Two Months

Mya is two months old now. She has been so fun to have in our family. She's so sweet and sensitive. I love it! And her! Jacob is so good to her too. He wants to teach her all about animals and likes to share his books with her. He also is a fan of singing lullabies to her and letting me know she is hungry every time she cries. Mya is such a good baby. She is a great sleeper, eater, and pooper. What more can you ask for from a two month old baby? She's smiling all the time and is starting to "talk" to us too. She loves to cuddle which I love too. The only thing I complain about with her is that she screams and cries in her carseat every time- without fail. That makes going places difficult. She had her two month checkup today and is 12 lbs 14 oz. I am not a fan of the height measuring because I'm not sure how accurate they are. She sure is chunky and has the cutest little legs ever! We love her!

Christmas was great

We had a really nice Christmas yet again. Jacob was a hoot to watch on Christmas morning, and when I started to worry about whether he is catching anything about the true meaning of Christmas he would start talking about whose birth we were celebrating. Such a kid--love him!!! Sweet Mya slept through all the Christmas morning fun then cried in the car all the way to Grandma's--well most of the way. Thanks to Jarom for spoiling me and to our families for their generosity as well. We are truly blessed!!!!!

Mya's Baby Blessing

Just Another Day in Paradise

Sometimes when I'm driving in my car I like to feel like I'm in the hometown again so I will listen to some country music. Well the other day I was driving home from somewhere with Jacob talking up a storm and Mya screaming her head off (as she usually does in her car seat when she's not asleep) when I flipped to the local country station to hear the song, "Just Another Day in Paradise." As I was singing along trying to tune out my kids I started paying close attention to the lyrics and realized that it fit my life. The song describes the craziness of everyday family life, and mine has felt especially crazy lately as we've adjusted to a newborn in our home. I also realized that even with all the trials that come with being a mother and one who stays home I have never wished for one second that I could be anywhere else. I've wished for lots of things like an off switch for my 3 year old or extra arms to hold my baby all day and still do the laundry but I've never wished I could be somewhere else. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude at that moment amidst all the noise for my life and the craziness it entails sometimes. So here's to many more days in my paradise.

3 weeks

Here she is at 3 weeks. And since I have not mastered being super mom yet that is all you're getting. In fact, the blog will probably be neglected for awhile. I need to use my time to focus on my kids, my husband, and creating a memorable holiday season with family and friends.

Mya's Story

When she was born, I didn't hear her cry right away but really thought nothing of it since Jacob had trouble too. I just thought they'd suck out all the fluids and get her screaming loud and clear in no time. The nurse brought over her to me for a quick look then told me she'd had to give her oxygen and needed to get her to the nursery ASAP. Of course I sent Jarom with her. Short version of the story is that she had aspirated on some fluids which caused pneumonia in one of her lungs. She was on oxygen for about 24 hours and IV fluids to keep her blood sugar level normal. I didn't get to see her for about 7 hours and even then I could only hold her hand. I finally got to hold her the next day once they got her weaned from the oxygen and she was able to keep her saturation levels up on her own. They also weaned her from the IV fluids so I could start feeding her. She was put on two different antibiotics for the infection which were administered via IV. The IV moved from her to foot to her scalp to her hand to her forehead back to her scalp. Her poor little hands and feet were black and blue from so many pokes. I was discharged from the hospital on Halloween but had to leave my sweet baby there. There is nothing harder than leaving your baby behind when you've waited so long to see her and hold her and take her home. I made several trips back and forth to the hospital to feed her and hold her over the next couple of days. They finally decided to let us take her home on Monday night and finish her IV meds at home. So that is what we did. It was such a relief when Wednesday night rolled around, and the home health nurse came to take out her IV. I know it could have been a lot worse, and so I am grateful that she was able to fight off the infection and be so healthy now.

I just realized that it's been two years since we decided to add to our family and start down that path. It's been a long and sometimes trying journey to get her here. We love her and are so glad she's part of our family!!!

On a side note: Jacob adores her. He's so sweet to her and loves to hold her. Me, on the other hand--I have become public enemy number one. I sure hope this phase ends soon. Whomever said that two year olds are terrible must not have had a three year old. I'll take a two year old any day over what he's been dishing lately!!!

Mya

She's finally here. Born October 28, 2009 at 1:04 pm. Weighing in at 8 lbs 12 oz, 20 inches long. She had a little bit of rough start which I will have to blog about later. Tonight I am just grateful that she is home and healthy. And I loved holding her today without some kind of tube attached :)

I love fall

It is probably my most favorite season. On Saturday we went on a little hike, and the colors were so pretty. We also came across a waterfall which we had no idea was there. Unfortunately, it didn't put me into labor. Good news is that we finally get to meet our baby girl tomorrow!!!

Doesn't happen everyday....

So a week ago I thought I was going to have this baby. We did a session at the temple last Tuesday evening with Jarom's family, and I was having contractions through the whole thing. Well, they tapered off and went away much to my disappointment. Then Friday rolls around, and I am feeling grateful that I made it to that day so I could support Jarom's brother, Kendrick as he was sealed to his cute wife, Lisa. Little did I know how incredibly grateful I would be feeling later that day. We were sitting in a sealing room of the Salt Lake temple patiently waiting for the sealer to arrive when we heard the very familiar voice of President Monson in the hallway. Then to our surprise he walked into our room. Yes, that's right, he was there to seal these two lovebirds. What a great experience to sit in the temple and listen to this wonderful man share some stories and experiences with us. I'm certain I will never have that experience again in my lifetime!! For those of you who are wondering--Lisa's family has lived in President Monson's ward for years, and her father was/is? their home teacher.

I'm done

But apparently that is not getting through to my baby girl. I have been avoiding the blog for awhile because the only thing I can of to write about is how miserable I feel. I know the last couple weeks with Jacob were hard, but I am having a harder time this round. My poor husband probably wonders what happened to his easy going wife and Jacob wants to know why I can't wrestle with him, do somersaults, chase him down the street, etc, etc. I keep telling him I'll be back to normal soon. The first thing out of his mouth this morning was, "Did my baby sister come yet?" I wish little buddy!!!!!

Despite my misery, we have managed to paint pumpkins this week, play with friends at the park, and take a trip to the fire station with the preschool class. I even made a solar oven to put in my emergency storage.

Baby Update

Still hanging in there with about 5 1/2 weeks to go. Sometimes it seems forever away and other times it seems to be just around the corner. Jacob is so funny about it. He keeps talking to her and telling her she needs to stay in there and keep growing. Other times he'll tell me to put my hand on his belly to feel her kick. Then he proceeds to move his body around to make it seem real to him. I wonder if he thinks that's what I do when I tell him to put his hands on my belly to feel her kick???? Everyone keeps asking if we have a name picked out. The answer is no, but we do have several ideas. It's hard to pick just one since we didn't do use any of our names with Jacob. In fact, his wasn't even one we had every mentioned. However, if you ask Jacob he will tell you her names is Princess Maggie. And Mom, you will be relieved to know he has changed his mind and now wants to name her Evie. We kind of like that one. Then last night he came to me and said, "I want to name my sister Abby." I was surprised to say the least since I've always liked that name, and Jarom doesn't so much. I thought Jarom had put him up to it, but when I asked him he said they never talked about it. Jacob told me later that there's a little girl at the gym named Abby. Really does the kid miss anything???

Speaking of names, I picked him up from preschool one day last week and he pointed to a little boy and said, "That's husband. He's in my class." I laughed so hard!!! I was like, "Jacob I don't think his name is husband." I later figured out he was trying to say his name is Hudson.

Utah State Fair

We ventured to the State Fair on Monday night despite the weather. We saw more farm animals than I cared too. They STINK!!!! But Jacob was in heaven. He couldn't get enough of them. We enjoyed some free music from Peter Breinholt and Ryan Shupe. Jarom tried to explain to Jacob why Peter Brienholt is special to us since going to one of his concerts was our first date, but Jacob didn't care. He just wanted to dance!!!!! I think we got some pictures at the fair, but I will have to add them later.

5 years and counting....

Jarom and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on the 11th. I can't believe it's been 5 years. It's gone by so fast, and I'm grateful for every minute of it. We went out on the town Saturday night while Liz and Ben watched Jacob (THANK YOU a million times to them). We were able to enjoy a very nice, quiet dinner at The Roof. It was really priceless.

Discovery Gateway

We finally made a trip to the Children's Museum downtown, and now I'm wondering what took us so long. We went with some friends, and Jacob loved it. He was sad when it was time to go and keeps asking when we can go back. I tried to take pictures, but I couldn't get the camera to work.

1st Day of Preschool

We decided to put Jacob in a little preschool that meets just around the corner from our house. He goes two days a week for two hours. I have mixed feelings about it so ask me how I like it in a few weeks. As for Jacob, he seemed to like it the first day. He was a little disappointed that his buddy Drew wasn't going with him. Hopefully he will make some new friends :)

Laboring on labor day

We hiked to Ghost Falls on Monday. It was a fun little hike that is not too far from our house. Spent the rest of the day doing stuff around the house. It would be our luck that we go in and out of the garage all day Monday doing things and then wake up Tuesday morning to a broken garage door. What do ya do??????

Birthday Parties

Jacob is such a lucky kid. Who else gets to celebrate their birthday for 3 days?? On his birthday we took a trip to the zoo. My parents, grandparents, Liz & Ben came with us. It was a lot of fun and hats off to my grandparents for walking around the zoo. When we were done there we had lunch at our house, and Jacob got spoiled with new toys. Jarom & I knew he would get plenty of toys from other people we didn't want to add to it. So we (really Jarom) built him a sandbox. Unfortunately it hasn't been as big of a hit as the new animals. On Sunday, we had dinner at a friend's house. Their little girl is Jacob's age, and they played so cute together. This is the same girl who months ago made Jacob cry over everything. On Monday, Jarom's family came for a bbq and cake. Celeste's birthday was the day before Jacob's so it was a double party for them. Jacob was spoiled again with new toys. Now, where to put them???

It was a fun and busy weekend! Thanks to all our family for making Jacob's birthday special. It sure beat last year :)

Life is a little more expensive...

because my baby turned 3 this past weekend and that means no more freebies!!! I can't believe it. Time has flown by especially this past year. People always talk about how sad it is or hard it is to watch your kids grow up. And I agree sometimes. It is hard--mostly because you know you will never get yesterday back. The funny things is that we know going into parenthood that they don't stay little forever and that someday they'll leave our nests to create their own. I've decided the trick is to make the best of each day so that hopefully you don't wake up one day regretting that you didn't. It's ok to have a messy house or to leave the dishes or laundry for one more day so that you can read a book together, go for a walk, dig in the dirt, or just be together. When we get to the end of our lives here and are being asked about how we spent our time on earth, God isn't going to ask if we got the "chores" done everyday. He will want to know how we did in raising His children. Hopefully I am doing ok :)

For journaling purposes:
Jacob's favorites outside
Making "dust"
Going for walks
Feeding the ducks
Hiking
Playing with Muggs-the dog next door
Playing at the park
Swimming
Playing in the snow
4-wheeling
Jumping on the trampoline
Racing
"Working" in the yard
Watching for dad to come from work

Favorites inside
Animals--I really don't know how to describe this one. They are still his #1 favorite.
Cars
Coloring
Movies
"Helping" mom clean
Reading books--sometimes we read stories for a good hour straight
Finger painting
Puzzles
Climbing on the furniture

Other favorites
Library trips
Aquarium
Target--they have animals to look at in the toy section
Playing with friends
Grandparents
Aunts and uncles and cousins
He basically loves to be around people
Pretending to be a dinosaur or other animal

Favorite foods aka foods that he will eat regularly
Cheese and crackers
Cold cereal
Green peppers
Fruit of any kind
Popsicles
Noodles
Pizza

Miscellaneous
He's starting to use his imagination more, and it's so fun to see what he comes up with. I will catch him talking to his animals. He also makes up games like the one we play on the trampoline where he will cook you something yummy to eat in the sky. He likes to see what animals he can find in the clouds. He adores his dad. Some days he starts asking for him about 10:00 am. He also likes to read stories to us sometimes. I can't think of anything else right now.

He's such a sweet little boy. I love him so much and feel so lucky to be his mom even when he throws hour long tantrums at bedtime!!!

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!!!

Things Kids Say...

I used to be really good at writing down funny things that Jacob says but haven't been doing so well lately. Maybe because he makes me laugh a zillion times a day, and I can't remember everything he says. I really should carry around a tape recorder. So here are a few off the top of my head:

While working in the yard, he raked up a pile of pine needles and pine cones then turns to us and says, "If you step in my pile one more time, I will give you a timeout." Bet you can't guess what he likes to do when we're the ones raking up the piles?

Today I was putting on my seatbelt while pulling out of the driveway and he said, "Mom, you can't go yet without your seatbelt on."

He loves to ask why. I know this is typical but holy cow the kid can ask why about everything under the sun. Here is an example of a conversation we had yesterday as best as I can remember:
Jacob: What's this? pointing to my temple dress that was laid out on the bed.
Mom: That's my temple dress that I wear inside the temple.
Jacob: Oh, why?
Mom: We wear special clothes inside the temple.
Jacob: Oh why?
Mom: Because it's a special place.
Jacob: Oh why?
Mom: It's where we go to make promises to Heavenly Father
Jacob: Oh why?
Mom: So we can live with Him again
Jacob: Oh why do we want to live with Jesus?
Mom: He lives in a very happy place and we can be with our families
Jacob: Oh why do we want to live with our families and Jesus Christ?
And it didn't end there. We could have went on all day with him saying oh why?

I love that he's so curious, but that why question is hard to answer sometimes!!! The best is when he starts asking why animals have certain parts and others don't. Oh and the other day we had a great bathroom talk which I'm not sure I want to put on here. It was basically in reference to how boys go to the bathroom vs girls and what comes out of where.

The latest...

I can't sleep.
I'm always tired.
I always have heartburn.
I'm always thirsty.
I have to pee constantly.
Oh my achin' back - Jacob still thinks I need to carry him sometimes.
How do I get my kid to sleep downstairs again? The thought of him sharing a bedroom with his baby sister is not sitting well with me. He will be up as much as her.
What should I do for my kid's birthday?

Then there's that one comment made last night that kept me up at 3 am, is still eating at me, and it wasn't even about me personally. Must be the hormones. I can usually shrug things off with a little bit of pity for the person who made the dumb comment in the first place. I bet you're curious now!!!!

On the other hand-don't you love the cooler temperatures? And the fact that football season is upon us? And I really should get going on my projects for the day.

And finally...

It's August and hopefully things will slow down a little bit for us. We ended the month of July with Dustin's wedding which was great. I spent the weekend in Park City with my mom and sisters which was fun too. We went shopping and hit the arts festival. If only I had more money to spend and a bigger house. There were lots of great pieces of art I would have liked to buy.

I finally got around to catching up on here with pictures from the past few weeks. So take a look at all of them. I'm looking forward to a more quiet month with more time to spend up the canyon where it's cooler.

King's Peak

Here are some photos of Jarom's trek with the young men. They hiked to the top of King's Peak which is the highest point in Utah. He had a good time, and it was just the kind of trip he needed. I'm glad he had the opportunity since I am not a very good backpacking companion this summer.

24th of July

Jacob and I headed south to spend the 24th with my family while Jarom was off on a high adventure trek. We went to the parade, watched fireworks, played games at the park, had a barbeque, went on a bumpy ride in the truck (next time I call one of the 4-wheelers). It was a fun weekend for us.

Pony Ride

Anyone who knows Jacob knows how much he loves animals. So we ventured to Draper Days in nearly 100 degree heat so he could ride a pony. He seemed to enjoy the ride, but he absolutely loved standing there watching the ponies go around and around and around. He could have stayed there all day just watching.

Timp Hike

Jarom hiked Timp with the young men in mid-July. While he was off doing that I took Jacob on a short hike up Little Cottonwood Canyon. I have no pictures of our hike, but here are a few from Jarom's--never mind I can't find them.

4th of July

We did a quick camping trip with my family. Jarom and I were able to take the 4-wheelers out for a few hours which was a lot of fun. It was beautiful scenery and nice weather. While south we also hit the local parade and rodeo with the best fireworks show on earth.

Antelope Island

Wow! It really has been that long since we went out to Antelope Island and played in the Great Salt Lake. I think it was the end of June. We had a picnic, swam in the "fabulous" water, and paddled around in the kayak my sister rented. Later that same day we went to our first Real Salt Lake game which was surprisingly pretty fun.

Quick Update

In case any of you still check in on us, yes we are still ticking away. I just haven't felt like blogging lately. Summer is flying by, and we've been having a lot of fun. We've been having fun mixed in with a few projects around the house. My bathroom is almost finished YEA! The most exciting thing about that is that the toliet is finally in. I was so tired of having to run either myself or Jacob down the stairs to go when we were busy outside or upstairs. And those trips down the stairs at 3 am--no more!!! We got central air conditioning which for a pregnant woman has been a huge blessing. I still have a hard time cooling off enough at night to be comfortable but a/c can't really fix it all. The yard--we've filled countless garbage cans with weeds, and there are still more. It's never ending, but I don't think it ever ends when you are a homeowner.

Jacob and I try to do something fun everyday. Our time with just the two of us is winding down fast, and I'm trying to make the best of it because it will never be the same again. As much as I wanted our children to be closer in age than 3 years, I am incredibly grateful for the past 3 years I have had with Jacob. They are seriously priceless. So we go to the park before it gets too hot, we go swimming, we play animals, we visit the library and read his books about 10 times a day in between visits, we go to the aquarium, we play in the sprinklers, we jump on the trampoline, we have play dates with friends, etc, etc.

I am cooking dinner for 8 families tomorrow so off I go to start prepping. Oh boy!!! I was loving this dinner swap thing until my turn came :)

Bear Lake

We spent last weekend at Bear Lake which was beautiful as always. We had nasty storms on Saturday and Sunday evening but had nicer weather on Monday and Tuesday. We went to church, played on the grass, went swimming, played on the beach, played at the playground, ate yummy food and can't forget the raspberry lime shake. Yum-o!! Oh and Jarom golfed with his dad and brothers and apparently Ron is quite the entertaining golfer. I can't forget how funny it was that Jacob came over to me when we were at the beach and said, "Is that ok if I play in the mud?" after he was caked.

Weekend Fun

Today I am feeling a little bit relieved that the weekend is over. That's rare for me because I love weekends when Jarom is home and we do fun things together. We did have a fun weekend that consisted of a wet night of camping with friends and those same friends staying with us until Sunday. They have a two year old girl who is so adorable and cute, but oh man she somehow managed to influence our sweet boy into a terrible two year old monster. Jacob was constantly crying or whining about something she did or didn't do. I've never seen him act that way when playing with any of his friends. Jarom and I kept looking at each other going what happened to our kid? He's possessed. Anyways it was fun to catch up with friends and spend time with them. Sadly I don't have any pictures. I guess I was too busy trying to teach Jacob to stick up for himself and fight his own battles.

Jacob's best buddy

This is Muggs. She lives next door, and Jacob loves to play with her through the fence. And Muggs loves Jacob too. She'll sit by the fence and watch for him to come out. If it's just Jarom or me out she's still craning her neck to see if Jacob is coming. So funny.

Other

Party with the Taylor's.

Vegas Pictures

We did lots of swimming.



We went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

Other highlights:
Session at the St. George Temple
Lunch with friends in St. George
Bellagio Fountains
Church in Las Vegas (Jacob slept through Sacrament meeting--he NEVER does that)
$15 breakfast at a buffet
Lions at MGM
Dinner at Planet Hollywood with Jarom