Baby?

Nope, not yet! I went to the doctor yesterday and I am now 4 cm dilated. I am having lots of irregular contractions which is really annoying. Obviously it is doing something or I wouldn't be at 4 cm, but I am getting so tired of feeling contractions and thinking maybe this time they will stay and I'll have a baby soon. Then the contractions stop after a couple and I just think well that was fun.

Doctor Update

Just got back from the doctor and I am still moving right along. I am 3 cm dilated. I've been having irregular contractions on and off now for a couple of weeks. I'm just waiting for them to stick around and grow stronger. Cross your fingers it will be soon. Anyone want to make a guess as to when I will have this baby?

Belly Bump

Here is an update of the belly! I am 37 weeks and still growing.

To compare, below was me at 28 weeks.

Update on Church Callings

We found out today that Taylor has another calling. I'm sure they go hand in hand, but we found out today that along with being the Scout Master and a deacons advisor he is also the 2nd counselor in the Young Men's. Being in a small ward of only 150 active members means multiple calling for each person. Except me of course. Unless you tack on my calling as a mother. That's a pretty hefty one.

Bella's Bling

Check out Bella's bling!

We registered Bella and she now wears her collar all the time and has 2 pieces of jewelry I like to call them. One tag has her name, address and phone number and the second tag has her license number. She jingles when she walks now.

The North Pole

On Tuesday we got together with some family and went to a children's amusement park here just outside of Colorado Springs called the North Pole. It was a lot of fun. Our niece and nephews were there as well and it was fun to watch them take on all the rides.

Guess who else went on the rides? Not me of course. I was on the restricted list. Although, I was all for it. What was the worse thing that could happen? I would go into labor??? Okay!!!

Ashton went on 3 rides. He's 15 months can you believe they let him on? Well, it was a children's amusement park. Taylor had to accompany Ashton on all rides of course. In the cart in front of Taylor and Ashton is Chrystalee, Landon, and Ryleigh.

Ashton is so little it's hard to see him in the seat.

At this point it is really spinning fast and Ashton is hanging onto his daddy.

This was a giant candy cane slide

Beep Beep! Bad timing of catching Taylor waving

We were at the park for 5 hours and this is Ashton without a nap. He was pretty tired

After the park, he couldn't resist

Later that evening we went to try out the Mexican food here which isn't as good as in Arizona, but we let Ashton color for the first time and he loved it!

House Pictures

I finally have pictures of the inside of the house for you.

Here is our living room upstairs. By the way, we got that entertainment center for $50 off of craigslist. What a deal!

Dining room.
This is the upstairs bathroom. Check out our matching blue tub and toilet. Nice!

Here is our kitchen and Ashton is eating in the corner.

Here is Peyton's room.

Ashton's room

This was new for us to baby proof stairs.

Guest room. Sorry it's not a good angle

Downstairs bathroom. There is a small shower in here as well.

Downstairs family room and our office.

We also have a huge backyard, but it is full of weeds and no grass. I didn't post a picture of the master bedroom. I was just to tired to make it look nice. Besides it's pretty boring anyway. We do have 2 closets which is nice.

Church Callings

I thought I would pass on our new callings. For those of you who aren't familiar with callings it is an opportunity to serve in the church. I knew I wouldn't get a big calling because I'm kind of going to have my hands full with 2 kids under the age of 2. Once Ashton is 18 months it will be easier because he can go into the nursery, but that isn't for another 3 months. Anyway, I was asked to be the wards activities co-chair. I don't know a whole lot about it yet. I know that the next activity is the labor day picnic. This will be a good calling for me. I won't be busy every week and we can plan as many or as little activities as we want.

Taylor's got a dual calling. He was asked to be the Scout Master. Which mean he is in charge of the Boy scouts aged 12 and 13. He will help them achieve their merit badges and get together with them every Tuesday night at the church building. He is also the deacons quorum advisor. He will be teaching the same group of boys on Sundays. Taylor received his Eagle Scout when he was 15. Everything he learned to achieve that will help him to help these boys.

He will be very busy with work, school, being a husband and a father of 2 and now with church as well. We are excited for this new chapter in our lives.

Baby Update

Last Thursday I was experiencing contraction like pains. They came and went and weren't too strong so I wasn't sure. I had them for about 1-2 hours. Today, I went to the doctor and she asked me if I was having contractions so I told her about the other night. She then checked my cervix and said, "You'll be happy to hear this." She said I was dilated to 2 cm and about 40% effaced. She said those were definitely contractions. Peyton had also descended into my pelvis about 2 weeks ago so she is ready to go. My doctor also said that I am far enough long that she won't stop my contractions if I go into labor. I'm getting excited and nervous that it could be any day now. It also could mean nothing and I will carry this baby to term, but always nice to hear something is going on.

Here are some pics of Ashton. The last one is a video. He has learned how to rock his harley all by himself.

Update

I've been terrible at updating this lately. I guess I am still trying to get into a routine. We have been here 3 weeks. We are finally all unpacked and settled. It feels great to be unpacked. I'll take pictures whenever I can seem to keep the house clean.

Taylor

Taylor is enjoying his job more. He is now able to enroll for all programs instead of just Associates. He can also enroll students for online classes as well as ground which are taken on campus classes. He is working long days and even Saturdays. He is working hard for us and we appreciate it very much.

Liz

I am doing well. I am 35 weeks pregnant with 5 weeks to go. Can you believe that? I can't! I got to meet my doctor for the first time and she is wonderful and the hospital is less then 5 miles. That's pretty much it for me.

Ashton

Ashton is doing really well. All minus 1 little illness and I will spare you the details, but the doctor told me to stop giving him milk because it was irritating his tummy. She said I could put him on soy milk or lactose free so I did that. Still no change so I took him off milk completely. No milk meant no bottle. For those of you who have seen Ashton you know that he loves his milk and loves his bottle. This started Wednesday and today marks the 3rd day. I am happy to say my son has been weaned from the bottle before 15 months of age. Yay!!! Now I am working on getting him to just 1 nap. I know he is in transition and some days he takes 1 and some days he takes 2 so from here on out it is only 1 nap at noon and bedtime at 8pm. Wish me luck I can stick with it.

Colorado

We are enjoying Colorado and our new house. The weather is nice although I know you guys will think I am crazy and don't know what I am talking about, but it gets hot. Now let me explain. When it gets to about the high 80's or low 90's outside it also gets that inside. Our house doesn't have a/c or a swamp cooler or even ceiling fans. Do any of you keep your house set at about 88 degrees or higher? In the afternoon I am miserable and sweaty. Don't forget my built in incubator that warms me up even more.

We also love living in town. I was able to go 3 weeks on 1 tank of gas in our trailblazer. Everything is just around the corner and for those of you who are familiar with our old town of Maricopa, nothing was around the corner. Not true, but very little was in town.

We love the water here. We can drink from the tap. Our dishes aren't spotted when the come out of the dishwasher and my hair is softer from the shower. Even Bella's hair was softer after her bath.

The view is great as well. I'll take pictures later when it is light out. We have a great view of the mountains and there are tall trees everywhere. Sure palm trees are tall, but these trees are tall and full of leaves. We are excited to see the season FALL and the changing color of leaves.

We're in Colorado!

I just wanted to give a quick update. I know a few of you have been wondering how the trip went and how well we are getting settled.

The drive was long, but that was to be expected. It took about 12 hours the first day. We stopped maybe 4-5 times, but what really slowed us down was the hills. Taylor was driving the 26ft Penske truck towing his car behind and was only able to get 30 mph on the hills. It was strange to see large semi's passing us on the hills. I drove the trailblazer towing a trailer behind and my mother in law came along for the ride to help me out. It was great to have her help. She made sure Ashton had water, milk, food, and entertainment. Ashton did really well for being in the car for so long.

We got into Santa fe just before 8pm. We were exhausted. Well, all of us, but Ashton. He was so happy to finally get out of the car. He ran all over the room for what seemed like hours. Then when it came time for bed which was after 10:30 pm we put Ashton in his pack n play and we lied down too. By the way, we were all in the same room. So, after Ashton was done with his bottle he just stood up and looked at us. We tried to hide under the covers, but it was too late by then. So, we got him up and tried again. We hid this time, but of course this time he just went to sleep. We were trying so hard not to move and make any noise. Then at about 3 am Bella needed to go outside. We tried all day to get her to go potty, but she wouldn't. I woke Taylor up and he wrapped himself up in a blanket and took her out. Apparently it was REALLY cold. Bella didn't waste anytime going and then they were back.

We got back on the road about 6:30 am and made great time. We stopped a lot too. We got into Colorado Springs about 2 pm and rested. Well, as best we could without any furniture. Then at about 6 pm we had a bunch of people from our new ward help us un load. I stood on the front porch and just told everyone where I wanted the boxes. That really helped in the end.

Sunday we went to our new ward and met a few people. This ward is much smaller then we are use too. We ended up getting there about 10 minutes late and they had already read in our records. So, when we opened the door everyone turned and looked at us. Then after the 1st meeting was over, we had people coming up to us asking if we were the Flints.

Our house is nice and is coming along at what feels to be a snails pace. Over the weekend we got our bedroom, family room, dining room and kitchen together. Ashton's room and the bathroom are liveable, but still need work. We have 2 bathrooms and 1 is upstairs and the other in downstairs. In the bathroom upstairs there is a blue bathtub and a blue toilet. Which on the bright side at least it is not avacado green or brown. Both of which we have seen.

Now that Taylor is back to work which started Monday it has been hard to get things done. My body is still recovering from Wed. - Sun. massive overload of work. Today is the first time in a week my back isn't hurting when I walk or move. I'm sure it won't last long since I have stuff to do, but it sure is nice.

Taylor is back to work and says it is alright. It will get better once things start picking up for him. It takes him about 15-20 minutes to get to work which is only 10 miles. His shift is 9-6, but goes in an hour early for overtime. We now spend all 3 meals together. We have breakfast before he leaves and since he doesn't work far he comes home for lunch. Then of course dinner at 6:30. It is actually a pretty sweet deal for Taylor. He now comes home and has lunch and dinner ready :)

This wasn't as short of an update as I was thinking, but I hope it fills you all in. I will blog more later and post pictures.

We miss you all!