What were we thinking?

We were at my cousin Chelsea's shower just enjoying the yummy food. Suddenly Abby decided that we needed to all eat jelly beans because none of us liked them. It wasn't too bad so she decided that we should all eat a Good and Plenty. I thought that was gross enough, but she wasn't satisfied. She said she would eat an olive with an m&m in the center and a carrot dipped in chocolate and I could eat whatever one tasted better. I reluctantly agreed. It was clear that the carrot was way better than the olive, but somehow me and Lindsey got stuck eating the olive. We made her put a pillow mint in her olive while we ate the m&m one. She said it was better than the m&m. Then my mom came over and decided she wanted to make us a yummy treat. She decided to put a pickle in an eclair. I gagged half of it down and just couldn't finish it. I swear I tried to say no to everything after the Good and Plenty, but Abby somehow got us to eat it every time. The three of us left feeling pretty sick! -Katie

thank you

Thank you Grandma Bigelow for the Valentine's package. Conrad LOVED the gifts!

"I need"

Whenever Conrad wants anything you can expect to hear "I need" come from him. It's amazing how many times one little boy thinks he needs something in a day. For Christmas Conrad got some Lego Duplos from my parents. My sisters and I loved playing with legos growing up so I was pretty excited to have some in my house!

Pretty much every morning Conrad comes out of his room with his legos. On the front of the tupper is a picture of a plane. He always points at it and out comes, "I need". I build him his plane that he destroys quickly and we repeat that until I am sick of building it. When I'm not building the plane, he is building tall towers. He yells "mama" for me to look and we say "wow" together. He loves to show me every addition he makes to his tower. I now have over $300 of Lego Duplos in my cart so that we can add windows, doors, and anything else you can imagine to our creations. The hard part is convincing Ransom that I "need" that many legos! -Katie

Parenting

I've always known that I wanted to raise good, honest, sweet, kind, hardworking, amazing kids. I just don't know how to do it! I struggle to know what Conrad can understand, what is normal 2 year old behavior, what do I need to worry about, and the list goes on and on. I finally decided to get some help. I've watched the Supernanny show a few times and I love the way she disciplines and how she finds the reason for the bad behavior. I ordered a couple of her books on amazon and they finally came in the mail the other day. I've only read a few pages, but I'm so excited to learn a little more about how to be a parent. I can definitely tell this will help Ransom and I with the frustrations we have. We were so lucky to get Conrad because I think he is naturally good so now we will know how to hopefully keep him that way and be the parents he deserves! -Katie

Diapers

We have found too many of these laying around the house lately. Conrad has definitely learned how to take his diaper off. Most the time he will take off one side and coming running in saying, "ewww". One night Conrad came and laid by Ransom and when Ransom woke up in the morning he noticed Conrad didn't have a diaper on, but luckily no accident! -Katie

EMT - Basic

Ransom took a Basic EMT class last summer for firefighting. He had to practice a lot and my mom was definitely his best patient! He passed his practical exam after the class, but had to schedule the written part of the test on his own. He finally scheduled it right after Christmas and passed! The other day all these goodies came in the mail for him. I am so proud of him! Next summer he gets to take the next level of EMT class and then start Paramedic school in the fall. -Katie

Big Boy Bed

I've been looking on ksl a lot for a bed for Conrad. I wanted a bed that had drawers and shelves because one day there will be 2 kids in one room so we need all the storage we can get! I've found a few that I've liked, but they've always sold before we could do anything about it. On Thursday night I was looking at ksl and I found a bed for $65 that included a mattress. It was in their guest room so it was rarely used which made me feel good about the mattress. Ransom told me to call, but I told him it was 9:30 so we should probably wait until tomorrow so he called. The lady said it was first come first serve. Ransom quickly started calling people with trucks so he could get it that night. His uncle Kevin was nice enough to let him borrow his truck and his cousins (Tanner and Courtney) were nice enough to go with him to help get it. By the time he got home I think it was around midnight. I'm so lucky to have Ransom!

We still need to buy sheets and I'm in the process of making him a dinosaur quilt that will hopefully get done in his lifetime! We were hoping he would sleep through the whole night in his bed, but as usual he woke up in the middle of the night to come into bed with us. I am such a deep sleeper that I don't even know he is in bed with us until I wake up in the morning and he's usually right by me. Last night I actually heard him coming and took him back to his bed and fell asleep with him for a little bit. It was so much nicer sleeping on a twin than a baby mattress! He's just been sleeping on the baby mattress on his floor so it just feels so nice to have him on a bed and especially a bed that didn't break the bank! Even if he doesn't like sleeping on it, he loved to have me watch him jump on it all day yesterday. -Katie

He kept covering his face because the flash was too bright.

After he would say "eyes". It was pretty cute!

Looking out the Window

I was making fresh lemonade for Lindsey's birthday dinner and I noticed Conrad staring out the window (we have our blinds down on our front windows except for a a foot at the bottom because he loves to watch Ransom come home from work) and talking a lot of jibberish. He would be so happy and then he would look puzzled and frustrated. He came and grabbed me to look with him. It happened to be a little construction vehicle that our neighbors across the street had working at their house. He loved watching it move, but the second it would stop he would look at me so sad. Sometimes it would go out of sight for a little bit and he would freak out with lots of jibberish (later that night I found out he was trying to say "where is it?"). When it came back he would open his mouth like he does when he is so excited.

We sat there watching it for at least 30 minutes until it was gone. It took him a while, but I finally got him distracted with a bunny book and then got him to take his nap. As soon as he woke up from his nap he went right back to the window looking for it. I wonder how long it will take before he forgets about it completely! I don't think I've ever seen anything capture his attention for this long. -Katie

Baby's First Picture

I remember when I was pregnant with Conrad and getting my first ultrasound. I wasn't ready for this new step in life and was having a rough time. I remember taking one look at the baby on the screen and I fell in love. That one little picture made me feel so much better. I knew I had no idea how to be a mom and take care of a baby, but I knew I loved that baby.

Today we went for my first visit to the doctor. I made sure Ransom could be there because I knew they would do an ultrasound. I had fears of them telling me that there was no baby or that there were 2 (Ransom kept telling me we were having twins - scared me to death!). I was so happy to see that 1 little tiny baby on the screen. I love this baby too. There is something so special about being able to see the tiny baby growing inside of you. I have many fears of being the mother of 2, but I have my little picture to look at to put a smile on my face whenever I need it.

I am officially due Sept. 6, Labor Day. My doctor told me that was a very fitting day to have a baby. I am starting to show a lot sooner than I would like or as my mom tells me, "Wow you really are getting thick". In 10 more weeks we get to find out if we are having a boy or girl! I can't wait so I can start buying fabric for all the projects I want to make and will hopefully finish a few of them! -Katie

Ok it's my turn to write about today. I was really excited to see our new little one so I took a half day and went with Katie to the doctor. I pretty much just chased Conrad around for an hour and then the ultrasound lady wanted to do the world's shortest ultrasound! But it was awesome to see that tiny little person and it's perfectly healthy. I was very happy and I am proud of Katie. -Rans

our little baby at 10 weeks