Shoot am I exhausted. It's hard to believe I have 8 weeks left of this pregnancy. She is growing so fast which means I am growing as well. We're pretty excited for Claire to come and can't wait to meet her. When I was younger they had these toy cats that had kittens and you didn't know how many kittens they would have until you opened it and then if it had a pink bow it was a girl kitten and if it had a blue collar or something it was a boy. Well, I remember having an anxious feeling when watching the commercials-wondering what the combination of kittens would be. Kyle and I know we are having a girl BUT I am super excited to see what she will look like. I was surprised when Jack was born because he was blond and fair skinned. Granted after seeing other babies lately, his skin isn't as fair but it's light. Through Jack's pregnancy I kept telling Kyle that our son might not look like him. Boy was I surprised. Jack looks a lot like me and my brother when we were babies but his coloring is the complete opposite-more like Kyle's when he was a baby. So with this little girl, I am anxious to see what she will look like. I still imagine her with brown or black hair (probably because my new niece looks like that). Just a few more weeks!

In the mean time I have continued with my obsessions of cloth diapering and sewing. I just want to give a shout out to my husband :P cuz he supports me in the cloth diapering and compliments all my sewing projects. We don't have a washer and dryer in our apartment. There's one for the whole complex downstairs but we have to pay for that. I had been washing the diapers in the tub but I thought that was kind of wasteful with water. So I used what we had around the house and made this:

It's our diaper washing machine. It makes things a lot easier and a little less icky. I also got some awesome new gloves that go almost to my elbows. They are nice for when I'm cleaning Jack's messy diapers in the toilet (also, the toilet bowl has been super clean lately cuz I wipe down the toilet after washing out his dipes, it's fabulous). We don't have a diaper sprayer-they are a bit expensive and I can't justify it for some reason SO I just clean them the old fashioned way-with gloves on of course. Anyways, the bucket is nice because I can soak diapers and not have to worry about weather or not Kyle needs to take a shower cuz we can move it with the handle. It has a little agitator I made and really cleans the diapers. Of course the thing I love the most is the SUN. I have been amazed at how well sunning bleaches out diapers and gets rid of stains. It's free and it works. I really want a clothes wringer to help the diapers dry faster and hopefully my dad can make one (he's good with things like that). Then I will be set. It's a little bit more work doing it by hand but it gets the job done and we are saving money. Ahhhh.

Jack's laundry hamper was looking pretty sad. It was a pop up hamper I bought about five years ago and it took up room and looked horrible. I decided to make him a hamper he could hang on the door. This is the design

I did get some inspiration from the web. A girl had made one with the big wooden purse ring handles but I didn't have access to those. I went to DI to find one but then felt horrible about cutting up a nice purse to have the wood rings. While looking around I found some metal wrings used to hand curtains and they were about a dollar. They work perfect. I love the way the hamper turned out. I'm MOSTLY excited because I drew the design and then made it and looks like the design I drew. It's lined and can be washed with the clothes and it's cute and small (Jack's clothes don't take up much room) and it's out of the way. I might make two for our room to get our big laundry hamper out of the way when Claire comes.

I also decided to make a new baby carrier. I made myself two baby wraps. I plan on using the wraps a ton when Claire comes but Jack is getting kind of heavy in them. They work but like I said, he's kind of hefty. Also, I don't think I could get Kyle to wear a baby wrap (lol). I had seen a girl in our ward use a Boba Carrier and an Ergo Carrier. These are Soft Structured Carriers. I looked around on the web and found a tutorial and pattern so that was my latest project.

Joann's has an awesome selection of remnant fabrics. So I went there and spent about eight dollars total on the fabric. They had some duck canvas on sale and a pretty yellowy green canvas on sale. I had all the other supplies available except the webbing and the buckles. Webbing is really cheap at a store near my house but buckles are not cheap at any fabric/sewing/craft store. SOOOOOO I hopped on over to DI again and looked through the old backpacks, fanny packs and scripture totes. The old beaten up backpacks are the best because I don't want to take a nice backpack someone would use and cut it up just for the buckles. I got all the clips for three dollars. AWESOME! I also might take all the zippers and keep them for use cuz it's nice to have zippers when you need them. The pattern says you can use high density foam or a camping pad for the waist belt and DI came in handy with that as well. Anyways, the carrier took about a day to make and that includes me realizing I put the straps on wrong, unstitching the body and reattaching the straps correctly. The only problem I really had was that I broke every single needle for my sewing machine. Technically speaking the carrier is not done because I need to stitch the bottom opening closed but that's one strait stitch about 8 inches long. I have to wait for my needles to come cuz I found a good deal on Ebay for them. I can hardly wait-they are coming by snail mail and so I have to wait FOREVER it seems.

Now onto Jackson. He's adorable as usual. We started having him eat in his booster seat at the actual table. At first it was a little nerve wracking but he hasn't flung his plate or bowl across the room so that's good. Jack is trying to use his signs a lot more. Kyle is trying to teach him how to use the sign for "cracker." You basically bring your left arm up at a right angle and hit the left elbow with your right fist. Jack tries to hit his elbow with his mouth. It's pretty funny to watch. The signs that use both hands are a little difficult for him but he'll get it and I think it's mostly important that we understand what he's saying. We are also working on "Thank you" which we think might be a difficult concept for him to understand. Yesterday we introduced "banana" so we'll need to work on those.

Something awesome that has been happening lately is Jack's sleep patterns. Around Jack's nap time I'll ask if he wants to take a nap. If he does then he goes into his room and stands by his fan while we turn it on. Then he will walk over to his crib and put his arms up. It's fabulous!! At night, he does the same thing OR we'll turn on the fan and turn of the lights, then Jack will get me or Kyle so we can say prayers and then go to bed. I hope he keeps this up because it is so nice to have him compliant.

That's it-long and winded. We are waiting to find out about a new apartment which is driving me batty with stress. We hope and pray it all works out the way we want it to but I know that everything work out fine with or without the desired apartment. We're excited our family is going to be expanding soon-8 more weeks!

Thoughts on Christmas

This Christmas has been a particularly emotional one for me. Most of it has to do with Jack. I think after having Jack in our family for over a year, it adds perspective on the celebration of Christmas and the meaning. We were watching Music and the Spoken Word yesterday morning. They were singing a Christmas song and Jack was playing in the corner with a laptop sleeve. He kept trying to put it on his head and then he would pull it off really fast and smile at us. It was his own little game and he was just getting the biggest kick out of it. I thought about my little boy on the floor playing the how we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I was overcome with this great amount of love for my son and empathy for Christ's mother, Mary.

At church later on that day we had our Christmas program. One of the talks was on Joseph's perspective, raising the literal Son of God and the love and responsibility it would take. I think Joseph was a great man. He had a lot of options when Mary became pregnant but he listened to the spirit and took on the responsibility of taking care Christ and Mary. The other message was on Mary. Now that I have Jack, everything seems different. I understand how Mary must have loved her new baby boy. As a mother you want to give your child the best of everything. You want them to have the best family life, the best environment to grow up in, the best education, the best food and the best kind of friends. I cannot imagine how that was compounded for Mary and Joseph, knowing who this little boy was and what his mission was on earth.

I am so thankful that I have my son, Jack. I love him more and more each day. I am also so thankful for this Christmas season. What a blessing it is to know that God loves us and sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we can return home. I love Christmas, it's good to remember the important, eternal things in life.

Merry Christmas!

Mary's Lullaby

All mine in your loveliness baby, all mine.
All mine in your holiness baby divine.
Sing on herald angels in chorus sublime;
Sing on and adore, for tonight you are mine.

The wise men are coming to worship their King,
The shepherds are kneeling their homage to bring.
Out yonder the star over Judah will keep.
No harm will befall thee, then sleep baby sleep.

O let me enfold thee, my baby tonight,
While legions are singing in joyous delight.
A new star has risen to hail thee divine,
For you are a king, but tonight you are mine.

Away spectered future of sorrow and plight,
Away to the years that must follow tonight.
The pangs of Gethsemane, let them be dim,
The red drops on Calvary, not Lord, for Him!

O let me enfold thee, my baby tonight,
While legions are singing in joyous delight.
A new star has risen to hail thee divine,
For you are a king, but tonight you are mine.

Sing on herald angels in chorus sublime;
Sing on and adore, for tonight you are mine.

OOOHHH and by the way- we have a walker!

Exhaustion

I am beat. I cannot believe how tired I have been lately. I'm sure it has to do with being pregnant but adding a one year old that likes to put everything in his mouth and climb on anything probably exaggerates it a bit more. Jack is growing up so fast I can't believe it. He has started vocalizing a TON. My favorite part is when he uses gestures. I don't know if they have anything to do with what he's saying but he likes to use his hands a lot when he talks.

Lately sleep has been kind of weird. It seems like I sleep really well at night but I am still rather tired in the morning. Also, I have been having some crazy dreams. For example, I dreamed that I went back in time to the first time Kyle and I met and I didn't want to screw anything up cuz I knew we would fall in love and get married. I was so torn because I wanted to tell Kyle everything and tell him how cute Jack was, etc., but it could totally throw us off course. In one part of the dream I told Kyle I had been on a time machine but then chickened out and told him it was a plane actually cuz time is different the further away you are from the earth. I could feel nerdy-ness oozing from my body and was completely embarrassed. Pregnancy dreams are awesome and give me a good laugh, they also make me grateful for what I have and what I've gone through to get where I am.

My brain has left my body-or at least it is beginning it's departure. My calling at church is to direct the sacrament hymns. It's a pretty simple job-so I thought. Usually I'm worried about getting off beat or screwing up the organist by directing funny. However, this last Sunday was probably the worst yet funniest things that could every happen. It was ward conference and we were singing the closing hymn. The chorus on the hymn was the same for each verse which sometimes confuses me cuz I can't tell what verse I'm on. I cut everyone off and put the stand to the side wondering why no one was coming up to say the closing prayer. It was dead silent for an awkward amount of time until I heard the organist go "ummm." That's when I looked at the hymn book and realized we hadn't sung the last verse. I quickly put my stand back and started the last verse. I'm glad my skin is fairly dark cuz if it weren't I would have been about as red as a rose. It was impressive that nobody started the last verse. I just assumed I was up there for show but I guess not. Anyways, I got a lot of compliments that day and woke some people up in the meeting.

So there's our update. Kyle goes to work very diligently and has to open a few times so he leaves pretty early in the morning, but it's so nice to have him home. He really does a lot when he's here and I can't imagine parenting without him. Thanksgiving is this Thursday. I'm pretty excited and kind of nervous. I think everything will go okay and if the food gets really messed up I suppose we can always go to Chuck-o-Rama or something. Here's a pic of Jack out on our walk today. It was a little chilly. Oh and please excuse the runny nose. We didnt' have any tissues with us.

Time Flies

Holy MOLEY! I just realized a few minutes ago that five years ago, today, Kyle and I went on our first date. It seems weird to me that I would remember the EXACT date but it corresponds to one of my best friend's birthday so the date is easy to figure out. I had liked Kyle for a while and was blown away when he asked me out. We went bowling and I beat him (my first and only time not counting the Wii). So much has happened since then. Let's see...

We graduated

Oh Yeah-we got married

We had a baby

We're having another baby

Of course a lot of other things have happened but those are some pretty significant events. It's exciting to look back on all we have done and all we have accomplished and know we have forever in front of us to do so much more together. (Sigh) I'm so glad we went on that first date.

On another note, our little Jackson is taking a lot of steps around the house. He has become more daring. For example he will walk across the room, or attempt to, without holding onto the furniture. Earlier today I was watching him move from his stroller he had pushed into his room, to a dresser. He goes so slowly and so carefully it's wonderful to see.

Jack is becoming a little dancer. He likes to clap when he hears others clap and he will do it when he hears music too. He got a TON of toys that play music (some of which do not have an off button) and he bounces up and down to the music they play. I think the best sight yet has been when I saw him start bobbing to the song Pie Jesu and to a commercial playing Silent Night. These aren't ones I would think of dancing to but hey, he's got the dancing bug.

Oh and we have noticed that Jack really loves collars. At first I thought he just liked the feeling of lace but I have noticed that he grabs the collar of anyone that holds him. If he's isn't being held (and he can't reach your neck) then he will grab his OWN collar. The best is when he doesn't have a shirt on, he'll grab a little ruffle on the leg of his diaper. It's pretty cute to watch. Kyle said he did try to grab his collar bone a few times but that doesn't seem to work too well. Oh Jackson, you keep us laughing.

He got his one year shots the other day. They weren't too bad but he started to run a fever. I was worried. I didn't want to be one of those horror stories where the mother doesn't want to over-react so she does nothing but SOMETHING is seriously wrong. So I eventually called his doctors office and talked to a nurse. He wasn't fussy or acting differently really, just a little more cuddly so he was going to be fine. That night his fever broke but I started noticing spots all over his tummy. They then moved to his back and then his neck. Jack had gotten a chicken pox vaccine and now he had a mild case of chicken pox. I wish I would get a good pic but he's so white the flash drowns out the spots. He's doing really well and I think we are on the tail end but Kyle and I opted to keep him home yesterday from church cuz he might be contagious (I know weird right?) and there are little babies in our ward. He isn't scratching and I hope they go away soon but now I know what to expect with our next 1 year old.

So that's that. We're getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have already started making presents. I will post pics after the holidays cuz I don't want to spoil the surprise. I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. This year Kyle and I are celebrating it with his sister and her family. I think this might be the first time I haven't done it with my "family of origin." I get to cook the bird so we'll see how that goes. I'm a little excited though, Thanksgiving food is so yummy and it's great to have a nice meal with family.

Here a few of Jackers' photos from his 1 year photo shoot. Maybe he'll be the next Donald Trump, jk jk but he does look snazzy in that suit. Ugh, they steal my heart.

He's Doin' It!

So Jack has started crawling. He can go from his tummy to sitting and now he can crawl a few feet. A lot of his time is spent crying on his hands and knees while rocking but he'll get the hang of it soon enough. It's fun to watch our little guy move around the room. Hooray for Jack!

My Studs

I feel this urgent need to blog about something but I don't know what. Oh wait, I have these:

I love my son. He was all set to go to church but through out the block I ended up taking off his jacket, then his vest, then changing him out of the white shirt and tie into a onsie I had in my diaper bag. He was not having as grand a time as I was with him dressed up. It made him a little more fussy than usual probably because he can't move too much in them. Still, he was adorable and I got to see what my little Jack will one day become- a handsome missionary. (Like his dad was of course).

Time seems to be going by rather quickly. We leave for Tennessee in 16 days! I am super excited because I have only been out there during the Christmas holiday. It will be strange to go to Dollywood and not see all the Christmas lights and the Christmas shows. I'm sure it will be blazing hot for me but it will be fun. PLUS, I believe we are going to Splash Country (Kyle and I want to go and I assume we will try) so I get to put my little guy in adorable swim trunks, rash guard and of course, some sandals. I will get plenty of pics.

In 9 days Kyle and I will celebrate our 3 year anniversary. My oh my how time flies by. I suppose we could still be considered newlyweds. Of course when we're talking about eternities I suppose 50 years is still newlywed. I'm so glad I have Kyle to spend my life with.

In 7 days it will be Father's day. This will be Kyle's first official Father's day. Last year Jack was only five months along or so. I want to make sure this is a good day for Kyle, father's are important and I like celebrating Kyle.

And tomorrow - will be Monday. Have a great week!

This Mom Does Her Baby Good

Tonight I gave Jack some rice cereal in his milk. I thought I would try it out. He fell asleep without even drinking a full half ounce. I tried to keep him up but it was to no avail. He is growing up so fast. We got him a Johnny Jumper-it's actually called a Sassy Seat but Kyle doesn't like me calling it that. He likes it and I like watching him in it. Today we went to the park. It was a bit chilly but we were all bundled. It was nice to get out of the house, Kyle came too. I cannot wait for it to be spring.

Here are some pictures we took recently. Jack is getting big, he loves his milk!

Going...going...gone.

Tonight Jackson zonked out in the middle of family prayers. It was great! He had been kinda fussy all day. It took a while but I got him to sleep at church. When we got home though he wanted attention, to be held, to be played with and he wasn't content on sitting and observing (which he does a lot of times). Kyle went to home teaching and I made us a dessert. Jackson didn't want to sit in his bouncy chair and watch so I put him in the baby carrier and let him "help" me. We measured and mixed and sang Disney songs until Kyle came home. He was starting to get drowsy while in the carrier so I took him out and set him on the couch. Boom! He fell asleep. I felt bad because he needed to be changed and put into his jammies but he was asleep. I got him ready for bed which brought out a mix of emotions. He started crying and then he smiled and beamed and was basically the little ball of adorableness that he is. We went into the bedroom to have family prayers and he began crying a bit while I wrapped him up. He made a few noises during the prayer but when we were done he was completely asleep. We left him on the bed to sleep and we'll move him later. Ahhh, if only all nights were as easy as tonight.

Ready for church. The flash wasn't on so he's blurry :(

making our cake

1...2...

3.

Update

A few days ago I got a call from my mom telling me that my cat Funky Mama was not doing well. The next day she told me she had died. Funky was MY cat and will be my only cat since Kyle is allergic to them. It was sad to hear that she died but I'm sure she's feeling much better. She was old (I got her in second grade) and not really eating anymore. I'll miss her when I go home.

This week Jackson's Aunt Rinny is coming to see him. Kyle's sister is flying in from Tennessee to see our little boy. I am so glad Jackson is loved. He is a sweet little boy. I love watching him grow and develop. Jack and I went to the library the other day and got some books. I got a few picture books to read to Kyle and then picked up Tuck Everlasting and a few other children's books. (I prefer reading that kind of fiction as compared to adult fiction. I don't have to worry about as much trash).

Jackson is learning he has hands too! I think he is aware of them but he hasn't figured out how to grab things or really how to move them specifically on demand. For example-if I put a toy where he can see it and reach it-he starts flailing about kicking his legs and swinging his arms. It is obviously a great struggle but if he's lucky he can grab it with a few fingers. It's pretty cute. He has started talking a bit as well and he is a BIG drooler. I love our little Jackson.

12 weeks

Learning time with daddy

supporting the GOP

We made it home!

He's here and we are happy :)

Kyle and I went in for our weekly appointment and also to have an ultra sound again because Jackson was measuring large. We got to see our baby and they showed us his hair. I was so excited but still we didn't know that that would be the day we would actually meet him.

When we met with the doctor, he said that I was showing signs of preeclampsia. He wanted us to head over to labor and delivery for more tests. We were informed of the situation and dangers and that I would need to deliver soon. At 6:30 they came in and asked if I would be good for surgery at 7:30. We made some phone calls to let our family know the situation and by 8 we had our little baby.

It didn't hurt and he just had a few grunting issues but since that night, he's been great. He's considered a premie and he's pretty big for a premie but he is SOOOOO Cute. He looks a lot like Kyle and we are so happy to have him home.

Here comes baby Jackson

Our little baby Jackson, born Oct 26 8:03pm, 7lbs 6oz, 20.5in He came 3 and a half weeks early but is very healthy and B-E-A-utiful!!