Catching Up...

I haven't posted recently because we've been really busy over the last few weeks. I have been taking pictures along the way so I am posting them now to catch up.

I had surgery a few weeks ago so we spent some time just hanging out at home. Lilly likes to spend time playing in her bouncer.




Even though William thinks that he is a big man he still takes naps. I couldn't help but take a picture of him all curled up in our bed.




Once I was healed up from surgery we made our annual trip to Idaho. We stopped at Shoshone Falls to take a break from all the driving. William really liked the waterfalls.

We decided to get some hot dogs and have a picnic at the park near the falls.

When we got to Boise we had a full schedule of seeing family and friends, but we tried to keep some free time to just let the kids play. On that Saturday we had a picnic at Settlers Park in Meridian with my friend Stephanie and her family. Her boys, Zane and Corbin, showed William all the fun stuff to do at the park.

Last Saturday we drove up to the Canyons Resort in Park City for a free concert. It's a nice venue. Here it is without the crowd.

We got there early so that we could set up a place with enough room for the kids.

Here's William waiting for the music to start.

Here's Lilly hanging out with Grandma Rhonda.

Lilly waiting patiently in her car seat.

As we got closer to show time the crowd got pretty big and the clouds rolled in.

The band was called March Fourth. They were listed as a gypsy marching band out of Portland, Oregon. They rocked! There were 30 of them, including musicians, dancers, and acrobats.

The guy on the stilts walked all the way up the hillside were the crowd was sitting, and then walked back down it backwards!

We've ended up having to leave during the intermission because it was starting to rain. We had pretty good timing because once we got everyone in the car the heavens opened up and it poured.

Weekend Fun

We had a lot of fun this last week because Aunt Kendall and Katie were in town. We spent a lot of time playing with them at mom and dad's house.

They brought William a gift. It's a Mexican Wrestling mask with an attached cape. He loved it.



This is his "mean" face.

On Saturday we decided to check out the "Up" house that they built in Herriman. For those of you that don't live around here, a local home builder built a replica of the house from the movie "Up" in a new development in Herriman, Utah. Here is a link to the news feature on the house. http://www.ksl.com/?sid=16280329 We weren't allowed inside but according to the news story they have done the inside of the house to match the movie as well, including murals on the walls and furnishings. I also read in the paper that they added some other Pixar rooms to the house, including Andy's room from "Toy Story".

The house is part of the local parade of homes this year, and on Saturday they held a showing of the movie in the park in front of the house. It was free to the public so we decided to go. They had free popcorn and balloons.

Here's Lilly happy to be out in the open air.

Mommy and Lilly waiting for the movie.

Daddy and William waiting for the movie.

Daddy entertaining William while we waited.

The actual house.

William checking out the mailbox.

William chillin' on the porch.

They are hoping to sell this house for $400,000 in order to break even on the building costs. I'm trying really hard to convince Paul that mortgaging our lives away in order to buy it wouldn't be such a bad thing. I'm not sure he is swayed by my argument.

On Sunday we decided to go swimming. It was Lilly's first time at the pool. She wasn't thrilled about it so we just laid her in a floater and she fell asleep.

William is a crazy swimming man! He just dives right into the pool and takes off. I will probably sign him up for lessons sometime soon. Right now he just motors around the pool in water wings and a floater ring.

Mummy Wrapped Kids

Last night as I was trying to get dinner on the table Lilly started to fuss so Paul wrapped her up in her blanket and snuggled her on the couch. When William saw what Daddy was doing he decided that he wanted to be wrapped up in a blankie, too. Paul obliged and then propped both of them together on the couch so that I could get a picture.

Here's both of them wrapped up like mummies.

It's funny how different siblings can be from one another. When William was a baby he hated being swaddled. Lilly settles right down if you wrap her up. Paul has started calling her his little caterpillar girl, because she is fuzzy and she likes to be in a cocoon.

Lillian Faye Grover

Lillian Faye Grover

Born 05/26/11

8 lbs 2 oz, 19 inches long

Lilly is finally here! Thank goodness! I was starting to think that she would never come out of me.

Here are some of her first pictures.

This one was right after she was born. I was soooooooo exhausted.



Once everything was checked out and she and I were stable Paul got to take her to the nursery for her first bath. She had so many rolls! She looks like a Shar-Pei dog!!

Washing all that hair.

Daddy's girl.

We got to come home from St. Mark's the following Saturday, but we ended up having to spend 24 hours at Primary Children's Hospital because her Jaundice got so bad. She spent the entire time under the lights and is doing much better now.

I'm officially back to work part time and Lilly is coming into the office with me. I dressed her up with some bows for her first day at the office.

Will's Third Birthday

We had William's 3rd Birthday party this weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We decorated with stars, balloons, and streamers at Will's request. I managed to get all the way to mom and dad's before realizing that I left our new camera on the table at home. So, we used mom's camera to take pictures. Unfortunately, I think that we had it set to an outdoors setting because the photos aren't as crisp as they usually are. Oh well... Here's William and Kensie eating cupcakes. Paul helped William open his presents. He got lots of books from Grandma Nina and sports equipment from Aunt Erin. He also really liked the Hot Wheels cars and sidewalk chalk from our friends Terri and Ryan.

Will saying "cheese".

This was the aftermath from the party. I am so glad that mom and dad have a house big enough to have this stuff at.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Will a chair with his name on it for watching TV at their house. That night we were all so wiped out that we just crashed. He got all comfy in his new chair.

It was really fun to have everyone over. William had Kensie to play with, Terri brought her new baby, Conner, and Maria and I got to commiserate over being pregnant (she's due in October).

Man, with all these babies around you'd think that we lived in Utah or something!

Maternity Wear Frustration

Okay, I know that I am not the only poor and plus sized girl having a baby in this state. So why is it that none of the stores around here carry cheap plus sized maternity clothes?

I'm not even looking for anything fancy, just some jeans and t-shirts. So far I have managed to find 2 shirts at a local JC Penney's that were 2X, but that's it.

Now, don't get me wrong... If I had unlimited amounts of cash to throw at the situation I could definitely find clothes around here that would fit. Unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy. And, besides, there's even a limited supply of the expensive stuff in my size. (I refuse to wear anything that has a giant bow strapped to my stomach!)

So, I resorted to buying some basics online and praying that they would both fit and look good.

I got my order in the mail yesterday. The shirts are fine, but the pants are a disaster. Somehow they think that if you are large around the middle you must also be as tall as an Amazon Warrior with a butt the size of a VW Bug! I tried putting the jeans in the washer on the hottest setting to see if I could shrink them down a bit (had there been a pair at a store locally that I could have tried on first I wouldn't be having this problem), but that has only helped a little.

I can't believe that I am the only woman in Utah with this problem. Come on people... this state has one of the highest birth rates in the nation, and not all of us look like Twiggy!!

In an effort to resolve this issue I am trying to decide which one of the following strategies makes more sense. Either I am going to open my own store to sell larger size maternity basics here locally. Or, I am going to organize a Million Pregnant Big Girls march to the state capital to demand equal representation. (Imagine a million plus sized hormone monsters waddling up capital hill! That would get some attention!)

In the meantime I am going to sit here, eat my breakfast cookie, and try and get some work done.

Baby Girl!

Okay, I finally am posting the ultrasound pictures from last Friday.

Here are the first shots of our sweet little girl.

This is her arm.


This is her profile. She is looking upward in this one, so that's a nose and mouth on top.

This is a 3D of her. You can see her little face and a hand stretched out in front of her.

Paul and I are still working on a name. We have one that we like, but we might have to have some others in the waiting just in case she comes out and the name that we picked doesn't fit her.