In the last year...

...we've had a baby and bought a house! Those are my excuses for not posting in so long. It's been a great year!

This is the only picture I really have of myself pregnant. I wasn't very good at documenting with pictures the past couple of months.

Pryce Lyman Thompson. He has the same initials as his paternal grandmother. He's about the most perfect baby boy in the world.

One month old! His favorite thing to do is stare at the ceiling fan, sleep, and eat.

Todd and I were very surprised to find out in late February that we were pregnant. We had been to a fertility specialist and were waiting to hear back on the offer we put on the house before we proceeded with fertility treatments. We saved a lot of money by not jumping the gun! We call Pryce our miracle baby.

The pregnancy went really well, with no complications, and I was able to deliver him naturally without any drugs. That was a really neat experience that I couldn't have done without the support of Todd. Postpartum was pretty rocky. I became really swollen a couple days after the birth and I came down with Bell's Palsey, which is temporary partial paralysis of the right side of my face. It looks and feels like I've been to the dentist to have a cavity filled, except it lasts six to eight weeks. On top of that, my milk came in really late, which was kind of a nail in the coffin when it came to breastfeeding. I was pretty disappointed it didn't work out better. We were so grateful for the support of both our mom's, who came and stayed to help out. I think I could have very easily slipped into postpartum depression, but was able to avoid it because of the love and support of family and the wonderful friends we have in the ward.

Our house was another exciting development that's taken a lot of work and time the last couple of months. We closed on it last April after submitting the offer last September. We spent the whole month of May tearing out nasty flooring and disgusting carpet and replacing it with new tile and carpet, and painting the whole house. My mom came and helped with the painting, which was a lifesaver since I grossly underestimated the time and energy it would take, especially while five months pregnant. We are really pleased with the results and still have several more projects to finish, like painting the kitchen cabinets, finishing the baseboards, and landscaping the huge backyard. Here are a few pictures.

This is just half of the backyard. I think it's just under 1/3 acre, which is huge for a typical Arizona lot. We have grand plans which include a sidewalk all around the lawn for the kids to ride bikes, lots of citrus trees, a new chicken coop, and a huge space for square foot gardening. I can't wait till I can look out the window and see green instead of dirt and weeds.

This was the front entry with the nasty flooring and dirty white walls. The pictures really don't show how grimy the place was when we first got it.

Front entry after the wood tile was installed and the painting completed. The paint color is Benjamin Moore's "Revere Pewter", and I absolutely love it. Best paint color ever! The baseboards still need to be caulked and painted.

View from the kitchen to the family room. You can see the ugly vinyl and light blue carpeting that we ripped out with gusto.

Kitchen floor with the new wood tile. I really loved the way it turned out. It's perfect for Arizona and is great at hiding the dirt. I'm planning on painting the kitchen cabinets a light cream and maybe replacing the counter tops that are a really worn dark gray laminate. It's on the back burner right now with Pryce being so young.

So that's what's been going on at the Thompson's the last couple of months. Now I can quit giving myself a guilt trip for not posting on the blog for so long.