Michael and daddy have always loved building forts together. Recently they have discovered the fun of building forts with not just blankets over top, but pillows all around! I often get a call from the bedroom or living room asking me to get more blankets and pillows. I caught a few pictures at the beginning of this fort adventure!
The little squint smile from Michael is how he poses for pictures these days.:-) hehe
Since we're going to be having another addition to the family soon I started wondering what I was going to do about diaper bags. I could get a bigger one and stuff both their stuff in it or I could carry two around everywhere. Neither sounded like a great option. Finally I saw a little boy at the doctors office that was about Michael's age and he had his very own little backpack that he kept his snacks, drink, toys, and diapers in. I thought that would be perfect! So we went to Target and got Michael his very first CARS backpack, which he loves to carry around. Now I'll just have to do one diaper bag for Emma and Michael can have his own bag. 
Michael loves the girls. There is no denying it. He flirts like any little boy... sticks his finger up his nose, pulls her hair, shows off, etc. But there is one little girl in particular that he seems to be rather fond of. She is about 2 months older than him. When we're getting ready for church or play dates and he is giving me trouble about getting ready to go and putting his clothes on (he also loves to be naked) then I tell him "don't you want to look handsome for Jaylyn?" and he gets the biggest smile on his face, lets out a little excited scream and puts his own shirt on as fast as he can. It's so cute!
Michael has been having lots of play dates lately with other kids from the ward. He loves it! He gets so excited when we say that we're going to go play with his friends. A little while back we decided to purchase some zoo passes so that I could take Michael regularly for an hour or so and let him get some of his energy out. Sometimes when we go we meet with some other stay at home moms and their kids from the ward. Michael especially loves the Zebra's and a little girl that is a few years older than him. She is a "little mommy" and loves to help Michael do things and help to keep him out of trouble. It's adorable to watch them together. :-)
Yesterday was my baby doctor appointment for Emma. They were just going to do the measurements of my belly and listen to the heart beat but the doctor said I was measuring a little small so she wanted to get me in for a quick ultrasound and make sure the baby was measuring ok and my due date hadn't changed. I was more than happy to go along with that! I love to see my little girl in action... goodness knows I feel her in action constantly. :-) She was quite active because I had to drink that nasty glucose drink for my gestational diabetes test. She was all over the place. One thing we noticed was that no matter how much she moved she always had her little thumb in her mouth. So she is a thumb sucker. We never experienced that with Michael. He even gave up his pacifier on his own at 9 months old. This will be new for us, but it was cute and we're excited!
Every year Adam's wrestling team travels to the white mountains for the round valley tournament. The tournament lasts 2 days and the team loves it! There is almost always snow on the ground and it's absolutely beautiful up there! Small town life, animals everywhere, people wave to everybody, and as my father in law says "they roll up the side walks at 7pm." :-) Our family friend Larry has his family home up there and is nice enough to feed the boys on the team for a breakfast and a dinner. This year my mom, my father in law, Michael, and I went up to help out and root our wrestling team on! The boys did great! The ended up placing 2nd out of all the several teams there to wrestle! We were thrilled! Michael also got to play in the snow for the first time and meet a real life horse! Below are several pictures of our journey!
(Michael checking out his footprints in the snow)
(Michael's first snowball!) 
(Mommy & Michael walking together)
(Michael & Grandma Tobler making snowballs) 
(The O'Connor Wrestling Team) 
(Daddy & his future wrestler) 
('Uncle' Larry showing Michael the horse. He was THRILLED!) 
(Michael and 'Uncle' Larry going on a daily walk in the wagon) 
(Michael & 'Uncle' Larry getting bundled up for a walk in the COLD!!!) 
We are slowly trying to upgrade our furniture. We were so excited to see a beautiful couch on sale in an ad in the paper. We went down the store and within' 5 minutes we had bought a new couch for a great price! We love it! It's WAY too big for our current house, but we plan to move in the next few months to a bigger place, so it should fit fine there. It is a 3 piece sectional with 4 recliners, 2 cup holders, and a little cubby hole that is supposed to store remotes and what not, but instead it stores Michael's toys. He LOVES to stick his toys in there, and he loves even more climbing inside and using it as his special seat between mommy and daddy. It's adorable!
Emma is still as healthy as can be. The pregnancy has been pretty smooth. I'm not swelling at all. I have a little bit of back pain but nothing that keeps me from chasing Michael around 24/7... thank goodness! My newest craving has been ice cream and oranges. I eat about 4 oranges a day and usually one bowl of ice cream a day. It's like she can't make up her mind between having junk food or healthy fruit. I will admit that when I couldn't decide which I wanted more, I had them at the same time. :-) The other night while I was eating ice cream Adam looked over at me and just started laughing because I didn't need to hold my bowl. It rested nicely right on my big ol' baby belly. So of course, we grabbed the camera! :-)
A couple weeks ago I got a new recipe for Chocolate Mint Cookies! They are to die for! YUMMY! Adam always requests that I save the beaters for him to lick off. This time Michael got to join in the fun! He LOVED every second and was very upset when it was all gone. Looks like we have another sweet tooth kid in the family. :-)
This evening Adam and I were watching some TV and watching Michael run around making cute car noises and he zoomed his cars along the carpet. After a little while Michael decided to go play in the kitchen with his cars and we thought nothing of it. After a short time we realized that it had gotten kind of quiet and the car noises had stopped... that is never a good sign. Adam got up slowly and peaked over the counter and burst into a huge smile and told me I had to grab the camera. I did and what we saw made us both laugh ourselves silly. Michael had gotten the powdered sugar box out of the pantry, opened it, and poured it out all over the floor, himself included. Michael jumped a mile when he saw that he had been caught but once he saw that we thought it was funny he went back to the pantry and pulled out the bag of flour. I had to grab that from him to stop him but we let him play in the powdered sugar for a little while longer until it was bed time. There was no use trying to clean it up while he was still awake.
Michael has been getting into a lot of things lately. He loves to watch the toilet flush and wave "bye bye" to the water. Earlier today I was answering some email and Adam was taking a rest on the couch since it was his lunch hour. Before long Michael had gone into the bathroom and dragged the toilet paper through the hallway and into the living room. There was a long stream of toilet paper lining our floor. We are going to have to start keeping a MUCH closer eye on him. :-) Although we do love to see him enjoying himself and exploring his surroundings.
We had our ultrasound recently to confirm that we are having a baby girl! She is still very healthy and growing just perfectly! I can already tell the differences between Michael's ultrasound pictures and Emma's. They are both the most adorable ultrasound pictures in the world! Of course that is the mother talking, and I am a tad bit bias. :-) We should start getting measurements pretty soon. Michael has been pouncing on my stomach and poking at it regularly. We tell him all the time that "sister is in mommy's tummy. Be careful". Of course that just makes him laugh and pounce harder. He is already being the typical big brother and picking on his little sister. Of course I think that once she is here he will take the protective older brother role... they always do. :-)
Brandon has been home from his mission for a couple months now. Michael adores his Uncle Brandon. It did not take him long to learn the word "Uncle". Brandon spends lots of time with Michael doing all his favorite things! Brandon takes him outside whenever Michael wants to go (which is ALWAYS) and he even lets him sit on his lap and play in his food. I finally caught some cute pictures of them playing together on the floor this past weekend. I'm hoping to get plenty more throughout the next several years to make up for the time that Brandon was serving his mission! :-)
This year was the first year that Adam and I decided to have Christmas morning with just Adam, Michael and I. We wanted to start our own family traditions now that we have a kid and another on the way. Plus, we didn't want Santa to get confused if we weren't there when he delivered the toys! ;-)
We started our morning out by cooking up some orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, bacon, and hot cocoa. After we enjoyed that and cleaned up we let Michael dig into his stocking and the presents that Santa left and that my dad sent from California. Michael got a little overwhelmed towards the end of the morning but he has been enjoying every single gift!
On Christmas Eve we went over to my mom's house to celebrate Christmas with them because it's also my Grandpa's birthday. After we opened presents on Christmas morning we headed up to the Weeden's to celebrate Christmas with them. Then my family joined all of us for Christmas dinner. Yummy!
It was busy but wonderful!
We didn't capture every gift on film but we did get a few cute ones from Christmas morning that I thought we would share.
For those of you that didn't receive a Christmas card from us this year, we likely do not have your address. So please send it so I can add it to our address book! :-) Below is our Christmas letter and card.
For the first home match of the wrestling season Michael and I went to watch. The team looks good this year! We have high hopes for them! When the evening was over Michael went with daddy down on the mat and decided to wrestle him, which is something they have a lot of fun doing these days. Adam says "Hey Michael, you wanna wrestle?" and Michael comes at him with the biggest grin and just tackles him to the ground. It's adorable!
Michael has been walking pretty well for awhile now. Today Adam came home from work for lunch and he and Michael went for a little walk together. I was able to capture a few photo's before they headed out the door. It warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes to see my boys walking hand in hand. :-)
This past Saturday we went to see the Mesa Temple Christmas Light Display and heard a beautiful choir sing. It was very beautiful! It takes my breath away every year! The grounds are covered with beautiful lights and nativity scenes. Adam ran into a girl that he use to babysit back in California. She is now serving her mission in Mesa, Arizona. It was fun to meet her and hear some old stories. The Weeden's and their family go way back, so it was a nice surprise.
We got some great pictures of Michael before we left for the temple and some really cute ones at the temple so I thought I'd share a few. :-) The beautiful rocking horse that he is sitting in was hand crafted by our friend Larry.
We had our ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby this past Friday. We were so excited and so nervous! When they told us it was a girl I think both Adam and I nearly had a heart attack. We know how to take care of boys and raise boys. We are at a complete loss at what to do with a little girl, but we will figure it out together. Being a parent is sort of a learning process anyways. :-) We didn't get very good ultrasound pictures this last appointment but we should get better ones on December 19th and I'll post those ones. For now we have decided on the name Emma for our little girl. My tummy is popping out a little bit and I've gotten wider but nothing too uncomfortable yet. My morning sickness has passed (thank goodness!) so for now I'm feeling pretty good. Adam laughs at me though because there have been a few nights when I was laying in bed getting ready to fall asleep and I flip the light on and ask him to go get me a pickle. hehe
It has finally happened! When Michael was about 1 yr and 2 weeks old he took his first steps. He liked crawling better but now that he has had more practice he loves to walk! This morning at the park he was even chasing the birds around the grass. We are very proud of him! Although, as you can imagine, I don't have as much time as I use to. Hopefully, the blog will still get updated regularly. :-)
