Elisa and Jerry

PRK Update

2012-02-12T07:02:00.000-08:00

I promised an update, but I have been busy this week just trying to get through another on week at work. It has now been 10 days since my PRK surgery. I did experience mild to moderate discomfort on day 2 and 3, but on day 4 the pain was gone and my eyes have been painless since then. I had my contact bandages removed on Tuesday, day 5. My vision immediately regressed, but I wasn't concerned. I read about other people's experiences and talked to the doctor about it. The day before I was seeing almost perfect. Things were starting to come into focus and actually be sharp and clear. The reason there is a regression is because that contact bandage smooths out the healing tissue on your eye. Once it is removed you don't have that smoothness anymore and have to just wait for the surface to heal on its own. I saw small improvements in vision the following days. My vision seems well enough to drive and road signs are getting easier to read every day. On day 6 I had no choice but to drive in the dark because I had to be at work by 5am. I was so scared, but it wasn't bad. I could see but I just had to ignore the halos and glares coming off of lights. I feel like I can see well, but things seem to come in and out of focus. The most difficult thing to look at is a computer monitor. This is more challenging because my job is to sit at a desk and stare at a monitor. My eyes just can't seem to focus on letters and numbers properly. I'm very hopeful this will improve week by week.
Right now I'm just patiently waiting for my eyes to heal and my vision to keep improving. I really think that the end result will be close to 20/20. This whole experience is truly a miracle to me. My vision was really bad. I was at -6.25 in both eyes and without correction the whole world was this huge blur closing in on me. When I look around and see right now I have to keep reminding myself that I'm seeing without contacts or glasses. I have to keep using re wetting drops for my eyes about 6-8x a day. They are keeping me on steroid drops 2x a day. I have been following all the doctors orders as closely as I can so these eyes can heal quick and I will get the best results possible. There is even more pressure for me because I was told that this surgery was my only shot. I don't have any future opportunities for a touch up procedure due to the fact that my prescription was moderate and borderline severe. If you get this procedure done with only a moderate correction then you have chances to get touch up procedures if your vision is under or over corrected. I"m sure I will need some form of correction in the future. My expectations were to be free of any correction for several years and then hopefully only need reading glasses when I"m older. I always wanted to get my eyes corrected and I was hoping to get it done in my 20's so I could have the best results possible. Right now I am in the best health of my life at age 28. I'm taking care of my eyes the best I can and hoping for good results. I will keep posting updates.

PRK surgery

2012-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Last October I went to the Moran Eye Center for a free consultaion and screening to see if I could get LASIK to fix my poor vision. It has been a dream of mine ever since my vision started diminishing when I was in 4th grade. Technology has really come a long way since I first dreamed of getting my eyes fixed. I found out that my corneas are too thin and could not get LASIK. I was really dissapointed and they introduced me to a lesser known method called PRK (Photorefractive Kerectomy). I'm typing with very limited vision right now and I will fix all my typos later. I found out that this method is similar to LASIK in that a laser is used to correct poor vision but the difference is the prep for the surgery. With LASIK they cut a flap in your cornea and shoot the laser through. Healing and recovery is a peace of cake. With PRK they use chemicals and scrape off the top epithelium of your eye and then correct with the laser. Recovery is longer and has some pain. I'm on day #3 and the pain hasn't been terrible. I am dealing with hazy vision and struggling to see the monitor I'm typing on.

My big day was Thursday Feb 2nd. It's a day that I hope will be one of the best decisions ever. I went in at 7:30am and everything happened really fast. The doctor was ready for me and it was so quick I felt like my eyes were already done the minute I laid down. They took my vitals and gave me a bunch of instructions for the millions of eye drops I would take over the next several days. They numbed and cleansed my eyes and then took me back. I layed down on a table and they put this nice warm blanket over me. I brought my fat cat stuffed animal and it was surprising comforting because I was terrified! My job was to keep my head still and focus on the green light right in the center. It was so fast, even the laser part. They were done with me in about 10 minutes. I could see right away but my vision was hazy like it still is right now but I can see glimpses of clear vision. I do have a protective contact on but I am seeing with my own eyes right now and it's at least 100 times better then it was before! I"m very hopeful that when my vision settles that I will not need glasses or contacts, at least for several years.

I feel like I can function pretty well despite the hazy vision. The pain hasn't been horrible. It's a burning pain and my eyes tear up, but it has been manageable. The doctor even said I could keep working out so I did a good workout today. I feel like I'm getting back into my routine slowly. So far I am glad I did this and I'm hoping my vision will clear when my eyes heal up. I will post more of an update later because it is really difficult to see the monitor right now.

Busy weekend with a wedding!

2012-01-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

My brother got hitched this weekend on Saturday 1/7/12. It was neat being able to participate. His new bride Kristen asked Sarah and me to be bridesmaids. It was fun dressing up. I'll admit it, I'm a girl who still likes to dress up when she gets a chance. We are excited to welcome a new sister into the family. Xander was supposed to be the ring bearer, but when we were getting in line for the ceremony he decided he wanted nothing to do with it. I guess that is the way of 3 year olds sometimes.

Sarah and Chris

Mike and Kristen signing the certificate!

The other big event was having Jeremiah's father Rick and his two younger daughters, Sammy and Bradie come to visit all the way from Texas. Xander and Wesley got to see their other grandpa, but I suppose they may be too young to remember. We all hope that we will get to see each other more despite the distance and build some relationships. We had a dinner at our house with everybody, including Jeremiah's half-sister Bethany and her little family.

Hello 2012!

2012-01-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. We spoiled the kids and enjoyed the festivities. Of course the best blessing of all is to be together as a family. Xander really go into the holiday spirit. Everyday he still tells me things that he wants to ask Santa for and I have to keep telling him we have another whole year. I don't think he grasps that concept yet. Here are some pictures from the holiday:

This is my brother and his fiancee Kristen. They are getting hitched in just a few days. I get a new sister, yay!

This is my first year that I haven't made a resolution that I need to drop weight. I lost 53 pounds last year. This year is really about getting fitter and learning to maintain the loss. I'm so glad it was possible to lose that weight. I thought I was just stuck with it forever, until I stumbled upon Sparkpeople.com. I use their app to count my calories and fitness and it has helped me lose.

This year I really want to focus on learning to budget and just get better with finances. We paid off some debts last year and I hope we can pay off more this year.

Now that I'm in a more healthy lifestyle I want to learn to cook healthier and start a box garden so I don't have to spend too much money on the fresh produce at the grocery store. It will be a good year to continue to be more physically and financially fit!

Xander's new years resolution that I made for him is to be fully potty trained. He makes progress then he goes backward and it keeps going in an endless cycle. Maybe it will finally end this year before he turns 4. I keep hoping!

Christmas time!

2011-12-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Christmas is only 2 days away! I have been very busy getting ready but right now I feel as ready as I'll ever be and excited to just enjoy the holiday with my family. At age 3 Xander has really started getting into occasions like holidays and birthdays. He was so excited for Halloween to come and now Christmas. He was been telling me all month what he wants to ask Santa for. I have had him go visit Santa twice now. It is a special thing to see him so excited. Wesley could care less but I'm sure he notices all the beautiful lights and the Christmas tree. My kids didn't scream when they saw Santa, but having no reaction is kind of strange to me..

I'm feeling the holiday spirit and can't wait to give out my gifts to my family, especially the kids. I'm so glad I have work off for the holiday..unfortunately I will not have Christmas off next year if I'm still at the same job. I wish I had all the holidays off. I hope everyone out there is having a good holiday and thinking about the true meaning of Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Photo Card

2011-12-06T13:58:00.001-08:00

Fanciful Snowflakes Christmas

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My Gratitude post

2011-11-23T06:01:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is tomorrow so I thought I would make a gratitude post to keep with the spirit of this holiday. The top thing I have been super grateful for is my health. I have been blessed with a healthy body and it has allowed me to do most of the things I want to in this life. I decided that I didn't want to take my health for granted so I have been on a weight loss journey since the beginning of June. It has been almost 6 months since that time and I have lost 40 pounds! It is so liberating. I think I am healthier than I have ever been in my whole life. I workout because I love it, the only thing I had to change was to eat healthier. I track everything that goes into my mouth every single day. I have already decided to give myself a day off for Turkey day tomorrow. I am around the same weight I was in high school, possibly even smaller since I fit into the smallest pair of jeans I have ever owned in my life! Having health is a blessing. I think taking care of your body can have blessings in many areas of our lives. If you are taking care of yourself you will be better able to care for others. I can now be fit and healthy for my kids so we can grow up playing together. I feel better about myself which gives me more confidence. I can enjoy things better and not worry about too many limitations. If I ever do find myself sick with a minor or major illness my body will be able to handle it better. It is a wonderful thing all the way around to take care of the body God has blessed each and every one of us with.

Me at my lowest/current weight

I am grateful for my wonderful marriage to Jeremiah. When we started dating it was a crazy time in my life. I was just starting out on my own and had gotten out of relationships with some guys that I should not have been dating. I think I was just trying to figure things out but doing it in the wrong way. Jeremiah came into my life and after a couple months of dating I knew he was meant to be my husband. He is an awesome husband and father. We are not perfect by any means, but I can say that we are happily married and have been together for over 8 years!

I am grateful for the greatest thing to test and try me in this life so far...being a mother. Those kids drive me crazy on a daily basis, but there is just something special about having little children in my home. They are a lot of work! I probably burn more calories taking care of them than my workouts at the gym some days. I live for those special moments though. There are those moments when Xander will say or do something and just make me laugh, or he will give me a hug. Some days I need that hug more then he does. Wesley will just blow me away with his cuteness. We are going through a rough time with him right now, most likely teething, but he has been such a sweet little addition to our family. I love those kids and I hope Jerry and I are giving them a good childhood and they can grow up to be good people.

There are many other things I am grateful for. I know I could name hundreds of smaller things to be grateful for on a daily basis, like warm water, having transportation, having money to pay the bills, being able to eat when I am hungry, having a job that lets me stay at home with my kids every other week. I am grateful for chocolate, and that I can still enjoy it daily and still lose weight! Another huge thing to be grateful for would be that I am a member of the LDS church. I believe in this church and I know it helps me become a better person. I feel like I would be lost without my faith in my life. I'm not strong enough to face the challenges of this life without being able to look to my faith and have Heavenly father always waiting to answer my prayers and guide me.
Having gratitude is something we all should think about on a daily basis, but it's good to have a holiday to remind us about this concept. I will be enjoying good food tomorrow, but most of all being able to spend time with family. My brother is engaged again, but this time to a great person and I'm super excited to welcome Kristen into our family in January. I"m grateful that my brother found a good person to be his companion. I am grateful for my family that I grew up with and that we all get to be together tomorrow to celebrate the holiday. Christmas is right around the corner! Happy Thanksgiving!

A whole random update of everything...

2011-10-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

This blog really is designed to be a place to keep friends and family updated on our lives and I feel I'm past due on making an update. I have been busy as usual. For a few years of my life I was doing school full-time while working a full-time job. I thought my life could never get busier than that, but I was completely wrong!! I'm still working full-time and a college graduate, but once you add some young kids in the mix you are busier then ever. Xander and Wesley are only 1 and 3 and depend on me for everything. I have been told that I will miss these days, but at this point I look forward to the day when they can get their own food and bathe and dress themselves. After everything I do, there really is no time to be bored, that never happens anymore. If a parent with a young child says they are bored..then they are not really taking care of that child!! Jerry and I do love our kids very much and I know they have made our lives so much richer.

Xander posing for the camera!

Xander as Plex the robot, he finally settled on a costume.

Wesley took off walking about 3 weeks after his first birthday and he is now a pro. He is very happy and healthy. He loves his big brother very much. He likes to do everything Xander does, which is a good and a bad thing! He has more teeth and was really moody while they were coming through. His recent milestones are that he can drink from a straw and he can spoon feed himself. He is very messy, but I am amazed that he is already learning these things. I feel like my baby doesn't want to be a baby anymore. He doesn't say very many words yet, just some basics, like uh-oh, up, dada. I keep trying to get him to say mama but he is taking his time. I hope he doesn't have speech delays like his brother. I'm trying not to worry about it too much yet.
Xander is talking a lot more now. I understand most of what comes out of his mouth. He has a big personality and is happy most of the time. He is mostly cranky when you try to get him up from a nap and he just doesn't want to be awake. He loves his little brother, but he still doesn't know how to behave around him. This can get very frustrating because I am constantly playing referee. He pushes him over, hits him with toys and is just too aggressive. We take away toys and do time outs. I just hope that this gets better. I can't get anything done unless I have some way to keep them separated. Xander is at least halfway potty trained. Just recently he has finally started going to the bathroom on his own. Before we had to constantly make him sit on the potty several times during the day, now I think he is finally understanding when he needs to go. I absolutely hate potty training. I dread potty training Wesley and just hope it will be better with the second child. I'm open to any good potty training book suggestions!!
I am still following the program on Sparkpeople.com faithfully everyday. I track everything I eat and every exercise I do on my phone and the computer. I don't know that I can ever give it up. In part of the program they say that eventually you can cut back to tracking food only every few days, but I can't imagine not tracking I'm so used to it now. I'm staying consistent and having an average weight loss of 1.5lbs per week. There are weeks where I lose a lot, weeks where I lose very little and weeks where I don't lose, but I'm still losing and so happy to be healthier. Since June I am 34lbs lighter and loving it. I love that I can fit in smaller clothes and that when I exercise I feel stronger and more energized. I think I have reached a new fitness level because of running. I need to sign up for more 5k's and possibly a 10k if I feel brave enough. I found an interesting cardiovascular effect to all my running, my resting heart rate has dropped from the 70's to below 50. My heart beats really slow when I'm not exercising. I have done research and learned that an athletes heart becomes more efficient at pumping blood and will slow down, so now I have the heart of an athlete! I'm excited to continue this journey and see where it takes me. I'm not going for a whole bunch of muscle but I would like to looked toned and have visible muscle definition. I'm getting there!
Now that we have great benefits at our jobs and a little more money to go around, Jerry and I are going to have some medical procedures done on ourselves. Jerry has had a dream of getting his teeth straightened and he will be going to an orthodontist to see how they can help him. My dream is to get my poor vision corrected. In January I'm going to get PRK done to correct my eyesight. There is not 100% guarantee that I will have perfect vision, but I have decided that any correction is better then what I have right now. I would love to wake up in the morning and just be able to see without feeling around for my glasses. I hope our dreams will be fulfilled in the next few months!
Halloween is still one of our favorite holidays. It is a month of going to corn mazes and haunted houses and a month of decorating our house. Last year Jerry created a demonic centipede. This year he made a scorpion. We had to find a huge pumpkin and haul it home. I'm very curious how much it weighed, but I guess we will never know. He cut it in half to create his creature. I will post more pictures after the holiday is over.

Spike

2011-09-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

Spike Marty Stephenson (2003?-2011)

Spike passed away peacefully on September 28th 2011 after battling feline kidney disease. He was a sweet cat who loved his family. He would come to you if you whistled and he liked to give his humans cat baths. His birth is unknown because he was adopted in the spring of 2004 by his human family. He was said to have been homeless in the beginning of his life and given the name Marty when he was discovered at a Wal-Mart. He was a playful, loving and social kitty in the years that he was at his best. He is survived by his big fur-sister Cordelia and little fur-brother Jasper, his human family: Jeremiah, Elisa, Xander and Wesley. Pets come and go, be we always carry part of them in our hearts when we have to say good bye. We will miss you little Spikey.

No heaven will not ever Heaven be, unless my cats are there to welcome me.Anonymous.
Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the leash.
That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with a cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
Mark Twain

My weight loss journey

2011-09-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

I was going to wait and write this post when I finally reached my weight loss goal, but I'll just post it now since I'm so close! I know some people have a whole blog dedicated to weight loss, but I'm just going to post a little about it on my family blog since I don't want to make a whole blog just about losing weight.

I'll start with a little background. When I was younger and growing up I always felt big and awkward. I grew faster then everybody else my age when I was in elementary school. Kids would tease me and say that I got held back, or I would get called names, like Stork legs. By the time I slowed down and people caught up to me I reached a height of 5ft 7in. I like being a taller female, in fact I wish was even a couple inches taller! I have fought with my weight for most of my life too. I was overweight for a few years as a teenager. One day I weighed myself and was really unhappy with what I saw. From that moment on I was determined to get physically active and stay that way for the rest of my life, and I have to this day. Once I started exercising the weight just came off and I was to a normal weight in just a couple months. Despite being a normal weight I still felt bad. A lot of my friends were just skinny and I was jealous. I stayed at a healthy weight until I got married. I blame myself, but I also blame my weight gain post wedding on the birth control pills I was taking. I put on weight and I could not get it off no matter how much I exercised. Before getting pregnant I was at my highest weight and just thought that was where I would be stuck. I had two kids in 3 years and I did lose the pregnancy weight within the first few months for both my kids.
About a month after having Wesley I discovered an app on my new smart phone that would let me keep track of everything I was eating. It was through a program called Spark People. I started using the food journal for a couple months but never got totally serious about that or the program. I was also nursing my baby and I know you don't want to cut out too much food if you want to make that work. Finally when 2011 rolled around I was getting more frustrated about my weight. I decided to read The Spark. It is a book from the SparkPeople.com program. I reached my aha moment while reading the book. I had to realize a couple things. The most important one, and my main motivator is to tell myself that I am worth it and I deserve to be at the best health I can possibly be. The second realization was that diets really don't work, eating better works! I do not believe in diets. I honestly never tried a diet in my life because I knew I wouldn't be able to stick with it. Now I have found a program I can stick with. I finally believe I can do this and I can get to a healthy weight and stay there as long as I stay diligent. I learned that exercise alone is not going to help lose weight. If I exercise a lot, then go home and eat bad, I'm going to keep the weight on. I might have muscle, but it will be hiding under fat!
I am doing a few things to help me lose weight. I set new goals for myself all the time and make them simple enough to follow through. I make small changes to my diet that I can follow to eat healthier. My biggest challenge in the beginning was getting my full servings of fruits and veggies everyday, and right now I do get at least 5 or more on most days. I don't deny myself anything. If I want my chocolate, my cookies or my ice cream I have them. I just only have one portion size though and I make sure it fits in my daily calorie range. I workout just about every single day and I love it. I have always loved working out. My motivating goal is to get at least 10 minutes everyday and I do! 10 minutes is a piece of cake for anyone to follow. I am challenging myself in many ways with exercise. I try to run at least 5 miles or more every single week. I strength train 2-3 times a week. I do aerobics classes that I enjoy and I always look forward to them. I am not punishing or depriving myself in any way. I am rarely ever hungry because when I do eat, I make sure the calories are meaningful instead of empty. If you get enough protein and fiber you will not be hungry until your next meal or snack. The most important thing is that I am doing something for myself that I can live with my whole life. I really enjoy what I am doing.
I am so close to my goal..As of this morning I am 2lbs away from being in the healthy weight category! I am 7lbs from my goal, which was to weigh what I did in high school. After I hit my goal I"m going to keep going, but I will only lose enough weight that it is healthy for me. After all is said and done, I will focus on maintenance and I know I can always make goals to get fitter and healthier. There is never an end to getting fitter, you can always do more! The beginning of June was when I finally figured things out and really started the Spark People program. Since June I have dropped about 28lbs! If I can lose weight with this program anyone can! It is free and all they do is give you the tools, knowledge and support you need to get healthier. If anyone needs a workout buddy I would be more than happy to help.

Birthday month!

2011-07-24T07:24:00.001-07:00

The Cars cake had black frosting!

Back when I found out I would be having another July baby I thought it would be cool having my two kids share a birthday month. Now I'm thinking that it's just a little bit stressful, but we made it through. It was fun but I need a break from birthdays!

Xander was supposed to have his party on July 9th, a few days before his real one. However he got sick the night before with croup right in the middle of summer! Luckily I was able to reschedule for his actual birthday on the 13th. We just went to Boondocks and ate lots of pizza and cake. I can't believe it's already been 3 years since we brought home a late pre-term 5lb baby. He is now healthy, happy and well over 30lbs. My kids both have their yearly checkups next week and I'll have to post some stats if I can.

The final party was for baby Wesley on the 22nd. He is supposedly a toddler now but he is so tiny and sweet that he still seems very much like a baby to me. He still weighs close to what he did at 6 months. I don't know why he is so much smaller than his brother but he is still very healthy. I was hoping he would be walking by his 1st birthday, but he's not there yet. He is super close though. He walks with his toys and his newest trick is standing up on his own in the middle of the room. He just stands up and doesn't know what to do after that. He'll be walking soon enough, I'm sure it will be in the next couple weeks.

We had a Dino party for Wesley at our house. We invited close friends and family and ate lots of food. I wanted a barbecue but that's a little hard with no grill. We just ordered sandwiches instead. Both kids are spoiled now. If I ever have time I'm going to donate some old toys and clothes that my kids don't need or use. Wesley should be able to use a lot of Xander's old clothes, but with him being smaller, I have been having to buy him new outfits to fit the summer season. Wesley only wears 12 month size right now. Xander can even fit in clothes he wore a year ago. We built up a lot of clothes and toys in just 3 years!

I always like to include stats so here they are:

Wesley 12 months: 19.2lbs 29.5 inches

Xander 36 months: 34.6lbs 38inches

They are growing like crazy!

Just some reminiscing

2011-07-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

Where was I one year ago? I believe I was about 37 weeks pregnant, swollen and just begging my baby to come out! His big brother made his debut 3 weeks early,so why shouldn't the second baby do the same? This baby had other plans, he wanted to stay close to his mama for a little while longer. He ended up coming on July 22nd at 8:26pm, one day before he was due. He has filled our home with joy and even true peace at times. It brings tears to my eyes that it has already been a year with this sweet little guy. I was completely in love with him before we even left the hospital and have been smitten ever since. It's so crazy how things change. It's weird to me that I wasn't always a mom, and that I wasn't always a mother of two. It feels like these two kids have been a part of my life forever. Maybe they have in some way. If we have a third child, I'm sure I will feel like they have always been here too.

These kids change so much in just a short time. My older child, Alexander has had issues with his ears and sinuses since birth. His hearing does work, but all the fluid build up helped prevent him from hearing properly. He has been speech delayed and barely communicating a year ago. Now he jabbers to me in small sentences all day and repeats everything he hears. He is a smart kid too. None of that childproofing stuff works on him. He is imaginative, and does pretend play all the time. He is my emotional child as well. He can go from being really whiny, to super happy. He is rough and likes to wrestle. I know that is a "boy thing" but he seems to get that from me as well because I like to do those things. I'm sure he will catch up with other kids and I hope he goes where he wants to go in life. I look forward to having a blast with him, maybe teaching him some things I love and doing them with him.

My sweet baby Wesley is my cuddler and a total mommy's boy at least for now. When he was born I was shocked in the hospital that he almost never cried. He just laid there and slept peacefully. When he was awake he would just look around and take everything in. He is less emotional than his brother, just more laid-back. He does like to smile and laugh and play. He doesn't complain too much. He is doing great with his milestones. He is a champion crawler and will be walking very soon. I was hoping it would be by his first birthday, but it might not be for another little while. Xander didn't master walking until he was 14 months. I can't believe it has already been a year. 2 years ago I was getting ready to celebrate Xander's 1st birthday.

I feel blessed to have these sweet kids. It is tough at times but I know I wouldn't want to live my life without these two people in it and I have no regrets in becoming a mommy. Happy birthday to my two sweet children, Xander (3) July13th and Wesley (1) July 22nd.

Xander loves music

2011-05-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

I never share videos on here so I thought I would post some. I intend to make my kids take piano lessons someday.

My Friday the 13th morning

2011-05-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Warning: If you are eating something, or just can't stand stories about bodily functions..then do not continue.

Xander is almost 3 years old and in his short life so far has gotten himself into plenty of messes. The situation that happened to him and me this morning has to be at the top of the list. I can't think of too many other disgusting situations than the one that happened this morning! I was downstairs taking care of Wesley when I started hearing noises from Xander's room. I knew he was awake and probably just running around his room playing until I could go get him. I opened the door to his room and was greeted by a terrible smell. I thought he just had a messy diaper and I could change it and move on with the day. I put him on the changing table and started to pull off his pajama bottoms. They were stuck to him...and they were stuck with poo. I was pretty horrified. Not only was his diaper completely full but he one leg and both feet were covered! I tried to wipe it off, but the only thing I really could do was throw Xander in the tub. Wesley is just crawling around on the floor this whole time. The only place I could put him to get him out of the way is his new playpen. He hates that thing with a passion but I wanted him to not fall down the stairs or crawl in Xander's mess. I put him in his playpen and he clung to the side screaming his head off. So I'm dealing with poo everywhere, a messy toddler and a screaming baby. I took off the bedding on Xander's bed and on my way out stepped in some poo. I cleaned everything the best I could but I wish I would have paid more attention to how my mom cleaned. Maybe she can offer me some advice.

We are working on potty training Xander but I don't think he is ready yet. Even if he is trained I know these things can still happen. I work with blood and all kinds of human body fluids for a living, but this situation was far more disgusting than anything I have dealt with in the lab. At least most everything is contained in a tube and I get to wear a lab coat and gloves. I think what I needed in this situation was gloves and a biohazard can. I'm sure there are more fun messes like this coming my way, I do have two young kids right now. It's just interesting that it had to happen on Friday the 13th.

13 is usually a lucky number for my family. My parents were married 12/13/80. Jerry and I were married 3/13/04. Xander was born 7/13/08. I found out I was pregnant with baby #2 on 11/13/09 which was a Friday the 13th as well. I am optimistic that the rest of the day will go better. Maybe something awesome will happen later today, it is date night for Jerry and me.

Disneyland!

2011-05-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

We flew out to Disneyland on Tuesday the 26th of April. There were a few firsts for us and our kids. It was the first plane ride for either of our kids, unless you count that I flew when I was pregnant with Xander. It was Jerry and my first plane ride dealing with very young kids. It went alright, not any worse then I would expect with a 9 month old and a 2 year old. I tried to keep Wesley asleep for most of the plane ride. The best thing for Xander was letting him watch cartoons and have snacks. That is what I would recommend to any parent traveling with a toddler.

We didn't go to Disneyland our first or even second day. We spent our 2nd day in the California adventure park. I think my favorite ride was the Hollywood tower. I didn't even know what to expect when I first rode it. It is one of those rides that drops you. I love those rides. I love the Rocket at Lagoon, which has a similar principal. My brother Michael (aka Jose) and his girlfriend Kristen came along to help us out a little. I would not have gone on this trip without help. They watched the kids a few times so we could go on rides. On our third day we spent most of the day in Disneyland. It was also my brother's birthday so we ate out at Buca di Beppo. That is a very interesting Italian restaurant. On our last day we went in between both parks and tried to go to anything we hadn't experienced yet. We flew back from sunny California to cold and snowy Utah. I can't wait for it to actually be warm here in Utah!

This trip was a little tough for baby Wesley. I think it was just overwhelming and strange. He was the biggest mommy's boy. He just wanted me to hold him all day everyday. I liked it, but it makes it hard to do anything! Right now it seems like Xander is a daddy's boy (always has been) and Wesley wants his mommy more.

Wesley turned 9 months old right before our trip. I can't believe it has been that long. I think I have some birthday planning to do very soon. He crawls and can pull himself to standing. He is super active. I took him to his checkup today and he lost instead of gained weight. His doctor was a little concerned so we had his blood drawn for some tests . I hope he is doing okay. He was really sick in March and lost weight then. I think he is having a hard time gaining it back because he is so active. He was 17lbs 5oz (down from 18lbs 2oz at 6months) and about 28inches tall. It is weird having a smaller baby since big brother was so chubby at the same age. Xander was 21lbs and I never worried about him starving. With Wesley, I am a little worried, but I hope it is normal. Worrying is just a part of being a parent!

Easter

2011-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

I keep wanting to post, but I'm always so busy. I guess I haven't even posted since our wedding anniversary. These kids keep me so busy. It's a crazy life, but it's always amazing to watch how Xander and Wesley learn and grow. Wesley started army crawling around 7 months. He is kind of stuck on that right now, but he will get up on hands and knees and do a real crawl. He just turned 9 months old. He is pulling himself up on everything, he feeds himself finger food and he is the cutest babbler. I forgot how cute baby talk is. Wesley is just an adorable baby who is into everything now.

Xander is learning new words and will communicate with us, most the time. Sometimes he just gets cranky and will just whine when he wants something. I just hope he catches up with kids his age. It's hard worry about him all the time and hoping he will be able to talk and learn normally. He is a funny guy and he loves his baby brother. They are already buddies. Sometimes they will just giggle at each other while I am driving them somewhere. I hope they don't fight too much as they grow older.

For Easter, I was able to get work off Saturday and we took the kids to the grocery store. Smiths was having an Easter party, so I decided to check that out. Last year we took Xander to a hunt at the park. We were a few minutes late to that, and it was already over. At Smith's they just laid out candy in the aisles and separated the different age groups. Xander did really well and got way more candy then a 2 year old needs!

We are going to to pack up our two kids and fly out to Disneyland on Tuesday. I am nervous to travel with two kids. I know it will be tough, but I hope we have a fun time too. I need a vacation. Although my favorite vacation ever is going on a cruise. I hope to do that again soon. My next post will probably be about our trip and if we survived or not.

Seven years down...

2011-03-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

I probably say it every time, but I can't believe it's already been seven years since Jerry and I got sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. We have been together for 8 years. We started dating in the winter of '03 and here we are 8 years later. We have two cute little kids, so now we are a little family. Baby Wesley came into our lives last summer and we are really enjoying having this sweet baby around. I think even Xander loves and enjoys having a baby brother around.

Thanks to my parents, Jerry and I were able to take a night away from the kids. We did a dinner and movie date and then spent the night at The Anniversary Inn. As much as we love our children it is important that we have some time together here and there, just to reconnect. Sometimes I don't even feel like we can have a conversation on most days because the kids need us so much. If we aren't all together we are usually at work. There just never seems to be enough time to all be together. We are still hoping to find a way for me to stay at home with the kids, but the future is so uncertain. I'm sure most families are like ours, just super busy. I just hope we don't miss out on the important things in life. I'm just glad we found each other so long ago and I think we make a good team!

Mommy brag post

2011-02-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

Flipping the bird

Wesley will be 7 months old in a week, but I wanted to post about his 6 month stats I just haven't had time. At his 6 month checkup he was 18.1lbs and 26.5 inches long. I was surprised that he only gained a pound since his 4 month checkup. His pediatrician wasn't worried since he has been a very active baby. He was more active then Xander in my tummy and he started rolling at 4 months. Right now he can roll across the floor. He does the baby push ups like he is trying to crawl, but he's not quite there yet. He can also move himself around in a circle on the floor. We are still working on sitting up, but he just doesn't seem interested. If I sit him he tries to lunge onto the floor. I have started giving him cereal. I waited until after his 6 month checkup. We are not regular with eating though. I maybe give him cereal only a few times a week, not everyday. He seems very healthy and happy. He smiles and laughs and I enjoy being with him and caring for him. I'm sad he will not be this way for much longer. He's already changing way too fast! The only thing we really wish would change is that he would sleep better. He was sleeping all night at about 9 weeks old and was doing great until January. Now he is waking up too early, or just waking up several times in the night. I'll admit, Jerry does most the work in helping him, but we are both exhausted from the whole situation. I know Xander went through something similar at his age, so that's what I'm hoping we are dealing with and that it ends soon.

Xander is doing great as well. He hasn't had a checkup recently but he still weighs about 33lbs which was his weight at his 2 year checkup. He is about 36 inches tall. He is making some progress with his speech. He knows a lot of words and he is always imitating us. He is finally calling me mommy which makes me happy. He says I love you, "Muv woo." He is very energetic. He loves cars, Buzz and his baby brother. Sometimes he loves Wesley too much and I always have to watch that he doesn't smother him with all the hugging. We are working really hard on potty training and making some progress. He will go #1 on the potty sometimes. I would love to have one kid out of diapers. Hopefully that day will come soon.

When I am home with them I feel super busy keeping them both happy. When I work I just have to pray that they will be kept safe and happy. I have yet to find a daycare I can be completely happy with. I wont even start to write the long list of things I have been unhappy with in all the places I have tried. These two kids are a lot of work, but I look forward to the days I can just have fun with them.

Life so far in 2011

2011-02-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to post on here forever but I have been super busy lately. I just transferred to a new job in my company so I could have better hours and because I was feeling a little burned out at my current job. I gave my boss my notice in at the end of December, but they really needed me to keep working in that lab so I finally just finished my last day yesterday. In the meantime I have been working my seven on and training for a couple days on my off week, so I have been getting lots of overtime and just being too busy. I can't wait for things to settle and fall back into some sort of routine. I'll miss my old job but sometimes it's good to change things. I have been wanting to get a little more sleep. I never felt rested especially since I had to be at work at 4am. I don't think that is good for my health to keep working a schedule like that, especially with two young children. If I didn't have children to worry about and care for then I know I could find a way to get more rest on that schedule. As it is right now, Wesley has been sleeping poorly lately, which in turn causes Jerry and me to get poor sleep. I have been running on sleep deprivation for a long time now. I would love to find a way to catch up on sleep. Honestly if somebody offered me a vacation right now without my kids in tow, I would choose one where I could just relax and sleep. That would be so nice right now! I think any parent with young kids could agree with me!

January was a month of birthdays, sort of. It was Jeremiah's 31st birthday on the 30th. Both our children have their half birthdays in January. We didn't celebrate those, but it's still significant, especially when a baby reaches 6 months. They really start to change their personality. For Jerry's birthday we left the kids with my parents and we did laser tag and a movie. I had to work on his actual birthday so we did this on a different day. It's always nice to get away and be alone. Luckily we have friends and family around to watch our kids once in a while.

We have been trying to find a way to move closer to Jerry's job and possibly even downgrade our housing situation so I can be home with the kids, but the outlook doesn't look good right now. Hopefully we will find a way. I have been praying about it, but we haven't found an option yet. We can't even refinance our home right now. This market is just really tough for families like ours. In the meantime I am grateful that we do have a beautiful home to live in and we can afford our payments. I know there are people our there who find themselves all of the sudden not being able to have the money and having to lose their house. However, if one of use lost our job or couldn't work we might be in a similar situation. All we can do right now is work on paying off debts and paying our tithing and just hoping something works out. It's still my greatest dream right now to take a few years off of work to be home with my kids. I didn't realize how important that was to me until 2008 when I had Xander. I only wish I had realized this dream sooner and things might be different today. I can only count my blessings I do have right now.

I'm looking forward to a good 2011 and trying to keep my perspectives in the right place. I know there is so much I can work on, but it's just easier to do one thing at a time.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning!

Wesley enjoying some lights

I have been wanting to post on here for a while about our Christmas. Things have been so hectic and busy for me so far this year that I haven't had time yet. We had a wonderful Christmas with our family and my family. I thought it would be tougher with two kids, but Wesley is such a good baby, he hardly changes my routine at all. Jerry had 10 days off from work so we spent the whole holiday together as a family. On Christmas eve we finally made it to temple square. I love going there. I pass by it often on my way to work, but never actually have time to just walk around the temple grounds. We have been to see the lights almost every year and I hope we can keep making it a tradition as long as we live close to Salt Lake. It really gets you in the proper mood for Christmas, especially with the nativity scene they have in front of the visitor's center.

On Christmas day we opened presents at our house first, then drove over to my parent's house to open the rest of our presents. Our little boys got spoiled with lots of toys and some cute clothes. I think Xander is understanding the holiday a little more. He had fun opening his presents and helping other people open presents. He must have picked this up in daycare, but when he saw something Santa related he would point and say, "Ho, Ho, Ho." It was pretty cute. He had new tubes put in back in November and I think this time around it's helping him to hear better so he can learn new words. He has a good vocabulary, but he's not saying sentences yet. He still has a long way to go. I hope he can catch up with kids his age with his language development.

Surviving the Holidays

2010-12-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

He started rolling to his tummy at 4 months old!

Once you make it through Halloween, Thanksgiving flies by and then it's already Christmas. This Thanksgiving, I made my first turkey dinner ever. I've never cooked a turkey and I was so worried about ruining it. Luckily I was really only cooking for 3 other people, Jerry, Xander and my brother Michael (Uncle Jose). The turkey was still frozen solid when I took it out of the fridge on Thanksgiving morning, even though I had placed it in the fridge 2 days before. I had to thaw it in a sink with cold water, and that did the trick. My parents and my sister and brother-in-law were all out of town and I didn't feel like dragging two kids everywhere to eat other relatives' food. I have always wanted to make my own dinner anyway. I missed out on some of my favorite dishes, but I did make some of the traditional ones. I did the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberries and rolls. I think my mom usually makes a shrimp salad, yams and fruit salad too, but I didn't have time. I hate yams anyway! I also made my favorite thing, the fruit cocktail with 7up. It all turned out well and we were all stuffed afterwards.

Now I'm working to get Christmas together. There is still so much to do, but I'm trying not to be stressed about it, I will get done what I can get done. I think we mostly just need to shop for Xander and Wesley. It's hard hauling around two kids, but we still try to see the lights on temple square. I love going there and seeing it all lit up. You really do get so caught up in the presents and everything else that you need to step back and let yourself be reminded of the true spirit of Christmas. For those who are religious the meaning is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ (even though his birthday is really in April). We celebrate his life by helping others around us, friend, family and strangers. I try to keep this with me throughout the year. My biggest excuse for not helping others enough is that I feel so busy. I am busy, but I know that if you truly want to do something you make time. Just like I love to workout at the gym, I make that time almost every single day. I need to make time once a week or more often to do service for others. I did make yummy treats for my neighbors to enjoy, but I know there is so much more I can do to help out. I also love doing the angel tree every year and buying things for children, who just want one toy, or just desperately need a new pair of shoes to give them a good Christmas.

I hope this Christmas can be a really good one for everybody. We only have 12 days left until the 25th!

Picture overload

2010-11-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

Xander as Buzz (his favorite character ever)

Welsey modeling one of my creations

Tummy time, he's getting so good at 15 weeks old

Halloween

Xander and me getting ready to go out in the rain for candy

Two cute brothers

Bathtime!

He loves those hands!

Well I've gone to back to work and it has been hard! It think it has been harder then it was when I left Xander. I feel like a bad mom that I can't stay home with my kids, but I blame myself. It was just poor planning on my part. A few years ago I didn't even want kids, so I never even planned for being a stay at home mom. Now that I had a taste of it for 3 months it's all I want more then anything right now! It really does just come down to money. We just can't afford the house and the cars and everything else without me working. We are willing to give it up for me to stay at home, but getting out of the house will be a huge challenge. I think we are going to put it on the market anyway and see what happens. It's a beautiful home and I'm going to be sad to leave it, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to be with my kids, at least while they are young and need me so much. I just think figuring out what to do will be really difficult and I don't know where to start.

I think the kids are adjusting okay. They are in a home daycare in Kaysville. I just feel like there is no place good enough for my kids, but they are only there for 7-8 hours on the weekdays that I work. Jerry takes care of them on the weekends that I work. It has been really exhausting! Hopefully someday soon we can figure what to do so I can be with the kids, if it is possible.

Xander has to get another set of tubes almost exactly a year after his first set. Poor little guy! Apparently his old set keep getting clogged and one is coming out. They told me they don't think he can hear very well. He is still speech delayed and not making too much progress. I think the surgery will be really easy and go well. I just really really want him to be able to hear. He needs to catch up with kids his age.

Wesley is doing really well. He is such a healthy, happy, content baby. He is easier then Xander was at this age. He still has his moments but he is just awesome. I don't know what he weighs right now, but I'm going to guess at least 16 lbs. He is a good eater and he likes his mommy milk. Everyone comments on how big he looks for a 3 month old. My kids just grow really fast. Xander gained weight really quickly too his first 6 months of life. I think he is hitting his milestones. He is getting good head control. He doesn't roll yet, but I'm sure he'll figure it out when he's ready.

Life is too crazy as a working mom. When I work I go pick up my kids from daycare and they both demand so much of me when we get home. I'm so exhausted from getting up at 2:40am, that if I didn't have two kids to take care of I would take a 2 hour nap after work. Yesterday was my last day of work for seven days and I was so tired after the kids went to bed that I could not stay awake for anything. I can't keep working a schedule that requires me to come in at 4am. I get more rest when I'm off work taking care of my kids, but they do both sleep through the night. Wesley started around 9-10 weeks old going about 10-11 hours and he does really well most nights.

Yikes, look what showed up on our front lawn!

2010-10-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

In case you couldn't tell..we like Halloween! If we had more time and money we would probably decorate more, it's way more fun then decorating for Christmas. Jerry got the idea for this evil centipede from a book last year. He has been wanting to do this forever. It took him a few hours, but I think he did a good job. I can't believe Halloween is just three weekends away. I haven't even thought of a costume. We took Xander trick or treating last year when he was just barely walking. This year I'm sure we will take him out to more places and I think he'll have a blast.

My life as a stay at home mom is coming to an end.

2010-10-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

I only have 2 more weeks left until I have to go back to work. I'm sad and I know it's going to be so hard, especially that first week. I don't hate my job, but the two things that make it the hardest are getting up before 3am so I can make it in at 4am and leaving my kids in daycare. I hate being super sleep deprived for seven days! It's awful. We did find a place and I do have a good feeling about this daycare so I hope it works out. I just really want my kids to be in good hands if I have to go to work and I had some bad experiences with the daycares that Xander was in. We didn't even start Xander in daycare until he was 5 months old. For the first couple months after my maternity leave Jerry stayed at home in the mornings to watch Xander. Eventually this arrangement got too hard, so daycare is our option for now. At least they will only have to be watched for 7-8 hours. I might start looking for a position with more normal hours so I'm less exhausted.

I'm still not completely sure if I could just be a stay at home mom, but these last few weeks have made me feel like it would be possible. I like being in full control of my children's care. We have a routine going as well. I try to get up before they both wake up and have some mommy time. I get the kids up and get them fed and then we go to the gym so I can enjoy a workout. We then get home and do feedings and I try to get them both to sleep. In the afternoon I also try to take care of things like housework, bills, or we try to go out and shop if we need something.

I have also picked up a hobby that I am really enjoying lately. I learned to crochet while I was still pregnant with Wesley. I wanted to make him baby hats and a blanket. The hats ended up too small but the baby afghan turned out really well and I'm sure we will get a lot of use out of it when it gets colder. I would love to get better at crochet so I can make nice stuff for my family and friends. I did make a cute baby baseball cap for a friend for her baby shower, but I would love to get better. I figured out how to read the simpler patterns so I think I'm slowly getting better. It wouldn't hurt if I found a place to take a crochet class. I'm still looking into that.

Wesley and Xander both continue to grow like crazy. Xander is saying more words but we still don't really understand him. I hope by the time he is 3 he will at least use small sentences. He is still doing speech therapy, but it is slow progress. He loves doing animal sounds, but I think all kids love animals, so that's just fun for him. He just seems healthy and his congestion problems haven't been as bad the past few months. Wesley is already 10 weeks old and he just keeps growing. He is a good eater and was 14lbs 2oz at his 2 month checkup. They said he was only 22.5 inches but I was looking at the measure and it looked like he was hitting the 23 inch line. He started smiling around 6 weeks and now he smiles all the time. He is a very good baby and he is kind of sleeping all night, he usually makes it from his last feeding at 8pm all the way until 5am. Our ultimate goal with his routine is getting him sleeping all night and on the same schedule as Xander with a bedtime of 7:30pm. I love an early bedtime so Jerry and I can get a break and spend time together every evening. Our kids are just both very cute and we are so blessed to have them and that they are so healthy. I just hope I am doing a good job and I just want them to grow up having fun and being happy. I can't wait until they are older and I can teach them things like snowboarding and water skiing. We need to buy a boat someday when we are rich. I hope these last two weeks don't go by too fast because I am going to be crying all the way into work on my first day. If our finances ever allowed it someday (and we are trying) then maybe I can stay at home or at least only have to work part time.

Wesley's baby blessing

2010-09-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

Xander at his Baby Blessing

We had the blessing for our second baby this Labor day weekend. It is so neat to see Jerry use his priesthood and I really felt the spirit when he was blessing our sweet baby. Wesley is still a very good, mostly calm baby. He does have his cranky moments but he is such a little sweety. I watch his big brother run around all day going crazy and it does make me sad they don't stay so little and cuddly for very long. Xander is still cute, I just wish he wasn't so exhausting all day long. I'm so glad he still needs naps! I don't know what I'm going to do once Wesley goes mobile! We had the blessing in the Kaysville tabernacle and Wesley got to wear the blessing outfit that Xander was also blessed in. Once he was wearing it, I pulled out some pictures of Xander wearing the same outfit and they look like identical twins! They are different kids with different personalities, but they have a lot of similar physical features. I think Wesley is going to have gorgeous blue eyes too. They are both very cute kids.

It's still difficult adjusting to two kids and I hope it really does get easier like some people have told me. I'm already dreading my return to work, that will just add a whole new dynamic. I still haven't even found a daycare yet. I hope something works out soon. It really is hard to leave your kids with a stranger. Xander has already been in a few different daycares and I have found something to be unhappy about with each of them. There is no place good enough for my children.

Life with two kids

2010-08-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have heard that the transition from 1 child to 2 is not too bad and I have to agree. It has its challenges but it has not been a total nightmare. If you had asked me 5 years ago where I would be right now, I'm not sure I could have imagined being a mother of two. Life is crazy with children but I'm getting used to it. The hardest challenges come when I need to take care of something and I have to find a sitter to do it. I do have some help from family and friends. I just wish I had an automatic nanny to be there every time I need a break or to take care of things.

I am a slight control freak and I need to have a routine to my days. Luckily I have found a way to establish a slight one so far. I am feeling almost back to normal since Wesley was born so I'm going right back into being as active as I can be. I have been taking morning walks with both kids in the double stroller, plus I go to the gym twice a week now. Wesley's feedings have taken on a schedule of sorts, so I try to plan around them. Sometimes the house gets cleaned and dinner gets made. I feel bad for Xander. He really requires a lot of attention and he really wants to be played with. He will play on his own but he gets bored doing that all day. Wesley is only 3 weeks old, so I'm still waiting for him to be a little older before I start taking him out more. I'm slowly figuring out how to do things. I just wish I could give Xander more of my time.

I can't wait to get Wesley on a regular bedtime so that Jerry and I can get a little evening break to ourselves. I love having Xander's bedtime at 7:30pm and it has been that way since he was a baby. I hope Wesley will fit into that schedule soon. I also can't wait to get out more. I like spending time at home, but I get restless. I think I'm doing the best I can for a person who has never truly been a "kid" person. As long as I don't leave any mental scars for my children and they survive their childhood I can die happy. Being a mom is crazy!

Wesley is here!

2010-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our baby is finally here and I started to think he would never come. Wesley Jacob was born July 22nd 2010 at 8:26pm. He weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20 in long. He was born one day before his due date and we are so happy he is here. I had given in and decided to schedule an induction for Friday the 23rd. I was scared because I was hoping to go natural like I did with Xander and I know it's very hard to do with inductions. Wesley had plans of his own. I was starting to feel worse as this week dragged on, having cramping and pain. On Thursday when I was actually in labor it was hard to believe because I had been dealing with the same pain all week. I woke up that morning, played with Xander and went to the gym. I did a full 60 minute workout and started feeling a few cramps towards the end of my workout. I cleaned and straightened up the house as much as I could since I knew we would be trying to have Wesley that weekend. The cramping started getting worse while I vacuumed. They started getting worse around noon, but I still thought it was false labor.

Jerry called me around 1pm from a break at work. I told him about my pain and he made the smart decision to just come home. He works 50 miles away so I'm very grateful he showed up. The pain was manageable so I decided to wait until my 4:30 appointment with my midwife to determine if I should go to the hospital. We packed all our bags just in case. We took Xander with us because we didn't have a sitter available.

I told the front desk at the clinic that I might be in labor. The nurse told me just to go to the hospital. I asked if there was anyway my midwife could just check me first. I was already almost 7cm dilated! We went straight to the hospital to get admitted. We were panicking trying to find somebody to take Xander. My parents were out of town and my sister was at work in SLC. We were up at Ogden Regional Hospital. Things were a little crazy for a while. I started getting more regular contractions and Jeremiah was chasing Xander around the hospital room. My sister finally made it to Ogden around 6:30pm and took Xander to our house. It was a relief because I needed my coach (Jerry) to get through the pain ahead. The pain this time around was a lot tougher. This labor was a lot different because my water didn't break beforehand. I took a bath in the jetted tub to ease the pain but it got really bad. I got out at 7:50pm and the rest is a little blur because the pain was intense. I got in the bed and was ready to push even before my midwife could get there. They tried to make me wait but I needed to get that baby out! My midwife did arrive at the end and Wesley was born at 8:26pm after two contractions. It was painful but quick.

Wesley is the sweetest and cutest baby. Xander wasn't too bad when he was born but Wesley is so calm compared to him. He hardly cries unless he is hungry. He is so easy to love and I'm so glad I was blessed to be his mom. I know I still wish for a daughter really badly someday but I do really feel blessed to have my two healthy adorable boys. I hope that we can make the transition to a family of four as smooth as possible. I'm still recovering from the birth but we are all home and doing well right now.

Xander is 2!

2010-07-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

New tricycle, I hope he likes it more as he gets older

Toy Story, Xander's favorite!

Checking out the presents

Opening Presents

Xander turned 2 on July 13th but we had a last minute birthday party for him on Saturday the 10th. It was last minute because I have been worried about this baby coming at any time. Xander was 3 weeks early, originally not due until August, so I kind of expected this baby already. Right now I'm looking at 9 days left and no baby yet. I really hope it's soon. I'm getting way to anxious and I really don't want to work anymore.

We just had a small party with some family and friends. Xander was spoiled and got plenty of new toys. He had so many toys that we had to put some away. I can't believe how many toys we have accumulated since he was born. I'm sure he will have plenty of toys to share with his new sibling. I wish I could make Xander understand that there will be a baby around, but I still feel like there is a language barrier. He only says a few words and doesn't even use them regularly. We are doing speech therapy and I hope we can get him talking soon. I'm sure he will catch on someday.

It feels like we just celebrated Xander's 1st birthday and now he is already 2 years old. I think the second year of his life went by faster then the first year. I'm praying and hoping the next blog entry will be a birth announcement, and in a few days time!

Almost ready for baby

2010-06-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

Cars blanket for Xander

Baby blanket

My huge stomach

Crochet baby blanket

We are looking at less then 4 weeks until this baby is due. If history repeats itself we have a lot less time then that. Xander was 3 weeks early so I'm feeling more and more anxious. I hope I'm ready for all of this. I hope I don't go into labor and have to have the baby in a car, or some other crazy situation. I have done this before so I know that labor is not really a fun or comfortable experience. You just never know what to expect. I'm trying not to worry about everything.

To occupy myself and get excited I have been doing a few projects. I decorated a nursery, but I also wanted to acquire some new talents. I decided to try crocheting. It was really tough at first. I was so frustrated because I couldn't even make a simple chain. I got a little bit of help from two of my coworkers who crochet and I was able to get some projects started. I have been working on hats and my biggest one was a baby blanket. I don't know how many hours that took me, but I finally have it finished. I can't do anything difficult and patterns just confuse me, so I have had to do my projects from scratch. Maybe I can take a class someday and patterns will make sense. I work at a cancer hospital, so it would be neat to crochet some hats for the patients undergoing chemo.

Through the help of one of Jeremiah's aunts I learned how to make tie blankets. They are very simple and fun to make, plus I think the end product is pretty cute. For a baby blanket you only need a little more then a yard of two fabrics. For a child blanket you need about 1.5 yards, and about 2 yards for an adult. You put the two fabrics together and cut them until they are about the same size. You then find a perfect square that's probably about 4x4 inches. You put it on each corner and cut around it. You have a square missing from each corner. You then cut out strips from all the sides that are even and start tying your two fleece fabrics together. If my explanation doesn't make sense, I know there are a lot of places on the internet you can turn to, to find a good pattern. They are really very simple though.

California Trip

2010-05-28T08:10:00.001-07:00

Xander and great-grandma

In San Francisco

On Alcatraz

A smile captured on camera!

We decided we needed to go on a trip before we are busy parents of two kids and changing tons of diapers all day. We decided to drive out to California in mid-May. It was our first real trip with Xander. It was kind of tough like I expected it to be, especially being in my third trimester of pregnancy, but we still managed to have some fun. We drove all the way across Nevada and stayed in Reno for the night. We then finished our trip the next day arriving at my Grandma's house. We spent a day in San Francisco and visited China town and Alcatraz. The next day we went to Six Flags in Vallejo. The toughest parts of the trip were keeping Xander happy because he was totally of schedule. I think he really needs that schedule which is bedtime at 7:30pm and a long mid day nap. We just kind of had to throw it out the window for our trip. He managed to take a short nap everyday. You would think that he would sleep on the long car rides, but he had a hard time being comfortable. The thing that saved us was buying a portable DVD player for the car rides and letting him watch cartoons. It was tough being pregnant on the trip because there was a lot of walking and my feet are starting to swell. We survived and we managed to have some fun. Plus we got to visit my grandma who I usually only see a couple times a year.

Enjoying the spring weather

2010-04-19T06:58:00.001-07:00

Easter weekend was cold and wintry, but this last off week from work was just the opposite. It has been warm and gorgeous, but it is Utah, so things could turn back to snow any day now. We finally got started on yard work. I will try to make the flower beds look as nice as I can until this baby decides to arrive. With warm weather comes..swelling. I feel my rings getting tight and I definitely don't want them to be cut off. I do have some fake rings I can try to wear soon. I would just feel naked without my wedding ring.
Jerry took the day off on Thursday to get some yard work done and so we could take Xander to the zoo. I think his favorite animal is the monkey for now. They are the most interactive out of all the animals. I think he had a good time, especially when he had his first ice cream cone.

Easter Time

2010-04-05T14:17:00.001-07:00

We didn't do anything exciting for Easter, but at least we got to spend time as a family. The biggest problem was the lousy weather. We had some beautiful days in March, but it has been snowing, hailing and raining lately. It must be spring time for Utah. We took Xander to his first Easter Egg hunt, but didn't get to do any egg hunting. I guess there were so many people who went that it was done and over with in a few minutes. I'm sure he will get more out of the holidays next year anyway. He was probably just wondering why we were dragging him to a cold place. I probably should enjoy the comfort of this weather right now. I was pregnant two years ago and almost as far along as I am now, and I remember how I felt when it got hot outside. I couldn't wear my wedding rings or find comfortable shoes. I hope it's not as rough as it was last time I did this. The due date is still July 23rd, so I have plenty of time to suffer through the heat.

Update on our kids

2010-04-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

You can really tell how cute this kid is going to be!

On the 30th we had the big ultrasound at 23 weeks. I think most doctor's offices do them earlier, but not the new one I go to. I get an ultrasound every time and it's a nice office but the wait time is ridiculous. I'm not sure I want to continue with my current midwife if I have to wait 1-3 hours to be seen for 5-10 minutes. It wasn't this way at all with my last midwife. Jerry and Xander both came to the appointment and I think we waited about 90 minutes to be seen. Luckily they have a big playground in a side room by the waiting room. Xander had a good time going down the slide and running around. We got to have a regular and a 4D ultrasound which turned out some really good pictures. The baby is measuring pretty close to my due date of July 23rd. They estimated them to weigh 1 pound 4 ounces which is normal. Hopefully I wont have too big of a baby. Xander was only 6lbs but he came early. Everything looks great so far. I know I'm blessed to have the chance to be a mommy to 2 healthy kids. I know not everyone gets that opportunity in life.
I took Xander in for an Early Intervention evaluation to see if he qualifies for speech therapy..and no surprise he does. The positive is that he isn't super far behind. They observed him and asked questions and none of his skills go below 18 months. He is 20 months now and born 3 weeks early, so he isn't as far behind as we thought. We still need to find a way to clear up his congestion. I'm sure he would love to breath normal someday. The tubes don't seem to be helping. The cool thing is they put his large motor skills at 24 months. It seemed like he was so slow to catch on his first year, but he is learning so quickly the last few months. He didn't walk until 14 months, but it seems like he is doing so well since those first steps. I can't wait to get him to communicate with us someday. I would love to be called mommy since I have been one for almost 2 years now.
We have less then 4 months now to prepare for a new addition...We have a room to furnish, turn Xander's room more into a toddler room and take one last big trip before we are busy with two kids. Who knows when we will have time for anything after that.

Married 6 years!

2010-03-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Jerry and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this past weekend. I can't believe how fast 6 years goes by. It is our second anniversary as parents and we took the night off from Xander thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Batt. I hope he wasn't too much trouble for them. They were nice enough to watch him overnight last anniversary too. I know Xander has a hard time sleeping in places other then his crib which is why we have only taken two overnight trips with him since he was born. Both trips left us sleep deprived. Honestly though, I think we have been tired everyday since he was born so it's nothing new.
Our anniversary was on my seven days on, so I had to trade Saturdays at work. We didn't plan anything elaborate. We just drove to Logan and stayed at the Anniversary Inn. I think we have stayed there at least seven times now. They do have fun rooms though and it's very relaxing. It's just refreshing to know that despite being so busy all the time with work and being parents, that we are still the same couple that have been together almost seven years now and we are still best friends. Almost seven years ago while we were dating we had a talk one day about our goals and intentions with our relationship. We both agreed that we wanted our relationship to be a meaningful and long lasting relationship since our previous ones were exactly opposite. A couple weeks after that talk we decided that we would like to get married someday. This was during the spring of 2003 and we got married in the Salt Lake Temple in March 2004. We aren't perfect but I feel like we have what it takes to be happy together for many more years and hopefully to eternity, like we vowed when we were sealed in the temple.
Xander is a keeping us very busy these days. He is a sweet, loving and very energetic toddler. We still have problems with his ears. I still feel like the tubes are not helping him and am wondering if I should see a new ENT specialist. He still has yet to say no, or even mommy and daddy. He does speak his own Xander language. I'm trying to figure out how to get him evaluated by early intervention but I'm not sure where to start. At least he is happy and healthy despite his small challenges.
The big ultrasound is on the 30th of this month. I know there are rumors going around, but I will wait to announce the gender to everyone after the ultrasound. I will say that if this baby is confirmed another boy I think I'm just going to sell all my girl stuff because we will probably just be one of those all boy families. We probably just don't make girls. I will post how things go at the end of this month.

I feel spring coming

2010-03-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

I finished up another seven days of work yesterday. As I was walking out to my car it almost felt too warm to wear my jacket. When I got in my car I actually had to take off my jacket completely and turn on the AC. It gives me hope that the weather will be warmer soon. This winter has been so gloomy. There has been lots of fog and constant gloomy skies. I am one of those people affected by the weather too. I don't feel as happy when it's so gray outside and I think I get a lot more migraines too. It also doesn't seem like we have had enough snowstorms. I can deal with the gloom better when the ground is covered in white. Right now our lawn just looks awful and dead. This spring we also need to pay somebody to fix our watering system outside. It's having issues. I can't wait for things to be green again, but I know it will take some time. It snows until June in Utah!
I know things will get harder for me as it gets warmer, but I'm still excited for sunny days and to get outside. I'm staying as active as I can with this pregnancy. I go to the gym 3-5 times a week and still do all my favorite aerobics and weight lifting classes. The last couple weeks have been bad though. I got a really bad cold where I can't breath well and I lost my voice for about 11 days. I think my voice is finally coming back. It was really hard at work though because I have to make lots of phone calls and communicate with my coworkers since we work as a team. I can't wait to feel better and go back to my workout routine.
I had another OB appointment last Tuesday, the 23rd. I was 18 weeks and we could have been able to find out the gender of our mystery baby. The baby looked great and has a heartbeat of 146bpm. They are measuring right along to come in July. We went to take a look between the legs and she/he had them crossed very tightly and was very stubborn about moving. I may go back in to the OB tomorrow just for a gender ultrasound. I'm nervous. I know I will be grateful either way, boy or girl because I know they are a blessing...but I am worried I will never have a daughter and I so badly want this baby to be a girl. I would be so thrilled to be able to unpack all the cute girl stuff I bought for Xander. I'm just scared for them to tell me, "it's a boy." I see lots of families running around with 3 or 4 boys and I just hope I was meant to have at least one girl. I'm so nervous to go this appointment.
On Wednesday of last week Jeremiah took the day off work to take Xander in for a more advanced hearing test. He has never passed a hearing test before this. It is called a sedated ABR. You have to bring your child in sleep deprived. They sedate them and hook electrodes up to them to somehow measure hearing. Making Xander sleep deprived sounded scary, but I think things went well. I don't know for sure because I was busy with work and couldn't help out. Xander passed the test, so we know his hearing works. However, he still can't hear. He has all this fluid and puss in his ears. I hope his doctor can help him. It seems like maybe the tubes are not working to drain everything. Poor little guy. He is still happy besides all of this. I think he is just used to how he hears, which must be underwater. He is not saying real words yet. He talks all day, but I think he can't hear us properly. It is hard for all of us. I hope we can get him some help so he doesn't fall behind.
He is definitely a boy. We just bought him a car set and he loves it. He has to walk around with a car in either hand all day long. He even tries to eat and drink while holding his cars. Xander, I'm not going to steal your toys!

Xander's first haircut

2010-02-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

Toddler Mullet!

Sitting in the chair watching Elmo

The mullet is gone.

I'm sure other kids get their first haircut way before 19 months, but I finally gave in and took Xander today. I just remember all his hair rubbing off that he had when he was born and then he was bald for three months. When he finally got hair I was so excited. It stuck straight up in the air. Recently he has been getting sort of a toddler mullet, but I just couldn't bear to let go. It was so soft to run my fingers through and he has a slight natural curl at the ends of his hair. I kept it long, but the long hair in the back is gone.

I think Xander had a good time. I brought him to Cookie Cutters in Bountiful. I'm sure there is another kid's place closer to Kaysville, but that place just looked cute. He sat in a fire engine chair and got to watch Elmo. Then they gave him a sucker. I try not to let him have too many of those. It is so messy giving a toddler a sucker! They kept him distracted enough that we were able to get the haircut done in less then 10 minutes.

Xander is doing great, but he still hasn't passed a hearing test in his whole life. He had tubes put in to help him with fluid in his ears, but he still has a lot of stuff in his ears. It is just stressful seeing him go through this. He talks all day but he doesn't really say any words. He is a little behind in his language development and I think it is because of his ear problems. We are taking him in for a sedated ABR hearing test. I'm nervous for it, but the doctor told me it is the best way to tell if he has hearing damage or he is fine. Poor little guy. I hope we can get him hearing and talking soon. He is a great walker, he likes to imitate things and he seems really happy most of the time. He loves other kids and can be really affectionate. I just wish he wasn't having these problems, but I know things could be worse. I hope things get better in the next few months.

What's Happening in 2010

2010-01-20T14:09:00.000-08:00

We have already made this public to family and friends so I will finally make a post on our blog. Coming in July 2010 we will be adding on to our family. For Xander's second birthday he will be getting a new baby brother or sister. I hope he wants to keep the new baby. It's exciting and scary. While nine months seems like a long time, it's also a blessing so you have time to get things in order if you need to. We have a guest room that we will be making into another baby room. We have a lot of things from Xander that we can use with the new baby so I don't think we need to buy too many things.
Things are going well so far. I'm just a couple days away from being in the second trimester. I'm still active and workout a few times a week still. I have been really tired, but it mostly just hits me at night. I'm glad Jerry is understanding. I think he remembers two years ago when I would sleep a lot in the evening too. It just really exhausts me! I have been a little sick, but it has been manageable. Smells and tastes are different and strong. I hope that goes back to normal soon. We have already seen the baby twice, once at 6 weeks and again at 10 weeks. He/she is already adorable. The first time I could hardly make anything out of the ultrasound, but the next time I saw a tiny baby with little arms and legs moving around. I'm doing my best to keep him/her comfortable. I'm sure they wont tell us the gender until February and I probably wont believe them anyway since they got it wrong with Xander.
Xander is doing great. He is 18 months old already. He walks, runs and babbles. He is communicating more but not really talking at all. I was concerned so I took him to his doctor for another checkup. He said to start him on speech therapy. I hope it helps. We haven't set anything up yet. He is doing great other then that. I'm sure the not talking is no reflection of his intelligence. With his genes, I know he will be a smart kid. He does things everyday that reflect on his intelligence. They also did his measurements and he is a really big kid! He hit a growth spurt over the past three months, so now he is actually fitting length-wise in his 2T pants. He weighs a hefty 28lbs 2oz (77%) and is 32.5 inches tall (55%). Since birth he has gained 22lbs and grown over a foot. It's like he went and swallowed anther toddler! I'm trying to teach him to walk more because it is so hard to heft him around. It's only going to get harder in the next few months so I hope I can teach him to walk and hold my hand.
We look forward to having another family member this year. I just try not to think of all the challenges it will bring to us too. I hope I can be a good mother of two and keep my kids and hubby happy.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T12:51:00.001-08:00

Christmas has already come and gone. It was a fun day but also a relief to not worry about shopping anymore. Xander has been spoiled and we are happy. Now I need to think about my New Year's resolutions. I can't believe it will already be 2010 in a few short days. My life was completely different at the beginning of this decade. I was in high school and living with my family at home when 2000 started. Now in 2009 I am a college graduate, have a career, am married for almost 6 years now, have a house and became a mommy 2008. It's amazing how much can change in 10 years, especially in your 20's.

We just had a laid back Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve I made my very first ham dinner. I made so much food we should have called some people up and invited them over. I still have leftovers I'm not sure we are going to finish. It went well so I might keep that as a tradition. We then went to Temple square to see the lights. It was really cold, but there is just something beautiful about being near the temple, lights or not. It really helped me feel the true meaning of Christmas, especially seeing the beautiful Nativity scene. We put Xander to bed and then finally finished wrapping all his presents.

The next morning I got up early, not as early as when I was a child, but I guess I still feel the excitement of Christmas morning. It's not a morning to sleep in! Jerry and I opened presents before Xander woke up. I got spoiled with a new Zune, so now I'm trying to sell my old one. Jerry's big present was a toaster oven. When Xander woke up we showed him how to shred up the wrapping paper and he had a good time opening all his toys. I think it was a little overwhelming for a 17 month old, but I'm sure he loves all his new toys. I'm actually going to box up some of his old toys and save them for future siblings. He doesn't need a million toys all at once.

We had a big Christmas breakfast. We had this tradition in my family growing up, so I thought I would keep it up in my home. We then packed up and spent some time with family and exchanged presents. It was a good Holiday this year but it went by way too fast! Now I'm returning to work tomorrow and having to work through the New Year. I guess it's better then working Christmas. Happy holidays and New Year to everyone!

The Holidays are here again

2009-11-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

As soon as Halloween ends, it feels like Thanksgiving is the very next week, and then all of the sudden we are out putting up Christmas decorations. Jerry and I put up decorations in two parts. The first night we did the indoor stuff and then last night we put up all the outdoor decorations. We accomplished all of this after Xander was tucked away in bed. Of course we want this to be a family event, but at his age, he would just make things difficult. Maybe next year he can help a little. We put our tree in a room out of Xander's reach because I just know he will keep attacking the tree when I'm not looking. We still let him enjoy it by letting him have some supervised time with the tree. I think it was exciting for him the morning he woke up and saw all the Christmas stuff. He was only 5 months old last year so I'm sure he doesn't remember any of it. Now he can finally enjoy things more, even if he doesn't understand.
I finally started Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving, but I'm nowhere close to finishing. Of course we are going to spoil our only child. He is the only little one in my family too, so he will get spoiled by my family I'm sure. There is so much to think about, I just hope we can find a way to focus on what matters most and that is Jesus Christ and our family and friends. I was going to post a whole blog on what I am thankful for, but I will just add it in here.
I am getting old, but at 26 I have accomplished what some people dream their whole lives about, but for whatever reasons don't always have. I have a loving husband, a career, a nice shelter and a sweet little guy. Life is busy and crazy, but I try to be grateful everyday for what I have. Xander makes me crazy, but he is also so funny and sweet. He makes me forget the crazy times when he smiles at me or gives me a hug. I'm just grateful for my little family and I just pray that we can have a strong bond with each other. I am grateful to have been raised in the LDS church my whole life. I believe in it and I know I would be lost without it. I might not even have my little family today without the gospel to help me straighten out my life. I'm grateful for the family I was raised in. I think they are crazy, but I know we all love each other, and I know they are always there for me to help me and love me. I have so much and I try to remember that everyday. Happy Holidays!

Xander's first surgery

2009-11-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

Xander has had congestion problems since he was born. It was so bad I think it contributed to me not being able to nurse him. I had to pump all his milk for his first year. I would address the congestion issue with his pediatrician at every singe appointment and he would keep brushing it off. I kept saying that I wanted him to be better by the time he reached his first birthday. Well he wasn't better. Everyone who meets him thinks he has a cold and I have to explain that he has always breathed roughly. Finally I had enough and I begged the pediatrician for a referral to an ENT. In the meantime my son failed a hearing test in both ears and still hasn't said his first word yet. The doctor found fluid in his ears and recommended that we put tubes in and remove his adenoids to help him breath better. I was so nervous, but I finally decided that nothing else was helping and surgery might be the answer.
We took him to the hospital this morning and they examined him before his surgery. They were concerned because of his rough breathing, but I told them it is how he always breathes. They checked his lungs and said they found a problem on one side. I never knew there were any lung issues. It meant that if he was having breathing problems because of anesthesia, he might have to stay overnight to be monitored. We still made the decision to go ahead with surgery. The workers were really nice and kept telling us what a cute little boy we have and they gave him a stuffed animal to keep and hold onto in surgery. I almost cried as the wheeled him away. I can't believe how hard that is to see somebody take your baby away to cut him and put tubes and wires on him! I don't think I could have watched the surgery.
The surgery went well and they were surprised at how much mucous and fluid build up was in his ears. The cleaned him out and removed his adenoids. I was hoping to hear a difference in his breathing, but he still sounds pretty congested. I'm still hoping to see some good changes in the next couple of days. However, the doctor wants to do a blood work up on my son in 30 days to see if there are some other issues. I am so glad a doctor finally is willing to see that he is having problems and wants to help, but I'm nervous we wont find out what is wrong. He even wants to test for Cystic fibrosis. My poor little guy!
Despite his congestion, he is so happy and playful. He loves to wrestle with mommy and daddy. He has a beautiful smile and laughs a lot. In fact he even played this afternoon on the same day of his surgery, until he got too tired because of the drugs. He is a tough guy and a fighter, but I just pray we can clear up these problems.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

Being a mad scientist
Our decorations

Xander's pumpkins

Cute little monkey

It has been a fun month for our family. Halloween is only one day, but it is one of those holidays that seems to be celebrated all throughout the month just like Christmas. I think this holiday is becoming more popular because you don't have to run out and buy presents for everyone you know. You just celebrate by decorating your house with ghosts, witches and monsters. You have to decide if you want to dress up and what you want to be. Buy a large bowl full of candy and you are ready. I love being scared so I try to go to spook alleys every year, and Jerry got me in to going to corn mazes. We have been going to corn mazes every year since 2003. My favorite was one in Farmington that has since been replaced by houses. It was fun because you get a small map and you go through the maze not only trying to find your way out, but looking for checkpoints. When you found a checkpoint you stamped it off on your card. I miss that one, but I still find it fun to go wandering around a maze aimlessly until we find our way out. This year Jerry and I went to a maze in Syracuse. Jerry decided if we just kept making left hand turns we would eventually get out and he was right. We also went to a spook alley in Salt Lake and Frightmares at Lagoon earlier this month.

On Halloween day we went out to a pumpkin patch in Farmington and picked out two large pumpkins. Xander had fun walking around and playing with the pumpkins. He is becoming quite a pro at walking and now trying to start running. He has hardly any sense of separation anxiety or stranger danger, so he tries to wander far away from us whenever we go out. We carved pumpkins as a family, which is a tradition I'm sure we will carry on throughout the years to come. We just let Xander watch this year. There is no way I am handing a curious toddler a little carving knife!

After our pumpkins were carve we dressed Xander up as a monkey and took him down our street for a little trick or treating. He is too young for candy, but I will let him eat a little chocolate or a sucker once in a while. We love decorating our house and have a talking skeleton. Jerry would talk through him and try to scare the kids who came to our door. Unfortunately we get very few trick or treaters on our street. I think it is a combination of things, that more and more people are opting to do trunk or treats, go to the mall and other alternatives. We also live at the very end of a dead end road and perhaps people don't want to walk all the way down. I think we ended up getting at least a dozen. When we bought our house in 2007 I was looking forward to finally getting some trick or treaters. We lived in a condo before then and didn't get any kids at our door. We had a good time and it was Xander's first year trick or treating.

Our baby is walking

2009-09-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a proud parent, but sad at the same time. Xander has hit the milestone that I consider the difference between a baby and a toddler. Babies crawl and roll, but toddlers walk. For the last couple months Xander has mastered cruising and pushing his toys all over the room. One day he was playing with his car and I looked over at him. He just let go and took four steps forward. Soon he was taking steps, but falling a lot. Within a couple weeks he can walk all the way across the room and he can stand himself back up without support every time he falls. Now I will have to start buying him functional shoes instead of the cute booties that babies wear just for looks. I know that children grow too fast, but it is just crazy watching your own child hit their milestones. Now we need to get him talking next. He seems to be a little behind since he doesn't even say mommy or daddy yet. I just don't feel like I can call my first baby a baby anymore.

I love this season

2009-09-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

Xander at 3 months old, Halloween 2008

Hanging at the beach in Pineview

I'm getting so excited for Halloween this year. I don't think it's the actual day that I get worked up for, just the whole season itself. I love being scared by watching scary movies and going to spook alleys. I have been going to spook alleys for as long as I remember. I love dressing up scary. I know some people dress up like clowns and princesses but I think Halloween is a day to dress up like something creepy. My excitement began at the end of August when I walked into a craft store and already saw fall decorations. Now I have been obsessed with going to stores and looking in the holiday section and debating on how much I should spend on decorations. So far I have purchased a small black Halloween tree and some decorations. I'm still looking for some Nightmare Before Christmas ornaments to add to my tree. I am also hoping to add something awesome to the outside of my house. We already have some cool outside decorations and apparently our house has a reputation to uphold on Halloween night. Xander will be 15 months old and I think he is old enough to do some Trick or Treating. I am hoping he will be walking by then. We have a monkey costume for him this year. Last year he was a dragon and we just put on the costume for 15 minutes for pictures. I am excited to start decorating my house. Yay for fall!

Xander is getting close to walking. I see him standing more and more on his own. He loves to walk around our living room and kitchen with anything that he can push. He will sometimes be standing on his own and take one step, but then he will immediately go down on his knees and crawl. He is getting so fast at cruising and crawling. He has so much energy! I'm excited to see those first steps. I think it is coming soon.

I love boating

2009-09-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

Crawling around the boat
Hanging out with Grandpa

Xander and Mommy

Me waterskiing

My parents wanted to wait until my siblings and I were a little older to purchase a boat. I was 14 when they bought a 1970's Apollo. I was so excited to try out some water sports. I got tubing down right away but mastering the knee board or skis took me a bit longer. By the next summer I was up on the knee board and having a good time. I tried to pick up water skiing next, but that requires more strength from the skier and from the boat's engine. I was strong enough but the boat ended up being a lemon. I was so sad, and I think I even shed some tears when we discovered that this boat was almost beyond or even worth fixing. It was old and just not well taken care of by the previous owners. We were able to sell it to a new owner who was willing to invest time and money to get it running again. After a few weeks of searching we finally found the perfect boat, a '97 Reinell. It had a little cuddy in the front which is perfect for Lake Powell beach camping. It was large enough for our family of five and a lot newer then the Apollo. I mastered water skiing, slalom skiing and wake boarding and I still love them. I don't do any tricks, but I love being behind the boat. I have a lot of great memories of boating. We spent tons of time down at Lake Powell. That boat survived a couple infamous storms at Lake Powell. I awoke to one of those storms to see the boat top coming down on top of me because the wind was so powerful it bent the poles. With the exception of my sister, we all shared a love for boating. Now my parents have moved from Price and have a house at Bear Lake. That is where I have been boating for the past couple years.
Our boat is still going strong. I know it is my parents boat, but they technically share it with their now grown up kids. I love boating so much, I even went when Xander was just 6 weeks old and I was still doing some postpartum recuperating. On September 1st I took Xander on his second boating trip. He went on his first trip in June. I think he likes boating. I can't wait to buy him a pair of training skis and watch him enjoy a piece of my childhood. I hope Jerry and I can buy a boat of our own someday and enjoy water sports with our kids. Jerry does a little water skiing and I hope I can get him to love boating more. I miss going to Lake Powell. I was 18 the last time I went and I hope I can make it back down there soon.
On my previous post I was talking about my brother Michael's engagement. For reasons unknown to me, the engagement is off for now. I was hoping to be friends with his fiancee, but things seem to be strange between us. Maybe someday I will get a sister-in-law. Someday Xander will have cousins, but they may be a lot younger then him.

Xander video and other stuff

2009-08-21T06:30:00.001-07:00

Not too much is going on with our family except that my little brother is getting married in December. Xander will be getting a new Aunt. Our family has almost doubled in size in the last few years. My sister and I both got married and then came Xander and now I will be getting a sister-in-law. It should be fun. I love weddings. However, they picked the craziest time of the year to get hitched, December 19th! I'm sure we will survive that month somehow. Then everyone except me will have gotten married in December. My parents anniversary is 12/13 and Sarah and Chris' anniversary is 12/21. I always have to be the non-conformist. Jerry and I got married 3/13. I'm glad there will be another temple marriage in the family. My parents had a civil ceremony and didn't get sealed until after Sarah was born. Sarah and Chris didn't get married in the temple either. My brother and I will both have temple marriages from the start. I think that builds a very important foundation for a new family. I'm so grateful that I am sealed to Jeremiah and Xander. Here is a video I have been wanting to post on this blog for a while.

Our first trip away from Xander

2009-08-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well it was our first trip and who knows when we will get another one. It's not that we want to leave our little guy, but it was fun to just be us again. We were married almost 4.5 years before Xander came into our lives. Sometimes I miss how things were but I am glad to be a mom and have a sweet little guy that makes me laugh. My family was sweet enough to give Xander the care and love he needed while we went away. Xander stayed with my sister for one night and then my mom had him for the rest of the time. As far as I know, he didn't give them too much trouble.
We flew out to Chicago and got a rental car. It was kind of nerve wracking because our plane was scheduled to land at 9pm and the rental place was closing at 10. Our plane arrived a little late and we were stressing about getting our car. We just barely got it on time and were on our way to Gurnee, Illinois. What is there to do in Gurnee? Six Flags Great America. Although we are getting into our late 20's we are still kids and love to play. We had an awesome time going on some intense and long rollercoasters. Lagoon has nothing on Six Flags.
The next day we drove into Chicago to see the sights. We went up the Willis tower and got to stand in a box made entirely of glass and stand over the city. It was an awesome view. Chicago is a cool city. I wish we had had more time to do some exploring. We then drove took a 3 hour drive to Wisconsin Dells. This place was a surprise to us. We came to go to Noah's Ark, America's largest waterpark. It turns out that this place is the waterpark capital of the world and a big tourist town. There were so many cool things to do and see in Wisconsin Dells, we wish we could go back someday. We went to the waterpark and had a blast. I think I love waterparks more then amusement parks. We then went to a really cool waterskii stunt show to end our day. Our only trip regret...not enough time to do everything we wanted to.
We then had to drive all the way back to Chicago to get on a plane back to reality. We missed our little boy, but he did great with my familiy. Our trip was so fun. I'm glad to see that despite all the stresses parenting can add to a marriage, I still feel just as close to Jeremiah as before. We are still best friends and love to have a good time together. I am excited for Xander and his future siblings to grow so we can do all these fun things as a family.

Better Late then never Birthday Pictures

2009-07-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week now since we celebrated Xander's 1st birthday, but I still wanted to share some pictures on our blog. It was a fun and crazy day. I know we wore our little guy out. My baby is 12 months old now! He is still not walking, but he is all over the place so I know it will be any day now. I'm glad we are not up 4-6 times a night feeding him and being worn out, but I am still sad he is growing so fast. I miss how sweet and small he once was. I see really young babies and just can't believe he was that small. He is so big now, weighing in at 23 pounds, that I can't remember holding him when he only weighed 5 pounds. He's healthy and happy and we enjoy having him in our lives. We celebrated his birthday at Cherry Hill here in Kaysville. I put a lot into this party, but I think we were not only celebrating Xander, but the fact that we made it 1 year as parents. Being a parent adds some much more into life. It's weird to imagine that I once lived a life without Jeremiah and Xander in it.

Happy Birthday Xander!

2009-07-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it has already been a year! Your mommy and daddy love you more then you can comprehend right now. You have put up with us not knowing what you want, when you need your bottle or when you just need a hug. We have done our best and seen so many beautiful smiles. I remember how excited I was the first time I saw that smile and the first time I heard that laugh. It made me feel like I was finally doing something right. We have been through many rough nights and held you while you cried. I just love seeing your beautiful face and hearing you laugh while we play. I want to hold your hand and help you grow into a wonderful person. It just feels like yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital and now we are chasing you around as you crawl. I can't wait to see you take your first steps.

2009-06-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I posted on here. Life is really busy as usual. We are currently getting ready for one of the biggest events of this year...Xander's 1st birthday. I am so glad that he has made it this far with my mothering or lack of mothering skills. I do the best I can everyday to make him happy and keep him healthy. He is doing awesome except for his allergies. I hope they will clear up for him someday! Poor little guy! It's amazing that it has been almost a year since we brought our sweet bundle home and now he is a mobile 11 month old. He crawls and stands up on everything now. With his new found mobility come the bruises, bumps and scrapes. It's hard for me to see all his little battle scars and not feel bad. With crawling comes rug burn. I found these adorable little leg warmers called Baby Legs that I make him wear just about everyday. It helped clear up the redness on his knees. I don't know how to protect him from the bruises and bumps, except to just wrap him in bubble wrap, or place him in a giant bubble. Yesterday he was crawling around in our kitchen that has hard wood floors. I'm not sure if he is learning to stand on his own, or what he was doing, but he decided to straighten out his legs. He quickly went down in a face plant and bruised up his forehead immediately. It was hard to hear him crying in pain, and I almost started crying. Becoming a mother has made me more emotional.

A year ago, Jerry and I were just awaiting the big day when our baby would come into the world. I was buying girl clothes and decorating a cute ladybug girl nursery. At this point last year I wasn't too uncomfortable yet. It wasn't until the 4th of July weekend last year that I started swelling up and getting itchy. I just can't believe that was a year ago. I can't believe my baby will be a toddler soon. Xander is our life right now. We love to see his cute little smile and to make him laugh. Life would be less full without him in it. We are so grateful he has blessed our lives!

What we have been up to lately

2009-05-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Now that Xander is getting older, we have been trying to take him out to some fun places. I know he still wont get much out of the experience, but the weather is nice and it is something to do together as a family. Jerry took a Friday off a couple weeks ago so we could go to the zoo. It was fun just to spend time together, since we really only get every other weekend as a family. I think Xander only liked the stuff that he could grab and he was exhausted by the end of the day. Just yesterday we decided to go to a dinosaur park up in Ogden. They had a fun playground and we let Xander ride in a swing. I think he liked it. I got him to laugh a little bit. Now as summer approaches we are trying to think of some fun stuff to do. Jerry and I were thinking of planning a road trip down to Texas. If my mom is still willing to take Xander, we were going to take a couple's vacation somewhere. It's just hard to decide where to go, but I know I would love to take a break and go somewhere new. Xander finally figured out how to crawl and he loves to move around the house and find bad things to do. We just have to be more vigilant to keep him safe. He is growing so fast! I am already in the first stages of planning his 1st birthday in July. Time flies!

ABC's

2009-05-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm just bored at home on a Friday night...

A - Age: 25
B - Bed size: queen
C - Chore you hate: dishes
D - Dogs names: no dogs, I'm not really a dog person
E - Essential to start your day: A good breakfast
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gold or Silver: white gold
H - Height: 5'7
I - Instruments you play(ed): piano, flute, saxaphone, guitar, bass guitar, percussion
J - Job title: Medical Technologist, and mommy
K - Kid(s): Alexander Thomas
L - Living arrangements: We live in a lovely house in Kaysville
M - Mom's name: Denise
N - Nicknames: Sweety, mommy, punkin
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: none!
P - Pet Peeve: I have a few, my weirdest one is that I find it annoying when people roll down the windows of their car while driving and hang body parts out
Q - Quote from a movie: "Mawiage, mawiage is what brings us together." -The Princess Bride
R - Right or left handed: I'm a left-handed freak
T - Time you wake up: I wake up between 6-7am on my off week and 2:35am on my on week
U - Underwear: garments (LDS)
V - Vegetable you dislike: yams
W- Ways you run late: getting baby stuff together, getting distracted
X - X-rays you've had: I think I've only had 2 x-rays
Y - Yummy food you make: homeade pizza
Z - Zoo favorite: the big cats

Some things I have learned about motherhood

2009-05-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

A year ago I was awaiting the arrival of my baby and now I have a wiggly, crazy little boy who is almost 10 months old.

I find motherhood to be very challenging, but I feel rewarded when I see a smile or get a laugh out of Xander.
I can't believe how amazed I am at every single milestone that he hits. It's so exciting to see what he will do next.
I didn't realize how much bedtime meant to parents until I became one. I used to think my parents were punishing me. Now I know that it is sometimes the only break that mom and dad get all day.
Putting Xander on a schedule saved my sanity! As soon as I put him on a schedule, he started sleeping better and now he's just a happy healthy baby.
I didn't realize how tough the baby blues would be. Working out has been my anti-depressant and taking some baby breaks.
Being a mom is tough, and I do miss my pre-baby life, but I know how much fuller my life is as a mom. I wouldn't trade motherhood for anything.
I love my beautiful blue-eyed boy so much. I live for him and to see him smile and laugh at me everyday.

Unfortunately I had to work on my very first Mother's day, but it was still good. Jerry and Xander came up to my job and spoiled me with gifts. Xander helped his dad pick out a beautiful diamond Mother's day necklace and then Jerry spoiled me with my favorite stone, the emerald.

May Day

2009-05-01T14:26:00.001-07:00

I just thought I would make a post before my off week ends. Xander will be turning 10 months old in a couple weeks. He has been working really hard to learn new things. He is still not crawling, but he is doing a lot of other things. He can scoot around and reach for toys. He still loves rolling everywhere. We still haven't childproofed, but we need to for sure now. He will be going mobile anytime soon. I am already spending his waking moments with him keeping him out of trouble. I have to make sure things don't fall on him and stop him from grabbing electrical cords. I am excited and worried for him to start walking and crawling. That little guy is going to be a handful! I think most boys are handfuls when they are really young.

We took Xander swimming for his second time a couple weeks ago. I thought he would love it since he loves bath time, but he just didn't seem to be excited. I will keep taking him since swimming has always been a favorite thing of mine. I'm sure he will love it when he is older.

Life is going pretty well for us. There isn't anything too exciting going on. We are just staying busy with our little guy and our careers. I am grateful everyday that even though I have to be a working mom, that I can still stay at home with Xander every other week. I get to watch him change and grow. There is always something new, being a parent.

Xander's 9 month stats

2009-04-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

Xander just turned 9 months old yesterday and had to go to the doctor for another well baby visit. He weighed in at 21 pounds 9 ounces and was 28 inches long. I think he is 29 inches and that the nurse measured wrong because he seems a lot taller. His 12 month pants are getting short on him. He wears 12 month and 18 month clothes right now. We are continually buying him new clothes because he is growing so fast. The growth is finally slowing down a little, since he has only gained one pound since his 6 month appointment. At 9 months he has already spent more time out in the world then he did growing inside me. He was only in my belly for 36 weeks 6 days. According to a chart that I used, he is 39 weeks old. I'm definitely glad he is out of my belly. I can't imagine I would be walking very well with a 21 pound baby inside!
Xander can be a really happy baby. He has lots of smiles and he giggles a lot, especially when we play peek a boo. He is still not crawling. He rolls around to get places. We are working on getting him to stand better. He will put weight on his legs, but he is wobbly and has to be supported in order to stand. He can sit up and play just fine on his own and lately he is showing an interest in pulling himself up. His pediatrician is not worried that he is not crawling yet. Xander is just the laid back type and doesn't want to learn too fast. Plus our home is not adequately child proofed yet. We still haven't found a baby gate that will fit our wide staircases. He finally got his first tooth about a week ago. This teething thing has been going on for a long time!
Our world revolves around Xander right now, until he gets a little brother or sister someday (still hoping for a girl). He keeps us busy and I am just trying to enjoy these moments, because everyday he needs mommy less and less. I realized that today while I was giving him a bottle. He grabbed it and fed himself. He wouldn't let me help him. He's also a master at inserting his own Binky's and stuffing baby puffs in his mouth. I only have 3 months left to plan his 1st birthday. I'm so grateful that we have made it this far and are a busy yet happy family.

2009-03-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

I am off for seven days again so I thought I would take the opportunity to post a new blog. It's so nice to not have to worry about my job every other seven days. When I am working my seven days though, it seems like everything is happening. Weddings and birthdays and parties seemed to be planned for my work weeks. I do my best to make it to everything. When I am finally off work it feels like nothing is going on.
This last work week Xander and Jeremiah both got sick. I went to pick Xander up from daycare last Friday and he felt really warm. I decided to take his temperature. The best way to take a baby's temperature is rectally. You can try under their armpit, but most babies are too wiggly. There is no way it will work in their mouth. I felt bad, but I had to take his temperature. It was a 102.6! As a first time mom I was really worried. I went and grabbed my medical reference book and it did say that rectally the temperature is a little higher then the actual body temperature. I was still worried so I called the pediatrician's office. The nurse told me to give him Motrin or Tylenol. Jerry and I just cuddled him close for the next couple days. It was so sad to see him not feeling well. He wasn't his usual smiley giggly self. I had to work my 12 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday, so Jerry was stuck in the house all day caring for a sick baby. By Sunday night he was in a better mood and seems to be feeling a lot better. I just felt bad that I couldn't be there for Xander since I was stuck at work.
On Sunday Jerry started having mouth pains that kept getting more intense. I didn't know how to help him since I was busy working. He decided to call the dentist and go in for an appointment on Monday. They thought he might need a root canal and he was referred to a specialist. Luckily they think it might be a sinus infection. We are crossing our fingers that he wont need a root canal.
Xander is doing well and learning new things everyday. He doesn't crawl yet. His preferred form of mobility is rolling on the floor. He can roll pretty fast. He will get on his tummy and try to crawl, but he doesn't seem to know what to do with his legs. Crawling is not considered a milestone that babies have to meet so I'm not too worried about his lack of crawling. Jerry and I are working on teaching him to stand so he can just skip the crawling if he has too. He is doing pretty well. He even tries to pull himself up on his toys, but he hasn't been successful yet. He is a big boy weighing over 20 pounds, so it has to be more of a challenge for him to learn to stand. He will be having his 9 month appointment in 2 weeks so I will post his stats on here. I am really curious how tall he is right now. His 12 month pants are getting short on him. He can fit in some 18 month clothes already. I really need to do some more clothes shopping for him. He grows out of his clothes too fast now.

Lucky 13

2009-03-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

I just had to share some old pictures on our blog. On 3/13/09 Jerry and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Yes it is not as big as a 20th or even a
50th wedding anniversary, but it's still a big deal. That is 5 years that Jerry has been putting up with my cooking. That is 5 years I have been picking up after his messes. (Okay, he does clean up after me too.) Most importantly it is 5 years of loving and supporting each other through all that we have gone through. We have accomplished so much in 5 years. We bought and sold a condo in Bountiful, and then bought a beautiful home in Kaysville where we now reside. We both had really crappy jobs while dating. I worked at Taco Time and Jerry worked in the catalog call center for JC Penney. We now have our bachelor's degrees and work in our careers. I work for ARUP in the Huntsman cancer hospital lab. I am a Medical Technologist. Jerry is a software developer (I hope I got the title right), working for a small company called Reading Horizons. What marriage would be complete without adding a little bundle of joy. Our first baby Alexander Thomas was born on 7/13/08.

We have spent the majority of our marriage getting through school. I graduated in May 2007 with my Bachelor's degree in Science. Jeremiah finally got his Bachelor's degree in December 2007. We just love to have fun and spend as much time together as we can. Now we get to spend time as a family with our little boy. Our future goals for the next 5 years are to just have fun and enjoy the life we have made for ourselves and our family. I don't know if there is more schooling in the future. Only time will tell. I'm sure that we will be adding on to our family in the next 5 years as well. I just know that Xander doesn't want to be an only child. I'm really hoping to give him a sister, but I know it is in God's hands.

Thanks to my supportive family, Jerry and I were able to celebrate our anniversary by spending a night alone together. We left Xander with my sister and her husband Chris. My mom picked him up after she got off work and he slept at Grandma's house. My mom had to leave for work early so my brother got stuck watching him until we picked him up. It all worked out okay. Jerry and I ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square since the Hard Rock Cafe isn't there anymore. I don't know if it went out of business or moved, but we had one of our first dates at the Hard Rock Cafe. We then spent the night at the Anniversary Inn. It was really special just taking the time to be alone together and just realizing how much we love each other. It is hard to realize this while you are trying to calm a crying baby. On our Anniversay day we dropped Xander off at daycare and went and got massages. We then just hung out and went shopping together. It was really refreshing to take all the time toghether. I hope we can do it again soon.

13 is a lucky number in our family. My parents were married on 12/13/80. Jerry and I were married on 3/13/04. Our first baby was born on 7/13/08. We just celebrated our anniversary on Friday the 13th.

Time definitely flys!

2009-03-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago: I was 5 years old and living in one of the smallest towns in Utah, Clawson. (You probably haven't even heard of it.) I was in Kindergarten at Ferron Elementary school.
Ten years ago: I was living in Price, Utah and in 9th grade. In 9th grade I was on the student council. That is pretty weird for me since I am such an introvert. I got my driver's license at the end of 1999 and started driving a VW Quantum station wagon. I started high school as well at the end of 1999. Jerry was already graduated from high school at this time! He graduated in 1998.

Five years ago: At this time 5 years ago I was finishing up plans for our wedding. I was also in my last semester before getting my associates degree. I had just moved out of the "rock house." I had to live with my sister Sarah a couple weeks before my wedding. Jerry and I had just bought a condo in Bountiful and he was going to live there alone until our wedding. I can't believe that it has already been 5 years since I got married!
One year ago: I just barely got hired at my current job in the lab at the Huntsman cancer hospital. I was about 4 months pregnant and Jerry and I were making plans to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. Our big 20 week ultrasound was set on our actual anniversary. We were going to find out the gender and then start shopping for a girl or a boy. They told us it was a girl, so we went out and bought some cute girl clothes. Then 4 months later on July 13th, out came our baby....boy!

Six months ago: I was on maternity leave and taking care of our new baby boy. He was high maintenance and I was wondering when I would ever get to sleep all night again. Luckily when he turned 3 months old he started sleeping through the night. He's a lot more fun now and getting cuter everyday.

This year so far: I am just adjusting to being a working mom. Life is so busy and crazy, but we are used to our routine. I am so happy and sad to see Xander growing so fast. He's still not mobile yet, but he learns so much everyday. It's exciting to watch all the things that he can do. I am applying for a passport today and hoping that as a family we can do some traveling this year and just have lots of fun together.

Yesterday: I worked a 10 hour shift at work and came home completely exhausted. Jerry and I played with Xander and put him to bed. I then drifted in and out of conciousness because work wears me out so much!

Today: I woke up early and got everything ready for Xander. I saw Jerry off to work and then Xander and I played. I need to go get ready to go to the gym after I finish this post! I try to work out as much as I can and I know how much it helps. It is my sense of control in this crazy world.
Tomorrow: Go to the gym with Xander. Maybe I will hang out with some friends and our babies. There are not definite plans. I am just glad to not be at work for a few days!
Next year…I will be a working mommy still. I can't even imagine Xander being a toddler, but it is coming! I just hope we can be a more active family.

I can't wait for winter to be over!

2009-02-18T07:14:00.000-08:00

When winter first starts it's new and exciting, but as it drags on, I just get sick of the cold. We got a crazy snowstorm yesterday. It was kind of neat to watch it out my big window, but I feel trapped inside. I want to go snowboarding but I don't have anyone to go with. Jerry and I could get a babysitter and go night skiing, but it's hard sometimes. He said he would just let me go without him but I can't find a snowboarding buddy. I used to take a snowboarding class when I was at Weber State. I got to go up to Powder Mountain every single Friday. That was a fun winter. I miss having that kind of freedom. I'm not sure that I will get a chance to go this winter. I was a bad mom last year and went twice even though I knew I was pregnant. It was only the 1st trimester though, so I didn't have a belly in the way or anything. I think Xander turned out okay. I'm just sick of being inside and getting colds. I hope Jerry and I can find fun things to do outdoors with Xander once it gets warm. Maybe we'll get one of those carts you can attach to the back of a bike so we can all go on a family bike ride. We are also hoping to go to Lagoon with Xander and just bring some other people along, so we can all trade off watching Xander. I'm really looking forward to warmer weather now!

Xander's six month stats

2009-01-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am so amazed at how fast 6 months went by! I can't believe that I have been a mom for half a year now. I remember taking my little guy home from the hospital like it was only a few weeks ago. He has changed so much! He weighed less then 6lbs when he came home and he was only 19 inches long. Today he had his check up and he weighed 20lbs and is 27 inches long! He is in the 91% for weight and the 70% for height. He now rolls around and plays. I was just thinking today that he is already growing from being a baby to a little kid. I didn't think that I would be emotional over the whole thing, but I am. I kind of miss the whole newborn stage already, even though it was so hard on Jerry and me. We plan on waiting a little while before we go through that again. It does take a toll financially and emotionally. We had some adorable 6 month pictures taken last Friday. Here they are....

Happy New Year!

2009-01-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

Here is my first post of the new year. I can't believe we are in the last year of this decade. This has been the biggest decade of my life so far. Here is my own personal timeline for the 2000's:
* In 2002 I graduated from Carbon High school. I made the tough decision to move away from home to go to school in Ogden. I also chose my future career as a Medical Technologist. I started my first semester of college in August of 2002. My sister told me to take symphonic band at Weber State. Because of that choice I ended up playing tenor sax and sitting next to my future husband.
*In 2003 Jerry and I became an official couple right around Spring Break. At the end of 2003 we decided to announce to everyone that we were getting married.
*On March 13 2004 Jeremiah and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. In 2004 I also got my Associates Degree as a Medical Laboratory Technician and started my career with ARUP laboratories.
*It took me an extra year, but finally after 3 more years of college I got my Bachelor's degree as a Medical Technologist in May 2007. We also bought a beautiful house in Kaysville that year. In December 2007 my world turned around as I found out that I was going to become a mother in 2008.
*We spent the first part of 2008 getting ready for our baby. On March 13th 2008 (4th wedding anniversary) I was told that I was going to have a baby girl. On July 13th I gave birth to a boy! Since that fateful day Xander has become my world. Almost everything I do now is for him. I'm so glad I have made it this far by they age of 25. I know it is all because of the family and friends in my life who have been there to push me along. I know it is because of my Heavenly Father that I have been blessed with a family of my own. I just hope I can spend the last year of this decade giving back to those people who helped through all these tough and crazy years of my life.
Xander is getting his 6 month pictures done tonight. I will post some more pictures on here as soon as I get some more time.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry, not an original post title! It took me a couple weeks, but I am finally feeling the Christmas spirit. This is my first Christmas in 4 years that I don't have to work! It will be fun to wake up Christmas morning with my family and get to spend all day with them. In fact the last Christmas I had off was in 2003. Jerry and I had just barely gotten engaged and he got me a gorgeous ring as my Christmas present. We spent Christmas in Bear Lake where we got hit with a huge snow storm. Since then we have spent a little time in Bear Lake every December to celebrate Christmas. This will be the first Christmas we are spending at home and we have a little baby. Xander is already 5 months old. We aren't going to wrap him any presents, but I think we are going to go out and buy him some fun 6+ month toys to keep him entertained as he gets older. I wish we didn't have to do the whole Santa thing, but I guess it is a part of childhood. It is just kind of lame lying to your kid until one year they realize you have been making this whole Santa thing up. Sorry if I sound like a grinch about Santa but as I get older I want to celebrate the birth of Jesus more then thinking about the commercialization out there. When I listen to Christmas music, I prefer the traditional music rather then songs about Rudolph or Santa. All I wish for everyone out there this year is to have a Merry Christmas spending lots of time with your family and loved ones. Just be safe and have fun and remember the true meaning of this time of year.

2008-12-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post pictures earlier of Xander last year and then Xander this year. This ultrasound was done on 12/18/07. You can't see much, but the little circle is his heart beating. Time definitely flies!

It's almost Christmas!

2008-12-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

I have been so busy it's been hard to go online and update my blog. Being a working mom is tough but things are going well. We finally put Xander in daycare and he seems to be doing well. I guess he is too young to have separation anxiety. Hopefully he wont have that problem since he has to get used to being in daycare every other week. I just got done spending a week taking care of him. I don't mind working though since sometimes I just need baby breaks, and I like working in my profession and helping people.
It is just weird to reflect on last December. I found out I was pregnant on 12/10/07. I was late but didn't think I was pregnant since I felt just fine. Jerry told me to take a test but I wanted to be stubborn about it. Finally at 3am on 12/10 I woke up from a dream where I had taken a test and it was positive. I was determined to prove my dream wrong so I stumbled out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a pregnancy test. I took it and a faint second line showed up! I was in shock. Jerry and I had been trying to get pregnant but I thought it would take a few months. Later that day I had to buy more pregnancy tests and they were positive too. I was more scared then anything.
It is overwhelming to know that you are responsible for this little life. You have to be a good example and teach your child to grow up happy and teach them what is right. Alexander is already 5 months old and seems to be doing alright so far. He smiles and laughs so hopefully I am being a good mom. I honestly don't feel like I could do this without Jerry. There are a lot of times where I just don't know what to do and he is there to take the baby and help me out. He is such a good dad and he actually wants to and loves to take care of Xander. I know a lot of dads out there who leave most the work for the mom. I'm so glad Jerry doesn't leave me hanging. Motherhood has been a challenge for me so far. I do love my little guy and I'm glad he gives me a little smile here and there. (Grr I wanted to add some pictures, but for some reason it wont let me. I'll try to post again later.)

Xander's 4 month stats

2008-11-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took Xander to his 4 month appointment. First of all I'm shocked that it has already been 4 months since that day back in July that changed my life forever. Motherhood is not getting easier and I'm convinced that it will not get easier, but it is getting more fun. It's like his personality chip in his brain finally turned on. He smiles and laughs. He baby talks and just this past week finally realized he could grab things with his hands. I looked at pictures of him when he was brand new and I think he is actually cuter now then when he was really small. He went from weighing 6lbs 6oz and 19 1/4 inches at birth to 17lbs 1oz and 25 inches long! He is so big. I get a backache when I carry him too long. I thought the backaches were painful when I was pregnant, but it doesn't compare to lugging around a 17lb 4 month old! Xander was kind enough to start sleeping through the night at 11 weeks old and is really good at it. He also give me some cleaning time by taking a long afternoon nap. I am slowly getting used to being back at work. It is hard being at work, but at the same time I like being a working mom. I am a supervisor in my laboratory and I kind of like taking a baby break and doing "grown up" stuff. Between that and going to the gym it helps me still feel like me in this new life I am living. I think I have been struggling with some mild post-partum depression, but I am making it through. When I start feeling really down, I just think of all I have going for me in my life.

I can't belive my baby who was only 5lbs when I brought him home from the hospital is so big now! He is in the 90th percentile in weight and the 55th percentile in height. I guess he really does take after his mom and dad. Here are some cute pics of Xander trying out his new toy.

I can't believe it's already November

2008-11-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

It feels like only a few weeks ago that I brought Xander home from the hospital, but that was in July and it's aready November. Xander is 16 weeks old now and just had his first big holiday, Halloween. He's now smiling, laughing and baby talking. He's doing great, but I find that I get absolutely nothing out of church anymore. I guess I wont until he goes to nursery.

For Halloween we didn't really do anything even though it's one of our favorite holidays. Well Jerry and I did go to a spook alley and a cornmaze before the holiday, but it would have been fun to have a party or something. I guess it's that time of the year to get ready for the holidays. In a few short weeks I will be pulling out all the Christmas decorations. I am excited to finally have Christmas off this year. I haven't had Christmas off since 2003! I have worked every Christmas since I have been married. Now that Halloween is over, the stores will be full of Christmas stuff. I have Thanksgiving off this year too, and I said I would make Thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever, but that's still up in the air. Here are some fun pictures from Halloween.

I survived!

2008-10-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that we survived my first week back at work. It's not easy but we made it work. I hope things will work out and I can be a stay at home mom someday but right now I just have to be patient. Xander seems to be handling things okay despite getting moved around to different people everyday. Well my mom watches him at least once a week and then Jerry stays home from work to watch Xander until I finish my shift. He then has to go to work at night on those days that I work. We might try to look into daycare again, but I do like the idea that he is watched by Jerry and my mom while I work. Daycare is just scary because you have to really trust that your baby is in good hands. I know most of the time that a baby is in good hands at a daycare but it's still hard.

Life is going okay, but nothing exciting is coming up. All the big events that happen with a new baby are over. The excitement and the visitors have died down. All the baby showers are over. Xander already had his baby blessing with all the visitors. He has a lot of people who love him very much.

Jerry has a cousin who had a baby the day after Xander was born. She finally had her blessing this last Sunday. Jerry got to go to that with Xander and see some family. He was talking to his aunt as she was holding Xander. She was telling Jerry how much his mom would have loved her little grandson. It really made me think about what is missing in our lives right now. Jerry's mom passed away when he was 16 from lung cancer. She had been a serious smoker for quite a few years. I never got to meet my mother in law. I have no idea what that is like to have that relationship. I know Jerry misses his mom. Xander and I will never know her in this life. He is lucky to have one set of grandparents. My parents are only in their 40's so I think they will be in Xander's life for a long time. The saddest thing about Jerry's mom passing away is that she smoked and got lung cancer. If she had just quit or never picked up that awful habit she could be part of our lives right now! Smoking is such an awful and selfish habit, especially if you are a parent. Save money and your lives and quit smoking. I just wish I could have met her and Xander could have another grandma.

Changes

2008-10-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

When a new baby is born, families and friends always debate about who the baby takes after the most. I will let you decide for yourself. We combined our baby photos, all around the same age. In my opinion Xander got a good mix between the both of us. I'm on the left and Jerry is on the right.

Just when life starts to get normal and routine something else has to change and completely throw life off balance. The dreaded day is finally less than a week away. I have to go back to work next Tuesday. I have to leave my poor little guy, but I know he will be in good hands. We tried to find daycare, but either they didn't want a baby so young or they wouldn't take a baby part-time. My mom and Jerry will be taking care of Xander while I am at work. I feel bad, but I have to go make some money.

On a lighter note, Xander is doing really well. He's almost to his 3 month birthday and gaining weight like crazy. He has put on so much weight, I wonder if it's too much. He was only 6lbs 6oz at birth. Yesterday I weighed him using my Wii Fit and it said he was about 14.8lbs! He is only 11 weeks old. I just don't want him to get too big too fast. It makes me feel sad. I miss how little he was when he was born. At the same time though I don't miss those first few weeks. I didn't have anything figured out yet. I would do things so much different if I could go back in time to when Xander was a newborn.

I have finally figured out a routine with Xander. He wakes me up anywhere between the hours of 5am to 7am and I have to feed him. He then passes out for a few more hours but doesn't want to sleep in his crib anymore. I eat breakfast and then get us both ready to go to the gym. I get in a good workout and then we go home for the rest of the day. Jerry comes home at 5:30pm and then he wants to hold Xander and play with him. I then go make dinner while he is watching him. We figure out what we will be doing for the evening whether it be shopping or just watching TV. We try to put Xander to bed by 8:30 so we can spend a little time together.

Working out has finally started to pay off for me. I started going back to the gym when Xander was 4 weeks old and I now go at least 4-5 times a week. I am finally losing weight. I hope I can get back down to a healthy weight soon. I will try to remain optimistic. I'm losing weight and Xander is gaining weight.

2008-09-11T08:07:00.001-07:00

Photobucket Album

Baby Blessing

2008-09-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Alexander is 8 weeks old today and finally got his baby blessing. It was a really neat experience to let his daddy give him a special blessing. I just can't believe we have had this baby home with us for 8 weeks. There is a lot of adaptation to be made. We are finally getting more sleep by putting Xander on a schedule and not worrying about having him fall asleep before putting him down. I was surprised at how many people showed up to support us. Of course my family came, including my parents, my brother, my sister and brother-in-law. My grandparents and some other extended family came too. It was good to see everybody. It is just a reminder to me that I need to be more supportive and do more for my extended family and my friends. Life is not really too exciting though. I have to leave my baby and go back to work in a few weeks. I just hope life doesn't get too crazy when Jerry and I are both working and making sure Xander is taken care of when we can't watch him. I hope we can get a list of people who can care for him so we can go do more things as a couple. Even though I have to return back to work, I am still excited for October. I have my birthday, there is Halloween and it is when you realize that Fall has finally come. There are the beautiful colored leafs and the temperature outside cools down, but not too much. We are going to try to look for a cute Halloween costume for Xander. Obviously he is way too young to get candy, but it is just for the pictures. Well life is good, not exciting and full of adventure right now, but good.

2008-08-03T15:13:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to post another blog to show off my cute pictures we had done just this last week. Life is just insane bringing a baby into the mix. I'm off work for 12 weeks, so I just take care of the baby all day and then pass off some duties to Jeremiah when he gets home from work. It is going to be hard going back to work but I need to contribute. It's just not possible right now for me to be a stay at home mom. I never even imagined myself as a mom, but now that I have a baby, I just step in and try to take care of him the best that I can. There are a lot of people out there who are better at this job than me. I just hope I am doing all that I can to take care of him. When Alexander first came home, I was feeling restless like I needed to get out of the house as much as possible, but now I'm in a routine with him. There are ups and downs and I have been permanently tired since I had him 3 weeks ago, but I love how it feels to look at his little face and hold him in my arms. I know that he is a gift and I need to enjoy every moment while he is so young and needs his mommy. I truly know how it feels to be a proud parent now. There is no way to ever be prepared for this, but I couldn't imagine my life without having at least one child.

Our Baby is Here!

2008-07-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Jerry and I got two big shocks this last weekend. I was just surviving my work week, feeling kind of miserable and tired. I started developing this itching problem primarily in my hands and feet. The itching was so severe that I would have a panic attack and want to scratch off my skin. It kept getting worse every morning when I would wake up, and I would be so frustrated when I finally rolled in to work. I found out that this condition could be associated with my liver. It's called Cholestasis of pregnancy and it's horrible!
On Saturday night I got off of a 12 hour shift at work and Jerry dragged me the movies to watch Hellboy II. We made it through the movie and then I needed to go to bed immediately so I could wake up at 3am for my next 12 hour shift. I was 3 weeks away from my due date of Aug 4th and not feeling great but not having any idea I was going to go into labor. I was in bed by about 9:30pm and kept getting up to use the restroom and drink water. At about 11:35pm I woke up and was just laying down when a gush of water came out all over my sheets. I knew what had happened, but it's still quite a shock, especially still being 3 weeks away from my due date. Jerry was downstairs staying up late and playing video games. He came upstairs and I let him know that my water broke. I was a little freaked because I knew that regardless of if I was having contractions or not, I was going to have the baby within 24 hours. Contractions started immediately and we made it to the hospital around 1am after scrambling around our house packing a hospital bag. They didn't start out too bad, but they didn't feel good either. I was determined to go natural and not get any drugs or an epidural. We did lots of walking and that really progressed my labor. I just breathed through the horrible cramps and then felt fine once they went away. They had me hooked up to 2 monitors when I came in, one for the baby's heart and one for my contractions. I would dread it each time I saw the contraction monitor numbers rising. Everything was progressing fast until they put me in the jetted tub. For most women, being able to relax during labor usually progresses things, but everytime I relaxed, it slowed down my labor. I had no choice but to walk and pace around, all activities that tire you for the pushing part! I finally got to pushing and didn't think I would make it. Everyone was so encouraging that at the end I got an adrenaline rush and by 9:44am on July 13, 2008 our baby came into the world. He was 6lbs 60z and 19 1/4 inches.
Here is the second surprise. We were expecting a little girl and had a girl nursery with little girl things. I am laying on the delivery room bed exhausted and relieved that the baby came. They place the baby on my stomach and I immediately notice something wrong. This baby has "boy parts." They didn't even have to say "It's a boy!" for me to know what was going on. We had a name picked out for a boy luckily. I didn't get my Octavia, I got an Alexander. I still replay that scene over and over in my head, the first time I saw my baby. I know that I am blessed and meant to have a son, but with the postpartum emotions I feel sad that I didn't get my little girl. I guess maybe next time. Of course we will be waiting for a little while for a second baby! We had to order a new nursery set and will have a boy room soon. It's all so crazy. I'm still supposed to be pregnant, but now I am up for late night feedings and diaper changes. I just hope life gets back to a routine and I learn to live with this sweet little guy.

About Us

2008-06-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well we are going to try and start this blog thing. Elisa and Jeremiah met back in 2002 at Weber State University. We started dating in 2003 and have been a couple ever since then. We met Elisa's first semester of college in the symphonic band. We played tenor saxaphone and sat right next to each other the whole semester, but nothing romantic ever happened. We started seeing each other the next semester at the bus stop and then wanted to hang out and become friends. It grew into more than a friendship and we became an official couple right at the end of Spring Break. We got engaged the November of 2003 and were married in the Salt Lake temple on March 13th 2004. So we have been married for over 4 years now. We are finally both done with our Bachelor's degrees. We live in a house with 3 furbaby cats (Cordelia, Spike and Jasper). We are expecting our first baby about 8 weeks from today. They told us it will be a girl, so we are hoping that we don't get a surprise that "It's a boy!" in the delivery room. He would be wearing dresses and have a pink nursery if that were to happen. It's definitely a new adventure for us after being just two for so long. We will try to keep updating this blog. We just took a bunch of maternity photos, so we will have to post those on here soon.