Payne in the AK

Snow pictures

2011-11-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of sweet pictures with Jonathan and Peyton, he really is quite sweet with her...and then him climbing on the back of the couch to watch out the window, he loves to wave good bye to "DAD!" as he leaves in the morning and blows kisses, he will also wave at anyone passing by ... and then some pictures from today's big snow dump, it was a little deep for him to move very well through, but I love the pictures of him in his snow suit!

Halloween

2011-11-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

Jonathan was a little monkey for Halloween this year, which is quite fitting because he climbs every possible surface/furniture item like a monkey. We went to the employee Halloween party at my dad's work, which was a lot of fun. It was at the museum and we got to go play at the Imaginarium, which is the kids area, so Jonathan of course enjoyed that. Peyton was great, I carried her in the Bjorn and she slept the whole time. Then we went up to my parents house where Jonathan went trick or treating at a few houses and then got to help hand out candy, which was by far his favorite part! He would watch out the window and get so excited and run to the door every time trick or treaters came to the door. It was really sweet to watch him enjoy it so much! It was also his first experience with snow this season, and he loved running outside in it. He often tried to sneak out the door and get into the snow and play!

More pictures

2011-11-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

A few more pictures of the first couple of weeks with Peyton

Peyton Payne 10-14-11

2011-10-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick picture story of our last two weeks :) We are all adjusting well and loving our little girl! Jonathan is very sweet with her as you can see, though if I leave her sitting on the couch for a moment, he really thinks that means I want him to try and pick her up. Jeremy is back to work this week, but my mom has been coming over to hang out and help which has been wonderful.

Pumpkin Bowl Pictures

2011-10-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

36 weeks

2011-09-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

I was of course in my game day outfit today and remembered I had a picture of myself in this same outfit when I was pregnant with Jonathan. So, I pulled it up, and realized that it was at 28 weeks, and about to grow out of the shirt! So, yes, this baby is much smaller than he was!

I am at the point of ready for this baby to come. We have completed most of my nesting checklists. I still need to pack a hospital bag and would like to get some meals made and in the freezer, oh and the cradle needs to get put together, but otherwise I'm feeling good about things. I spent this last week going through things like crazy! With lots of help from my mom! I was searching for one specific item in a bin in the crawl space, and it took Jeremy pulling up 18 or something bins before finding it! Yikes! that was a wake up call - I had forgotten half of the stuff I had down there. So we pulled up all the bins, and I emptied out 13 or 14 of them I believe. Lots of linens, old clothes (reality has hit that I probably won't be wearing them soon, and when they do fit, are going to be way old)...finally got rid of some old school books, went through baby clothes a little more thoroughly, didn't save every single item, etc. It feels so good to have had so much leave the house. A little scary, but such a great feeling! I donated alot and some went to the dump. This wasn't part of my original "to do" list, but I am so glad that it got done! I remember before and after having Jonathan I felt like I sorted through things I was hanging onto, but now with baby #2 on the way, it is even more reality that I am either not going to go back and use whatever random item I have held onto, or don't really need that decorative item, etc. It seems easier and easier to part with stuff, and hopefully I will remember that and bring less into the home in the first place.

Jonathan - 28 weeks

Baby #2 - 36 weeks

Jonathan and Daddy watching football

~~~~~

Just a few more pictures to add to call this blog up to date!

The sleeping and snuggling pictures are so rare that I HAD to take them and HAVE to post them - how bad is it that I really enjoyed the fact that he wasn't feeling well today, because he was so cuddly and I loved that!! .... Finally discovered a way to keep him strapped in the cart at Target - use one of the big carts with a five point harness! Doesn't matter how tight I tighten the shopping cart strap, at some point during our trip, I turn around and he is wiggling himself out and standing or headed to the back of the shopping basket, or saying "mom" as he comes diving for me! .... another picture of him on the counter, dipping apples into the caramel dip he discovered I had up there :) and only needs a kitchen chair to get up there now - awesome! (notice sarcasm) .... I know thesea re really random and out of order, but you get pictures at least! :) So enjoy!

My mom was helping me get something down from above the cupboards and Jonathan got on his own barstool and was helping too!

Crafty things....

2011-09-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

This post is about me :)

A little while back I was ready to replace my current earring and necklace holders, so spent an afternoon and got these finished! I bought the frames at Michael's in their clearance section - usually on super good discount because there is some type of deformity, or the glass is broken. Then I already had on hand the material from some that I had done for Christmas presents this past year. I then painted on a silver coating to the frames, let that dry. Glued the material to the backing piece and placed that in the frame and then added the bows for a little bit of embellishment! and ta da! all done! Oh, and for the necklaces, I bought some large clasps in the jewelry section and am using those to hang the necklaces from, which is seeming to work pretty well! I'm please with my little afternoon project!

Dipping

2011-09-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

Jonathan LOVES to dip anything he can, I thought it was pretty cute that he got himself up to the counter (by standing on the dishwasher door) and started dipping the carrots into the large bowl of ranch dressing. He was even thorough enough to try and put the lids back on the bowls - such a big boy!

More pictures

2011-09-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's time to update this with some pictures, so here are more .... really no order, just a lot of randomness.....at Sports Authority, he loves to go grab a baseball glove, helmet and bat and run around with them, it's pretty cute! .... also enjoys playing his little guitars (ukulele) .... and Uncle Goo got a new truck, and Jonathan thinks it is pretty much the coolest thing ever, and LOVES getting to sit in it with him.

Pushed his booster seat over to help him climb up on the barstool and get the grapes he wanted - he now no longer needs the booster, just climbs up the barstool on his own.

He either rode down the stairs, or pushed the car down and followed it, not sure which it was, but he wasn't hurt (not a surprise)

Sweet pictures

2011-09-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

SO I mentioned in a previous post that I got to spend a wonderful week with my friend Liz, and although it was hard to be away from my little man (and my big man), the joy of having a texting literate mom is that I got lots of photos to keep me seeing what was going on in his little life. Notice that most of these are while he is eating - that's the easiest time to snap a shot, as he is sitting still :). I loved getting all of my "good morning Mom!" photos! :)

Texting with Grandma on his phone

Had his "dew-rag" on - ready to go weld with his uncles in the garage!

Jonathan's Room

2011-08-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

{Ok, I'm not great with getting pictures from other things onto my blog - if anyone can help that would be great!} - until then, you get this size of picture :)

As mentioned earlier, I am starting to work on transitioning Jonathan into what will be his big boy room, and as part of that I wanted to decorate it some, not make it too little boy, but for it to still be fun. I found this collection of fabric online and loved it, and then found it in a local quilt store today. I was able to buy some there, and then just ordered the rest of it online. I am soooo excited to get it all here at my house and to begin playing with it! I have decided against making an actual quilt for him - because I already have bedding for him, but these fun prints will be making their way into him room in some ways - I just have to decide exactly what/how/how much time I have/want to spend on it :). But, I LOVE finding fun fabric, and am soooo excited to play with this! It makes me happy every time I look at it! And the walls will be painted a blue to coordinate with this. Now, we can buy paint and now Jeremy can paint! (yay for him! I'm sure he's excited!)

Whoa!!

2011-08-29T00:23:00.001-07:00

And now here it is the end of August and I'm finally on here again - actually I am often on here, because I check and read everyone else's blogs, but don't seem to update my own. But, think it's time for a quick update :)

I am now 33 weeks! Which is crazy to me! Baby continues to be super active, and as a friend described, my belly is like a bowl of Jell-o! Love that description, because it is so true! I am starting to finally accept the fact that baby is coming and it is time for me to get with the game and get things done around the house that I need/want to do. {hubby is loving my growing to-do lists} ;) I'm still sick every morning and am finally putting on some weight, which I think is probably a good thing for little one.

I think it is easier getting into baby mode now, because my mindset has been that baby comes when summer is over, and so I got to enjoy summer and then start making preparations for baby. What is interesting is having to remember some of the things that I need to do for baby. Not nearly as much as last time, but some basic things that need to get done, like pulling out the newborn clothes and getting them washed, setting up the cradle and it also looks like we will be moving Jonathan into his new room before baby comes, so getting his new room set up.

I was just talking to Jeremy tonight and I really think this has been my best summer ever! It started out fun, and has continued that way. In May we went to California as a family, June was my trip to Hawaii, July was gorgeous and hot and we had some company and then this last week I got to go down to the Seattle area to visit one of my very good friends, and we had a great week together, and I got to leave Jonathan with Grandma! :) AND, and I experienced 80 degree weather every month of the summer! Doesn't get much better than that for attitude and keeping spirits high! :)

So, as mentioned I went away last week, and was truly refreshed from the week away. I got to spend the week chatting and catching up and helping her move (haha as much help as a 32 wk prego is) :) - but we had a great time! And I think one of my favorite things was traveling with just a carry on bag, and just having one flight, oh and flying by myself was quite pleasant! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Jonathan, but it was refreshing to do something a little different, and I knew that he was well taken care of. And yes, maybe a little pathetic that "wild and crazy" to me was now flying by myself, with only a carry on - don't judge me :).

Jonathan had a blast with Grandma - Jeremy would go over after work to help with bath and bedtime (the easiest time of the day), but then Jonathan still got to see Daddy some. I also was treated to a number a picture texts of my little man throughout the week and he would talk to me on the phone a little bit each day - so those were special moments and he was sooo excited to see me when I got home - it was very sweet and he is not letting me get too far out of sight right now either.

Well, fall must be upon us, which I'm looking forward to. Although we don't have anyone attending school this year, there are still other things starting up that will keep up busy and it is nice to have a schedule to stick to. And the other sign that it must be fall time is that we are in a state of watching constant Nebraska Husker games, getting ready for a new season. College football starts this weekend!

All right, well no pictures tonight - hopefully later this week. But I wanted to update this some and be able to reflect on what a great summer this was and I think I'm ready to transition into fall.

Ahhhh,,,,

2011-08-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

It is August and I spent today, the entire day, at home! For a SAHM that may not sound like a big accomplishment, but the last few weeks have been crazy busy and it was so wonderful to not leave the house. And it was a perfect day to have planned to be home, as it has been raining all day long and I've actually really enjoyed hearing the rain. However, by the end of the day I'm not sure Jonathan really wanted to be inside all day long, but it was the best for us for today, so I held strong and didn't leave!

Jeremy's Dad and niece were here last week visiting and it was really great to have them here! Jonathan of course loved all the extra attention and went into full entertainer mode! It was also great having them here because Jeremy got some things crossed off his "honey-do" list :). So, both bathrooms got painted and the back entry hallway. I love the color of the bathrooms, and how they turned out, maybe once I get them cleaned again I will take a picture ;). Just one more painting project, and that will be to paint the bedroom that Jonathan is to move into.

I am now 29 wks pregnant! And have decided to start the "before baby is born" checklist. I'm sure Jeremy is really excited about that one too :). When I was at my last OB appt and she handed me the pre-registration form for the hospital, it sort of started to hit that this baby is going to come! And with only around 11 weeks to go, I am close to starting the count down. So instead of counting up to how many weeks in row I've been sick in the morning, maybe I can start counting down to how few I have left! Yes, lovely thought, I know. We even decided it was time to start talking baby names! Whoa - now we're really getting going on this new baby thing. Before I was pregnant with #2 I always had hoped that I would treat the pregnancy with the same excitement and joy and anticipation as I had with the first, but reality is, that just hasn't quite happened. It's not that I'm not excited, but right now I feel like my life is much more occupied in the day to day and harder to daydream of the future and plan and such as before. The reality is that when there is already one child around, my focus isn't always on the baby growing inside. Maybe that's why I've been given the sickness every day, so that I can't forget that I'm pregnant, because there have been some days where I think I could have. Although at this point I'm getting into the uncomfortable stage, where there isn't a moment that passes that I can't forget. This little one has been quite active, much more so than I recall with Jonathan, this one has woken me up many a night with limbs kicking and punching all over the place!! And at my 28 wk appt I had finally put on some weight! At my 26 wk appt I was still below my original weight! This comes as somewhat a feeling of a small victory, since with Jonathan I ballooned and was huge and uncomfortable. So, hopefully there will be less to lose afterwards!!

All right, enough about my prego state .... I know I had some pics to post, can't remember what all they were, but enjoy!

We had a gorgeous blue sky day last Thursday, so I finally bought Jonathan a baby pool thinking he would love it, because he loves the water and to swim -- haha I was wrong! We even brought warm water from inside and the sun heated it up quite nicely, but he still wasn't too sure. Oh well, my mom and I enjoyed putting our feet in it while we sat in the sun and watched him play.

Somewhere in the above pictures is Jonathan finally getting to take a walk around the whole house with Grandma, of course he is naked :).

Also, he really wanted her mug of iced tea, so Jonathan traded his water bottle with Grandma! What a good sharer!

Pictures!!

2011-07-16T17:06:00.000-07:00

This will mainly be pictures....Jonathan has discovered Daddy's hats, and loves to play with them and model them....also we went to the zoo yesterday with my mom, my brother and my cousin, Jonathan's favorite part was probably the petting zoo. It was really sweet, he actually was petting and hugging the goats, in the past he wouldn't get very close to them, so he's obviously getting more comfortable with them. He also tried pulling their ears and pulling up their legs!! Yikes! Thankfully the goats must be used to a fair amount of prodding. And I'm not really sure what I think of him hugging goats, but it made for cute pictures at least :) And sorry, they are going to be in random-ish order, I'm not spending the time right now to resort, but all are pretty self explanatory :)

July 4th camping, parade, Music in the Park in pictures

2011-07-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

We tried our hand at camping with Jonathan last weekend, and while overall I can come home and say we had a fun time with our friends, I am not planning a camping trip with a 19 month old again. - Please remind me of this if I ever talk about going again. He was determined that sleeping in a tent was not for him, especially not in his pack n play, and would not go to sleep until after midnight. So, the adult thing sitting around the campfire, playing games, talking at night, not so much a part of my trip. Oh, and that I was pregnant didn't help, I was exhausted by the time we got up there and honestly didn't recover until after bring home for a couple of days. Oh well, we did it, we can say we did it, and did have a nice time with some very good friends that I am so grateful are in our lives.

We took Jonathan to his first parade on July 4th - now the Anchorage parade isn't exactly the greatest parade ever, but we still had a nice time and not surprisingly, he loved any group that had music, and there were a couple of drum playing groups, in which he would dance and clap to the beat. He also waved at the people going by and it was just fun to watch him experience something new.

We also went to Music in the Park on a beautiful finally sunny and warm day last week. It was great to sit and listen to some music, catch up with family and friends and enjoy our lunch outside. Oh, and Jonathan got to dance and play with his friend Kaleb. :)

And a few others...

New Sewing Home and Post #100

2011-07-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, just saw that this will be post #100! That seems like a milestone of some sort! Hmmm...how to celebrate? Well, I will talk about my new sewing area :) - a post about me!!

You know when you have an idea and it actually comes together like you think it should? Well that's what happened this last week? I had this brilliant idea to move my sewing table into my living room - we spend all of our time upstairs, I hate having the machine on my kitchen table (I have these fantasies that we actually use it for eating occasionally - which we are getting better at), and I have never seemed to enjoy going and sitting downstairs to sew. And, I was ready to move my living room around - I sort of like moving around my furniture, but my mom LOVES to move furniture! BONUS for me! So I give her my idea, bring her over, make some iced tea and she is awesome at helping me make happen what I want to happen. On top of that I decided to move our armoir out of our bedroom and switch it with the bookcase that was previously living in the corner. Then I have somewhere to store my sewing stuff, not quite as accessible to little man and the bookcase is in our room, holding books and not quite as victim to his new found climbing antics.

We got this done on Friday and by Saturday I was getting to sit down and work on a quilt that has been in my WIP (work in progress) pile for awhile now. How exciting! SO, I have wanted to make a quilt from old jeans for a long time now and have been saving and collecting old pairs of jeans for a number of years. And then I recently decided I wanted a picnic/outside blanket for us to take to Music in the Park, baseball games, etc. and found some cute sports flannels at Jo-anns a few months back when they were on sale for about $2.50/yd! So, I put the two ideas together and got my jeans/outdoors quilt. It is a rag quilt, I still need to finish cutting the seems, and wash it so that it will fray and have that rag quilt look, but I am so thrilled that all the pieces are cut and sewn together.

Cutting the jeans was a lot of fun, it was fun going through them and remembering them and when I had worn them. I even had a skirt in there that I had worn in high school! And also some of my favorite jeans from college days, so it's fun that they are incorporated into this quilt now.

I'm excited about my new space and re purposed pieces of furniture. And looking forward to it being easier to pick up a sewing project - at least for the next few months before little one comes.

One of those days...

2011-07-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Learning to Drive - hanging out in Uncle Goo's (Danny's) Bronco

Lunch with friends - moms were planning camping trip, so kids got to all play together

Ready to play baseball - another current favorite, when we are at my parents house, he goes and finds a baseball bat and helmet and wears them around.

More driving experience

It's only ten am, and it's already "one of those days" - you know, the one where you wake up, great mood, going to get tons accomplished, life is looking good, etc. And then, little bit wakes up and is raring to go! I went to get him and he already had his pants and socks off, curtains in a tangle, kleenex box knocked off night table next to him, but I still was determined that it would be a good day. The sun is out, I quickly made plans to go to Music in the Park downtown, so at least we have an escape from here shortly. WE get upstairs and he immediately goes to an open cupboard with the cheetos and tries to convince me that would be a good breakfast. Nope, I win this one. Meanwhile, I get him breakfast going and he eats a good meal, so that's a plus but when he gets down from the highchair it is full steam ahead! The current source of contention is the dishwasher. He has learned how to open it and thinks that is great! And yes, I mistakenly was allowing him to at first, also thinking it was cute, however, cute quickly turns to a nuisance, turns to annoying, turns to frustrating!!! AGH! So I started yesterday with deciding it was no longer allowed. And when he went to open it, was spanking him for it, stern NO and moving him away from it. Well, we continued this for a long while, and another thing he has started doing is he pats/spanks his own leg after I do!!!! Seriously child?!?!? So, today when he went to the dishwasher I started with just a "no", he closed it, clapped his hands for himself, then spanked his own leg. This did continue for a few times until he moved away from it. Then while I ran out to the garage to look for my camera and came back in, he was standing on the dishwasher door and had spilled my coffee all over himself!! Thankfully I put enough creamer in it that it wasn't too hot, and I never get it drank very quickly, so it obviously didn't seem to bother him. However, I was still trying to get him to obey me over the dishwasher, so while I was cleaning up the coffee mess, I attempted a timeout on the rug in front of the fridge right near me, of course that was just an invitation to see how quickly he could get up and run across the living room and boy was it fun to see how quick mom in her pregnant state could get out of her crouched position and chase his across the room. AGH!!! This happened a good 10 times I would guess. He was racing over to the couch and literally started launching himself from about two feet away to jump on to the couch. Maybe he thought if he got on the couch it was a safe zone and I couldn't get him. He finally sat still in a timeout and I got the mess cleaned up - thankfully a majority of it did land in the dishwasher, and gave me good reason to clean the cupboards, since I was already down on my hands and knees. While I was finishing this, Jonathan did come over to me and gave me a big hug and kiss, his way of saying sorry. So, maybe I slightly got through to him.

We then headed downstairs to change his clothes, and my footstool was in front of his crib, so he used that and pulled himself up and climbed into his crib!! I stood and watched in shock, he can get those little legs moving so quick and so determined, it is quite impressive sometimes. I took this as a hint that he really wanted a morning naptime, but by the sounds from the monitor, doesn't sound like that is happening, but this momma needed a few minutes of rest.

Stories and mornings like this really do amuse me, and maybe that's the hardest thing, I'm trying so hard to work on discipline and obedience, yet at the same time some of the things he does cracks me up! Seriously, do you know how hard it is to spank your child especially when it obviously doesn't phase him, and he then does it himself?! So, I'm going to be having to figure out some new form of discipline.

So, here's to hoping the rest of the day goes a bit smoother and maybe he just needed to chill in his crib for a bit and have some time to himself.

Other goings on....

2011-06-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a smoothie!

So just a few other fun pictures from our last couple of weeks. Jonathan LOVES any type of music, which is really fun to watch. He has found our guitar hero guitars, and loves to pull them out and "play" them. He even sings along with whatever he thinks he is playing. I did buy him a little ukulele in Hawaii, which he LOVES, however I don't have any pictures of it yet, sorry. He also enjoys that the guitar hero guitars have a strap on them. Anything with a strap gets hung around his neck and he walks around with it, my purse, bags, etc. Yes, I am careful and watch him :)

Guitar was a little stuck - but he figured it out.

Really talented - playing with his foot even

Guitar is on, and ready to rock out!

I love any sleeping baby pictures. This was sweet I thought, as he pulled his blanket over his head and fell asleep while we were driving.

Hmmm...weird, I don't know why when he got my cell phone from me he immediately went to his car and got on it and started talking on the phone!

Hawaii!!

2011-06-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, maybe my last post was a little wordy, but ultimately this is also for me and my memories, so you, my lucky readers just get to deal with that occasionally. :)

So, a BIG secret that I'd been keeping for a couple of months was that I was flying to surprise my mom and grandma in Hawaii last week! My mom's brothers and her and her mom got together for a family reunion of sorts. I wasn't planning on going but through some careful, secretive planning with my dad, Jonathan and I showed up at their condo and surprised everyone!! The shocked looked on their faces were priceless. And I'm pretty sure I loved my brother's response the best, he came out front with my dad to meet us when the shuttle dropped us off and the driver opened the door: "What the crap are you doing here?" I could feel the love! :) Only a few people knew we were going, and my dad later even said he was impressed I kept the secret as long as I did!

Jonathan and I had a blast and it was so fun to be with the family there. I also got to spend some special time with my mom and grandma, and we even got in an afternoon of shopping together! Something we must always do! :) We spent the majority of our time at the beach, in an ocean or by a swimming pool, I even got to do some snorkeling which was a fun new experience. I loved getting to walk along the beach right in front of the condos in the morning, and overall the relaxed atmosphere. And waking up and putting on a bathing suit and heading to the ocean isn't a bad way to start the day! And Jonathan LOVED all the water time! He loved the waves splashing on him at the edge of the ocean and quickly learned that he would rather be in the hot tub than the swimming pool! And having so many relatives around was pretty great too! Grandma and grandpa, Great Grandma, Uncles, cousins, Great uncles and a great aunt! So much fun!

Cruising in style

Breakfast outside - loved that we could eat outside, and this at probably 6:30, as J had no desire to sleep past 6 on vacation, way too much to do!

And, snoozin' in style!

I do have a few pictures to share, however, I pulled my camera out very little, and will be relying on my mom's photos to eventually make my photo book of this trip, but will share the few that I do have.

Jonathan was also a great traveler. We had a six hour flight from here to Honolulu and then about 30 min to Maui. On the way down (which was during the day), he managed to stay awake for the ENTIRE flight! All but the last five minutes, literally, right when we landed! There were so many people to entertain and meet, and wanted to take full advantage of that opportunity. One nice thing I've learned is that people on an airplane don't tend to mind how friendly your child is, and they tend to quite enjoy the friendliness, as long they aren't screaming! So, I'll take friendly and not sleeping over screaming. Thankfully though, it was the opposite on the way home, which was a nighttime flight and he slept the whole way!

Me trying to get a pic with Jonathan and my lei, but he wasn't a big fan of wearing it!

A gorgeous sunset out our window - but they happened quickly, a little different than out three hour sunsets here!

Another cool sunset picture, this was right after we were leaving dinner. And although it looks like it, they really are not throwing him in the water, they were swinging him and catching him, which he thought was way too fun!

Jonathan enjoying breakfast outside.

this is June?!? and Garage Sale finds

2011-06-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

Helping with laundry/searching for his blanket

Eating peanut butter off the knife - defiantely learned this from Grandma Bray! :)

It seems this happens every year! We get tricked at the very beginning of the summer into thinking its going to be gorgeous all summer long and one week later we are lucky to see the sun again! Oh well, I try not to complain and we are making the most of the decent weather that we do have! One of my big goals was to find an outdoor slide and little climbing unit, or something for Jonathan this summer! However I wasn't about to pay full price so was busy watching my nearby second hand kids store, Kid 2 Kid, and was able to take a Saturday and do some garage saleing. I had been watching facebook and driving by Kid 2 Kid often to see what they had available, once making a crazy turn into their parking lot when I saw a slide out front, only to pull up and see it was sold and once before that racing down there when a play cube was posted on fb, yet again to pull up as another woman was loading it up! However, that trip wasn't all unsuccessful as I went inside to look around and they had sitting there in great condition the double stroller I had been looking at! WIN WIN!! So that was exciting! Oh, and every single item I called on through craigslist was already sold. It was evident that mom's looking for outdoor play equipment for toddlers were a vicious type and I was ready to play...

Talking on the phone to grandma :)

So, out to the garage sales I went...I actually don't love garage saleing, although I love the idea of it. So, when there is a large neighborhood having one, that's my kind of garage sale, lots of houses in one neighborhood! I had missed two of the big weekends of the garage sale community already this year, so was excited to find out about one more. ~~~begin long sidenote: However, the weekend I did miss, didn't turn out to be all bad. i had mentioned to my mom that I was wanting another recliner - my current one has been living in Jonathan's room and I wanted to keep that there, but wanted one for the living room again. She shortly after found out her friend was selling two recliners in their neighborhood garage sale, and I got to go by and have an early look, put my name on one and picked it up when we got home from vacation! winner! I couldn't really justify buying another new recliner for this baby, but didn't really want a used one -weirds me out not knowing where it's been - but was so excited to buy it from friends! So, also that weekend, while Jeremy and I were in talkeetna, my youngest brother was going to check out the sales in their neighborhood and I mentioned that I was looking for a crib as well, so if he saw one, to text me a picture, not expecting much though. However, within about 45 min he sent me a pic of a great crib! I was able to set all the wheels in motion, got the money rounded up between my brothers and mom and they went and picked it up for me! Even better, it is a convertible crib and the mattress is in good shape, crib looks hardly used and I only paid $50!! woohoo! Truth is, I don't know exactly how it will be used, but do know there is a chance Jonathan will not be out of his crib by the time we need to move baby into the nursery, so am excited about the options this presented! ~~~~

Anyhow....then last weekend my mom and I got going early and headed out to see if I could find any outdoor toys for little J. After driving through the neighborhood with little luck we stumbled upon a great house! I think we were some of the first to get there, and it was ALL baby and kid stuff! I stopped first because I saw a slide, turned out to be $5!! woohoo! Funny story, I went to the lady to tell her I wanted to buy it, and she pointed to another lady and said "that's hers" I about panicked!! I thought "no"!! this is my slide!! What she really meant was it was two friends doing the garage sale, and it was the other lady's, so to buy it from her! haha Yes, I became a fanatic trying to find a slide. This house also turned out to have a little tikes playhouse that Jonathan thought was great, so we bought that, and two riding toys!! Yay! Success at last! The amusing thing was then trying to fit it all into the trailblazer, I ended up opening the back window part of the hatch and the slide was sort of hanging out of it, I felt like a hardcore garage saler then! The last find of the day was a pack n play, I've been borrowing a friends for awhile, but thought it time to get my own, since they recently had another child. I actually found what is a co-sleeper, but can be used as a pack n play, same size as, and actually sturdier than a pack n play, later found out they retail around $180 and I got for $20! woohoo!

THE House that we found! He loves it and has enjoyed playing in it so far!

So, all in all I've been pretty pleased with my garage sale finds, and am quickly whittling down on my list of things I need for baby #2.

I was cooking dinner, had my back turned for about 2 seconds, and he was on the back of the couch, and actually stood between the couch and window on the window seal! haha

Helping Daddy with his sit ups

Oh, you want to hear about Jonathan?!?! Hmmm....well he's climbing on everything!! and this kid is fast! It amazes me how quickly he can be from one thing to the next around the house. Jeremy was home all weekend and was great in spending extra time with him and at the end of the weekend he admitted that it is alot more tiring than he thought watching him all day, as he is quite quick and when he wants in something, he finds a way to get it! We invested in a family pass to the zoo this year, so we went on Saturday, so that was fun - well sort of, Jonatahn was way done, about half way through and it only takes about an hour to 1 1/2 hrs to get through our zoo - he was just super tired! Ok, well I will add some pics in of the little one.

Jeremy taking Jonathan, Miles and Clair for a walk

At the zoo - so ready to go home!

Climbed onto the dishwasher door - another new favorite now that he can open it and pulled down the cookie scoop and was licking it out! can't blame him for that - although I'm not ready to share with him! :)

Oh and on the pregnancy side of things I am now 22 weeks and feeling all 22 weeks of this baby! I am definately feeling more pregnant like and I think this baby seems to be higher than Jonathan was and already am having a harder time bending over to tie shoes and silly things like that. We went in for an ultrasound about 2 weeks ago and baby looked very healthy so we were glad to hear that, and it is still a secret as to boy/girl. :) Last night baby I think was trying to escape from my belly I woke up a number of times getting jabbed and kicked and baby rolling around. Although, it sure is fun to feel baby move. :)

22 weeks prego

part 2

2011-05-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

While I have time I am going to finish writing about the rest of our vacation. And really I use this as a way of journaling of sorts, since I do have a goal of printing this blog someday, I should do it sooner than later, but at least for now I am getting it down.

We are still in Talkeetna and Jonathan is having a great time with grandma and his uncles, I'm sure grandpa is disappointed he's out of town this weekend and missing out. Although this weekend turned out to not be what I planned, late Thursday night I realized that I left a bag of material and all my notions at home, so no cutting tools, thread, etc. with me. Very sad moment for me, but I'm making the most of the time I have here and enjoying the relaxed nature of this trip.

Helping Grandma with laundry

~~~ On to the trip ~~~

Excited to be going to Sea World

~ Sunday morning drove from Riverside back down to Sand Diego and spent the day at Sea World, Kelly came with us so was fun to still get to hang out with him.
~ Jonathan loved the dolphin show! There was a lot of activity so I think that captured his attention. It was really fun to watch him watch and enjoy the animals.
~ Kelly offered to watch J while Jeremy and I went on a river rapids ride - one where you are in a big round tube, with like 8 seats. Well, along the ride route spectators can pay .25 and spray water cannons at the riders. So, Kelly spent the best .75 of his life and let Jonathan shoot the water cannons, which I guess he LOVED pushing the button. And of course he got Mom and Dad SOAKED!! When we came off the ride he was all smiles and laughing, it was very cute actually!
~ the shark tank was another hit, he liked an area where we stood outside two panels of windows but he could see the sharks up close and got pretty excited about that.
~ We had to say good bye to Kelly at the end of the day, as he had to be back for PT in the morning, but not before dinner at Olive Garden.
~ Jeremy's conference started on Monday, so it was Jonathan and Mommy time. We actually had a great time together. I found a fun children's museum downtown and we spent some time there. I will post pictures of those from my camera later.

Jonathan playing at the children's museum

~ There was an area called Seaport Village right near the hotel so we spent some time walking through there Monday evening and again on Tuesday.

Where we ate along the bay for dinner one night.

Baby Belly - about 17 weeks

~ On Wednesday we got packed up in the morning and Jeremy's conference was over by 11:30, so we picked him up and went back to Sea World for a few hours - when we bought our tickets they were running a promotion that for the same price of one day you could come back all year. We probably won't be back this year, but was fun to spend one more afternoon there.

Waiting for the dolphin show to start

~ This time we were able to see the penquins, some beluga whales up close, a couple of polar bears, and the dolphin show again.
~ In the Arctic exhibit they had some sort of ice/snow caves to walk through, the coldness didn't seem to bother our Alaskan boy and he climbed all over the cold ice in his shorts!
~ It was time to head to the airplane after this. We had great flights home and Jonathan slept well on the late night flight this time!

Learning about moving walkways at the Portland airport - he thought this was great!

California May 2011

2011-05-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well we got home not even 24 hours ago and Jeremy and I are off on another trip. This time Jonathan is with grandma and we are just about 2 hours north of Anchorage in Talkeetna. Jeremy had a conference to go to, so I came along and Jonathan is getting a weekend with Grandma and his uncles. This is our first time away from him for an overnight, it's a little weird leaving him, especially after such a full week together but at the same time I am already enjoying my time. Currently I am enjoying the free wifi and cable television :). And I brought along my sewing machine and a couple of quilting projects that I hope to make some progress on. But for now, I am going to talk a bit about our trip last week. I will try to keep it brief - but any reader of this blog knows I'm not too good at that :).

Hotel Yesterday in San Diego

Hotel today in Talkeetna - I think McKinley is behind the clouds somewhere.

We were able to make this very fun California vacation happen due to a conference that Jeremy attended in San Diego. This really was "how to go on a great vacation on a small budget" type of trip, this is how: Fly wife and lap child on companion ticket that comes with credit card, spend four nights at brother and sister in laws place, the rest of the nights in hotel provided from credit union, we then paid for rental car, tickets to Disney and Sea World, having a child makes eating at a super nice restaurant very unappealing, stayed at an Embassy Suites with AWESOME breakfast. So really it turned out to be an ideal situation for us. It was wonderful to go away for a real vacation as a family of three, the only time it will happen and will be memories that Jeremy and I will treasure for a while, and Jonathan can enjoy the pictures, as I'm sure he won't remember much of it, but it was fun for us to watch him enjoy new things and new scenery.

A few highlights...

~ we got an extra seat in our row for EVERY flight!! So took car seat on plane with us, so was nice to not have to hold him the whole time. oh and best part was if he was unbuckled he could stand up tall and flirt with ANYONE and EVERYONE who looked his way, however for first overnight flight did not sleep until literally the last 20 min of the 3 hr 20 min flight!
~ We got in to San Diego on Wed am, then drove to Riverside (a suburb of LA, where Kelly and Ashley go to school and live) and stayed at their place - unfortunately Ashley was gone on her choir tour, and Kelly didn't get there until Fri (he was in AK for a few days) - anyways we decided to tough it out and despite little sleep the night before go to an LA Angels baseball game. This was our only opportunity for a baseball game in the trip and decided to just make the most of it.
~ Got to Angels stadium and while standing in line for tickets a gentleman came up and offered us two tickets! yay! and giveaway at gate was free Angels hat - this vacation was starting out well! :) We didn't spend tons of time sitting with Jonathan in the seats, but Jeremy and he really enjoyed their time walking around and enjoying the ballpark. And Jeremy enjoyed getting to take his son to his first baseball game. Jonathan loved clapping along with the crowd and overall enjoyed his time.

~~~ agh I was trying to make this bullet points! haha!! ~~~

~~ Thursday went to Huntington Beach - Jonathan LOVED playing in the sand, and mostly loved that there was so much room to run around in! Enjoyed a walk along pier and I got myself sunburned - I sun screened everyone but myself :(

~ Did not take Jonathan long at all to adjust to the warmth, at K and A's, he loved to go out on their patio and play in the sun!
~ Fri we picked up Kelly from the airport and headed to Disney Land. This was a very long and fun day. Of course it seemed like Jonathan fell asleep at all the wrong times, like when we could go on a ride that he could go on, but oh well.

He seemed to enjoy all the people and a couple of the rides. He particularly liked the Buzz Lightyear ride where you get to shoot a laser gun and can spin the car you are in.

~ Walking through the New Orleans district in Disney Land we saw Stevie Wonder - not sure what he was doing there, but he was there.
~ Another favorite at Disney Land was Goofy's Play House - there he could play around on a slide and run around, which was great as he was tired of being restrained all day. There was also a piano just his size, which was a big hit!! He even got possessive and tried to push some other kids off - not a proud parenting moment, but humorous at the same time :)
Playing the piano

This hat was left behind in Disney somewhere - was cute while it lasted though.

Checking out a Mickey Mouse pretzel - no, he didn't want to eat it either, he tore off a chunk and threw it on the ground.

Waiting in line for the Nemo submarine ride

~ We didn't leave DL until 11:40 pm!! yikes! We went back in after dinner at espn zone to watch the fireworks show and then were able to get on a couple of rides quickly, so it was worth it! It was a long day and we got to sleep in the next day.

Trying on Mickey Mouse ears - they stayed on for about 2 seconds, so decided this wasn't the time to buy them :)

I even was going to let him eat some cotton candy but he didn't want it!

Even got our picture with Mickey!

~ Saturday we went to a farmer's market in Riverside (on my list of things I wanted to do, not anyone else's :) ) - but i got some awesome cherries and oranges!
~ We also got to explore Riverside and Kelly showed us around their school (California Baptist) which was great to get to see his life in CA - we also went swimming in outdoor pool at the school! I cannot remember the last time I was in an outdoor pool! So great!

Captured a yawn - this is right after swimming outside, yes he fell asleep shortly after in the car.

~ WOOHOO Oklahoma City Thunder just won!! series tied now!

Ok, I think I'm going to end there for now. And these are only pictures from my phone! It's going to be hard going through all the ones on my camera! I feel a photo book being made soon! :)

A few things....

2011-05-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

I've been reminded this week of a few things, not things I didn't already know but that I guess I needed the reminder of...

...I am appreciative of the fact that we have two cars, sharing is hard...
...I am so so so grateful that I don't work outside our home, Jonathan has been sick this week so he has spent a few mornings with my mom so I could go to the commitments and appointments, and it is hard leaving him...
...I love that I have brothers interested in helping their sister get her car fixed, they replaced my radiator this week!...
...I am a homebody, I need my time at home to be energized, my schedule has been way too full this week and I am so excited about not leaving by 8:30 tomorrow morning...
...I am giddy to be in the sun and warmth next week...
...I love maternity clothes, I was mortified the first time I went shopping for pants when I was pregnant with Jonathan with the huge waist bands and all, but this time I am so excited to get to wear them again, to not have a band cutting into my waist is great! ... If TMI - too bad :)
...I don't know why I'm doing the "..." thing, it just seemed right...
...I will backup my iphone regularly now, since it had been about a month apparently and when my phone freaked out on me and went in recovery mode, I lost all my pictures and videos :( ...
...I was smart enough to have my family that I send photos to to text them back to me, so I at least got a few back...
...Hearing the heartbeat of my growing baby is so amazing and just doesn't get old...
...The only reason I had crazy energy on Monday was because I had a latte/mocha freeze thing from Costco that evidently had way more caffeine than my body could handle, I was awake until past midnight, but did get a lot done during the day...

I know there were other things to be added to this list, but for now this is all that's coming to mind. So I will allow you to enjoy a few cute pics of my little boy :)

Our little climber, although I don't think he actually wanted into the play pen, it's more fun to climb on the chair.

Uncle Rob came over for lunch and they sat on the couch drinking their juice together, it was very sweet.

I thought we tried to stop eating in front of the tv before Jonathan was too impressionable, but he brought his bowl to me, asked "Please" - which his sign is he rubs his chin, which is super cute - for it to be filled and then I gave him a snack in it, and he took the bowl and sat in his chair next to the tv to eat his snack. When he was done he came to get more. :)

And this series of pictures was taken Monday night, Jonathan was super tired and was ready to go to bed, but he knew it was bath time first, while I was starting the water, he behind my back got into the tub with his clothes fully on and went straight to the faucet and sat under it. He loves to sit under the running water. He was so tired I couldn't even get him to stand up to pull his shorts off!

Exactly 17 months and 16 weeks...

2011-05-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

The age of our two children .... just a small tidbit for any readers :)

Well I am now 16 weeks into this pregnancy and I think that I am getting to the more manageable part of it. I am trying to wean myself off the nausea medicine, mostly to just see if I can make it without it, or if I still need it. It seems to be day to day. I go in tomorrow for my check up and am looking forward to hearing this little one's heartbeat. I have even gained a couple of pounds since the last visit, so the medicine must have been working :).

I am getting very excited about this next month. Next Tuesday night Jeremy, Jonathan and I are leaving for a vacation down to San Diego and will also spend some time in Riverside (Kelly and Ashley live there) and Anaheim (Mickey lives there!)!!! Jeremy had to go down to SD for a conference for work, so we just used our Alaska Airlines ticket and Jonathan and I get to travel with him. We are very excited for a fun week of relaxation and not too much planned. I am looking forward to spending some time walking the boardwalk areas near our hotel and being outside with Jonathan during the day and just for a different trip than what we are used to that is full of visiting family and going from place to place - which we do love too, but I am looking forward to a small change. :) And it is a well timed trip as it is the week after our 6 year anniversary and Jeremy will complete the last of his classes for his Master's before we leave!! woohoo!!

AND did I mention it is in the 80s and 90s right now!?! I will probably die! I'm thinking about what to pack and seriously can't remember the last time I considered what clothes to wear in that type of heat, it was probably when we lived in Texas and that was 8 years ago? This poor white Alaska skin hopefully will hold up in the heat!

And to top it off when we get back Jeremy has another conference in Talkeetna (about 2 - 2 1/2 hrs north of here I think) so I will actually go with him there and Jonathan gets his first weekend with his grandparents! And most exciting for me is that I'm looking forward to taking my quilting and working on some projects that have been stashed away for a little too long now.

WE have been fighting colds this last week and Jonathan still is, so that's never fun to be dealing with, but he's a trooper. Best way I could tell that he was getting sick is he is quieter when he "talks" and was actually standing still the other day - he is usually constantly moving, even if standing in place is swaying or bouncing. And his run turned into more of a walk. However, he continues to be busy, I'm just able to keep up a bit more :).

Oh and speaking of 16 weeks pregnant I think that I am finally getting some of my energy back and am not counting down the minutes until my next nap time :). I still need rest but not quite as bad. AND I have actually gotten some things done around the house, even mulitple tasks in one day! Like yesterday I did laundry AND folded it. And swept AND mopped! woohoo! it's the little victories in life! Well, off to get Jonathan up, he's awake and thinks that there are things to be doing other than being stuck in his crib! haha Oh and sorry, you made it to the end and no new pictures - My only updated pictures were on my phone and it went into recovery mode or something today so I had to restore it all and it doesn't appear to have recovered my most recent pictures :( I guess I should download my pictures more often. But if I find them I will post some.

A few last random pictures

2011-04-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

So, if you are starting from here, keep going down, lots of pictures and even a few cute stories to go along with them! However, these are mostly some random ones from my phone.

We are working on sitting at the table and using a plate. Jonathan also is trying to eat with a fork, which means holding a fork in one hand and putting food in his mouth with the other hand!

The snow is mostly melted off of my favorite path behind our house and we went for a beautiful walk yesterday! It's so nice to not be walking on the snow, or in the mall!

It's easier to eat with your foot on the counter!

While in the nursery last week Jonathan for once sat to have Daddy read a book to him, but I think it was mostly only because all of his friends were in his Daddy's lap, so he thought he would try it out! :)

Please, can I swing? Please, Please, Please? He went out to the garage, found his swing and drug it over wanting to get in! So sweet! He loves his swing time in the garage with grandpa and his uncles. Quite possibly his favorite place in the world!

Mommy, I love Nutella!

adjusting to being home

2011-04-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

After 10 days of vacation it seems to take some time to adjust being back at our own house, and beyond that having only mommy to entertain during the day. It seems to take us about two weeks to transition back to "normal" life and not always be looking for an audience. So, that did mean a lot of trips to the local grandma and grandpa's and uncles during this time! I am so grateful they are here for times like that! Along with adjusting to being home Jonathan found it his mission to find as many possible new things to get into. Including the favorite corner cupboard - which we FINALLY got the latch adjusted on it, so he can't open it anymore! yay for me, not for him, but he still tries to open it every day! He loves to pull out the bags of baking ingredients, the salad spinner top - which is a great musical instrument -, the mini food processor, and a number of other things, so that makes me happy having a few less things to pick up during the day.

His other thing he found was the floor cover for the vent. Yep - he can pull it out! So, the living room finally got rearranged so that he can't get to the one under the window as easily. However, yesterday he wiggled BEHIND the couch and was pulling it up again! And found the one in the bathroom and was pulling it up! And as I was coming for him he knew he wasn't supposed to be doing it, because as quick as he could he was trying to get his foot into the vent hole. Apparently there is something really fun about that! Who knew that I would be finding ways to child proof the floor vents!

Our other new first was going to Bouncin' Bears a couple of weeks ago. We went with my mom's little neighbor boy who my mom watches and had just had a baby sister, so went for a fun trip to play! Jonathan of course loved the slides there, although I had to carry him up, and the bouncing was alot of fun. Unfortunately I couldn't do too much bounding, made me a little nauseous, so good thing Grandma was with us :)

And Miles! He thought that Jonathan's chair sitting in the sun was set up for him! He got set straight - but not til after I took a picture.

Fun stop in Seattle

2011-04-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

On the way home Jonathan and I made a stop in Seattle to visit my good friend Liz and her family. Which was super fun and we such a great visit together! The pictures I have here are of Jonathan and Jacob vacumming together! Jacob loves to help his mom vacuum and Jonathan wishes his mom vacuumed more - I get hints all the time when he goes to my cloest and starts unwinding the cord :). But they also had a mini vacuum which Jonathan thought was great! It was so cute to watch them clean together. While there Liz had been hired to bake a couple of cakes, so we got to do that together and then my last night Matt was so wonderful and offered to watch all the kids (she has 2) so that we could go shopping and out for dinner. They didn't make it super easy on him, for example my son pushed himself over in his booster seat hooked on to his dining room chair. But, all was good and they made it through the night and we had a great time out and it was fun to shop at a "real" mall. :)

Jonathan also loved climbing their hill in the backyard, even taking a small tumble - which I even captured in a picture! He fussed a little but not too bad, but did get his first blood. This was also when discovered his love for the slides, we went to the nearby park everyday there and he loved getting to run around the play equipment and going down slides!

It was a great 3 days and I hope we can do it again sometime!

Making sure Mommy didn't leave him.

He escaped out the back door after I'd brought him in to take off his muddy pants and shoes - obviously didn't stop him. Maybe it made it easier to climb.

Reflecting through Pictures

2011-04-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

FINALLY fell asleep at baggage claim after being awake since 4 am and on both flights!

Ok, I know that not everyone is a fan of the harness, but I personally highly recommend it! We got one for Jonathan for in the airport, which was so awesome because it allowed Jonathan to be able to walk on his own but we still had control of him, helping him to get out some energy and not being strapped down for a full day of travelling. And, as soon as he realized that people - particularly women - were paying attention and thought he was cute he was all about entertaining and being cute and thought he was the greatest thing ever!
~~~
I finally downloaded my camera pictures from the last couple of months and it is fun to look back on what we've been up to. So this may be a bit of an overload, but it's hard to just pick a few :)

The first grouping will be from our vacation...we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs and one of the big highlights was getting to feed the giraffes! Even Jonathan got into it - the big reason we had to go :) This was a place we went a few times with my family during family vacations and it was so great to get to go back as an adult and take my son.

We met my aunt and cousin at a Cracker Barrel in Denver and while waiting we spent some time outside which Jonathan of course thought was great especially since so many people were watching him and he could roam around. :)

I have also included a couple of pictures of playing at a park - it took a little bit of convincing and figuring out what to do, particularly since he mostly kept trying to run towards the parking lot, but he went down a couple of slides and thought that was pretty great! And another fun thing was to try and chase the geese! haha! thankfully he didn't really get too close and they weren't really interested in him!

And they are totally out of order, but hopefully you can figure it all out :)

It's been awhile...

2011-04-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I say this will be quick and I truly think it will be. I'm updating mostly to just have a slightly updated version of our life on here. So when I wrote the last post, I was totally lying. I said there wasn't much new going on, but there really was! And although I'm pretty positive most of my readers (all one or two of you );) know this, but I am pregnant with baby #2!! We found out mid February and have had fun telling our families. We got Jonathan a shirt that said "Big Brother" so that he could be part of the announcement. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him in it, but I'm working on getting them. I am now 13 weeks and due Oct 18. Unfortunately this pregnancy hasn't been quite as easy as Jonathan was. Mostly just lots of sickness, but I got some anti nausea medicine last week, and that has helped. I have had a number of people tell me that the worse pregnancies are girls, so we'll see if that holds true or not. But, we are going to keep this one a surprise again and won't find out until Baby comes out!! I love the surprise of it! :)

WE had a great trip to Colorado to visit Jeremy's family in March, although it was super busy, but it was so fun to see everyone! On the way home Jonathan and I spent three days in Seattle with my good friend Liz and her family, it was so wonderful to spend time together! The kids all played together well and we got to go to the park everyday! It was a wonderful time together! I miss her!!

Since then it has been back to life here at home. We have gone through about a two week period of adjustment. - for both of us. - me being mom full time again and Jonathan wishing there were more people around to entertain! So, that has also meant a number of trips to my parents so that we can get a little bit of a break from each other :). I am so grateful to have my parents around, and know that if they weren't I would just have to not be able to rely on them, but am so grateful that for this period of life they are here and that they get to know Jonathan, and I am able to get a little extra help, which on some days has been so wonderful because it has been hard to make it through the day. But, I'm headed into the second trimester, so am hoping for good things to be coming!!

Well, I think we are going to head out for a walk as the sun is shining and we all need some fresh air! :)

Quick Update...

2011-03-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

So, not a whole lot new to report, mostly just wanted to put up a new post so I didn't have to keep looking at my post about how much I love shutterfly! And for the record, I did receive my books and they are amazing! I was super excited about my wedding book, it turned out beautiful and really captures that day - almost 6 years ago!

I don't even think I have new pictures to post, so I'm sure I am losing most readers at this point...

Jonathan is being a really fun 15 mo old! haha for the most part! Somehow he is learning to throw a tantrum! what the heck?!!? The most amusing time came a few days ago we were at Borders with my mom, and were in line to check out, we were splitting up our items and my mom thought it a good idea to give Jonathan his new puzzle to carry! Mind you, about two seconds later we had to hand it to the clerk so we could pay for it, so as I took it from his hands, he screamed and then threw (well gently laid himself down I guess, I didn't really see) and started kicking his legs and fussing! I was so not impressed, but just had to finish my transaction, and ignored him hoping that he wouldn't receive the attention he was looking for, but yes as I was looking away I was totally laughing - and somewhat embarrassed - but it really is sort of amusing that he knew what he wanted and thought he knew how to get it - and no he did not get the puzzle back in the store, although the clerk handed it to me thinking I should've given it to him, but I stood firm! However, he did get it at home later and is loving it! It is a large wooden Melissa and Doug puzzle with three large barnyard animals on it - perfect for his little hands - and the knobs are perfect for trying to put in his mouth and run around with! haha

A favorite thing of his right now is looking out the window! He enjoys standing on his little chair and looking out! It's super sweet to watch him!

And just today he has started signing "please" I decided it was time to start working on this one! He knows "all-done" but hasn't really grasped onto any other signs, and he started doing it and sort of strokes his chin - it's pretty cute!

WE are also super excited to be going to Colorado in just over a week! Mostly I am really hoping for some sunshine and it will be so fun to see Jeremy's family! WE are also going to get to see Kelly and Ashley and will be taking in the 1st and 2nd round games of the NCAA tournament in Denver, along with a trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, with the coolest giraffe exhibit...should be a fun trip! And then on the way home Jonathan and I get to spend three days in Seattle with our good friends Matt and Liz and their two kiddos - so I'm super excited about that!!!

Another thing I did last weekend was clean out about half of Jonathan's toys and put them in a bin in the extra room. Of course as I was separating them they were all of a sudden his favorite toys and he fussed when we took the bucket downstairs, but what I've found is that he is actually playing with his toys a ton more than before! I think it isn't as overwhelming for him. I heard from somewhere that kids only need 10 toys - and thought I would at least aim towards that. But, I have noticed the difference in that he plays with his toys more, meaning my kitchen isn't pulled apart as often! I'm currently missing two pairs of kitchen tongs and the lid to my shaker that are yet to show up! haha And my plan will be to every few weeks or so trade out the toys, so that they are new and fresh! but, I also pulled out the ones with way too many pieces that I was tired of picking up! I don't think he's noticed yet. :) SO, just a parenting tip/thought that I've found beneficial!

OK, well I may have some pictures after all...so here is your reward if you made it to the bottom! :)

Because I have no idea what order they will upload in, a couple of pics of him swinging in the garage with Grandpa and Uncle Goo....the one on the track he was at a wrestling meet with Grandma and Grandpa, getting his workout in at the high school :) - he ran 4 laps!! ... then at my parents house he went down to the wrestling room and was looking for his uncles ready to wrestle - but they were at school.... learning to eat out of a bowl - without throwing it over! ... and enjoying his chair and looking out the window! ... eating a frozen go-gurt - a new favorite treat! :)

So Excited!

2011-02-15T21:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished three photo books on Shutterfly! I'm excited because they are done, but also because I spent $29 and saved $146!! I utilized their 50% off 12x12 photo books - so finally completed our wedding book with out professional pictures. I also had two codes for free 8x8 books and a $25 gift certificate AND they had free shipping!! Yes, this girl is happy! And I'm super excited to get them! In addition to the wedding book, I did a fall/winter book (see below) and a Birthday/Christmas book. Just wanted to share!

Fall 2010

2011-02-15T21:03:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

So not to bore you.....

2011-02-07T14:27:00.001-08:00

And to go more than two posts without pictures of our little one, I will fulfill the intended purpose of this blog here.

Jonathan has actually been sick for the last almost week I guess. It started last Tuesday, he was exhausted!!! Literally slept all day! He woke at 7:30 - I fed him, laid him back down and slept until 12:30 when I finally woke him up. Didn't want to eat, was actually quite fussy. I thought maybe getting him out of the house would help and wake him up. Nope. I took him to the post office, Target and Jo-ann's and each place he would sit in the cart and just lean back and stare off into space. Of course, people thought I had this great well behaved child - hardly! ;) I have never seen him so out of it, and really almost lethargic - it was weird.

Tuesday's Shopping - so not with it

My normal happy shopper!
Yes, I called the dr. I'm sure she thought I was crazy saying he was sleeping too much - but so uncharacteristic of my son. She thought maybe he had a virus of some sort, if not better in am, bring him in. Well, Wed he was perfectly happy and normal again, thurs am the same, but thurs afternoon we went downhill and have been up and down on fever, fussiness, happiness, etc. since then. :( So, that all in all has made for a few long days here, but we are getting through and throughout, thankfully we have had some bright spots. :) That is what these pictures are from.

Saturday night I put him to bed early - he was exhausted and hadn't had a nap that day at all! But about two hours after going down he woke up crying and at points screaming. So, I got him up. Jeremy had gone to the gym, so it was just the two of us. I thought, well, maybe he's hungry, and sat him on the counter and gave him a piece of bread, of which he thought was the greatest thing, and thoroughly enjoyed that piece. And then wanted more, grabbing the bag and pulling out three more slices, of which he took random bites out of punctured holes in. He eventually emptied the entire bag onto the bag and then learned that the dog was intrigued by the bag crinkly noise, so tried leaning over the counter to tease Miles even more. Shortly after he eyed the cupboard and ventured over and pulled himself up to look in there, of which he found a bag of Fig Newton's - oh boy!! The excitement on his face was wonderful! He went on to down the bag of Fig Newton's, then a Clif bar, some Animal Crackers and then some Sour Cream and Onion potato not chips things - of which this bag eventually ended up all over him, because it looked like great fun to dump out. I was so glad that he finally ate some food!!! He then got down (I helped) and then he played for a bit and we chased each other around some before I decided it was bedtime again. When I went to lay him down, there wasn't a single peep and he slept for another 9 hours! So, amongst all the fussiness I am grateful for times like that when we can laugh and have fun, because he thought it was the biggest privilege ever to be in the cupboard picking out his food and was so sweet with me!

Enjoying multiple pieces of bread

Oh the joys of a bread bag!

The teasing of Miles

Devouring the Clif Bar

I love how he crouches down like this - a common position

Finding the cupboard with all the goodies and snacks! An exciting moment!

Look Mom! I found the Animal Crackers!

Dumped a whole bag of Rice chip things on him - no real loss, he didn't like anyways.

Sorry these got a little out of order, but I think you get the point :)

A couple of new meals...

2011-02-07T14:02:00.001-08:00

Teriyaki Salmon with Mushroom Quinoa Risotto and Oven Baked Broccoli

The Mushroom Quinoa Risotto

Cowboy Spaghetti for Jonathan and I - Jeremy had a dinner meeting so J and I were on our own

So here are pictures from a couple of the new meals I tried last week. I really did enjoy trying new recipes and spending more time cooking. Which may sound odd to some, but I really do enjoy cooking - hence the Culinary Arts degree, I guess :). Sometimes I feel like I want to create and craft and quilt and sew and do all these other things but I was thinking, and really I love cooking too, and need to remember that and not just wait until the last minute to come up with a meal, but to enjoy the creative process of that as well.

Menu Planning and end of January!!

2011-01-31T12:29:00.001-08:00

Ahhh January is almost over - just over 12 hrs left - at least in Alaska. Then comes February and once we can get through these two months I feel like life can continue on. These I think are a couple of the hardest months. The days are dark - although getting longer and a little more light. But still it has been cold enough and at times slushy enough to not be able to get outside. I don't even have great reasons, I am just not a fan of Jan and Feb and I even have a birthday in Jan! And football ends, and what do you do with a weekend when there is no football to watch? But anyhow - I do think I've made the most of our Jan and feel refreshed in my house currently. I have made some serious headway and am looking forward to taking a donating my collection for other people to be able to use later today.

Based on the look of my calendar, January was a relatively busy month!

I really didn't get on here to complain, what I wanted to share is how excited I am about a Feb project I have going. My amazing, wonderful friend Rachel has made me a menu for the month of February!! I have been so bored with food and with cooking the last couple of months, and usually I do love to cook, but have felt very uninspired and seem to go to our standbys (not an altogether bad thing, I just needed a change for a bit!). So I got my menu last week and yesterday I was able to sit down and plan out my week, combining meals with what the day's activities are. Simple quick dishes or crock pot meals on busy days and the ones that take just a bit more time on not as busy days. And then also looking at trying to use up fresher, quicker to spoil produce earlier in the week. Since our produce here can tend to go bad quickly. So, I got my menu out yesterday afternoon while Jonathan slept and Jeremy was at the gym and started pulling together recipes and making my grocery list. I love to be organized and I loved doing this. I don't know exactly why, probably because I didn't have to make any decisions. I hate making decisions and often just like being told what to do (well, sometimes).

My organizing and bringing together of schedules and meals and finding recipes

The beginning of my February calendar - with main courses filled in on the first week

SO, anyhow, now I have my list all ready to go and once Jonathan wakes up from his nap we will have lunch and then head to drop off our give away stuff and then to do some grocery shopping. I'm excited about a somewhat new adventure and cooking someone else's ideas for meals! (and, much better than from a magazine, because she knows me a bit better than a magazine and it is customized for our likes) :)

It's a multi-post day

2011-01-27T17:14:00.000-08:00

Continue down to see previous post, but I wrote all that - not what I intended to write, and the pictures I have to post didn't match, so here's what I meant to post about :)

I celebrated my 27th birthday this week -yes, it was 27, joke has been that I truly have gotten confused about how old I was turning/how old I was last year - oh well, now I know - at least for now. But it was a wonderful day - I awoke to roses waiting for me in the kitchen, which was a great surprise! Also, I think Jonathan must've known it was my birthday, because he was so enjoyable all day! That evening my brother Dan surprised me with a cake that he baked and decorated!! So sweet! And Jeremy brought home dinner - Burrito King, my request even :) - and then watched Beauty and the Beast with me. So, it was a very nice day.

I put this one by my sink to brighten the area up and to enjoy more :)

Another big event last week was that we took Jonathan for some allergy testing and it was determined that he has outgrown his peanut allergy (WOOOOHOOOO) - hello pb&j for lunch (and breakfast and dinner somedays), however still have the egg allergy, but seems to be fine if it is baked in something, so likely will outgrow that as well. So, it was a very encouraging appointment for us. He is loving having peanut butter on toast in the morning and pb&j for lunch, so maybe we'll get a bit of meat to stick to his bones!

Mmmmmm I just pulled some bread from the oven - it is amazing!! I am enjoying a piece right now! It is called Amish White Bread Loaves, but I made it half whole wheat - yum-o!!

I couldn't resist posting some pictures :)

Ok, sounds like Jonathan's "nap time" which was really more of a quiet time, is over and I should get on with dinner and picking up this house....And this is what I found when I went to get him, a super happy baby who had been diligently working on bringing the curtain into his bed, maybe it looked comfy and he wanted to cuddle up with it - I'm not sure, but he was pretty proud of himself! NO wonder he was so happy for so long down there :)

Life these days

2011-01-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

I often have a running commentary going in my head of what's going on and to write down on this blog, yet very few seem to actually make it on here. I could say that it's because I have been following through on one of my resolutions to spend less time on the computer, but that would be a lie. Well, I have been doing better, but I often get distracted by other's blogs and then am too lazy to write my own. However, in the world of resolutions i can say that I have already stuck with a couple of them. Let's be honest, making it the 27th of January is an accomplishment for me! :)

I have finished one quilt top, it just needs to be basted and quilted, yes I'm a slow quilter. I look at some quilting blogs and the things that these women finish it amazes me that they get it done AND that then they have time to blog about it! I also have making use of the gym membership and even my workout dvd. I've been giving myself smiley's on the calendar everyday that I work out and there are way more smiley's than sad faces, so that's exciting. I'm not quite seeing it transfer to the number on the scale, however I did buy a scale, so that's a big step. (I've never wanted one because I didn't want to obsess over weight, but decided it was time to use it as encouragement and motivation).

Another big project that I'm very excited to be going on is the cleaning out of closets. With my mom's help (who loves organizing and throwing stuff out) we got through the spare bedroom last Friday, which was a huge accomplishment! I started with I think 7 rubbermaid bins of stuff and ended with 2 of storage and 2 of fabric (I'm not parting with much of that yet). In addition to the number of other random things stuffed in there, I have a decent load to take to be donated and a good chunk went out with the trash today. And another victory was selling a desk on craigslist - we had bought it 5 years ago at a garage sale for $20 and I sold it for $15! I was pretty stoked about that! I also got my upstairs coat (not used as that) closet cleaned out and organized - it holds some crafting stuff, some random dishes, paper goods, games, beading paraphernalia, yes all random, so was good to clean out.

Oh, and let me share something that I LOVE that I did a few months ago. So, I've always just used the disposable glad ware containers for leftovers and such. I think at one point early on in marriage I had a set of rubbermaid containers that have all disappeared. But, my cupboard was always so disorganized and cluttered, and because I had collected so much of it, it transferred to the fridge overflowing with leftovers until I couldn't shove anything else in. SO I bought a 40 pc set of new rubbermaid containers - like the real ones - and pulled out all the dipsosable stuff, and now only use the new ones. I stored away some of the old to use to take meals to people in. Such a little thing, but I love looking in my non-cluttered "tupperware" cupboard. And, as a bonus, when I run out of storage, it means it's time to clean out the fridge. It's a win win win.

And in regards to my little Jonathan, God's been reminding me that Jonathan is my priority and that is where the majority of my time and energy are to go. I want to go out and spend time on so many other things, because somehow it feels like I have the time for that, but then when I do, he gets all out of sorts, and I'm learning to plan our time better, and we are both happier for that. (ya, I'm sure I've written about this before, I think it's a lesson I'm not learning to well, but I'm getting there).

He loves his blankie

2011-01-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

While switching laundry this morning Jonathan saw his beloved blanket go into the dryer and was determined to get it at any cost! Even left his sippy cup behind to try and rescue the blankie - however mommy did get the door closed - with his help of course :). However it wasn't quite dry when I laid him down for a nap, but I just took it down to him slightly damp and haven't heard a peep since. It is really sweet how much he loves this blanket. Whenever he sees it he buries his face in it. And in the morning or after any time when he was in crib sleeping before I can pick him up he bends over to pick it up making it sure it comes out of the crib with him.

New Year's and New (older) Pictures

2011-01-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

Preferred shopping cart position, by blurred head, can tell that he was shaking back of seat back and forth.

Hiding in Grandma's cupboards

Uncle Dan likes to dress him like this :)

Favorite toy box

Sound asleep

It was weird actually getting to hang out at home last night, I think it was our first lazy Friday night in a long time. At first we were going to watch a movie on netflix, and then after browsing for about 45 min decided it was too late to start a movie, and after all, it being us, we watched some television episodes. I don't know what my issue is, I can so easily sit and watch two hours of tv shows, but a 2 hour movie seems like a daunting task. That being said, it was also weird sitting here and realizing that a week ago we were with family and friends celebrating the new year. I'm not a fan of holidays falling on the weekend, I feel like you just have to add in a celebration on top of what you want to do on the weekend, so I'm happy to have a somewhat relaxed weekend now. I also wanted to write down some of my goals for the new year. I've been seeing lots do that, and although they're nothing crazy, maybe if I write them down I'll feel more accountable to them. So, here goes:

~ Organize and clean out junk, get rid of things that I didn't use last year.
~ Work out regularly (so far, so good) - and we made a big step as a family today and joined a gym here, so we are really excited about that. Jeremy will be able to play racquetball with my dad and brothers and I am looking forward to the use of a pool again and getting to take Jonathan swimming, I also think it would be fun to take a group fitness class, we will see though
~ Spend more time playing with Jonathan - sometimes I find it easy to get involved in other things around the house and leave him to play by himself, or mostly pull out every toy/utensil/item in accessible cupboards
~ Read more to Jonathan - I had these plans that we would have regular story time every day, like after lunch and before bed, and right now he won't even sit still for two pages of a book - he loved books when he was younger, so I want to work on instilling in him a love for books, and being able to sit still longer :)
~ Less time on the computer
~ Finish two quilts - my 9-patch quilt and Alaska quilt (I would love for more, but I'm trying to be reasonable)
~ Learn to sew more little boy items

So, I think that's sort of what my goals are this year. It's sort of fun to think through it and write them down.

I think this was his first chocolate milk - at least first that I gave him, but I'm not sure that Grandma hadn't already given him chocolate milk ;) ... Grandma thinks Jonathan needs chocolate milk, mind you, I never got it growing up :)

Picking out his own food in refrigerator

He LOVES music, likes to play piano and listen to Uncle Ben play cello

Hanging out at a cross country meet

Watching a Husker game with Dad in Grandpa's garage and getting to swing - his favorite thing to do!

Well, I'm off to get some ironing and laundry done, we have Jeremy's company Christmas party tonight. (yep, this late, but better than the year it was held before Thanksgiving).

I've been working on getting all of my pictures off of my phone in hopes of getting a new one for my birthday. It's been somewhat of a process, but it's fun to look back at all the pictures, so here are a couple from our last year. Yep, I took about 700 pictures on my phone! yikes!

Watching Uncle Kelly and Aunt Ashley on "The Price is Right"

Helping unload the dishwasher

One of our hiking trips

I took this off the video monitor, he used to fall asleep like this! I can't imagine that it was comfortable, but he slept so I didn't care. :)

Ok, and I'm already failing at less time on the computer!

Jonathan's 2nd Christmas - 1st He Was Awake for :)

2010-12-28T00:04:00.001-08:00

Well, I somehow was able to embed all of my Shutterfly pictures on here, so guess I should write a small post about our wonderful Christmas celebrations! We had such a fun couple of days being with my family. Christmas Eve, Jeremy got home from work early which was nice and then we had the traditional chili at my parent's for dinner then headed to the Christmas Eve service.

Afterwards we all headed to our house for games and food. This has become a somewhat tradition (although with a 3 wk old last year, I passed on hosting). It was great because after a bath and entertaining aunts, uncles and grandparents for a little bit, Jonathan went to bed, and somehow slept through all our noise, but promptly woke up after everyone left and we were headed to bed. He eventually fell back asleep, although it took a while.

And because my family has always done Christmas super early, we had to be awake and out of our house by 7:30am. I of course had no problem getting up and going, the excitement of Christmas always gets to me, and I can never sleep. Yes, I'm such a little kid. And yes, every year since being married I wake up and hope that Santa has filled my stocking, but know that my husband is not about to wake up in the middle of the night. (but this is my hint to him) :) . So, after getting myself ready, Jonathan also woke up himself at 6:45 (slightly early, but ready for the day). SO we did stockings as a family here at home and then headed to my parents. And yes, Santa visited us at my parent's house again this year! :)

We had such a fun day giving and opening gifts. Jonathan only made it through about half of the event, meaning that I ended up opening most of his gifts, but he had fun playing with them later. He definitely enjoyed Christmas more this year, and enjoyed the wrapping, and particularly some Tonka trucks he received. But, mostly I think that he liked that we were distracted with the gifts and he could sneak away to get into the cabinets and things that he knows are off limits at Grandma's. :)

A couple of highlights were the super cute small child's chair that matches our larger chairs from Ikea, he also got a tool workbench from my uncle who works for Napa, which is very cool. And like I mentioned, he is loving his Tonka trucks and makes truck noise when driving them! He also got a basketball hoop from us, which I'm not sure if it is more for him or Jeremy, but as my mom suggested, the best gifts are ones that we will play with him. :) Then after the gift opening was completed the boys and their wives headed to their in-laws to do gifts and then their large family gathering and were back later for more games and a few other families came over to play more games and eat lots more food!

We have now been working on re-doing our living room a bit, and have created a "kid" area with new shelves for Jonathan and a cute Tonka car rug. Jonathan already seems to be enjoying this area and likes not being in the corner like I had him before.

OK, well I think that's about it for now, and my computer battery is about to die on me.

Pictures from Brandy

2010-12-27T23:56:00.001-08:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Miles and Jonathan

2010-12-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

So, another very fun thing recently has been to watch how much Jonathan LOVES Miles, and Miles is, well, accepting of it, and mostly loves that Jonathan has learned to feed him food by very sneakily dropping food on the floor while he is eating. {which does have its benefits, any food that does land on the floor, I don't have to clean up, but we are also trying to train Miles to stay on his bed when Jonathan eating, and to train Jonathan not to drop his food, all this somewhat unsuccessfully so far. Until then, I will enjoy not really having to clean the floor up :) }

Miles really is good to Jonathan and is mostly gentle, sometimes though when Jonathan is teasing him, Miles can get a little excited and jumpy, but for the most part is really good. This usually happens when Jonathan grabs Miles bag of treats and walks around with it, this of course drives Miles CRAZY!!! And Miles is chasing after Jonathan and jumping up and down for the bag of treats! {this picture is of Jonathan with the treat bag, although I had to take the picture from above him - as soon as he sees the camera he starts to come toward me, making picture taking a new art form now}

The other day Jonathan grabbed a stuffed Nebraska helmet ornament off the tree (I'm sure everyone has one of those on their tree) and Jonathan was wandering around with it, loving that it has an elastic hanger, so was bouncing it and shaking and it looked like way too much of a toy for Miles to not leave it along, so was of course jumping for it, and I think at one point actually knocked Jonathan down, which didn't even phase Jonathan. I then decided it was time for that ornament to be taken away and put up higher :).

Another thing that Jonathan loves is to kiss Miles, or more of for Miles to kiss him! He will go over to him with an open mouth and Miles of course will oblige and kisses him all over his lips! yuck! We do try to keep this to a minimum, but is quite comical. I love it when I can hear Jonathan just cracking up laughing and I will look over and Miles is just licking him like crazy!! One time I put Miles on the other side of the gate - I'm sure he was annoying me somehow - and Jonathan went over to tease him essentially I think, but he got up right next to the gate and kissed him through the gate. Lovely. {hmmm the picture below it looks like Miles is biting Jonathan, but I assure you, that is not the case, and it was a bit hard to capture Miles kissing him through the gate, but this is Jonathan's excitement over what was going on}

And another time, I was holding Jonathan, trying to get him to give me kisses, which he was not doing very well, but I then put him down and he went straight to Miles to give him kisses!! Yep, I was feeling the love!

This picture is one morning, when we opened up the kennel for Miles to come out and Jonathan went over to encourage him to come out and play, it was pretty cute as he sat there waiting for Miles to come out. It was totally like he was sitting there and saying "it's time to get up already! you've slept long enough now come out and play with me!"

So, these are just a couple of the fun stories of these two and it's fun to watch them together and I am looking forward to seeing Jonathan grow up with a dog, because so far he really enjoys it!

Christmas Findings

2010-12-22T23:36:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned in an earlier post Jonathan finding a jingle bell from the tree. Well, once this bell is found he often will carry it around shaking it to make noise, but it quickly ends up in his mouth - like most things. I'm not sure how he can fit the whole thing in there, but he does!

He was also a great "help" when I was wrapping presents last week! I was able to occupy him with an old roll of 2008 graduation paper and some ribbon that I didn't want to use. :) He was thankfully occupied with the new findings long enough that I was able to get all of my gifts wrapped!

One thing that I have really enjoyed this year is making a number of gifts for our family members! Not that I can share what exactly I made, but there something really fun about coming up with what I think is a really great idea and something they will enjoy and my being able to make it! So it makes me really excited for Christmas morning to be able to share these gifts. :) I think that is one of the most enjoyable things about Christmas, is the giving. It is fun to receive as well, but the giving really is my favorite part.

Peppermint Crack and Christmas Baking

2010-12-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

I had a very fun day today of baking Christmas goodies with my mom, and sisters in law, Ashley and Kara. I love that I FINALLY have sisters to share in these things with and one that even lives in town! We made a ton of fun things today. We made and decorated sugar cookies and gingerbread angels (yes, angels because out gingerbread man cutter was rather small, and when Kelly and Ashley went to Michael's to get one they were informed that they were about a month too late, and should've thought about that sooner than today). Then, we also did almond toffee, peppermint bark, dark and white chocolate dipped ritz with peanut butter cookies and pretzels. And the best thing ever was to make Peppermint Crack - which is actually Peppermint marshmallows, but the friend I got the recipe from calls it crack because of how addicting it is, and so now my whole family was calling it that as well! But, these seriously are amazing and I couldn't wait to get home tonight and make some hot chocolate to drink with my peppermint crack in my Starbucks holiday mug of the year :).

Christmas Decorating

2010-12-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a couple weeks overdue, but I had to get the pictures off my camera first, and since it is just now happening...well, you get the point...

{Helping get the tree out of the box - Jonathan was very interested in this large box!}

I was totally dreading putting up any Christmas decorations this year, I thought at first it was because it just seemed like one more thing to keep Jonathan out of, but as I was pulling out our decorations, I realized it was even more that I didn't want to look at our decorations anymore. Last December I spent essentially the entire month sitting in my recliner in the living room holding/feeding Jonathan, looking that these four walls and the Christmas decorations I insisted on being put up right after Thanksgiving. I loved that month and time with Jonathan, but it was also a very hard month for me. Jonathan slept only in my arms (including at night) for the first two weeks, so I was pretty sleep deprived and not always totally functioning. So, in some ways I think the decorations brought back some of those memories, the good and bad. I am very pleased that this year I am not up with him all night long, and in fact we are not up with him at all, so that I am grateful for.

{Helping Daddy get the tree together.}

The other thing I did was not put out all my decorations, I tried to do some new things with what I had and overall just went very simple. And maybe after Christmas when everything is on sale I will try to find a couple new Christmas decorations to add to my collection.

On the other hand, Jonathan didn't "find" the Christmas tree until just a couple of days ago (it had been up for well over a week). At first he would reach out to try and grab an ornament off the tree, with arm outstretched as far as possible and body staying as far from tree as possible, I think he was sort of afraid of the branches. He eventually pulled off a jingle bell - which I intentionally put the bells on the lower branches thinking he would enjoy them. And then yesterday he discovered the beaded garland and thought it should be pulled off the tree, and also thought he should try to pull at the branches. Although he hasn't discovered the gifts under our tree, he did attack the bows on gifts at my mom's house today. Overall, it has been fun watching him discover the new things around the house, but I am looking forward to the tree coming down next week now that the tree looks like so much fun to play with.

Of course watching Elf while decorating.

Birthday Celebrations

2010-12-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus I guess, but I actually have so much to post, I just don't really know where to start. So, I think I will start with Jonathan's birthday. I can't believe it, but we actually had three birthday celebrations for this little one! yikes, yes, that is more than is really necessary for a 1 year old. We were able to be in Colorado with Jeremy's family from Thanksgiving night until the next Wed, so on the Sunday we were there had a family gathering (minus two sick ones :( ) and did cake and ice cream and presents for Jonathan there. This was a Nebraska Husker themed party - big surprise :).

This was a mini cake that the store made also for Jonathan, he unfortunately wasn't able to eat this one (he has an allergy to egg whites) but Grandma Paula made him an awesome eggless cake and it was delish, one of his cousins also thought so!

Then on Jonathan's actual birthday, it was a Friday night and we were back at home still adjusting to being back, and me always looking for a reason to not cook - rarely do I win, usually reality of the bank account wins that:) - and I thought it would be fun to go do something fun for his bday. so we headed to Red Robin and invited along my family, so my mom (my dad was out of town), and brothers Dan, Ben and Robby and his wife Kara came out with us. And, if anyone knows me, you may see the irony in the fact that we took Jonathan to Red Robin - I really do not like it that much. I don't mind the food, but ALWAYS get irritated with the service, probably from my restaurant experience, and I don't even have high expectations from a place like RR, just to be greeted within 15 min would be nice. Unfortunately this night was no exception and they lived up to my low expectations and after about 10 min I had to go ask for some service, but we stayed and the food was pretty good - and we got some free onion rings :). Anyhow - that's all a side story, and not the most important part of the night. We had a great time celebrating that night and the highlight for Jonathan quite likely was the very fun balloon! He played with the balloon a ton - it was so fun to watch him! We did have them sing to him, but asked for a small group, it was sweet, he was almost mesmerized by the singing, and when they left he started moving his arms up and down kindof like dancing and a motion he makes we wanting more. So I think he enjoyed it and it didn't scare him.

And then that Sunday we had his birthday party. We hosted it at my parents house, as they have more room than us, and it was so fun to get together with so many of his and our friends. It's fun to see the little ones being able to interact more, and not just all lay down and stare at the ceiling. He was a good sport, and even enjoyed wearing his party hat! And at all three party's his favorite part was the cake or ice cream! not a big surprise! And rather than smushing it, he would pick up the whole piece and just hold it all in his hand eating off of it until it was gone! So cute to watch! It was so special to be able to celebrate his birthday with this group of friends as we have gone through this first year of parenthood together. Especially the moms have become such an important part of mine and Jonathan's weekly life and have been an encouragement and blessing to us. I'm sad that one family has just moved, and another is moving shortly, but will never forget this year particularly together.

I love this picture because all the kiddos are going a different direction and so mobile, in contrast to a picture of them a few months ago all just laying on the floor focused on something else.

Jonathan helping Neal out with his party hat - and this unfortunately ended badly with Jonathan snapping hat against Neal

Just chillin' with Uncle Rob

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake Cake

Christmas card 2010

2010-12-05T14:14:00.001-08:00

All Of Us Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Another Shutterfly promotion! This time it's for a $25 gift certificate! Sweet! Thanks Laura for telling me about it and finding this!

I really like Shutterfly and am currently working on a couple of projects on there. One being the Christmas card of course, trying to figure out the perfect pictures and which card is "our family". And also am collaborating with a family member on a gift for a relative. :)

If you want to know how you can also get your $25 gift certificate from Shutterfly, let me know!

Happy Birthday Jonathan!!

2010-12-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that he is 1 year old today! This has truly been the most wonderful year of my life! Every day (and night) full of new adventures and it has been wonderful to watch him learn and grow and explore. It has also probably been the hardest. There have been nights that I've been ready to throw in the towel and just be done being a parent, yet all along knowing that God specifically gave us Jonathan and that we were the right parents to raise him, as hard as it can be sometimes. And I know that we will have many trials ahead of us, but I pray that the joys many times outnumber the harder trials. Although I do think the trials and hard times also make us better parents.

Jonathan has been such a joy to get to parent and to get to know. He is so curious and wants to know about everything going on around him. He has always been so alert and aware of his surroundings. It has been fun to watch his body grown and develop from being a small newborn to eventually sitting up in our lap then pushing up on his arms and rolling over and sitting up and then rolling all over the place, learning to pull himself up then crawling and shortly thereafter walking! It is so amazing all the changes that happen in the first year that I never before realized would happen so quickly. He is truly a blessing and joy in our lives everyday!

First Trip to McDonald's Playland

2010-11-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

So Jonathan and I went out for lunch today with my mom and the little boy she watches twice a week. We went to an award ceremony for my brother at his school, then to McDonald's for lunch, where Jonathan got to enjoy his (not first, I admit) Happy Meal and even played in the play place. He had fun cruising around and looking through the windows at Grandma. And yes, he even fought me when I tried to pull him out, he got a hold of part of the toy and held on trying to not go down - awesome. He seemed to enjoy the inside of his chicken nuggets, although he much preferred eating the breading we so diligently pulled off, and the apples were ok, but of course better in the caramel sauce, and he even got to try a french fry, which was better in ketchup. :) Yes, probably all things that as a non-mother I said "I will never feed my child those things at such a young age". hahaha

Tub Times

2010-11-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

I was getting ready this morning and Jonathan was playing in the bathroom with me and while I was bent over the sink brushing my teeth I heard him knocking the bottles into the bathtub (his all time favorite accomplishment, a day is not complete with that). When I was done I looked over and he was in the tub! So, I grabbed the camera, snapped a couple of pics, and when he decided he was done in the tub, he just got himself out! Never a fuss, just plopped himself over pulled himself up and walked away!

Shutterfly Promotion

2010-11-15T11:44:00.001-08:00

Ok I've been watching friends put up these posts, and getting their 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly, and not to be one to be left out, here I am trying to get mine as well! I think that they have a ton of really cute designs for this year. I haven't actually ever used Shutterfly for cards before, but I like that they have photo cards that are folded and then I could write on the inside. Christmas Photo Cards are a fun way to share a Christmas picture in a Christmas letter. Here are some of the designs that I liked.

SO, I might as well also mention things I've done on Shutterfly, I made a 0-6mo book for Jonathan and then also a summer book and I'm sure a 9-12 mo book will be in the works soon. I've been very pleased with my books, and what was even better was when my last book was taking FOREVER to get here, and after it was about 5 days late I called their customer service dept and based on tracking it had been stuck in Seattle for a few days. So for my wait the guy just had another book ordered for me and sent off! It was great and came quite quickly. I was very impressed, no hassle about it! :) I also am thinking about doing a fun photo calendar for the coming year. And, another fun gift idea for the grandparents are these photo mugs! What better way to enjoy pictures of the grandkids each day! :)

If you are interested in joining in the fun here go here

Now just to capture and select that perfect family Christmas picture!

More weekend fun

2010-11-01T11:14:00.001-07:00

We had a very fun Halloween party last night with Jonathan's and our friends. All the kids were of course dressed up super cute, although didn't like that we tried to get them to sit on the couch long enough for a picture, and none was more determined to get off than our own. :) WE also carved pumpkins which was fun too! We have been so blessed to have such great friends up here and now to watch the little ones growing up and even interacting with eachother is really fun!

Ok, these pics are pretty much in reverse order, but they at least have captions :) - ok and for the most part the captions are on top of the picture, and a couple are a little off, but pretty self explanatory - sorry but I've been working on this way too long, and it is dinner time! :)

Some of the kiddos in the hallway, the two older boys loved running up and down the hallway - a sign of what is to come for us in the next couple of years

I loved this picture I caught of Jonathan and Renee and her son Emerson, all smiles and happy

The kiddos working on their pumpkins, I loved watching Levi focused on his pumpkin scooping

Jeremy and I holding Jonathan's hands to paint our pumpkin, ok so not really the greatest idea with an 11 mo old, especially when EVERYTHING goes in his mouth and his reflexes are quite quick, but between the two of us we didn't get paint anywhere else

Moms and their kiddos working on the pumpkins

Kiddos totally done with the picture thing

Starting out taking pictures, constant movement, just had to snap as possible - Melanie did a great job trying to keep my little one on the couch, because he was determined to not stay there!

Trying to get the kids positioned and ready to go

I LOVE this one of Natalie and Kaleb - so sweet - both of them

We had a cow, Buzz Lightyear and a Tiger playing in our living room

Laura's really yummy spider web cheesecake

The pumpkin cupcakes I made - I got to use all the cake decorating stuff I bought for the class I did this summer - yay

We used fingerpaints to do "handprints" on a fake pumpkin. It actually turned out pretty cute, and my idea is that it is something I can use as a decoration next year.

More Handprints, Jonathan didn't love doing this, but put up with us :)

ROAR!! - my little Tiger - just waking up from his nap

Attempting a pumpkin carving Sat night, Jonathan was actually totally afraid of it, and wouldn't put his hand in, right after I snapped this picture he turned around and essentially crawled up Jeremy and clung to his neck. Unlike anything he's done before, but wanted nothing to do with the pumpkin.

Fun Weekend

2010-11-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

To start you off, some pics from watching the Nebraska game on Saturday

Picking out a gameday snack

How about some leftover potatoes dad?

Sharing Daddy's apple

TOUCHDOWN!! Let's text grandpa and my uncles, ok dad?

Yay I get my husband back!!

2010-10-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well, since I've been accused of using this blog to only talk about Jonathan, let me talk about my husband for a post. :)

I am so proud of him right now, he just this week finished up the last of his master's level classes for his Master's in Business Administration!!! He does have one undergrad class to complete, which he will do during the spring quarter, but he is done with the hardest of his classes. He has done an awesome job being a husband, father, working fulltime still and completing his classes this last quarter. - oh and still keeping up with the Huskers and his fantasy teams :)

I am very happy to have him back to not having to do so much homework at night again. It has been so nice this weekend that our schedule hasn't been dominated by his need to get homework and papers done. And might I mention that he has excelled in his classes receiving mostly A's! Possibly due to my help editing some of his papers. :) But, just wanted to share about this and now we can enjoy the rest of this fall and winter not thinking about classes, and no more night classes! :)

He has had plenty of help along the way! We like to call Miles his "study buddy" :)

For the Record....

2010-10-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Apparantly Jonathan knew that I said in my post last night that I didn't mind him waking up early, and he took that to heart! He was up at 5 am!! So, I gave him the binky, and went back to bed thinking he would fall back asleep, well after an hour of crying, I finally got him up at 6, and he was wide awake and ready to go! So, he played hard for about 45 min and then I was feeding him breakfast in his highchair, and I looked at him and he was nodding off, and gave into the need for sleep. IT was really sweet, so of course I took a picture! :) This is really such a rare sight for me, he typically doesn't fall asleep anywhere but in his bed or carseat, and sometimes some people's arms, but not usually.

Big Things Going on Here

2010-10-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been debating whether to post this or not, because it seems as soon as I get excited about something, it changes - wow this sounds like I'm leading up to a baby or big move or something, heck no, that's not what I'm talking about, we are very content and happy with where God has us here right now - my exciting news is that Jonathan is sleeping through the night!! This has been an ongoing battle for us for a few months now. He started out great, sleeping through the night young, around 8-10 wks, but at 5 months decided that wasn't for him anymore, so I went along with it, being pulled into a long downward spiral of waking up once, then twice a night and a few weeks ago I was at the end of my rope emotionally, physically and mentally and couldn't do it anymore. So, after some good encouragement from a good friend of mine, I decided it was time for tough love. I had to just let him cry it out. We knew this would be hard, because he is, I would say, strong willed, and will cry for up to 2 hours, that's the longest I had let him go, who knows how much longer he would go. So, when he woke up rather than feeding I just gave him the binky, and kiss, and laid him back down, of course he stood up immediately and stood at the side of his crib and cried, but I left him and turned his music on also. Also, I would turn off the monitor and set my alarm for an hour or two later, to just check. Needless to say, he was always asleep when I would check later. After just a couple of nights, the crying became less and then we even went to no waking at all!! He is going to bed a bit earlier, but that's ok, and waking earlier, which is fine too with me, it actually works better than his 9:00 wake ups. So, we are at 2 weeks of this now, and he has been a happier baby, eats better during the day, and mommy and daddy are happier too! :)

The other big thing that I think I can officially claim now is that we have a walker!!! He started taking steps a few weeks ago, and then got up to about 4-5, then a week ago got up to about 10 steps at a time and then yesterday he just realized that he could keep walking. He still crawls some, mostly what he does is find somewhere to pull up on, then walks as far as he can, then when he falls will crawl some again, pull up on something and walk more, he still hasn't figured out how to stand up on his own. It has been so fun to figure out this new "trick" of his and he gets so proud of himself!

So, those are the big things here :)

Oh, he is also loving to talk on the phone - it's super cute, he will take the phone and hold it up to his ear and babble babble babble, yesterday he was talking to daddy on my cell phone, and just started walking around carrying the phone and talking away - don't know whose behavior he's imitating there :)

He is also trying to climb on things, stairs, he also loves that there is a ledge under the oven, where the drawer is, and when I'm not looking, will get his foot on there, and use the oven handle to try and pull himself up on, needless to say, there is a natural punishment when I don't get there soon enough, as he falls backwards when the oven door opens, yes, I am going to be looking into an oven lock :)

And, the fridge has a great leadge to climb onto and anything else he can find. :)

Finally a picture of a couple of his teeth - he now has four teeth all the way in, and two more working their way in.

This was him talking to daddy and walking with the phone in his hand! haha I love it! :)

Helping Mommy with laundry by pushing the basket around.

ROAR!!!

Everything is used for pulling up on, although we are working on sitting in the tub, he continues to pull up on the side.

In Process

2010-10-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

A friend suggested posting what I'm working on right now, well, that's a loaded question, because I have quite a few projects I'm in the middle of, and seemingly making little progress. But I'll get it done at some point. :)

These are the 9-patch blocks I made from the squares my grandma sent me a while back. - I mentioned these in a previous post - It was really fun to put these together. None materials that I would typically choose or put together, but when sewn together, I love how they work together in their own way.

This is how I'm going to lay out the quilt, and put the 4-patch squares in between the blocks with the sashing.

These are the materials for the borders, sashing and backing of my quilt. The tans are the sashing and backing and the blues will be the borders.

This is material I have bought for fall bibs for Jonathan, guess I should get going on it, since it now looks like winter is coming :/

I had the brilliant idea to sew Jonathan a winter hat and mittens and found this fun fleece and bought the pattern. Only to be reminded that I have never really sewn from a pattern, so this has been a slow experience for me, but I'm hoping to finish is before the end of the winter. :)

This is a completed project. I saw this on a website and wanted to try it. You just sew leaves onto a piece of leather-like fabric, and then I put a pretty bowl with gourds and small pumpkins, I really like the fall colors.

Some fun fabric finds - I really like the Rudolph material! All will hopefully be finding their way into some fun Christmas gifts ;)

Another fun fall craft! I was really excited about it and telling my mom and she was like "Oh, I think your brother did that in 1st grade!" Well great, I have the crafting ability of a 1st grader, but I enjoyed making these and love them on my mantle, just a nice fresh pop of color. They are jars - good reason to clean out my fridge of expired condiments :) - covered with Mod Podge and tissue paper, then finished with fun ribbons and a candle!

So, there you have it! For anyone wondering what is going on here in crafting world - or not going on. It's fun to look it all over and see what I'm working on, and will be fun to look at when it is all done.

Tough Loss

2010-10-16T17:27:00.001-07:00

Well, it was a sad day here, but at least my boys look cute watching the game! :)

A new experiment in baking

2010-10-05T22:53:00.001-07:00

Already to go for lunch tomorrow - ie I forgot to take a picture earlier :)

Those are Jeremy's (!!!) fingers in the pan - that NEVER happens! - he is not a sweets guy - especially not cake!

Newest addition to my baking cupboard, I'm excited to try other things with this.

So, I was to bring a dessert for our care group tonight, and I really wanted to be able to make something for one of our friends who has a number of allergies. I saw it as a challenge and wanted to try something new. So, I just googled "dairy, gluten, corn and soy free desserts" looked at the first result and decided to go for it. And I was pleasantly surprised. I have always had a misperception that gluten free means taste free. Totally wrong, and in some ways more flavor! I was telling Jeremy tonight that I was glad it turned out so well and he asked "what was different"? ha! He thought it was great and said it was better than other cakes, so guess I'll be making this again.

I also learned a few things along the way. vegetable oil and canola oil are NOT the same. This recipe called for canola and I thought that's what I had in the cupboard, onlt to find out mid-recipe that it was vegetable oil made of soybean oil that I had! - Big no no! So, went searching. I had bought some coconut oil at Natural Pantry today because I have had friends talking about it on facebook and wanted to try. So, I thought, well, could I substitute that? So, I went on a search, trying to talk to someone who used it, my first attempts were failed but I did talk to a friend who I haven't talked to in probably three years! It was great to hear her voice and fun to hear what she does with the coconut oil, and she told me how it changes consistency, and sure enough tonight when I got home, it was more liquidy that it was today when I baked with it. So, anyhow, I substituted straight across the cocunut oil for canola oil, and I don't think there was any difference.

So, all this to say I enjoyed trying something new, buying new ingredients, all of which are probably better for me anyhow, and am looking forward to seeing what else I can make with them! And here are a couple of pictures.

Here is the recipe for anyone interested.

Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Corn-Free Chocolate Cake
perfect without frosting! but you know you want to frost it

3 cups gluten-free flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put all ingredients into mixing bowl and beat until smooth and no lumps remain. Consistency will be like a standard cake batter.

Pour into greased 13 x 9 pan OR 2 round cake pans. Bake 35-55 minutes or until top springs back when touched. (shorter for cake pans, longer for the 13×9)

Remove from oven and let cool, if you’re able, until room temp. Frost as desired.

This is the recipe for frosting that the blogger I found used, but I was unable to find "corn free powdered sugar". so I bought a Namaste Toffee Vanilla Frosting Mix and made it with palm shortening and coconut milk.

Basic Frosting
3/4 cup palm shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract, if desired
enough milk to make smooth and creamy

Beat shortening with sugar and flavorings and add milk until desired consistency. Beat additional 3-5 minutes or until super fluffy and smooth. Frost cake when cooled and dig in!

And, I should give credit, I found this at
http://beyondthewheat.com/gluten-free-recipe/gluten-and-egg-dairy-soy-corn-free-chocolate-cake/

Hmmm...sorry, I don't know how to do the cool link thing. Oh well, you can figure it out. :)

And what's a post without this little guy?

And last, but not least....

2010-10-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a big blogging day for me. I always want to put stuff on here, sometimes it is just a matter of having time to sit and do it, and in the evenings when Jeremy is studying I don't get computer access. :(

So, here are some pictures of the little one, I swear he just gets more fun every day!

Hey Dad - do you like playing in these drawers too? They're so much fun!
Little did he know, that Daddy was putting the child latches on! :)

About to take off....

So cool just standing here at the couch, posing for mommy!

Someone (Grandma) gave me whip cream to play with!!

If Mommy leaves the Duplo container in here, then surely it means that she wants me to stand on it!

Bath Time!!

Super Baby! I thought it was funny how he turned his bib around and it looks like a cape!

He enjoyed getting to eat his own chicken leg!

This is how much he enjoyed it!

This is the rubber thingee for opening jars, also one of his favorite finds, he pulls this out the drawer and puts it in his mouth and cruises around the kitchen.

A few things I've been doing...

2010-10-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

The one thing I've found you can make for a boy and is pretty easy it bibs! So, I've been perfecting my bib making. After finding some cute Halloween material, it occured to me, that then it would only last a month, but being as brilliant as I am, I thought of to do reversible bibs, with a different season on it, so now it will at least last 2-3 months! If I were really brilliant, I would make like a winter/spring one, but I'm not there yet. :)

So, I've had this idea for while and finally did it. As a baby gift I made a receiving blanket, out of two pieces of flannel, so thicker than the thin ones that are sold in stores, then two burp cloths, and two bibs. I had fun working on this during Jonathan's Sunday afternoon nap and while Jeremy was busy with homework and studying.

I got to use a few different decorative stitches also, which was fun to play with.

My Grandma sent me a bag of scrap fabrics when I started quilting a couple years ago, and I haven't done anything with them yet. BUt I found them in my fabric stash yesterday and started sorting and am excited about putting them into a quilt.

After canning with friends last month and discovering how easy it was, I wanted to do some more, and Jeremy loved the salsa. So, my mom and I had a salsa making and canning day last week. We ended up with 22 jars and she is already talking about making more, it has been so popular at her house! Such a fun way to always have something homemade on hand.

I have been trying new recipes, and last week it was Crispy Chicken Nuggets, I'm not a big fan of frying and Jeremy was shocked to come home and see me doing it, but the result was amazing, so I may do it again!

Yes, I am a Homemaker

2010-10-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, I've been thinking about this post for awhile, and it's time to get some of my thoughts out. Recently I was filling out a form and it asked for "occupation" and much to my shock, I stumbled over my answer. What am I? What do I do? First I thought "wife", but no, I'm also a mommy. Stay at home mom? NO, I'm more than just that, and then it popped in my head, "homemaker". Homemaker, wow that doesn't sound nearly as great as past things I could've filled in there, baker, that was fun, server, fun, restaurant manager, wow I had really achieved something there. But well, now, I'm a homemaker. Wait Brandy, this is the occupation I've been wanting to fulfill my whole life, I never desired to be those other things, ya I enjoyed it, and I was good at it, but this is what I have been wanting and praying for for so long, and I was struggling to write it down. But, alas I did. :) But, it got me thinking, I really am a homemaker, and I do love every bit of it. Yes, there are definately days when I think it would be so much easier to just drop Jonathan off and go to a job outside of the home, he can get exhausting, and especially in this stage we are in, but but nothing is as satisfying as this. I get to see every little thing that Jonathan does. Recently, I have gotten to see him start to stand and take a couple of steps, just the other day he started to clap his hands a little. He also loves to make noise on anything possible. But, more than that, I get to make this house of ours into a home. I get to see my husband off to work in the morning (I used to leave before him), making him a lunch and talking to him while he eats breakfast, I'm here during the day, cleaning throughout the week so that I don't have one day that I have to get it all done. This is a trick that took me a little while to figure out, but I think I've scheduled my weeks better now. And in my "spare" time, i get to work on fun projects, currently I'm into things that have to do with fall, and trying to find fun things to make for boys - not nearly as fun as creating for a girl, but I'm finding things to do. I truly do enjoy everything about what I get to do as being a homemaker, a stay at home mom. I get to spend time with other moms during the day. I even get to do a Bible study during the day now, something that would've never been possible before. I am truly so grateful for getting to do what I do, and hope that I don't forget it!

My little laundry helper! This is his favorite blanket, he sleeps with it, knows that it means time to nurse, etc., so it cracked me up his persistence in trying to get it out of the dryer.

My guys getting a little rest after a long night - yes, really that means I should've been sleeping too. :)

Other projects of the summer...

2010-09-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

Before all the flooring, my other goals of the summer/spring were to make our spare room into an actual guest room with bed and all. :) This way I had a better place for grandparents to stay when they came to visit, and it was used every month this summer, each time with the bed in a different spot, or set up, but I'm so glad to have a place to easily customize to whoever is here. :) I also recently decided that I wanted somewhere to keep my sewing machine set up, so I reworked the room yet again. And am very happy with the result.

And, our Memorial Day project was to pull out a portion of the deck and patio out back and put in grass. I don't think I took any before pictures of the deck, but I do have a couple after ones here. We don't have a huge yard, but felt like by having more grass, especially next year when Jonathan is running and playing around, it will be more condusive to a toddler. :) And, yet again, my brothers got roped into our long weekend priject, they were such a great help to Jeremy and I, and we really appreciate their willingness to help out!

Pictures of the Cutie

2010-09-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

And just yesterday he FINALLY started saying MAMAMAMAMA, however, it is not nearly as prevelant in his vocabulary as DADADA, but it's at least a start! :)

He wanted to play on the other side of the gate with Miles :)

My re-purposing of shelves in my house, he was able to pull the shelves off of the bookcase I had in there, so I had this shelf elsewhere, and swapped them. He likes how easily he can pull his toys off.

I thought it was naptime for him, he didn't so in his protest, he put himself in this position!

The Big Unveiling...

2010-09-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, here are the long awaited pictures from our Labor Day weekend project!! I took the true meaning of the word, and anyone that was willing I had laboring! ha, nothing like laboring a baby, so there should be no complaints!

We so appreciated all of the help from my parents and brothers, it was a blessing to have them all here working so hard and helping up to get this done by the end of the weekend, there were still a few small things to be done through the week but our house is now back in liveable condition!!

WE decided to go with the hardwood after we already bought new carpet, because with some of the signs of allergies that Jonathan has been showing, we thought this to be the best solution, and with no worries of it having to be replaced down the road. We are so happy with the outcome, and I love how it has totally changed the look of our house! Even my hand me down kitchen table looks better on the hardwood, and I think I can get a few more years out of it! :) It was amazing to me even when we put the kitchen appliances back in place, and how they just looked so different that they previously did on the off-white lino of before. OUr other new addition was a microwave. This was a great find, our old one went out the week before we did the floors, and I found this virtually new one off of Craigslist! woohoo! and it looks so nice in the kitchen as well!

And JOnathan is also loving it, he has learned that he can crawl even faster across the flooring, and has onld had a couple of bumbs and bruises. :)

Before...

2010-09-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

During....

2010-09-21T12:59:00.001-07:00

After...

2010-09-21T12:44:00.001-07:00

More pictures, I hope...

2010-09-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hanging out eating

Daddy's Study Buddy :)

Hanging out in the stroller during our walk at the dog park.

This is at the dog park, but I love this picture, we took Clair, my parent's dog and Miles there. And both had a blast running around, and Clair loved the water, Miles not so much. :)

A gorgeous sunset over Turnagain Arm one night last week when I was leaving the church after an event. so glad I had my camera with me.

Hanging out with Grandpa on the new floors - more to come of the flooring pics :)

Watching our first cross country meet.

Jonathan got to hang out in his pack n play alot during the flooring installation, and did a great job!

pictures, maybe??

2010-09-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Game day!!! Go Nebraska!!!

Some of my naptime creations! I needed some bibs for him that weren't velcro, because he has figured how to pull those off! So, I hit my stash is fabrics and this is what I came up with! And funny, after unsuccessfully pulling these off, he doesn't try to pull off his other ones anymore either! :)

Opening the cupboards in our kitchen.

We went swimming with Grandma and Uncle Ben - Jonathan didn't hate it, but didn't seem to quite love it, but was really relaxed and chill, we stayed in the water for about 45 min!!

AGHHH!!!

2010-09-13T16:21:00.001-07:00

I always have so many issues posting pictures! I'll keep trying, cause I know anyone reading this really would prefer pictures! :)

Mmmm....

2010-09-13T15:54:00.001-07:00

I love fresh chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven, and I'm enjoying a couple right now as I sit down to write this. I mostly just have some pictures to add here, with some updating.

It is definately feeling like fall here, and I love it! It has been gorgeous and sunny the last few days but with that crispness in the air.

Jonathan continues to amaze me daily at things he is trying to tackle and the new things he is learning. The other day I looked over and he was trying to climb up the stairs - Jeremy was watching him, and he made it up about 7 steps. Yikes! I guess we need to at some point teach him the stairs so that he doesn't just go for it and fall but how to do this? Guess I will be learning that soon! He is also become quite adept at opening cupboards and drawers and spots our open bedroom door and crawls there as quickly as possible as he is learning that it is off limits. It's amazing how quickly babies really do understand right from wrong and will try to get away with what they know is not right. Making it even more clear to me how we are each born with a sinful nature.

Another big step for us this last week is that Jonathan is starting to go to bed at night without having to be asleep in my arms/after nursing. We still nurse before bed, but a few nights now he has been awake and I've laid him down and he falls asleep after just a little fussing. This is huge for us!! Used to be if he was laid down awake it would mean hours of crying (yes, unfortunately I've tried him and he will cry for hours!) Maybe it's because we've been staying at my parent house watching my brothers this last week and he is sleeping in his pack n play in my parents closet, so it is dark, but whatever it is, I hope it continues! :)

After waiting until 8 months hold to cut a tooth, he now has 4 teeth! He's been cutting about 1/wk it seems. And overall it is going smoothly, we seem to have one sleepless night, but are good after that. He now has his two bottom teeth and top two teeth on either side of where his middle teeth will go. A little odd, but whatever!

AND - can't remember what I said last post, but he is now eating just about anything we feed to him! We are just feeding him mostly whatever we are eating for dinner, within reason, and he seems to love anything with seasoning and flavor to it. And forget anything with a pureed texture, that is coming right back out. And he much prefers it from a fork rather than a spoon. And sometimes I will let him feed himself with the fork and he does a great job!

He is all boy it seems and bumps and bruises don't bother him, unless we fuss over something then he might get upset.

Haha, for not having much to say, I always seem to be able to fill up some space! :)

LIfe is a Changing...

2010-08-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, this past week or more Jonathan has discovered a whole new world! Although he has had the abliity to crawl, he much preferred his rolling and schooching version to get around and would only crawl a few "steps", but then last Tuesday it was like a light bulb went on, and he realized that if he kept with it, he could get more places faster!!! It has been eye opening to me (as to things to get out of his reach) and so much fun to watch him! And for probably the last two weeks or more, he is really into pulling himself up on EVERYTHING! legs, tables, chairs, the bathtub, toilet if he gets past me, dryer door, dishwasher, drawers in the kitchen, chair that was blocking the top of the stairs, trashcan....you get the the picture. It has also been busy for me in realizing that these are not all things that I want him to have access to, and having to start the "no" stage and discipling, and moving him away from whatever the object is. So, learning consistency has also been on my daily agenda. We did get the baby gate put up this weekend, so that helps some, and I don't have to be as worried about the stairs. It is definately a super fun stage and I am getting my exercise in staying up with him! :)

We have been out enjoying the summer that finally came to Alaska! After 31 days straight of precipitation we were so ready for it! ON Friday night we went hiking with my parents and brother Ben, we went to Flattop, which is just nearby here in Anchorage. Jeremy was along so he got to carry JOnathan inth ebackpack, making it much easier for me! And then I went again today with some good mommy friends, and I got to carry Jonathan, which really isn't too bad, but I was tired by the end! I lucked out and found a great baby backpack on Craigslist a few weeks back and although it doens't get used tons, it is so wonderful to have!! I will try to add on some pictures! :)

His legs are so flexible and he sits in the most peculiar positions, they look so uncomfortable to me, but whatever I guess!

Family picture! :)

Helping Mommy fold the laundry!

Yes that is the binky ring holder in his mouth - he'll take whatever he can get! :)

This was when he was jus starting to pull up, I came back upstairs and he was standing there at the ottoman just looking at me like "look at me Mom!! How cool is this!?!"

New Things

2010-08-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Currently I feel like Jonathan is just changing every day! HIs newest things going on are that he has his first tooth finally breaking through! I can actually feel it! So, although ever since four months I have thought he was teething, finally at 8 months we are seeing/feeling something. I just found that two days ago.

Finally last Friday he actually got his arms and feet to all move in a crawling motion, but still doesn't choose that as his mode of transportation, he woudl much rather roll and flop and flip and get himself to wherever he is going, which seems to work well for him!

AND about two weeks ago we were at my mom's and Jonathan was supposed to be taking a nap, but was just fussing instead and UNcle Dan went in to resuce him and found him standing at the railing in the crib. Ever since then he has been a "pulling up" machine! Every opportunity he pulls himself up, in the crib, on the ottoman, couch, chairs, legs, feet, arms, everything he possibly can find, he pulls himself up on. And he takes his falls pretty gracefully too. And on Monday of this week he actually let go and stood there by himself for a few seconds. SOOO, am not sure what all this means, but he seems much more interested in the idea of walking than crawling. And it doesn't matter where they are left, but as soon as JOnathan sees one of Miles' rawhides on the floor, he goes straight towards it! So we are constantly taking those away and I think putting them away and somehow Miles finds another to bring and share with Jonathan.

It was the same day that he pulled himself up that he started saying "dadadadada" and that is now his pretty constant noise! He loves it, and he even likes saying it really high pitched, which is just great to listen to! :) Jeremy of course loved getting to hear him say it. When he started we called Daddy at work and Jonathan said it over the phone! Very special for Daddy! Funny though that he loves it then, but if it's the middle of the night or early morning he doesn't respond. :)

Fun at Grandma's

2010-08-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Jonathan has a walker at Grandma's that he absolutely loves!! He can roll around on the hardwood floor all over the kitchen and can get going really fast sometimes. Thankfully there are little "ledges" going into each of the rooms bordering the kitchen, so he can't get out, although I heard him yesterday trying to make it into the dining room, he would back up, and speed forward to try and get over, but he wasn't very successful. This has caused Grandma to have to remove cookbooks and the like to higher shelves, as the other day JOnathan wanted to help cook, so pulled out her favorite cookbook and ripped a page out. oops. So, now a plastic Noah's Ark toy sits there and he will go right over to it and pull it down to play with. He also tried to open cupboards and can get in drawers, especially Grandma's desk drawers, he has been seen with an ipod from the desk, cruising with a pen in his mouth, and takes Grandma's purse off the chair. So, he is definately figuring this thing out, and loves the freedom. :) These are pictures of him getting into the dishwasher, he reached down and pulled out silverware to suck on - at least he went for the one with chocolate cake batter - a son after my own heart! :)

Time to Play Catch UP

2010-08-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I often get on the computer and go through my list of blogs that I like to read and when I see that they aren't updated I'm disappointed, and then I realize "oh, I also haven't updated in awhile" so, maybe before I expect more out of my friends I should take care of my own first. :)

So, I am going to try and update you on the life with the Payne's in a few short blog entries. And we're hoping the pictures will come through, but no promises, sorry. It has been a busy few weeks. Mainly surrounding the wedding of Kelly and Ashley. THey have been dating for basically forever it seems and finally got married this last Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding and I am so blessed to have another amazing sister-in-law. I am a little sad that they are going to be in California to finish school and then will go wherever the Army takes them,but also know that that is where God has them right now, and we will just have to look forward to visits, and maybe it's a reason for vacation to California!

Along with a wedding means lots of visiting family, which I just had such a blast with the whole time. Both grandmas made it up, and then 3 cousins, two aunts and two uncles, throw in our largeish family as it is, and the uncle and cousin here and we had some large famliy gatherings! I was very grateful to not be working and to get to spend so much time with the famliy. NOthing in particular, just lots of hanging out, some shopping, and lots of cooking. Jonathan was such a trooper the whole time and just got loved on so much, it was so fun to see how much my extended family loved on him. NOw, I have to go back to being his full time mom, since there aren't 10 other sets of arms hanging out at my house all day. :) I am now going to work on getting his sleep schedule back in order, as he wasn't going to bed until 10 or 11 alot of nights, but he made it through really well.

Maybe?

2010-07-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm going to try the pictures again....

Oh, and now I get to share a funny story that just happened. Being around Jonathan all the time I have noticed that his reach is really extending and he will get about anything he wants. Well, Jeremy was eating his cereal and decided to hold Jonathan in his lap, not even 30 seconds on his lap, and Jonathan reached backwards (Jeremy had him turned away from the cereal bowl) and as you can guess, the bowl of rice krispies went all over Jeremy's lap and onto the floor. And yes, now come the benefits of having a dog. Miles is in heaven!! :)

Early Saturday Morning

2010-07-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it is almost 8 on Saturday and I am wide awake. Mind you, I haven't been able to roll myself out of bed every other day this week before 8, despite my alarm going off at 7. However, this wonderful Sat am, my beautiful son decided he was hungry at 5 am, and really didn't think he should go back to sleep, so after trying to lay him ack down, which was successful for about 20 min, we were wide awake by about 6:00. And in that time we have had three outfit changes as well. But, by 7:30 he was ready to go down for his nap. So, here I am am, wide awake, coffee brewed, and laundry started.

This last week has been a better week than the previous, I think we are settled back into our routines, and adjusted to not having grandparents in the house to play and hold Jonathan all the time. :) Which we love, so we will gladly take the time to adjust back.

We were able to spend some time outside this week, which is what I will post pictures of. On monday we jsut went and hung out in our back yard, and then that afternoon went to Uncle Ben's baseball game.

For the last few weeks now, we have been going to the Music in the Park that is downtown. Jonathan really enjoys the music and it is fun to be outside. We went with both sets of grandparents when they were here and since then have been going with my mom and Uncle Ben. We have been getting to spend more time with Uncle Ben this summer as he comes and runs errands with my mom and I, and even this week came with me so that Jonathan could sleep in the car. We have enjoyed the extra time with him. :)

We are still working on solids, still not a favorite, but I'm trying to be more consistent in offering them, but Jonathan does love to put everything else possible in his mouth. Miles is also learning the benefits of Jonathan eating in the high chair, and is never far away, often with his paws pulled up on the chair. The other night Jonathan learned he could stretch out his dirty hand and Miles would lick it off which was great fun for both of them. I am trying to get us to all sit down and eat dinner together at the table, which is fun to be able to have Jonathan sit with us.

He still isn't crawling, but is getting closer every day I think. ON one hand, I'm excited for him to start, and the other I'm ok with him just rolling and scootching for now, because I know once he crawls he will be much harder to contain.

Rice Cereal

2010-07-08T15:09:00.001-07:00

We just had a monumental moment here at our house!! Jonathan ate almost his whole serving of cereal that I made for him. A friend suggested trying with coconut milk and a fruit. So we did - hoping that's all ok for him, but I'm not too concerned. So I mixed the oatmeal stuff with coconut milk and a mango baby food. I didn't make a huge serving, but he ate almost all of it. NOrmally we don't make it past bite #2. He did try to spit it back at me, but quickly remembered not to do that, or he gets flicked. :( So, maybe we can keep going in the right direction here! I would love for him to eat more solids, I think it would help him sleep through the night. He's 18 pounds, no wonder he's waking up to eat, he needs more calories in him I think, so I'm trying my best! :)

A couple recent pictures

2010-07-03T01:14:00.000-07:00

Now that he is sitting up so well I decided it was time to pull out the duck bath tub and how cute is it!?!? He really seemed to love it, and loves playing with his rubber duckies in the bath.

Jonathan loving on mommy - not sure if they're really kisses or him telling me he was ready to eat - but I'll take them either way!

Small Update

2010-06-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a sort of busy and fun last couple of weeks! Currently Jeremy's mom and step dad are visiting and we are really enjoying having them here. Especially Jonathan! Amazing how quickly he can switch into grandparent mode and know that at the slightest whimper someone will be there to pick him up or to play with him! :) THey went on a train trip on Monday and Jeremy worked, so after a whole weekend with them, I had Jonathan to myself and man oh man, he sure thought I shouldn't put him down the entire day!

In other big Jonathan news - we have a sitter! He sits for a few minutes at a time, but then tumbles, but not as hard as when he was first learning. He can't get himself back up sitting, but sure is proud of himself when he is sitting up. He has been very vocal (we don't know who he gets that from :)!) lately! Especially when we reading books, he loves to look at the pictures.

We also did Jonathan's 2nd "run" a week ago, this time 5 miles. IT was the Alaska Women's Run, there was a group of ladies from the church we did it with, as well as my mom's neighbor and good friend. WE did it as a walk, but had a great time!

We continue our company next week when Jeremy's dad and nephew come up. We are looking forward to having them up also! Collin has never been to AK, so it will be fun to do some of the first time Alaskan things.

And, Jonathan's getting to sleep at night seems to be getting better. As crazy as it sounds, it seems that he is just a night owl, I can start bedtime routine with him at 7, and he will then cry until almost 11, or we start at 9, and he will be sound asleep by 9:30/10:00. And is sleeping in until 8:30/9:00. I would love for him to go to bed earlier, but for now, I'm just going to be content with him at least sleeping. He is still waking for one night feeding, but I'm used to that again now, so it isn't so hard on my sleep schedule.

Jeremy and I have also been able to get some time together with Grandma here, we went out for coffee yesterday which was really nice to get outside, and then this morning we woke up early and went to my parents house to watch the US-ALgeria game. (as part of our moeny saving efforts, we got rid of cable for now, so didn't get the ESPN game). But, that was fun to do. Ok, this was going to be a short update, here are pictures, your reward if you made it through this. :)

Yay!

2010-06-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

The pictures did work!

The first obviously just cute, love him sleeping! (for so many reasons!) - cute and I get a bit of time to myself :)

Second pic - entertaining himself waiting to see the Dr., it was during naptime, so he has gotten pretty fussy, but we made it!

Third - he rolled all over the floor and got himself stuck under his carseat - and yes I found it amusing enough to rush and get the camera before saving him!

4th and 5th - one is just cute naked baby pic (obviously) and then learning the finer things in life and learning how to play video games with Dad already ("Oh dear" says Mom) :)

6 Months!!!

2010-06-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Well since I last wrote I have finished working outside the home, but my work is obviously never done. I love being a full time stay at home mom, but man, I am tired at the end of the day, and Jonathan isn't even that old yet and not moving very far on his own. So, I'm sure it will just get busier and busier from here on! It hasn't helped that he is still only sleeping about 7 hours before waking up at night, then will sleep another 3-4 after eating, but that early morning sleep just isn't the same after being woken up.

We have been working on some backyard renovation projects. We (as in my husband and brothers, I'm a good mgr and planner, not do-er) :) tore out most of our back deck and the patio that was laid down with cement pavers last weekend. IT didn't take them long at all to take it out, but then the harder work came in levelling the ground and getting it ready for sod to be laid down. WE dn't have a huge backyard, but I realized that it was really chopped up and would be much more useful, especially for having a little boy, to play in if it were all grass. And decided better to do it this year rather than wait til next, so let the ground take root and start to enjoy now! WE got the sod and laid it down today. I did help with that, thankfully JOnathan has slept through the majority of the project this afternoon, allowing me to help (much to my dissapointment. :) ). I am excited to have the play space!

Jonathan turned 6 months this week, amazing to watch him grow - I think I always say that, but it's true! We did his 6 mo shots this week, and he reacted more strongly this time, and tensed up right before the shots, but it was also in the afternoon during his nap, so that didn't help either. And again, I am thankful to have a wonderful mom to come with me to hold Jonathan during the shots, so I can leave. :) My goal is to stay in there sometime, maybe next time. ;)

He is now 17# and 27" long. He is very healthy and is moving into his 9 mo sized clothing. I can still get him in some of the 6 mo stuff, but am realizing if I don't start putting him in the 9 mo stuff soon, some of it he will outgrow before wearing it !

We are still trying to do the rice cereal, but it has yet to be successful, when I get a spoon of it to his mouth, he "blows raspberries" with his mouth, spraying the cereal everywhere. I try not to laugh at him too much, but it really is hilarious!!!

He is now rolling everywhere, I will leave him in the middle of the living room floor, and he makes it to the kitchen floor, under chairs, wherever he can go. I am sure he will be sitting up soon, and I would guess crawling won't be far after that.

WE are looking forward to having famliy visit in the next couple of weeks, hoping that the goegeous weather we've had so far this year holds up. It was 75-80 degrees here last weekend for Memorial Day, which was amazing!!

hmmmm having issues with pictures, so for now, you just get to read! :)