Australia Perth Mission

My little brother, Scott received his mission call this week....kind of. So here is the story. Scott sent his papers in and waited around for his call, it normally takes 2-3 weeks to receive. Well he waited and waited and waited and still no call... Almost 4 weeks pass. So this past Friday he receives a letter from the travel department in Salt Lake. We were confused on what was going on. Scott opened the letter and it contained all the information he needs to get his Visa and such and it was from Australia! We didn't even know what mission he would be in... Then about a half hour later he finds an envelope that says Australia Perth Mission. But he still hasn't received his call, the stake president is calling Salt Lake tomorrow since today was a holiday. We think it must have gotten lost in the mail with all the holidays over the last month. We don't know when he is leaving but he is beyond thrilled. He almost passed out when he read Australia cause he was so excited. I should post the video, it's hilarious. I know Scott will be an amazing missionary and I am so happy with the choices he has made. Hopefully we find our when he is leaving next week!!!

Alone Once Again

Greg travels a lot for work, the next couple months he will be gone a lot. This morning Greg left for Illinois, he doesn't get back till Saturday night. Bummer!!! Then he needs to go to Utah and Arizona so he will be gone for another week. Let's just hope he doesn't have to be gone next week too. Bella and I will have lots of mommy time that will consist of Disneyland, the park, maybe the beach and anything else I can think of. We will have some fabulous adventures but wish he was here with us!

Crunchy, Hippie, Granola Kind of Mom

As I was driving today I started to think about how I live my life. I realized that I am what you might consider a hippie. Haha. I had never really thought about it before but it's true with a lot of stuff. And this is why...
- All about natural unmedicated birth, even home birth. (Hypnobabies is awesome!!!) Of course they should be assisted by a certified midwife, only if low risk. Medical interventions are great, when needed.
- I think exclusively breast feeding is very important, to wait 6 months before solids and child led weaning. If Bella is still nursing when I give birth then we will tandem nurse.
- Co-sleeping, it makes those first couple months so much easier.
- I enjoy baby wearing and think its great for mom or dad and baby to bond.
- Making baby food... Bella totally skipped this stage she only wanted solids but I did make a lot for her try.
- Organic when possible, especially hormone free milk and meat
- Cloth diapering. Now I am all about this, weird I know. Greg vetoed this idea but I think I might do it. It's great for baby (few if any rashes), cost effective and helps the environment. I think it's great if we can all do a little.
- Homeopathic remedies or other alternatives instead of traditional drugs.

Things that are a little different from some hippies...
- I am pro vaccine, but I may delay some depending on when and why.
- I am conservative, no liberal here!
- I'm not a vegetarian, we eat junk food and watch too much TV.

These are the main things that I agree with but I'm not all out "crunchy", at least I don't think. I just think its funny how much I have changed in the last few years. Knowledge is power!!!

Surprise, Surprise!!!!

I know we are! Well if you haven't heard, Bella is going to be a big sister! This definitely came as quite a shock to us. I didn't even know I could get pregnant since I haven't had a period since February 2010 (my last one before I got pregnant with Bella) because I have been nursing. But you obviously ovulate before you have a period. It took 5 tests and a good month for it all to sink in. My hands were literally shaking and I almost cried. I just lost all the weight by the end of summer and now I'm going to gain it back. And I'll admit, I am nervous because of the difficult challenges I had with Bella. However i am grateful I get the chance to be pregnant and even more grateful ut takes 9 months for the baby to get here. But we are very excited to have them close together and it will be a fabulous adventure!
Below is a copy of our Christmas card, this is how we told our friends. The next picture is Bella wearing her Big Sister shirt. It says, "Merry Christmas to me because I'm a Big Sister to be!" Bella looked absolutely adorable as you can see.