March

We have had a busy March! Nate has just finished up his last project until he defends next year (defending means we are DONE)! I have really enjoyed Illinois and will be really sad to leave here; I can honestly say it feels like home here. He has decided to move on and do a Post Doc after we leave here so we will be moving to ANOTHER place for 2 more years of schooling! I cannot wait until he is FINALLY done with school; you do realize he will be 30 this year and he's still going to school! As for me I have been working 6 days a week since January and it's getting pretty old! Thank heavens April 15 is here is a 13 days! Bladen is as busy and independent as ever. He is definately not a baby anymore. He's so smart and definately too smart for his own good. We have to watch every word we say around him! We start swim lessons 2 times a week next Monday so that will be good to get us out of the house, plus he's a water dog and has been in swim lessons since he was 6 months old. I think this time will be much funner for him and he'll actually be able to most of the stuff on his own (hallelujah because I'm sick of having to get in a swim suit to take him to lessons). As for my other kids... Jenna FINALLY broke down and we got Kendal's ears pierced last weekend on her 9 week birthday! She did so good! She got scared and jumped and cried on the first one and made just a little whinse on the second. We had about 50 people around us watching and of course Jenna and Bladen couldn't watch so they went down the mall.

Before earrings

Getting her ears pierced!

2 minutes after

So cute!!

My 2 babies - poor Bladen looks like he gets beat. He came home with all sorts of bumps and bruises from daycare last week from playing rough out on the playground with his buddies! I used to think there wasn't much difference between boys and girls when they are younger, but I was TOTALLY wrong. Bladen is such a rough little turd! His favorite thing is to wrestle with his dad and "fight" with anyone who is sitting on the floor! You have to be paying attention at all times when he's in his mood because if not you'll get hurt!


It's feeling more and more like Spring in Champaign; we are all getting Spring Fever. We've been trying to go on walks every night after work with Bladen riding in the "loller". Nate and I found out a couple of weeks ago that my parents are sending us to Cancun in May for my birthday for a much needed vacation so we are definately looking forward to that! My mom will be flying out here to watch Bladen while we are gone and is staying for 4 days after we get home so I can spend time with her!! Bladen and I also got our plane tickets to come home to Utah July 1-9. We always enjoy our time home during the summer because there is always so much to do. We will be taking Bladen to either Lagoon/Hogle Zoo or Sea World while we are there!

Who knew...

Who knew I was a mother to a 2 and 23 year old! My best friend started working with me at McGladrey in September and we instantly became inseparable. Come to find out she was expecting in February and she had NO one to support her and she did not know one person in Champaign. I started by having her over every night for dinner, I took her under my wing and my nickname is now "Momma Mia". I guess I'm so motherly with her because she only had me to turn to for advice and I'd gone through pregnancy before. I went with her to birthing class, sonogram appts, gave her a baby shower and was her birthing coach (really her chauffeur).Jenna and her sister at the shower

On the Saturday of her 36th week, we went shopping for 5 hours and in our last store she started complaining about how tired she was and how much her back hurt. When we got back to my house, Nate and I were feeling her belly and it was harder than heck, but neither of us thought anything about it since she still had 4 weeks left. She left my house around 11 that night. Next thing I know it's 7:30 on Sunday morning and Neko is barking his head off. I take my ear plugs out (due to Nate snoring so freaking loud), roll over to Nate and ask if someone is at the door and he's like yeah it's the UPS guy... I'm thinking OK it's Sunday morning yeah right! The second I stand up to see what's going on, I hear someone walk in the front door and I hear Jenna yell at the bottom of my stairs, "Laci, I think we have a problem!". I throw on my robe, run downstairs and she's like I think I'm having contractions. I ask her if she's ate anything and she hadn't so I sent her to the kitchen to have some cereal while I brush my teeth and get ready. Nate then asks me why I am getting ready if Jenna is in labor. I run back downstairs after putting some clothes on and is about ready to die on my couch. I tell her we better go, so I grab my purse and we hop in her car. It was snowing and the roads were packed with ice. I decided to call the hospital to let them know that we are coming. While I'm on the phone I'm trying to time her contractions... they instantly were 2 minutes apart for a whole minute... where did those come from out of the blue?? We run 5 red lights, pull in the exit driveway at the hospital and run in to register. Once we got to the room (trying to find labor/delivery was fun with construction and a screaming pregnant lady in labor), we were told to get her robe on and they would be in to check on her.... 10 minutes pass and she is having contractions every 30 secs. I finally go tell the nurses she is ready to push. They are like yeah, yeah she is a first time mom. 15 more minutes pass and the nurse FINALLY came in. When she walked in and saw Jenna's face she definitely knew we meant business. She checked her and got the weirdest look on her face and then declared that the baby was already on it's way! Let's just say, the nurse had to deliver the baby with only 2 pushes! Good thing I looked at the clock when she was born or we would not have known when she was born because it was CHAOS! Kendal Lea was born on January 25, 2009 at 9:03 am. She weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. I love her like she's mine and we are so glad she is here!

Don't I look cute with no makeup and my hair not done!!

Bladen and Nate meeting "Baby K" for the 1st time

All bundled up!

We love to put her in bows!

Bladen and I got to give her a bath and get her ready on Valentines Day! She is too cute!

B thinks he's a girl :)

Jenna and I also got to go to the Jessica Simpson/Rascal Flats concert a couple days after Kendal was born! We had so much fun and of course my camera died right when we got to Assembly Hall so we got no pictures of the concert!

We didn't know our outfits looked so much like twiners until we saw this picture!

Utah

After all the hustle and bustle that Christmas brings, we finally had time to enjoy some of the things we love in Utah. Bladen playing in the snow! He loves the snow because all we see in Illinois is ICE!

Auntie and Bladen having a bath!

We didn't get one good family picture this year because Bladen was so antsy and onry, so here's the best!

Bladen being Nana's little helper cleaning out the garage. He loves to help my mom Swiffer and clean the house :) We all say he's OCD about cleaning and it's all my fault!

Bladen riding Papa's rocking horse from when he was a little boy... 47 years old!

Continued...

Bladen snowmobiling for the first time with his Best Friend in the whole world... Papa

Our family at MidWay!

Our FAT snowman!

Making a snowman... per Bladen you make a snowman by
"Cup, cup, cup, push, push, push"

Bladen is 2! You'd think he could rid of this stupid thing, but this is what happens when you ask him to give it to you!

Christmas!

On December 17 and 18th we moved all of our belongings from our town house to our new house! It was so much work, but we got everything moved with minor damage... haha. We could have never done it in such a short time frame without the help of Nate's dad. On the 19th, we flew out of Chicago with only a 2 hour delay, but we still didn't make it to Nate's dad's house in St. George until around 2 am Saturday morning. Traveling days are so long and grueling, especially with kids! Later that morning after getting some sleep, we headed to Cedar! I was so anxious to get home to my family! I hadn't seen Brandi since her wedding in August and I was having withdrawls! We had such a good time in Utah and were so blessed to be with all of our family! Here are a couple of pics of our trip...
Bladen took like an hour to open his first present... WallE

Bladen had told everyone for months that Santa was bringing him tools. The kid was so excited!

Bladen on Santa's lap at the Bulloch Christmas Eve party

Bladen on Santa's lap at his daycare Christmas party.

I love this picture because Bladen would not stop looking at Santa right in the eyes!

I'm going to have to make another post to get more pictures on here... see above.

We had such a good time in Utah and are always sad to come back to Illinois! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

Our Crazy Life

We had a crazy Thanksgiving Break and have 2 crazier weeks ahead. Over the break we got to take Bladen to his 1st Illini basketball game. A Partner in my office got us front row seats right above the band and we ended up being on national TV! Bladen was such a good cheerleader! Too bad Michael Jordan didn’t show up to that game (his son plays for the Illini) or he would have sat right to our left, maybe next time! We then had Thanksgiving in our little apartment with just us 3. It was quiet, but we did get most of our house packed up, which is a huge relief. I leave for training in Boston on Sunday and I don't get back until Friday. This should be an interesting experience leaving Bladen home alone with Nate... let's just say I've been a stress case! An hour after I fly in, Nate and I will head over to the McGladrey Christmas party. We then have the next couple of days to finish up packing our house. We then only have 2 days to be moved into our new house before we are off to Utah for Christmas break!! I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Bladen's 2nd Birthday!

Yesterday was Bladen’s 2nd birthday and he had a great day! He started the celebrations on Friday at his daycare party. I took in frosted cookies for the kids and they made him his Birthday Boy hat. Yesterday he slept in and then we let him open all his presents from us and our families. He is quite the spoiled kid! Our house is so little and we wanted to have a party for him this year, so we reserved the basement of Monical’s Pizza and invited 14 of his friends! I was so worried about having the party at a restaurant with a bunch of 2 year olds because I knew they would want to run around and be wild, but I was so relieved when we got there and realized it would only be us and another party downstairs. The kids couldn’t wait to get their hats and cupcakes - they barely ate any of their dinner. And just before we all left, Bladen was being his usual entertaining self by spinning in circles until he got so dizzy and was crashing into everything to make the girls laugh! He had a good day and I’m so sad to see him grow up!