Sargent Standpoint

Bandwagoning

2012-02-01T07:33:00.001-07:00

To an extent I suppose you could look at my new year's resolution to lose weight as a little bit cliche or on the bandwagon, but technically I have been trying to lose weight since Dax was born and the new resolve came because of one of my harp students.

I don't remember how we got on the subject of weight lose but we spent too much of one lesson on it. We decided we would push each other to reach our goals and have a prize at the end. This harp student is well in her 30s so don't think I'm making this goal with a 14 year old... that would probably be out of place for me to do.

So we weighed in on my scale and came up with realistic, healthy weight loss goals for ourselves. So far we are both doing great.

In college I joined weight watchers for a semester and lost 30 pounds. It was a really effective way, but I didn't stick to it when I stopped going. Although I only put a little bit back on, I hadn't reached my ultimate goal when I stopped and then I got married and immediately got pregnant. I was so sick my first trimester I ate what would stay down... Which wasn't much and it changed every couple of days. Not the most healthy diet, that's for sure but I guess that is fairly normal for a first trimester.

After Luke was born I found myself struggling to get back into good eating habits. I stayed a little more than I was after going on weight watchers until 10 months later when I got pregnant with Dax. Repeat the poor eating but probably multiply it by 2 because we were living with my in laws and didn't have a kitchen of our own. Poor Tyler.

Needless to say, I have had a little weight I have wanted to lose since Dax was born. I'm happy to say I am back to my pre-Dax weight and almost back to my end of weight watchers number. Once I reach that number I will hope to lose 10-20 more pounds to my ultimate healthy weight goal. I don't really know what it will be because I want to be in good shape, toned, strong and able to endure (such as running more than a 5k which I did once and intend to do again). When I get to the point where I can do all those things and feel good and level out then I think I will start a maintenance plan.

Since I started I have lost 6 pounds. It has now been a month and I read that it is safe to lose a pound a week while nursing, without losing my milk. I have lost more than a pound a week and I have not lost my milk! I have to make sure to drink a lot of water a day and eat enough calories.

In order to make sure that I do get enough calories to continue producing enough milk for Dax, I downloaded a calorie counting app for my phone. I chose the my fitness pal app because it is free and has an extensive number of foods to choose from and an option to add 500 calories for breastfeeding. I get 1400 calories a day before you add in the breastfeeding allowance but I only need 1200. So I figure 1200 to lose weight and 1400 to maintain? really those numbers are 1700 and 1900 once I add in the 500 calorie allowance. Once I stop breastfeeding I think I will have to cut back quite a bit to maintain, but I will work it out.

It is nice to take advantage of my body's extra fat burning tendencies while I'm nursing. I'm not sure I would have lost more than a pound a week if it weren't for that factor.

So there you have it folks; my new year's resolution. I'm already feeling skinnier and it is an awesome feeling. It doesn't help that I love to bake and make tasty things. I have been a very giving neighbor lately. I hope I'm not ruining my neighbors' new year's resolutions... But it is fun to give treats and it helps me not eat them all.

P.S. The blueberry muffins I made this morning are still sitting there taunting me with their yumminess but I have not given in. I think I deserve a pat on the back. :-)

February Lovin'

2012-02-01T06:11:00.001-07:00

So I have this thing about surprising Tyler. I don't like him to see me in the process of getting it ready, no matter what the surprise is.

Last night I made a few preparations for a secret surprise I was planning to pull off this morning and I am pretty sure Tyler thought I was just doing dishes and paid no attention to me in the kitchen. (kudos to me for leaving some dishes in the sink to need to do before bed.)

This morning, when Tyler's alarm went off I got up. He was still in bed because he sets his alarm earlier than he needs to so he can sleep in a little bit (a habit that definitely made late for many classes in college). I hoped he would think I had just gotten up to use the bathroom and then just not notice that I didn't come back to bed... Maybe he would be out of it enough, right?

So I crept into the bathroom and then tried to be so sneaky about quietly opening the other door that leads to the laundry room and kitchen, however, our doors are not very quiet. Once in the kitchen I grabbed the portions I had prepared last night and got to work. When Tyler got up he came in and asked me what I was doing. I thought he might but I couldn't figure out the best thing to say so I just said, ”oh... Just... Nothing.” Right... Very smooth. Anyway, I got some blueberry muffins in the oven with enough time for the timer to signal their readiness before Tyler had to leave.

Well... Apparently, if you mix the eggs, water and oil in a bowl and mix the crumb topping in another bowl and put them in the fridge over night you will have to add approximately 5 minutes to the cooking time to compensate for the over all refrigerated starting temperature. I know this because they took around 25 minutes instead of the 17-19 listed on the box (I know, it might be surprising to some that I used a box, but it seemed like the easiest easy to not take hours this morning). This was not my plan and it made Tyler late. However, I'm sure they will over look his tardiness when he shows up with a couple muffins for each of them. Besides, Tyler usually gets to work before his brother anyway so I don't think it is a big deal.

I wanted to do something extra special to show Tyler I love him and he knows how much my sleep means to me seeing as Dax still wakes me up at least once before 6, sometimes twice, and Luke keeps waking up around 6 (which I don't know what to do about). I know how much he loves muffins for breakfast, particularly blueberry ones, so this seemed like a great way to accomplish my goal.

He just sent me a text thanking me and saying they were delicious so I think that means that it was a mission accomplished!

I splurged and had one too but I didn't put any butter or anything on it. You don't want to know how many calories just one is worth. It makes me feel like I need to go do some zumba or something. I will not be eating anymore of them though. I tell you that now so I can pretend like this is a way to hold myself accountable. I will be giving a short update tomorrow confirming that I didn't give in to the last 3 delicious looking crumb topped muffins with real blueberries baked in. Scrumptious!

Happy 1st of February everyone!

Good Morning

2012-01-23T08:31:00.001-07:00

Dax has been eating cereal two times a day for about a month now. He seems to like it but he always sticks his hands in his mouth after I spoon some in there... It is getting to be really messy.

I keep finding that Luke has climbed up and is laying next to Dax when I am not looking. Dax loves having company.

Also there is a random picture of Luke that Dax selected with his elbow and I don't know how to remove from the post... So you get a bonus! Luke secretly went out through the doggy door when I was getting dressed and found my snow boots right outside the door. He looked so funny walking around the backyard in them!

Two Different and Similar Kids

2012-01-16T12:07:00.001-07:00

Luke:
-High energy ( since right out of the womb he has always been this way)
-Curious, won't play with toys very long, he would rather explore and discover (usually something he had been told to stay out of, like the cleaners...)
-Wouldn't cry himself to sleep, had to be asleep in my arms when I laid him down until around 7 months
-Independent, he likes certain people to play on certain ways but around other kids he observes or finds a toys and plays with it on his own
-Can't sit still, and always hated being put in the little rocking chair or on a blanket on the floor
-Started trying to put weight on his legs right out of the womb, he always wanted to stand
- Hated being swaddled more than just about anything and wouldn't sleep until he was loosed
- Didn't smile without a lot of encouragement until probably 9 months, and still didn't smile at everything
- Didn't laugh at many things until he was close to a year old
- Easy to nurse
-Was a serious spitter, I worried that maybe he had acid reflux but we never had him tested
- Was born with light brown hair which quickly fell out leaving him bald for a while and was replaced by white blonde toe headed-ness
-His eyes always had a circle of brown right around the pupil and I knew they would end up brown
-Never liked pacifiers and never sucked his thumb

Dax:

- Mellow
- Entertained by toys ( so far anyway.)
- Doesn't fall asleep easily in
anyone's arms and will cry himself to sleep fairly quickly
- Can't sleep unless he its swaddled tightly (or being cuddled in my bed)
- Calmly sits still with someone or on the little rocking chair or on a blanket on the floor.
- Started putting weight on his feet right away and still likes it but doesn't insist on standing as much as Luke did
- Smiles a lot (especially for me)! Such a sweet smiler and always gets the people behind us at church smiling and whispering to him. He is a bit of a distraction I guess haha
- Laughed early and does more easily than Luke every did so young
-Has always been a real pill to nurse, and has almost been switched to formula multiple times.
- Hardly spits up at all, such a welcome change :-)
-Born with dark brown hair which seems to bet a lighter brown but he has not been bald yet
-His eyes have looked mostly blue ever since he was born.
-Has taken a pacifiers sometimes and just figured out his to suck his thumb

I'm sure I could come up with more but I just find it so interesting to see the things that are so opposite. I love my handsome little guys and I hope they continue to love each other and enjoy each others' company as much as they do right now. I seriously believe Dax was meant to be second in this family. I go crazy sometimes trying to manage everything but I can't imagine how I would have handled them in reverse having a toddler and trying to take care of Luke how he was as a baby on top of that... the nice men on their clean white suits would have taken me away a long time ago!

Well, time to clean the kitchen... Again... so it can get dirty again and then I can clean it again... No. it doesn't stop getting dirty, EVER!

It Has Been a While

2011-12-25T19:07:00.001-07:00

So I have a hard time convincing myself to blog these days. I like to blog, but blogging from my phone requires so much editing that it gets frustrating. For those who missed that post, my dog pulled my laptop off the table and shattered the screen. My sister and her husband had a desktop screen they weren't using so they are letting us use it. The thing is, it is in my room on my desk and it can't get the neighbor's internet from there. So... That means I still have to do my blogging from my phone, which is slow going and frequently interrupted... Like after that sentence I had to go get Luke in bed and then it was 2 days before I got back to this post. So I think you might understand why I haven't posted anything for a while.

I have been trying to organize my life a little more because trying to take care of Luke, Dax and two dogs, plus keep the house clean enough to function is time consuming enough that if I don't have in mind what else I am going to get accomplished then it won't get accomplished. This includes dinner. Everyday I was saying ”what should I make for dinner?!” and I couldn't think of anything and I didn't have everything I needed when I came up with something and so I kept not making dinner ( I don't count making PB&J or pizza) If I didn't make dinner, then there were no leftovers for Tyler to take for lunch at work... which meant he would have to buy something and it wasn't likely to be very healthy.

This was causing frustration for me and financial stress for us. I had heard of making a meal calendar before but I just kept thinking, that won't work, we would get sick of the meals if I remake the same stuff each month. But then I realized it didn't have to be a one month thing. I could make 2 calendars and have it repeat every two months, that seemed more reasonable. So I took something like 4 hours one day a few weeks ago to go through my recipe books and pick entrees that we like, organize then in columns according to the meat used in it or lack there of. I then made a 4 week calendar and started placing dinners for each day. I couldn't just stick them anywhere though, because I have harp students some nights which makes dinner time complicated, especially because Tyler's work hours change so I never know when he will get home. So after strategically placing the meals so we wouldn't have chicken 3 days in a row or Mexican twice a week, and choosing sides or vegetables to go with each I had to put it away and take care of the kids who were now walking up from their naps.

Having that calendar has simplified dinner time like I would never have imagined! The only thing is that I got to the end of the calendar and I still have to come up with the next 4 weeks and I am dreading it and swamped with other things. Still, I will take the time to do it as soon as I can because it has made a huge difference in our lives. There is always enough left over for tyler to take some for lunch and often there is even enough for Luke and I to have it for lunch the next day too. That means that it makes my lunch decisions easier too... Not to mention more healthy... (lets just say I stopped buying hot dogs and frozen chicken nuggets which were my go lunch for a while because Luke doesn't like bread for sandwiches very often). Tyler and I have both lost weight since I started this calendar thing too which makes us both feel better about life.

Anyway, I still have a lot of things I want to do to organize my life more but this has made me feel more motivated to put forth the effort. I attached a picture of my simple little calender that is on the side of the fridge... I'm working on the 5th week right now.

Also, look how big Dax is getting!

Halloween

2011-11-03T10:27:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a dandy halloween! We did. This year I went with a very simple costume for both my boys; they were puppies. Some people thought they looked more like bears... maybe that is because there is no tongue hanging out of the mouth on the onsies. I don't know, but they were supposed to be puppies.

I originally wanted Dax to be a frog but it was easier to just have him be a puppy too... And I thought he made a pretty cute one.

As you can see from the picture of luke crying, Luke doesn't like holding still, especially not long enough to have me paint a really cool puppy design on his face. So I had to start over and simplify things and it really didn't turn out like I wanted. Oh well.

After lunch on halloween, I practiced trick or treating with Luke. I stuck him outside with his bucket, closed the door part way, and told him to knock. When he did I opened the door and told him to say ” trick or treat” (which I taught him to say during lunch by bribing him with candy). When he saw the candy he said trick or treat right away and I put it in his bucket. He caught on really fast and did pretty well when we went around the neighborhood. Sometimes it was hard to get him to say it because our neighbors didn't expect him to really be able to so they would bring out the candy right away and start giving him some. He was so distracted by getting the candy in his bucket that he wouldn't stop to take the time to say trick or treat for a while. He did say it at couple of houses though. Dax mostly slept in my arms lookin' cute.

In the picture of Luke with Dax, Luke is in the middle of saying cheese. It was incredibly difficult to get him to sit there long enough to take a picture, and I couldn't retake it because Dax gagged on his own spit and threw up all over himself right after I took that picture.

It was an adventurous day. Luke even painted a little pumpkin and I carved one. I even tried making carmel apples Sunday for the first time in my life... As far as I can remember anyway. They were/ still are delicious!

So there you have it. A simple Sargent halloween.

Some things I'm grateful for

2011-10-21T10:44:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was the kind of day where annoying things happened but I was staying up beat until about 5 when I was trying to get luke dinner, Dax wouldn't stop crying, luke was whining, tyler was still at work when he usually gets home at 4 ish, and Bo was hungry and I was hungry and it just seemed like the whole world was exploding. I was just losing it and wanted to press pause on everything and catch my breath. I didn't know what to do for Dax because he didn't want to eat and I had tried a bunch of stuff and he would just cry. tyler didn't get home until 8 and I finally got Dax to bed at like 9:30. so then tyler showed me some funny videos on youtube and tried to cheer me up and help me relax. I'm feeling better this morning but I thought it would be good to share some things I'm grateful for... You know, bullet point style.
-Dax sleeps well at night most nights
- Luke goes to bed and right to sleep without a fight almost every night. He doesn't even want to be rocked anymore, we sit down with him on the rocking chair have family prayer and then he says ”bed” so we lay him down and that's that.
- Dax already smiles at me sometimes when I'm talking to him and he looks me in the eyes
-Dax has always responded to my voice... Much more than Luke did at the same age.
- Luke likes to give me hugs and always does when I tell him I love him
-Luke says and does the funniest things right now
- Luke is starting to be more obedient
- I have two mostly happy, healthy, seldom sick boys who haven't had anything that major cause us stress
- Bo is careful and playful with Luke and they entertain each other for some of each day
- Bo doesn't bite (other than his playful nip which he has gotten much better at controlling) or growl at us
- my cabinets turned out great
- we sold our portable dishwasher really fast on KSL so now we can get a built in one for the empty spot.
- we own our house and can do whatever we want to it
- I have had more harp gigs this year than I've ever had in a year and it has really helped us out financially
- I have 2 dedicated, honest, responsible, respectful, and friendly harp students who don't mind paying me for lessons and value me enough not to ask for discounts
- I may have another student starting soon
- tyler is in a good job being paid the same as he was at the previous job but he isn't driving 45 minutes each way to and from work.
- His new boss values him enough as an employee to give him a bonus already.
- I am making therapeutic heat/cold bags that I'm selling at my parents' chiropractic office and online in Etsy.com (though I haven't listed them yet because my laptop its broken)
- luke is learning his manners really well. He is always saying please and thank you. He even thanks me for hugs!
- my parents were willing to drive all the way up here during their lunch break to give care to me and my boys when we had the flu.
-we have always been able to find a way to meet our financial obligations and pay tithing
-my visiting teaching companion called to see about going to teach our sisters and brought us dinner instead when she found out I was sick.
- I am healthy and in pretty good shape (for having had 2 babies so close together) and I'm rarely sick
- My mom set a great example for me of how to be a good wife and mom and I'm striving to be good enough to set an example to my sons so they can want a hard working, healthy, happy wife to be the mom for their kids.
- I know how to take a nap if I need to (unlike tyler who will lay there and try and never fall asleep)
- I have loads of love and support from family and friends (thanks, it means so much to me!)
- I get among with my mother in law most of the time and she gives us our space and doesn't expect too much.
- I have a testimony that prayers are answered and sometimes it is immediate even though other times it is not and if we aren't paying attention watching for the answers even when it its sooner or later than expected then we might not notice that something is an answer to our prayers
- I have a testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ and I have felt it heal me and bring joy back into my life during dark and difficult times and have felt overwhelming love and comfort when I felt most alone and unworthy.
- I married a man who was nothing like what I had imagined for myself because I love him and felt like it was right and he has helped me grow in so many ways
- Tyler has always been forgiving and understanding of my weaknesses and shortcomings
- Tyler loves me and wants the best for me and is always trying to do what he can to make me and our boys comfortable and happy.

So there you have it... It its a little early since thanksgiving is still a month away but I guess I can always write one around thanksgiving titled ” Some things I'm thankful for”. :-) have a good day and take a picture instead of yelling:

Park

2011-10-03T20:47:00.006-06:00

Luke is growing up so fast and it is really just weirding me out with Dax here. I look at Dax and I can't remember Luke being so small! I feel like Luke is going through one of his development leaps right now. He seems to be understanding a lot more and he looks a older in his face and he is trying to say a lot of things and I can kinda hear what he's trying to say in the gibberish that comes out. These pictures were taken yesterday and today. I think you can see his face looks more mature.

Well we went to the park on Sunday and it was fun to watch Luke play. I don't have to stay as close now. I don't have to hold onto him while he gets situated at the top of the slide. I can just stay near by to make sure he doesn't try to jump off one of the parts that is meant for older kids. Here is a video of him going down the slide. He always starts going down and flips right over to his belly to go down. This time he tried going down sitting up for the first time. I was shocked. He's seriously turning into a kid instead of "Baby Luke".

Also, Luke is such a sweet big brother. He see, hears, or suddenly things about Dax and he says, "Daaaaaax. Daaaaaaaax." as he walks over to him and he gives him a hug and if the binkie has fallen out of Dax's mouth he tries to get it back in. He also puts his arms out and asks to hold him so I hold Dax in Luke's arms and Luke says, "Thanks" and then he's done. It took a lot of work to get a picture of Luke holding Dax. This was after he was done already but I asked nicely for him to keep holding Dax... they're still cute. :)

I have more pictures to post but it's time for bed so they'll have to go in another post.

Helpful Big Brother Luke

2011-09-01T09:45:00.001-06:00

Luke with Dax... he tries to be such a helpful big brother :)

Daxton's Birth Announcement

2011-08-26T14:53:00.002-06:00

Modern Introduction Boy Birth Announcement

Personalized cards for babies, Valentines, Easter and Mother's Day.

View the entire collection of cards.

Daxton Tyler Sargent

2011-08-22T21:21:00.005-06:00

Surprise!!!!!

Meet the newest member of the Sargent family.

Sometimes it is hard to open those sleepy eyes!

Daxton Tyler Sargent. He was born Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 6:02 pm. He measured 19 inches long and weighed in at 6lbs 11 oz.

Dax's Birth Story. . . unabridged:

So as a lot of people have noticed, I've been ready to have this kid for a while now. I was counting down and really starting to feel like September would never come. So when I heard I was dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced at 35 weeks and 5 days (they were pretending like I was 36 weeks already at this appointment) I was having a really hard time not getting my hopes up that this meant our newest little boy would come early. Luke only graced us with his presence 3 days before his due date so that didn't give us much room to think this one would do much different.

Well, when we went to Bear Lake with my family 2 weeks ago I hit the 36 week, full term mark and I told everyone we would be having the baby soon. I was also freaking out a little inside because all of a sudden it was setting in that this baby COULD come at any time he felt like it. But I pretended like I wasn't freaked out and at the end of our weekend of fun, I told everyone, "Bye! See ya after this baby's born!" My mom was like, "That's too long" and called me a tease or something like that.

Fast forward one week. Saturday August 20, I started having some pretty normal Braxton hicks contractions while I was getting ready for the day that morning. I was really excited because I had a girl's day planned to go get lunch (which was amazing), pedicures (which was relaxing), and then frozen custard (so yummy) with my dear "etc." (kind alike a bestie only different) Jessica McAllister. All day people kept asking how much longer I had until I was due and I would tell them, "3 weeks, but I'm getting a pedicure today so hopefully he'll decide to come tonight." All day I kept having the same practice contractions and some of them were pretty strong. I even tried to time them a few times and they were pretty irregular so I just ignored them and went about my day.

By dinner time that night the contractions were starting spread around my whole belly and a little in my back like real contractions and I started to really wonder if I might go into labor soon. I know some women have false labor for days or longer before they go into real labor, so I figured it could still be 3 weeks but the fact that they'd been going on all day and getting stronger made me start to freak out again. This kid could actually be on his way! My nesting went into overdrive because we'd started a couple of new projects when I got back from my awesome (and much needed) girl's day, so our house was a complete mess. Tyler had put a few holes in the ceiling to try to get the cold water line from the laundry room to the kitchen, and found birds nests in the attic which made a mess. So I started trying to clean up a little just in case I did go into labor because I didn't want anyone to see my house such a mess. I didn't get much done though because Tyler told me to calm down and go to bed.

I'd been out walking earlier that evening with a big water bottle because if it was false labor, walking and drinking a lot of water is supposed to either make the contractions stop or kick them into gear so they organize and turn into real labor. Nothing really changed all evening though so I was feeling pretty confused and decided to take Tyler's advice and go to bed. If it did turn into real labor I knew I'd need my strength.

At 12:20am I was awakened by a very strong contraction. This one went into my back and took some deep breathing. With Luke I gave birth naturally using the Marie Mongan "Hypnobirthing" method. I didn't feel like I was very good at it, but it did what I needed it to so I had decided to use it again. The contraction wasn't too bad but it definitely felt like a real contraction not a practice one anymore. I continued to have them 10-15 minutes apart all night long. So this meant I slept for about 5 minutes and then had a strong contraction and then slept for 5 minutes and so on. They were getting stronger and some were a little difficult to focus through, but I really wanted to do as much on my own as possible because I wanted Tyler well rested so he could help me better when I really needed him. When I had Luke, I woke Tyler up at 3 am when I started having contractions and he barely got anymore sleep and was really weak, tired and feeling sick during the time I needed him to be the really strong one during the labor. I knew the longer I could handle them without him the better for both of us.

By morning the contractions were really strong and I couldn't multi task anymore like I had been the night before. I told Tyler he better call his mom and see if she could come get Luke so we could focus on either stopping my labor or getting it to progress because I was really tired and starting to get discouraged. The contractions were moving more into my back and getting extremely difficult to handle. If they kept getting stronger in my back but not closer together and causing me to progress toward giving birth I didn't know if I'd be able to handle them naturally like I wanted to.

Strong labor in the back is a pretty good indicator that the baby is posterior, or facing forward rather than facing my back causing the back of the baby's head to put a great deal of pressure on the back of the sacrum or whatever it's called. We started trying different techniques to try to encourage the baby to turn, and Tyler's mom came and got Luke.

I called my CNM (certified nurse midwife) to ask for some advice. Of course, it's just my luck that my CNM wasn't on call for the weekend, so I spoke with the CNM who was on call. She happened to be the only other CNM I'd made an appointment with and the check up I'd had with her didn't leave me with a very good impression. It made me really frustrated that my CNM wasn't the one on call... again just like with Luke's birth. She said that they baby would have to turn on his own and if I wanted I could come to the hospital and get pain medication but that was about all she had to say. I was really frustrated when I got off the phone. I couldn't help feeling discouraged because I didn't know how to get the baby to turn, she said he'd just have to do it on his own, I was in a lot of pain, I hadn't had much sleep, my CNM wasn't on call, and the only CNM who was on call seemed like she really couldn't care less.

So, we spent a few hours trying different techniques. Thank goodness our neighbor's internet was still up and working so Tyler could do some research and keep me trying different things. He was really awesome. I know he felt like he had no idea how to help me, but he was helping a lot.

I called my parents and talked to them about the situation and they agreed that they thought the baby must be posterior to cause me so much back labor. I could barely feel any labor in the front because the back labor was so intense. They said my dad knew some acupressure points he could try that might help the baby turn. When they arrived, my dad got to work but it was really hard to let him work on me because it seemed like every time he started doing something it would bring on another contraction. I was having a really hard time relaxing through the pain in my back but we were out of ideas.

My dad was successful and soon the labor was more in the front and MUCH more manageable! Within the a few minutes the labor was so strong I could feel it down in my legs and so I knew it was time to get to the hospital, especially because I tested positive for Group B Strep so they were going to hook me up to penicillin for 4 hours and wanted me to still be in labor for 4 hours before pushing so the baby would get the penicillin and be protected from a potential blood disease.

My dad drove us in our car so Tyler could help me work through the contractions when I needed him to, and my mom followed in their car so they could leave us there. I was grateful to have Tyler in the back with me because even though they weren't as painful as before, I was so tired and the strongest contractions became very difficult to relax through.

When we got to the hospital they took us to triage to do whatever they do and they made me lay on a bed to be checked and hooked up to the penicillin and monitors. Then this nurse started asking me all this information and she seemed really impatient about it because I couldn't really answer in the middle of my contractions. I finally said, "I thought I pre-registered, why do you need all this information again if I pre-registered." I guess that was a rude thing to say because she seemed annoyed or offended or somethings and said that they do it with everyone who is admitted. What's the point of pre-registering then???

They checked me and I was dilated to a 7 and probably 90% effaced. A nurse started my IV and I was so impressed with how well she did! I get so nervous about getting poked and IV's really freak me out. I didn't feel anything! I didn't tense up, and it didn't hurt after she put it in. Every other IV has ached when I move or hurt when they put it in, or nearly caused me to pass out because they missed the vein or whatever they do sometimes. Her movements were fluid and gentle and I hardly even noticed she was doing it.

So they moved us to the birthing room and asked us more questions and got me hooked up to the monitors and then finally said I could move around as I wanted and left us alone. Nearly 4 hours of labor followed. I worked through each contraction and did my darnedest to make myself relax since tensing up only made things more difficult. Tyler was there for me and helped me and made me try different positions and I can't even tell you how grateful I am that he was so clear headed this time around. I think letting him sleep the night before paid off. :)

By the time I had been at the hospital for 3 1/2 hours I was feeling the urge to push. I told the nurse and she called the CNM in and said that the last time she'd checked me I was dilated to a 9 and it had been a while so I was probably complete. The CNM said, "Well 3 1/2 hours is going to have to be close enough." She called the whole team in to be ready when the baby was born and we got ready to push. I had her break my water because it hadn't broken yet and I was really looking forward to the relief of pressure that brings.

After she broke the water she checked me and said that the cervix had snapped back a little after the bulging bag had broken, leaving a lip. I didn't really know what she was talking about so she said, "It's like you're dilated to a 9 and 3/4. The baby's head just can't quite get past that lip." She told everyone false alarm and told me not to push until the lip was gone. My thought at this point was... "are you kidding me?! you want me to NOT push when my body is going to push no matter what I do???! Have you ever tried not to push when you body says to push? I don't think it's possible." I did my best not to say it out loud though.

I did my best not to push but my body was doing it's own thing. I merely didn't push hard. I got on my hands and knees hoping it would make it easier not to push but it did the opposite. With every contraction I kept saying "I can't NOT push!" Finally it was so strong that I had to push hard and I couldn't help it. The CNM came back in and I laid down so she could check the lip and she said the hands and knees position must have done the trick and called the team back in.

I had wanted to use gravity but I was so tired at this point that I decided to stay on my back. I thought it might be risky in make the labor stop or slow down or something, but I decided to take the chance because I need some sort of rest.

I pushed and after maybe 10 minutes the CNM made a circle with her finger and thumb to show me how much of the head was showing. I said, "that's not very much" and she said it was a lot and told me to feel it. I didn't want to feel it. I wanted to push. She kept insisting that I feel the baby's head coming through so I finally reached down and felt it. There was just a little bit there which made me feel frustrated like it was taking forever. I wanted to get him out NOW! I said "That's not enough scalp!" and pushed harder. It was only a few pushes later and he was out. I tore but it wasn't deep. She said he came out a little crooked (just like Luke) and with his hand on his head so I basically had to push his head and shoulder out at the same time. Silly kid, put your hand down! Oh well, it's a good thing he was so tiny!

So my CNM put him right up on my belly and said his cord was too short so I'd have to wait for a second to hold him. She had Tyler cut the cord, which was cool. We'd talked about if he wanted to or not and he couldn't decide. He was probably surprised by it because she just handed him the scissors and said cut right there. So he did what he was told and they placed him on my chest.

I looked at my little baby boy and thought "Daxton, he looks like a Daxton." We'd been going back and forth between Daxton and Wyatt for a long time. Then we both weren't sure if either of those were good names and we were at a complete loss because we couldn't find any other names that we liked. So when we decided we'd just have to see what happened when he came out. Daxton felt right. I wasn't sure I'd feel that way about either of the names, but I'm really glad that feeling came. After that I just couldn't get over how tiny he was. I held him for a few minutes but I was so tired I could barely keep my arms up. I'd been working through contractions for 2 days and my body was exhausted. I let the nurse take him to the other side of the room to weigh and measure him. Tyler went over with her and took pictures.

My CNM was busy numbing and stitching me up and I was being a real wimp about it. I'm a little embarrassed at how many times I whined that it ached and that I couldn't stop my body from shaking. Everyone was really nice though and told me I wasn't being a wimp and that it was pretty normal to not have much patience left for the stitches after everything else. I still feel like a wimp for that part though.

As I laid there trying not to be a wimp, they brought Dax over to me and the nurse said, "Do you hear how he's grunting? That means that he can't fill his lungs all the way. I called in a specialist to look at him and she said we need to take him to the transition nursery to put him on some oxygen to help him fill his lungs." I thought this might happen seeing as we were only to the 37 week mark, and it seems pretty common in babies born early. Tyler asked if I wanted him to stay with me or go with Dax and I told him to go and I'd be fine.

When I finally got to leave the birthing room to go to my recovery room that would be mine the remainder of the stay, I asked them to take me to see Dax. They let me hold him even though he was hooked up to stuff and I was grateful but I couldn't hold him very long. I was tired and feeling weak. I hadn't really had anything to eat for a long time. I asked permission and then handed him to Tyler who hadn't gotten to hold him yet. That was a sweet moment. He's such a good dad. He didn't hold him long because he could tell I was uncomfortable in the wheelchair but we got an update first. They had started his positive pressure at a "6" whatever that means, and then they tried to cut it back and he didn't do well so they bumped it back up. They would try to wean him again soon and they said he had 6 hours, or until midnight, to get off the positive pressure or he'd be admitted to NICU. If he got off of it before midnight without a problem then he could come to our room to stay. So we hoped for the best, kissed Dax and we went to our room.

Tyler went back and forth for a couple hours to check on Dax and to be with me. My parents arrived around 8:30 and suggested that my dad help Tyler give Dax a priesthood blessing. I'd been thinking about it, but I didn't think they'd let my dad in because they told us only Tyler and I would be allowed in the transition nursery to see Dax and any other visitors could look through the window. My parents said the hospital was required to let members of the clergy in to perform blessings. We thought that was pretty cool so Tyler and my parents left me to go give Dax a blessing and I ate my dinner. The nursery people were very nice. They let my mom in too.

Maybe an hour later they said Dax was improving a lot and he was down to a "2". Shortly after that they said they wanted me to come try to nurse him. So Tyler wheeled me down there. When we got there his number was so low that he was practically off the oxygen. As I tried to nurse him I kept pulling the stupid tube out of his nose. So the nurse said, "it's been long enough, let's see how he does without it." and she took the tube off. Yay! Such a blessing! So I kept trying to nurse him but he was so tired he wouldn't wake up enough to nurse. They said I could try again and to just give them an hour to see if he could stay off the oxygen and if so they'd just bring him to us. We left and an hour later he got to come to our room to stay! He never had a set back after that and he hasn't had any trouble breathing. They did blood sugar tests every 6 hours for the first 24 hours but he never got too low and after I started feeding him every 2 hours his numbers were great and they weren't worried at all.

Tyler's parents brought Luke to see us Monday morning, but Luke was extremely tired because he hadn't slept well the night before so he really didn't care. It was a little disappointing, but I kinda thought that would be the case. Now that we've all been home, he loves to be next to him and to be "soft" and give him hugs. He always stands next to the changing table on his big boy bed and watches while I change Dax's diaper. He's such a sweet big brother.

We got to leave 4ish hours early from the hospital Tuesday afternoon. They had told us we would have to stay 48 hours to make sure Dax was good to go. That would have been 6:00pm and I was going crazy in that room. I hadn't left that room since I tried to nurse Dax in the transition nursery. The pediatrician said Dax checked out and he would put his release as anytime after noon. So we ordered our last free meal off the hospital and ate lunch before the nurse came and went over the discharge stuff.

I'm so grateful we weren't stuck there for a week like we were with Luke. Dax is a really sweet boy and I can't wait to see how he and Luke grow up together! But I don't want him to grow too fast, I love to cuddle my little guy.

So Much for "Child Proof"

2011-08-18T07:34:00.005-06:00

I guess I should have taken the description on the box a little more literally when it said "Easy to use". . .

Smarty Pants Luke

First Time Homeowners Lesson #...

2011-08-17T10:12:00.001-06:00

Well I'm not sure what number it is because we've definitely had lots to learn since we bought this house. However, we're probably in the hundreds by now.

Yesterday we had a less than pleasant surprise. I took Luke into his room to put his shoes on and his light didn't turn on. Then I looked around and noticed that there wasn't power to anything. I opened the front door to check the breaker box and found a thing on the door knob that said our power had been turned off and the reason marked was "No Applicant". What the....?

You have to understand that in the apts. we'd rented in Logan and Bountiful the power was included in the city utilities bill. When we set up our utilities account we assumed the power was included, especially because we had power. The gas bill was obviously separate and we had to call Questar to come turn the gas on when we moved in. So why was the electricity on? Who knows. Also, why didn't they leave a notice on the door the day before or send one in the mail saying our power would be turned off if we didn't take a certain action? I think that's just stupid and a waste of their time and money not to send a notice in the mail or leave one on the door or SOMETHING.

Well I called the customer service number in my confusion and she explained that we hadn't set up an account and that we didn't pay it through the city like I thought. I didn't believe her so I went and got a city utilities bill stub out and sure enough, power wasn't listed there. That made a lot sense for that city bill though. It has been the same each month and I couldn't imagine how we were possibly using the same amount of power each month. Maybe the light should have clicked on back when I noticed it was the same each month, but it didn't, I just thought they had decided to charge it like the do for water, a set amount for a up to a certain amount of usage.

Anyway, I got the account set up and told her when we'd closed on the house and she said they would be sending us a really big bill at the end of August because it would have all the months' usage since March. Lovely. Why did they let us have power for 6 months without noticing until now that there wasn't an account when the house had been vacant since January of last year?

Well she said someone would come back and turn it on. By this time it was already heating up in the house. Our little house doesn't take long to heat up! Tyler was on his way home though and I was glad for that. We waited and waited for someone to come and then I decided to call and find out if they'd be out the same day or the next day because if they weren't coming right away then I'd need to go buy a bunch of ice for the fridge and freezer to keep our food from going bad. Why couldn't they just warn us beforehand?! We could have told them oh, sorry here's our info. And saved a lot of food and energy!

So the customer service lady said it would be within 24 hours of when the service ticket was opened and would depend on how many people had tickets in front of ours in line but if the power wasn't on by 5:00 then it would be the next day.

Shortly after this phone call we heard someone by the break box and meter doing something for a minute or 2 and then they left. Our power still wasn't on so we decided maybe they needed to do something else that might take some time or something. We decided to go get dinner in an air conditioned place since we were burning up and I couldn't cook anything. Thank goodness the Pizza Factory by our house has a sweet pizza and salad deal for $5.99 each. That was tasty and we got to fill our salad plates with things Luke likes so we didn't really have to pay for him. Cheating? Well... I ate some stuff off my salad plate too so not completely.

When we got back to our house the power still wasn't on. I called the customer service AGAIN to see if the service ticket was closed and she said that our meter was on and the guy came and that the ticket was closed. I said, "But our power still isn't on." and she said "Well your meter is on so if you're not getting power then it is a problem with your breaker box. Have you flipped the main breaker on?" We had, but we did it again since we were on the phone with her. Still nothing. So then she tells me to find the main breaker inside the house. I explained that there wasn't one and she said yes there is, there is all houses have 2 main breakers, one inside and one outside. Tyler confirmed to me that we only have the one breaker box and I told her again and told her our house is 100 years old and only has one box.

We talked about the breaker box where I was looking and she asked if the main breaker was in the full on position. I told her I was pushing it over and it wouldn't go any farther on. She then said, "Well push it hard!" I was surprised by her rudeness and said, "I am pushing it hard, it's in the on position!" She then said that there must be another main breaker somewhere that isn't on. I again told her there wasn't.

She wouldn't believe me. She had me walk all over the house and in our detached garaged looking for a breaker that doesn't exist. At one point she said, "Is there an adult there who can show you where it is, maybe a neighbor?" Are you kidding me??? I said "I am an adult!" and she said, "Someone older who would know what they're looking for? Like a neighbor?" I was so annoyed at this point I really almost asked to talk to her supervisor. Instead I said, "you want me to go next door and bring my elderly neighbor over here? to do what?! we only have one breaker box and one main breaker and it's on." I don't remember what she said after this but then we talked about if our breaker box is broken or something and I said that if it was then it was something caused by them turning our power off and then back on because we've never had a problem with it before and she said there would be a fee charged to us to send someone out and I said that we shouldn't be charged a fee for something that was working before their service man came out and did whatever he did!

I was really frustrated and told her she could talk to my husband and handed the phone to Tyler. He had the same arguments with her and finally said, "Well I want to talk to a supervisor or someone who can wave the fee because I shouldn't have to pay for something I didn't break, something that was working before you guys turned off the power without notifying us first".

After sitting on hold for a while some other lady got on and was much better to talk to. She explained that basically we'd only be charged a fee if the service man got here and flipped the main breaker and the power came on. Tyler was like oh, ok well I'll risk that because I've already tried that many times.

An hour later a guy got here and after Tyler explained what had happened the guy opened the meter and found that the service man who came and turned the power back on had left some type of stoppers on that should have been removed. They were keeping us from getting power from the meter. So even though the meter was on, the electricity was still being stopped.

Someone needs to tell that lady at the call center that there can be something keeping the electricity from getting to our breaker even if the meter is "on". She made me want to call her not nice names and call back and tell her supervisor to review the call because she was so rude to me. I don't think I've ever been treated so rudely by a customer service rep on a phone call before.

In the end we got our power back on before Luke had to go to bed which was great because I couldn't imagine him going to sleep without A/C when it was getting to be 85 degrees or so in our house and the window in his room was open and our street is somewhat busy. In addition, it was only his 3rd night in his toddler bed so I couldn't imagine him staying in bed in those conditions. Luckily, the service man didn't take very long.

The moral of this story is, that lady isn't very smart and isn't a very good Customer Service Rep. Oh wait, I guess that's not really the moral of the story. The moral of the story is... when you buy your first house, make sure you know who you're supposed to pay for your power so you don't end up with a 6 month high bill to set up a payment plan for.

Bear Lake and The Big Boy Bed

2011-08-15T14:20:00.005-06:00

*I actually wrote this post monday and forgot that I wasn't able to post it... So here it is now for you to read as you will. Also, Luke has continued to do well in his new bed.*

Did everyone know that we're already half way through August? I think it's a little bit insane how fast this year has gone by... and yet how slow time seems to be moving right now. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my end of pregnancy discomforts, but we won't get into those, that's not what this post is about.

Over the weekend we went to Bear Lake with my family. It has been a traditional vacation with my family for years, but we haven't really done it for 2 or so. I think the last time we went was the fall before I went to USU and met Tyler. My parents own a time share at some condos up there so we like to go hang out and play on the boat. I didn't really get to play so much as I got to watch Tyler and my family play. Luke did surprisingly well for having to wear a life jacket the whole time we were on the boat.

We left our house thursday evening later than we had planned. That happens when things don't happen according to plan. I got to my 3:30 check up at 3:20 and the lady at the front desk said my nurse-mid-wife was at a delivery and was expected back in 10 minutes but that she was an hour and a half behind schedule. I said I'd wait, downloaded sudoku onto my phone, and played that for the next hour and 40 minutes. At my appointment my mid-wife checked me even though I was only 35 weeks 5 days... they round me up each week since it's almost the next week mark. I'm pretty sure when I was checked for the first time when I was pregnant with Luke that I was dilated to a 1+ and not very effaced at all. Thursday she told me I was dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced. Now I know that those numbers don't necessarily say I will have this baby early, but it is pretty hard not to get my hopes up after hearing that. I'm not going to lie, I'm expecting this kid to come early and it's mostly because I really don't want to wait anymore. I can't wait to see him and for Luke to meet him! Anyway, there's no avoiding the fact that I just have to wait until he's ready to be born, but I'm so anxious to meet him.

So, obviously with my appointment not starting until an hour and 40 minutes after it was supposed to, we got a late start. We dropped Bo off and I thought for sure that since Luke usually goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 he would sleep the whole 2 hour drive there. It didn't matter that it was 8:00 and past his bed time, he talked and played the whole drive. I'm glad we wasn't whining hardly at all, but it sure made for one tired boy when we got to the condo at 10:00!

We tried to put Luke to bed in the port-a-crib, but Luke wasn't having it and he cried and decided to try to climb out of the crib. He succeeded. So Tyler ended up driving Luke around in the car again until he fell asleep and then bringing him back in. He only slept until 5:30... and the other kids didn't wake up until 7:30. We brought him up on the bed with us and I sang until he fell asleep again, which took about an hour. So he got to sleep for about an hour before the other kids woke up and he woke up to the sound of their voices.

When we went out on the boat that morning he was so tired he really didn't care much about anything. When we left the lake to take him back for a nap he was out within a few minutes! I was pretty disappointed about that because it was only a 25 minute drive and I knew he wouldn't transfer to the port-a-crib like he did that night before and he wouldn't go back to sleep after he'd woken up. So unfortunately, after only getting 5-6 hours of sleep, the poor kid only got a 30 minute nap.

After that I would put Luke down for bed or his nap and stand there and jiggle the port-a-crib until he fell asleep. It was effective and kept him from climbing out and falling on his neck. It made me wonder if he would try climbing out of his crib when we got home.

Sure enough. We got home Sunday afternoon and due to the little sleep he got on the trip I tried putting him down for an afternoon nap. It wasn't working but I put him in his crib anyway. A minute later he opened his door and came walking out with his comfort blanket and teddy bear. He had definitely decided to try climbing out of his crib... and did it without killing himself, luckily.

After that he spent the next hour trying to climb into and back out of his crib. Tyler and I kept our eyes on him and it was a good thing because there were a couple attempts that would have ended badly had we not been paying attention and close by. We decided that for his safety, it was time to move him to the toddler bed.

The thing is, we moved him once and he did fine except we didn't have a side rail and so he fell off 2 times in the middle of the night and then sat a played the second time so we moved him back to his crib. We knew we had to go get him a side rail or it wouldn't work. Sorry to go to Walmart on Sunday, we went and got him a safety rail and brought it home and set up his "Big Boy Bed". He loves it!

At bed time he was fighting the bed time ritual but once Tyler put him in the Big Boy Bed he was so surprised that he just laid there. He fell right to sleep and we didn't hear from him again until 6:15 am when he started screaming. I jumped up to go see what the problem was. I knew he couldn't have fallen off again so I was surprised to hear him screaming. I got in there and couldn't see him... he had crawled under the bed and was stuck. I lifted up the bed and helped him out and he cuddled with me on the rocking chair. When he started falling asleep I put him back in bed and tried to get back to sleep myself. Around 8 I heard him opening and closing his bedroom door so I got up and peaked my head in his room. He was sitting by his toys, playing with the new toys his cousins passed down to him this weekend. (Thank you so much, they are a welcome way to occupy his curiousity)

At nap time he was acting tired so I asked him if he was ready to take a nap in his Big Boy Bed and he went right in and grabbed his blanket and bear and brought them to me. After singing to him in the rocking chair for a minute or two he was ready to lay down. He fell right to sleep and didn't get up for an hour and 45 min.

I'm so excited that he has this freedom because he seems to wake up so much happier! I really hope it keeps being a positive thing. I know some days he'll refuse to stay in bed, but with the crib he was stuck and just screamed in the crib and didn't sleep. It isn't a whole lot different if he isn't getting sleep those days either way.

So, how's that for a more detail than you really needed post? What do you expect when I feel like talking about something and the only one here to talk to is Luke? Just walks away to play with the new and interesting toys...

Now the crib is empty and waiting for the new baby to come and grow big enough to use it. I'm ready! Let's do this!

Cute Words and Mud

2011-08-10T09:09:00.011-06:00

I got out my camera the other day because I wanted some new cute videos and pictures of Luke. He's growing so much and I just don't want to not capture some of him as often as possible!

So Luke had my keys and was out trying to unlock some holes he found in the siding of our shed. I got down to his level (which at this point in my pregnancy was not the easiest thing to do, and I had to stand up and take breaks frequently and then try again), and tried to get him to look at me long enough to get some pictures. The video is fun because I was able to capture his attempts to say some words. He's starting to try to say words sooner after hearing them and he's getting pretty close.

The video wouldn't upload on blogger for some reason, it was taking FOREVER! So I uploaded it to Picasa. If you click on the picture below it will take you to the video on my Picasa account.

From Cute Words

This one is probably my favorite! I wish he wasn't cut off, but at least his cute face made it in. He might have been mid- word... something that starts with an "F"?

This one was DEFINITELY mid-word. I don't know what word. He was very excited about something I think.

Luke LOVES sitting under this bush tree thing! He takes toys and things to it and just sits there and plays with them in the dirt. Bo always follows him and chews on a stub of the tree. They are pretty close friends. I love it.

I love his smile!

This one is kinda cool. I think he looks like he's modeling some baby clothes or something. I don't know, it's just different and intriguing. Some day when I'm really rich I'll buy and SLR camera and learn how to use it so I can take real pictures of my kids. :)

These next photos are from a day a few weeks ago when Tyler was fixing the sprinklers in our yard. There was a broken pipe that was making a big puddle... and Luke's a little boy. You do the math.

I just think he's so cute. Especially with dirt on his face.

Whoa... Gettin' a little close to the camera...

What are you talking about mom?

"Caught... am I in trouble??? I'll just look at you and wait for your reaction."

From Mud

This will also take you to my Picasa album to view a video of Luke diggin' in the mud.

The Thing About Food Blogs

2011-08-04T10:45:00.010-06:00

The thing about food blogs is that they have pictures of these delicious looking foods... and then the accompanying recipe... and who doesn't just want to drop everything and make every single recipe they find when they look so yummy?!?!?!? Take this one for example:

Brown Butter Peach Crumble Bars? Yes please! I most definitely think they sound like the thing to make with fresh peaches... if you can keep from eating all the peaches first.

Or how about this one:

Blackberry Cobbler Waffles

I want to make these for dinner. I don't care if they suggest serving them with ice cream on top, they look so so yummy!

So everytime I see a picture with a recipe that looks too good to pass up, I copy and save it to my computer of course. This means that I have a folder in my documents folder named "Recipes" and within that I have sub-folders with dinners, desserts, and other things. I have so very many recipes in these folders that I've never tried because of this situation I get in where I have to save a copy of these wonderful looking recipes even though I don't have a time picked out to try them yet.

I did decide to try one though. (I have tried others, but this one I'm going to tell you about) It looked different and possibly yummy and definitely more than my daily allowance dessert calories.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Although they were pretty tasty, they weren't really my favorite. I really loved the chocolate chip cookie recipe though. I thought it made the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. Tyler's favorite cookie for most of his life (until I started making triple chip pean-oat-butter cookies) was chocolate chip. His problem, however, is that he is really picky about the way the cookie turns out. It can't be too flat and it can't be crispy around the edge like the butter fried the edges. It has to be fluffy and cooked through but soft and slightly gooey. A minute too much and they're too dry. Anyway, I've had a hard time trying to make them just right for him since I met him and it has really bugged me that I could bake batch after batch and have him say, "meh, they're ok.". He knows how much I like to bake and how much I love it when people LOVE what I bake. So it has driven me crazy these 2.5 years of knowing him. These ones, however, turned out perfect! It is my new go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

So now that my mouth is watering and my stomach is growling and begging me to please make one of the delicious looking things I keep finding, I'm going to try to satisfy it with something healthy instead. The bun baking in my oven really needs a healthy mom, not one that is exploding because there are so dang many food blogs with so dang many yummy looking foods!

Communication Block

2011-08-02T13:57:00.002-06:00

It's interesting the random internet connections that suddenly appear at my house for a couple days and then disappear forever... or get locked. Right now I'm sitting in my backyard while Luke and Bo play and I'm using some new random connection that just appeared and isn't strong enough to really use unless I'm outside. It makes me look around and wonder who I'm bumming off of. Thanks who ever you are. You don't know I'm bumming internet off of you, but at least I have too many other things to do to really clog things up for you.

I'm getting so close to done with my cabinets but some days I just really don't have the motivation. Today I started painting the last cabinet door. I usually paint a couple at a time so they aren't taking over my kitchen too much. As soon as this one is done I'll move my pots and pans and things back into the the bottom cabinets and start painting the drawers... there are 5 of them. 5 drawers in my painting process means 5 drawer boxes, and their 5 faces which were taken off so I could really paint them all. At least the boxes I can just paint with a roller, but they have to be primed first because they are so smooth.

Tyler's new job is going well. He seems to like it for the most part but as with anything you do everyday, there are parts he doesn't like. He has been working there for 3 weeks now and I can't believe it has already been that long. This will be his 4th full week working there and the only thing I haven't liked is that because of how long it took for his boss to get his W4 form to him, he wasn't paid at the last pay day and so he will have 4 weeks of time cards filled out before he gets paid. Thank goodness we still had some money left in our savings from our tax return and that I have been able to earn some money on my harp.

The biggest adjustment for me to make with Tyler's new job has been (like I thought it would be) not knowing when he will be done for the day. Tyler said last night that he thinks he'll have to work late today... but I still don't really know how late that means. I don't really ever know when to start dinner, and then when I decide I'll start dinner so it's ready at 5:00 then Tyler gets home at 4:00 and he's starving or we have to go somewhere for some reason and so I can't hurry and make dinner. I know with time I'll figure out a new routine, but it hasn't set in yet, so I look forward to that day.

Luke is growing like a weed. Seriously, he can reach anything he really wants to because he has figured out how to climb. He was playing in his room the night before last and I went in to check on him and found him sitting on top of the changing table! He hasn't ever done that before. I knew he was being too quiet to mean anything good. Every time I turn around he's climbing something. Things I never would have imagined as climbable or interesting enough to make him wonder what was at the top of it... he's climbing it anyway.

The other thing with Luke that I'm struggling with, and I know Tyler and is too is the communication block we're all experiencing. Luke is trying so hard to talk and he gets really frustrated when we won't give him what he wants. He understands so much, and yet he is starting to get into tantrums and so it doesn't matter what we say to him, he just screams and throws a fit. I have really been trying the whole "don't say 'no'" thing, just tell him what he can do instead, but he just gets frustrated because he's not getting the thing he wants. Maybe I already used "no" too much, or maybe it's normal, but he completely ignores what I say to him all the time. He has a few bonks on the head to prove it. Luke's sign language does help and I'm so glad he's picked that up so well, but it doesn't cover everything and he doesn't use it every time.

It doesn't help that he's cutting teeth too. He hasn't really stopped cutting teeth for the past 4 months and so he's really whiney and really emotional. Ya know what? So am I. I try not to whine out loud, but I whine a lot in my head. Don't get me wrong, I have so many things I'm grateful for and I know we are being blessed tremendously right now. I'm not whining in my head all the time, but I just get really tired and really exhausted and then Luke spills a bottle of bubbles all over the kitchen floor. Good thing there wasn't any carpet near by. That would have been a bigger pain to clean up. I needed to mop anyway right?

This pregnancy is getting so close to done it is crazy. I'm less than 6 weeks away from my due date and 2 weeks away from full term. One of my sisters in law just had her baby about a month ago at 36 weeks. I don't want to do that, but it is just crazy to think that at this point for her she was only 2 weeks away from the arrival of their new little girl. My good friend who is in Rexburg just had her baby a week ago tomorrow and the pictures I've seen of him look so cute! So many people I've know who were pregnant at the same time as me have had their babies in the last month or so and I feel like I'm probably the next one that I can think of.

I'm really ready to have baby #2 out, but I'm a little afraid of how well I'll cope with a newborn and Luke, seeing as I feel really crazy with just Luke some days. Some days are better than others of course, but today is one of those days where he doesn't want anything, but still he points and whines and tries to get me to understand what he wants and I can't figure it out and so then he's just mad and I'm just frustrated and all I can do is sit down and blog so I can clear my head a little. I just hope that this new baby is a sleeper at first so we can ease our way into life.

So that's kinda how things are. I really didn't intend to whine a lot in this post and I hope that's not how it comes off. Sometimes that's how the day feels though.

Some quick uploads

2011-07-18T13:01:00.003-06:00

So I'm sitting at Zion's Bank in the parking lot where they have free wi-fi and I thought I'd upload some cute things really quick while I have the internet. Our neighbor's internet seems to have disappeared for good.

This is a video of Luke playing Tug Rope with Bo. Bo is almost as big as Luke now, this was taken only a week or so after we got Bo. I often hear Luke walking by the sliding side door laughing because he's pulling that rope and Bo is following him trying to get it. It's quite entertaining.

This is a video of Luke playing in his little swimming pool. He loves it! His favorite part is playing with the hose and he gets really upset when it's time to go inside. Tyler and I sat in the pool with him and played after we bought it and filled it up and Luke had the hose and kept putting it on Tyler's head. It was really funny!

Things are good here. I'm trying to finish my cabinets before baby #2 comes, and I'm 32 weeks along. We're really excited to meet this kid even if he doesn't have a name when he gets here. :) If I get really ambitious I really will take a belly pic some time soon but I haven't thought about it lately.

Change is in the Air

2011-07-07T14:45:00.004-06:00

You know how change can be a good thing? Well I think it is right now. It's scary too, but I think it can lead to growth and progression as a person and as a family.

What's changing? Well the biggest change that is in the works right now is Tyler's job. He's been working at Arco Packaging in Murray as a delivery driver since the end of Oct. or beginning of Nov. 2009. He's enjoyed the job more than any other he's had and at one point he looked seriously into getting his CDL and driving dump trucks for his friend's dad's trucking company (locally for the most part). That fell through and the company went under. I'm grateful Tyler listened to his gut and didn't jump in with both feet like I thought he should.

After that fell through we weren't sure what to think about Tyler still working for Arco. He had looked for other jobs but he has never been able to find a job unless it has been through someone he knows. That's just how things come together for him, so we've been hoping and praying for him to find a job closer to our home. The 45 min. commute both ways with gas prices on the rise has really taken a huge chunk out of his pay check.

So a few weeks ago Tyler's brother Tim (who has been working as an electrician apprentice for about a year and a half now) called and asked if he was still interested in becoming an electrician. Tyler has been going back and forth between 4 career interests and being an electrician was one of them. Tyler told Tim he was still interested and Tim proceeded to tell Tyler that the small company he works for has too much work and needs to bring another person on and thought he'd put in a word to suggest Tyler for the job. Things worked out and Tyler went to work with them on Friday to see if he liked the work. At the end of the day the boss offered Tyler a position as an apprentice. Tyler put in his 2 weeks notice on Tuesday and we're basically counting down the days left at Arco.

It is scary. It is going to be different and the hours will be up and down and I won't know when to make dinner. There are obviously health risks to being an electrician, but what occupation doesn't have health risks? He has been driving delivery for a year and a half and there have been many times when the weather made his path extremely dangerous. I'm so grateful he has been watched over!

He'll being making a little less to start than he is making currently, but we should be saving more on gas than he'll lose in pay so I think we'll actually save more money than we currently do. There will be weeks when he works 20 hrs and that is scary, but there will also be weeks when he works 80 hrs. We'll just have to be really careful with our money and see how is averages out.

Overall I'm just really excited about the opportunity it is for Tyler to try a career path and see where it take us. It's hard to know you want to do something for a career unless you've tried it out.

Being an electrician apprentice means he'll be going to school too so I know there will be stress because Tyler will have to manage his time so he can be an apprentice, student, husband, and father. We have a new baby due Sept. 10th so that makes the change more scary and the thought of school more stressful, but I still think it is forward motion and it will lead us in a direction, whether it be down the road of Tyler being an electrician, or him marking it off the list as one he definitely doesn't want to do. I know that if we're doing what we think will be best for our family we'll be able to make it through and find a way to make things work. I just have to keep that in mind when I don't see my husband very much because of an 80 hr work week + school, while I'm dealing with a super energetic 1 1/2 yr old and a new born. I'll have to write some notes to myself for that time. :)

Aside from Tyler's change in work there have just been some new things that have been fun to watch in Luke. I can't believe how fast he's growing and he is such a hoot! He is an armful and that's not a joke, but he is so loving and sweet and funny.

Luke is starting to try to mimmic our words more than he has ever cared to before. Lately he seems to understand when I tell him what something is that the word and the thing are associated with each other rather than just giving me a blank stare then pointing and signing please. He has recently started asking for juice, cheese, crackers, and water. He seems to know what I mean when I say breakfast, lunch and dinner rather than me having to tack on the word "food" or "eat". He is a lot more receptive to new signs for words too, but he mostly sticks with "please", "thank you", "food/eat", and "more". He can say shoes and socks and I'm pretty sure I've heard him try to say "shirt" and "shorts". He also says "Bo" all the time. Every time Bo moves Luke points and says "Bo Bo!". He tries to say "Max" but it isn't very clear. Max is my brother's dog who has been with us for a week while they went to California. I could keep going because I know there are more things that he can say and things that he has tried to say but the point is, he's just learning so fast and it amazes me how he suddenly picks up on something and takes off with it.

As far as changes go with me, I change because my belly keeps growing! I have a check up this afternoon, but so far everything has been normal and the baby is healthy and growing right on schedule. My midwife does an ultrasound at every appointment and measures the baby's head and belly and who knows what else and then the computer spits out if he's measuring average for how far along we are. At our appointment 2 weeks ago the computer estimated that the baby would be born on Sept. 3rd. They didn't change my due date from the 10th but... I'm not going to lie, it makes me hope that he'll come on the 3rd if he's ready. Although, I still think it would be fun for his birth date to by 9/10/11...

I've been telling Luke that his baby brother is in my belly and he will pat my belly and say "ba ba?" and then sometimes he looks for my belly button... so I don't know how much he understands but it's cute anyway.

This baby is very active. I know Luke was active in the womb but I don't remember him moving around quite as often as this baby. If that means he's going to be even more energetic than Luke when he gets out then I'm in for a really exciting time because Luke never stops. (p.s. Luke just locked himself in Max's cage... is it ok to laugh??? haha I think so because he got himself out too)

The baby doesn't have a set name yet. When I was pregnant with Luke we didn't want to tell anyone what names we were leaning toward because we wanted to see him before we decided on his name. We were pretty sure we'd name him Lucas Andrew though. This baby it isn't really that we're keeping anything a secret, but we still want to see him before we decide, and his name has changed a few times. There was a while that we thought it would be one name because it was the only one we both liked. Then we kind of changed our minds to a different name and I just feel silly posting about them when they might not be his name. We are most likely going to give him "Tyler" as his middle name though.

Well that pretty much sums up our changes right now. I know I'm a long winded blogger, but I just get on a roll and keep typing. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

What's in the middle?

2011-06-29T12:24:00.002-06:00

Is it weird that Luke doesn't really like bread? I think it is. His Sargent cousins would eat bread for every meal and nothing else if they were allowed. Luke, on the other hand, picks the sandwich fillings out off his bread and leaves the bread. No joke.

I gave him tuna on a crescent thinking he'd like that better and he ate the tuna and left the roll. I gave him PB & J today and he at the jelly and maybe a little bit of peanut butter and left the bread. He does this every time. He has tried with a grilled cheese sandwich but can't get the bread apart so he hardly eats any of it.

Who did he get this quirky behavior from?? I love bread, Tyler likes bread, his family like bread, my family likes bread.... but Luke could do without it.

P.S. it's really gross to see him eat tuna without the bread. Maybe it's just because of the mayo mixed in it... the thought of eating that without the bread just makes me want to barf. Luke sits there and eats it and says "mmmmmmm" the whole time though. what a weird little guy!

How to Make Lemonade

2011-06-27T13:57:00.001-06:00

You know how they say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"? Well we seem to have gotten a lemon of a car and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make lemonade.

We bought the car in February of last year because we wanted a dependable car to drive with our new baby. At the time Luke was almost due and my old Subaru had something crazy like 290,000 miles on it. It made us worry about how much longer the car would keep on keepin' on so we got on KSL. We thought it would be good to get another Subaru to just run into the ground over the years because the reputation is really great and my harp fits in them.

We found a white 2001 Subaru Legacy wagon listed for a reasonable price and it was even manual transmission, our preference. It was a trade in at Larry H. Miller Chevrolet.... or one of the LHM car dealerships. We tooke it for a test drive and liked it a lot and it had everything we wanted and needed and they were even going to replace the windshield in it that had a rock chip crack all the way across from one side to the other. It seemed like it fit everything we were looking for and at a great price so we didn't even go look at any others. Stupid? Naive? Maybe, we just didn't see the point in driving more if this one had everything and more than what we were looking for, and according to our price research, it was priced well and they even came down about $1000. We thought we were making a good buy so we went through with it.

Only weeks after purchasing it the temperature started to over heat and pretty soon we could barely drive to the grocery store without it overheating. We found out it was a blown head gasket... a very expensive and difficult fix. We went back to LHM and they said the warrenty we'd purchased on it didn't cover any gaskets, only the really big stuff like the engine and transmission. Well that doesn't do us any good. We didn't let them out of it though and they ended up doing the work to fix it and only charging us half what it should have been and they put the money from our warranty toward the total too so we were able to come out of it alright.

It didn't take long before we had another problem. An important belt broke. I don't think it was the timing belt, but it could have cause a problem with the timing belt too because of how it broke or something. Anyway, it was going to be expensive to fix and so Tyler tried out a shop in SLC where they let you rent a stall and "rent a mechanic" so you could do most of the work yourself and save money. It wasn't as great as we had hoped but we save a little money and Tyle learned some things about cars.

Not much later we had to have the water pump and something else replaced. I don't remember because Tyler just took it to his family's mechanic and had it taken care of because we were fed up.

This time it is the clutch. It is dead. You press on the gas and the engine revs and it tries to accelerate but it's pretty sad. Now if we take it somewhere like on Saturday when we drove it to the mechanic for a quote, it smells really bad. But we took it in for a quote from Tyler's family's mechanic and he said the clutch would be around $400 for the part itself give or take $30 and the labor would be around $560 and there was still another $100 of other stuff to do for preventative measures. That brings us up really close to $1200!

I was waiting outside in the car we borrowed from Tyler's parents and when he brought the quote out to me my jaw dropped and I just said "no, we can't go with this option, we can't afford to spend that much right now". It would eat up a big chunk of our savings and seriously, we have only been homeowners for a couple of months. We need that money to stay in savings for an emergency. There are other options that won't cost so much so I just said "No."

Tyler's friend was able to find us a clutch kit for $200 and now we're trying to decide what option to go with for the labor that will be the most reliable and cost effective. As soon as we're done with this repair, however, the only lemonade I can think to make is to sell the car and try something else.

After each repair we said, "Well that really sucked, but it's a Subaru, it shouldn't have anymore problems for a long time". That doesn't seem to be working out for us. We could have paid the car off with how much we've put into it for repairs.

Tyler's family has this suspicion that having a missionary out serving brings car trouble to their family. It's hard to say that isn't true. Tyler's sister has been on a mission since just after we bought this car and aside from our car repairs, his parents have had to have their cars fixed 3 or 4 times, and Tyler's brother has has to have multiple major repairs done to his vehicles too. Do we all just have lemon cars or are we really cursed with car trouble during this time when I was raised to expect blessings for supporting a missionary???

30 Weeks, and Baby Names

2011-06-27T09:15:00.003-06:00

Well I am in the final stretch of this pregnancy already. I feel like it has gone by so quickly! I'm 30 weeks along and that means I'm technically only 6 weeks from the point of having this baby whenever he feels like coming. I guess if he felt like coming before then we would... but he won't because he knows he's not allowed to. I know some of you would like to see a baby bump picture... but I don't have one at the moment. I will take one soon and stick it up here though.

We haven't chosen a name yet, and will wait until we see him to give him his name, but this has been a lot harder than with Luke. For a long time we thought we were going to name Luke Phillip Andrew. Tyler's grandpa Phil died while we were dating and Andrew is Tyler's middle name so we thought it would be a really meaningful name. After considering the name for months, we suddenly decided it wasn't right and by then we were getting down to crunch time and had to come up with some new options. As we sat in Sacrament meeting ... we listened and never got distracted... :) Ok ok both of us are fairly easily distracted so we would end up thinking of names a lot and writing them on little pieces of paper and showing them to each other for a nod or a shake of the head. We both almost always shook our heads at each other's name suggestions. I decided to look through the names of the composers of the songs in the hymn book for ideas. That is where I found the name Lucas. I liked the name and "Luke" for short and thought it had some family significance on my side, but I couldn't remember. It does, but I still forget how it is significant all the time. However, it does have some family meaning.

Well I've tried looking through the hymn book again and the only name we liked was William... but that is too common. We liked the name Mark, but it's also very common and Tyler has known a lot of Marks. We liked the name Wyatt but we want to use "Tyler" for the middle name and Wyatt Tyler is 3 t's in a row and then the t at the end of Sargent just really pushes is over the edge so for lack of flow-ability... that name was vetoed.

I never thought when I was single that it would be hard to name a baby. I guess I didn't take into account that my husband would care just as much as me what the name was and wouldn't always like my suggestions.

I know we'll choose just the right name for this little guy, but it keeps me feeling anxious. Lucas is the perfect name for Luke because it means bringer or light. Anyone who has been around Luke can see that he is full of life and light radiates from him. He smiles and he fills you with light. He laughs or even just chatters and it will bring a smile or a laugh. I don't think we found the name by accident and I know whatever name we find for this baby will be fitting as well.

Life These Days

2011-05-30T11:43:00.009-06:00

Well hello everyone! Sometimes my computer finds an unlocked internet called "Netgear" but then other times it is just not there... I'm not sure why but I'll take it when I can get it.

Life is pretty great right now. Of course it has still been stressful and there have been adjustments to our new life but overall I am loving it. We still don't have internet of our own other than the 200MB I get on my phone each month. You'd be surprised how fast that goes by if you get looking at something online. Oops...

Well here are a few updates. We are living in our very own house and we had our final inspection for the required repairs we had to make for our FHA loan. The appraiser who came to see that we'd finished was only here for a few minutes and barely looked at anything. He just shot a few pictures and said "It looks good, you guys have done really well." That came as a bit of a shock. Not that I didn't think we'd done well but Tyler and I were both imagining a very intense inspection because the bank was holding money in escrow to reimburse us with if we pass the inspection. Instead he didn't even know what he was supposed to be looking at. It's all good though and it all worked out. That is a lot of stress off our backs.

Another piece of news is that we have yet another addition to our family to announce (other than the baby boy who will be joining us here in early September). We got a puppy! Are we crazy?? Maybe. Tyler and I have wanted to have a puppy since before we even got engaged and ever since we got married we've really wanted one but couldn't have one due to rental agreements. Now that we have our own place though we can do whatever we want even if it might be crazy with a 14 month old and a new born on the way. Although having a one year old and a puppy keeps us busy, Luke seems a lot happier. He has always seemed to want someone to play with other than us adults. That is part of the reason we're having another baby so fast, but we decided we wanted the puppy to grow up with the kids so we went out to a farm in the middle of no where in Morgan and got a Blue Heeler and named him Bo. Luke is always going up to Bo saying "Baaaaaaa" and then he either pets him or lays his head on him. He sometimes takes toys up to him and shoves them in Bo's mouth to try to get him to play. It's entertaining and they keep each other pretty busy most of the time. Sometimes Bo gets too excited and tries to play with Luke like he would another puppy, but he's quickly learning he gets in trouble if he jumps up on Luke or nips playfully at him. He hasn't really tried to bite Luke, but we want to make sure that doesn't happen. I was eating lunch and heard Luke laughing outside and so I got up to see why he was laughing and I found Luke playing tug-a-war with Bo. I'll post the video I took once I get it off my camera so stay tuned.

We finally had Luke's first birthday party. I felt bad waiting so long but we really wanted to have his party at our own house and since we would be moving in soon after his birthday we decided to have his party late. We had it at our house at the end of April so about a month and a half late! Luke didn't know and he was just as confused as he would have been on his actual birthday. I made cupcakes that I thought turned out really yummy and we put a candle in each of them for each of the kids could help Luke blow out a candle. Luke tried to blow it out but wasn't able to so I helped him. It was a lot of fun. I asked my sister-in-law Stacey to take pictures of the party and here are a few of my favorites. Thanks again Stacey, you did an awesome job, as always. :)

The only other thing I can think of is that I got my hair cut. I decided to try and do it in loose ringlets but my hair is kinda an all or nothing type so they weren't loose at all. I felt reminiscent of Shirley Temple... only 27 weeks pregnant. Here's a picture of her and then of me.

It's a....

2011-04-21T11:40:00.001-06:00

My appointment last night confirmed what we were pretty sure we saw last time. Take a look at these pictures and see if you can tell.

Home Sweet Home

2011-04-10T16:39:00.001-06:00

We moved in to our new home yesterday!! We're still working on plumbing to the laundry room and kitchen but we have a fully functional bathroom and hot water in the kitchen so that is enough to live off of. When I say we "moved in", you should know that by that I mean we moved our bed and Luke's room in so we can live there. We haven't moved all our things in yet especially because the kitchen is a disaster area right now. I don't care about the mess or the unfinished projects though. We're in our new home and while Tyler is at work I can work on my cabinets. I'm very excited to be able to work on things during the day. We only have one car so I've been stuck at my mother in law's house all day while Tyler was at work. It feels really good to be in our own house!

We went to our Ward again today. The Sunday before General Conference was the first time we attended our new ward and they got our records and welcomed us into the ward today. It's funny because I've had my records transferred from ward to ward so many time since I went to college and none of the wards have ever said "we've received the records of..." and welcomed me in with a raise of hands like they usually do and to be honest I felt a little offended because they did it for everyone else. Well now I know why they didn't before. The Bishop was conducting today and as he read our names he called me breanna. Pretty sure there's an "e" at the end of my name and I've never met a breanna who spelled her name with an "e" at the end. I know it is an easy enough mistake to make but I don't see my name as being uncommon and I have never understood the general mistake to read my name as breanna instead of BreAnne. Oh well though. I'll just likely be correcting each member who assumes my name is breanna because of that introduction. Even when friends or family introduce me correctly people still think my name is breanna so I just have to smile and kindly let them know it's BreAnne. Maybe it's anal of me but anyone who so frequently has their name mixed up with one similar to theirs will probably agree that you have to set it right otherwise you have no chance of them calling you the correct name and they may then introduce you incorrectly thus creating a whole new group of people who all think your name is the other way. There are certainly individuals who I've corrected a few times and then given up on as they've struggled to ever get it right. One time as Tyler and I had dinner with his friend and his wife for the first time I didn't correct his wife when she called me breanna a few times. After a few times Tyler's friends corrected his wife and I was very pleasantly surprised that he knew it wasn't my name and was kind enough to correct her.

I didn't really intend for this blog to be about the inability of some to get name right... it's just what came out of my brain. Well I'm done fighting with my phone. I hope this blog from my phone's new app works. Sorry if i missed any typos.
P.s. we don't the internet so I probably won't be blogging very often. I'll try to post when we find out what the knew baby Sargent is though!

Cons to Learning to Walk

2011-04-08T11:49:00.008-06:00

So Luke started walking by himself (rather than just cruising along the furniture or holding our fingers) almost 3 months go. He has steadily gotten a lot better at catching himself before he falls, or throwing his butt behind him to fall backwards rather than forwards, however he still trips over his toes sometimes and falls straight forward. He's a really happy kid (unless he's hungry or tired) and doesn't usually whine when he falls unless he hits into something. So it has been really great to have him walking because I can just tell him to come to me or to follow me rather than go pick him up all the time. Especially now that I'm really starting to feel pregnant in my belly and back, I'm grateful I don't have to carry him everywhere.

I took Luke on a walk to the small farm by my Mother-in-law's house to see the sheep and ducks. He loved it!

There are plenty of reasons I'm so glad Luke learned to walk, but that is not what I have to post about today. This is the biggest con to walking there could be and it is still emotional to me. The biggest con to walking is Luke falling and hitting his head on something. Usually it is something blunt and he just needs a hug better, but we weren't that lucky Wednesday night.

This is my happy boy on our walk wednesday afternoon.

The night before last, April 6th to be exact, Tyler and Luke and I were at our new house working on getting it ready to move in. We.... No Tyler... has fixed most of the plumbing problems but we still have to re-pipe from the main line into the laundry room and kitchen. Well he was piping from the main line to the bathroom on wednesday night and he was having a really tough time with one part in particular that he didn't have the right tools to tighten enough. It was leaking a little but he couldn't get it to unscrew to try putting on more scilicon tape and he couldn't get it to screw on tighter hoping that would stop the leak. SO, it was taking a lot longer than we expected.

Luke has slowly warmed up to our new house and felt comfortable enough to leave us working and go explore. Since we haven't moved in yet and all the tools he could hurt himself with are in with us so we can watch him, it really isn't a big deal to let him walk around by himself. Well he was in his room by himself and the light was off and there was a loud bump sound and he was crying. I went to grab his blanket to comfort him and Tyler went in to get him from his room.

When Tyler came out with Luke, Tyler was panicking a little and told me to grab a towel. I turned around Luke was bleeding from his forehead. The blood was running down and I spun around looking for something clean to put on it. I found a roll of paper towel and tried to put pressure on the wound. it looked really deep and I told Tyler we'd need to go get him stitches. I got Luke in his car seat and got in next to him while Tyler locked up the house. We then hurried to the only Insta care I knew of close to us but when we got there it was 9:10 pm and they closed at 9. I told Tyler to go bang on the door and see if someone would come help us but he decided we should take Luke to the Emergency Room instead. I called an urgent care after hours place but they closed at 9 too so our only option was the Emergency room. As Tyler got back in the car Luke started signing "more". If he's not already eating he usually uses that sign to indicate that he would like to be eating. I wasn't sure if the doctors would be upset but I just wanted to make my little guy stop crying. I found some banana cookies in my purse and gave him one and to my relief he stopped crying. He at ALL of the cookies I had left on the drive up to McKayDee Hospital (the closest hospital to us that is covered on our insurance) and when he ate them all he was a much more content boy. He didn't seem to care about his head at all unless I tried to dab the cut with my paper towel.

The bleeding had mostly stopped shortly after we got in the car and I could see that it was a really deep cut, and I wasn't sure what he'd hit his head on but the only thing I could think of that was really sharp for him to fall on was the corner of the baseboard around his closet. I figured that had to be it.

We got to the Emergency Room and I had no idea what to expect. I'd never had to make a trip to the ER before. The nurses in triage were so nice and Luke just sat on my lap and rested his head on my chest and let them take his pulse and get his info. Then they told us it would probably be a 30 minute wait. Seriously?! My little 1 year old boy has his head gaping open and you're telling me I have to sit and try to keep him from touching it or falling on it when he's restless because he should be in bed??! It was not easy.

I took this picture in the waiting room... I don't think it does justice to the depth of the cut.

The wait was longer than 30 minutes and I was getting really impatient so I went and asked how much longer it would be. The nurse said they were just cleaning a room right now and so it would only be a couple more minutes. Gratefully, it really was only a couple more minutes. However, once we were in our room we waited another 15 minutes for the doctor to come look at it and decide he needed to go get numbing stuff to put on it that would take 30 more minutes to take effect! Then it was another 5-10 minutes for him to come back with the numbing stuff! I thought the whole point of the Emergency room was that it was an emergency and needed immediate attention. Tyler had to make a trip to the ER once when he was in college so he wasn't surprised and thought I was naive for being so surprised.

Well when the doctor came back with the numbing stuff he said he was going to send us to a different doctor for some reason and that it was just down the hall. So. . . we went down the hall where the said, "Dr. Hatch with be in in just a few minutes." In a few minutes a nurse came in and got some info and left saying the Dr. would be right in. 15 minutes later another lady came in and she was the one who had to type up the story of how Luke got hurt and take our insurance info. When she left it was still 20 minutes or so before the Dr. came in. I understand they're busy. Just don't tell me it will only be a few minutes when it is going to be 45 minutes! That drives me crazy! So he came in with the first nurse that came in and a male nurse named Mike who looked like he was there to be the muscles to keep Luke stationary. I was mostly right. The doctor told the two nurses to numb the area more and then clean it out and then he'd be back to stitch it up. Numbing it up more meant stick a syringe in around the entire thing and shoot numbing stuff into the skin. I sat and held Lukes legs while tyler held his hands and waist and the male nurse held his head. I hate hearing Luke scream like he did. I don't think he could feel it much because he was already somewhat numb, but he really hates to be confined and he was scared and didn't understand why Tyler and I wouldn't just pick him up and take him away from these people. I wanted to.

So the Dr. came back and started stitching him up and by this time it was almost midnight. I hadn't had anything to eat since 7ish and I was getting really woozy. I had to sit down and Let Tyler hold both Luke's middle and legs so I wouldn't pass out. The nurse lady got me some juice and crackers and shortly after that the stitches were done. Tyler picked Luke up and he stopped crying and signed "more" at the sight of my food. I was happy to see he wasn't crying from pain. He was even talkative to nurse Mike as he ate his crackers. The lady nurse brought me and handful more of crackers and our discharge papers and we went on our way.

This one was taking yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. My mother-in-law was taking it and Luke kept trying to hide from the camera so it isn't the best.

This is the clearest picture of his stiches, but I took it with the flash on and so he blinked right as the picture was taken. Haha, I get a kick out of that part... not the stitches part. I took this one this morning

This one isn't very clear but that is because he was moving so much. I turned the flash off and got a picture of the happy boy he still is. His eye lid seems a little swollen today, but I am surprised it isn't black and blue!

Luke doesn't act like he's in pain at all. He's been such a good sport and I'm so grateful he wasnt hurt more. He didn't show signs of a concussion and he has slept well and been a happy boy ever since. He is very patient when I change his bandage and lets me take care of him. I just never ever want to have to go to the ER again!

Here's Luke at breakfast the morning after. Just making a mess and loving life like nothing traumatizing had taking place the night before.

After we went back to our house yesterday we looked at the dried blood drips on the floor and determined that Luke most likely cut his head open tripping and hitting his head on the bottom shelf in his closet. His closet doesn't have any doors yet and the shelves aren't rounded or softened at all. I'm grateful the injury wasn't worse, but I'm pretty paranoid about every fall he has now!

Drum Roll...

2011-04-04T12:00:00.005-06:00

Well everyone, many of you have probably seen or heard already. . . I'm pregnant!!

It's crazy soon I know. After giving birth to Luke my midwife was going over somethings before she signed my release from the hospital and she told me it would be healthiest to wait at least a year before getting pregnant again. I wasn't very obedient. Luke wasn't a year old when I got pregnant and he'll only be 1 . 5 years old when the new baby comes. Oops. I couldn't help it. I started to feel like I really wanted to have another baby and I really wanted Luke to have a sibling close to his age. I got really excited and as some of you have seen before in my life... that feeling usually causes me to make a decision about something. So I told Tyler I wanted to try to get pregnant.

I had been feeling this way a for a while but I'd been pushing it away because I didn't want to rush into having a second baby too fast. I was trying to be obedient to my midwife's advice. I tried to fish around and see what Tyler was feeling and when he wasn't trying to convince himself that he didn't want to have anymore kids he had to admit that he had started to feel like he wanted Luke to have a sibling close to his age. Mind you, every time he admitted this he would follow up shortly after with "actually, he can just have a puppy to play with".

Finally I got up the guts to tell Tyler I wasn't just thinking about wanting to have another baby, I actually wanted to start trying. He agreed and 2 months later I was late. The thing is, I didn't want to take a pregnancy test yet because my periods hadn't really started to be regular yet because I was breastfeeding Luke.

When I was a week or so late I couldn't take it anymore and I took a pregnancy test. It was a solid positive. I was just reading a friend's blog who has also just announced that she's pregnant and she said her test was very light so that means "a little bit pregnant". Well in that case I was a lot a bit pregnant!

When I took a pregnancy test for Luke the test was very faint and Tyler refused to believe it was positive. This one left no room for him to doubt!

It's ironic because I had been so excited and anxious to get pregnant but as soon as I saw the positive test it suddenly hit me that it meant it was actually about to happen. I freaked out a little and was scared to be able to handle 2 kids. I still sometimes wonder how I'm supposed to be able to give them both all the love and attention they need when Luke is basically all I have to take care of all day. I know they say you don't split your love in half you're heart grows to make more love for the new baby (cheesy, but still...). It is just hard to comprehend at this point in time. I love Luke so much and don't want him to feel less loved and I don't ever want to play favorites. It is just a little overwhelming to think about sometimes.

So there you have it. I guess I was feeling some inspiration to not wait the full year because apparently we have another baby anxiously waiting to join our family. Ever time I see a new baby my heart melts and I can't wait for the beginning/middle of September to see and hold my new little baby. I'm due September 10th and so I'm 17 weeks along. We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for a bit and then when we told anyone we only told immediate family at first. I'm showing a little though so the cat's out of the bag and it seems silly not to tell people I'm pregnant.

I've been going to a different midwife (because we moved farther from the midwife I went to with Luke) in Ogden and the Women's Center where she works is really fancy. I guess they just figure they have the technology why not use it because they do an ultrasound every visit. They also record them all onto a DVD for me! I love it! So every 4 weeks I get to see my little baby moving and growing, plus I can bring the dvd home to show our parents.

At my last appointment my midwife said that if the baby was cooperating we would possibly be able to tell the gender. . . we think we got a couple good looks at the area and. . .

Homeowners

2011-03-29T10:42:00.003-06:00

So guess what everyone! We closed on our house last Wednesday! Finally!! We first put a bid on the home in December and we hoped to close by the end of January. Obviously that didn't happen. There were many hoops to jump through because the house was a HUD home and on top of that we were doing an FHA loan. Both of them are run by the gov. so both of them have a ton of requirements and red tape. It didn't help that my bank rep couldn't seem to communicate with my real estate broker's office. I had to play the middle man in order for things to get done. But we got it done! So now we get to do the fun things that homeowners do. Part of the contract to buy this house included a repair escrow with required repairs we need to make in order to have the house pass their requirements of an FHA home or something like that. We were given some money in escrow to replace the water heater and a couple broken pipes. My dad has had a lot of experience in this area so Saturday my parents came up and my dad and Tyler got to work replacing the water heater and the broken pipes that go to it. Well that took all day. ALL DAY. We made 3 or 4 trips to home depot and I made food runs. When they finally finished all that, they turned it on and let it fill up. While they waited they decided to turn on the faucet in the bathroom which hadn't been turned on yet because it didn't have water running to it until the new water heater was hooked up. When they turned on the faucet 2 more broken pipes were discovered. All the valves were turned off and when they went to turn off the water they found that the meter was still running... which means water's still leaking out some where. We think it might be the water main in the front yard but we don't know yet. It was raining that evening so it wasn't like there was a wet area in the yard, everything was just wet. So Tyler decided to crawl under the house in the tiny crawl space and see if something was leaking down there. He couldn't find anything. So... as soon as the pipes are fixed that we can see we'll see if the meter does the same thing. I'm having the city send someone out to make sure the meter isn't broken, but if it isn't there isn't anything else to do but dig up the yard and see if there is a broken pipe between the meter and the house.

I can't wait to move in and I wish we could. It wouldn't work very well with no water though. It is annoying but you know what, I'd take this annoying over all the annoying hoops we had to go through in the buying process any day. I like that we can actually do something about the problems and not rely on everyone else to get things done. We are in control of things now and it feels great. We knew before we closed on the house that there were a couple plumbing issues, but we weren't allowed to do anything about it until we closed. Now they can't tell us when to do things (other than the fact that we have to have our required repairs done and inspected by June 1st in order to get reimbursed from the money in escrow).

Anyway, it's a small house but it is our house and I'm so excited to make it our home. We have a little bit of money in escrow to repair the kitchen cabinetry. It isn't really enough to replace them, but I'm thinking of refacing them. It isn't a very big kitchen but there is a lot of natural light and the ceiling fan provides a lot of light. I'm starting to think my mom's idea to do black cabinets might be a good idea. I would do a black and white contrast kitchen if I did that because we'd need the white on other surfaces to keep the kitchen from feeling dark. Look at these pictures I found online and let me know what you think about doing black and white.

Try to imagine the one above with tile floors and a white countertop

I really like this one! I like the use of yellow as an accent for things on the counter and window.

I'd like to add the crown molding on top of the wall cabinets like it shows here and have that space between the cabinets and the ceiling. Right now there is a board that runs between the top of the wall cabinets and the ceiling and it has this ugly material glued to it. That's gotta go.

I don't know if it would be hard, or if we'd even need to, but I was thinking if we did black we might add a few recessed lights in the ceiling closer to the cabinets. The ceiling fan is more in the middle of the room by where the kitchen table might go. I don't know. These are just ideas. What do you guys think?

Picnic in the Park

2011-03-14T20:34:00.005-06:00

So this is a little late, but I'm in the blogging mode, so I'll post it today too. Last friday when the sun came out and made it nice and warm I decided I was going to take advantage of it and take Luke on a walk again. This time I thought it might be fun to go to a park. I asked Tyler's dad if there was a park within walking distance and he suggested Ponds Park. It was a bit of a walk, but it was a lot of fun. This is the second park Luke had been to, but the first time he was so young he was just learning to sit up alone.

Luke grew out of the size 3 shoes we had for him and so I had to carry him around to everything so he wouldn't get slivers in his feet from the wood chips covering the playground. Tyler's mom had a little swing set in her backyard with a slide on it so Luke has been down that slide, but this was fun because I took him down the big slides on my lap. He LOVED it! I tried to let him go down the little slide alone, but I ended up having to catch him a little after the halfway down because he tips over backwards and would've hit his head. I tried to get a video of him... but it didn't turned out very well. Instead of the one from the park, here's one I took later that day when Tyler got home and was able to help me.

Here are some pictures of us at the park. I took a baggie of cold cereal and a sippy cup of water for us to have a little picnic.

This Was my view as we walked to the park. Luke kept looking up at me. It was really bright!

Well. . . I look really silly here, but I love the funny look on Luke's face! Also, do you know how difficult it is for my brain to type look and Luke in the correct order and spell them both right when I type them right in a row. I hear the sentence in my head as I type and they are too similar I start to type Luke instead of look.

You have no idea how lucky I was to get this picture. He would not sit still and I had to keep running back to make sure he didn't bail off the front of the slide!

On the walk home I stopped to take a short break and we ate some more cereal. Luke was tired and easy to get laughing so I pulled out my camera before he stopped:

On Saturday, Tyler and I took Luke to a closer park with his Sargent cousins. Tyler's brother, Tim, is back in school and working full time so we offered to take his 3 girls to the park with us so he could study and do homework. Tim came with us and sat off to the side reading a textbook but I don't know if he got anything done. I wouldn't have been able to concentrate!

Here are some pictures from Saturday after we got Luke some shoes to wear to the park:

He didn't seem to like the swing as much as I thought he would.

He was a little short for these toys, but he was very determined!

He loved hitting these stools like a drum.

We let him go down the slides alone on his belly, one of us getting him set up at the top, the other catching him at the bottom. He laughed and squealed and loved it. He's a lot of fun to play with at the park!

Last Year This Time

2011-03-14T10:47:00.007-06:00

I can't believe Luke it 1!! I decided I want to go back through the memories of 1 year ago today... so here's a warning: this could(will) be a very long post.

This time last year (this morning when I started this post) I was laying on a birthing ball trying to relax through the contractions and wondering if they were real labor or false labor. My mom suggested we try to go for a walk because if it was real labor the contractions would only get stronger. We went out and got out of our complex and around the corner but when a contraction would hit it didn't do me any good to lean on Tyler, it would take me to my hands and knees. We decided a walk wasn't going to be very productive since I couldn't make it very many feet without get back on my hands and knees... SO we went back to our apartment. I had Tyler push on a spot on my back that we were taught would relieve some of the pressure by causing counter pressure, but after a while it started to hurt because I asked him to push harder and harder and it was starting to bruise. I was getting really distraught because he couldn't really push on my back anymore and I still wasn't sure it wasn't false labor (having never been in labor before). So I called my mom again and told her my frustration and she suggested that we do an effleurage bath to help the labor along. For anyone who doesn't know what an effleurage bath is, Tyler filled the tub about half way with warm water and then as I layed on my back trying to relax, he used a cup to scoop up the water and gently pour it over my baby belly. It only took 5 or 10 minutes (I think... I mean really my sense of time was all sorts of messed up and everything felt faster than it was. I woke up at 3 in the morning and started having contractions and it was 2 or 3 in the afternoon by this time. It didn't feel like it had been 12 hours.) before I couldn't lay there and relax anymore because the contractions were really strong and I felt too restricted in that tiny tub. When I got out the contractions were strong and resonating down in my legs just like my mom said. We decided it was finally time to call my midwife and see if we should head to the hospital. As I tried to get ready and Tyler cleaned up and grabbed somethings he decided it was time to give me a pep talk. I was still having a really hard time getting through the contractions and I felt like giving up. He got down and told me I needed to dig deep and figure out how to concentrate through the contractions because although he was happy to push on my back to help... it wasn't really as much of an option because I was bruised and we didn't know what would happen at the hospital and if it would be a situation that would allow him to push on my back. I was a little frustrated at him for a minute because I felt selfish and thought he just didn't want to push on my back anymore (it is very tiring, just ask Tyler who was there for me or my parents or my brother in law who all took turns doing this for my sister). I realized he was right though and that he wasn't just looking for a way out, he was trying to prepare me for what was coming as best he could. I called the midwife and they said it was time to go to the hospital so we headed out. I know it really wasn't safe, but I couldn't bare to sit in the chair so I knelt in front of the passenger side seat and worked through the contractions. When we got inside and up to the maternity floor we went to check in and I dropped to my hands and knees for a strong contraction. Tyler tried to keep checking in but the nurse he was working with was very alarmed when I dropped down to my hands and knees to handle the contraction and had someone go get me a wheelchair. The whisked me away and before I knew it I was in a birthing room, complete with a jetted tub (one thing I was hoping to try).

My midwife wasn't on duty that day so one of the other midwives in her clinic that I'd met came to deliver Luke. I was happy it was her and not the other lady I'd met because the other lady wasn't very easy to connect with for me. I just didn't feel very comfortable around the other midwife so if I had to have a replacement midwife, I was glad it was Nancie Mooy. She was very kind and understanding and she really wanted to try to do things the way I wanted. She came in and checked me and I was dilated far enough that they were happy with it, but I really can't remember what I was at the time because I was trying to relax and go inside my head to keep some control over my self. A short while later she checked me again and a moment later my water broke. Can I just say... I am SOOOOOOO glad I was in the birthing room when my water broke. That was a whole heck of a lot of stuff. It was weird though, it felt like a large pressure had been released when my water broke. I asked to sit in the jetted tub so Nancie got it all set up and she and Tyler helped me in. I was really tired by now. I'd been awake and working through contractions for over 12 hours and as I sat in the tub I was able to relax more. I even dosed off a little. I didn't mean to and I wouldn't say I fell asleep completely, but I had little dreams that Tyler was saying to doing something that he wasn't. It seemed real because the situation in my dream was the same but I can't remember what Tyler was saying in my dream. Suddenly I was awake again and I felt like I needed to use the toilet. I thought that was a pretty inconvenient thing, but I also remembered hearing that some people feel like the need to do that when the baby is moving down. I wasn't sure which it was but when I told me midwife, she sided with the baby and they helped me out of the tub and back to the bed. After they set up the heart monitor and the contraction monitor they started saying something about the baby being posterior and so I remembered back to what I'd been told about that situation: get on your hands and knees and do the yoga stretch the cat and the cow or what ever it's called. I asked if I could get on my hands and knees and my midwife was all impressed and said, something like "well she knows just what to do, doesn't she. Good for you!" So I did that for a while and then I laid back down and they checked out the situation and things looked really good but they had stopped progressing. Things had really been moving along for a while and then they just stopped so she tried to tell what was going on and determined that Luke was still turned a little and so they positioned me on my side in the hopes that he would turn because he couldn't progress turned the way he was, he was stuck. They were worried because Luke seemed to be getting stressed and so they put and oxygen mask on me to help him get enough oxygen. That made it a whole lot harder to keep my breathing under control. I felt like I couldn't breath and my head was really hot so Tyler got a wash cloth wet and put it on my forehead. I had him rinse it with cool water often and he held my hand and my leg and was standing there to do whatever he could. I tried to ask him for something during a contraction and he told me he had to sit down. I couldn't understand why he would need to sit down when I felt like I needed him and I said, "I'm sorry, I need you, you can't sit down right now." He told me after that he felt like he was about to pass out right then. Oops. Sorry husband. I didn't mean to be so selfish. He hadn't really eaten anything all day so he felt like he would pass out from standing and hold me so long with no energy. Luckily we'd brought a lunch box with an apple and some crackers so he took a bite when he could.

Anyway I did what I was told and I pushed and pushed and to me things didn't seem different from push to push but everyone was telling me I was doing a great job and that he was crowning and I just needed to do a few more really good pushes like I was doing. Well... Luke was still stuck and every time I pushed his head would get to a certain point and then stop and when I stopped pushing he'd go back a little. They told me they were worried that if I couldn't push him out soon that Luke would go into distress and they would have to do an emergency c-section. She told me that because I hadn't had an epidural, they would have to put me out during the c-section and Tyler wouldn't be allowed in. This really wasn't encouraging and Tyler looked really upset. I think they said it wasn't too late for me to get an epidural just incase they had to do a c-section but I really didn't want one. I was doing really well as far a the pain and pressure went, and that wasn't something I wanted to give in on. I knew I could get Luke out and I asked if they could just give me more time. She said I could have another half and hour or so if Luke's signs didn't get worse. I was determined to do this naturally and so when I heard quite talking of using forceps or the vacuum between my midwife and the nurses, I gritted my teeth and pushed as hard as I could when the next contraction came. My midwife was caught off guard and jumped over to work through the contraction. It seemed like that push had done more than anything for a long while and she was ready to keep trying. I keep pushing as hard as I could and suddenly my midwife gave me an episiotomy without any warning. Tyler had to keep himself from punching her because he said it looked really painful, I felt it a little and made a sound of pain and he knew I hadn't wanted an episiotomy so he was really upset with her for doing it. I guess she thought it was the smallest thing she could do to help things start moving though and it worked. I pushed a short while longer and felt like I was giving it everything I had. I closed my eyes and I prayed because I didn't think I could keep it up a lot longer, I was completely exhauseted! I told my Father in Heaven I was giving it everything I had and I really wanted to get this baby out naturally because it would be best for both of us and I'd worked so hard to do it. I told Him I needed his help and it was in his hands now. Literally 2 pushes later Luke finally made it out. It was 11:09 pm and I'd pushed for around 3 hours I think.

They whisked him away to a little station they'd set up in the room because they could see when my water broke that he'd had a bowel movement in the womb so they needed to suction everything out so he could breath and not be poisoned. As they suctioned him out they noticed that he was very stressed and his oxygen levels were low because of it. They told me they needed to take him to the special care nursery right away. I really wanted to hold my baby, but I knew they would keep him alive. They wheeled him over so I could see him for the first time. He looked right at me. It still makes me tear up when I remember it. He was so calm and just looked me in the eyes. It was a blessing that he did, I needed that so I could know he would be ok. Tyler went with Luke and I told them to send my parents in (who had be waiting in the waiting room for all these many hours). I felt peace and joy. I couldn't stop shivering, but I was so happy they hadn't had to do anything more drastic than an episiotomy!

After I was stitched up, cleaned up, and had has some juice and cookies. They wheeled me down to the special care nursery to see my little guy. He was so sweet! I wanted to just hold him and keep in him my arms but he was hooked up to too many monitors and oxygen and stuff. They told me that he was doing really well and shouldn't need to stay after the required amount of time they would monitor him for.

They took us to our new room, which we would stay in for the rest of the time and shortly after we were settled in they brought Luke to us. He was so tired and I tried to nurse him for the first time, but he would just fall asleep. After trying to get him to stay awake and nurse and failing for a while, we gave up and let him sleep. I held him as long as I felt strong enough to and I think Tyler took a turn and then we put him in his basket. They asked if we would like them to clean him off in the nursery and we agreed to let them do that. They took him away and Tyler and I tried to sleep. Let me rephrase that. Tyler fell right to sleep, exhausted as he was. I laid there wishing I could sleep but I had endorphins and adrenaline still running through me and it took a long time before I was able to fall asleep. It seemed like 10 seconds after I finally fell asleep that a nurse came in and informed us that when they'd checked Luke's blood sugar it had been extremely low so they took him back to the special care nursery and a pediatrician would talk to us in the morning.

That was a year ago today. The next week was spent at the hospital trying to get Luke to stay awake to nurse to bring his blood sugar up.

It seems like forever ago... and yet, I can believe it has been a year! This is our little guy now:

Pretending it's spring

2011-03-04T10:35:00.006-07:00

Once upon a time . . . it was winter. Winter was lasting FOREVER! Then all of a sudden Mother Nature was like, "Here, have a taste of what spring is going to feel like. Get excited! BAZINGA! Here's some more snow because really it's just still winter!' (bonus points to who ever can name what show "bazinga" comes from).

Anyway, living with my in-laws isn't too bad, but there are definitely hard days. The thing that probably makes it hardest is that we sold our old(er) Subaru to Tyler's co-worker and now we only have one car . . . which Tyler takes to work. So Luke and I are stuck at home all day. It wouldn't be so bad but we've been stuck inside too because of the snow and the cold. Usually that's when I start to go really crazy, when it has been snowing all week and we haven't really had anything to do to take us out of the house when Tyler gets home from work. I think Luke goes stir crazy too. He seems to get bored like me if we don't get out of the house a couple times a week.

Well as it has tried to warm up again I've really been itching to take Luke for a walk. I was going to on Wednesday because it was a beautiful day, but I tried to get too much done and then I had harp lessons to teach so it didn't happen. Then yesterday I tried to hurry out while it was nice but by the time we got outside it was cloudy and before we made it back around the block it was sprinkling on us.

SO! Today, I saw how beautiful the blue sky was while we were eating breakfast and I got really excited! We hurried and finished our breakfast, bundled up because I figured it might still be a bit chilly since it was only 9:30, and we ventured out to go for a nice walk. It was a VERY nice walk! I loved it! I think Luke enjoyed it too . . . He just didn't like it when we were facing the east or southeast and the sun was really bright in his face. Here's our walk in pictures:

I though Luke might like to bring along his puppy

ready to go!

"Can I hold the camera??"

"It's too bright!!!"

I just wanted a picture of him in front of the horses... He wouldn't put his hands down while the stroller was facing this direction.

"Now can I hold the camera??"

Cheese! :)

The End . . . time for a nap!

Bloggin'

2011-03-03T12:49:00.004-07:00

So I have this problem . . . I think of things I want to blog about that are about me, or Tyler . . . or our family rather than just about Luke and his fun progress, but when I sit down to blog about them, I can't remember them anymore. Maybe that means they weren't worth blogging about. Maybe it just means I'm forgetful. Perhaps it will come back to me, but until then, I guess I'll just give one update that is hard to forget about.

That update is one that I haven't blogged about yet, and it is the fact that Tyler and I are trying to purchase a house. That is the reason we moved back in with his parents in the first place because we didn't want to be in a rental contract when we didn't know how quickly or, in our case, slowly it would actually happen. We've been living here since July and we put a bid on a HUD home in December. Our bid was accepted and we've been jumping through hoops to try to meet deadlines and get everything done that they require ever since. The good news is . . . I think we're getting close to closing. I don't think that really means anything though because every time I've felt like we were getting close . . . something else would come up and someone would want money or documents or something. I can't wait until this part is over.

The house we're trying to buy is small and needs a lot of work. The point wasn't to buy something really nice . . . the point was to buy something priced really low so our mortgage would be a lower payment than paying rent. We both see projects we want to do everywhere we live and it is frustrating to us to be renting and not able to do the things we want to do. We get so bored! So . . . now we'll probably have more projects than we could really want, but I truly believe it will be good for us. The house is a cute little 2 bdrm, 1 bath ranch style house. It has a good sized backyard (which I will be planting a garden in the corner of) detached garage, a nice shed and a dog run. I can't wait to have a dog in the dog run. I know I'm talking about this house as though it's already ours . . . but we've done so much and we're so close but I can't help but feel possessive of it. It is completely possible that we could close next week some time.

Something that is nice about this whole thing is that we should be given a repair escrow for some of the bigger things that need fixing which means HUD will put money in an escrow account so when we fix the things that are "required" they will reimburse us for how much it cost to fix them. Part of that is for new kitchen cabinets! That would be awesome!

The house is in Syracuse, which is just next door to Layton for anyone who hasn't heard of Syracuse. It is a nice area and the city is developing and growing so we hope to be able to make money on the house after we do the repairs, or at least be able to rent it out and keep it occupied.

Well that is pretty much what everything seems to be waiting for. Luke will be 1 year old on the 14th which is basically 10 days away. I was really hoping we would be in this house before his birthday so I could have a party for him in our own house. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. He's such a cute kid though. I'm so thankful that I can be home with him playing with him and watching him learn and grow.

So . . . Until I can remember the other things I wanted to blog about, this is what I've got. :) Hope ya'll liked it.

Googley Eyed Fish

2011-02-28T20:34:00.004-07:00

Luke has never really acted afraid of much. He was scared of the vacuum at first. . . but usually he doesn't get very scared. There is really only one thing that has always had him a little freaked out. My mother-in-law has a some bath toys in the bathroom where Luke takes his baths (because I'm living at my in-laws for those who may have forgotten), and among them there is this googley eyed fish.

I put it in the tub the first time I put him in the big boy tub and he started screaming! I have brought it out a couple times to see if he was still scared of it and he would always flinch. Today, however, he gave a very interesting response. He started laughing a weird laugh like he couldn't decide if he was laughing or freaking out. It was like he thought it was supposed to be funny and was trying to laugh but was really worried about this fish. I might be mean. . . but I got out my phone and recorded his reaction.

So... it's been a while.

2011-02-28T18:40:00.005-07:00

It has been a long time since the last time I posted... especially since my last post was just a giveaway. Well I lost my camera for a long time so that was the main reason I didn't post until now. However, I found it!! So, I have a couple of things to share.

Luke walks! He is getting to be a pro. He has been trying for a long time and was walking along the furniture for a really long time without trouble, but he finally started venturing away from the furniture around 11 months... maybe a little before. Either way, after about a week of taking 3-5 steps and then falling, he suddenly could walk across a room and stop to get his balance if he started to wobble. Then he got the flu and was too sick to do anything but cuddle with me and sleep so he lost a lot of the progress he had made. The last week and a half since he got better he has been catching back up and has been doing very well! It's too bad he got sick because he was even getting up from sitting in the middle of the floor without help and walking. Now he doesn't really try to get up without pulling up to furniture or a wall. Hopefully he'll start doing that again soon. Here's a short clip of him walking. It is hard to catch it because he still isn't very consistent.

It is also fun to see Luke start to comprehend more of what we say to him and respond in an appropriate way. I taught Luke to sign "more" at meal times and he uses it ALOT now. He uses it the way I taught him too when he runs out of something he will use it to ask for more but he also uses it when he's hungry and wants to let us know. He also uses the sign when someone is eating something around him and he is trying to ask for some. He's kinda turning into a mooch and I don't know how to stop that if it's possible because I don't usually share my food with him. Usually he has his food and I have mine. I don't know. But here's a video of him asking for more at meal time like I intended him to use it. Sorry for sideways videos... I don't know how to rotate them.

The last video was taken during the first time Luke fed himself spaghetti. I made it with large elbow noodles so he could grab them. It was a hilarious experience and I had to take him straight up to the bath tub when he was done because he was so covered in spaghetti sauce. Here are some other funny pictures and videos from that meal. They still crack me up!

A cute thing Luke and I have been doing is the "Where's your belly?!" game. This started out on the changing table and I would ask "Where's your belly?" and then slap my hands down to my belly and say "here it is!" and then put his hands on his belly. Now he does it himself when I ask or even if he hears the word belly. Today I was laughing so hard because I told him he's a "Silly Billy" and he smiled and slapped his belly. Billy... Belly... you've got to admit, that's really close for a little guy. He's so smart!

I don't have a video of it but we've been trying to teach Luke animal sounds. The only one he really tries to say is when we ask "What does the Lion say?" and then we say "ROAR!". Luke will say "RAW". He also waves hello and goodbye. He doesn't seem to be too interested in saying either one yet, but he'll wave. He points at things and people all the time. When he starts getting into things he shouldn't and I tell him no he looks at me and then after I tell him no again he shakes his head like he's imitating me, and then walks away from it. Most of the time he ignores me when he knows he's getting into something he shouldn't be. He love to chatter away in his own little language and looks at me like I should know exactly what he's saying. I guess that is because we talk to him as if he knows what we're saying too.

Things I've been trying to get Luke to do that he hasn't chosen to pick up yet are signing "eat"/"food" instead of "more" when he's hungry, and signing "milk" instead of "more" in the mornings. He'll be sitting there eating his Kix and then sign "more" when he clearly has plenty of Kix in front of him. I figured out he's asking for his milk. He stops asking for "more" after I get out a sippy cup of milk... yes, we've weaned to whole milk. Luke's teeth were too long to keep nursing (ouch!), and his pediatrician said Luke should be fine to wean to whole milk at 10 months so we jumped on it and Luke took to it very well.

So... That is basically an update on Luke. He encompasses my days so I feel like it is an update for me too but I guess it isn't. I'll work on that. :)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner... kinda

2011-01-05T06:52:00.001-07:00

Alright everyone, I've run a lot of things through to figure out who the winner is. The winner of $35 to csn stores is..........

Amy, who said "I've got my eyes on a pair of new running shoes"

Thanks to everyone for entering. I wish I could have given each of you the $35 but, alas, it doesn't work that way.

I hope to be able to hold another CSNstores giveaway in the future so be watching for it!

Have a great day!

Giveaway Reminder

2010-12-31T10:28:00.002-07:00

For those interested in entering the giveaway and those who have, please remember that in order to be eligible you must follow step 2

"2. Post about the giveaway on your blog and come back tell me that you did."

You need to tell me you did because I'm not familiar with some of my new followers and don't know how to see if you posted about the giveaway.

Good Luck everyone!

Giveaway for the New Year!

2010-12-30T20:45:00.004-07:00

So I have a confession to make... I'm really bad at making my bed. I always have been. When I was little I remember my mom trying to get me to make my bed everyday but... it just didn't happen. I've always been of the persuasion that I'm just going to mess it up again when I get in it at night so what is the point. That is because when I get up in the morning I wish I was still sleeping and I tend to walk around in a haze of sleepiness before I really wake up. By the time I'm really awake... I've forgotten about the bed. Well at CSNstores.com they have awesome choices for modern bedding and I think if my bed would look like this if it were made:

... well then I might actually care to make it. Some day when we are living in our own home (which could actually be in the next couple months) I'll be more likely to do something like this because I'll care more about the space. But for now I'll just look at this picture. :)

In addition to modern bedding I would also really like new cookware . When we moved out of our apartment in Bountiful, rather than pack up our old pots and pans that were falling apart and getting non-stick stuff in our food... we decided to throw them away and save up for new cookware. The point is I know you fellow bloggers have something you wish you could have to spruce up your house. With the new year almost here, I figure you could all use a 2nd Christmas already. This is why I am doing a giveaway of $35 with CSN stores. Anyone can be the winner but you have to be a subscriber or follower. So what do you have to do to win the free money?!!?!? Well here are the details (which were so well written on a friend's blog who did a giveaway once upon a time that I stole them from me. Bonus points to her if she realizes it is her):

1. Be a follower or a subscriber and leave a comment telling me you are.
2. Post about the giveaway on your blog and come back tell me that you did.
3. Go to CSN and tell me which store you love the best - or which item you simply can't live without.

Nobody is exempt, but when I post the winner if you don't contact me I'm givin' it to someone else. So come back to see if you won.

This giveaway will end on Tuesday, January 7th 2011 (wahooo!!) at 11:59 pm. I will announce the winner of the CSN stores $35 on Wednesday, January 8th early in the morning.

Alright people! There you go! If you want $35 to CSN stores Then follow those steps and check back!

About a month ago

2010-12-20T19:52:00.002-07:00

So I just uploaded pictures from my camera on to my computer and realized it has been a while. Looking at the pictures I realized I had meant to post about Luke's cousin Braedan coming over to visit.

Last month my nephew Grant went in for surgery to fix his cleft palate. During the surgery they decided it would be too risky and stopped and sewed him back up how he was when they started. It was really disappointing especially for my brother Nate and his wife Stacey. Grant had a swollen trachea and it some other complications the left him unable to breath with out the tube they'd put down it to give him oxygen. Anyway... They were stuck at the hospital for a week or so and so Grant's brother Braedan and sister Emma needed to visit family so that Nate and Stacey could be with Grant and make decisions with the doctors. We got to have Braedan come visit us for a couple of days and Luke LOVED it! He thought Braedan was funny and fascinating. He would crawl over to him and try to touch his face (try meaning I would repeatedly stop his hand before he got to Braedan and he would keep trying anyway) then laugh and look at me in amazement. Braedan enjoyed laying in Luke's vibrating rocking chair and even played with the arch of toys when I put them on for him. He is a very happy content baby and so I figure I could probably handle another baby... we'll see if that happens. :) Tyler on the other hand, took care of the two of them for 20 minutes while I went to get pizza and Braedan had the worst blow out in the world and while Tyler was cleaning him up Luke grabbed a cup of water and spilled it and then cried and basically all heck broke loose. I couldn't believe that as soon as I left everything exploded on him! I guess that is the reason I say we'll see if we have another haha, Tyler's not convinced on the subject. The only thing that was hard for me was meal time because Braedan wasn't (isn't?) old enough to know how to hold his own bottle and so as I gave him a bottle Luke got upset and wanted the bottle or wanted to be fed himself. Tyler suggested after the ordeal that I should have given Luke a bottle of water so he had his own. He's smart. I didn't think of trying that. See! He could handle another kid too! ;)

So anyway, here are a couple cute pictures I took of Luke and Braedan playing... They are basically the same thing but I like them both and couldn't choose which one I wanted to post.

CSN Stores Giveaway

2010-12-19T21:28:00.001-07:00

Ok bloggers, I need your advice. I got an email from CSNstores.com about doing a giveaway with them and I've seen people do giveaways before... but I know NOTHING about it and I don't know if it is a good idea. Has anyone done one? Was it fun? Did it cost you anything to hold a giveaway? Did you get anything out of it? What's the deal here?

9 Months

2010-12-16T12:53:00.004-07:00

So I decided to turn my computer's camera on in front of Luke while he was cruising and see if I could capture some of is cute personality that a lot of people don't see. When Luke is around people he doesn't see often or has never met he just watches them in awe. Once he's done watching people he'll talk and play and have fun but he seems to be very observant at first... just like his dad. :) So this is a long video because I don't feel like editing out the dead time but it has some cute stuff. Luke has finally started mumbling "mamama mom mamama"... not that he necessarily knows it is me. He's probably just experimenting with sounds but he has said "dadada dad dada dadada" for a really long time and sometimes he seems to know he's referring to us when he says them... but that may just be wishful thinking. So watch as much of it as you'd like, I just think he's fun. It took more than half the video to get him to finally say "mamama" rather than "dadada". Right now he's in his jumper and he's going back and forth between the two a lot.

The first minuite-ish is cute and then it is mostly just him walking around until about 3:25 shortly after that he says "mamama" and then he found a remote and I got him to laugh.

Some things besides cruise on the furniture and say "mamama" that Luke can do:

* pick up finger foods with his thumb and pointer finger and actually get them in his mouth

* use a sippy cup... although he still prefers to just shake it all over the place

*climb the stairs

*talk all the time

* crawl away in delight at the prospect of being chased

*get into anything

*wave

* clap... which he's actually been doing for quite a while I just don't remember mentioning it before

*take naps :) ok ok so he has always taken naps, but now I can soothe him for a short while then put him in his crib and he'll done one of the following: pop up and play for a while or pop up and cry for a little while and then lay down and take a nap all on his own or just fall right to sleep after I lay him down. It has taken a lot of time to get to this point and teething still messes it up a bit but it isn't as bad.

*sleep through the night. last month (or maybe is was in october... I don't remember for sure) started letting Luke cry himself back to sleep at night with out going in because we knew he could sleep through the night... he just liked having me come in. The first night was HORRIBLE we let him cry and cry and cry and he was just getting more and more upset and we were getting less and less patient with the cold turkey idea because you'd think he would have fallen asleep after like an hour or so. Nope. so finally i went in and nursed him so we could stay sane. The next night he only cried for 10 or 15 minutes. He still woke up for a few nights but the time he spent crying became less and less. He now sleeps through the night, or at least goes back to sleep without crying if he does wake up. It's awesome.

*I'm guessing there are at least a few I'm forgetting but that's ok. Watch at least some of the movie and see how cute he is when he isn't staring at random people trying to figure out who they are. :)

Thanksgiving = Attitude of Gratitude

2010-11-24T16:21:00.004-07:00

So this post is not so much for everyone else to read as it is for me to list things I'm grateful for to get in the attitude of gratitude and stop dwelling on things that I don't have...

I am grateful for my husband who cares enough about me and Luke to go to work even when he's super tired and would rather stay home and sleep in. I'm grateful that he would go fix our car at the rent- a- mechanic place to save us some money and learn some tricks. I'm grateful that they were nice enough to give us some money off when they diagnosed the problem wrong and made it take 8 hours to fix... after work. I'm grateful that after working for 7 hours and fixing the car for 8 house, Tyler came home and was still happy to see me and enjoyable to be around. I'm grateful that Luke takes good naps again. I'm grateful that Tyler is willing to work so that I can stay home with our son and take care of him. I'm grateful that Luke knows who his parents are and loves us. I'm grateful for his sweet smile, his laugh, and is funny jabbering. I'm grateful for a roof over our heads, and heat coming through the vents. I'm grateful for safety as we drive places. I'm grateful for a careful husband at work. I'm grateful for my in-laws and their love and understanding and hospitality. I'm grateful for friends near and far, who have made me who I am. I'm grateful for family of friends who have always been so loving and accepting and made me feel like I was family too. I'm grateful for friends who could see what I needed and helped me get there. I'm thankful for snow to make things white and bright. I'm grateful for this Earth and the bounty that we've been blessed with. I'm grateful for double dates that meet my need to socialize and keep me going through the monotony of the week. I'm grateful for the generosity and understanding of my own immediate family as our living situation makes life a little complicated some times. I'm grateful for my harp students and the things I learn from them and from teaching. I'm thankful to be able to contribute to our financial needs with a talant I love. I'm thankful for my talents in music of playing the harp, the piano, singing, and even leading the music sometimes. I'm thankful for opportunities to share my talents with others and to invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts as we enjoy the music together. I'm grateful for the diverse talents Tyler and I possess to give our child(ren) exposure to many things and help them be well rounded. I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to grow as a person by being a wife and a mother.

I'm grateful for my new stay at home job that has so much potential and offers great health benefits for me and my family as well as those I have to opportunity to help. I'm thankful for my parents for introducing me to it. I'm grateful for Tyler's open mindedness on the subject so I could pursue it. I'm grateful for the extra income it brings as well.

I'm thankful for the experiences I've had through out my life that have shaped me, both good and bad. I'm thankful for the people I've met who have influenced me, good or bad, so I could make decisions and end up here. I'm thankful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the things I've learned from my membership though out my life. I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows who I am, what I need, and how to get it to me. I'm thankful for the promtings of the Holy Ghost that testify if the truthfulness of the gospel to me. I'm grateful for repentance and the experiences I've had in being forgiven of my sins that are so sacred to me that they testify of the truthfulness of the gospel in a way that I can not deny. I'm grateful that I have been able to recognize those things to have as a safety net when I've gone through my own spiritual struggles. I'm grateful to know that man kind all make mistakes so I can know they aren't perfect no matter who they are, and know that I do not need to compare myself to their imperfect state, but look to Christ's perfection as a guide instead.

I'm grateful for my passions that keep me healthy and happy and sane. I'm grateful for a supportive husband who wants me to pursue my passions and help me accomplish my dreams. I'm grateful for a husband who can make me smile no matter how upset I've been about anything. I'm thankful for his patience with me and his desire to stand by me as I lean and grow as a person. I'm grateful for opportunities to do the same for him.

I am extremely grateful for the miracles that have been bestowed upon my nephew Grant as he has has his own physical struggles and I'm am eternally grateful for his strong, loving and happy spirit. He has a very special spirit and I don't think anyone who has seen him can deny that.

I'm thankful that blogger saves my blog as I type so that when I accidentally pressed a button just now taking me to a different tab, my whole blog wasn't deleted in the process.

I'm grateful for thanksgiving for helping me count my blessings. Everything I've listed is a blessing, and I could go on and on and on. I know I am so blessed despite my impatience when I don't get the things I want when I think I should get them. I am thankful for EVERYTHING! haha and I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Rubber Ducky

2010-11-15T18:42:00.004-07:00

So yesterday at church we were trying to keep Luke occupied during the sacrament and we gave him a little blue rubber ducky to play with while he was sitting on the floor between our feet. I looked down at him a moment later and he had the duck in his mouth, which is not surprising, but he was biting the tail and had let go with his hands. Then he was shaking his head and making a funny noise. When the duck fell out he laughed and did it again. I was cracking up! I grabbed another one of the ducks (a pink one, it was the closest one, don't judge) to see if he would do it again tonight for the camera. He didn't do it as well today but you'll get the point. Enjoy:

p.s. don't mind the tv in the background. bonus points if you can tell what show Tyler had stopped on for a second... he was channel surfing.

And here are a few other pictures of him playing with the duck:

And then the duck shot out of his mouth:

It's ok, try, try again:

Windshield Wipers

2010-11-05T20:51:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we tried to go bowling with some friends. We beat them to the bowling ally and so we waited in the car for a few minutes because it was raining. Luke was done being in his car seat so we pulled him out and ended up having a blast. This still cracks me up. Sorry it's sideways, I don't know how to turn it... it's from my phone.

We should have gone in because when our friends caught up we went in and all the lanes were taken and there wasn't supposed to be an opening for 45 minutes or more. That was too much so we left to play board games instead and had a lot of fun. It was Halloween eve/Halloween in Mormon Standard time so Luke is wearing his Lion costume (without the head part because it was getting really warm).

Leaps and Bounds

2010-10-29T14:12:00.004-06:00

So Luke has a tendency to suddenly make a lot of progress in things. For example, a couple of months ago he suddenly was teething, eating from a spoon with out all the mess, holding himself up, and army crawling. This week has been one of those weeks. For the last few weeks I've been working with Luke to show him the different things he can do with his legs and his arms and such. For a couple of days I wasn't sure if it was helping or if he was just confused as to why I was doing these things. All of a sudden, he can do it all! Tyler went down to get Luke out of his crib after a nap on the 22nd of Oct. and he was standing up. That was the first time he'd done it by himself. For a long time he's tried to getting up on his hands and knees when in the middle of his army crawl, but he hadn't done anything with it. About a week after he started pulling himself up to things by himself, he started to try to actually crawl. He still mostly army crawls when he really wants to get somewhere, but when he's just playing on the floor a lot of the time he's up on his hands and knees taking little strides. As soon as he started to do this he figured out how to go from his knees to sitting down. So basically he's all over the place. I'm really proud of him. He gets this very happy look of pride on his face every time he pulls himself up to something, or when he tries to crawl. He laughs and gets so excited and I just love to watch him. I wish pride was all I felt, but it's not. This new found freedom of his is so frustrating at the same time! Luke doesn't play with his toys very much right now, all he wants to do is explore, so his new freedom is seriously limiting mine. He has to play in his crib (which has been moved to the lowest level now) if I have to use the bathroom or something. Also, nap time has become pretty much impossible. I go through the routine and he's all tired and sometimes falling asleep in my arms and then I go to lay him down and he wakes right up and rolls over and starts trying to cruise around his crib. It used to be that if I got him drowsy like that he'd just roll over and fall right to sleep with out objection but now he fights it for hours.

It doesn't help that he seems to be trying to cut all his teeth before his birthday. We noticed a new tooth broke through today right next to his two front teeth and the one on the opposite side is really close too! That will be 6 teeth already!

A couple of other things Luke has shown development in are communication and eating. A couple of days ago I laid Luke down on his changing table and said "Boo!". To my surprise he said "Ba!" right back, then he waited. I wondered if it was a fluke, but it didn't seem like it so I said "Boo!" and he smiled and said "Ba!". I've also been trying to incorporate some sign language into his routine hoping he'll figure out how to use it soon. The one I've used the most is "more" when he eats his solids. I don't know if it is a good sign or if it even means anything at all, but every time I do it Luke laughs.

Also:

And lastly the eating part goes like this:

First Haircut and teeth

2010-10-27T20:59:00.011-06:00

Well the title pretty much says it all. Luke got his first haircut last week. I took some pictures but due to the blonde-ness and scarce-ness of his hair, you can't really tell. I can, however, tell you there was something to cut! After Luke's terrible cradle cap hair loss:

(See the bald man top with hair on the sides?)

He started growing his hair back. I would massage and rub his head to try to stimulate it to grow, but then he started to move his head around a lot and he got a bald spot on the back (which I didn't take a picture of).

So... as his hair has grown there has been a tuft in the middle of the top that has grown faster than everything else. It seemed like the hair on the sides that he didn't lose to cradle cap fell off anyway and the sides have been very slow to grow back. Yes everyone, basically Luke has just been a bald kid since the cradle cap. But I thought it was fun to play with the little tuft and see if I could make a mohawk (just for kicks and giggles), but it never really worked out.

And as you can see from the following picture, even when I didn't style it up all silly like that, you could actually see the little tuft, swaying in the wind:

And so, without further ado... I give you the after pictures.

And the last order of business: Luke's teeth

I don't know how many of you have tried to take a picture of an infant's teeth, but I'm sure at least some of you have and can back me up when I say, "It's hard!"

Luke wants to lick my fingers, hold the camera, and close his mouth. He always sticks his tongue out when I try to open his mouth, making it impossible to get a picture of the bottom teeth, and he moves so much that it is very difficult to get a good picture of the new top teeth. Luke now has 4 teeth and he likes to bite things with them. I got a picture of the top teeth, but I'm sorry, I still failed to get a picture of the bottom teeth. It's hard enough to get a glimpse of them in person, let alone with a camera.

So there you have it, Luke's new hair and new teeth!

Dad Knows Best

2010-10-27T11:51:00.005-06:00

So Luke isn't always easy to make laugh, I think he gets that from his dad (because I laugh at a lot that Tyler doesn't think is funny) but he does laugh a lot sometimes. Tyler is the best at getting him to laugh. Here's proof I walked in on the other night. It helps that he was up later than usual which always makes him a little loopy, but Tyler can get him laughing like this any time of day.

p.s. The bear Tyler is playing with to get Luke to laugh is named Berry the Bear (or is it Beary? I don't know, no one has every specified) and it was Tyler's favorite teddy bear when he was little.

Baby pictures compared: Vote

2010-10-08T07:40:00.014-06:00

Ok everyone says Luke looks like me, and I think he does have some of my features, but you can't tell me you can't see the resemblance to Tyler in these pictures. They are all Tyler except when it says "Below. . . Luke" Especially the first one and last one.

Above: Tyler, Below X 2:Luke

granted Luke has no hair and Tyler did... but still

Above: Tyler, Below: Luke

it is even the very same yellow high chair!

Above:Tyler, Below: Luke

Above: Tyler, Below: Luke

Ok so you might have to try and think of what Luke will look like in 16 years to see the last one... but still. :)

Sorry for the quality of Tyler's baby pictures, his basement flooded a while back and basically ruined a lot of his old photos. These are what we have after my dear sweet sister edited them and tried to clean them up for our wedding video that she did such an amazing job on. Thanks again Shay.

Now for some baby pictures of me.

Above: Me, Below: Luke

Above: Me, Below: Luke This one is the most similar I think

Above: Me, Below: Luke

Alright, there you have it. Cast your vote. :)

Halloween Time

2010-10-08T07:02:00.009-06:00

I love Halloween. I think I've always loved it. I remember this one time when I was little and we were living in Iowa and I was a witch. Our ward (or maybe stake or branch... I don't know that kind of detail I was really little) would do a "trunk or treat" because we were spread out over the city so much that it was a safe way for us to celebrate halloween with people we knew. Anyway, I don't remember if there were many other festivities at the "trunk or treat" or if I'm imagining that part, but I remember having gross stuff in my hair and on my face and I went to get a drink out of the drinking fountain and it tasted nasty because of the makeup or whatever it was... I still loved dressing up as a witch though.

* I just found proof of this memory.

Also, here's proof that Tyler used to dress up :)

But They look different ages in these two pictures... so maybe he was always a pirate and got tired of it and that is why he doesn't like to dress up ;)

It's a little weird to me that Tyler doesn't like to dress up, but he isn't at all against me dressing up if I so desire, or me dressing Luke up. So..... I got Luke a Lion costume because he's Luke the Lion Cub (also refer to here at the bottom of the post)! I can't get over how cute he is in it. I want him to just wear it all the time! It is soft and cuddly and he puts up with it so well! It wasn't too expensive, but still I feel like it is a lot to pay for an infant costume when I don't plan on taking him Trick or Treating seeing as he can't ask for himself... and can't eat it himself either. I'd feel dumb. Also, since he's not in school he doesn't get to wear it there and show it off... so when does he get to show it off?! The only time I can think of is if we have a family halloween party and still I think it's silly to get a costume and wear it only once. Therefore, I told Tyler yesterday that he can't make fun of me if I randomly put Luke in it this month. It's more like Halloween month now.

Anyway, I put Luke in it after his afternoon nap yesterday and took some pictures of him in it out in my in-law's back yard. We grew some things in their garden this spring/summer because my mother-in-law didn't want to do it this year. We grew some corn and I think it added a lot to the pictures. Don't mind the stupid white lining of the head part... I can't get it to stay tucked under :(

Here he is all dressed up and ready to go outside.

Such a sweetheart. He's very loving.

He's stalking his prey in this picture :)

Yup... He's cute. haha

I think there was a bird.

This one seriously cracks me up! I can just imagine "What IS this thing on my hand? Well there's really only one way to find out...

"Gotta taste it. "

Hmmmm....

FYI... It is hard to hold a baby in a tree securely and take a good picture too. This is the only picture I was able to take so I'm glad it turned out. He really wanted to grab the camera.

Surprising Luke

2010-09-12T19:24:00.007-06:00

Luke is fun to play hiding games with... like peek-a-boo only we don't always say "peek-a-boo" sometimes I say "oooooh... NO!" or "Whoa!" or "Boo"... or just about what ever I feel like.

Well today it was boo. Multiple times through out the day today I hid behind the door from the living room to the basement while he was playing on the floor in the living room then I'd poke my head around the door and say boo. Luke would jump and then laugh and wait for me to do it again. He was laughing so much, and it's not always easy to get him to laugh. Well he was playing in his jumper and I realized that a blanket on my bed was bunched up in a way that I could lay down next to it and he wouldn't be able to see me. This is what I recorded after I tired it and it worked. The best laughing happened before I turned on my recorder... sorry. Also sorry that I bounced the recorder every time I popped up saying Boo... there wasn't really anywhere else to put it.

Cabbage... the leafy green vegetable

2010-09-06T11:40:00.003-06:00

So last week I went to the store to get the groceries I would need for the week's dinners (that I planned ahead of time), and as I grabbed a head of cabbage, I decided to get a head of lettuce too. I didn't really have plans for the head of lettuce but I think I was thinking of making a salad. As it turns out, I did need to make a salad. Yesterday we celebrate Tyler's mom's birthday and we were assigned to bring garlic bread and a salad. I had to run to the store for garlic bread (because I didn't want to take the time to try and make some) but I figured I could use some tomatoes and a cucumber from the garden to make a yummy salad.

Right before dinner yesterday I pulled out the head of lettuce and a knife and cut out the core and started slicing it up. Tyler came over and told me it looked weird and gross. I told him I was just doing it how I'd seen it done at Fredrico's when I worked there. He took a bite and told me it didn't taste right... I thought it had looked and felt weird too but then I took a bite and it hit me... it wasn't the head of lettuce! It was the head of cabbage! Well shoot!

So I went back out to the fridge and grabbed the head of lettuce out of the drawer. When I pulled it out of the bag I looked at it and felt like an idiot. It was a head of cabbage too! I could have sworn I bought one head of lettuce and one head of cabbage! Well now we had a whole head of cabbage all cut up and no lettuce to replace it with. We cut up tomatoes, a cucumber, and added some shredded carrots. I told Tyler we should just not saying anything and watch people's faces as the took a bite. Tyler's mom could see that it cabbage without taking a bite though... so it didn't completely work. I said I thought I had a head of each but that they were both cabbage and she said "well I really like cabbage, and it's my birthday so it works. " Sweet! In that case I did it on purpose, right? A few minutes later Tyler's dad took some salad and put some ranch on it like normal. He took a bite and got a disgusted look on his face and said "so... isn't there any lettuce in this at all?" haha... I guess he missed that part of the story.

The moral of the story is, sometimes cabbage looks like lettuce... and sometimes people like cabbage anyway.

Camping

2010-08-30T13:35:00.011-06:00

So remember a few weeks ago when I told you all that Mother Nature hates us? Well she warmed up to us and we finally got to take Luke on his first real Camping trip (real meaning... we didn't come home dejected, not real meaning out in the middle of no where with no potty etc.). We went camping the weekend before this last one and it was so fun. We went with Tyler's brother and his family to a campground by Mirror Lake in Kamas. The only other time I'd been camping up there was to the beautiful Alexander Lake and I had no idea that there are about a million lakes up there and loads of places to camp. Well we got there and found a cute little camping spot that didn't look so great driving past, but when I got out to check it out I noticed two perfect tent spots surrounded by trees and a little stream in the back. Here are some pictures of camp.

Tyler tried fishing in the little stream and thought he got a nibble.

After we set up the tent it was nap time for Luke. This was before he wouldn't sleep because he was teething. He's laying on every single blanket he owns all piled up. It was cozy.

(at night before it got cold, when Luke didn't want to sleep because he was teething)

(in the morning when it wasn't as cold but still a bit chilly because Luke likes to wake up early when we're camping.)

It was supposed to get really cold at night (which turned out to be true) so we stopped at Walmart on the way to get some thick yarn for Tyler to make a beanie out of for Luke. He's pretty much a professional beanie crochet...er. I bet he'd deny it if you asked though. I love how it kinda looks like an army helmet haha.

The first morning we went to a water fall and Luke got to walk with his dad. He liked it.

Here's what breakfast looked like the 2nd morning.... mmmm... I'm glad Tyler and his brother Tim know how to use those dutch ovens.

We went fishing a lot and tyler and I both caught fish. I caught an albino rainbow fish (how ironic is that?) but it was too small to eat so we threw it back. Tyler caught a young rainbow fish and threw it back and then caught a bigger albino rainbow fish and kept it. There didn't seem to be any really big ones. He gutted it and cooked it over the fire. I thought it would be fun to record him gutting the fish... so I did. If your squeamish don't watch it... even though it was dark and I was also holding the flash light so I'm not sure how much you can see.

Over all Luke was very well behaved. He was tired and hurting because he was teething so he didn't want me to lay him down for his naps.... which I did anyway most of the time. We saw Sunday morning that his tooth came through. That was the first time he slept through the night from between 8 and 9 pm Saturday until around 6. He has ever since and it is awesome! I'll give the credit to camping. :)

We had so much fun! I didn't dream about Luke being a lion cub this time, but I didn't have to dream about it for him to still sound like one. I was riding in the back seat one time on the way back from fishing and got a couple pretty good videos of him growling at his toy... so we'll end with that. Enjoy.

One way or the other

2010-08-30T09:56:00.006-06:00

Well, It's official. Luke rolls over from his back to his tummy now. I don't remember if I actually blogged about trying to teach him to roll over... or if I just thought about it. I think I only thought about it. Ok well I've been trying to get him motivated to roll over. He's been really lazy about rolling over. I posted that blog about him rolling from his tummy to his back and then it got to the point where I could hardly get him to do tummy time because he'd just roll over every time. It was kinda funny but I think he must have scared himself onetime or something because all of a sudden he just stopped rolling over. He would just lay there on his tummy until he was tired of holding himself up and he would cry and scream and lay his head down and never roll over, so I'd have to help him. I've only seen him roll over 2 times that I can think of since he stopped rolling over and I think he did it on accident. So I've been working with him trying to get him to roll both ways. He was getting so close to rolling to his tummy anyway because he would roll to his side but not put the effort into rolling the rest of the way. Well last week I left him to play on the floor with Tyler while I made dinner. I could hear Tyler trying to encourage him to roll over and then Tyler was all excited yelling to me from the living room that he did it. I came in and Luke was on his tummy, sure enough. Well a few minutes later (while I was back in the kitchen after he'd tried to get him to do it again for me but he wouldn't do it) Tyler started yelling for me to come in. By the time I got in there he'd already done it. A day or two later while I was home alone, I left Luke playing in his crib while I ran to the bathroom. I warned him that if he rolled over while I was gone so I couldn't see it he'd be in big trouble. He did it, and wouldn't do it again for me. This happened two more times on Thursday when he was playing on the floor and my Mother-In-Law was watching him while I got my things together to go teach harp in Logan. Twice he was on his back when I went down stairs and happily playing on his tummy when I got upstairs. I would try to encourage him with toys to roll over so I could see it and he would just smile at me with this sly smile. He would roll to his side and act like he was going to roll over then give up right at the part where he either finishes the roll to his tummy or rolls back to his back. Friday was the first time I saw him roll over and now he won't stop. He's always trying to roll over while I'm changing his diaper, and if he's playing on the floor it doesn't take long until he rolls over. This is great except he STILL won't roll back from his tummy to his back! So as soon as he's done on his tummy he's all upset because he's stuck there or something. I don't know what to do to get him un-scared of rolling to his back. Here are some videos of him almost rolling over last week and then one of him rolling over this morning.

Almost

He was being camera shy and would just lay there starring at the camera when he saw it so that time I tried to hide it.

Tada!

Home Cooking

2010-08-27T09:29:00.002-06:00

Ever since Tyler and I were dating I wanted to cook him yummy things, most of the time that ended up being cookies or brownies or other things that weren't really great for him because that is something I know how to do. I feel like I used to be better at coming up with good dinners and even just making yummy things out of what I had in the kitchen without a recipe or real plan. Somehow that changed and I haven't been as good at that since we got married. Well a couple of weeks ago I made two yummy dinners in a row that were very easy. They may not have been super healthy, but they were better than going and buying a pizza like I did the other day when I didn't feel like cooking...

Anyway the first one was and idea I got from looking at my cousin's blog about Salsa Chicken. I didn't have all the things in either recipe, and I didn't have enough time for a crockpot... so this is what happened:

I took 3 chicken breasts (2 for dinner, 1 for Tyler's lunch the next day) and put them in a square cake pan. I turned the oven on to 350 I think. I covered the chicken in the salsa that I had in the fridge which was just the store brand mild salsa. I put the chicken in and said, "ok please be yummy". A little later I thought maybe it would be good with corn on it, so I took some canned corn and poured it over the top while it was cooking and left it to cook some more. Then the thought came to put one of our home grown peppers in it from our garden. I sliced one up and placed the slices around the pan. I thought about putting black beans in but didn't and wish I had. Then I though cheese would be good... so I shredded some cheese on it and put it back in. By now the chicken was getting done but I thought of one more thing that might make this yummy. I got out our multi-grain tortillas and tore one up into pieces and spread the pieces all over the top then added a little more cheese on top of the tortillas. When I make this again I'll just do cheese on top of the tortillas because that is what I would have done if I'd though to put the tortillas on before I thought of cheese. Anyway, I broiled it for long enough to cook the tortilla strips a little so they would add a little crunch. Then I served it. It was delicious! I think it ended up cooking 30 or 40 minutes by the time I'd finished adding things along the way. Tyler loved it, I love it, and it was pretty good reheated for his lunch too.

Oh wait... did I serve it with rice? I think I did.... yes I seem to remember there being rice.

The next day I was having a hard time coming up with something to cook. I wanted to use pork chops because we always seems to use chicken or ground beef so I wanted to change it up a little. I asked my mother-in-law if she had any good ideas of things to do with pork chops and she suggested that I stuff them. I was a little skeptical but she grabbed some pork stuffing (by stove top) while she was out and I was teaching a harp lesson, and I tried it.

I took my thick pork chops and sliced along the side long ways to make a pouch. Then I browned them. Then I stuffed them full of the stuffing I'd just made from the box instructions. I stuffed them as full as I could. Then I browned them a little more... because my mother-in-law said she told me wrong and that you're supposed to brown them after you stuff them. I don't know if it matters but that's what happened. So then I salted and peppered them and put them in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes? until I cut into a thick part and it was cooked clear through. This was very yummy. It had really great flavor. I think I served it with a can of green beans. I wish I'd taken pictures... but sometimes I lose my camera for days at a time.

Anyway, if you're looking for an easy yummy dinner, there are a couple of ideas for you. :)

5 Month Photo Shoot

2010-08-25T20:40:00.010-06:00

So Luke turned 5 months on the 14th, and it was my mom's birthday on the 15th. For my mom's birthday my sister Shay suggested that we update the pictures of the grandkids that my parents have. I haven't had any nice pictures taken of Luke since he was about 2 1/2 months old (just random funny pictures of course) so I asked Shay if she would take some pictures of Luke with her fancy camera at my mom's birthday dinner and just send them to me that night. I didn't want her to have to spend all the time editing them when I was going to ask her to do those kinds of pictures at 6 months. ANYWAY... so she took some AWESOME pictures and I just love them all. here are a bunch of pictures of Luke at 5 months old in my Grandma Bushman's backyard... which is surprisingly great for taking pictures.

I know there are some that look pretty much the same... but he makes such cutes faces I couldn't choose.

I love this pictures ^

look at his cute tongue sticking out!! haha ^

I wish you couldn't see my fingers

This one just cracks me up! ^

We also took some pictures of Luke with his cousin Cade (Shay's son). Cade is 6 weeks older than Luke but look how close they are in size. Luke is in the upper 50% of weight, 60%'s of head circ., and 86% in height.... he's grown a lot in the last few months!

I thought this was a great picture because it is exactly what what was going on the whole time! Luke was just watching Cade the whole time, trying to figure out what he was doing and stuff.

Ever since Luke and Cade had this little play time, Luke has been trying harder to eat his feet. Seriously the next morning he was copying Cade, and this morning I took a picture of him really going at it!

Well I don't think I've ever posted so many pictures in one blog... but I can't get over how many great pictures Shay took!

Lake Powell Pictures

2010-08-25T12:51:00.008-06:00

When I wrote about going to Lake Powell with my parents in July I didn't have very many pictures because all the pictures were on my dad's camera. Well I have them now so here they are.

Boating worked best when Luke was asleep... he didn't always tolerate his life jacket very well.

This life jacket is actually my Mom and Dad's but it does about the same thing :) This was one of Luke's more patient moments

Before we could even go play on the water the first morning there, Tyler stepped off the boat right as the boat rocked. Rather than stepping on the dock, he started falling and landed his food on the cleat on the dock (the one you tie a boat up to). It wasn't too sharp but the way Tyler landed on it with all that force and such, it ripped a big chunk of skin off the heel of his foot. My dad super glued the flap of skin down and then duct taped it too so Tyler could play.

My dad stepped into a hole in the floor of the big boat (where the owner had pulled a panel door out of the floor to fix the toilet) and scraped his shin up really bad... I knew the hole was there because I was making a sandwich right next to it but didn't think to tell my dad there was a hole. That doesn't make it my fault though! Sheesh people.

We camped in our tent, everyone else camped on boats.

Tyler and I both tried to get Luke to play in the water. The first time Tyler did and put more of Luke in than there was warm surface water and he didn't think that was very fun. The second time (the next day) I tried just putting his feet in and he liked it. He splashed his feet.

We were getting ready to go out on the water after breakfast and Luke needed a nap. It was noisy or hot everywhere but right under the Captains spot.

Tyler tried and tried and finally figure out how to get up, here's the proof.

And here's the proof that he had good crashes too, which is important to keeping your audience entertained :)

My mom liked holding Luke and spending time with him. She would hold him so I could wakeboard... for the first time since Tyler and I started dating.

Well I still remember how to get up

And Jump!

I love my pony tail flying up in the back. :)

So there you have it. Pictures form Powell.

How Old Am I?

2010-08-25T12:31:00.004-06:00

So... although I have many more things to blog about, this one does not require that I upload any pictures... and it isn't as long as I tend to let things get :)

Yesterday I went to Walmart, and when I got there I was sitting in my car finishing eating my lunch before going in. Well as I sat there I saw an old man walk toward us looking around with his key fob in his hand like he was pressing the lock button over and over trying to get the car to make a sound. So then he turned around and walked the other way looking around as he went. I laughed and thought the old man could sure use valet parking right about now.

Shortly after he came walking back still pushing the button and looking around confused. Then he walked away and when he came back again there was a woman with him and they were both looking around. They walked passed my car and I didn't see them again because I went in the store. ( I hope he found his car...) So I went in thinking that was a pretty funny sight.

Well I did my shopping and walked out into the parking lot to where I thought I'd parked... or was it the next row over? uh... nope not this row I guess I parked on the next row over.... or the next row... I could have sworn it wasn't this far over... oh, there it is, another row over. SHEESH! I think I looked JUST LIKE that old man! I'm only turning 23, I'm really too young to be loosing my car in the parking lot and walking around disoriented like that old guy was. wow...

Just gonna vent for a sec... a long sec

2010-08-18T13:54:00.007-06:00

So... for a while now I've had a very strong desire to be a pilates instructor. I didn't know how to go about becoming a pilates instructor... I just love pilates and want to share such a great thing with other people and earn money for my little family. I went about trying to google how to become a pilates instructor and kept typing the wrong stuff into the search engine because I really wasn't getting anything back but places in New York or California. I was pretty discouraged and had pretty much stopped researching when I was watching Gilmore Girls one day and a commercial came on for Eagle Gate College. I'd seen the commercial before but never really paid attention to it until this particular occasion. This time I listened to it advertise the great quality of their personal fitness trainer program. Suddenly I got this idea that maybe I could become a personal trainer which would give me a strong background in anatomy and nutrition and such and do that until I could figure out how to specialize in pilates. I figured this would give me a wider client base and make me more in demand for specializing. I got really excited (which I tend to do when I think I have a good idea about something I want)! I talked to Tyler, who is supportive of me trying to become a pilates instructor, and I decided to look into it. I went to the website and gave them my phone number saying I was interested and the next morning a... counselor maybe? called me and talked to me asking my interests and telling me all about how Eagle Gate College would be a great place for me. I decided it would be worth it to go see the place and see how I felt and talk about how much tuition is and see if it would be doable with a 2 month old baby. I went and found out that it would cost around $17,000 because they are not a state school and don't receive any government funding. I pretty much lost all hope and excitement right there. She kept emphasizing how important it is to be passionate and motivated in order to finish in the short amount of time the program can take. I think she was taking my disappointment about the tuition (and demanding hours) as a lack of motivation or passion... which wasn't the case. After talking to Tyler that night he told me if it was something I really wanted to do and felt like I would enjoy then we'd figure out a way to do it, but he didn't want me to go to the Downtown Salt Lake City campus if possible because the classes went until 10 pm and I would be parked outside in a garage (where I learned later there had been some problems at times). To make him feel better, I called the Layton campus and made an appointment with their Personal Fitness Trainer advisor. I really liked the campus and the parking was better and I just got a good feeling there. I set an appointment to meet with the financial advisor and left feeling hopeful again. Shortly after this appointment I found out that even thought something like 95% of the graduates are hired directly out of the program, I would be working at a gym where I would have to find my own clients when I guess I thought the place would pay me to train at their facility. I guess I missed that memo. All this confusion started to overwhelm me and I decided this wasn't the route to take.

I started more research on becoming a pilates instructor and decided that I should do like Tyler kept telling me to and ask a pilates instructor how they became one. I found a few websites for some pilates studios in Downtown SLC and one in Bountiful. The one in Bountiful called me and said they only do Reformer pilates but said they are very busy and need another instructor so they would be willing to train me to work for them. That sounded great but didn't pan out. I also got an email back from one of the SLC studios saying that they do instructor training and certification and it is a year long process and she sent me all this info on it and it looks like what I want... which brings me to where I am right now.

Why do people stress going to college at a university or state college to get a degree? I understand it is a must for some fields of study and that it can help you earn more money in others. But heres where I'm frustrated. I didn't know for sure what I wanted to do. I went to school and took english and math and health and PE and such and I got a 4.0 most of the time. I was doing what I was told by so many people would give me success in life. But I didn't know what I wanted to do. So now I have an Associates Degree of Science... which says I went to school for 2 years and did what I needed to to graduate. Then I went to USU and changed my major approximately 3 times and stopped going because I was too sick in my pregnancy to continue going, but I wasn't too sad for stopping because I didn't know if it was even going to be what I wanted but I didn't feel like I had a choice anymore because I was barely going to graduate under the credit limit as it was (before they charge out of state tuition... yeah that doesn't make sense.)

Now I feel like for me to go do what I finally feel like I really want to do I would have to leave my baby boy and put off giving him any siblings for a couple of years. I really don't want him to be an only child that long. He needs someone to play with, but I can't go through what it will take to become a pilates instructor during pregnancy. Not just because I'm afraid of being sick again, but because I'm not supposed to do many of those exercises to that extent while pregnant. I feel stuck and it makes me really annoyed that I didn't do this before I met Tyler or at least before I got pregnant. If I'd be exposed to pilates much before college I may have realized I wanted to be an instructor, but even when I started doing pilates in my second year of college, I didn't consider it an option because it wasn't the way things were supposed to be done. I was so busy trying to do what people told me would be best that I didn't try to do things the way that I would end up happy. I didn't want to disappoint anyone by going to a Tech school instead of a state college or university. I didn't even think to look into those and see what they had to offer because I'd gotten the impression that they were... a lesser education for lazy people or something. Well what good does it do me to go to a college and university if it isn't going to get me where I want to go? I feel like I was in a tunnel where I could only see the things I was told would bring me success and I wouldn't look outside of it to see if there was anything that would be a better option for me. I think it's great to go get that type of an education if you know where you're going and what you want to do. If your field of study will take you to that career without problem. I wouldn't even mind going back and getting a Bachelor's Degree in nutrition and sports science to give me a strong background for becoming a pilates instructor, but the problem is I would have to start over and NOT transfer what I've already done because then I'll have too many credits and have to pay tens of thousands more to get me where I want to end up. I'm young and I shouldn't feel like I'm doomed and unable to get the education I want. I should feel like I have my whole life ahead of me to grow and learn. I love my son and I don't want this to come off as being at all ungrateful for him and the opportunity to be a mom, I just wish that instead of wasting my time changing majors at a school that was running me in circles, I would have looked around and what else there is to do and learn in the world and tried something else before the blessing of motherhood made those other things more difficult.

Luke The Lion Cub

2010-08-14T22:29:00.011-06:00

Once upon a time, Tyler and I went camping with his brother and family while I was pregnant with Luke. It was only september I believe, and I was still having a lot of all day - morning sickness. I actually didn't throw up that whole time even though I felt like it many times. That's beside the point and really has nothing to do with the story... but oh well. Anyway, all through out my pregnancy I had weird dreams. I know dreams are normally weird, but these were crazy weird dreams. Well as usual, that night at the campsite, I had a strange dream. In my dream we were walking around the campsite because it was a zoo. When we walked passed the lion's den, suddenly our baby (still inside of my womb) turned into a lion cub. I was really upset and didn't know how to get him to turn back and asked Tyler what we were going to do if our baby was a lion. That's all I remember from that dream, but I woke up I thought to myself "wow, that's weird". Well I'm going to post proof that the dream was more like a revelation about Luke... perhaps a way of Luke trying to let me get to know him before he was born.

I like to refer to him as Luke the Lion Cub because it is so much more appropriate that we realized it would be... and if feels cool rolling off the tongue. :) Usually when Luke does this lion's growl/ roar he is in his car seat or something and I don't have the camera so this time I sat him down and tried to create the situation that would get him growling. The quality of growl isn't as impressive as usual, but hey... I recorded it.

Camping

2010-07-31T23:13:00.003-06:00

Want to know how to tell if Mother Nature's upset with you for some reason? She pushes you away when you try to spend time with her. Here's an example:

Tyler and I decided it would be fun to go camping for the weekend. He was able to get off work a couple of hours early on Friday so we could get an early start. I put Luke in his chair for his nap right before we loaded up so I wouldn't have to try to move him when we were ready to go. So we got our things in the car and went to the store to get stuff for s'mores and some other things. We went to Huntsville to camp in the canyon that leads to Causey Dam. We drove up to the dam because Tyler wanted to show me before we set up camp... which was just enough time for every last campsite to fill up. I mean every campsite in all 8 campgrounds in Huntsville! Well we were disappointed but we thought we'd just go up Sardine Canyon to Mantua and stay in Boxelder Camp Ground because Tyler said he'd be there a lot during high school last minute and it had never been full. Well this isn't high school anymore, this is real life. In real life, the campground gets full before we can get there and claim a spot. Determined to camp and spend time in nature, we continued through Sardine Canyon and went up Logan Canyon to find that all of their campground were also full. At this point it was 10:00pm. We'd been driving for 5 and 1/2 hours. Just down the road when you get out of Logan canyon you'll find yourself at Green Canyon. We decided it was worth a shot because it doesn't really have any water or anything to do pitch a tent so it seemed like a possiblity. We drove up the rocky dirt road and clear up almost to the top we saw a fire pit off the side of the road and there weren't any tents or cars by it. we pulled over and I walked around. It was a hill... and there weren't any trees to create a private camping area... there was just a pile of rocks that looked like they were supposed to be a fire pit. It wouldn't work, we didn't want to sleep on a hill all night. So disappointed, annoyed and frustrated, we went home.

Today (Saturday), we got a call from our friends Summer and Jeff, who we had invited to go camping with us but weren't able to join us (not that they ended up missing out on anything). They wanted to know if we would like to go find a campsite and make tin foil dinners and roast marshmallows and things for the evening. We agreed that it would be fun IF we could find a campsite. We drove up Farmington canyon to Sunset campground, and looky there! Campsites! Really?! Right next door in Farmington there were campgrounds available? So we started a fire and got the food cooking and before it could finish it started raining. Luke and I sat in the car to get out of the rain. When the rain let up a bit I put Luke's jacket on him, wrapped him up in his blanket and took him back up to the table. But it started pouring. I set Luke in his car seat and gave him a toy. Our food finished and we ate... getting soaked the whole time. When it stopped letting up and just kept getting worse we decided it was time to pack up. Some picnic... oh yeah, it was an adventure. Right?

Well, ok Mother Nature, you obviously don't care to spend the quality time with us that we want to share with you so we'll take the hint. We'll just go home and leave you alone! Well... at least until next weekend, after I have a chance to reserve our very own campsite. Then there will be no excuse! We will camp, we will fish, and we will smell like campfire!