Pre-Halloween Fun!

Since Diana loves Halloween so much, and has been begging since the day after Halloween last year to go trick-or-treating again (I'm not joking...she's seriously been begging to go ever since), we decided to load her and Daniel up on as much Halloween-fun and Trick-or-Treating as we could handle. So, last night we took the kids out to Springs Preserve for the Halloween festivities they were having out there. They've got trick-or-treating, games, lots of food booths, a small petting zoo, a hay bale maze, and a vocal band. It was fun! The kids had a great time and got some candy out of it, too. Naturally. 

Night one of Halloween fun = SUCCESS!

Princess Belle and The Hulk!

Trick-or-treating

Daniel spent most of the time running way ahead of the rest of us.

Diana LOVED her costume! She was so excited she could finally wear it.

Daniel admiring the decorations.

Some of the decorations (like this one) were pretty neat. For the most part, though, they were pretty gruesome and scary. I was surprised since this event was designed for kids.

The kids loved the petting zoo!

Daniel kept kissing all of the animals. It was gross. We definitely rubbed hand sanitizer on his lips afterwards. Yuck.

The hay bale maze. Filled with some pretty scary decorations and people, we're glad we did it while it was light out.

The rare clear picture of Daniel.. one of only a couple that I could get of Daniel all night. He wouldn't hold still!

Diana enjoying some frosting. Yes, that is a cupcake, but, being a Steadman, she ONLY ate the frosting.

Garage Redo

As a kid, growing up in California, we always had carpet in our garage. Our garage wasn't "carpeted", we just had old carpet laid down to cover the entire garage floor so we could use our garage as a living/play space, and so we wouldn't have to walk on the concrete. My mom still has carpet in her garage (though now she has indoor/outdoor carpet in her garage), and Mike liked the idea so much that he decided he wanted to do it with our garage (SCORE! I always loved having the garage as a play space). Our house is pretty small, so we decided it would be nice to have another small space for our kids to play, especially since we only use our garage for storage, as it is WAY too small to park a car in there. His parents were getting new carpet a few weeks ago, so Mike asked them if we could have a big chunk of their old carpet to put in our garage, and they graciously obliged, even giving up an extra piece of their new carpet to put in there, too. Soooo, this weekend Mike totally cleaned out the garage (brought all the stuff inside, swept, sprayed down, and ajaxed the concrete), and got to work carpeting. It was a LOT of work, and he just might have destroyed his back doing it, but he got it done really fast and it looks AWESOME! And the kids ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! Tomorrow, we'll finish putting all the stuff back in the garage, but it doesn't look like our storage stuff will take up TOO much space, so the kids should still have a good size area to play in. Plus, now all of their toys are out in the garage, so the inside of my house will stay that much cleaner (BONUS!!). It's definitely a magically thing.

A little after he started...trimming up the edges for a perfect fit.

Look at all that good work!

"Ta-da!"

Lots of hard, sweaty work, but it definitely paid off!

Trying out their new area for the first time...they're SO jazzed!

This morning with some of the stuff back in (and with the piece of new carpet set on top of this section).

The kids playing in their new space after church. They're in heaven!

First Day of Nursery!

Today, Daniel is exactly 18 months old, aaaaand, he started his first day of Nursery! Mike was SO excited for Daniel to start Nursery (since Mike is the one who has Daniel during 2nd and 3rd hour, as I teach in the Primary) so that he could finally start going back to class and learn stuff again...and not have to wrestle with a tired Daniel for 2 hours. :)  Daniel LOVED it. Mike said he checked in on him a few times through the window and Daniel was having a total blast..didn't cry once or miss us AT ALL. And, apparently he was "SO GOOD!" they said (seriously, why aren't my kids "SO GOOD" for me? Don't they love me??), so we hope this is a sign of a good couple years in Nursery for him. Diana had a hard time going to Nursery for the first 2 months or so, so we're really hoping Daniel continues to love it and go without fighting or crying. Only time will tell!

Mike peeked in on Daniel and saw this...that's my teeny-tiny son riding the zebra.

So tired after a fun day! He fell asleep RIGHT after I parked the car at home.

I pulled his necklace out so I could get a picture of it and it woke him up, but he was soon out again.

19 weeks

Today, I'm 19 weeks along, and I went in to get an ultrasound (the typical one for this stage of pregnancy, to check and make sure the baby is developing properly) this morning. I got my super-awesome sister (who lives 10 minutes from my doctor's office) to watch my other kids so that I could go BY MYSELF, and it was MAGICAL! At my last appointment, it was a bit of a headache (and by that, I mean, it was so bad I went home and cried afterwards...my kids were SO NAUGHTY!), so it was nice to not have to try to keep my kids quiet and good this time. It was magical.
The appointment was quick, too, since I was just getting an ultrasound and not meeting with the actual doctor, so that was GREAT! My sister was actually shocked when I told her I was all done. I was surprised, too, when I saw the time. Again, it was magical.
Everything went well with my appointment. The baby has all her fingers and toes, is developing perfectly (and looks SO CUTE..to me!), and is still a GIRL! Yay! Also, everything checked out normal and healthy with me, which also gave me a great deal of comfort. I'm a very paranoid person, so when I go to my appointments and ultrasounds and am told everything looks great, I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief, and it helps me get through the next few weeks. Plus, while I was there, the tech was telling me -without going into much detail- how last week (and lately) the Doctors have all been having to deliver bad news to their patients, and how last week a poor woman lost her baby at 20 weeks because her cervix opened prematurely. SO SAD! It totally traumatized me, but, at the same time, made me SO GRATEFUL that I've been blessed with healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. I truly am lucky and incredibly blessed, and I can't fully express my endless gratitude for that.
I'm showing now, and have been for a few weeks (I already have a bit of a belly naturally, so I show sooner), so that's been a lot of fun! The showing part of pregnancy is definitely one of my most favorite parts, along with feeling the baby move (which I have been for the past 3 weeks or so).  I'm officially in the "fun" part of pregnancy. Yay! I just hope I can control my impulse to eat every fattening, unhealthy food item I see, so that I don't end this pregnancy looking like I did with Diana...like Jabba The Hut. Scary.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of our little girl:

Her Profile...looks like another Downer nose. YAY!

Good heartbeat..she was calm during this ultrasound, and I noticed her heartbeat was about 10 bpms less than normal (when she's jumping around like a frog).

Still a GIRL!

Creepy skull shot!

And, PS....I've decided against Elizabeth for her name. After I made the decision and announced it, the more and more I thought about it, the more and more it just felt wrong. Totally wrong. So, I looked..and looked..and looked...and looked...and finally found a new name that I LOVE, and Mike approves, too. BUT, I haven't really shared it with anyone, and may keep it secret for a little while longer..maybe until she's born, depending on how I feel about sharing it. I really like this new name, and it's a more unique name (though, it is a real name, I promise!), plus I can still get a cute nickname or two out of this name, so I'm very excited.

Update!

Update time! I realize I'm behind two months, so I'll try to catch up in this post.
Life his been good! In the interest of trying to keep me from rambling too much, I'll present my updates in bullet point and picture form. :)

*My nausea is gone. YESSSSSS!
*I've been feeling my baby move around a LOT. She's a wiggly one, just like Diana was...and still is.
*Diana is LOVING school (and dance class, of course)!
*Daniel loves playing alone when Diana is at school, and LOVES going to pick her up from school! He does miss her when she's gone.
*Daniel is talk-talk-talking all the time, and REAL WORDS and phrases, too! Not just tons of gibberish! Though some of his words are gibberish.
*Daniel can say: Again, More, All Done, I'm done, Hi, Bye, Night, Di Di, Daddy, Mommy, Banana, Nak (snack), Gotta Go *or just "Go"* (when he wants to leave the house), Buh-Buh (belly button), Mmmmmmuh! (mouth), Nnnnnnnuh! (nose), Eye, Yeah, No, Oh, Ouch, Oo-kee (cookie), Uh-oh, Here go (here you go), Ah-meh (amen), Wan dat (I want that), Where go? (where did it go), All gone.
*He can also wave and blow kisses (his FAVORITE), and he loves to give hugs and kisses to everyone VERY OFTEN.
*Diana has learned so much at Preschool! She knows her days of the week, some of her months of the year, she's learning the names of all the kids in her class (a HUGE thing for her..she takes after her mommy and is HORRIBLE with names!), she's learned about many children's stories (Humpty Dumpty, Hansel and Gretel, Mary had a Little Lamb, The Gingerbread Man, etc), she's been practicing writing her alphabet letters, and so much more! It's so awesome to watch her learn and grow, and to see just how much she's learned each time I go to pick her up!
*When we go pick up Diana from preschool, I usually show up about 5 or so minutes early, so I take Daniel out and let him chill in the front passenger seat while we wait..he LOVES it!!
*The kids are getting over their first colds of the fall...I'm hoping this doesn't signal a looooong fall/winter of sickness.
*Daniel has 16 teeth now! All he needs are his two year molars and he's set.
*Daniel loves to help me clean around the house. When I clean, he'll grab a wipee and get to work wiping down every surface he can reach.
*Diana still loves to play her ABCMouse.com game in her free time. She learns a LOT from that game, too.
*Daniel and Diana still love to play rough with each other and often make each other cry.
*Daniel loves to share toys with Diana, and he loves and admires her SO MUCH!
*Daniel is in a combo of size 12 month to size 18 month clothes, though he's still too skinny for 18 month, so we have to roll up his pants so they don't slide down (he's a scrawny one!)
*Diana is in 4T clothes (mostly for length, as she's still only 31 lbs. She has a looong torso!)
*Diana's still a girly girl who loves her nails painted, her hair done, to wear her heeled click-clack shoes, and she loves everything pink, purple, and Disney Princess, and My Little Pony, themed .
*Diana's favorite Princesses are Belle and Ariel.
*Diana LOVES to sing and knows MANY children's songs, along with many of mommy's and daddy's songs, and the chorus to "I Stand All Amazed" in the LDS Hymn book. Not sure how she knows the chorus, but she does, and I totally love it!
*Daniel still loves to dance his heart out to every song he hears, and he tries sometimes to sing along, although his singing is simply one, long, monotone "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" as he dances.
*Don't know if I mentioned it in previous posts, but, Daniel is in a toddler bed now! We turned his crib into a toddler bed about 2 months ago and he LOVE his new freedom and independence (and I LOVE not having to get him out of bed whenever he wakes up).

(The following pictures go in reverse order, from most recent (end of September) to least recent (beginning of August):

Daniel and Diana enjoying the rare moment of cool, fall morning weather.

..and yes, Daniel IS holding a duster..

Daniel is now sitting at the table! No more highchair - yay! He loves it.

Diana has started naming her toys! She hasn't been a namer before now..she'd just call her toys what they were (kitty, puppy, etc). This dog is now named "Michael Baby". Sadly, she only names her animals after people who's names she knows, since she doesn't know many names.

Daniel loves to wear Mommy and Daddy's clothes..we have to keep them far out of his reach.

Diana LOVE LOVE LOVES to bake with mommy! Here, she helped me make cookies.

Daniel playing on his own while Diana is at school. He's so quiet when he plays alone.

Daniel's new favorite food...ramen noodles. :) He's always pulling the cups out of our pantry, at all hours of the day, and handing them to me, hoping I'll cook them up for him. Here, he's eating them for breakfast, which is why he's so happy. He's otherwise NOT a morning person..like ME!

Daniel and Diana decorating pumpkins..getting ready for Halloween. Diana is SO EXCITED for Halloween..she's been talking about it for months..literally. She always wants to watch the Halloween episodes of her shows, watch our "Halloween" movies (ie, The Nightmare Before Christmas), read all the Halloween themed books..anything Halloween (but not the scary/bloody type of Halloween) she's totally in to. She has about 6 different things she wants to be for Halloween already..this should be interesting.

Diana helping out around the house. 

Daniel being a guy.

He's done this several times. We put him down to bed or for a nap, and when we check on him, we find him snuggled up in his rocking chair. He's going to miss that thing when we move him into Diana's room.

Diana helping out around the house some more. She loves doing dishes..for now. Daniel likes to "help", too, by destroying her hard work (and ours, too, when we do dishes).

Diana practicing writing her alphabet letters. 

These kids LOVE being out of the house!

Daniel watching tv..one of his (and more so, Diana's) favorite things to do.

Diana taking a selfie on my phone. She's a huge diva.

Napping on the bench in Mommy and Daddy's room. She's dubbed that bench as eternally "Her Spot". Seriously, if Daniel sits there, she has a conniption.

Daniel had a little fun with the markers...

Daniel doing what he does best - bothering me while I'm trying to use the bathroom.

Diana folding her own laundry. She's now responsible for putting away her own clothes, and, when I remember, helping me fold it. She's no pro, but she does a pretty good job.

My project for Daniel finally got completed and hung on the wall after over a year of "working" on it. It has all his aunts', uncles', grandparents', and his dad's missions on it - the names, missions, and dates served are labeled alphabetically at the bottom, with a corresponding star marking their missions at the top. Putting the missions on their was Mike's idea, and what's funny is several months after he suggested it and I got working on it, I saw the idea to put family member missions on it circulating on Pinterest. Apparently someone else thought it was a good idea, too. :)

Well, that's been our past two months in a nutshell (not including the baby girl news and Diana's preschool news, which got posted in past blog updates.). See you at the end of October for more updates!