11 Months :)

Wow! Where has the time gone? I can't believe our Allie-bug is almost a year old. She is just the cutest little girl and brings so much joy to our family, I don't know what we ever did without her (except sleep more, that I do remember haha). Chase and I keep commenting on how we can't believe how much she's learning and doing. She's really entering such a fun stage right now and is so much fun to be around.

This month she:

-- has continued to attempt to climb out of her high chair. It's the worst.
-- learned how to sign please, all done, and sometimes more.
-- LOVES to point at pictures on the wall and at lights and say something that sounds like "what's that?"
-- has the cutest giggle when Peyton makes her laugh really hard
-- is also sometimes absolutely terrified of Peyton haha. Truth be told she puts up with quite a bit and is starting to make it known when she's reached her limit.
-- is very close to standing up on her own. If we could let go of her without her noticing we're positive she could do it, but she's observant and very cautious.
-- eats her way through anything and everything. I still can't believe how much food she can fit inside of her.
-- is cruising along all the furniture and loves to stand up holding our legs.
-- is mostly getting up only once a night, or not at all.
-- learned how to give "kisses," they are wide open mouthed, usually with lots of slobber and attempts at talking through it haha. They're adorable all the same.
-- decided she doesn't really like bows. She'll rip them out of her hair if she notices them there
-- still hates her carseat.
-- pulls her shoes off as soon as she's in her carseat. It'd be funnier if it wasn't so annoying to put them back on ;)
-- continues to love the gym and being outside
-- has gotten adventurous in her exploring at church. The other week we lost focus for a minute and she got up 2 pews in front of us. It was a little embarrassing but mostly funny to have her passed back to us.
-- still loves bathtime with the toys and pulling all the movies and books off of the shelves.
-- is more and more interested in books. It's fun to watch her attention span grow for them.
-- still randomly starts peek-a-boo by herself and thinks she's hilarious.
-- figured out both straws and sippy cups and is a pro at both. I think it's really funny to watch her little cheeks go while she's sucking at the straws.

Things putting a smile on my face...

-- Facebook memories coming up of things Peyton was learning last year
-- Peyton asking me to sing her a song before every nap/bedtime (she must be tone deaf)
-- Sleeping in later thanks to daylight savings
-- Feeling baby girl kick and wiggle (especially in response to Peyton's voice)
-- A clean apartment
-- Checking things off my to do list
-- Sunny afternoons
-- General Conference happening so soon!
-- Pretty flowers on my kitchen table
-- Holiday candy/treats
-- Generous friends
-- Peyton's curls at the bottom of her hair that just get better as she gets sweaty
-- Making spring break plans
-- Post-nap snuggles from Peyton
-- Planning trips to see family
-- Still being able to work out at 34 weeks (even if it's modified and slow)
-- Random days Chase gets off of school and spends with us
-- Peyton saying new words or answering questions we didn't know she knew
-- Family dancing time
-- Peyton giving kisses to baby sister (my belly)
-- Long phone calls with Julia

Things I Want to Remember

So Baby Trejo is supposed to be here in less than 3 weeks! I'm so, so excited and also so nervous. There's just so many unknowns. But there's not too much I can do about it until then, so for now I'm trying to take in these last couple weeks and there have been some things that have come across my mind that I want to remember. In no particular order they are:

- How cool it feels to feel her move inside of me

- How fun it is to see Chase's reactions when he gets to feel her move

- The excitement we feel for her coming so soon

- That picking out names is way harder than I thought

- Nesting instinct is a real thing

- So is pregnancy brain, and pregnancy exhaustion

- How funny it is to not be able to see my toes while I walk

- That walking around on hot days is way harder than I thought it would be, and then so is sitting down (this was taken at an obstacle course 5k that Chase with his parents did that I played photographer for, I got this break while they waited in line for one of the giant water slides)

- How much more I already love Chase seeing him get ready to be a dad to our little girl

- That I can feel the prayers, support, and love from people that want things to go well for us (thank you!!) and how AMAZING that is

- That she already has more clothes than I think she could need and I still feel like I have to stop and look every time we pass the baby section of a store just in case

- The huge desire I have to hold her in my arms already

- That I'm also ok with her hanging out in my belly for a little longer

- She already feels like she has such a strong personality, that some days I feel like I know her and other days I don't know how to imagine what she'll be like

- That I can do hard things that I never thought I'd be able to (especially if I'm patient with myself and take my time):

- How much more I appreciate my parents and grandparents already (I'm sure this will exponentially increase in the near future)

- That I can feel how much my Heavenly Father loves our baby already

- How excited I am for General Conference this weekend to learn more about how I can be a good mom, wife, daughter, etc. 

- How generous and nice everyone we know has been about this change in our lives

Mostly I want to remember how much I'm loving this time in my life. Even with Chase's crazy school schedule, the big changes that are coming, not being able to sleep through the night, and the overwhelming number of unknowns that are constantly in front of us, there are so many good things going on right now and I couldn't just ignore them. 

This time last year...

.... we were cleaning up our apartment and starting a long drive in a large moving truck down to Texas. We were so excited for the adventure we were starting together. Being in a new place, Chase starting at a new school, moving into a new ward, me getting close to graduating, but most of all doing it together without family super close by.

One year later, I've loved what we have been able to do together. I've loved getting closer to Chase. We've made really great new friends. We've moved again already. We've taken fun trips. We've settled into new roles together. We've learned more about ourselves and more about each other.

And now, we are SO excited for the new adventure coming up by starting a family together! Sometimes I still can't believe it. Then I feel her move, or get to see Chase's face while he feels her move and it gets so much more real. Most of the time I'm feeling capable of figuring out things that I'm sure will come up. Every once in a while I get overwhelmed with the idea of being responsible for a tiny little person, but then I remember how many people have done it before us, and how many people we have cheering us on and it gets really exciting all over again.

Until then we're trying to make the most of the time we still have just as the two of us, when we get to set our own schedule and can pack pretty light if we decide to do a day trip somewhere :)

I'm sure in a year or so I'll look back at this time again and be overwhelmed by how many amazing things have happened that I couldn't have predicted, just like I am now. I can't wait!

Halloween plus an Update

Life has been pretty busy around here. 

Chase has stayed busy with school - classes and test seem never ending and I'm not even the one taking them! We look forward to weekends as a break from all the classes, especially our Sundays when Chase doesn't study and we get to spend all day together.

I'm staying busy with my class, applying for student teaching, substituting here and there, trying out new recipes, and recently working on our Halloween costumes. 

We're both loving teaching the Sunday School class for the youth in our church and getting to do that together. Still loving board games when we find time, and dinner dates with other couples from our ward or from Chase's dental class. 

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When we were talking about Halloween and what we wanted to be. We wanted something fairly simple, but also something we both were interested in. We ended up deciding on our costumes of Calvin and Hobbes and had so much fun shopping for the parts of our outfits we didn't already have in our closets and putting it together. It required a little bit of sewing and lots of sharpie-ing but I'm extremely proud of how they turned out! 

Our ward Trunk-or-Treat was two days before Halloween and our costumes weren't quite ready. We threw some things together out of our closets to end up as a 50s couple. Funny enough, some of our friends dressed up as Doc and Marty McFly from Back to the Future and we ended up looking just like Marty's parents. It was great. 

We Made It!

I'm about a month late... but we made it to San Antonio!

The move was a little crazy - leaving later than we anticipated, then driving all the way through the night, waking up the first morning to flash flood warnings, moving furniture, having to call road-side assistance to get the truck in on time, followed by going to the wrong church building the first Sunday, and needing a couple runs to the store to figure out what exactly we needed. I also was so sleep-deprived and in a hurry to have things start feeling like home I completely neglected to take pictures of any of it.

Now that it's all done though, we're feeling much more comfortable! We were able to find a couch to replace the ones we sold in Provo, Romney and Easton helped us move our furniture in and set it all up (thank you, thank you!), and despite having to condense and squish some things we found a place for everything!

We love San Antonio so far. We have a few other couples from the ward in our complex which is great and we have so much to do relatively close by. We've already been to see the Alamo, and are finding new things that sound fun regularly - including a giant gummy bear in a candy store and the 100th anniversary of the zoo, complete with a carousel :)

Chase is busy, busy, busy with school and is working extremely hard. His course load is quite a bit heavier than we were used to in Provo, and requires quite a bit more studying at home. He's great and makes time for me despite all of this - which I am super grateful for. He even got a fancy pair of scrubs from the school that make him look very official.

We also love being so close to Chase's family! We got to spend the 4th of July weekend with them and had a blast.

All in all I think we're going to have a great time here while Chase is in school and I'm excited to see what happens!

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PS I just started this blog with two of my very best friends - feel free to check it out!