At the park with Grandma Astill

Every week while we were in school Grandma Rabe would come down on Tuesdays and Grandma Astill would come on Thursdays to watch and play with Mckell so Courtland and I could go to school and study. Mckell always insisted on going to the park as soon as they arrived and wanted to stay and play there all day long.
Grandma Astill took some pictures while there one day...

She loves picking flowers and tearing them up

She likes to bring her stroller to push too

She'd stay in the swings all day if you'd let her

Thank you thank you for all your help these past months both grandmas!!!

Happy Easter! And baby update...

We spent the day before easter at the Astill's, Carol made a yummy dinner. And Kell loved her easter surprise bag with eggs from grandma and grandpa Astill. They keep her entertained for hours on end and do whatever she wants- she's always in heaven when she gets to play over there.

Sunday we celebrated Easter at my parent's. Kell liked her basket and thought her new dress was 'oh tute' but her favorite was the suckers- kids love the simplest things.

Grandma and Papa Rabe had a easter egg hunt for her which I think went a lot better than the one in Provo. But of course all she was interested in was the candy- the girl was definitely on a sugar high all weekend!

A little update on baby boy Astill:

When I went in for my 38 week appointment I was dilated to a one, which was surprising to me since with Mckell I was never anything until I went into labor on my own AFTER my due date. So I was excited thinking maybe I'd be lucky and this baby would be coming early. But I think he'll be taking his time. At my 39 week appointment- still just at a one. So the plan is to possibly get induced on Monday May 2nd. We'll see how things go!

We've just been packing and cleaning the past few days getting ready to move up to Layton for a few weeks before we're off to New Jersey and beach living! I'm surprised all the stress and craziness the past few weeks hasn't put me into labor let along all the work of packing and cleaning, but I guess I can wait a little longer.

As for names because everyone keeps asking- at first forever I liked Porter, Reed, and Colter (not so sure Courtland really loved any of them). And Courtland likes Taber (REALLY?!), not going to happen. Courtland has also suggested Tucker and Jack, now put both names with our last name of Astill- yeah not going to happen though both would be funny options.

So our current favorites are Joshua, Jason, and Michael (that one might be too much like Mckell though) with Courtland as the middle name. But who knows! I have to see this baby before I can give him a name and knowing me, we'll probably come up with something we've never thought of before at the last minute like we did with Mckell.

My dad took this picture with his phone to send to the siblings- yes every pregnant girls hope to be sending out mass pictures of their fat state to everyone. Anyway, here I am at 38.5 weeks along.

Provo Easter Egg Hunt

We took Kell to her first Easter egg hunt and she loved it. Her favorite part was the Easter bunny- I thought she'd be scared, but to our surprise she didn't want to leave him.

There were hundreds of people there- it was pretty crazy. They had a section for kids under two but it was hard for Mckell to get many eggs because it was the parents who were going crazy.

But she still had fun and was excited about the eggs she got.

After we went up to sugarhouse to visit Gr. Grandma Jeane. Mckell was exhausted from the easter egg hunt and didn't get much of a nap so she wasn't in the best mood. We decided to visit Jeane again a couple days later for lunch when Mckell was happier. And looks like we'll need another visit soon- didn't get any pictures.

We made it! Graduation.. at 38 weeks prego!

WE DID IT!

We finally are graduates! I can't even describe how good that feels and I can't believe I made it because I honestly didn't know if I would.

Courtland graduated with his masters in accounting and me with my bachelors in accounting from the top accounting program in the nation... and that's my moment of bragging- ha. What can I say- I'm one happy mamma- soon to be of two kidos!

Grandpa Astill kept Mckell entertained the whole time letting her pretty much do whatever she wanted- We're so lucky our kids have such amazing and loving grandparents.

My parents- they're probably just as surprised I made! Thanks for pushing me to finish! And a big special thanks to my mom and Courtland's mom for coming down each week to help watch Mckell so we could get through our last semester in piece!

Thanks to Courtland's parents for raising such a smart son and pushing him to work hard!

Showing off my 38 week belly- I made it!

Date night out with Kell

We went for a night out on the town- Kell was ready to get out.

She looks just like her daddy- such a cute little thing!

Loving her big girl carseat.

She always says 'weee' like she's on a ride.

She went on a carousel ride- she loves horses and it was hard to get her off.

Then we went to my favorite- Chili's! I love the chicken crispers- and Kell liked my corn on the cob.

Kell always finds the camera and asks to say cheese then she likes to look at her picture and say 'oh cute.'

Mckell blurbs

I know how lucky I have been with Mckell- she has really been the best baby, so easy going, and every parent's dream child- seriously (she's been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 weeks old and has been taking two, two hours naps a day with sleeping about 12 hours at night)! Side note, I know I'm probably doomed with this next baby- I can't have two good ones in a row! ha
But she finally has decided to retire to just one nap a day- it's still over 3 hours long though!
Today she was contently playing in her room and suddenly came into the living room and said, "go na-night peas"- what parent wouldn't love this child? And two seconds later she was down for her afternoon marathon nap. Oh and of course the "thank you, ba-bye" after I put her in her crib.

One other cute thing she did today:
We were sitting on the couch looking at pictures in my old phone and she saw a picture of Lucy. So she yelled out, "come here now wucy" and patted her knees doing kisses to tell Lucy to come. When Lucy came, she grabbed her face and gave her big kisses on her nose and mouth- she just loves our little dog.. well that is when she's not chasing her around torturing the poor thing.

Mckell moments..

Fun facts about this little 1 1/2 year old:

Mckell's 18 month check-up stats:
weight: 20lbs 11oz, 6.2%
height: 31.5", 46.3%
head circumference: 17.9", 22%

She's getting really smart- when she realizes it's time for bed she starts saying everything she can think of to not go to bed such as, 'eat' 'drink' 'go' 'mazie' (dog next door that she loves playing with) 'side' (for outside) 'bath' 'barney' 'elmo' and my absolute favorite and hard not to give into 'nuggle' (for snuggle). Then when we actually lay her down in her crib she always says, 'thank you, na-night' how cute is she!

A new word she says not quite right: fork but she says f*** (we're going to have to work on that!)

She loves the tub and once she's in, it's extremely hard to get her out (we sometimes resort to bribing her to get out, is that bad?)

She insists on being outside practically all day long- so we have to be VERY careful when using the words 'go' and 'outside' at our house because once you've said it, she demands that's what we do. For example if you say, "go get your toy" you've said the word 'go' and she immediately runs to the door and says 'go' and if you then say no, she gets VERY upset.

Below is a picture grandma Astill sent us on her phone

The park a block from our apartment that we visit daily- notice Lucy in the background, whenever other little kids try to play with her Mckell runs over to protect her and tells the other kids 'no no!' I guess Lucy is just for her to play with..

As every parent knows, when it gets quiet that means your child is up to no good! So when we were watching the BYU basketball game we realized it was suddenly way too quiet and Mckell wasn't competing for our attention so I shout from the living room, "Mckell what are you doing?" And her reply is "no no, messy messy" and of course that can't be good so this is what we find...

She got a bag of cheese left out from dinner and was throwing it all over the kitchen and when I tried sweeping it up, she quickly began shoving as much as she could in her mouth- such a funny girl!

And my favorite- this is a video of Mckell snoring up a storm which she most definitely got from her daddy!

Sad thing is she was out cold after a long night of no sleep and an ER visit. She turned 18 months on Tuesday and started out the day going to the ER at 4am. She had a temperature the day before but we had lost the thermometer and didn't know how high it was. So after she went to bed I went to the store to get one. On her fourth time waking up in the night just before 4am, she woke up saying eat, which I think she said because her tummy hurt and threw up all over. And when I took off her jammies her arms, legs, and bum were bright bright red and burning hot- which I'd never seen before and I took her temperature and it was 104.1! My doctor had told me if her temp is ever over 103 then take her immediately in, so that's what we did. But at the ER they didn't really say anything (practically making me feel like an idiot for bringing her in) and we went back home. This frustrates me so bad because my doctor made it seem like such a high temp was extremely dangerous and the ER made it seem like no big deal- so which is it??

Anyway, she is better now and her body was probably just working something out and that was it's defense.

So the video is Mckell that morning pasted out from exhaustion of a long night and it does not do her justice to how loud she actually was. I wish I would have got her on video when she actually woke me up- I thought she was having a hard time breathing and startled me until I realized she was just snoring- ha! So I adjusted her position which made the snoring a lot better and that's what the video is.

Side note- she insisted on sleeping with us that night saying 'nuggle' every time I tried putting her back in her crib. She also HAD to be touching the whole time, every time I was certain she was out cold I would reposition and if we weren't still touching she would wake up and scoot closer to me- pretty cute, she definitely gets that from me- I'm a snuggler. So we ended up with about 3 hours of sleep between Courtland and I and a full day of school ahead- not a fun day for turning 1 1/2 years old!

32 weeks

For the record books, my 32 week picture (14 lbs gained).. oh the ever growing belly! Love being prego!

So many changes coming our way . . .

I think if I just write about all the changes that would stress a normal person out past their limits will help so I don't have to stress about them.

1) 7 weeks: Courtland and I both graduate from BYU! And let me say just thinking about it makes me cry because it has been a long time coming for me- I have been in school WAY too long! Courtland is getting his master's and I'm getting my bachelor's- both in accounting.

2) 7-8 weeks: We have to put all our stuff into storage for the summer, clean our apartment, and move out up to my parents

3) 8 weeks: Our baby boy will make his debut! My doctor said if all is well he'll take me a week early- but my actual due date is May 5th. (I'm actually hoping just maybe he'll come two weeks early on his own and my professors will just give me a pass on my finals- ha! I do go to BYU but probably not likely..)

4) 9 weeks: Courtland will move to New Jersey to start our last summer of 'summer sales'

5) 12 weeks: Mckell, baby boy, and I will join Courtland in New Jersey for the rest of the summer (until about the end of August)

6) end of August: We will drive back from New Jersey, purchase a second car at some point, get all our stuff out of storage, and move to San Jose, CA.

7) September: Courtland will start working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) full time- (which if you know about the big four is way more than full time which applies to me as well)

8) October: I will start working for Ernst & Young (EY) full time.

So many huge changes are fast approaching and I have so many mixed feelings it's just easier not to think about it and let it happen as it comes. Life truly never does slow down, it just brings new adventures and challenges at every step of the way!

30 weeks

My 30 week update picture (12lbs gained)- pretty sure I'm bigger than I was with Mckell . . . But as Courtland now knows- I'M the only one allowed to say that! ha

This pregnancy has been completely night and day compared to when I was prego with Kell. I swear I've felt this baby moving since like 8 weeks- which I'm pretty sure is impossible, but he is SO DANG ACTIVE. He is constantly kicking and squirming around- even waking me up in the night from all the moving. I don't really remember not being able to sleep until about 37 weeks with Kell, and it's already super uncomfortable just in general all the time (maybe because of the bigger thing). I constantly have heartburn and eat tums like they're candy and before rarely had heartburn. I want to eat all the time, where with Kell I never felt like eating. I was much MUCH sicker with this boy (I started feeling better with Kell at about 14 weeks) not feeling better until about 22 weeks this time around. My skin is always burning like it's been stretched way past it's limits and looks like I got rug burn. . . and on and on- Oh the joys of pregnancy! But I am so excited to meet this little man so soon and can see the end coming- I am especially curious to see if he looks more like me and is chubby like I was. . . hopefully not though- I really don't want to birth a big baby- Kell was the perfect size at 6lbs 15oz.

One of the many faces of Mckell

Because we had no school President's Day- Courtland went ice fishing with some friends. One thing I have learned about Courtland since we've been married is that he LOVES to fish, who knew?

Courtland insisted on taking this picture and the only reason I'm posting it is because there is a story. . . he is OBSESSED with this hat. I never knew what a big deal a hat could be. It took three different mall visits to finally decide on it and is brought up in our conversations at least twice a day- pretty soon it's going to magically disappear! ha (and I'm sure all of you are scratching your heads wondering what I am talking about- you just don't want to know!)

Some people have started saying Kell's looking more like her mamma- but I still don't see it. I think she's all Courtland, with a bit of my sassy personality!

This girl LOVES bath time- she runs to the tub anytime it's mentioned and tries to get in on her own (once actually getting in and falling on her head- ouch).

Don't mind me in the pic, but this is what happens when you tell Kell no- big alligator tears, it's as if you just broke her little heart, which makes it so tempting to just give into what ever she wants- we're in trouble for sure!