Wyatt Gabriel Kotter

He's here!  Our adorable, sweet, wonderful... well there aren't enough adjectives but you get the idea... he's perfect!! Our little Wyatt Gabriel Kotter was born on Monday at 5:22.  People told me the second time was faster and easier but WOW that was no joke. So much easier!  I was so ready to be done being pregnant, not because it was bad... I really have pretty easy pregnancies, but I was exhausted and ready to be done with work and SO ready for people to stop saying stupid things like "you haven't had that baby yet!"  Seriously people, obviously not since my belly was huge and I'm not holding him!  Anyways, sorry... back to the important part.  My due date was the 13th but my midwife and I agreed we didn't want him getting too big so I had an appointment for the day after the due date.  I went in and was at a 4 but still nothing was happening so they gave me a dose of this stuff to help me thin out, a couple hours later it worked great, they broke my water about 1:30 and by five I started pushing and then twenty minutes later there he was!  Aliya was excited to meet him and we were very lucky to have my mom and my sister both here to help with her and take care of all of us. It has been a wonderful few days!  Thanks to everyone for all the love and support.  

Valentines and other randomness

I haven't been a huge fan of Valentines day since I was a kid, but now that Aliya is old enough to enjoy it, we had a lot of fun this year.  She went to a party with her preschool friends, made a box and got to give and get valentines.  Then at home, we made heart shaped pancakes for lunch, heart shaped pizza for dinner, and valentine cupcakes!  It was a fun day despite the mess :)

Frosting is her FAVORITE!

Ta-da! (okay so I was pretty proud of myself that they turned out)

So, since I didn't manage to post anything in January, here is a wee bit of catchup.  We joined a co-op preschool with 4 other families in the neighborhood/ward.  It has been so much fun. We were really hoping it would help her potty train which it did for the first day, sadly that was it.  But she still loves school, especially when "the friends come to our house".  The next pic is her on the first day of preschool.

So, in other news, we are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby brother in 3 weeks.  I need to take more pictures but here are some from December.  I am even bigger now and feeling good just super tired all the time. I mostly blame that on work but I'm sure it's a combination effect.

Tis the Season

Hooray I'm finally caught up! Last week we got our tree, it was a long search because I refuse to pay $35 + for a tree.  But, we finally found a lovely tree for a decent price (thank you boy scouts and the nice guys who loaded it and tied it onto our car).  It was so cute to watch Aliya get so excited about all the decorations and everything this year!  She can't wait for Santa and even sat on his lap at the ward party the other day (I know, I was shocked!) So, we are all decked out and ready for Christmas, now if only my shopping were done :)  Merry Christmas everyone!

Fall Fun & Halloween

We have LOVED having our awesome back yard this fall. Aliya especially loved playing in the leaves.  It was so cute to watch her really experience and enjoy fall this year.

We decided to paint our pumpkins this year rather than carve them so that Aliya could participate more.  We all had a lovely time, but unfortunately forgot to take pictures until it was all done.  But here are a few and Aliya in her costume. She LOVED trick or treating this year and I think she's asked if we can go almost every day since then til now.

Summer randomness

So, I'm getting tired of playing catch-up so this is going to be a random post of the assorted pictures I still want to post but haven't so I can actually get on to something current!  So, to begin, my baby turned 3!  I can hardly believe what a big girl she is! We had a lovely day, Daniel's Mom and John came down and our friends Jamin and Ta and their sweet girl Serenity all came to play with us.  We ate pizza and cake and then went swimming at the rec center.  It was awesome.  The only bad part is that the pictures didn't turn out so great, but here are a few.

Aliya and her new trike and helmet!

Birthday cakes, she picked these of the the ones I showed her online and they were super easy

Yum yummy!

Birthday dress

We were able to spend some time with my sister Heather and nephew Michael during my training and the trips back and forth.  This was labor day, we went to the park and had a lovely time despite the cold. Miss you guys!

In all our packing Aliya loved playing in the boxes, especially when Daddy would carry her in a box.