chet: mom, i need a hug.

pam: did you say you need a hug?

chet: ya.

pam: i would love to give you a hug!

i love this boy.

3 little pictures that make me smile.

i must say, thank you so much for all the concern for our baby.

i did not post about our labor scare for any sort of attention, but i certainly got a lot! it was insane!

matt and i are so spoiled with lovely people in our lives. thanks.

since last week things have gone well. no more scares.

we are definitely feeling some pressure to get ready for baby now though!

we picked up some baby supplies this weekend.

and matt is actually paying attention to the list of baby names i have hanging in our kitchen!

we get to have another ultrasound next week to check on the little gaffer.

fingers crossed he was just teasing us. and that he is nice and cozy in my belly.

 we drove out to bridal veil falls for family night last night. just to take a look.

we have been meaning to take advantage of the canyons since we got here, but we haven't. and now we are leaving.

that's always how it is..

guess where i spent my day yesterday?

yep, labor and delivery.

not ideal.

here we go again...

after a sleepless night of contractions that were consistently a wee 2-3 minutes apart, my doctor sent me to the hospital.

to say i was disappointed is an understatement.

i have been trying so hard to stay active and healthy this pregnancy, but i think i just stink at this pregnancy stuff.

everyone assures me it's not my fault, but it's hard not to feel guilty when i'm the only one in charge of something so teeny and helpless.

with my not-so-hot pregnancy history (miscarriages and preterm labor) i have already been under close watch with this baby.

and i'm thinking it is only going to be closer now. bummer.

but for now, things are under control. yay!

a quick explanation of what happened:

- wednesday night/thursday morning i experienced 6 hours consistent contractions. (not real painful, just uncomfortable).

- thursday morning i called my doctor.

- i was admitted to labor and delivery.

- i was poked and prodded with who-knows-what to stop the contractions and strengthen baby's lungs. deja vu.

- measured 1cm and 60%. not horrible, but not ideal for just 29 weeks.

- contractions stopped.

- i had a few teary breakdowns.

- i got sent home with my fingers {and toes} crossed!

the hospital was lonely.

matt skipped out on work to take care of chet for the day, to which he said:

"you might not like being at home all day, but i suck at it!"

haha. oh matty, i'm sure you did just fine. 2 year olds are just nasty sometimes.

and i will just ignore the black and blue goose-egg chet acquired under your watchful eye!

matt and chet didn't stick around the hospital much, for obvious reasons.

no one enjoys watching their kid touch everything in a hospital room. eww.

but they are like the only friends i have here in utah, so it was a very quiet day without them.

thank goodness for TV and cellphones. i would have died of boredom without.

(although, you can only watch so much america's next top model, and do so much creeping around on facebook, before you want to scream... and your phone dies.)

[chet thought my room was great. he claimed the bed - and TV - before i got in it!]

i sure don't like being pregnant. and i can't understand women who do.

physically, it is a piece of cake for me. (i feel so awful for girls who are sick the whole time).

but emotionally, it's a real struggle. watching my body change is a trial that my heart just can't handle some days.

but, as much as i don't like it, i know it's a blessing. and i'm lucky.

and we are SO NOT READY for this baby to come!

we packed our camera when we went to the hospital that morning *just incase*.

if worst came to worst, we didn't want to be without!

luckily, we didn't need it. and hopefully we won't for at least a few more weeks... or more.

guess i will just need to be careful, and take it easy.

unfortunately, that will be easier said then done with a 2 year old, a dog who gets walked 4 times a day, the fact that we are moving again in a week, and that i have only made 1 friend in my complex who i would even consider asking to babysit.

soo... wish me luck!

luckily, we have amazing family. my mom will be here in a week to help out with chet and the move. (and to play!)

i can't wait to have her company.

the pool at our complex opened. it's been fun!

sometimes we get the whole thing to ourselves, and it makes us feel really special :)
too bad we are moving so soon.. this would have been the perfect summer hangout.

sorry chet, it will be back to swimming in buckets pretty soon here.

people eat dried pinto beans?

huh.

that explains why they are in the grocery section of wal-mart.

unfortunately, my not-so-cooking-savvy brain wouldn't know how to being making them edible.

so we play with them instead..

[creepy smile!]

for the record, this is matts current job site.

well, a very small part of it.

we were out on a walk this afternoon.

i was walking our peanut-brained dog. and chet was being cute pushing bear in his shopping cart.

i thought chet was looking especially adorable today in a cute new shirt.

so, naturally, when an old lady stopped me and said, 'what a sweet baby you have!', i assumed she was talking about chet.

but then she said, 'is he a pomeranian?'

haha. umm... no. he's a chihuahua.

we took chet to the Hogle zoo, in salt lake, on saturday.
chet was afraid of... well... everything!
typical chet.
well, he wan't afraid of the ducks. or of these things that looked like kittens.
but all the good animals were scary.
so it wasn't exactly the magical day we had imagined.
plus, i guess we have been spoiled with the calgary zoo, because the Hogle zoo was a little disappointing.
one gorilla?! really??

on sunday, we spent our mothers day afternoon playing outside.

matt and i attracted a clan of about 10 neighborhood kids at one point. we felt so popular!

the kids in our complex have no reservations. none! they invite themselves to sit on our blanket, play with out toys, and even eat our snacks!

later that night we drove up to the temple for a quick pre-bedtime activity.

we told chet that the guy on the top was named Moroni.

chet didn't really care about his name. he just kept warning Moroni, 'don't fall! don't fall!'

oh chet! i think moroni will be just fine :)

since i'm talking about mothers day, i am going to share a couple feelings about motherhood...
being a mom has not come easily to me. there have been lots and LOTS of tears since chet came along.

but, with time, i have really learned to love it. more now then ever.

chet and i are seriously such good friends these days.

i can't believe how much i adore him.

i love watching him - watching the way his little brain thinks.

i love watching him figure things out. and how his eyes light up when he does.

i love that he thinks my hugs make everything better.

i love watching him when matt comes home from work. pure joy!

i love how creative he is.
i love that his knees are all scratched up like a little boy.
i love kissing him. right on the lips. especially when he is sleeping.
i. love. chet.

it is scary to think about how much he relies on me - how he looks to me the way i look to my mom.

i know how much i have (and still do) rely on my mom so i sure hope i am doing alright..

{little bucket hat}

{big bucket hat}

every morning i wake up early so i can run before matt heads off to work.
when i am getting home - just before 7am - i can see into the apartment below us.
my neighbor is always sitting at her kitchen table eating breakfast with her 2 little boys.
i cringe.
i would be so sad if chet thought it was a good idea to wake up before 7am.
i admire moms that can start their days that early with little people. i would be such a grouch.
mornings are MY time.

chet usually rolls out of bed at 9am!

{chetty in the morning.}

i was staring at our calender for so long last week trying to figure out what was special about may 8th.

it was killing me because i knew i was forgetting something.

then on the morning of may 8th, as i stood in our kitchen looking at our calender, it hit me...

tank's birthday!

how could we forget?!

usually we are really excited to throw tank a party. but this year we totally messed that up.

no party for tank.

we did give him lots of treats and a couple extra walks... and lots of apologies!

happy 4th birthday tanky.

(in dog years, you are offically older then us. the big 2-8.)

you are sooo dumb sometimes, but we can't imagine our family without you.

time out.

chet is such a sweet boy the majority of the time.

so happy to help. so concerned about others' feelings. so tidy. so tender.

but, every now and then, he gets a little too much attitude.

we have had to give him a few 'time outs' lately.

matt and i were trying so hard not to laugh when we were taking this picture.

even when chet is driving us nuts, we still think he is a doll!

one day we will own a house again.

and that house will have a yard.

and then we will have room to buy chet a pool to play in.

but... until that day, chet will swim in IKEA storage containers!

i had to take a picture of chet's toys -  all perfectly in a row.

this is sooo chet.

he is so particular. i love it.

 we went down to check out richfield, UT on saturday.

richfield is where we will be living for the second half of matt's internship.

it is just less then 2 hours south of where we are now.

we knew richfield was a small town. but i'm not sure we were ready to see how small!

it was... interesting.

the town really isn't bad. i actually think it's pretty cute, for the most part.

main street is adorable, there are lots of cute parks, and the whole town is surrounded by those southern utah mountains.

but the idea of living in a small town is kinda scary.

i have honestly never spent more then a couple hours in a town that small.

 so living in richfield for 3 months will be quite the adventure.

but it has a super walmart, so we should be able to survive.

want to know my biggest fear about living somewhere so po-dunk?..

not making back to the big city to have this baby.

i have already had way too many day dreams about delivering our baby on the side of the I-15 as we rush back.

keep your fingers crossed for me. i am so not cut out for that!

life has been really simple lately.

matt and i have shared a car for years. but this is the first time that i have really been without a car all day.

when matt is in school i can easily drop him off at class so i can keep the car.

but he needs the car at work. obviously.

so... chet and i don't venture too far. just as far as our legs can take us!

the idea made me nervous at first, but it honestly hasn't been so bad. life is just a bit slower paced.

the nice weather helps a lot.

chet and i spend most of our days outside.

chet absolutely loves to be outside. he loves to play and run and explore.

and i love to sit in the sun.

so it's actually a pretty good set up!

 the other day we made the trek to the grocery store.

i let chet pick out a cookie for the ride home. it was very exciting.

of all the colors, he picked the bright pink one!

playing with water.

drying off.

{oh man, i love this face!}