February

 A lot has happened in the last month. I can't believe February is almost over! Can't believe it, but couldn't be more happy about it, either. It just means we are getting closer to Spring and then SUMMER!!!  The month of February began with us finding out that we are adding a sweet little BOY to our family in late June. We are so excited!! We went out and purchased an outfit for him. Austin was so sweet about letting me choose the first outfit we purchased for Sedona. He was like a kid in a candy store looking through all the boy things. He and his Dad LOVE camo. They have camo jargos that they wear religiously YEAR-ROUND. So, I wasn't surprised when this is what he came up with:

Truth be told, I am not wild about camo. But I am wild about having a baby boy and so excited for Austin to have a son and Sedona to have a little brother! She is so excited, and asks regularly when her baby is coming.  Last night, as I was laying in bed with her, she was laying on her tummy and put her chin in her hands and said, "Momma, I'm so gig-cited (excited) to be a big sister." My heart melted. I almost cried. She is so sweet and she will be an awesome big sister!

The day after we found out we were getting a boy, we drove to Denver to pick up Austin's Mom, Mariam. Or, to Sedona, Mimi.  She came in town to help celebrate Sedona's 3rd Birthday. It's hard to believe my "baby" is already 3. 

For any of you who know my Sedona, you know she is OBSESSED with the movie Frozen. She loves the music and thinks she IS the princess Elsa. She wants a side braid in her hair every day and will actually hold still long enough for her rather untalented mother to complete it. Needless to say, she wanted an Elsa cake. But she made it very clear she was not going to share it. Especially with her Uncles. Because they are boys. Boys don't eat Princess cakes.  So, after I found a bakery that would make us a small Elsa cake, we went to the store to pick out all the fixin's for some cupcakes that she could share with her Uncles.  She picked out every aspect of these babies. Pink cake mix, pink cup-cake papers, vibrant blue frosting with fish sprinkles, and then of course, she had to add pretty sprinkles that I already had in my entourage of baking supplies. She was pretty pleased with the finished products.

 Here she is admiring her beautiful Elsa cake. She just could NOT wait to bite into that thing! It was really pretty adorable.

  She had a great birthday and we feel so blessed to be living close to my brothers and that Mimi could make the trip to come celebrate with her. She is something special and is loved by so many people. I love that. No matter what, she will always have a support system that will always be cheering her on in the good things she does.

Valentine's Day is only a few days after Sedona's Birthday. Austin and I don't want her to think that her Birthday is an entire week of getting gifts and having parties. So, we don't do much to celebrate Valentine's. No gifts or get-togethers until she is old enough to understand and separate the two days.  So we decided activities are the way to go. This year, we made Valentine's Jell-O Jigglers with her. She LOVED it! Brought back memories of after-school snacks of Jell-O jigglers.

The hardest part about this month is that it is still very much winter here in Laramie. Sometimes, I wake up and see sunshine and get excited, "Maybe today we could go outside and play without freezing to death!" Then the wind starts. 30-50+ mph winds are not conducive to ANY kind of fun outside. Not for this sun lizard, anyway. I get the winter blues every winter, but I can usually fight it with my daily trip to a gym and some intense exercise and an occasional session in a tanning bed.  Welp, I don't have a gym here, and being pregnant kinda makes the tanning thing out of the question. Not to mention, both cost some serious $ here in Laramie. 

Since my recent "clean bill of health" from the Dr, I was told I could begin exercising regularly. Like more than walking and doing my regular daily activities. So, after a very tough week with days where I just didn't want to get out of bed and face the day. Days when I never even got out of my pajamas because I could HEAR the wind howling outside my window.  Days when the sadness just felt so heavy and tangible yet totally unexplainable. Those days are really really hard. We had some great talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday and I decided that the choice is still mine. I might struggle with feelings of depression, but I can still choose to fight them. 

TODAY, I went out to my garage and found my 2&5 pound dumbells and decided to open up the blinds and curtains and let the sunshine in (even though the wind is still howling). I turned on the only workout DVD I own (Jillian Michael's Last Chance Workout) and got my sweat on! I'm not going to lie, it was a little disappointing that I got tired so quickly doing the MODIFIED version of some of the exercises!! But the feeling of sweating and breathing hard and my muscles working felt SO DANG GOOD.

A far cry from where I imagined/dreamed I would be at this point in my pregnancy (I was determined to be fit and fabulous this time around), but I have to start somewhere. 23 weeks isn't a bad place to start.