- NO way I want to try running errands with two anytime soon!)

3. (related to number 2) Find out how people possibly get by with 2 kids. My day is FULL keeping up with Porter. How on Earth does that work out??! I know it must because I see several people with more than one kid. But HOW?!

4. Get a manicure.

5. Get crafty- I have fabric to sew some burp cloths that I haven't gotten around to yet.

6. Sleep- seriously all I want to do these days. Wish Porter took 3 naps a day.

7. Clean/organize classroom: my original plan was to have everything set for next year before the baby came. But I haven't had time till this week . . . and somehow I've lost my motivation (see #6). But that's still on the list because I'm not sure how I'll get it done when I have 2 kids instead of 1 (see #3).

Summer Break!

Last Friday was my last day of school which means I am officially on summer break. And I love it! We got in a ton of family time over the weekend and now I'm getting to spend my days with Porter-- which is just how I like it!

Here are some highlights from my summer break so far . . .

We took Porter to a local fun center place- he rode the rides all by himself. SUCH a big boy! I thought he'd cry, but he didn't. He's growing up SO fast.

Went mini-golfing. Porter's a natural!

Had a Memorial Day bbq with my mom & little sister. Brian & I spent the day trying out new pie recipes for the occasion- Brian made a raspberry pie & I made a chocolate cream. They were both very delicious and worth all the effort. The night before, my little sis and I had seen a picture on Pinterest about cutting a watermelon this way. So when we got a watermelon for dinner, we just had to try it. Isn't that funny?!

Porter spends lots of time outside now that it's warmer (don't know what we'd do without a fenced backyard!). Since he loves it so much, I like to put him to work watering the flowers & plants. He does a great job!

I just had to include a picture of this. On the last day of school, this little boy brought me a hand-carved knife with my name burnt into it. It really is SO cool. The other side is gorgeous too- it has more designs and says "I love you, Mrs. Nye." How thoughtful! And the thing is, I feel so hard-core now that I have this . . . like I could hold my own in a room full of scouts or something! Weird, I know!

The Windy City

A couple weeks ago, I went to Chicago to attend the IRA (International Reading Association) Conference. Because of some work I'm doing with my school district, they sent me there. It was busy, busy, busy, and wonderful! I had hoped I'd get to see more of the city, but the conference kept my schedule pretty packed. Instead, I just got to enjoy the views from my hotel room on the 45th floor. And I got to know the restaurants surrounding the hotel pretty well too. So as far as that block of Chicago goes, I think it's a pretty nice place!

 I also got to know some lovely ladies from my school district while I was there. I think there were 9 of us from our district that went. They definitely took me under their wing and watched out for me in my super-pregnant state while I was there.

Traveling while pregnant isn't so bad . . . I sleep as poorly as I would at home and lifting my suitcase around is no worse than carrying Porter. But because I get SO stinkin' huge while I'm pregnant, the hard part is hearing all the whispers behind me as I walk to my seat on the plane and the captain coming out of the cockpit with huge eyes telling the rest of my group that we better not be delivering a baby on this flight. I know I'm huge. I just sometimes get tired of explaining to everyone that I'm not really that close to delivery.

The conference was amazing. It was pretty exciting to see so many "big" people in the education field all in one place. If I were to list names, you probably would've never heard of them. But I have, and it was exciting to see them and actually listen to presentations given by them! Another highlight was the authors. I'm a little obsessed with children's books. At this conference, they brought in several authors to do book signings. I've never been big into things like that. But while I was there, I got this great idea to build up a library of books for Porter and Lucy signed by these authors. I didn't get many though, since I chose to go to the classes more often than I chose to wait in line for an hour to meet an author.

Finally, after 4 days, I boarded the plane to go back home. As much fun as I had, I could not wait to get back. I was miserable being away from Porter and Brian. I didn't think it would affect me so badly, but it did. We had the fortune of flying out of and into the Provo Airport. Instead of driving an hour to Salt Lake, this airport is just down the street. I can't tell you how nice it is to get off the plane and be home in less than 10 minutes. So wonderful!

 Porter and Brian were right there on the tarmac to meet me when I got off my flight. I was SO happy to see them! I don't plan on leaving like that again for a long while. I missed them too much!

By the way, please excuse the crummy photos-- I used my phone camera for the whole trip!

L is for Lucy

That's her name. I've known that would be her name for years. But Brian's only been able to say it with certainty for a couple months. He took a bit longer to come around to it. I know most people wait to announce the baby's name until he/she arrives, but we know it's her name and we already call her Lucy, so it's not a very big secret for us. The jury's still out on her middle name- we're having a much more difficult time deciding.

Originally, I planned to do the nursery in pink. I even bought all the pink buttons for the monogram wall art seen above. But all of Porter's nursery decorations were green-- and we purposely bought them unisex. So to save time, stress, and money, I recently gave up my dreams of a pink nursery and bought green buttons instead. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end- better than having a half-finished nursery and a stressed-out mommy! Because let's face it, when would I really have time to sew the pink, ruffled crib skirt I imagined (when I don't sew very well and won't be out of school for another month)? And how can I justify spending over $150 on the curtains I just had to have to match the crib skirt? I'm sure she'll be just as happy and beautiful in her green nursery as in a pink one.

Investment

Back in March, Brian spent all his birthday money on a mini trampoline for Porter. At the time, I thought he was a bit crazy-- especially since there were plenty of things I knew he wanted for himself AND it was still snowy when he bought it. But he waited till winter was mostly over, then set it up. And I quickly realized just how wrong I was to judge him for this purchase!

This has already been the greatest investment-- and it's not even summer yet! Porter spends so much time out in the backyard playing on this thing. The size is perfect for him and it's pretty safe with the nets and all. He has been so happy and has finally had an outlet for all of his pent-up energy (and let me tell you, that kid has a TON of energy).

I'm grateful I have a husband who likes to spoil our son so much that we happen upon these great investments!

Hey, Baby!

Here's a tummy picture. I'm almost 7 months pregnant. That means over 2 more months of growing. :) Everyone assumes I'm about to pop any day. Nope. When they find out I'm not 9 months pregnant, they often ask if I'm having twins. Nope. Funny thing is, I actually feel like I'm smaller with this one than I was with Porter. I guess I just get rather large- which is no wonder since Porter was such a big baby . . . and I'm sure this one will be too!

My 1st graders have stopped telling me how fat I am everyday. But . . . they have moved on to a new, rather embarrassing quirk. They like to tell the baby hello when they come each day. When some of my little boys see me in the hall before school or when they're walking into the classroom, they usually ignore my hello, then tell my tummy "Hey, Baby!" It sounds cute and all. But it's not so cute when you think of how it might look to a parent or other teacher walking in the hall who doesn't realize they're talking to my tummy and not me! I panic every time they say it!

Porter's starting to call my tummy "Baby" too. That one's pretty cute, though. I love that he's becoming aware of a new baby coming to the family. We are all so excited to meet her!

An Easter Post

I swear holidays get better and better as Porter gets older. It's so much more fun to have holiday traditions when he's actually becoming aware of what's going on around him.

This Easter, I took Porter to the Saturday morning egg hunt at a local park. TONS of people, but it was lots of fun. We didn't go for the whole thing, so we missed the Easter Bunny. But we got to see and pet baby animals and hunt for Easter eggs with the thousands of other people crammed into that park! Luckily, I had my mom and little brother there for back-up. My mom took Porter to collect his Easter eggs. She said at first he tried to pick up eggs and put them in other kids' baskets for them. Such a funny boy!

On Saturday evening, we dyed & painted our Easter eggs.

Sunday morning, Porter woke up to find yarn strung all the way through the house, leading to his hidden Easter basket. I think he liked the yarn more than the basket! I intended to have him do an Easter egg hunt in our backyard before church-- but we ran out of time. I also planned to take pictures of him in his Easter outfit-- but that didn't quite work out either. Oh well! He was cute, you'll have to take my word for it!

After church, we went to Brian's parents' house for a family dinner and another egg hunt. Aunt Katie helped Porter find his eggs this time.

While we were there, Grandpa Nye brought out his 4-wheeler with a trailer and pulled all the grandkids around the backyard. I cannot even tell you how delighted Porter was as he was on this "ride." He was in heaven and would have gone for hours if he could have!

And here's our official Easter family photo:

Porter throwing a tantrum, Brian trying to fake a smile, and me being stubborn about everyone sitting together for a nice family picture. Oh well- maybe we'll get a good one next year!

Little Moments

Yesterday, I watched Porter squeal for joy, then glue himself to the window to watch the garbage truck come by to pick up the trash.

Earlier, I helped him open up our caterpillars that came in the mail (part of our butterfly-growing kit). He was so excited to watch the "buz" (bugs) move all around the cup and just had to carry them around, ever so carefully, for quite some time.

And while I was folding laundry in his room, I couldn't help but smile at his leg-kicking position as he played with the iPod on his old crib, waiting for me to finish so we could play.

All those moments yesterday (plus a hundred more) made me so grateful that I have this week off to enjoy every minute of the day with my little boy. But it also made me a little sad. These little moments are happening every day while I'm gone. I hate that I'm missing out on these things. And while I absolutely love teaching my first-graders how to read and write and be responsible citizens, I think I'd rather be home blowing bubbles with Porter.

Hopefully, my stay-at-home-mommy days will come soon. And when the day does come, I really hope I remember to enjoy all of these little moments and not take them for granted.

Potty Training: Day 1

Being on Spring Break this week, I figured I wouldn't get a better time to potty train Porter. And so yesterday we began. I tried to do this "Potty-Training in One Day" method that I found on Pinterest. We made it to 1:30 before I gave up.

The method was really great and Porter did learn a lot from our morning, but he didn't quite respond the way that was expected when using this method. He wore the underpants all morning and learned that it's bad to go pee pee on the floor (and in the underpants, and on the chairs, and everywhere around the house!). But the part he didn't quite get was how to overcome his fear of actually going in the toilet. So I ended up with a little boy sobbing by the toilet, trying not to go potty where he wasn't supposed to and scared to death of going potty where he was supposed to. It was heart-wrenching. So I finally got out a diaper and put him down for his nap. He (and I) slept for 3 hours, then woke up just as Brian was coming home.

After venting to Brian about our long, unsuccessful day, Brian and Porter went upstairs and I started vacuuming. Within minutes, I heard Brian shouting over the vacuum sound to come upstairs because Porter just went potty. I didn't believe him . . . but it was true! After months of me trying to convince Porter that it's fun to sit on a toilet and an entire morning of practicing . . . every . . . 15 . . . minutes, he finally went -- for Brian. Of course!

So I've decided to give it another shot. We'll try again today- maybe with a few adjustments and hopefully less tears. Wish me luck!