Happy Twinner Birthday!

Teya turned 2 this week and we got to have a very fun and special celebration with her best friend Aspen, who also turned 2 on the same day. Aspen is the daughter of Taber's best friend, Nathan, who he's known since elementary school. Taber and Nathan grew up together, went to high school together, roomed together in college before their missions, roomed together after their missions, and then lived in the same apartment complex after they got married. So I guess it was meant to be that their wives would give birth to daughters on the exact same day.

For the big birthday bash we flew up to Michigan and had a twinner party with a pink and brown theme. The girls wore pink dresses and ate pink and brown ice cream cake, pink rice crispy treats, and pink and brown chocolate dipped pretzels. It was so much fun to see them together and see how much they love each other even though this was only the 2nd time they've ever met. They are very sweet and special girls and I hope that no matter where we live, they'll always have their special connection.

Bounce House in Action

A few posts back I talked about making a bounce house by setting up a tent in our guest room and sticking a blow-up mattress inside. Well yesterday I took some footage of the girls having a blast in there so I thought I'd put it up so you can see how it works in action.

Just some background info: Since the mattress doesn't fill up the whole tent I put blankets and pillows in the crack that it doesn't fill in case someone falls. So when Teya tumbles off the side towards the end of the clip, don't panic, she had a nice soft landing. In fact, she usually throws herself off the side a couple times when she's in there just because she gets such a kick out of landing in the pillows. Also, I notice the girls love it best when I play fun music for them to bounce to, hence the repetitive background music. A 3 minute plus extended version of raw footage can be seen here for the Grandparents and Teya's most die hard fans. Anyway, this has been such a fun thing to help us get through cold days when we're stuck indoors.

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Domestically Challenged

I've never been one of those people who loves to cook and as a result, I've never been much of a cook. In fact, before we had Teya, we did take-out much more than we ate in. Since Teya came along I've tried to make more of an effort and I thought I was getting better actually, until this happened:

Yesterday I was warming up some soup for lunch in the microwave. When it was finished and the microwave started beeping, Teya ran into the kitchen and announced, "Dinner's Ready!"

I guess I still have a long way to go if my daughter thinks the sound of the microwave means dinner is ready! It probably doesn't help that with all my pregnancy cravings, I'm sure she thinks the only reason we have an oven is for cookies and cake! I better hit the cookbooks and start figuring out more ways to prepare dinner that don't involve a microwave! : )

How long can you keep a secret?

Well I have been keeping one for 20 weeks and I’m ready to let it out:

I’m Pregnant!

Baby Rigg #2 will be joining us in early July. (Due date is July 14^th)

We thought since we don’t live by family, it would be fun to keep it a secret until we found out the gender. We didn’t think it would be a problem to keep a secret for 20 weeks, but I’ll admit, it’s been harder than I thought. Especially since we went out to visit family for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Sure I was only in my first trimester, but I was also dealing with morning sickness. Luckily all the holiday food made a good cover. When I felt sick I just told people I ate too much. It was also a good excuse for my poochy belly. : ) Another road bump we hit was when my little sister noticed a different “aura” about me and asked me point blank if I was pregnant. Yikes! So here’s my confession to the world, I lied! (Sorry Liz!) I felt bad because she was so sure and even predicted the gender (which, as we found out today, she was right about!) So yes, it was tricky when we were staying with my family, but since we’ve been back in Tennessee it’s been smooth sailing.

So today we went to our 20 week ultrasound and found out that Teya will be getting a new little sister! Taber’s first reaction was, “Whoa, there’s gonna be a lot of hairspray around here!” But after getting over the shock of being out numbered 3 to 1, he is very happy to be expecting another little girl.

As far as my pregnancy goes, I was only sick for about 4 weeks in the beginning, but once I hit the 11^th week it got a lot better. I feel great now and am totally starting to show. In fact, I swear my belly just popped out overnight about 2 days ago! (I’m sure it doesn’t help that I’ve had mad cravings for Girl Scout cookies and other calorie laden goodies) I don’t mind the belly though. Teya likes to rub it and say “I got you baby, I got you” She also gives it hugs and kisses and always asks to “see” the baby. I think she’s going to be a great big sister.

Another fun fact is that two of my sisters are or were pregnant at the same time as me. Naomi just had her baby at the end of January, and Sarah is due 5 weeks after me! We actually took a funny picture at Naomi’s baby shower with Sarah and me stuffing our shirts to look pregnant. At the time, neither of us had announced our pregnancies, so even though all three of us are really pregnant in the picture, nobody else knew!

So now the secret’s out! 20 weeks down, 20 to go!

Girl Scout Cookies

A few days after Teya was born some Girl Scouts came knocking at my door with their wonderful boxes of cookies. I bought some Samoas and Thin Mints and I must say, those cookies were a great source of comfort to me in those first few weeks of adjusting to life with a newborn.

Now at the end of February I always get antsy, wondering when the Girl Scouts will be around with their cookies. This year I've been going crazy trying to get me a box of that partially hydrogenated goodness. I've done drive-bys at Wal-Mart, hoping to see them there, I've searched Craigslist and eBay, I even almost announced in Relief Society that I was looking for them, but didn't think that would be the appropriate venue.

Finally I was venting to Taber about it and he said, "Oh, you want Girl Scout cookies? I can get you some, I know a lady who's daughter is selling them, how many do you want?"

Oh my Goodness! Words cannot express how happy I was in that moment! Why didn't I think to ask Taber in the first place! duh! Anyway, long story short, I am now happily into my second box of Samoas and looking forward to many more afternoons with my delicious little friends.

Weekend Report

We had a great weekend, here are some highlights:
Friday Night: We got a babysitter and went up to Nashville to eat at the Cheesecake Factory! It was sooooooo good! It took us awhile to feel comfortable actually having a babysitter put Teya to bed, so this is only the second time since moving here that we've gotten away for the whole evening! Usually we either leave early and get back before her bedtime, or wait till she's asleep and then leave. It was awesome just being able to go and not worry about getting back early! I totally felt like we were back to our dating days, it was awesome!Saturday: Earlier in the week we set up a tent in the living room to keep Teya entertained on a snowy day. On Saturday we moved the tent upstairs into the guest room, put a blow up mattress inside it, and turned it into her very own jump house! We all know how much Teya loves to jump, needless to say it was hours of entertainment!
Sunday: We had dinner with an awesome family in our ward, the Lees, who are a Hmong family from Laos. Taber Home-teaches them and they always insist that we eat dinner when we come. Hmong food is the most amazing Asian cuisine, we were in taste bud heaven! Taber and I even conquered their hot pepper tomato dip! The Lees were so impressed they said that before we move they're going to give us Hmong names. : )

The life of a busy body toddler

Anyone who has a toddler knows that they can really keep you on your toes! They are always moving and looking for the next adventure. I put this little music video together in honor of Teya's never ending energy and toddler busy-body-ness.

Brrr!!!

I just looked out the window and this is what I saw. Snow in Tennessee! Okay, well maybe it's more of just a light dusting, but still, that's something I didn't think I would see while living here. I guess the folks around here aren't used to it either because they canceled school today over this! My friend says it doesn't snow often out here so when it does, people really freak out. They mob the grocery store and stock up on milk and bread like they're going to be "snowed in" all winter. : ) I think I'm going to get the fireplace going, make some hot cocoa, and spend the day with Teya making blanket forts, reading books, and staying warm indoors.

Daddy's Work

This last week Teya and I got the rare opportunity to visit Taber at work. It was actually our first time inside the building. We'd been to the parking lot before but since the plant isn't open to the public, we'd never been inside. We still couldn't go on the plant floor, but we got to see his office. As you can imagine, it was quite the treat for us to see his office and finally have a small idea of what his day looks like. Teya was in full charming mode and made all his coworkers "ooo and ahh" over her cuteness. She was giving high fives, blowing kisses, and telling everyone that she's one (even though she'll be two next month). The best part was that she got to raid Daddy's snack drawer full of General Mills goodies. She grabbed a bag of caramel Chex Mix and didn't put it down till it was gone.