Cheyenne loves to look in the mirror...

...especially when she is trying on Mommy's or Daddy's shoes!

Cheyenne got a package

from Grandma Bennum. Inside was this adorable Elmo shirt. In case you haven't heard, Cheyenne is one of Elmo's biggest fans. She was so excited to look in the envelope to see what it was, and she exclaimed, "Elmo!!! I wanna wear it!" So we put it right on:)

Mr. Potato Head

Cheyenne's new favorite toy...

Nursery!!!

It is Monday morning and I have a crazy day ahead of me... Cheyenne isn't awake yet, so I just had to do a quick blog post about church yesterday. We always start talking about going to nursery on Friday... anyway, I hadn't said anything about it and Cheyenne starting to bring up nursery. On Saturday we had a coach's party thing in Elberton and Jeff had to run to the field house on the way home. He ran in and Cheyenne and I were in the car and I said, "Cheyenne where are you going tomorrow?" and she said "nursery!" I couldn't believe she knew the answer. I always ask where are we going tomorrow, and the answer is always something different... maybe to a friends house or to the park, but she knew... Jeff was thinking maybe because he is always home the day before nursery or something. Anyway, she sounded excited and I was telling her she would get to have snack, and play with the toys and color, etc. Then she chimed in, "and clean up!" haha, she loves to clean up and sing the clean up song. It was so funny...

Fast forward to church on Sunday (keep in mind we haven't dropped her off in nursery yet without her crying when we leave). We were getting out of the car to go into church and I kept telling her about how it was almost time to go to nursery. During sacrament meeting she was super busy playing with all the toys I brought. We have the monkeys jumping on the bed book and I brought it and she would always say "no more monkeys jumpin on the bed!" She is not very good at whispering, so everyone got to hear that about 5 times... then she was of course singing the abcs and other random things she would think of... so sacrament gets over and I say that we are going to go to nursery. She wants me to hold her and she grabs on to me tight and lays her head on my shoulder. That was not a good sign. So I think, here we go, she is going to be tired and upset when I drop her off again. She stays clutched on to me while I make my way to the nursery, stopping to visit with a few people along the way. I walked into nursery and my previous visiting teacher just got called as the new nursery leader. She has been to our house several times, so I know Cheyenne recognized her. I was waiting for them to get the toys out and Whittney (the new nursery leader) asked Cheyenne if she wanted to come to her. I thought it was sweet, but didn't expect Cheyenne to accept. Cheyenne let go of me and reached out to her and then said loudly and happily while waving to me, "bye bye mama!" I was so surprised, and I think most other people were too who had heard her crying the last few weeks. I got so excited and happy! It seriously made my entire day! I smiled and waved bye to her and rushed out the door before she could change her mind. I hate having to leave her when she is crying, it felt so good knowing she felt good in there and would be having a good time. Hopefully this is how it will be from now on!! Just had to write about the experience since it was the highlight of my week!!

Cheyenne, Dollies, and Pregnancy

Dollies Left to Right: Carly, Lisa, Eddie, Devin, Baby

These cabbage patch dolls were mine when I was little. I had about 100 other ones too, but these ones were in the best shape so I decided to bring them home. I remember playing with my friends when I was little and we would play house and all my friends would want to have 1 or 2 babies, but I would feel so bad leaving any of my dolls out, I always would have 12 or 13 babies! haha... I used to line them all up on the couch for "Family Picture Day." Here is Cheyenne for "Family Picture Day."

Actually I put her in her "spot" on the couch (she thinks this is her spot and will try to push Jeff or I out of it if we sit there, but we don't usually move, because we don't want her to push our guests out if they happen to sit there! Anyway, so I put her there and then line up the dolls around her and she will either watch Sesame Street, Dora or Curious George. She sits so still the whole time just holding her dolls. It is so cute. Lately, Eddie (the little football player doll) has been her favorite and she takes him everywhere with her. They still have their same names from when I was a kid, except I had to change one of their names from Mona to Carly, because I put Cheyenne's baby onesie on her with the monogram, so I wanted her name to start with a C. Cheyenne doesn't really like the other boy doll as much because she has a hard time remembering and saying his name (Devin). She also calls Lisa, "Loosa" and Carly, "Cah-ly." I love watching her play with them because it brings back so many memories of when I was obsessed with them.

I put out some fall decorations and one day I took a picture of Cheyenne standing next to them. Now, seriously like 3 or 4 times a day Cheyenne runs over against the wall next to them and says, "cheese." Then when I don't do anything she says, "Mommy, I want a picture! Get the camera!" I have to explain to her we have already taken 100 pictures of it already, but she wont give up until I distract her with another activity. She is also always hugging and kissing them and holding their hands, it is so funny.

Changing the topic, I am starting to feel ready to have this baby. A few weeks or months ago I was having the hardest time connecting with this little girl inside of me, but lately all those feelings have been totally gone. I am really starting to get excited about having 2 girls and a little baby again. I know it is going to be so hard and I am still nervous for that, but I really feel like it is my little daughter in there and I can't wait to meet her. I think Cheyenne is going to love having a little sister, I can't wait to see her reaction.

We are still deciding on the name, but have narrowed it down to either Berkeley or Savannah. One day I will be stuck on Berkeley and the next it's Savannah... I guess we really might just have to wait until we see her. Feel free to leave your vote!!

I am almost 35 weeks along now, so I am getting there slowly but surely. Sleeping has been not so good, and the past four or five days I have been feeling so exhausted. I always wake up around 4 or 5 am to pee and my back is completely stiff, I can barely get up. My stomach will also be as hard as a rock, I don't know if that is a Braxton Hicks contraction or my stomach is just hard because I have to pee. Anyone know? It happens every single morning. Very weird, I don't remember that with Cheyenne.

Anyway, I am really hoping to go into labor naturally this time, but they don't let you go much past your due date here so I will probably end up being induced. I never did change my doctor, I feel okay about it. I don't love my doctors, but I don't really not like them either so I will just stay I guess. I will either get induced the 29th of October so that she will be born the 30th or if they don't induce on the weekend then I will change it to the 1st or 2nd of November so she will be born on the 2nd or 3rd... Yikes! I am nervous for the birth part, but I will have to talk about that in a different post.

Vacation to Bellingham

I decided I needed to take one last trip to Washington before Cheyenne turned two and could still fly for free. It is going to start to get really expensive to go home, so who knows how often we will be able to from now on. I wanted to go in the middle of football season, since Jeff is never home. It was so much fun and time really flew by. It would be nice to live near family, especially during football season!!

We flew in to Seattle Saturday August 28th. The flight went pretty well and Cheyenne was good for an almost 2 year old on such a long flight. At one point she started this screeching thing she does in the car. There is no stopping her once that is started. Thankfully we sat by a very nice man with an iphone who had many applications for her to be entertained with.

Mom and Rachel (my sister-in-law) picked me up from the airport and we headed to Brian and Dana's (other brother and sister-in-law) house for the night. The next day, one of my best friends, Christine Dillon, met me at my brother's house. It was really so good to see her, it had been so long! We probably talked for a few hours but it only seemed like 15 minutes, until we had to go. She was so sweet to get little presents for Cheyenne that she LOVED! She got her the little elmo doll she is holding, some stickers, and bath toys which were much needed, since I had never really ever gotten any for Cheyenne. Christine is one of the best people I know, and such a good friend, I feel so lucky to have her as a part of my life... just wish we lived closer!!

Next, Mom and I ran off to Big Stacey's bridal shower. She is getting married this month and she is so excited. She looked so happy and excited, it was fun to be able to go to her shower. She is a good family friend and my parents even named me after her. So she has always been Big Stacey and I have been Little Stacey, although, now it seems the names should probably switch!!

Here is Cheyenne with some of her cousins. Brian and Dana's house was awesome!! There were so many toys to play with, I barely saw Cheyenne the whole time- she was in heaven!!

Sunday night some other good family friends, the Vaughns, came over for dinner. It was so much fun to see them and their kids are all getting so big and grown up. Lucy is a teenager now (or maybe almost one) and she is just gorgeous, Cheyenne adored their other daughter Ella who played with her the whole time, and Trevor, their son is such a good, sweet boy. It was so fun to catch up!

Monday we went to the park and I took a million pictures but didn't post any here because there were already too many, but they are all on facebook if you are interested. Then that afternoon, all the girls headed for Bellingham. This picture is great of my mom, Hannah and Cheyenne. Hannah is about 2 months younger than Cheyenne.

We went to Lynden City park and had a picnic and played on their awesome playground.

Here is the sunset by mom's pool.

Rachel and I with our pregnant bellies... I was about 32 weeks I think and she was probably about 23 weeks or so. Jared and Rachel have two girls and they will be having their first boy in January!!

Cheyenne and Aubrielle loved to hold hands everywhere they went. Aubrielle is about 2.5 months older than Cheyenne. This was taken in downtown Bellingham on the way to the Children's Museum.

We had a great time at Mom's house. Highlights were eating LOTS of blackberries straight off the bush (I had been missing those down south!), delicious BBQ salmon, corn and potato dinner, and going through endless boxes of my old stuff reminiscing. Rachel couldn't believe people would save any of it, haha, and a lot of it went to goodwill, but it was fun to search through the boxes and enjoy the memories.

Friday we headed over to Jeff's parents house. We went to the Meridian High School (where Jeff went to school) football game to watch Jeff's cousins Tait and Zach play. They beat the other team by a lot, but it was fun to get to see them play.

All of Jeff's family except one of his sisters still live in Bellingham, so they all came over to visit. It was so much fun to see them all and I just love this picture of Cheyenne with her Bennum cousins... there are only 3 missing: Will and Tommy (the Utah cousins) and Tatym who wasn't there that night.

We really wanted to make sure we spent some time with our grandparents since they aren't really able to come out and see us. I just LOVE Jeff's grandparents, I have known them my entire life. My mom worked for Jeff's grandpa for about 20 years, and I think they taught my brothers in Sunday School or something. I remember for my 17th birthday they bought me a cake and invited me to Jeff's uncle Tim's house for a little birthday party for me. They are such fun grandparents and I am so happy my daughter gets to call them her Great Grandparents! Such a lucky little girl!

They gave Cheyenne this little handmade purple sweater that they bought at the Washington Fair in Lynden. I LOVE it, it is so original and adorable. Hopefully it will ever get cold enough for her to wear it here in Georgia!!

Above is Jeff's sister Kristen, with her two daughters, Haley and Hannah. Cheyenne has a cousin on each side named Hannah! I can't believe how big they have gotten, such sweet and cute girls! First thing Haley and Kyla (Jeff's other sister's daughter) did was give Cheyenne a makeover, it was so cute, Cheyenne came back with flowers in her hair, a crown on her head, fingernails painted, and stickers all over her body. She is so lucky to have so many fun girl cousins!

Above is Jeff's brother Bobby, his wife Stephanie and Their two kids Tatym and Luke. Bobby just got his own insurance agency through American Family Insurance, we are so excited for him! Even though we were secretly hoping they would move to Georgia!!

Here is Jeff's sister Tanya and her two daughters, Madesyn and Kyla with Cheyenne and I. Kyla made this giant adorable scrapbook for Cheyenne with pictures from Jeff and her last trip. It was so sweet and thoughtful, you could tell she put a lot of time into it. Cheyenne loves it and looks at it all the time. I will have to add some more pictures from this trip.

Cheyenne loved to climb all over Grandpa Frank! Here he is taking her for a ride.

I had to post a picture of this freaky doll my Grandma has. Kids love it though, because it is just their size. Cheyenne kept holding her broken hand and saying "cheese." Then she would give her hugs and kisses.

Cheyenne with my dad, we got to spend a few days with him and had fun hitting all the bargain stores. I wish they had some of them in Georgia... I did buy some gum and cake frosting to take home with me, but I wanted more stuff that wouldn't fit in my bag.

Here is Cheyenne with my Grandma and her boyfriend Howard. She is my last living grandparent, it was so great to see her, I am lucky to have her as my grandma!

We had so much fun on our trip, thanks to everyone for hosting us! We really want to go back again next summer, when Jeff's sister Jenny goes, so at least his side of the family can all be together. I hope it works out!