Life with us.

Bad Blogger!!!

2011-07-26T15:08:00.001-07:00

What a naughty blogger I've been. It's been clear since Halloween when I posted last, the shame! To be honest I sort of forgot about my blog, and blogging altogether. So I finally had a day off today and was looking at everybody else's blog posts from the last few months and thought to myself "I should catch up!" This is my catchup attempt! I am going to try to do better!

After surgery, with her red sore eyes.

Chels had strabismus correction surgery on her eyes on July 22, 2011. She did so good and was a trooper throughout the whole thing. She did lots better then Mom did!!!

Chels got her face painted at Pride Days.

D in a bouncy house at the Blackfoot Pride Days.

Ross Park with Leah and her kids.

Chelsea's second pair of glasses after she saw a pediatric opthamologist.

Ross Park with my friend Bobi and her kids.

Happy 4th of July!!!! 2011

Ross Park with cousins.

First time at the circus. What a fun night!

First swim lessons for Chels. She passed level one and loved it!

Baby Animal Days at the Fairgrounds 2011.

Easter 2011. Cute matching outfits.

A fun day trip to Salt Lake with Leah.

Chelsea's first fish!!!! With the help of Papa.

Getting so big!

Chels got her first pair of glasses in February of 2011.

My gals from Germany came to visit in the last month of December. SO FUN! I miss them tons.

Christmas 2010. Chels and Dean hugging it out.

Boise State game in December with our friends Luke and Leah.

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-11-10T07:28:00.001-08:00

Wow, this year is flying right by. It's sort of like I blinked and all of the sudden it was the holidays, crazy.
Chels picked out a costume at a second hand store clear back in August and I told her that if I bought it for her she had to be that for Halloween. I never thought she would really make it the months until Halloween but she did. She was so excited to be a butterfly! Jake wanted Little D to be a fisherman so we kind of used the money we saved with Chels' second hand costume to buy Little D a fisherman costume. Then he got sick. He had a sour tummy for about 10 days and was really dehydrated and loosing weight so we just put him in his costume for Grandma's houses and he'll probably wear it again next year.
Our cute fisherman. He would not keep the hat on or hold the fishing pole. We'll try again when he's 2!

Chels as a beautiful butterfly.

Jake took the kids to a pumpkin patch while I was working one day so we didn't get any pictures of that. But, I did break out the camera for the carving. Once again Jacob out did us all and turned out something professional looking. Chels drew a face on a pumpkin and I carved it for her. My pumpkin was a flower but I didn't even take a picture of it...it was bad!

Little D with his green pumpkin. Actually I think it was a squash.

Doing the cleaning. Chels tried hard but she was so slow that we ended up finishing it for her.

Pink Poodle in Paris Party!

2010-09-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Chels turned 5 on Sept. 17...I can't believe it! I know everyone says that when their child turns a year older but 5 seems like such a big girl! Whenever anyone asks me how old she is (I had someone ask me if she's 3 on Tuesday, haha) and I say 5 they always ask me "Why isn't she in Kindergarten?" since I usually get asked this when we're out and about in the middle of the day. Well she's not in kindergarten because here in Idaho the cutoff date is Aug. 31 and her birthday is Sept. 17. So next year she'll be an old kindergartener, but someone has to be the old kid in the class right? So we are just enjoying our time together right now. I try to do something fun with her on my days off and she has been doing kindergarten workbooks I bought so she will be all ready when the school year rolls around again. I just can't believe I have to send her off into the big world that soon, it makes me very sad. I'd rather just keep her with me!
Anyways, for her Pink Poodle in Paris Party (she picked the theme herself) we went swimming with all the cousins and then had pizza and cake at Grandma Evans' house. It was lots of fun and she already can't wait her 6th birthday party.
This picture is unrelated but I still threw it in there. She hates these things and doesn't let me put them in very often.

This was my little 5 year old on her actual birthday. She got a Zooble that morning before we headed out and she loves that little thing. I have to admit, it is pretty cute.

In her dress that Grandma Davies got her on the day of her party.

Opening presents after swimming. She got lots of fun toys. This is the supermarket that her friend Annika from CA had. She has wanted it forever!

Blowing out candles. I have better pictures of the cake and some of swimming on my mom's camera. I'll have to get them and make another post. I tried really hard with the cake but the poodle and the Eifel Tower were falling off. Oops!

FUN to be ONE!

2010-08-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Is there anything sweeter then a first birthday? Probably lots of things, but Little D's first birthday yesterday was pretty sweet. We were going to have his party at the playground behind our house but we had to switch it to my mom's house at the last minute because of inclement weather. All of his cousins on my side were there and Jake's parents also came. My brother's and Dad couldn't get away from the grain harvest that early in the evening so they weren't able to make it, but it's OK and totally understandable. We had cake and opened presents. Pretty low key but it was still fun. The perfect way to spend his first birthday. I'm just going to say, like all parents usually do, that I can't believe a year has gone by since he was born. It just doesn't seem like he's been around for that long. I'm so glad we have our little Buddy in our lives. He's so sweet and cuddly. He is a total mama's boy and I love it. He has put us through some tough days during this first year but I wouldn't trade him, or the time we've had, for anything. We love him SO much!!!
We got him a balloon bouquet but he wasn't too sure about that. As soon as we took it apart and gave him the football balloon he was happy. The whole bouquet was just too scary!

Can you tell what his theme was? Jake was beaming with pride. His future quarterback.

Buddy got tons of awesome present from everyone. Thanks for all of those who came, it was so fun.

He couldn't decide what to play with first!

And of course, eating his cake. I can't say this is the first time he had cake but it's the first time we just gave him a piece and let him go at it. He loved it!!!

It was weird to see him dig in and enjoy it. Chels wanted nothing to do with her cake on her first birthday, it was too messy for her. But little D loved it.

Such a cute picture I caught. This is the car Grandma Evans got him. He has already gotten on and off it probably 100 times. Jake and his dad put it together and gave him his first ride.

On the Move!

2010-08-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

Soooo, just like his sister before him, Little D started walking about 10 days-1 week before his birthday. What a little stinker. But unlike Chels he's still very cautious. She just took off and never looked back no matter how many times she fell. D will walk a little and then sit down cause he gets scared. He's so sweet. And I included some pictures of his new favorite trick, which sister helps him out with. She opens his closet and he climbs in and throws all his clothes out, uggghhh!

Ear tubes for little D.

2010-07-24T08:43:00.001-07:00

What a looooong morning we had on July 21. After poor Little has suffered through ear infection after ear infection since he was 5 months old he finally got tubes placed in his eardrums. It was by no means a serious or complicated surgery and I'm so thankful for that. It was sad to see our little guy all doped up and to have to watch the Dr. carry him off to some unknown place that we weren't allowed to go. I can't imagine having a baby with health problems and sending them off for major surgery where you don't know the outcome. I am truely thankful that my children are healthy.

We had to be at EIRMC in Idaho Falls at 5:45 am (I didn't know this time existed!). They admitted our little guy and got his vitals and things like that. After 2 or 3 more nurses came in to do their parts and ask their questions D had had it. And he fell asleep. The anesthesiologist came in to describe how they'd be putting him under and to ask if we thought he'd have separation problems when it was time to take him and I said "yes" because he's such a mama's boy, hehe. So they brought in some meds for him and we had to wake him up. We gave him the medicine and started to walk down to pre-op. During this 3 minute walk his head started bobbing, the meds were taking effect....so sad! I hated to see my little buddy like this. His eyes and head were rolling around and his body was totally limp. SCARY! The Dr. came to pre-op and talked to us. Then the anethesiologist came and took him. We walked down the hall behind him watching him take our baby and this is when the tears came. I knew he'd be fine, and I knew we'd see him again in less then an hour but this was still one of the hardest things I've done. He was just looking back at me with those droopy eyes and I wanted to run up and grab him and say "never mind! we don't want the tubes!!!" and take him home. But the Dr. turned to go to surgery and we had to walk on to the waiting room. The LONGEST 45 minutes ever!!! The Dr. came in to talk to us after about 30 and said things went perfectly and gave us instructions for afterwards and later that day. I guess while we were in the room talking to the Dr. they paged us to come to recovery so we didn't hear it. They called Jake's cell and we left the waiting room. As soon as I opened the door I could hear D crying. So we walked faster. Poor little guy was scared to death with two nurses he'd never seen before, and he was starving (we weren't allowed to feed him after midnight). We fed him a bottle and he downed it so fast and then was mad that is was gone. He cried for about an hour straight while the nurse kept coming in to monitor him and was doing his check-out papers. We could tell he didn't feel right and this was making him mad. He wouldn't really open his eyes and he didn't even stop crying when we'd walk around with him. He was just mad! As soon as we got in the car he feel asleep. We were out of there by 9 am. We came home and he slept until noon...and so did we! Overall it wasn't bad and I'm hoping this will help him. We haven't noticed much of a difference yet. He still has his cranky times and he still pulls at his ears a lot. I'm hoping that after they heal he'll be more comfortable and happy!
Before surgery when we were doing tons of vitals and waiting.

Such a tired boy with his bear the hospital gave him.

Looking a little out of it after they gave him his medicine in pre-op.

Finally eating afterwards, he was starving!!!!

We love our little D so much and we feel bad he had to go through this. But, if it helps it will all be worth it.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

2010-07-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Have you seen any of these Mormon Messages? I'm sure all of you have. I've been meaning to post one of them because I love them all but when I saw this one I just HAD to post it today! So thanks ML for sharing it. It made me feel uplifted and hopeful. So all you mothers, just take 3 minutes and watch it, I promise you won't regret it.

Lots of Firsts!

2010-06-23T20:36:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post since I haven't posted forever and because today was a big day for little D. Today he figured out how to sit up from a laying down position, crawl, and pull himself up to standing. HOLY COW! I can't believe it. We have waited so long for him to any of the above and then today he does everything, it was amazing! I haven't witnessed him pulling himself up but Jacob and Kirsten (his grandma Davies) both did. His crawling is still slow but he can definitely do it and he crawled all over this evening just looking at everything from his new perspective, so cute! I am just realizing we might need to change our whole night-time routine. We've always just layed him on the floor and he falls asleep but right now it's 10:00 and everytime I lay him down he just flips over and sits back up, hmmm.

We also got his ears checked yesterday since his pediatrician thought we should tubes and they looked great (which I suspected since he's slept through the night for two nights in a row now). So she's giving him one more chance. One more ear infection and we're off to the Ear Nose and Throat Dr. for our consultaion. Hopefully since it's summer time now he won't get sick anymore, hopefully.

In this picture I was trying to get a shot of his two little baby teeth on the bottom. Of course he eluded me. But it's cute so I posted it anyways.

He loves to kneel up next to things and play, he'll sit in this position forever.

This was how I tested him tonight to see if he really could crawl. I put the number two forbidden object on the floor (number one being the cell phones) and sure enough he crawled right over to them. What a rascal!

In other news Leah and I took a mom's only (plus baby Stella) trip to Salt Lake City. We planned on taking pictures everywhere we went but we only ended up with one picture at PF Changs. We also went to IKEA, the Cheesecake Factory, the Fashion Place and Layton Hills malls, and we stayed in the Hilton in downtown SLC. It was so much fun and is now going to be an annual or semi-annual event!!!

This last weekend we had our Landon Family Reunion at Cherry Hill. Once again I didn't take as many pictures as I planned on taking but here are a couple. Chels loved it and talks about "Cherry Mountain" everyday.

She thinks she can swim now that I bought her this little floating donut. She's so funny.

First (of many) haircuts

2010-05-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post here. We cut D's hair for the first time last night. What a difference it makes! He looks like a big boy now, even though I know he's not. He's such a cutie.

This is how he feel asleep one night. This does not happen often. It was a once in a blue moon thing.

MAMAMAMA

2010-05-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Little D is getting so big. He nows babbles Mama over and over and over again. It's still a debate over if he really knows what it means or not. But I can tell you that he definitely knows it gets him attention. He also says it in the middle of the night when he wakes up. Then Jake tells me "He wants his Mama", nice cop out right!

Little D also just got his first tooth. He's been working on it for a couple weeks now and yesterday I noticed that it had finally broken through. He's been a pretty good little trooper. When he first got the bump he was fussy but he either got used to or it stopped bothering him because he's been a happy little camper lately.

Poor sick baby.

2010-05-04T20:12:00.001-07:00

What a crazy last couple weeks! D has been sick for a good 10 days now. It started with an ear infection and ended with RSV. He has been suprisingly happy through everything though. We've had some long nights but after he would wake up and eat he'd go back to sleep so that was good. He's such a stinkin' cutie and we love him so much. Chels is a wonderful big sister. She entertains him while I'm showering and she cleans up his toys and takes his diapers out for him. I have to admit I have some pretty amazing kids, and I love them. We're very blessed.

D loves his walker. He can make it go pretty much anywhere, with teeny tiny steps.

We are still giving him albuterol treatments with a nebulizer (sp?). He's still very weezy but we've been taking him in to get his oxygen levels checked and he's back up to 97 so that is very good. We'll just keep giving him his treatments and hopefully he'll be back to health soon!

One day, while I was at work, D fell asleep like this. Jake quickly took his picture. So cute.

Our kids have many Care Bears. D's was given to him for Christmas and it fits him perfectly, Grumpy Bear, haha.

Easter 2010

2010-04-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

Chels had had it by the end of the day, so she was throwing a fit about something. I was able to get a sort of smile out of her.

She loved her Easter dress, and so did I! It all came together so perfectly. Thanks to Grandma Davies for getting the yellow shoes to complete the outfit!

Little D playing in the saucer, he loves that thing.

The kids watching the babies do their egg hunt. They were trying to be so patient.

Dying eggs the night before after we went swimming for Luke's birthday. That was a lot of fun.

Sorry for the lack of posts, or any internet activity at all (facebook, emails, blog comments). We have not subscribed to the internet yet in our new place, and I don't know if we will. I need to take some pics of our apartment and post them though. We quite like it. It's 3 bedrooms and we have all new carpets and flooring. It's small, but it's enough for us. I am currently "borrowing" ineternet from someone in our neighborhood. It's a weak connection that's never been available before so I'm trying to hurry because I suspect that it will disappear at any moment! So anyways, here's some pics from Easter.

Cabin trip and other happenings.

2010-02-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

We were finally able to attend my family's yearly get-away to the cabin! We have never been before since we've always been gone but this year we went and had lots of fun. The cabin we rented this year was in Ashton and it was so beautiful. It makes me remember why I always claim that winter in my favorite season. The cabin was soooo nice. Jake really, really liked it and vowed to someday own a house identical to it. Most of the weekend was spent sledding down the big hill in the backyard. It was really fun. We would all sled down and then someone would stay at the top to come down and give us all a ride back up with the snowmobile. That's the best kind of sledding!!!
The drive up to the cabin. So pretty!

The cabin with my dad out front.

One evening Jake got the laptop out meaning to teach my nephews Jake and Braxton this hunting game. He didn't know that all the kids would love it! They each took turns picking which animal to hunt and then shooting it.

The Sunday while we were there was Valentine's Day so my mom made this nice dinner and had the kids all be "servers" and take our orders and serve the food to us. It was really cute. They even made us invitations the night before and hid them under our pillows. Chels loved it, and then she feel asleep right before the dinner so she missed serving us, hehe.

The view of the Tetons out the front window. Is it any question why Jake loved this place?!?!

My dad holding D and Kaymn.

D and Kaymn playing. They are the closest in age, maybe they'll be good friends someday.

Jake just chillin'. Being out of the Air Force has been good to him :)

Playing Pictionary Man, that game is a lot harder then you would think!

I would have to hold the sled while the rider climbed in. Only once did I let the sled fall over the back and it was when my brother Doug was climbing in. He fell, but I got smushed!

Me and Chels watching the sledders. Chels did not love it like I thought she would. It scared her to be in the sled and she didn't like walking in the deep snow. She'll probably move back to CA when she's older!

My mom did a birthday dinner for me and my nephew Jake. So this is us singing Happy Birthday.

In baby D news. He is now almost sitting up. He only tips over if he gets excited about something and forgets what he's doing. He'll be 6 months on Sunday, crazy! We tried to switch him to regular milk based formula this last weekend since his pediatrician told us to try it around 6 months. So I mixed milk based formula with his normal soy based stuff. Huge mistake! He was so fussy and uncomfortable. It reminded me of when he was 6 weeks old all over agian. He kept squirming and arching his back and just crying and crying. I called his Dr. yesterday evening and told her what was going on and she told me to go back to soy based. So I will be going to the store today to buy that! Poor kid, I guess he hasn't grow out of his milk allergy yet.

Chels is having a blast being at Grandma Davies house everday with the daycare kids. Even on the days she doesn't have to go she asks if we can go to Grandma Davies' house. She can now write her whole name (not just Chels anymore). She is such a good kid. She can be really whiney lately though and I know it's because she is getting spoild rotten by Grandmas. We'll have to figure out how to mellow her out.

Jake is doing really well in school. He keeps stressing about all his tests but then he comes home with a 93% on it, makes me sick how smart he is. He finally got his hunting license last weekend so I have a feeling I will never see him on a Saturday again. But, it makes him happy so whatever!

I'm still working my two jobs. I like dressing up and being professional one day and then throwing my hair in a ponytail and having fun at Winger's the next. It's a nice variation. I'm having major issues with feeling guilty that I'm not with my kids all day everyday but I just keep reminding myself that this is what my family needs right now. I was feeling really run down and wiped out but I thought it was just because I'm working two jobs. Come to find out I'm still low on iron like I was when I was preggo so I started taking Prenatals and iron supplements again and I'm starting to feel a lot better, phew!

Well this turned into a novel! Can you tell D is napping, haha.

Quarter of a Century

2010-02-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

That's right, I am now 25 years old. It seems sort of weird. I suppose I am now closer to 30 then 20, but oh well! I'm looking forward to what the next 5 years will bring. Who knows where we'll be living or what we'll be doing!
D-man just chilling out. I love this little shirt!

I cut Chels' hair about a week ago. It's a little shorter then I meant for it to be, but it's cute. And so much easier to manage!

Me and Chels on my birthday (Feb. 1). I actually had the day off from both my jobs (which was strange because I didn't even request it off). It was an awesome day. I went and spent time with my bestest friend Leah and had lunch with her. Then that evening we just hung around the house. It was a great day!

We had this balloon floating around and the baby thought it was hilarious when you'd bump it around. He laughed and laughed. I got a video of it. Maybe I'll try downloading it someday.

D loves his blankie. More specifically, his soft football blankie.

One late afternoon Jacob and I were sitting around and he asked me "where's Chels?" I realized I hadn't heard from her in a while so I went looking. She had crawled under the table and fallen asleep like this. What a silly kid.

Another view.

Catching Up

2010-01-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

Days are passing by so quickly! Today Little D is 5 months old. I can't believe that it's almost been a half of a year since he joined our family. It doesn't seem like that long. He has now perfected the art of rolling from his belly to his back and he can sit up by himself for a few seconds before he topples over. His head is getting bigger and bigger everyday, haha, just like his sister's did! But we don't care, he is still the cutest thing ever.

I am still working at Wingers and next week I'm also starting a part time job at Key Bank (as long as I pass the background check). Having two part time jobs is going to kick my butt but it will all be worth it. Jake is doing well in school so far. His Precalculus class is giving him a hard time but he is so smart that I know he'll be fine.

I'm getting the question, "How do like being back in Idaho" a lot lately. I guess my answer is, it's OK. It's weird to go to town and see people I actually know. I've realized I have a lot of fair-weathered friends also. People who used to always tell me how exciting it would be when I finally moved back but now I never hear from them. It's weird having actual friends and family around again, I always feel stressed that I need to make everyone happy, but on the other hand they don't give me the time of day when I do see them. I hate constantly wondering "did I do something to hurt their feelings?!?!" or "why is she mad at me?!?!" Sometimes I miss it just being me and Jake and the kids. This new life will just take some getting used to, and maybe I shouldn't expect so much from "friends". Anyways that's my rant for the month :)

Catching one of his half grins.

We had a sleep-over with the older girl cousins. I hope they all had fun. Grandma had to buy them all matching jammies and then we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which is actually a really funny and cute movie!

Looking so cute on his tummy.

Chels got really sick again last week. She was throwing up all night and then she developed a horrible cough. Luckily she is back on the mend. This picture was while she was sick, her cheeks are all rosy. Now Little D has a cough, I hope it doesn't turn into anything more.

All ready for church a couple weeks ago.

2010

2010-01-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we're already 9 days into January and I've never made a Christmas post, oops. Time seems to sneek right by me these days. Christmas was wonderful. It was so fun to see all our family during the Holidays and be able to attend all the Christmas parties instead of just having to hear about them over the phone. I was a very naughty Mama this year and I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. I didn't even get a picture of Chels in her Christmas dress, ugh!

Christmas morning. Chels crawled into bed with me and I told her we should go upstairs to see if Santa had come and she told me, "no it's not Christmas yet". I don't know what age the real excitement will finally begin!

Marriner with my dad. He just liked crinkling the wrapping paper.

Opening presents.

Jake and I both got books.

And the best gift of all came from my mom. She got Jake a new freezer mug after his broke a couple year ago.

Spoon Feeding

2009-12-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

Our little man is getting so...hungry! He's not chunky whatsoever, his legs are still skinny little chicken bones. His cheeks are chubby, but that is a family trait among my nieces and nephews. But poor little guy is always starving. He is now drinking 6 oz bottles every 3 hours, give or take a 1/2 hour. He is also waking up in the middle of the night again and when he does I can hear his little tummy growling. So I gave in. I bought him some cereal and baby food. He'll be 4 months in 2 weeks so I figured, he's close enough! The first night we gave him cereal and we filmed it and took tons of pictures but when I put my card in to the computer to look at them they somehow all got deleted :( So these pictures are from night 2 of spoon feeding. This time he got squash and he actually seemed to enjoy it a lot better. And the best news of all...he slept straight through until 4:30 this morning!!!!!!
Yummy squash (not really, I tasted it).

I also had taken tons of cute pictures of Mister smiling and even one video with some giggles. But, you guessed it, they all got deleted too, I have no idea what I did! So this is all I could get out of him last night and since I was the one doing the entertaining and the picture taking it turned out a little scary...but still cute! Look at those cheekers!!!

December again

2009-12-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

GAH! I am so behind on my blog. So let's catch up:

A couple weeks ago Marriner got really sick with the stomach flu. Poor little guy was sick for a week straight. He would throw up after every bottle. We eventually switched him to Pedialyte but he hated that stuff. It was a hard week and I am so thankful that he is well again. I was really scared for a couple days that his Pediatrician would admit him to hospital for dehydration since he couldn't keep anything down. Luckily it never got to that point! He is back to his normal self again. He's getting so big. He's almost 4 months now. We have been able to get some giggles out of him and they are so cute. He has the funniest laugh. I will try my hardest to catch it on video.

Right when the baby started feeling better Jake and I got sick. Ours only lasted a couple days and it just happened to be on the weekend so we were able to stay home and rest. What a nasty flu bug! Chels never got sick, and I hope she continues to be healthy.

Dec. 8 was Jake's birthday. I am a horrible wife and I didn't take any pictures of him. We had a big family dinner and celebrated all 4 birthdays that occur in December. On the night of his birthday we went to El Mirador, his favorite Mexican restaurant. I also got him the new Dan Brown book but he is sneeky and he found it before his birthday. Last night we went out to eat with his family to Johnny Carinos after he got off work. He says he feels old, but he's only 26.

We went to the ward Christmas party this morning. Chels has now talked to Santa 3 times. The first time she saw him she told him she wanted a moving kitty (one of the Fur Real ones). The other two times she has seen him she told him she wants Puppy in my Pocket with a house. She might have to get Puppy in my Pocket after Christmas with money she gets from Great Grandma Evans because the first, official order to Santa was for a moving kitty ;)

Chels and Marriner with Santa at the ward Christmas Party.

Making sugar cookies for the Relief Society Cookie Exchange. Chels had to make her own plate to take. OOPS, mom "forgot" to bring them...

Isn't this the cutest little face you've ever seen? The baby looks pretty cute too.

Name that baby.

2009-11-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

Can you tell who this is? My Mom's computer is set to cycle through her pictures for the screen saver and this picture popped up. I was surprised to see how much Marriner looks like Chels when she was a baby. I swear they are the same child, except Chels was a lot happier. I think she was a couple months older then he is right now in this picture though. We didn't come to my parent's house until Jake was deployed after Christmas so she was at least 4 months old here. Sometime in the middle of the night when I'm feeding Mister I have flashbacks of feeding Chels since their looks are so similar. Maybe I'm hallucinating from the sleep deprivation, or maybe I'm going crazy but I seriously always call Marriner a "her" or a "she" in the middle of the night, hehe.

First Snow!

2009-11-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

I bought this shirt when I first found out Marriner was going to be a boy and now he finally fits into it, yay!
Chels usually has to take a picture by herself whenever I get the camera out. This was the one she took of the baby.
On Saturday morning it snowed! I woke up to feed Marriner at about 5:00 and then while he was laying on the floor I dosed back to sleep. Then Jake got up to go to work at 7:00 and woke me up so I could look outside. I was so surprised to see snow!!!

Chels LOVED it! She was begging me to go outside from the minute she looked out the window. When we finally bundled her up as well as we could (we have no snow clothes for any of us!) she ran right outside and scooped up a big handful. She shockingly exclaimed "It's COLD!" haha. This was the first time she had ever played in snow. She's seen it before but only during those early fall snowstorms while we were visiting. There has never been enough to actully go play in. I don't think she had any clue that snow was cold and wet. She still had fun though after the initial shock wore off. She played until her litte nose was running and her hands hurt. Then we made her come inside. She was right back at it later in the afternoon though!

Halloween 2009 & 2 month shots

2009-11-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

Little Marriner went to his 2 month check up yesterday. And let's just say...it didn't go well! True to our little man's form, he was MAD! From the moment I layed him on the table to take off his clothes he cried and cried. And not that cute little newborn cry, he screamed! The nurse and the Dr. didn't know quite what to think of him. All they said were things like "colicky babies are hard" and "his face gets really red when he cries" or my favorite "he has quite a temper" haha, that's my guy! He weighed 10 lbs and 11 oz so that put him in the 25th percentile for weight. He was in between the 25 and 50th percentile for height at 22 1/2 inches and his head was in the 50th percentile (big surprise, my kids have big heads!). Then it came time for shots, watch out!!! He was sooo mad. And I felt like an awful mother because I had to rush off to work right afterwards so I left him with my mom. Chels always took her shots like a champ. She would cry during the actual pokes but by the time we would leave the Dr.'s office she was usually sleeping soundly in her carseat. Not Marriner! He has let us know that he did not like his shots ever since yesterday. He is especially fussy. Last night he woke up every 2 hours. He won't sleep or eat today. Poor little guy. I'm hoping he feels better by tomorrow! Even though he can try our patience like no other, we still love him to pieces. He finally is giving us smiles, and somehow in those seconds, it makes all the stress and crying spells worth it!

Now for Halloween. Chels was a puppy of course. Her Grandma Davies made her costume and it was so cute. She even had 3 different pairs of ears she could snap onto the hood. Marriner was nothing really. We had lots of cute ideas (Jake wanted him to be a member of the Lollipop guild from Wizard of Oz) but none of them came to pass. He did get a little Frenchman's mustache drawn on him while we were painting Chels' face though.

Bonjour!!!

Our baby boy and baby puppy.
I've been waiting for so long to actually live in Idaho and be able to celebrate holidays with our family! This is my niece Kaymn, aka the cutest little ghost ever!

Chels and Kodie playing marbleworks. My mom had a pizza party after everyone's Trunk-or-Treats so we could all see the costumes.

My sister-in-law showed all us mom's up and dressed up. This is her little girl Abby.

Chels with my brother Gary's kids. Emalee, Jake, Landon, and Megan.

Marbleworks and so much more...

2009-10-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

First of all, my sister in law Julie is now a consultant for Discovery Toys. So if you're looking for some fun educational toys for Christmas and you're tired of buying the same old Disney Princess junk from Walmart, then this is your perfect solution!!! Go check out her website:
http://discoverytoyslink.com/julievans
Discovery Toys makes the Marbleworks toys, they have always been one of my favorites since I was little. They also have toys for infants as well as older kids.

I finally figured out how to disable the pop-up blocker on my Mom's computer, yay! These last couple weeks have been busy. My family finished sugar beet harvest yesterday, so that is a huge relief to everyone. Jake and I both got jobs this last week. Jake's job is only through December which is perfect since he's starting school in January. He will be assembling the generators in those giant windmills that they use to harvest wind energy. I got a part-time job waitressing at Winger's but I'm still looking for something full-time, hopefully with some benefits. Jake got some great news about his college credits. His associate degree will transfer so he will be finishing up a few classes and starting on his physics classes this first semester. It should take him about 3-4 years to finish the physics program, which seems forever away but so did the year 2009 when we first started in the Air Force! So anyways, things are going good. We are excited about our future!!!

My handsome boys and beautiful baby puppy all ready for church last week.

Marriner resting peacefully in his carseat.

Chels sleeping in her carseat. What can I say...the car is like a tranquilizer for my children. This was actually while she had the swine flu so she slept a LOT.

Made it to Idaho!

2009-10-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Idaho, we are officially Idahoans again and it feels wonderful. We have actually been here for about a week now. Things have been really busy between seeing family, trying to help in harvest, Jacob's fishing obsession and everything else.

Chelsea came down with something last Thursday and she just kept getting worse and worse so I took her to the Dr.'s and it turns out it was the dreaded Swine Flu, yuck! So now we have all had it, except for Marriner. I'm hoping and praying he doesn't get it since he's still so little. I'm worried that if he does come down with it they will hospitalize him because he's too young to take any medicine. So everyone keep your fingers crossed that he will hold strong!

I was going to post some pictures but my mom's computer won't allow ANY pop-ups. I've tried to disable the pop-up blocker but it's too strict. I guess her computer is just ultra-secure! But I just wanted to let everyone know we made it, and we are happy.

Busy Week!

2009-10-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to start this post with a little update on Mr. Mister. He is doing a little better, yay! I think the soy formula we put him on is helping. He still cries sometimes, but only about once or twice a day now instead of after every bottle. I can feel my nerves starting to come back and I don't feel so frazzled anymore. Even when he's crying and keeping me up at night though, he is still the cutest little guy. He makes this one face that cracks me up. It's sort of a Zoolander-ish look complete with puckered lips. I have yet to capture it with the camera, but I'm trying. I am so thankful for him in our home and our life. Somedays I can't believe I have two healthy, beautiful children. I am so blessed!

Mr. in his baby Naartjie outfit, so adorable!!!
A smile that I caught while he was sleeping. We have yet to see a real, meaningful toothless smile. I can't wait!!!

Sleeping so cute.

This week was the BIG week. We packed up all our stuff on Monday and the movers came on Tuesday. I can't believe this week has finally arrived. For the past 5 years we have been waiting for Jake's enlistment to be done. The Air Force has been good for us though. I really believe that we have a stronger marriage then we would have had if we had just lived in Idaho by our family. Being apart and fending for ourselves has taught us independence. We seriously struggled with this decision when the time actually came. We had been wanting to get out of the Air Force ever since we got married but when it was time to make the final decision it was tough. It basically came down to what was most important to us and that was family. We have missed so much and we don't want to miss anything else. Another huge factor in our decision was that Jake hated going to work everyday. I didn't want him to have to hate getting up each and every day of his life. So we decided to separate. I hope it's the right move for us. Wish us luck!!!

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes. I didn't ever think we had very much stuff until we started packing it!

It was sad to leave our house, we really liked it.

It's sort of akward to have men in your house packing all your stuff. We just kind of sat there and watched and tried to stay out of the way.

This is what the baby did the whole time. My back was breaking by the end of Tuesday!

The semi they brought to load our stuff was HUGE!

And now we are settled in TLF (temporary living facility). It's so nice to be signed out of our house. That was a huge stress, and you can tell by the pimples all over my face! Chels calls it the "little house" even though it's bigger then our real house was. It's 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It's nice and we're enjoying hotel life!

Pine Canyon Fire

2009-10-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesdays are usually pretty boring right? It's right in the middle of the week, nothing much happening. Well yesterday was certainly not boring around here! Around noon I started hearing lots of sirens, both police and fire. Chels kept telling me that someone forgot to "poof out there fire with water" (don't you just love 4 year old lingo?) and that she could smell fire. Then Jake called me and asked me if I had heard about the fire. I told him no but I'd heard sirens. He said it was pretty bad and asked me if it was smokey here and I said no. I didn't think much about it because I couldn't see any smoke and things seemed pretty calm around here.

I was standing at my kitchen sink washing dishes a little later and I could see my neighbor in the street taking pictures behind our houses. I thought this was odd so I walked out into the backyard and then I saw it. This huge billowing cloud of smoke, and it wasn't far away at all! It was so scary looking.

Jake called again a little later and told me that the fire was near the front gate, only about one mile away from our house. He told me if it started getting too smokey to go ahead and leave because he didn't want the baby breathing in a whole bunch of smoke. I told him I didn't want to go anywhere in case they evacuated housing while I was gone and then I couldn't get back to our house to get stuff. So we waited it out. The power went off and was off for the rest of the day. Airplanes and helicopters started flying over dumping water and fire retardant on the flames. It was pretty intense. I was scared that they were going to evacuate us. I didn't even know where I would go.

We went into Lompoc that evening, just me and the kids since Jake had to stay at work, to get some dinner. I was wishing I had taken my camera because while driving into town we were so incredibly close that I could see flames. The helicopters were still dumping water and the horizon had an orange glow. Then as we drove a little further I was wishing I hadn't left the house at all because it was so smokey it was difficult to breathe and I felt bad for the kids. Chels started coughing and then I felt like a horrible mother for taking her out!

The power came back on late last night and it has only gone off once more, but it was in the middle of the night. I was able to watch the news last night and they said they fire had burned 300 acres so far and it was 50% contained. I guess it was started by a snapped power line or a transformer that had blown or something. It was looking like they had it pretty much put out this morning but this afternoon I've started seeing huge clouds of smoke again and the airplanes have returned with the fire retardant. I hope it doesn't get any worse. I really don't want to evacuate my home!

Jake has been at work the whole time except for a few hours last night when he came home to sleep. I'm really stressed because I was counting on his help these last few days with getting everything ready to move. Oh well, I'll just have to make due without him.

I did manage to get a few pictures when the fire first started in the afternoon...

The scary big smoke cloud.
You can see 2 airplanes in this picture if you look closely.

A better picture of the airplane.

Just something kind of cute out of all this. Chels keeps asking me why they don't just pour water on the fire like the Care Bears. Apparently she has seen an episode of Care Bears where they put out a fire, she's so funny.

At wit's end...almost.

2009-09-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

I have SO much to do in preparation for our move! The movers come on Monday and I have not done anything. But instead of busily getting ready I am sitting here on the couch rocking Marriner in his carseat with my foot. He likes constant movement. And this is way I'm almost at my wit's end! My baby is a stinker, he's a cute little stinker, but he's a stinker none the less! Don't get me wrong, I love him to pieces. I couldn't be happier to have a baby boy in our house, I just wish I knew what to do for him to make him happy. The poor little guy cries constantly. And it's not a little whine that you could possibly put him down and let him cry out. It's a scream! He gets all red and gets himself so worked up that he has even quit breathing a couple times when I've tried the cry it out technique (only after hours of crying). We've tried swaddling, we've tried mylicon and gripe water, we have just recently switched to lactose and milk free formula, it hasn't helped yet but I'm giving it another week in hopes that it will. We bought a swing since he's such a fan of movement, but $60 later all we had was a very fancy play swing for Chels' stuffed animals. He hated it and would cry everytime we turned it on, so it got returned. I know the crying is mostly due to his tummy aches. After we feed him he immediately starts crying and if you put your ear next to his tummy you can just hear it grumbling and churning. I feel so bad for him but I don't know what to do for him.
My mom always talks about when her 2nd child was a baby and how he would cry and cry. I'm starting to think that maybe it somehow got passed on to me. If that is even possible.
I've tried to look at the good side of the situation. Marriner is definitely teaching all of us patience! I mean how can you really be mad at a baby? So we are forced to be patient with him. Even Chels gets usually gets frazzled by the end of the day but we are trying to teach her patience as well. Another good thing about him crying is that I don't get to eat much which has made me lose weight more quickly then I would have otherwise. I'm still not skinny by any means but I only have about 10 lbs to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. And that's all I've come up with, two good sides of his crying.
I get so jealous when I look at other babies whether in person or on blogs. I know I'm not seeing them at their worst but they seem so happy. I just wish we had a happy little guy, I wish I knew how to make him happy.
I know he'll grow out of it eventually, and that I'll hardly remember these days. I still love him so much. We haven't been able to get a smile out of him yet but I'm excited for that day.
I'm just hoping and praying that somehow all of the things I need to do in the next week will get done and that everything will work out. Wish me luck!!!

Mister Mister

2009-09-23T11:04:00.001-07:00

Out of all this name confusion, a nickname has imerged. Somewhere along the way I started calling him Mister and it sort of stuck. Chels even calls him that sometimes. So that is what I end up calling him 90% of the time. It's cute and it fits him. It goes with most things I say to him like "Why are you crying Mister?" or "Oh Mister, what's wrong???" and even "Mister! You have a stinky bum!!!" Jake uses it too. Maybe it's our way of avoiding the name subject! Mister is definitely better then the nickname Jake gave him...Poo-nuts...I think you can imagine the diaper changing incident where this nickname came from!

Football pose again, this time in his swing.

Jake likes to sit him up and see how long it takes him to fall.

First full Sunday at church. We even combed his hair in the missionary combover.
After church. This was Chels' birthday dress but she wouldn't let me take a picture of it. It had little Scottie puppies on the bottom. Puppies...what a surprise!

Chels actually holding still and smiling for the camera.

Chelsea's 4th Birthday!

2009-09-18T13:29:00.001-07:00

Chels turned 4 yesterday. We had been telling her that her birthday was coming for so long that I think she stopped believing us. But yesterday morning when she came into my bedroom the first thing she said was "Is it my birthday today?" I told her yes and she got a huge smile on her face. She's been telling me all day today that she is 4 now. We didn't do anything big for her special day but I hope she still had fun. We are planning to do a birthday party for her when we get to Idaho in 3 weeks. Then we can invite her cousins and fun will be had by all!

To start off her birthday we took her to get her immunizations. I know we are mean, cruel parents. These are the shots she will need to start school so we decided to just get them done as soon as possible and while we still have health insurance. I figured her birthday was a good day to take her because then I could bring her home and we could give her the presents and she'd forget all about the shots, and my plan worked! I think she was actually proud of her war wounds by the end of the day. Getting her into the clinic was a joke though. She watched some cartoon a few weeks ago where they talked about getting shots and so she was scared to death. I had to literally carry her kicking and screaming into the building. I also had to hold her down for all 4 shots. She is one strong little 4 year old! It definitely gave me a work out. I felt bad for inflicting this sort of fear and pain on my little girl but I know it's for her own good.

Chels showing off her band-aids.

Opening her presents. She had wished for a blue puppy, this is what I found. It's a baby toy but oh well!
Her Grandma Davies sent her tons of fun stuff to draw with and color with and paint with, hours of fun!

She also got a doggy purse which she has been carrying around ever since she opened it.

This is the kind of ugly cake that results from taking your child to the store and letting her pick out her own cake. She woke up on her birthday telling me she had a birthday dream and in this dream she had a balloon cake. Well guess what happened to be at Foodco, a balloon cake! She was so happy!!!

She also HAD to have the "Happy Birthday" candles.

Then she tasted the cake and wasn't so happy anymore. She hated it, haha, oh well. I think she was expecting that uber sugary frosting that comes from store bought cakes. This frosting was actually just cool whip, which was fine with me! I hate that store bought frosting!

After cake and presents and all the celebrating. Doesn't Marriner looked thrilled, haha. My lips are stained from that frosting.

At the end of the day I think she enjoyed herself, I hope she did. We let her make all the decisions for our little party and for most of the day. We went and ate lunch with Papa at his work, which is one of her most favorite things to do. We went to the playground in the afternoon and Jake took her to get an Icee after he got off work. We also let her eat way too many sweets. But that's what birthdays are for, right?!?!

Some everday stuff...

2009-09-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

This past week has flown by! Actually both weeks since the baby was born have flown by. I'm hoping the time continues to go by quickly until we move. Our move date is now only 3 weeks and 4 days away, I can't believe it! It's crazy to think back to 6 years ago when 2009 seemed an eternity away and when I thought the day that we got out of the Air Force would never come. It's bittersweet really. We have had a good life being part of the military. They have taken care of us and now it's time to go out into the real world, but I think we're up for the task. It will be very exciting!!!

Since the baby was born there has been so much confusion surrounding his name. I know a lot of people go by their middle names but I don't know how they pull it off! Everywhere we go (Dr.'s appointments, military processing) they call him Dean since that is his first name. This makes Jake happy because he wants the baby to go by Dean. I ,on the otherhand, would rather call him Marriner. Just because my Dad's name is Dean and it is a little strange to call my son my father's name. But I'm starting to reconsider, it would be so much easier to just call him Dean since that is actually his first given name. If you have an opinion on whether our baby should go by Dean or Marriner, go ahead and leave it in a comment, I want to hear other views on this issue!

Our life has sure changed since this little guy blessed us with his presence. I told Jake yesterday that I miss sleep, and it's so true. I do miss it, but I know this is only temporary and that it's worth it. Little DM gets horrible gas pains and we've been frantically trying everything. Bouncing him, swaddling him, rubbing his belly, Gripe Water, Dr. Brown bottles. Nothing is getting rid of his pains completely but I think it's better then it was a few days ago. I just feel bad for him. A little more then 2 weeks ago he was still in my belly perfectly content and happy. But then he got pushed out into the world and now he has to adjust and he can't even tell us what's hurting him or how to help him. It's just so sad. I'm just praying for patience to help him through it all.

We had his circumcision today. Jake stayed home with Chels and I took him by myself. It was so sad. He cried and cried through the whole thing. He also kept peeing on the Doctor, oops! Now I just hope it heals well and quickly! He was 8 lbs and 21 inches already. I can't believe he's already that big.

Now for picture overload...

I took this picture the day before my induction. I was so HUGE!

This is Chels as a baby, I can't remember how old she was here, maybe 6 weeks.

Another picture of Chels, just to compare their looks. I think they do look a little different from each other.

Baby and Papa, they kind of have the same look on their face!

This is his "feed me" face. He purses his lips and looks all around for something to eat!

This is a common pose for DM, Jake says it's his touchdown pose.

This outit makes me giggle, doesn't he look like he's straight out of the 70's?!?!

Baby and Mama.

Big sister giving kisses. Baby looks like he loves it, haha.

Marriner's Blessing

2009-09-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

We hurried and blessed Marriner this past weekend since my Mom is leaving to go back to Idaho this Sunday. We were nervous to take him to church so we just went for Sacrament Meeting and then headed home, no use taking chances with the Swine Flu! The blessing went really well. Jake did an amazing job. I can't ever remember hearing such a beautiful blessing before, and I'm not being biased. He was so nervous but he did great. I know other people thought the blessing was beautiful too because when I got up to bear my testimony right after I saw a few people crying. We came home after Sacrament Meeting and had a big Sunday dinner. It was so nice to have a member of our family here for the blessing.

Our first family picture. Marriner is even kind of smiling.
All the men who stood in the circle with Jake.

Marriner and Mama.

Marriner and Papa.

Grandma with Chels and Marriner.

Marriner in his blessing outfit from One Small Child and his blue afgan that his Great Grandma Landon made him.

Cute little argyle socks I found to match his blessing outfit.

More Pictures

2009-09-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to take lots of pictures. Everytime I think to myself "He looks so cute" I try to remember to grab the camera. Here are some pics from the last couple days.

Waving "Hello" to everyone.
Big sister giving a cheeser smile.
He's ready for his close up.

Chels and Papa dancing.

Just chillin'.

So cute.

THE Story.

2009-09-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

I need to write this out before I forget!!!

We got to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center at 8:00 am on Friday Sept. 28 for my social induction. We decided to induce since I live so far from the hospital. Also because my Dr. is awesome and understood about when my mom could be here and how we needed to get baby here as soon as possible since we're moving soon.

It was a very hot day already and the forcast was calling for record highs. I met my nurse, Jillian, and got changed into my gown. The nurse got us all settled and told us to hang out for a little while until she got directions from Dr. Goodrich. I got to eat breakfast and watch some TV before she came back in and told us that the Dr. told her to check me and then we'd see where to go from there. She checked and I was only dilated about 3 cm, which was disappointing. Dr. Goodrich told her to start me on Pitocin.

The nurse tried to put in my IV and my veins weren't cooperating, she said they were rolling around. She got a good vein on the second poke though and I started to get my Pitocin. The nurse came back every half hour to up the dose. For some strange reason I actually started having less contractions then I was having when I had first arrived. She kept upping my dose and nothing was happening. This went on for hours, and Jake and I were both getting very frusterated. We started to wonder if maybe we were trying to push him out too early and maybe he just didn't want to come out yet.

My Dr. came in at about 3:30 which surprised me since she had told me she wasn't working the weekend. She checked me and told me I was only dialated to a 4. She gave me 2 options at that point. She told us we could go home and wait a few days and then we'd try again or she could break my water. If she broke my water then we'd have a time limit. We'd basically have about 12 hours to get him out before they'd have to give me a c-section. I thought about going home still pregnant, coming back another day and getting the IV again...that didn't sound like fun. So I told her to go ahead and break my water. She did so and then she left.

I called my mom and gave her an update. Then I went to the bathroom and while I was in there I had my first STRONG contraction. I thought "Wow, that was weird" but I didn't think much about it. Well by the time I was able to get back to my bed I had had a couple more and they hurt! I had started getting Pitocin at 10:00 and they had been upping my dose every half hour. By this point it was 4:00 so I was getting a pretty high dose and it was making my contractions really intense. And I could tell!

Jake was on the phone with his Dad and I told him, jokingly, that I wanted my epidural now, looking back I realize that I really should have gotten it at that point. I waited about another half hour to an hour. I don't really know what I was waiting for, it's not like the pain was going to get any better, but I had said before that I wanted to try to do it naturally if I could so I was trying to be strong. At that point the pain was really unbearable though. I was having contractions exactly every 2 minutes.

I called my nurse and she could tell the second she walked in since every time she had walked into my room up to that point I had been all smiles. This time I was in tears and she asked me what I wanted to do. I told her to call the anesthisiologist. It took him about 45 mintues to get there and get all set up. By this point I thought I was going to die, seriously. I don't know how people have children naturally.

The anesthisiologist was really nice, he was trying to hurry for my sake but he could only go so fast. He poked me and tried to get the catheter in but it just wouldn't go. He played around with it for what seemed like forever. All this time I was contracting and it was so painful. I was literally dripping with sweat which made his job even harder because his little plastic wrap wouldn't stick to my back. He kept asking me if it felt like he was off to the left or right, he just couldn't get it in. So he pulled the needle out and told me he was going to try in a different spot. I was a little surprised because I thought an epidural had to be in a very specific one spot. He put it up a lot higher, almost to my bra strap line. I tried to hold so still because I didn't want to have to get poked again, and he got it in.

They started the medicince and he stayed in the room with me for a while to make sure it started working. Well it did, as much as it could. I still didn't get that awesome epidural that everyone always describes, where they couldn't feel a thing. I could still feel a lot of pain in my butt, which is weird. The anesthisiologist told me that if they baby was on my pelvic bone though that there wasn't much they could do about it, there wasn't any way he could manage that pain.

The epidural did definitely take the edge off though. I got the little button, and they told me I could push it to administer more medicine every 10 minutes. After they put in my catheter I could feel that so I was pushing it every 10 minutes on the dot. Well the stupid machine got mad at me and an alarm went off. I was mad, why did they tell me I could push it every 10 minutes if I couldn't? After that the machine locked and it didn't give me any more medicine for an hour, ugh.

After I got the epidural and got all settled the nurse checked me again and I was dialted 7-8 cm. I had dialated from a 4 to a 7-8 during all that pain, so at least it wasn't for nothing. I can't remember exactly but I think that was at about 6:30 or 7:00.

The pain kept getting worse and worse and then I started to feel the pressure. I called my nurse, who was a new girl by this point, Natalie. I told her I felt like I needed to push so she checked me and I was at a 9. She left and came back with the exciting stuff like the bassinet and the light for the Dr. The scissors and clamp for the cord. I knew it was getting close but I had a hard time feeling happy because I was in lots of pain. She checked me again after she got everything set up and I was very close to a 10, she said I just had a little flap left. I told her I didn't know how many more contractions I could hold back pushing so she went to get the Dr.

By the time my Dr. came in I was ready, the little flap was gone. Now the fun part, haha. I ended up pushing for about 40 minutes. I kept asking Jake if he could see his head, because I remember him telling me he could see Chels' head and it wasn't long after that that she came out. He kept having to tell me no which was hard to hear but I kept pushing. Finally I could feel him crowing and then there was no stopping me. Dr. Goodrich kept telling me "If you aren't feeling a contraction just rest and wait until the next one" but I was determined at that point.

Dean Marriner was born at 8:29 pm. He came out crying and white. They set him on my chest and I tried really hard to pay attention to what was happening since I didn't with Chels. I was so exhausted by the time Chels came out that I just collapsed. He cried for a long time, really loudly. He just kept crying and crying. It was the most pathetic, but the cutest cry I had ever heard. Jake cut his cord. They cleaned him up and weighed him. I thought he looked smaller then Chels had been but he was 6 oz bigger. He weighed in at 7 lb 5 oz and he was 20 in. tall.

We stayed in the room for a while they did all his checks. I got all stitched up and was able to rest a little. Jake left to go get us some dinner since we were both starving. When he came back they were ready to move me down a floor to the mother and baby unit. They packed up all our stuff and started moving us down. On the way my nurse told me, "We're going to a private room on floor 2" well when we got there the curtain was drawn and I could see another bassinet on the other side. I asked "Is there someone over there?" and the nurse just said "Yes, I'm sooo sorry, I thought you were getting a private room." Apparently everyone in a 50 mile radius of San Luis Obispo decided to have their babies last weekend and the hospital was packed. I had to share a room...grrr. It was Germany all over again. I was pretty upset. I didn't eat my dinner and they were telling Jake he could only stay for a few minutes. I was so mad, I was all pumped for him to get to stay with me and help me but they made him leave. There was nothing we could do about it.

That first night wasn't so bad. The nurse actually came and got the baby for a couple hours and I slept, it was nice. My roomate was a royal witch though. She was so mean to her husband and children when they came to visit. She had nothing good to say about anyone when her mom got there and they just sat there and gossiped the whole time. Why do I always get these weird roomates?!?!

The next day we couldn't decide what to do. I didn't know when they were letting me go home so we didn't know whether Jake should bring my mom and Chels that day or wait until Sunday. We decided to get them a hotel room in SLO and they came up with him. Well when they got to the hospital the on-call Dr. finally came to check on me and he cleared me to go home that day. So we didn't end up using the hotel and I got to go home less then 24 hours after I had the baby.

All in all it went pretty fast, if you don't count the time where nothing was happening. After the broke my water is only took 4 1/2 hours to get him here. It was so painful though, I was really hoping that it wouldn't be as painful as Chels' but it was, it was just shorter. I told Jake, "No more kids" but I guess we'll see. My recovery has been 100x better then with Chels. I'm getting around so much better and I'm not as sore as I was with her (I think it's because his head his smaller then her's was). My mom and Jake are being wonderful and I'm just getting to relax. I had two people at the grocery store ask me "When the baby is due" yesterday, so I guess I still look pregnant, oh well! Give me a couple weeks people!!!

Chels is being so good, she's very soft with him and she wants to hold him about 1000 times a day, but she only holds him for about 3 seconds, haha. Overall she's pretty indifferent about him, which I suspected she would be. We took her to the store with us yesterday and we were almost done and leaving before she said "Where's the baby?" (he was at home with my mom).

So far Marriner is doing great. We've had 2 tough nights and 1 good one. We love him so much, he is the cutest little guy I've ever seen. We have his first Dr.'s appt. today and then we should be able to get the referral for his circumcision, which will be so sad. We've taken some more pics that I will post soon, I need to remember to take lots more pictures then I have been taking though.

Thanks for all the well wishes and thoughts and prayers, I have the best family and friends!

Dean Marriner Davies has arrived!

2009-08-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Dean Marriner Davies was born on August 28 at 8:30 pm. He weighed 7 lbs and 5 oz and was 20 inches long. He is doing well, and so am I. I will post more of the "story" later. Here are some pictures.

Not so happy at this point :(

Our Dr. with the baby right after he was born.

Proud Papa.
The morning after, everyone was much happier!

Big sister.

First time in the carseat, he did really good.

Friday is our day!

2009-08-26T12:21:00.001-07:00

We went to our last OB appt today, what a great feeling that was! Our Dr. came in and we started talking about an induction date. She told us that she is taking the weekend off because she has been on call the last 3 weekends, so she needs a break! So we decided on Monday. She went out to call the hospital to reserve me a bed, but when she came back she told us that the hospital is full until Thursday. Hmmm...that would have meant that my mom would be here for a whole week before anything even happened (unlesss I go into labor on my own). We told the Dr. we'd really like to go sooner if at all possible. So she gave us two other options, we could try to go to the other hospital on Monday or we could go into the hospital we had chosen on Friday, but she wouldn't be able to deliver us. She went out to call the other hospital to see if they were also full and while she was gone we discussed it and decided to go ahead with Friday. Just because I would really like Jacob to be able to stay with me at the hospital during the weekend and not have to go to work the next day after I deliver. And because it was at the hospital of our choice. And because it's 3 days earlier :). So when the Dr. came back in we told her our choice. I couldn't really tell how she felt about this, she seemed kind of upset that we would choose to deliver on a day when she couldn't be there, but oh well, that was our decision. She'll still be able to induce me and get things started, but unless I have the baby by noon, she won't be delivering me. But I'm OK with this since I also never met my Dr. that delivered Chels until I was in labor. A Dr. is a Dr. right? So that's the plan, we go in on Friday at 8 am. Wish me luck!!!

I've had many inqueries about what names we are thinking about. And to be honest, we haven't decided for sure yet. We know what his last name will be, hehe, and we know his first name will be Dean. We also know his middle name will start with an M. The reason for this is because my Dad and Jacob's Grandfather are both named Dean M. We thought that was a pretty big coincidence and since we love both of these men dearly we thought naming the baby after them would be a good tribute. But, we still haven't decided on a middle name. Depending on what we decide on the baby might go by his middle name, instead of his first name Dean. So it could be a very important middle name. We just can't agree on anything though. So I guess we'll all soon know what we decide. I'm hoping once I see him something will feel right, like it did with Chels. If not, then I guess I'm screwed!

My Dad.

Jacob's Grandpa.

Anniversary Gifts

2009-08-14T14:24:00.001-07:00

Why do couples always buy presents for each other even when you've both decided not to buy presents? It's one of those mysteries of the universe. I decided to get Jake something small and insignificant, but something that would let him know I at least thought of him during the day. I had a hard time coming up with something so I went to the old standby of making him a candy poster. So after standing in the candy aisle for forever and (I'm sure) making the cashier giggle to herself because this fat pregnant lady was buying a basket full of candy, this is what I came up with (you can click on the pic to make it bigger if you want to read what it says).

(We really do sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to each other, haha)

Well after I had made the poster and I was all giddy and waiting for Jake to get home I got a delivery. Such a cute little bouquet! I have been hinting to no end about an Edible Arrangement while I'm in the hospital after we have the baby so he said he tried to get me one of those but they don't deliver here, stupid company. But I was glad after he showed me the website, those things are so expensive! I couldn't believe it, it's just fruit!!! So the flowers will do just fine, I love them and I'm already trying to think of something to do with the vase after the flowers are gone, it's such a cool vase!

5 years and counting!

2009-08-13T12:07:00.001-07:00

It seems like everyone's anniversary is in August! Well today it is our turn. We were married on Friday the 13th in 2004, it has been 5 crazy years! Here's what we were doing on, or around our anniversary for the last 5 years.

August 13, 2004. We were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was a hot and loooong day. But it was amazing. Exactly one week later we moved to Germany.

August 13, 2005. We went to Paris for our 1 year anniversary. I was ENORMOUSLY pregnant with Chelsea but it was still a trip we will never forget. It was so awesome to see the sites of the most romantic city in the world! This picture is in front of Notre Dom. One short month later we were parents!

August 2006. Jacob had recently returned from Afghanistan and it felt like we were newlyweds again. We were just so infatuated with each other! We went to the Bavarian Alps for 5 days and had a wonderful time. This will always be remembered as our favorite vacation spot. We had so much fun!!! I hope we can go back someday. We also went to Amsterdam around August 2006 but I couldn't find any pictures at the moment. This picture is in front of the lodge we stayed at in the Alps. Nevermind my hair, I had a bad run-in with a German hairstylist...

August 2007. We were in Idaho for our anniversary this year which was great! We had a free babysitter!!! If I remember correctly we went to dinner somewhere. Jacob bought me a beautiful 3 stone diamond neclace that year because he had always promised that he would on our 3rd anniversary. Isn't he sweet?

August 2008. We were home in CA for our anniversary last year. I was getting ready to leave for Idaho in a couple days and I had a scary Dr.'s appointment on the 15th so everything was a bit crazy. But everything turned out OK and I left for Idaho on the 17th...or the 19th...I don't really remember.

This year we are in CA again. We had an OB appointment today and then went to lunch. It was fun. We are planning a real date tomorrow night. Call me crazy but I didn't feel like taking any vacations this year to celebrate.

All in all it has been a whirlwind of a ride so far. I wouldn't trade our first 5 years for ANYTHING. It has been so great to live in a couple different places and to look back and realize how strong our marriage and relationship have become. I am so blessed in my life, I don't know what I ever did to deserve all this, but I am very grateful. Who knows what the next 5 years will bring, but I'm ready for it and I know I can handle anything that comes our way as long as I still have the best husband in the world!

A project...

2009-08-10T16:02:00.001-07:00

I finally did something with all those amazing pictures I'm always having Kayla shoot. Well, some of them at least. I put them in this frame but since I thought a picture in every square would get to look too busy I broke it up a little with some scrapbook-ish embellishments. I love having the little bits of blue in it, it really makes it pop on our wall. My good husband hung it up for me even though we have less then 2 months left in our house. This isn't the greatest picture of the collage though, for some reason it turned out a little blurry, but you get the idea! I might still replace some of the squares. I just had to get it done and hung up so I can stare at it everyday and get inspiration from it :)

Just a little update.

2009-08-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

I had my 35 week appointment today. I had the Strep B swab so I asked my Dr. if she could just check me while she was there (totally forgot how bad it hurts to be checked). She said I am dialated a 1 or 2, I am 50% effaced, baby is at a -2 station, and he weighs about 5 to 5 1/2 lbs. So all in all things are looking good to deliver in 3-4 weeks. I know I have a long ways to go but hey, I'm closer then I've ever been! My mom is planning to buy her tickets today, that is one reason I wanted to be checked. Just to make sure baby isn't huge and I'm already dialated to a 4 or something. I just hope everything goes at least a little according to plan and my mom makes it here before Baby D does! Now I have graduated to Dr. appointments every week. I swear that hour long drive gets longer and longer everytime we make it!

I always wonder what people think when they look at me, now I guess I know, hehe.

Our Baby Shower

2009-07-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

Our Baby Shower was on Tuesday, and it was really fun. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to it. I mean you only get one, maybe two baby showers in your whole life right? So anyways, it was pretty cloudy and the marine layer was really thick at first (as you can see in the first picture) but the sun soon came out and it was a beautiful day. And I, of course, got sunburned to a crisp. I'm still feeling the pain today. My lucky little one Chels isn't even pink though, ugh. She is a blessed child, she never sunburns!

***Disclaimer: I am looking huge a swollen these days. Don't judge me! Only about 5 more weeks now.

My table with some of my friends.

Our Bishop's wife was so thoughtful and brought a little present for Chels. She was delighted!

Opening presents. I told them all I didn't want to sit next to Shannon, because she's still so skinny and she's due 3 weeks before me, but they made us :(

Me with Shannon (in red) and Ellowyn, our amazing friend who hosted the Shower and put everything together.

The diaper cakes that Ellowyn made us, so cute!

Me and Shannon after the festivities.

All in all it was so much fun and I'm so thankful to everyone who came and all the gifts we recieved. I'm starting to get a little sad to leave CA and all the friends I've made. It's all part of life though. I'm just trying to look forward to the next part of our journey.

33 wks

2009-07-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

My friend here in Lompoc is throwing me, and another friend who is due 3 weeks before me, a baby shower. I just had to share the invite because it's so cute! The girls on the card actually look like me and Shannon, hehe, adorable!
We went out to dinner this weekend and while we were out the marine layer came inland and it got really cold, really fast. Chels thought she was going to freeze to death so we put her in the only jacket in our car. She looked like such a raggamuffin!

And my belly today at 33 weeks. I'm starting to get the not-so-welcome comments like "you look like you're going to explode" or "there is no way you're going to make it another 7 weeks!!!!" and "you are SO full of baby" (all actual comments I've recieved). There's just not much room to store a baby on a 5' 3" frame people! But, to be fair, I don't blame them. I am HUGE and it's just so unbelievable that I still have 7 weeks and that there is only one baby in there. I am now officially the same size, belly circumference wise, as I was right before I had Chels. I have also now gained the same amount of weight as I did with Chels so I'm hoping not to gain much more. I wasn't going to take anymore belly shots but I figured there will definitely be pictures taken at my baby shower, so I might as well. Just ignore my hair, it all natural today!

Bella Bella Bella Dancerella

2009-07-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is extremely rare at my house! Only once in a very little while will Chels ask me to put her "princess" dress on her and she will do something completely girly. So, of course, I HAD to catch it on camera. When your days are filled with a 3 year old pretending to be a puppy, dancing to Bella Bella Dancerella is the highlight of the week!

(My favorite part is when she picks her wedgie, haha)

Short Cut

2009-07-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

My poor daughter!

If you know me, you know that I get the haircutting bug once in a while. Well now I have someone else to satisfy my craving! I've had the haircutting bug for a couple weeks now but for some reason I did NOT want to cut my own hair, so I went to the next best thing, Chels. I sat her down in the tub yesterday and chopped away. I didn't tell Jake what I was doing so when we took him lunch he was pretty shocked. I'll admit I got it a little shorter then I meant to, oops (I didn't factor in her curls so when it dried it just kept get shorter and shorter). I'm still not sure how I feel about it, it makes her look so much different and that's not what I intended. Jake likes it though, I thought he'd be mad but he thinks she looks cute. I already like it more today then I did yesterday, so just give me a couple more days and I'll be used to it. Here's a couple shots of her new do!

Front view, with a sweet little smile which I was lucky to catch.

Back view, although it looks a little funny because she wasn't sitting up straight, and my fatty reflection, ugh.

31 Weeks 2 Days

2009-07-08T15:34:00.001-07:00

We had a Dr.'s appointment today. The first one in over 6 weeks, it feels like it's been forever since I was there! But now the appointments are every 2 weeks so I'm sure I'll make it up. We actually spend the whole day in San Luis Obispo because I had a regular OB appointment in the morning, and then I had a follow up ultrasound after that, and then we went and toured one of the hospitals (Sierra Vista). It was nice, especially compared to the Krankenhaus! We just need to look at one more hospital before making our decision. All in all everything went good, and I took along my camera today!

This is a picture of the Diagnostic Center where I have my ultrasounds done. I didn't get a picture of it because the parking garage is under the building so to get far enough away to actually snap a pic I would've had to cross the intersection which I didn't feel like doing. The ultrasound went good though. It was a follow-up because during my big ultrasound at 20 weeks they found that I have placenta previa (where the placenta is too close, or over, the cervix). They remeasured today and I should be getting my results tomorrow on whether it's still too close to attempt a natural delivery. If it is still too close then I will have to have a c-section, yuck!

This is my Dr.'s office. It's actually a pretty cool building built on a hill so there are offices on an upper and lower level.

Chels' FAVORITE part about going to the Dr. is crossing the "bridge" to get to the door. Silly child. This is Jacob giving me the "stop taking pictures" look, hehe.

I thought I'd include some pictures from the ultrasound today even though baby was not being very cooperative. He was nestled low in my pelvis and the tech. had a really hard time getting a picture of his face. This pic is probably the best one we got though. If you look in the upper right you can see a perfect little picture of his lips and nose. Pretty crazy! The circly looking things below that are the curls in his umbilical cord and then you can see a leg in the lower left part.

A typical profile shot.

This is the best 3D image she could get, like I said he was being a stinker and was not being photogenic at all! All his measurements looked good. She typed them into the program on the computer and it estimated his weight at 4 lbs. 2 oz. right now. I was in shock when I heard that, I can't believe he's that big already! She couldn't get a look at his "parts" so we're hoping that he's still a HE, haha. I'm anxious to hear my results tomorrow, wish me luck!

Independence Day

2009-07-07T12:15:00.001-07:00

Our 4th of July was pretty low key. This is actually the first Independence Day we have been able to celebrate as a family in a few years. Last year Jacob was working the night shift and the year before that he was on stand-by and he wasn't allowed to go anywhere. I can't ever remember doing anything to celebrate when we were living in Germany either. So this could have been the first time we've done anything since we've been married. I know it's the first time I've seen fireworks since we lived in Germany when the Germans would light them on New Years Eve. This was also Chels' very first time ever seeing them. So anyways, here's some pictures of our weekend.

I can't remember which day this was, I just thought it was a cute picture. She falls alseep in the weirdest places.

Chels and Jake set up the tent and slept outside one night. She was SOOOO excited, this was her first time sleeping outside. She was ready to go to bed at about 5:00 so we had to keep telling her to wait until it was dark. Well as SOON as the sun went down she was ready! I opted out of the campout but Jake said she did good and fell asleep quickly. He, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. Our neighbors were having some sort of crazy party and he didn't fall alseep until late.

Chels standing by the tent after they set it up.

The flowers of Lompoc are in full bloom right now, and it's so pretty. You can't really get a good idea of the beauty from this picture but it really is a gorgeous site to see. They are all colors and there are just fields and fields of them. I sometimes make Jake take me for drives around the farm country just to see all the pretty fields!

We went to our church to watch the fireworks since Lompoc was lighting them off from the High School which is right down the street. It was a good view. We bought Chels some sparklers and she was TERRIFIED of them. She wouldn't even hold one when it wasn't lit. There were no tears or anything, just a lot of nervous laughter. Needless to say, we have a lot of sparklers left over.

Jake trying to get her to hold one.

And trying even harder. It looks like he has her in a headlock but he really doesn't, haha. She was just squirming away by this point. She loved the actual fireworks though. Lompoc put on a pretty good show, it was about 20 minutes long (perfect amount of time in my opinion). We all just cuddled together on the Church's lawn and watched them, it was very nice. I'm so thankful for our country and for the people who defend it. I love America and I will never take it for granted. We are so blessed to live here.

Turn Your Frown Upside Down!!!

2009-06-24T10:41:00.001-07:00

Whenever me or Jake have had a bad day there is always one thing that will turn our frown's upside down! This video is sooo funny and I can never go to Taco Bell again without thinking of it. The best part is at the end, after the "rap" is over. It's only 3 minutes long so take a few and watch it, I guarantee it will put a smile on your face!

Miss Chels

2009-06-23T13:09:00.001-07:00

We also had Chels' pictures taken at the same time as my Maternity Session. I admit I'm a bad mommy and haven't had her pictures taken since her 2nd birthday, oops! I was worried, to say the least, about her session because she HATES having her picture taken. Whenever I get out the camera she either runs away screaming or she simply covers her eyes, ugh!!! But Kayla made it fun and she let us get some good shots. This is one of my favs. Hop over to Kayla's blog so see a few more shots and some cute collages she made up.

http://sagemeadowstudio.com/2009/06/22/she-smiles/

In other Chels news, my baby girl is no longer a baby, although I will continue to call her baby girl. Her Grandma Davies bought her some Leapfrog DVDs that teach letter sounds and she is now trying to read everything she can get her hands on. I did not encourage this at all. I'm not one of those moms who wanted to teach my 3 year old how to read but what am I supposed to do? It reminds of when she had just turned 2 and she wanted to potty train, I didn't really want to do it that soon but I'm not about to tell her no. So I've been helping her and cheering her on. We are in the process of making flash cards with simple words on the front and the picture of the word on the back. She sounds out every single word she sees on TV or the computer or in books or anywhere. I just cannot believe how fast she has caught on! She also asks me what everything says (which gets sort of annoying) but I try to be patient and read every road sign and cereal box to her. Since her birthday is in September she still has a good 2 years until she can start kindergarten. I think she's going to start getting bored at home, I'm hoping these 2 years go by fast....but not really.

http://www.amazon.com/Leap-Frog-Letter-Factory/dp/B0000INU6S

Here is a link to the DVD that she has been watching, I think. Ours is a burned copy so I don't know exactly what the cover looks like. I just thought I'd post it if anyone else wants to buy it.

Maternity Session

2009-06-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

I did something this week I thought I'd never do. I scheduled a maternity photo session with my incredibly talented SIL who is a photographer. I mainly just wanted to remember what I looked like while I was preggo and let's face it, the snapshots I'm taking of myself in my bathroom aren't doing me any justice! The session was really fun and even though it was near the end of the day and I was already swollen, somehow Kayla managed to snap some awesome pictures. Here is her blog if anyone wants to look at the rest of the shots.

http://sagemeadowstudio.com/

In other news, I am now in my 3rd trimester (YAYYYY). Less then 3 months to go now! I am headed home to CA tonight and I'm really excited to just get home and relax and see Jacob and wait for the baby to come. I have tons of pictures I've taken while I've been here so I will get around to posting those soon.

Fun Times in ID

2009-06-10T10:09:00.001-07:00

Idaho is always fun. We love to come to visit and see all our family and friends. Whenever it's just me and Chels we always miss Jacob though. Although house hunting hasn't gone as planned we are still having lots of fun and we are anticipating our flight home on June 19. Here are a few pictures since we have been here. Like always, I'm already regretting not taking more!

Chels and Kodie in one of the houses we looked at. They had so much fun running around the vacant houses.

Chels has really made a new best friend since we've been here, my old dog Smokie. He's such a good dog! He just sits there and lets her play with him forever.

Chels playing with my brother Doug and his son Luke at the potato cellar.

Me holding my niece Abby.

Chels and Smokie, again.

Chels being a cowgirl on the rocking horse.

And a belly pic, this is 27 weeks and 2 days. I read that the baby will now gain 1/2 lb. each week until delivery. Honestly I don't know where all that weight is going to go! I haven't measured my belly for a few weeks but I think I'm already as big as I was at the end with Chels, and because of that reason I think this will be one of my last belly pics. It's just getting to that point where the belly is so big I'm getting funny looks in the store. I've ever started telling people I'm due in August when they ask because when I tell the truth and say Sept. I always get a comment like "Oh my! You're so BIG!" So by saying I'm due in August I guess people consider that as summer and it doesn't seem as far away as Sept. which is the fall. Uggg...the joys of pregnancy!

Ida go to Idaho.

2009-05-29T10:38:00.001-07:00

Well it's official. This issue has been up in the air a lot the last week or so but we have decided that Chels and I are going to Idaho for a few weeks to house hunt. We will be there starting Sunday evening if anyone wants to catch up. We are excited to get to come and see everyone, I just hope that I will be able to walk after the long car ride!
(I searched for images of "Idaho" and this popped up, hehe)

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

2009-05-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post is picture heavy.

We had a very fun weekend. Jacob's parents came to visit us and we kept ourselves very busy.
Sunday after church. It's sort of a tradition in Military or partial Military Wards for the servicemen to wear their blues to church. I thought Jacob looked very handsome, so I dressed us all to match him for a photo opportunity. Me on the other hand....let's just say I'm starting to swell.

Jacob and his dad.

On Monday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a lot of fun to see all the sea life, Chels LOVED it.

Some creepy snake/eel things, gross!

We are the pearls in the oyster, hehe.

They had tons of hands-on things for the kids to play with. Chels was getting frusterated because she didn't understand why we had to keep moving on as soon as she found something fun to do.

A big round aquarium where the fish just kept swimming around and around.

One of the kinds of jellyfish.

A shark! By far the most exciting part for Chels. I took a video at this huge aquarium that had tons of sharks and gigantic fish. I might try to upload it in a different post.

The Monterey Bay.

We spotted a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on the way to the aquarium so that was of course my vote for lunch! This is Jacob pretending to be Forrest while we were waiting for our table. He plays the part well, haha.

Our table with an awesome view.

Some of the decor in the restaurant, it is such a fun place! If you ever get the chance to go to one, take it!

Precious Moment

2009-05-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

I know I JUST posted yesterday but I had to write this down somewhere before I forget.

Today Chels rented Dumbo from the library for the 100th time. She usually gets teared up at the part where Dumbo goes to visit his mom in the cage so I was expecting it. Like always before, when the "Baby of Mine" song started playing she came over to me and hugged me mumbling things about Dumbo's mama in the cage and how sad it is and that she loved me. But then, unexpectedly, she looked up at me and said, "Don't leave me Mama." Oh my heck! How sad and cute is that! I assured her that I am not going anywhere and that I will always be here loving her. Sometimes the sweet things she says just make my heart hurt!

22 Weeks...and counting!

2009-05-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

First of all, I cannot believe it is May! April just seemed to fly right by for me. May, in all likihood, will too because it is a super busy month for us. Jacob is finishing up his last class he needs for his AF Degree (CCAF). He is also in charge of a lot of things at church for May, the soonest of which is a Priesthood Commemoration Campout this weekend. I try to help him with all of his responsibilities but sometimes I'm no help at all. Besides I have my own stuff to worry about on Sundays with the primary! We are also getting a much anticipated visit from his parents towards the end of the month, we are very excited! After May is over we will be so bored we won't know what to do with ourselves, haha.

I have had a few inquiries as to what I have boughten so far for the baby so I thought I'd take pictures to show everyone. I have a whole rubbermaid full of clothes already, hehe. Oh well, I have only bought things that were either on sale or at the outlet mall so I'm proud of myself! But I thought I'd only bore you with things I have in newborn and 0-3 months...for this post. These are the one pieces in newborn size that I have.

A close up of the socks and shoes I have so far, because they are adorable!

Onsies I have in newborn size.

One pieces in 0-3 months.

Shirts, onsies, and pants in 0-3 months.

This is one of my favs. It's just so retro and cute!

Another of my favs. It seems we have a theme developing with all the clothes I've boughten. They are all either football or puppies (Jake love football and Chels loves puppies).

My fav in newborn size. If I don't find anything I like better this is what little baby will be coming home in...although it looks huge, so we'll see.

And last but not least I am appeasing Leah! Here is a belly shot. I am getting huge (this shirt does nothing for making me look small though)! Jake was able to feel the baby moving a couple nights ago, that was exciting. I am 22 weeks and 1 day. Only 4 more months to go, yikes!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T13:05:00.001-07:00

Chels and I went to an Earth Day Celebration here on base and it was actually pretty fun and interesting. We got lots of freebies like the mini trash can (I thought it was way cute) and the fish made out of an old 2 liter bottle. Chels got her face painted for the first time. She sat so still for the lady and was so happy with her cupcake. The only not-so-fun part was when Chels almost walked right up next to all these hawks they had sitting on little perches on the ground. I didn't even see them since there were so many people there and she was just walking ahead of me when she almost bumped into one. The lady watching them FREAKED out and grabbed Chels which pissed her off, haha. But really what were they thinking perching hawks on the ground like that with children all over the place?!?! Oh well. Overall is was very fun and informative, I'm glad we went. Happy Earth Day everyone.

HOT Spring Day

2009-04-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was going to SQUEEZE into my swimsuit too but the guys working on that roof in the background kept looking at us...so I didn't!!!

We had to run to the BX for some sunscreen so I bought Chels this little water toy that sprayed water all around the edges, it was pretty fun.

Chels smiling for the camera.

We came in for lunch and Chels just passed out on the floor, the sun wore her right out! But she was all ready for more when she woke up.

We survived our oh so hot Spring Day, barely! HAHA The hottest I saw the thermometer get was 95, it was just miserable (remember, we don't have any AC or trees around to provide shade). I like warm days but I hate hot days. I would much rather be cold then hot! It's not supposed to be as hot today, maybe up around 80-85. Then tomorrow it's supposed to start cooling down again, thank goodness!

Everyday Tidbits...

2009-04-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Our Central Coast CA weather has been SO crazy! Last week it was so cold and windy we could barely stand to be outside. I was searching all the stores high and low to find some long sleeved maternity shirts because I was freezing! My mom was nice enough to go to the Motherhood store in Idaho Falls for me and buy me a couple long sleeve T's and I just got them on Saturday. Well guess what? Saturday starting a warming trend for us and now I'm dying of heat! It's only 10:00 am here and it's already 90 degrees outside. I hate being hot and preggo because my hands and feet swell up like little balloons, not attractive! I just have to hold out and remember that I am blessed to live in one of the best places in CA and our temperatures will soon return to our normal 65 degrees!

Here are a few pictures from the last week. This one was Chels' being a princess. I was happy to see her dress up as a princess because lately she has been all about pirates and puppies so princess was a nice change of pace!

When Jacob is at class in the evenings Chels really, really misses him. I feel bad for her so I let her do things I would never let her do if he were here, like fall asleep in our bed. She just goes into our room and curls up in our bed while I'm still out in the Living Room then when I go to find her and see what she's up to I find this. She's so cute!

Chels got a Click Start from her Grandma Shelley for Christmas and being the mean mom I am I saved it until now. It's just that she got SOOO many presents for Christmas and I didn't know if she'd be able to play the Click Start yet so I set it aside. We finally let her open a couple weeks ago and she has been hooked ever since! We are now having to set time limits and I'm setting the timer so when the buzzer rings she has to stop playing. How sad! She's only 3 and I'm already setting time limits on her video games, haha. She loves it though, and she's actually very good at it. Now I'm just trying to decide which game to buy her since she's already mastered all the ones it came with.

You can see the game in the background on the TV, I think the main reason she loves it is because it has a puppy on it, she calls it her "Puppy Puter" (Puppy Computer).

In other news, I am 20 weeks today! YAY half way done, officially!!! I have been feeling the baby kick a ton lately, and not just little flutterings anymore, real hard kicks, but only once in a while. I love it! My belly hasn't grown much in the last week or so but it's just so much higher then my belly ever was with Chels that it all feels so much different then last time. It's all very exciting!!!

8 Things Tag

2009-04-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Leah S. and I completely forgot about it until Katie A. did her's so here it goes...(if I've already done this I forgot, so bear with me)

8 Favorite Shows:
1. Ugly Betty
2. The Soup
3. Survivor
4. Hell's Kitchen
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. Desperate Housewives
7. The Price is Right
8. Dancing with the Stars

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Slept in
2. Went to church
3. Stayed after church to wait for Jacob, he had a meeting
4. played a computer game we just got called Catan
5. watched a Hallmark movie
6. made and ate some food
7. talked to my mom on the phone
8. got an awesome backrub from my hubby

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. My next Dr.'s appt on April 30
2. The next u/s of the baby in about 4-6 weeks
3. our trip to Monterey with Jacob's parents
4. our trip to the Redwood Forest over 4th of July weekend
5. the birth of our baby boy
6. Chels' 4th birthday
7. moving to Idaho
8. spending the holidays with our family for the first time in 5 years

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Olive Garden
2. Johnny Carinos
3. Texas Roadhouse
4. Wingers
5. Red Lobster
6. BBQ Land
7. In n. Out Burger
8. Cheesecake Factory

8 Things on my wish list:
1. a healthy baby
2. an stress free delivery (if there is such a thing)
3. a house of our very own
4. a bigger car
5. for the next few months to fly by
6. to go shopping
7. a free maid
8. a nice job...when we move to Idaho

People I tag:
Anyone who hasn't already done this

Chels' Explanation of Easter

2009-04-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

I also wanted to post this little video. I tried to explain to Chels the true meaning of Easter and I think she did pretty good and absorbing it. She was the only one in Jr. Sharing time who thought Easter was about something other then candy so I was proud of her!

Hoppy Easter!

2009-04-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

HAHA, my mom used to have some cute little craft that said Hoppy Easter, I've always remembered that. Anyways...Easter was good for us. We didn't really do anything but that was OK with us. Chels went to see the Easter Bunny at the park last Saturday, she thought that was pretty cool! Then for actual Easter Day we went to church of course and then just came home and ate dinner and snacked on candy the rest of the day, real healthy I know!

Chels with the Easter Bunny.
Easter morning all ready for church.

Chels checking out her new Easter Book.

Chels being very silly, we bought this hat at the dollar store and she always informs me that now she's a "lady" when she puts it on.

And last but not least, I am 19 weeks today. Very Exciting! Jacob and I are claiming we are now half way done since our Dr. has agreed to induce me a week or so early. So, yay for being half way! And I know...I'm huge! I am just carrying this little guy so differently from the way I carried Chels, very strange to me!

We found out, it's a....

2009-04-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

BOY!!! I have to admit, we kind of already knew it was a boy. At my 13 week ultrasound the technician predicted it to be a boy but she said not to go painting the room yet. Jacob has thought it was going to be a boy all along and since he also predicted Chels to be a girl I took his word for it. I guess he has the father's intuition or something. Everything else with the ultrasound was good. Our baby boy is measuring right on time, he has all his organs, and his brain and heart looked great. It was so fun to see him in 4D which I learned is just 3D live in real time. While we were looking at him in 4D he brought his little hand up and wiped his nose, so cute!!! We are very excited to have a little boy in the house!

A nice shot of the boy parts, hehe.
A shot of baby boy in 3D.

A shot of his face in 3D.

A picture of his profile, not 3D but I still thought it was really cute.

17 Week Appointment

2009-04-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

I had a Dr.'s appointment today. It was pretty short and uneventful which, as my mom said, is good...we don't want them to be eventful yet. The heart beat was good and I've gained 3 lbs. I think that's pretty normal though. When the appointments are short like this I kind of feel ripped off just because we have to drive an hour to see the Dr. but I know most of the appointments will be like this so I should get used to it.

We were able to schedule our BIG ultrasound for Wednesday. We are very, very excited. We will soon know if we're on the pink or blue team! Wish me luck that the baby cooperates, unlike Chels. For those of you who didn't know me then, Chels wouldn't give up the goods at our ultrasound even after a candy bar and a half hour of walking around. We were devastated! We had waited 22 weeks for that one ultrasound and then the baby was being stubborn, I guess it was a glimpse at what was to come with out little Chelsea! Luckily our Dr. caved in when I cried to him at our next appointment and took a quick look. Jacob wasn't there though, so he has vowed to come to every appt. with me until we find out the gender.

HAHA, just a funny cartoon I read.

Jacob's Piggy

2009-04-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

Our lives have been uber crazy the last couple weeks. Jacob now has class on Tues. and Thurs. nights. It's been hard getting used to him having college again. While we were in Germany it was normal for him to be gone to class every night after work but since we've been in CA he has taken some time off. Mainly because he already has his degree he was working towards so we are now just waiting to get out of the Air Force so he can get into his program. He's taking the one last class he needs to earn his AF Assoc. Degree that is available in his job (CCAF). So this is the last thing he needs to do before we get out, kind of crazy!

Jacob also got put into the Young Men's presidency at church so he is gone on Wednesday nights for the activities. I, of course, don't mind this though because I am the perfect Mormon wife! It really is a fun calling for him.

On Fridays Jacob has been going hunting with a friend from work. They hunt for wild boars and last week they finally snagged one. He was so proud! He ordered a big gun to kill the boar with but it was stolen from the UPS warehouse so his friend shot this first one. It weighed in at about 100 lbs after it had been cleaned. His friend took it to the butcher to get it cut up for meat. I'm actually excited for when they go and get another one because the next one will be ours and we'll have lots of meat! Between the pork that we get from the boar and the beef my parent's brought to us from Idaho all we will have to buy is chicken. I'm so stoked to practically cut meat out of our grocery bill!

Here is the boar after they got her.

Here it is being weighed in. I felt kind of bad for the poor thing but after I watched a news special on wild boars in America I don't feel bad anymore. There is getting to be so many of them that they are becoming a nuisance. They actually tear up farmer's fields and eat the produce. So if we can get meat from them, we might as well "get" them right?

Big Baby Belly

2009-03-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

Well I'm breaking down and doing it. I decided to finally post a picture because this morning I put maternity pants on, boooo! I've also decided I really need to go maternity clothes shopping soon! The few clothes I had from Chels' pregnancy are just not going to cut it. So yes, I put the pants on this morning but soon after I went and took them off, hehe. I also thought I'd post a picture because last night Jacob finally said he noticed some rounding of the belly. I was so relieved!!! I've noticed the rounding for weeks now but he didn't so I thought to myself, "Do I always look this fat?" Maybe, hopefully, it was just so gradual that he didn't notice at first.

If you're looking at this I just ask you to remember two things. First: this is my second pregnancy and women show a lot sooner in subsequant pregnancies. Second: I was no skinny mama when I was preggo the first time. I got big...really big! I only gained about 25 lbs. but my belly got HUGE. So either it's because I'm only 5' 3" and there's no where to store the baby or it's because I just have the big baby belly genes, who knows!

I just can't wait for the bump to get a little bigger so people will stop looking at me like I'm putting on some extra lbs. Jacob and I were talking last night about how everything in this pregnancy seems to be happening so much sooner then it did with Chels. I have started showing sooner and felt him/her move sooner. It's all really exciting! It is also depressing though when I see other people who are due sooner then I am and they are smaller then me. Oh well, at least there is a healthy baby in there, that's all I care about right now!!!

PS- The title of the post is what Chels calls my, or any, baby belly, haha!

Total Randomness...

2009-03-23T09:51:00.001-07:00

I am officially 16 weeks today, so exciting!!! Our little baby is almost 5 inches long and weighs about 3 ounces. For some reason, in my own little mind, 16 weeks, 20 weeks, 28 weeks and a few others are huge milestones. I don't know where I concocted these ideas but those weeks stick out in my mind. Our appointment is now less then 2 weeks away and I'm hoping that we can schedule our BIG ultrasound a week or two after that. We will soon know whether we are getting a little Chelsea or a little man!!! Any guesses/predictions are welcome. I have started feeling some little nudges which is really fun. It's always when I least expect it and it's always amazing to feel. I hope I still feel the same about the kicks in a couple months when they get harder!
Oh...and I've decided no belly pics for now. After I looked at the ones I took I decided I just look fat. I'll wait another month or so and maybe by then it will look more like a baby belly!

It seems like EVERYONE has either just had a baby or is pregnant! Seriously!!! I have so many friends/family members/aquaintances that are pregnant right now it's amazing! I don't think I've gone a day in a long time without hearing "Oh and so and so is pregnant". It just kind of makes me wonder. Maybe I'm reading too much into all this but what if something really big is going to happen soon so a lot of babies are getting sent down right now?!?! It's just really interesting to me because it seems like anyone and everyone who is trying for a baby right now is getting one. And I think it's great!!! So if you're TTC just keep on going because I think right now is the perfect time to be trying for a baby!

In other news we only have about 6 1/2 months until we are planning to separate from the Air Force. It's really exciting, but also kind of scary! Let's face it, the economy sucks right now. When I think back to all the years I've been alive this is probably the worse time to find a job. Jacob and I have talked in length about this issue and we've decided that we're just going to do it. We've been preparing and saving for this for the last 5 years and putting it off now will just prolong the inevitable. We want to live near our family and raise our children around them, and that is the most important thing to us. So...we're just going to bite the bullet and try to have faith. We'll be OK! Jacob has figured it all out with his leave days and we are planning to move around the 15-20 of October. Only about 6 weeks after we have the baby, yikes! It will be a stressful time but it will be worth it. Jacob is going to attend college starting in January after we move and we'll just take it one day at a time from there. Wish us luck!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day/Spring!!!

2009-03-17T11:29:00.001-07:00

Spring has officially sprung around here, in my opinion. Today is the first day in a long time that it has gotten up to 70 degrees and it feels wonderful.

Luckily, I remembered today is St. Patrick's Day so I made Chels and I some green hair accessories. No pinches for us!

When my mom was here this plant was just a little sprout and she asked me if it was a lily. I replied "I have no clue". Well apparently she was right. I didn't plant it and the weird thing is this is the 3rd spring we've lived here and it's never bloomed before. It is beautiful though.

And it's tall! Almost as tall as Chels. The really awesome thing is that I have 4 more of them coming up. Thanks to whoever lived here before us and planted these beautiful lilies!!!

If you're reading this and you live here locally, don't forget about the Pampered Chef Show I'm having at my house tonight, it's at 7:00 and everyone is invited.

Also, I feel like I officially have a baby bump now so there MIGHT be some baby belly pictures soon...maybe.

Nuchal Test Update

2009-03-06T15:33:00.001-08:00

We got home from SLO a little bit ago. I've been trying to convince Chels to let me take a nap but since she had one in the car it's not working. Oh well.

The Nuchal Test went splendidly. The Dr. said everything is measuring good and that baby looks healthy. She was trying to get him/her to turn over so she could get the perfect view to make the measurements but I guess our baby is ultra chill because it was lying very still. The Dr. even said, "Baby is very relaxed right now." She poked at him/her a little more and then all the sudden he/she flipped, it was the cutest thing! To actually see it move so much was amazing. We asked about the gender but she said she couldn't say for sure. We'll just have to beg our OB to take a look at the next appt. on April 3rd. But anyways, baby looks good and that's all that counts. I'm on cloud 9!
This is baby looking down, you can see the spine at the top.

This is baby looking straight ahead at us. You can see the brain on the right side. I'm not sure which extremity that is at the top on the left side?!?!

Dr. Appt. Update

2009-03-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to write a little bit about my Dr. appt. today. It went really well. We have recently switched to a Dr. in San Luis Obispo which is an hour North of base. The new Dr. was really nice and young (which I like, she hasn't had time to become bitter towards crazy pregnant ladies yet). She talked to us about the choice of hospitals we will have when that time comes. She also listened to my concerns about driving an hour while in labor and the fact that my mom will be coming down to watch Chels when I have the baby. She agreed with me that maybe we should make this more of a scheduled event so she said she would induce me within a week or so of my due date. That took such a huge load off my mind! The Dr. then told me since this was my first visit she wanted to see the baby for herself so she did an ultrasound. The baby looked good. He/she had a nice strong heartbeat and was moving around. He/she is measuring a little small but the Dr. didn't change my due date.

She made us an appt. tomorrow for the Nuchal Translucency test. It is also up in San Luis Obispo (SLO) so I guess we'll be driving back up tomorrow. Oh well, this is the sacrifice we have to make to be happy with our Dr. and hospital. At least gas isn't too expensive right now!

Overall I really liked the new Dr. and I'm glad we switched. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of the ultrasound tomorrow to scan in!

Another Gymnastics Video

2009-03-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

What you can't see in this picture is that the mat under the beam ends so the kids are really on a high beam. This is Chels saying she can't do it. Being on the high beam is the only part that freaks her out a little. She does it if I hold her hand though.

The "pool" they jumped off the beam into.

This the the goodbye song they sing before they go get their stamps for the day.

Gymnastic Videos

2009-03-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

Chels has been asking me everyday if it's dance class day yet so since I have a Dr.'s appt. tomorrow I called her teacher and asked if we could come a different day just this one week. She said that would be fine so Chels went to gymnastics again today. Jacob had asked me to take a video so here's the first one I took. Most of the kids in her class today were quite a bit younger so she was always running past them around the course in order to do everything faster. I couldn't talk her out of this action as you will see at the end of the video when she totally passes up two kids on the giant trampoline. I have another video that I will try to upload later.

2nd Trimester, HALLELUJAH!

2009-03-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Just a cute picture I took of Chels last night.

I know the first trimester drags by for anyone who has ever been pregnant. And it has for me too. It seems like Dec. 29 was about a year ago! (that's the day I got my positive pregnancy test) But, thankfully, today is my first official day of my second trimester. I have a Dr. appt. on Thursday where I will hopefully schedule my Nuchal Translucency test (which is basically just a really detailed ultrasound to measure the neck to determine the liklihood the baby has downs syndrome or not). Since I'm assuming I won't be able to get an appt. with the ultrasound tech for a week or two from Thursday I will be 15-16 weeks when I have this test done and my hope is they will be able to make a guess on the gender! I am so glad I wasn't alive 50 years ago having babies because just the 4-5 months of waiting to find out kills me!

I don't have any belly pictures to show yet. Sorry. I honestly don't think my belly has grown yet at all. I feel like I'm bigger but I haven't gained any weight and my stomach is still measuring the exact same. So I'm still waiting for that day when I wake up and I have a cute little belly staring back at me! It took me a long time to show with Chels' pregnancy too. But once I started showing I was HUGE!

I have been thinking about the upcoming arrival of our new baby and it's kind of been scaring me! I can now totally understand why people choose to have their babies close together. It's weird to think I'll be changing diapers again when I haven't changed a diaper for well over a year now. I'll be getting up in the middle of the night again, and feeding the baby whether through a bottle or nursing. It's just weird for me to think we'll be starting all over again. Chels is so independent now and we'll be going back to the first when a helpless little baby will be totally dependent on me. I think I'm more scared to have a newborn this time then I was when I was pregnancy with Chels, because now I know all it intells. But I couldn't be more happy. I am so excited for the new baby to come. I'll just have to brush off my newborn parenting skills once again!

Chels' First Class

2009-02-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess my little girl is growing up (sniffle...tear). I took her to a gymnastics class for the first time today and she did great! She loved every single minute of it and she followed the teacher's instructions very well. She could do all the activities and stunts like a pro, I was surprised since she doesn't seem like the most coordinated kid most of the time. I even talked to the teacher a little bit and we decided to take her to this younger class, which is more of a mommy and me class, a couple more weeks and then she'll be moving up to an older class, where the kids are on their own. I think she'll like the older class because she kept yelling at me for trying to help her today. She wanted to do it all by herself! She had so much fun and can't wait to go again next week. Unfortunately my Dr. appointment is next Thursday so she's going to have to wait 2 weeks to go again. She'll survive though.

I was being dumb and posted my pictures backwards, so this is the end of the class when they got to play with bubbles.

Backwards roll mat.

The big tumbling trampoline.

Chels doing the bear crawl.

Uneven bars activity, she swung on the low bar and kicked the number 2.

One of her favorite parts, swinging on the rings.

Rings again.

This was before we left.

For some reason she thought my bathrobe tie was going to be part of her dance class so she was playing with it, what a dork.

Chels' Haircut

2009-02-25T11:00:00.001-08:00

So I totally copies my SIL's last post about her little girl's haircut. But her little girl looked so cute with her new do that it gave me the haircut bug. I've been wanting to cut Chels' hair for a long time but I haven't worked up the courage to do it myself. And I haven't yet found a hairstylist I like and trust here in CA. So yesterday while she was in bathtub I told her I was going to cut her hair. I put her little stool in the tub and made her sit on it and told her to HOLD STILL! I mainly just wanted to give her a little trim and put some layers in it. Which I think I accomplished. It's not as cute as my niece's and it's not exactly even, so I think I'll be doing some retouches during tomorrow's bathtime, but overall I liked how it turned out!

A Military Wife

2009-02-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

My friend Katie sent this to me, and it seriously made me tear up. Not so much because of my own personal life but because I see this everyday. Military wives are honestly some of the best women I've met in my life.

What is a MILITARY Wife?
They may look different and each is wonderfully unique
But this they have in common: lots of moving---
moving
moving
moving far from home
moving two cars, three kids and one dog----all riding with HER of course
moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house
moving curtains that won't fit
moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours
moving away from friends moving toward new friends
moving her most important luggage; her trunk full of memories

often waiting-waiting, waiting, waiting for housing;
waiting for orders;
waiting for deployment;
waiting for reunion;
waiting for phones calls;
waiting for the new curtains to arrive;
waiting for him to comehome for dinner.

They call her 'military dependent', but she knows better
she can balance a checkbook
handle the yard work
fix a noisy toilet.
She is intimately familiar with drywall, anchors, and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car, or set up a move, ----all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.
Reinvents her career with every PCS; locates a house in the desert,the arctic, or the deep south and learns to call them all 'home'.
She MAKES them all home.

She is fiercely IN-dependent
Military Wives are somewhat hasty
They leap into decorating, leadership, volunteering, careeralternatives, churches and friendships.
They don't have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible.
They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other.

They connect over coffee, rely on the spouse-network and accept offers of friendship and favors and record addresses in pencil.

Military Wives have a common bond.

The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands.
His commitment is unique.
He doesn't have a job, he has a 'mission' he can't just decide to quit.
He's on-call for his country 24/7 but for you, he's the most...Unreliable guy in town...
His language is foreign: TDY, PCS, OPR, ACC, BDU
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.
She is the long-distance link to keep them informed; the glue that holds them together.

Military Wife has her moments--She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and refuse to move to Siberia .

But she pulls herself together.

Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to the flag, and a wedding picture.
And she goes.
She packs.
She moves.
She follows.

Why? What for? How come? You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart.

It was stolen from her by a man who puts duty first
who salutes the flag
and whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military husband,
She will remain his Military wife.

My Brother's visit

2009-02-16T10:44:00.000-08:00

I have 3 older brothers and the one that is just older then me came to visit us this weekend. Him and his family were down in LA to go to Disney Land so they decided to come up and see us and spend the night on Saturday.We had lots of fun visiting with them and seeing their new baby Abbie (we hadn't seen her yet). She is sure cute! I can't believe we're going to have a baby that small around again. Even though they weren't able to stay for very long it was still fun. Hopefully they'll come back to visit again before me move.

Baby Abbie, so cute!

My nephew Luke, he is so funny.

Chels and Luke watching Tinkerbell while we got ready for church.

My brother Doug and Jacob discussing guns.

We of course had to go to the beach even though it was really windy. Here they are running away from the water.

A family pic of them, what a miserable day at the beach!

This picture is so cute because Luke is going in for a kiss. This was right before they left to go back to LA.

My mom emailed me the picture of us on the beach last week when we went with my parents. I don't know which day was more miserable, this day or yesterday when we went with Doug. The weather should be turning around here soon...hopefully!!!

A pregnant Valentine's Day.

2009-02-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. We are never ones to really celebrate this particular holiday besides going out for dinner somewhere. I think I may have gotten flowers once, but that was while Jacob was in Afghanistan and I think he felt like he needed to do something a little estra special.

We decided to go out to dinner last night (Friday the 13th) instead of on the actual Day to avoid any overcrowded restaurants and also because my brother is coming into town to visit us this weekend along with his wife and 2 kids. So Jacob told me we could go anywhere I wanted (a wise decision since I'd probably throw up if we went somewhere I wasn't absolutely craving!). I started thinking and nothing really sounded good, pathetic I know. We were going to order Carside to Go from Applebees when I finally thought of something that made my tummy actually growl...IHOP! So we set out for Santa Maria. IHOP is on the outskirts of town, probably so the truckers can get to it, haha. We had to pass all the hip and cool restaurants to get there and they were all PACKED. I started to worry that maybe IHOP would be too. But Jacob assured me that only stoners and pregnant women go there, lol. So we drove into the parking lot and he was right, there was hardly anyone there. We got our choice of table and top notch service. The meal was awesome, it seriously hit the spot. One of the best V-Day meals in history! I've realized, I'm a total dork for choosing IHOP as my romantic Valentine's meal but I don't care, it was good.

Today, on the actual day we have just been cleaning the house. I gave Jacob an enormous Costco sized box of Fruit Mentos (because he loves them). And he has really given me the best present I could ask for which has been helping me clean. All I had to do was fold laundry and clean the guest bathroom, he did the rest. What a wonderful hubby! So anyways, Happy Valentine's to all. Hope everyone does something for, or at least thinks of someone special today!

My Mommy's visit

2009-02-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

My Mom and Dad came to visit us last Tuesday and they just left this morning. I love it when we have any visitors and it's especially fun when it's my Mom. Chels was so sad to see them go this morning. She kept asking me if she could go to Grandma's house, she would tell me she'd be right back. I had to break her little heart and make her stay home. Some day she'll be able to go to Grandma's house and stay with her. We had lots of fun while they were here. The main reason I love to have visitors is because we actually get out and explore the places we've lived. We hardly ever do the touristy things unless someone comes to our house. I think the funnest part of their visit was just having my mom around though, especially right now while I'm not feeling the greatest. They even kept Chels in their room every night so that when she'd wake up in the morning she wouldn't come bounding into my bed, that was so nice! Thanks for coming and visiting mom and dad, we had lots of fun!

The first few nights they were here we stayed up until 2:00 am to see the rocket that was supposed to launch but they kept scrubbing (cancelling) it. We finally saw it on the 3rd night they were here. It was worth the wait! This is the rocket when it first ignited.

Unfortunately it was cloudy so this is pretty much all we saw after it took off, still cool though!

My parent's watched Chels for us while we went to our Dr.'s visit. This is what they did while Jake and I were gone, so cute.

We went to visit Hearst Castle on Saturday up in San Simeon, CA. It's about 2 hours north of the base. It was interesting. It's pretty much this huge castle that this really rich guy built because he loved the castles in Europe so much. He either commissioned things to be built for him or he bought them from Europe after WWI when stuff was cheap. This is the outdoor swimming pool.

This is the view of the main part. It still wasn't as cool as the castles we have seen in Germany and Europe but it was pretty neat.

My mom and dad on the bus on the way up to the castle.

The indoor swimming pool. This was my favorite part although I was scared to death Chels was going to fall in.

Chels being silly outside the visitor's center.

This is the pier in San Simeon.

A family pic on Sunday, I thought it turned out nice for a snapshot.

On Monday we went to the La Purisima Mission here in Lompoc. I've never gone to see it even though it's really old and historical so I was happy I finally went and looked around, it was interesting.

It was so cold and rainy the entire time they were here (OK it was only in the 50's but it seemed cold to me!). This is me being stupid and pretending to lift this thing, it really just looks like I'm constipated or something.

A waterfall fountain at the mission.

We also went to the beach last night to watch the sunset. I'm kicking myself for not getting my mom's pics she took. It was so cold we were all wearing winter coats though. It has not been "sunny California" here lately!!!

Dr.'s Appt.

2009-02-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

We just got back from our Dr.'s appt. We are officially pregnant with one healthy baby. The Dr. said everything is looking and measuring perfect. We got to see the heartbeat and the little legs and arms moving, so cute! Our due date is September 7. We are very happy and we feel so blessed that everything is OK.

Catching some good Zzz's!

2009-01-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting a new bed for a long, looooong time! I've always kind of liked the coziness of the full bed that we have had but since I have been pregnant, and during my first pregnancy, I cannot stand to have someone that close to me while I try to sleep! I know I'm not far enough along to be showing or to have a huge belly yet but there's just something about needing your space in bed when you're already feeling crappy, I think most women would agree!

Ever since Jacob started asking me what I want for my birthday I've been telling him a new bed, thinking that this birthday wish would never be fulfilled. I was watching TV on Wednesday night and I saw a commercial for a furniture store that is going out of business in Santa Maria. So I told Jacob about it and I asked him if we could just go look. It must have been the combination of me being sick all the time, being pregnant, and it being my birthday on Sunday that finally added up to enough pity that he finally agreed to go look. Well the furniture store is definitely closing and they were trying to get rid of stuff fast! They were having such good sales that I was looking at new couches and tables sets even though we have recently purchased both of those things, haha. We ended up getting a screaming good deal on a top-of-the-line mattress (memory foam, YAY), and a bed frame for nearly nothing. We are thinking that we'll go back in after next payday and see if they're still open and if they have the rest of our set. Maybe it will be marked down even more since the complete set isn't together any more!

The only bad thing...my scrapbook stuff doesn't fit under the bed anymore, hmmm???

Chels on her new bed, our old one.

Our awesome, lovely, luxurious new bed. It's so comfy. Thanks for the great bday present Jacob!!!