November and December

November.....

Nicole headed to Boise for the week before Thanksgiving, while Jeremy went to Montana for his annual hunting trip. One of the first things we had to do was go to the airport to see Papa's completed airplane~! Connor was VERY excited :-)

 

 Papa couldn't actually fly it when we were their as he was waiting for the "test flight/air certificate" but that didn't stop him, uncle Brian and Connor from driving it around the airport!

 

 Connor had the biggest grin on his face!

 

 Happy boys coming in for their final lap...

 

 The sun makes this not a great photo, but it is still cute to see him in the pilot seat!

 

 Posing next to the plane!

 

 Papa and his boys, with his new exciting toy!

 

 Connor and Papa, N253P is the number Papa came up with which stands for the age's they were when the plane was completed, so Connor-2, Papa-53 and the P is for Papa...

 

Connor and Mom and the "31 week bump", which it was about this week I started to get worried that I/Baby wasn't growing because I hadn't gained any weight, and my stomach just didn't feel ANY bigger. When I got home and had my check up, I found out I was right.. more on this a little further down.......

 

While in Boise we also celebrated Nicole's Grandpa Clancy's 80th birthday.. Most of the family was able to make it so it was very fun to all be together~!

 

 The birthday boy! He chose to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.. and it was DELICIOUS!

 



 Kenny, Uncle Kelly, Aunt Bonnie, Kelsey, Uncle Kevin and Brian at dinner.

 

 Papa Kevin, Great Grandma Verleen, B-day Boy GGpa Clancy, Nicole, Connor and Nana Shelly.

 

 After dinner we had cake, presents and watched the BSU football game... It was a good day!

 

 GGpa and GGma's dog Beamer (the one I adopted for them from Omak) with Grandpa opening presents in the background!

 

 He's such a good sport!, even wore the crazy "over the hill" glasses :-)

 

The group, we were sad that Kayla and Jeremy couldn't make it (and Connor was asleep), but I think Grandpa had a very good 80th birthday!

 

When Jeremy got to Boise, with his buck in tow (he surprised us and came home a day sooner than we expected.. which was great! he got basically 5 full days in Boise) we mostly did a bunch of hanging out around the house, but we did manage to go to the Discovery Center with Connor, which he thought was pretty cool! I'll post pictures of Jer's buck later (he left his camera in Montana and we are waiting for his hunting friend Jeremy to send it to us).

 

 Checking out what a vibrating coil feels like, and how it looks to touch different parts of it.

 



 Dad and Connor checking out the floating ball area... he thought this was hilarious!

 

 Mom helping Connor spin the giant wheel while he put the stuffed animals on, the were supposed to be ablt to go all the way around via centripetal force, but I must not have been spinning it fast enough! Connor didn't care thought :-)

 

 Connor laying on the "bed of nails" he didn't mind it, but was ready to move on to the next stop!

 

They weren't too sharp, and because there were so many it distributed the weight and didn't hurt at all.. just looks creepy!

 

While in Boise, we got some updated Yagues Family photos:

 

 

 Connor loves for Uncle Brian to "throw me up"!!

 

 

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, it was just Nicole's family and Grandpa and Grandma Cable. The food was delicious as always!! and we thoroughly enjoyed the leftovers! On Saturday we headed home to prep for a very busy December!

 

December....

When we got home Nicole had her 32/33 week check up, and as suspected, her fundal height measurement was on the small end (30cm) so the Dr. ordered an ultrasound, which showed that the baby to be smaller than average (only in the 4%tile) which does leave cause for concern, mostly if it doesn't grow from that point on. Everything else looked great though, baby was measuring symmetrical, good flow through the umbilical cord and good fluid levels, but my Dr. could tell I was still a little bit of a nervous wreck with all the unknowns! So he suggested we go to Spokane the following week for a level 3 ultrasound. That went really well and left us feeling reassured that baby is fine, just going to be on the small end of the spectrum. One interesting thing we did get out of the apt with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist was that the reason the baby likely slowed its growth was because I had that arthritis flare back in October, and when a pregnant woman has an active autoimmune flare during pregnancy, it does take a lot of needed nutrients etc. from the baby. So now we are just going in for weekly checks to make sure the baby is continuing to grow, and i'll have another ultrasound the 1st part of January. I am proud to announce that with both of these ultrasounds we still stayed strong and still don't know the sex!! Although Jeremy is leaning towards it being a girl (he said because it's a small baby so it must be a girl :-), and I am beginning to lean towards it being a boy... although we could both just be using our guess as a "coping mechanism" since he of course is hoping for a boy and i'm hoping for a girl!! :-) ha ha the things we do! We will both be happy with whatever we are blessed with, we are mostly concerned that it comes out healthy~!

 

 

DECEMBER

The weekend after Thanksgiving was Tonasket special meeting, so we got to have 2 brother workers, Evan and Dan stayed with us which was very nice! After special meeting weekend, we had one weekend to get things around the house done to prepare for Christmas company who arrived on Thrusday the 19th. 

 

There was a parade in downtown Omak that Jeremy and Nicole took Connor to. It may have been a low key/small town parade, but Connor LOVED it.. and because he was the little guy in our area, everyone gave him candy.. especially the older girls around us :-) already a chick magnet!

 

in awe!!

 candy candy candy!!

 

 I thought this was precious.. he loved the bubbles!

 But the fire trucks were his favorite~~!

 



after the parade we went in to see Santa... Connor loved it! He was so into Christmas this year, explaining to anyone who would listen about Santa and the reindeer and coming down the chimney, he kept saying he wanted Santa to bring him "tools and socks" :-) works for me!

 

Being our first Christmas in our house, and with Nicole being a month away from the due date, we decided to spend this Christmas with both sides of the family here in Omak! Nicole's Dad, Mom and Brother came early to help us with several house projects, and we can't even begin to thank them enough for all they helped us accomplish: Fireplace tile/granite work, pantry light, garbage disposal/insta boiling water electrical, moving the hood above the range up, installing ceiling fans (19 feet in the air), tons of trim caulking and painting, touch up paint, finishing the pine soffit on the back deck, hanging bathroom mirrors, hanging pictures around the house, putting gutters on the front deck, moved furniture around (Nicole's nesting kicked in and she decided to re-arrange rooms), installed Central Vacuum... YEAH!! and of course helped clean... WHEW!! It was a very productive week to say the least!! Christmas eve Brian's girlfriend Brianna and Jeremy's Mom joined us and it was SOO much fun to see Connors reaction to everything this year, and to play Santa!

 

We finally got our first snow of the season just a few days before Christmas.. Connor was in seventh heaven!

He's a big fan of the shovel! and he's pretty good too :-)

 

We opened presents with Nicole's side of the family the Sunday before Christmas, then did presents with Jeremy's side the Saturday after. We left Christmas morning for "Santa gifts" and stockings.

 

These are a few pictures from when we opened gifts with Nicole's side of the family:

 

 He loved his "Santa Hat"! and he decided to accessorize with his aviators!

 

 Helping Nana open a present

 

Papa got new headphones for his plane, Connor didn't want to give them back!

 

Christmas Eve Festivities:

 

 We came across a cool idea to plant "elf seeds" (tic tacs) in sugar, so that when Santa came, his magic would turn them into candy canes.. Here Connor is filling up the sugar to plant the seeds in...

 

 The Grandma's getting in on the action :-)

 

 Brianna and Uncle Brian helped too!

 

 He is covering the seeds up with a little bit of sugar.... ready to set out for Santa's magic!

 

 Our family of 3 (+1soon) with the goodies for Santa and his helpers!

 

 Connor LOVES carrots, so he had to sample the ones for the reindeer to make sure they were suitable! :-)

 

Cookies and Milk for Santa, Carrots for the reindeer, and the mini Elf donuts :-)

 

We stayed up pretty late getting everything from Santa put together, but it was worth it to see how excited Connor was.. It took him a few minutes to wake up, but when he did he was very into all of the gifts from Santa!

 

Still waking up :-)

 

Still not sure....

 

"Ok.. i'll check out my stocking!"

 

Wow!! Lots of stuff.. cars, socks, slinky, measuring tape candy!! Santa know me :-)

 showing off his stocking loot!

 

 This was one of the main gifts Santa brought.. Home Depot work bench and a tool box full of his very own tools!!

 

 He was a little intimidated by this one :-).. He actually crawled under the sheet and said "fort"... kind of! :-)

 

AN INDOOR BASKETBALL HOOP!!

 It was a hit for more than just Connor :-)

 

 Connor is still a little bit little for it (although he has made several shots since then) Daddy is helping him make his first shot here...

 

After Christmas:

 Uncle Brian and Brianna took Connor sledding up and down the driveway.. he is a little bit too big for this baby sled, but that didn't stop him! At one point he tipped over and got a face full of snow, and he just stood up and laughed :-)

 

 Hanging with his sledding buddies!

 

 What a cutie!! It was beautiful that day with the frost and the sunset!! Was foggy pretty much the rest of the time around Christmas, but this evening was stunning!

 

We were all back at it working by the day after Christmas.. here is Dad and Jeremy working on the gutters for the front of the house...

 

Uncle Braden and Jessica were in Mexico visiting her family for Christmas, but they got back to town on Thursday, on Friday evening we decided to all go bowling... We had a BLAST!!

 

 Braden thought it would be funny to put a bowling ball in his shirt and compare with me... You're awfully low there Braden! You must be about to deliver :-) I am exactly 4 weeks from my due date in this photo, thought it doesn't sound like I will be going to my due date.. more on that later....

 

 Nice form Jeremy!

 



Connor killed pretty much all of our scores with the help of this handy little gadget! and HE picked out the pink ball.... :-)

 Uncle Braden had Connor "flying" like CRAZY flying!! and while it made momma bear a little nervous.. he was having the time of his life! I don't know how he didn't get sick.. I was dizzy just watching him... He is an adrenaline junkie after all!! O No.... Help us!!

 

Braden's bowling ball under shirt was such a good idea, a few more people got in on it too! Which bump is real? This might be a terrible way to start some rumors :-) Thanks everyone for making me feel better, now I just wish you would have all bowled 2 games that way!!! (I was a little sore the next day)...  

 

At Grancy's for Christmas with Jeremy's side of the family (minus Uncle Clayton who had to work .. we were sad to not have him with us this year!):

 

Opening more presents! This boy is spoiled :-/

 This year I did almost 100% of the gifts we gave to people homemade. It was a lot of work, and I am not sure if it really saved any money, so I am thinking I may stick to one or two homemade gifts next year.. but one of my favorites to make was this I Spy book for Connor that Jessica is reading with him. It is an I SPY book, but with all of Connors toys.. I will be a great keep sake for years to come!

 

 He enjoyed "delivering" presents this year... too cute :-)

 

 Helping Grancy open hers..

 

 Mom and Jessica helping Connor put together his Dusty Crophopper airport! He got a great airplane setup this year :-)

and the final gift from Grancy was this awesome 48" trampoline!! He was VERY excited.. and Mom will be very excited when he can use it to get his cooped up winter energy out :-)

Trying it out.. He was able to get some pretty good air right away, and doesn't hold the handle much!

 

We can't even begin to thank everyone for all of the incredible gifts we got this year! Everyone went WAY over the top and we feel very spoiled!! Thanks again to everyone!!

 

As I mentioned briefly above, we ran into another little hiccup with the baby! If it isn't one thing it is another!! On New Years Eve we had my follow up ultrasound to make sure baby is growing on track.. well it is, and everything looked good (still going to be small, but very healthy), except my amniotic fluid levels were dangerously low.. I was sent home with strict orders to HYDRATE... like insane amounts of water, and return in 2 days for another ultrasound. LUCKILY my levels were up from 5.67cm Tuesday to 7.6 cm on Thursday. These are still lower than ideal, but better.. My Doctor has basically implied that if they drop down again, if baby has any sign of distress, or if I make it to 39 weeks, we will be inducing. There have just been too many little causes for concerns with this baby that it isn't worth dragging it past that point.. So if not sooner, we will have a baby by January 17th... So now we are just waiting :-)

 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, we hope to see everyone sometime in 2014~