Military Ball

Every September we get to attend the annual MI Ball with the rest of Ben's National Guard unit. This was the first year where they took our picture. I've posted it here because it will mostly likely be the last picture of Ben in this particular dress uniform since the Army has switched over to this new, dare I say snazzier, one.

Also, when Ben saw this he got after me for not straightening his bowtie, and I must add that I don't really have any formal attire to wear when I'm 6 months pregnant; this outfit was a last minute effort.

Baby Shower

My good friend Kendra threw a fantastic baby shower for me a few weeks ago. We had very fun/funny games and a yummy brunch. It was a lot of work! I am so grateful for her thoughtfulness and friendship.

Since I forgot my camera's SD card, we had to use my Mom's camera which was on some sort of weird setting so the pictures didn't turn out so great, but here they are anyway.

The food, plus Kimi and her cute Halle (Kimi and I are due the same week . . . I know!)

Gabbing and eating

See! Funny game. Needs no explanation. Kind of embarrassing. Amber won; guess that means she's next? :)

We played another great game where Kendra pre-videotaped Ben talking about our baby and what features of ours Ben hoped he would inherit (ie: Ben's nose, my eyes, his athleticism, my intelligence, etc. . .). Without telling us she already had Ben's answers she had everyone (including me) guess what my answers would be. Then we watched Ben's video and compared our answers. For every trait Ben and I agreed on, I got a point. Kendra gave me one thing of baby wipes for every 5 points. Surprisingly, I went home with a lot of wipes!

Cute boy clothes from Honey (my mom). The onesie says "Mommy's Little Moose". Which is funny because of what my Dr. said. Let me just say, it was really weird to come home with a bunch of stuff that wasn't pink!

In the pic above, do you see the awesome diaper cake in the background? and the bouquet of baby socks (right next to my mom's giant Diet Coke)? See, Kendra is awesome.

Thanks to all those who were there and those who helped! It was great to see you :)

Name Poll Results

We still haven't even come close to landing on a name for our baby boy due in 63 days (closer but not close). But I thought I'd share the results of the name poll you all participated in way back when. Too bad I can't! The website is no longer functioning and I never printed off the results, ugh! Oh well, it was fun and started some good name discussions for me and Ben :) Too bad we still can't decide.

Claire Turns 2!

Claire turned two today! We celebrated last weekend with Sunday dinner in Heber since Grandma and Grandpa Miller and Honey and Papa were in town. Keeping with tradition, Claire had a Mickey Mouse party for her 2nd birthday, but unlike Paige she wasn't too keen about dressing up. I was a bit disappointed, but at least I got her to wear the ears while she was eating cake.

This party was basically a direct knock-off of Paige's party from when she turned 2. Same balloons, exact same banner, but minus the matching wrapping and homemade cake. I think I already burned myself out on the first kid (plus we decided to do this party the night before).Her big present of the night was a tricycle of her very own. But for some reason she still wants to ride P's.This cute girl is definitely two. Strongly opinionated, but Oh, SO funny!
We love you, Claire!

School Pictures

We finally got Paige's school pictures back on Friday. It made me sad, because I realized how much she's grown up since last year. She's so terrified of growing up and not needing me anymore but at the same time wants to be independent and like the "big kids". That's funny . . . I feel the same way.

(Paige and her cousin, Anna)
Look at those two cuties! I love P's smile in this picture. It's such a cheeser Reed grin!

New Due Date

This baby had his 5th ultrasound yesterday while at my 24 week OB appointment. I've had an ultrasound every 4 weeks so far since I was 8 weeks along , lucky me :) My OB has a really awesome machine that does 4D images and while it was a little freaky a month ago, this time around was pretty cool now that our baby has developed a little chub. And by little I really mean a lot. After the tech did her thing and it was time to meet with the Dr. the first thing out of his mouth was, "well, apparently you're going to deliver a moose!". The kid is measuring over 2 weeks ahead of his original due date. And has been measuring ahead at every single ultrasound, so the Dr. finally decided to change my due date to January 8th. Fine with me! That actually helps me out a lot because I feel HUGE (compared to this point in my previous two pregnancies) and to be able to skip a whole week makes me feel a lot better about it. And as proof of my huge-ness (no I am not making it up) I will disclose this: I only have about 5 to 6 more lbs to gain before I reach my delivery weight with both Paige and Claire;. . . I have roughly 14 weeks of pregnancy left. Ummmm, I don't think that math works out, and I'm going to blame it on the fact that this time it's a boy.

I think he'll be worth it.

Naturally Platinum

(Claire, about a month ago, with one of her favorite past times, monopolizing the iPod touch)

A young girl at church today told me that she thought it was "so weird for a baby to have white hair. . . like an old lady". It's probably what people comment on most about Claire. I don't know if the picture does it justice, but her hair is really truly platinum blond. I wonder how long it will last...