Just wanted to say a quick Hi to every one and share some of the cuteness that has occurred since our last post.

Maddy has never had a professional photo shoot so when she turned two, I thought, maybe we should get some official pics of Maddy. Our neighbor Bill Stevens is a photographer (and former classmate of Ethan... and who's daughter, Charlie, is 1 week older Maddy aka Maddy's future BFF) and went on a walk with Maddy and took some great shots. Here are some of our favorites, it was really hard to narrow it down to just these.



I've been getting bigger and bigger and feeling huge. Sleeping through the night is basically impossible! Either I've got to go to the bathroom, some body part falls asleep or cramps, or my back hurts. Isn't being pregnant so wonderful!!! HA HA! This little boy is already very active, can fetus' have ADD!? This kid is movin' and groovin' all the time! Eth can even see my belly shake from accross the room! Here are comparison pics from how I looked with Maddy and how I look now. The Maddy pregnancy is from about 7 months, this pregnancy is at about 6 months. Sadly, I think I look about the same size. I just keep telling myself that this one is measuring bigger than Maddy, that's why I'm so huge... right?!

We've been having crazy thunder storms in the evening. I normally love storms.. but these are so loud at night they wake me up and shake the walls. At least we haven't needed to water the lawn!! Here's one storm blowing in, the colors and the clouds were so different and had to take some pics.



Summer has been getting hotter and hotter, so more and more time is being spent at the pool and in our ducky pool in the back yard. Maddy is even starting swim lessons in July, with future BFF Charlie, hooray. Here Maddy is after some ducky pool time. I had to take the pics because we were lazy and didn't put her in a swim diaper. Maddy got super grumpy once the diaper was full... swim diapers are important, lesson learned.



So a Zmoos family friend, Vicki Garbett, is a fabulous seamstress and made Maddy another dress. Here's her showing it off before church. So cute, I love it. Maddy is also sporting her bracelet and necklace my mom made. She's only 2, but she's already FABULOUS!


Maddy is also "singing" more and more, mostly in the car... which means I can never record it. It's really funny because it's pretty much just talking and extending the words, if that makes sense. But she loves it. She even tried singing a hymn today... she gets an A for effort. Here's a semi ok video of her "singing" her vowels.

Time has kept flying by in the Zmoos house and things are still busy as ever.

Spring quickly came and gone, now the hot humid summer is here! We tried to get Maddy to run and play in the sprinkler... Unfortunately, that resulted in screaming and running away from the cold water in fear. We quickly went inside after that failed attempt!


Maddy's little personality as continued to develop. She's turning into quite the jokester... and a little naughty. She's learned to make a silly face and even played a "joke" on daddy.



Right when we were gearing up to fly to Utah for Taylor and Abby's wedding, Maddy got sick. In the days leading up to "go time", she spent her time being grumpy, achy, and looking like this...



She did however do surprisingly well on the airplane and in the airport. At one point she got really antsy so Eth took her to walk the aisle... she looked up and down the aisle, realized there was nowhere to go and lost it. It was tragically funny!

Sadly we got to Utah and Maddy was still sick. She was a total grump for most of the festivities. The wedding was nothing less than spectacular. But we knew it would be... it's Taylor and Abby!!! I didn't take many pictures because the photographer was great. So here are the few I took.


These are probably my two favorite Maddy pics from the wedding. It completely illustrates what she was feeling... and what we had to endure!!!



After the all the wedding craziness, we took a trip down memory lane and visited BYU. Maddy feel in love with the Y and everywhere we went she shouted "Yay, Y Mountian." We also visited the Museum of Art. After Maddy was done running around and yelling to hear her echo, she got really bored and proceeded to lay down on the benches and declare she was "going to bed."



She finally perked up a little when we stopped at the Creamery. She enjoyed her own icecream cone and I enjoyed my favorite Mint Choco Chip icecream. Ahhh, how I miss that stuff, no other brand compares!On our last day in Utah we went to Thanksgiving Point with quite the entourage in tow. There were Zmoos', and Monson's, and Carney's... Oh my!!! Maddy was starting to feel better and really enjoyed doing kids stuff. We went to the little kid farm and a wading pool. Of course, me being pregnant, exhausted, and forgetful... I didn't pack Maddy's swim suit... oops!Maddy's favorite part was probably the pony ride. As soon as she saw those ponies she started crying "Ride pony, ride pony" as she not so patiently waited her turn. Yeah, she rode 4 times.

We'd like to give a big thank you to the Carney's for coming down to see us and to all the friends and family who helped us during our crazy vacation to Utah! The biggest thank you and I love you goes out to Ethan, for helping out with not only a sick, cranky two year old... but also an exhausted, emotional, pregnant wife. Thank you Eth, you are seriously the best!!!

We (especially Maddy) are very happy to have come home where life has calmed down. Maddy was so happy to be home, after a good night sleep she woke up in a good mood and spent the morning saying hi to her bed, Lola, and various toys around the house. She's now back to her usual routine... wrestling with Daddy, reading books, and drawing!




On the pregnancy front things are going great for me. Besides being tired and having a hard time sleeping, I'm up eating, cooking, and getting things done! Even though he doesn't have a name... little baby boy is doing great. He's extremely active and gave the ultrasoundnographer (?) a run for her money. Here he is at 22 weeks saying hi!

So it's been quite a month! Here's what's been happening...

Our friends the Carney's moved. It was so fun to have them here and sad to see them go. Maddy loved her little friend Lexi.

Recently, the local grocery store had a kid safety day. They brought in the Life Flight helicopter, police cruiser and dog, fire truck, ambulance, etc. Maddy mostly enjoyed seeing all the vehicles, however she did cry in the helicopter. The longest most grueling line though was for the balloon animals, of course! I waited in line while Ethan entertained Maddy. I do have to admit, that guy made the most amazing balloon animals I've ever seen. If you look close in the last pic, you can see Maddy's ladybug, it even had a little balloon bracelet that attached to her wrist... yes amazing!

Maddy also turned 2. She's such a big girl, literally... 30lbs and 36 inches. Still in the 95th percentile. Go Maddy! She's growing leaps and bounds. Her 2 cutest new developments are ...playing pretend with her barbies and stuffed animals... and trying to sing. The singing is hillarious. I'm still trying to get it on camera. She's also getting more and more into coloring. She'll "draw" a picture and identify different scribbles... clouds, fish, rain, and various shapes are her most "drawn." I've included a labeled drawing.

Sadly, we missed Maddy's official birthday and Mother's Day. Yes, many of you know that I ended up in the hospital. It was absolutely crazy. Here's the ordeal...

So I've been sick, really sick this pregnancy but I was trying to keep a stiff upper lip and keep pushing through the fatigue, vomiting, backache, swollen lymph nodes, etc. Well, we are still not quite sure what ultimately happened, but I got to a point (on Maddy's birthday) where I wasn't keeping down food, water, or even stomach acid. Ethan called the obgyn (because I was a mess) and they told us to go to the hospital for an IV. So Karen and Mike took Maddy and we headed off to what we thought would be a few hours in the hospital getting an IV then leaving. When we got to the ER they took one look at me and they were immediately worried, I must have looked like a wreck! We cut everyone in the ER and they took us right in. They started running a billion tests, it was literally like a House episode, except everyone there was really nice. I definately was severely dehydrated, that they knew and I got at least 6 IV bags (I lost count). Over what turned out to be a 4 day stay at the hospital they ran a ton of test... Maybe it's a UTI, no... unknown infection, no... mono, no... strep, no... mumps...no. At one point the lymph nodes on my neck got so huge Eth said it looked like I had a goiter and you could tell from across the room that they were inflamed. It was pretty painful. I almost went home a day earlier... but when I was taking a walk in the hall with Eth I started to black out. It was the weirdest feeling... things going black, hearing was fuzzy, eye sight went blurry, went limp... etc. I never lost conscienceness, but everyone freaked. But as soon as they laid me down in bed my blood pressure went back up and I was totally fine. The good news is after my hospital stay there's been no more fainting, no puking, and I'm gaining weight again. I feel better and occasionally have nausea and fatigue, but I'm dealing with it. Unfortunately, they still don't know what happened. I did test positive for an auto immune reaction and my thyroid function is a little low. My doctors aren't too worried, they are just still running tests and watching me. They did a sonogram and the baby is looking good and is a boy! He also kicks like a little ninja in there! Hooray. So all is well... no worries family and friends things are looking up!

So, after all the hospital drama we still needed to have Maddy's birthday party. We had 50+ hot dogs in our fridge and Eth's mom made like a million cupcakes... we were having that party no matter what!!!! It was great. We had it at a park that had a little gazebo, a field, and a playground. The weather was great... it was a perfect party. Lots of Maddy's friends and our family came. Maddy had so much fun and was so exhausted she cried going home, went to bed over an hour early, and even slept in the next morning. I was super tired, so I didn't take many pictures and Ethan stepped up and took a few. Sorry Maddy... we'll do better next birthday!

As an additional "gift" Maddy has now gotten a new big girl room. She's actually been sleeping in it for a while, but I just officially finished decorating and moving over all her clothes. She transitioned right into a big girl bed no problem. The dresser and night stand are hand me downs that I painted and put new knobs on. I think it turned out really cute! Its a small room so getting pictures was a little difficult. She likes to climb in her bed and play with her toys.

Maddy's OCD has continued... her newest thing is "fix it." She'll start whinning that her toy, balloon, lollipop, etc. is broken and needs to be fixed. So she'll give it to me, I'll hold it for a second, then hand it to her. That cycle will continue until she loses interest in the item or I take it away. This is NOT a fun phase.

We love all of you and are grateful for your thoughts and prayers during this crazy month.