Time for an Update!

This is our 200th blog post! About time, right? So, you may be wondering, "What are the Allemans up to?" Well, I'm glad you asked. Things have changed a lot for us over the last 9-10 months or so. Here are some highlights (and I'm doing this in chronological order, not in order of importance, lest you think I've tried to downplay anything in particular):

We had a family reunion for Carina's side in July 2012. Lots of fun in the sun, visiting, eating, game-playing, and other sorts. It was great to get the whole family together for the first time in a long time--we got some good pictures of everyone, too. Of course, there are now two more grandkids in the family, so those pictures are already outdated!

Cody got a job in October! He's a contract employee working for the Department of Justice up at the US Attorney's office in SLC. The commute is long and arduous, but he is getting some great experience and we are so grateful. He's been there almost six months now, and only time will tell if he will remain there for much longer (depends on the government budget talks).

At 2:10pm on November 8th, 2012, we welcomed little Micah LaVell Alleman into our family. He was 8 lbs 8 oz, 21 inches long, and had about as much hair as his brother did (i.e. not much). Here's our first picture as a family of four (I'll post more in a separate post ):

In December, Cody officially finished his Bachelor's Degree. It was a long, hard road, full of twists and turns, but he's finally done and we are so very excited that he's DONE.

Also in December, Joshua turned 5 (wow). This kid wears size 7 or 8 and towers over his peers. He's just as lovable as ever, of course. He also had the privilege of attending the BYU Preschool for the past year, which is an excellent program. Each block was dedicated to a specific subject, so he got to learn about shapes, fish/sharks, babies, and spiders. It ended just last week. He'll start kindergarten this fall, which is just weird, but hey, life goes on...

I continue working at BYU for the Political Science Department and doing transcription in the evenings, though I've cut back a little bit on that because my time is so limited (who knew I'd be so busy with two kids? :P). I'm glad to have my lunch breaks back at work, since I was using them to pick up Joshua and bring him back to BYU for preschool every day.

That's about it for our little family. Joshua adores being a big brother and still loves Angry Birds (especially the Star Wards variety) and Mario Kart. Micah is a hefty 5-month-old who has the cutest smile and enjoys practicing his new-found rolling over skills both day and night. Cody and Carina try to hold it together and enjoy our boys as much as we can. I'll put up a couple more posts in the next few days with pictures. In the meantime, here's one of my favorites to tide you over:

Cheers!

A Baby Brother!!!

We were able to have another ultrasound yesterday to check up on baby's growth--and right there, as plain as day, the tech (a different one from last time) told us she is 100% sure that it's a BOY! Joshua is getting a baby brother!!! And because I know you all love to see fuzzy ultrasound pictures, I'm posting the four we got. I tried scanning them at work, but the scanner/copier is horrible and came out way too dark (even after changing the settings), so I took pictures of the pictures with my cell phone, which explains why there are flash reflections and the pages look like they're somewhat curling (because they were). Anyway, here are some pictures of little Bobinazinho!!!

First up, his arm...

 His manhood...

 His face...

 And his leg...

Isn't he cute? Okay, so maybe you can't tell yet. But he will be cute. Oh, yes, he will.

 

I need to go out in the garage and pull out all the little boy clothes. Hopefully they will fit him and coincide with the seasons. Since he's due just six weeks before Joshua was born, most of them should work. I can't remember how stained or stretched out they are, though...and I'm sure we'll need some new onesies and things like that.

I feel him moving a lot throughout the day, just little pokes and things. He especially likes to bounce on my cervix--sorry if that's TMI, but it is reality and it just feels...weird. It's like he's trying to find his way out already, but he better not make an appearance for at least a couple more months! Anyway. Both Cody and Joshua have felt him at least once, so that's fun. He seems to be most active between 11pm and 12am, which bodes extremely well for our future sleep plans (end sarcasm). Haven't had any horrible heartburn yet--crossing my fingers--and no swollen fingers or feet yet! I meet with my doctor tomorrow to the monthly checkup. I can't believe I'm just a few weeks away from the 3rd trimester.

So, that's our little guy! I'm wondering if he'll look just like Cody and Joshua or if I'll get a little dark-haired kiddo like me. Either way, he will be so very loved. Can't wait to meet you, Bobinazinho!

June Shenanigans

So, what have we been up to lately, you ask? Well, I for one am simply loving the nice weather we have been having. I've taken to eating my lunch outside on the grass underneath a shade tree, and it's just...so beautiful! I just have to stay away from all the places on campus where EFY kids like to congregate :)

We went mini golfing with my sisters (+ sister's family) a couple Saturdays ago. We got some good pictures, so I figured I would post them here for all to admire. First up, we've got Maggie looking stylish in her mom's sunglasses:

I started to get a little weak towards the end (still haven't noticed a huge difference with the iron pills, but hopefully soon!), so I went to go rest on the benches while Uncle Rich and Aunt Brianne helped Joshua finish up the holes:

 Maggie sure did love that ball and playing with the flags!

 I just love his face here. It's almost a grimace :P

 He got pretty good towards the end of it!

And I had to post a couple of bath pictures. I tried my best to make them modest...it was actually Joshua's idea to take a picture with all his bath toys, and he just happened to gather them in a very strategic place :P Isn't his farmer's tan great? It looks even darker in reality.

Oh, and a picture of myself, because there aren't any in the above ones. Yup, that's me. Aren't I one hot mama? :P

 Life continues on for the Alleman clan! We're looking forward to summer, that's for sure :)



Plugging Along

I think it's pretty much general knowledge now that yes, we are expecting a baby this fall. I'm almost 16 weeks and had a checkup yesterday. Things are looking good. Baby's heartbeat was a steady 150 (normal is 120-180, so right in the middle). My BP was very slightly elevated, but the doctor didn't say anything about it--and she knows my history of pre-eclampsia, so if it was worrisome, I'm sure she would have brought it up. They've already done a baseline check for protein in my urine (sorry, gross, I know) and it was normal, so that's good. My iron levels are low, though, which is understandable considering the current anatomy of my stomach, so I've been put on an iron supplement. Maybe this will help with the frequent dizzy spells I have.

Assuming all goes well and I don't have to change the appointment for some reason, we have set June 18th as the date that we will have the 20-week ultrasound to check that everything is going well with baby--and to hopefully find out if Joshua is getting a brother or a sister! So excited for that one. We will be sure to keep everyone in the know.

 This morning, we were all laying in our bed together--Joshua gets up right at 7am every morning (we've established the rule that he can't get up until the first number on his clock is a 7, so sure enough, 7:00:01am, he's calling out for us--I wonder what time he actually wakes up? Anyway...), and we often just snuggle together in bed for a few minutes before we get up and get ready to leave for the day. Joshua looked over and saw my body pillow on the floor and asked why I didn't have that on the bed. I responded that I had put it on the floor to make room for the four of us in the bed. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Mommy, there are only THREE of us!" And he proceeded to count himself, Mommy, and Daddy, "One, two, three..." at which point I pulled up the blanket and pointed to my lower belly and said, "Four!" The look on his face was priceless! "Oh, yeah! I forgot about the baby!" And he proceeded to giggle and smile for the next little while. It was cute.

Joshua is very interested in knowing how big the baby is. I have a pregnancy app on my phone that, each week, says the baby is the size of X fruit (it's been the size of a kumquat, a lime, a fig, an apple...) so he always asks me what fruit it is. He gets shy when asked if he wants a brother or sister, though he originally claimed he wanted a sister, most likely thanks to living so close to his cousin Maggie. He's going to be a great big brother.

So, things are moving along with the Alleman clan. I continue working my two jobs, Cody is taking two classes this semester and doing an unpaid internship at a local law firm to get his last internship credit, and Joshua loves daycare but is excited for preschool to start in a month. Life is hard but good!

30, Flirty, and Thriving

So, I turned 30 on Saturday. It doesn't feel much different from 29, although changing the first digit in my age is kinda odd, considering I haven't done that in 10 years. I'm convinced this next decade is going to be even more awesome than the last, which will be hard to top.

How did I spend the actual day, you ask? Well, first I got up and spent some one-on-one time with Joshua, which I (almost) always love. Then I pampered myself with a pedicure at Bonny Nails (I think this should be a yearly tradition) and came home to a completely clean kitchen--one of my birthday presents from my sweet husband. Thank you, my love!

We next loaded up in my sister's van and we all drove down to the BYU Games Center for...bowling! Joshua had never been "real" bowling before, but we figured he'd have fun since he loves it on the Wii. Even with bumpers, my scores were abysmal, but I blame the fact that it had been probably at least five years, mayb six, and I was out of practice.

After bowling, we spent some time at the Lees' while Maggie got a nap, and then we loaded up again and went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner :) Quite tasy! Chicken, sweet potato, part of a roll...yummy stuff. I think Joshua ate like four rolls in addition to his hot dog and some corn. Oh, and I made sure they didn't sing to me. At least, they didn't offer and I didn't volunteer the information that it was my birthday.

We then went back to the Lees' and had birthday cake. Kirsti was sweet enough to bake it for me (Cody was fine with letting her do that, since his baking prowess is a little lacking), and it was absolutely delicoius--carrot cake recipe courtesy of my sister-in-law Shelly. SO good. Cody and I finished up the night watching Thor on our couch, with me sleeping through some of it and going to bed shortly thereafter. So, all in all, a very good day :)

I'm sure you want to see pictures, so here are a few (gotta get some from Kirsti on their camera, as my phone battery died by the end of the day).

First up, Cody and Joshua bowling together. I love Joshua's pose as he watches his ball sloooowly make it down the lane:

I love this kid!

Me bowling...yeah, I'm going so fast it's blurry. But don't let that fool you. Even with bumpers, my highest score was 100. Yep.

I love having my sisters close by...at least we got one last birthday celebration together before Brianne moves away later this year. Anyway, here's Brianne, Kirsti, her husband Rich, and their daughter Maggie:

I just thought this was hilarious. Apparently Maggie loves to hang out in her toybox. She just climbed right in and sat there for a while

This is my beautiful carrot cake. I love the decoration on top (guess there wasn't room to write "Happy Birthday"):

This was actually Sunday night...Joshua said he had a headache, and the next thing I knew, he was curled up on the couch asleep. He NEVER does that. Poor kid must have celebrated too much the day before :P Doesn't he just look so sweet sleeping? I never really get to see him like this anymore. 

So, happy birthday to me! Here's to the rest of my life!

Oh, and one final thing: About two years ago, Cody and I were having a discussion about the future of our family. We've been wanting to add to our family for a while, but health and finances have been a little contrary. Well, for some reason, I told Cody that I wanted to be pregnant again by either our 5th anniversary (last August) or my 30th birthday. Well...I made it :) My birthday next year will have one more Alleman with which to celebrate...can't wait!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday this year was pretty quiet...Joshua and I enjoyed a quiet morning while Daddy slept, and then we had a pleasant late morning/early afternoon at church, where I accompanied our ward choir, which sang "Hear the Children Sing Hosana" and "Beautiful Savior." Good stuff. It felt good to focus on the Savior, and we did our best to help Joshua know the real reason we celebrate it--"Because it's the day that Jesus lives again." Yes, Joshua it is.

But of course, we had to do a little bit of the fun as well. When we got home, the Easter bunny had come and left a basket for Joshua. I love how the EB knows our son and got him an appropriate chocolate bunny.

 Look what I got!

 Aww, Mommy and Joshua :)

 Our family! 

 Love the look on his face here...

 Let's see what kind of candy is in this one...

 Heh heh...he wanted to eat just the ears from his chocolate bunny, but not before putting them by his own ears in a perfect photo op:

Hope you all had a great Easter as well!

Easter Eggs!

We colored eggs on Saturday! And I have to say, it was a lot easier than last year...only one broken egg this time around :) Joshua was much more gentle and really seemed to enjoy making them colorful. Some pictures! First off, check out that spread. I don't think we've ever gotten a box with 9 different colors in it!

 That's me drying off the eggs so we could color them...no makeup, hair in a ponytail...oh, yeah, I'm hot.

 Which color to do first?

 My two good-lookin' men! Aren't they handsome?

 I love the smile on this kid! He's so photogenic!

 I'm not sure how we'll eat all those eggs, but it was sure fun coloring them!

It was definitely a fun Saturday afternoon activity for the Alleman clan!