October

The day after we got back from Portland my parents came to visit again.  This time they came to take care of me.  Oh, and of course play with Declan.  This pregnancy was a lot like my last one when it came to the morning sickness.  I say it was similar but it was different in so many ways also.  When I was pregnant with Declan the morning sickness hit me one night after work when I was 8 weeks along and didn't leave until I was 21 weeks.  This time, the nausea came and went for awhile and then right before we left for Portland it hit full force.  Also, it seemed harder this time since I had a 2 year old to take care of and I felt horrible just letting him watch t.v. but I really couldn't anything else.  By the way, why do they call it morning sickness when it lasts all day long?  Really, it needs a different name.  Anyway, it was so nice to have my parents here and take care of not only me but all of us.  Declan loved having someone play with him during the day again.  I had my first doctor's appt. while they were here and my mom was able to go and see the baby.  My doctor prescribed me a different nausea medicine (phenergan) since I wasn't keeping anything down and the Zofran was having some crazy side effects. 

When it came time for my parents to leave, Declan and I went with them!  I am SO glad we did too!  The phenergan definitely helped with the nausea and I was able to keep food down with it but it turned me into a zombie.  Seriously, I would take it and within an hour I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Since my parents were home to watch Declan I got a lot of sleep.  We stayed in Idaho for 2 weeks.  We did go up to the cabin one day while I was there, which was fun.  I wouldn't call the trip overall very fun though.  Declan had fun, which is what I really wanted.  We stayed with Zach's family a few nights while we were there also but of course I didn't take any pictures.  All the pictures I have are from my parent's camera.  Zach's mom and sister, Sara, took me to Boise where we met up with Zach at the end of two weeks.  We have the best families to take the time out of their lives to take care of us!  Thank you all again!

 {He was so excited to see this little patch of snow!  He leaned over and put some in his mouth!  I about threw up.  Zach taught him about eating snow last year and somehow the kid remembers everything!!}

 {Pointing to the BIG puddle!}

 {He walked into a spider web when he was walking into the tee pee and now every time he sees this picture he talks about a spider.  I told ya, he doesn't forget a thing!}

We made it back to Walla Walla just in time for Halloween.  Some friends in our ward invited us over for soup and then we trick or treated around their neighborhood.  Declan was a dragon but he refused to wear his hat with his costume.  He definitely loved ringing the doorbells and getting candy.  Within 2 minutes of putting him in his car seat to go home he fell asleep (it was only 7:30 and he usually goes to bed at 9).  He stayed asleep when we got him out and even while we took his costume off.  It was a great Halloween for all of us!! :)

Portland

At the beginning of October Zach had an optometry conference to go to in Portland.  Declan and I were able to go with him.  A few days before the morning sickness really hit and I called the doctor and they prescribed me some zofran.  Luckily, I was able to enjoy most of the trip because of the zofran.  We didn't take too many pictures of the trip but we sure did a lot while we were there.  We stopped on our way and saw Multnomah Falls.  Declan loved the waterfall and kept pointing to the lower one and saying, "baby waterfall" and "big waterfall" for the higher one.  

We spent a lot of time at the play place in the mall by our hotel.  It was a fun vacation for Declan and I but Zach was at his conference everyday all day long.  Our friends from Memphis, The Lukes, were there also for one day so Heather and I and the kids hung out.  We all went out to dinner before they left and the kids were being so funny together on our walk back to the car.  The next day Declan and I went to the Portland Zoo which was awesome!  Our last day we went to the Children's museum, it was a lot like the one in Salt Lake.  I wish we would have taken more pictures but I didn't want to haul around our giant camera everywhere and keep track of a 2 year old.

Camping

Zach took Declan on the ward father/son campout at the end of September.  Zach said Declan loved running around and playing in the dirt.  He especially loved roasting marshmallows (he usually eats the marshmallows before he can get them roasted though!)  Declan even slept all night in the tent with Zach just fine.  He still talks about sleeping in a tent with dad and the fire. :)  

 {I tried taking a picture of them before but Declan was way too excited to get going!}

While they had fun camping, I had a fun girls night!

We celebrated Zach's last birthday in his twenties on September 9, 2011.  The Saturday after his birthday our friends watched Declan and we went golfing.  Zach is the best husband - I really don't know how I got so lucky.  He is also the best dad.  Declan sure loves him!

 {Declan waiting for Zach to get home so we could finally open presents!}

 My big surprise (which wasn't too big of a surprise) for Zach was a positive pregnancy test.  I waited a few weeks to take the test so we basically knew but it was still fun to kind of surprise him!

We moved Declan into his big boy bed right after Randi, Sara, and Paige left.  He did amazing....at first.  Really, he would only get out once or twice before falling asleep and then he slept all night.  It was awesome.  Then October came, and for some reason he's been awful since!  He won't fall asleep unless I sit in his room with him until he's asleep and he gets up in the middle of the night to find us many nights.  It's gotten a little better though.  At first it would still take him an hour to fall asleep even with me in the room but now it takes about 15-20 mins.  Still longer than I would like but better than an hour!  I have a hard time walking out of his room when he's still awake and saying, "oh no, help mom, help mom."  Darn kid is too cute.  Anyway, these are the only pictures I have of him in is new bed.  I was babysitting his friend Hallie one day and they were having fun playing on the bed. :)

Last post about August! WOO HOO!

Sometime around the end of August Zach was asked to shadow the VA in Spokane for a day.  We left really early one morning and 3 hours later we were there.  Zach went to the VA and Declan and I went over to the Sullenger's house.  Our friends from Memphis, Kash and Cara, had just moved to Spokane a few weeks before, and Cara was so nice to let me hang out with her and her kids all day while Zach worked.  Hudson and Declan had fun playing and chasing each other.  When Zach got off work we were able to go to Riverfront Park.  Declan loved the huge slide there and running around.  The next day we spent all day shopping and at Riverfront Park again.  We took Declan to an IMAX movie - we didn't think he would like it at first but he ended up loving it!  We rode the train around the park which we thought he would like a lot more than he actually did.  I think it just got really long and boring for him.  We played miniature golf and rode some of the rides there also.  That night we went to Kash and Cara's for a delicious dinner.  Our last day there we went to the flower gardens.  They were all so pretty, especially the Japanese garden.  It was a fun little getaway!  We really enjoyed Spokane also.  All of the pictures we took were taken with Zach's iPhone so the quality isn't the greatest.