This Post Brought to You by the Letter "B"

Lots of fun things and progress have been made in our house lately. And they all seem to start with the letter "B."

Bedroom Decor
I made curtains for both of the girls' rooms. I made Sara's out of the fabric from her dust ruffle that I couldn't use as part of her new bedding set. Laura's was made out of leftover fabric. I think they turned out well and helped the girls' rooms feel more done. One more thing to check off the pre-baby checklist.

We also got a new bedding set for our bedroom at a fantastic Kohl's sale. The old set was leftover from the last house and just felt bland in the new one. I (and particularly Jason) like the new one lots more.

Basement Bathroom
The downstairs bathroom is finally completed. That is a major item to check of the pre-baby to do list. We got the decor also at a smokin' Kohl's sale, because we could NOT find another lime green bathmat anywhere to match with an old set. My favorite part of the whole bathroom (other than the real estate that will be loved by teenage girls) is the pictures of my bathing babies on the wall...soooo cute! And, yes, I have a third matching frame just waiting for a picture of baby Eliza.

Babies
We got to see our beautiful Eliza on an ultrasound this past week. She is still a girl. She has long legs and is perfectly healthy. Yes, I bawled.

I also got to meet Andrea's beautiful baby girl. It helped me remember that all this pregnant misery really is worth it in the end.
I also attempted a new baby gift for her. After doing some research, I think I improved upon the baby wrap I made a while ago. I made one for her out of cotton jersey (more comfy) and stenciled a pattern on the center to enable quicker wrapping. Check out my first stenciling attempt.

Beauty
Sara loves to look beautiful. This is how she insisted upon looking when we went to Los Hermanos earlier this week. And yes, she wore this getup almost the whole meal.
Also, my parents have been gone this past week and I have been enjoying the blossoms on their tree as I am taking care of their house. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Sara, Sara, Sara

Sara is a handful. Absolutely, postively, a handful. She is also one of the sweetest, smartest and most hilarious people I know. This is how I found her daily during the week that I kept the easter candy in view. The remainder is now hidden with the rest of the candy, so I don't deal with this every single day.

Then, after leaving her nearly naked when running a particularly bad diaper out to the trash, I found her like this. She told me she was "cool" and "'ilarious". The smelly diaper was forgotten as I laughed, took pics and hugged the soft-skinned silliness.

However, this is my favorite Sara story of late. Laura got a bandaid a few days ago, because Sara bit her. I made Sara watch the process and say "sorry." The result, was that Sara became obsessed with bandaids. Yesterday, I finally gave in to her request of "bandaid pretty please" with one on a bruise on her leg. (Every kid needs to enjoy their bandaid phase, right?!) Later, she came up to me with a handful of bandaids asking for another. I told her no because she had no owies. After checking herself all over and me rejecting her searches for "bloods" she left. She came back a few minutes later with more bandaids. Then she told me "feelings hurt", "feelings hurt", "bandaids make it better." What do you say to that?! I asked her where her feelings were and then put a bandaid on her wrist...that's where Sara's feelings are located.

And she is definitely a main reason my birthday was so fabulous. Look at this face she gave me right after singing "Happy Birthday to you, Mommy!" She is so darling!

Oh, and I regularly find her and Laura holding hands...at Sara's request. If that isn't enough to make any Mommy melt and forget how busy a little one-year old can be, I don't know what is. I am blessed to have my wonderful Sara! Thank you, Sara for asking me to "huggie you" "hode you" and "play wich you".

Birthday Review

I had a fantastic birthday. Thank you everyone for your phone calls, comments and work that made my 30th a great one! It began when the ladies took me out to dinner (Pizza and Pasta Factory) and a shake. There was much laughter, tons of chatting and some great catching up. Love you, ladies!
On my actual day, my Mom threw a party for my Sis' and my birthdays. She went all out on a fantastic lunch including my favorite soup - vichyssoise. It was for all the girls that live here locally and we had a marvelous time being together. Thank you so much for all the effort, Mom. In case you are wondering, I get all my party-throwing skills from her - she threw a beautiful one for me!
That night J's folks watched the girls (Thank you!) so that we could go out to dinner (Macaroni Grill) and do a little birthday shopping. I loved the time alone with my honey and the darling orange-y shirt you'll see in subsequent pics was a product of the evening. I also got a Shark stick vacuum. Ah...it's all about making housework (and my ridiculous obsession with a clean house) easier and this one makes stairs that much easier.

The next day we celebrated with the girls. Jason made me my favorite cake - Spice with brown sugar frosting (that Mom made, actually) - and invited my parents up to celebrate with us. The salmon was the best we had ever made, I think due to seriously crimped foil. And I loved blowing out candles with the girls!
The celebrations continued into Sunday, when J's folks invited us over for dinner. Mom made roast chicken for me. It was so wonderful to eat chicken without having to prepare the raw stuff beforehand! It was also a treat because Bret was there with Sophie and the girls had a great time enjoying the springtime weather!

Beautiful Baby Belly

I feel I have been neglecting my husbandly duties as of late and I haven't posted a single "belly" picture of Melinda yet this pregnancy. So without further ado, here is my gorgeous wife and her beautiful baby belly at 21 weeks along with baby girl #3 (or Eliza as we call her at our house).

Happy Birthday Lovie!!!

Thirty years ago my amazing wonderful wife was born and changed my life forever. Thank you Mom and Dad Fitzgerald for having ‘just one more’. I can’t imagine spending my life with a better friend, teammate, partner, mother, wife, and person. I am a truly blessed individual to have you in my life forever and I love you with all of my heart! In honor of your 30th birthday, here are 30 reasons why I love you:

1. Because there is no one better to watch a Jazz game with in the world
2. Because you know me better than anyone else
3. Because you are the best teammate ever
4. Because you are madly in love with our girls and are such an amazing mom to them
5. Because you are my best friend
6. Because you are a great example to me of “enduring to the end” no matter what happens
7. Because you are gorgeous, beautiful and sexy!
8. Because you make me happy every day
9. Because you practically kill yourself to get our little ones here
10. Because you love me
11. Because you call me during the day just to tell me funny things that happen and I know you wish I could have been there for it, too
12. Because you sent me Zuma
13. Because you love to spend time together no matter what we are doing
14. Because you always want to go to lunch just so we can see each other in the middle of the day
15. Because you love to read and instill a love of reading in our girls
16. Because you love our life as much as I do
17. Because you are such an amazing and loyal friend
18. Because you will listen to me talk about anything even if it’s work and it’s really, really boring
19. Because you understand when I become a slave to a book and do everything you can to help me finish it
20. Because you are brilliant and have the best ideas for everything (including helping me design things for work). I appreciate being able to talk things through with you!
21. Because you always encourage our girls in anything and everything and they believe that they can do anything because of it
22. Because I catch you looking at me for absolutely no reason
23. Because I look at you for absolutely no reason other than to just look at you
24. Because you are as affectionate as I am. Yah…no filter!
25. Because we are both planners. It sure makes life easier
26. Because we love nothing more than family time
27. Because some of our best times are spent with the four of us in our bed just laughing
28. Because you make sure we remember to have family prayer every night
29. Because you want to stay in Utah so we can be close to family
30. Because we love everything together. You’d think that I’d need to have a “guys night” to go see the new Star Trek movie. But no, my wife is just as excited for it as I am!
31. Because you love teaching our gorgeous girl the love of dance and help her see why you loved it, too

Ok, so it turned out to be 31 instead of 30. It's just a head start for next year. Happy Birthday my Love!!!

30 Reasons

Laura has been counting down the days to my big birthday with excitement for about a week now.  I figure I better get over my grumps and join her in the excitement since, as she has reminded me several times today, there are only two days until my birthday.  Hence, here is my list of 30 reasons I am okay to turn 30.

1. When we purchased our current home, a big consideration was the quality of the High School.
2. The best present I received for Christmas was a vaccuum - really.
3. I have never been tempted to text or check the internet in Sacrament meeting. 
4. I have graduated from college - a true bachelor's degree
   
5. My parents are brilliant. (Remember how they weren't when I was a teenager)
   
6. I am a Mommy of nearly 3 - and a wife of nearly 7 years
7. I would much rather give credit to others than take it myself - heaven forbid I get asked to do something again that someone else did
8. I am on a much better career path than I was in this last decade: Yay for the prophetically endorsed career of Mommy!
   
9. I don't have to wear makeup to feel beautiful - thank you, Jason
10. Yet, I am no longer cute enough to wear jammies to the store
11. I will eat out only food that I can't cook myself
12. Disney vacations are all about watching the kids faces, not riding the coasters
13. I spend less time on my own hair than on the girls' hair
14. I like my minivan
15. I bought the external hard drive to back up my family pictures, not my music
16. I know the price of pork better than I know the price of name brand jeans
17. The world definitely does not revolve around me: when 5 people want to do something that may make me miserable, if I want to be with them, I suck it up and enjoy myself without putting them out.
18. Comfort now carries more weight in shoe purchases than does sexiness.  I only wear cute shoes, but they better be comfy too.
19. I reluctantly wear a leotard weekly.  Instead of throwing one on without thought daily.
20. I am confident enough in my self to be silly with my kids in public.
21. Up until my release, I was spending significantly more time on my calling than on the Internet each day.  I regularly go days without getting online.
    
22. I carry a big, classic, name brand purse instead of a small, trendy purse.
23. I consider myself an expert at stain removal.
24. When asked for a recipe, I can no longer copy it off.  I've got to think about what I tossed in and make a guess at my "some" amounts.
25. I don't count my Visiting Teaching if I catch up with her in the hall or at book group - yep, I'm anal about home visits
    
26. I am tired because I was up all night with a kid, not partying or doing homework.
27. It's a bigger temptation for me to spend money on dishes or kitchen gadgets than on music.
28. I only ever have great dates.  No more bad dating stories for me.  It's all about dating the best guy on the planet.  Sorry, all you singles...he's taken and has been for a while.
29. It's really hard for me not to brag - about my kids and hubby.  Um, what did I do today, yesterday, last year?
30. The majority of the NBA players look young to me.  And RRMs are babies.  Oh, and several of my past YW are having babies.
    
    

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. It began with easter preparations. Laura was soooo excited to dye eggs. Naturally, she had to invite Grandma over to join in on the fun. We all had a lot of fun!

Easter Bunny Day (Saturday) the girls had a grand time hunting for their baskets and eggs. They got princesses dresses in their baskets which were worn the rest of the day. And the bunny was smart this year and color-coded the candy filled eggs for each girls' hunting level. What a smart little bunny!


Easter Sunday was great as well. The girls looked beautiful in their dresses and then we had a great time at a party at my mom's house. They both learned the word "resurrection" and Sara remembered how much she loves Uncle Steve.

Princess and Knight Party

Laura asked me if she could have a party. In an attempt to be a cool Mom, I said yes. So, we picked up some crowns and knight masks at the party store - I think we spent $4. Laura made, and helped Sara make, and then they delivered invites for Grandma and Grandpa, Me, and Deb's boys.
Then for FHE we made the treat for the party, chocolate chip cookies. The girls love to bake and Jason makes a mean chocolate chip cookie!
The party was simple. We had cookies. Everyone dressed up. Then we danced. It was simple, but a good way to combat the dreary weather blues. And Laura loved it!