Dave's family

All the Mann-Philpott brothers.

The boys goofing of as usual.

The boys with Dad where they get their rugged good looks.

With their wives.

And a fabulous picture of Jeff!

My siblings

It looks like I'm not the only really tired one in the house. The cats have been seizing any opportunity to snuggle with mommy!

Merry Christmas?

Well this year's Christmas will be one that we look back at and laugh...
We were house sitting for Nancy and Vince and we were really looking forward to having a nice romantic Christmas morning by the fireplace. Well, Dave went and got some logs and put them in the fireplace with all of our discarded wrapping paper and using his boy scout skills started our little fire. Within minutes the house was filling with smoke and not one, but 3 smoke detectors were going off (keep in mind it's about 7am.) Dave quickly realized the flu was closed and forced me to wait outside until he could open it and clear some smoke. I tried Vince's cell phone but there was no answer so I tried Nancy's. Luckily, Vince answered and after about 10 minutes of him telling me and me telling Dave through the window we got the flu open. The house and everything in it (including us and our clothes) smelled like campfire. The romance of the fire had died so we let the fire die too. It was definitely exciting!
All in all it was a great Christmas and good times were had by all!

One down, 2 to go

It's official! I, David Michael Mann, have been accepted to University of Utah. Now I am just waiting to hear back from Arizona State and UNLV. ASU is still my top choice for now, but it is still nice to know that someone actually wants me. I feel so loved! Brook and I are enjoying our time off for Christmas, "vegging" for most of this morning. I hope all of you are well and enjoy your holidays. Happy Christmas!!

Finally fat enough!

Today we went to Joann's to get the rest of the fabric for the quilt my friend Cristina's future Mother-in-law is making for Carter. While we were there, I finally got asked by a total stranger when my due date was. I guess I am finally getting fat enough to look pregnant, or else she is just really rude.

We did get all the fabrics for the quilt and here they are:

Yummy!

I have seriously been scarfing down the food lately! Poor Dave has to eat dinner at about 4:30 every day because I'm so hungry after work that we have to get food before we even make it home. And it's not like I don't eat ALL day long... in the past 15 minutes I've had a fruit by the foot, a starburst, half a bag of popcorn, about 4 pieces of rocky road fudge AND I'm about to get my 2 string cheeses from the fridge! This is going to be one abnormally large child!!!!! Yikes!

"Mann" made baby stuff

Here are some things Brook and I have been working on for Carter. Over the weekend, Brook used her new sewing machine to make the baby blanket featured below. She got the idea from Sherrie and Jodi Moore. It turned out sooooo cute!


We have gotten a little polka dot crazy in Carter's room and now we might have too many. This project will be ongoing until we get the right concentration of dots. Sometimes Brook and I are a little too obsessed with perfection. Here is what we have so far.

Brook and I went to a new fabric store that was recommended by some friends today. I wasn't going to let her buy anything, but I suddenly felt that Carter needed a more "Mannly" designed blanket when I spotted this fabric. He will be the coolest baby ever! If you want to checkout the store's website, go to http://www.materialgirlfabric.com/.

In other news, Carter has been very active recently. We discovered last night that he enjoys being read and sung to. We read the book Brook's Grandma sent (mentioned in an earlier blog) to him and then I sang some songs by Josh Turner (a country singer with a low bass voice). He was so excited, probably because of all the attention he was getting, that he was bouncing off the "walls". Good times were had by all.

Pictures

Thanks Lindsay!

Proof that when the cats are tired they will tolerate anything. Yes, that is my sock.

Carter's first Christmas present

Carter got a package in the mail yesterday from his great grandma Joan. I can't even express my excitement of having a package addressed to Carter but the best part is what was inside! My grandma had sent a book called "The Life of Our Lord" that she had owned and read with her family every year at Christmas time. The copyright on the book is 1939 and it is still beautiful! On the inside cover she did a little pedigree chart for Carter going from my Great grandparents all the way down to him. This is one of the greatest presents I have ever received and it wasn't even for me!!!! I can't wait to read it to him!

Carter's new digs

Brook and I are in the process of putting the nursery together. Here is what we have so far!

What a difference 21 weeks make!

She may be bigger, but she is still a beauty!

The 25 days of Christmas

We decided we wanted to do something fun and "Christmasy" every day this month so we sat down and planned a bunch of activities. I'm excited because today is the first of many "Hot chocolate Tuesdays." It should be fun. Hopefully we will have pictures from some of the more exciting activities posted on our blog throughout the month.
In other news... I've now gained a total of 12 lbs since I've been pregnant so it looks like I'm right on target with how much they want me to gain. The anxiety is slightly under control and the doctor told me to try to avoid situations that would cause stress (haha... is that possible?) and to keep up with the yoga. We are also in the process of scheduling our birthing classes and we just scheduled our "4D" sonogram for January 10th so we should get some amazing pictures from that.
All in all the 2 and 1/2 of us are doing great and enjoying spending time together as a family (even though Carter has no choice in the matter!)

Namaste

Today was my first day of prenatal yoga. It was good, but I am sure I will be sore tomorrow! I was stretching muscles I didn't even know I had. I only did the sitting and standing exercises which took about 20 minutes, but I figure I should warm up to the full hour. Hopefully it will get easier, but even so it was pretty relaxing.

Isn't that just a fancy word for feeling "bummed out"?

Well, We've been having an interesting week to say the least. For a little while I've been "on edge" and getting upset really easily. Now I know what you are all thinking, I'm hormonal, and yes I am, but lately it has escalated way beyond that. Earlier this week I got so upset that I started getting dizzy and shaking and then all the sudden I started having trouble breathing. At first I blamed it on low blood sugar (which I get pretty often) but then I noticed it happened right after I ate. So last night at choir practice for the nativity choir people were trying to get us not to use music for one of the songs and I started stressing out. I seriously felt like the incredible hulk! I could feel the heat rising in myself and then all the sudden I got that same feeling! So I went out to the car and called my mom asking what it felt like to have high blood pressure. She told me I would probably be swollen which I'm not. She said when she was pregnant she got anxiety attacks on a regular basis. Ding ding... That sounds like what I'm experiencing daily. So she said I should talk to my doctor about it but I have an appointment Monday so I decided to wait until then. Today I just tried to relax, breathe and listen to Jack Johnson all day but of course the universe has this way of ruining all your plans like that. So of course today was one of the most stressful work days EVER! I just tried to keep my stress at a safe level and took lots of deep breathes. I barely made it. After work I went to Target and bought a Prenatal yoga DVD set. It looks pretty relaxing. Hopefully it helps.

Funny baby clothes!!!

Before we found out what the baby was we did a little baby clothes window shopping. Dave absolutely fell in love with some boy onesies that we saw at a local baby boutique, but of course when we found out that we were having a boy and went back to get them they were gone. It's probably a good thing considering the store was super expensive and I don't pay $50 for an adult sized shirt let alone a baby sized shirt. So of course Dave was sad... Well I went looking online and found the greatest website! http://www.trendytadpole.com/ They had so many cute shirts and onesies and they even had the ACDC one that Dave originally wanted for much cheaper! We LOVE this website!!!

It's a...

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!! Carter Pierce Mann!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude

Last Sunday I taught a lesson on gratitude in Young Women's. It actually went really well and I felt really good about it until we got a message on our machine from a member of the bishopric who just happened to be the husband of the Young Women's president asking if Dave and I could speak on Sunday about gratitude. Normally I HATE speaking. Truth be told I believe I've intimidated the bishopric so badly that we've only spoken once in the 3 years we've been in the ward. This time however I feel better about the topic (It's really difficult to come home from your honeymoon and give a talk on marriage to people who have been married for 60 years) and I'm not too worried. I do know I will get emotional, especially because Kaisa wants to come, but I think that's ok. I've decided to speak on gratitude through trials and the importance of appreciation. I'm nervous but really excited.
Last night Dave and I made a list of things we are grateful for and I meant to put it on here. I will hopefully do that soon.
Well happy baby day! I can't wait for 2:00!!!!!

Like a kid waiting for Christmas!

I cannot believe that our sonogram is tomorrow! That just seems so soon! I'm going nuts with anticipation!!!!
Tonight we are attempting to make Gluten free stuffing for Thanksgiving. Hopefully it turns out ok! What am I saying I don't care about the stuffing!!!! All I can think about is finding out what Kreacher is!
We pretty much finished our registry this weekend and will have to go online and delete either the blue or the pink stuff. It's just good to have that checked off the list. For those of you interested in just checking it out we are registered at Target.
Any way be expecting a very excited blog on Thursday or Friday after we find out if it is Daphne or Carter!

Caffine addict????

Ok, so Kreacher had a Pepsi on Wednesday and ever since then I have been thumped like crazy. Apparently he/she wants another. Sadly I will be feeding Kreacher's addiction on Wednesday for our sonogram to get the little monster to move in hopes that he/she might flash the camera. WOOHOO Babies gone wild!!!!

Do you ever have those moments when you feel like a cow?

I've been feeling large and slightly in charge lately. Of course I know there's no where to go but bigger and I will eventually be the size of a cow... but I guess that is just one of the joys of pregnancy. I actually really love being pregnant. It seems like it's going by too fast and I'm just trying to enjoy it. Then again... the baby part will be cool too.
We have our sonogram on Wednesday and we are SO excited. Absolutely ZERO people have given me gender guesses so I guess nobody wants to play our game. *Insert sad face here*
Oh well.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and have a jam packed weekend ahead of us. The sonogram is Wednesday and then we drive out to John and Noelle's and stay the night. Thanksgiving there with the Mann family and we are driving home after dinner on Thursday. Friday is Thanksgiving with the Anderson/Huntington/Allison clan (my family) at my Mom and step-Dad's house. Before that we will be avoiding any retail store and just having a nice day off together. On Saturday we have dinner with the Costas (Nancy and Vince) and I get to meet Vince's mom, my fake Grandma! I am really excited! It should be a great weekend with family and food!

Applications...AHHH!!!!

For those interested in the hunt for an architecture school, I have finished 3 applications thus far: Arizona State, University of Utah, and UNLV. I just have to get my transcripts sent from the Junior College to said schools and then I should be hearing back in a few weeks. I am getting kinda nervous, with baby and moving coming in the near future. Don't get me wrong, I am totally stoked for both adventures. I guess it is just fear of the unknown. Other than what I have just written about, life is pretty much the usual. Brook and I did recently move some furniture around in the bedroom and the future nursury, but nothing is picture worthy yet. For example, I am blogging right now while sitting in our bedroom. It's different, but good. To all our faithful readers, I bid thee adieu!

As promised...

Invader! No cats allowed!

Our fort

Overwhelmed and blog slacking

Well, It's been a while since I've actually gone on here and blogged about anything. I've been a little stressed out for no reason lately and had a bit of a breakdown last night, but I'm better now.
As for Kreacher news:

• I've felt him/her move for a few days and it keeps getting stronger and more often.
• I'm definitely getting bigger... in fact I've gained 5 lbs in the last month which makes my total 8 lbs!!!!
• We've scheduled our sonogram for the day before Thanksgiving!!!! (AND WE'RE SUPER EXCITED!!!!)
• I think it may be a boy which is strange because I've been thinking girl for so long.
• We've decided on which birthing class we are going to take and will be starting them in February. We are hoping our friends the Whitelocks will take it at the same time as us.
• And we are almost halfway through! It's going by so fast!

As you can see we have an exciting couple of months ahead of us!

Kreacher is growing!

A better picture... more to come of me and Dave

Miss piggy!

The boys are getting ready for halloween!

A flat tire and a pet emergency

Well, we've had some excitement in the last 24 hours! We are still babysitting the kitchens and you'd think that would be the most exciting part of our lives right now, but no. We went home to feed the cats, pick up my car and get some stuff for today and while we were there I decided we should give the cats their flea treatment. We've done it several times before and it's usually no problem! It took me about 2 seconds to get Pele all medicated and then we moved on to Atticus. Well, apparently I put the medicine too low on his neck and he was able to lick it! So he starts going crazy and spitting up all this foamy spit so bad that Dave had to hold him over the sink so it wouldn't make a mess! We got a wet towel and tried to just wipe it off but that wasn't working so Dave took him into the bathroom to wash him and I found the number and called the 24 pet ER. By this point I was freaking out and I thought I had killed my cat!!!! The guy at the pet ER said to wash him a few more times with dish soap and told me to watch him for a while to make sure he didn't show signs of brain damage. We finished washing him but not before Dave's arms got completely thrashed and we decided as a treat we would let him into the bedroom for a little bit since he really likes to go in there. I had planned to send Dave back to watch the boys while I stayed with the kitty I had destroyed but he seemed fine and he actually ate some food so we decided we could leave him. Before we left we dangled his favorite feather toy in front of him and he was very playful so I felt a little better. The whole night I was worried that Dave would go home to a dead cat the next morning, but he was fine.
This morning I had to take Josh to seminary before work and after I drove off Dave called me to tell be to be careful because my back tire looked a little low. I got out of the car to check it when I got there and it was pretty much flat! Luckily, I remembered that a coworker had given me a can of fix a flat 2 years ago for my birthday so I tried that and was able to drive over to my in laws and get a ride to work with my knight in shining armor Richard. I have a YW meeting tonight so Karen is picking me up from work and then Dave is going to go put air in my tire. This has been such a long week but luckily tomorrow we will be back in our own apartment with our cats and eating the food we want for dinner!

Sissy wearing my glasses. She even cleaned them for me with her fingers!

Babysitting the kitchens is a blast. Sissy loves climbing on dave!

Guesses!

Ok folks, it's time for official guesses! We are hoping to find out if Kreacher is a boy or girl right before Thanksgiving and me being the nerd that I am have started a very official looking excel spreadsheet for guesses. You can either comment your guess to me or email it to my email at unexpected_miracles@yahoo.com I am also including guesses for birth date, weight and length, but those aren't as important right now as gender. So as soon as you can we'd love EVERYONE'S guesses! Thanks!

Kreacher is huge! I cant believe i have a 5 inch kreacher growing inside me!

Pele loves his baby food so much that while we weren't looking he got the spoon we used out of the sink and took it into the livingroom.

We decided to separate our laundry and it has been so long since our boys have had access to a full laundry basket that they wasted no time climbing right in. Pele was such a good boy and ate all his chicken (secretly mixed with his antibiotics) that we let them stay in there. It needs to be washed anyway.

Atty want a cracker?

13 weeks and 3 days

A weird day

Yesterday was a weird/busy day. First off it was my brother's birthday, Happy 25th Birthday Derek! Also, it was my 3 year anniversary at work! Also... (yes there are a lot of alsos) One of the top people from Progressive was visiting our office so we were in meetings and training sessions all day so that threw me off.
After work we had to take Pele to the vet. It turns out he only weighs 7 lbs!!!!! Anyway, the doctor said a whole list of stuff that could be the problem but we decided to start with the cheapest solution and work our way up, so we are treating it as a food allergy or a virus and giving him antibiotics and only feeding him chicken baby food for the next couple of days. Poor guy. Of course a cat of mine would have a food allergy! Then we went to the Petaluma Outlets and I got a couple of skirts and stuff from Motherhood. After that we went to the Mann's house to record the Office on their DVR in case Richard didn't get back from his meeting in time to watch it but he did so we all watched it together. While I was over there I got a call from my friend/ex boyfriend Kyle telling me he is engaged! Congrats Kyle!!!!! So I talked to him for a little while and that was pretty much the end to a very odd day. Hopefully today will be a little more normal considering on our schedule for tonight is cleaning... Bleh.

Side note: Sorry Jeff but your brother says if you get Jaden we get Carter!

Pele loves laying with baby brother or sister!