Rainbows

Every morning is sooooo exciting to Jadon! The morning sun shines right into our stairway window, and onto our entryway chandleier. As it does that, it casts little rainbows all over the walls upstairs. Jadon discovered those rainbows the other day, and apparently its the most exciting thing since sliced bread!! He runs around upstairs pointing to each of the rainbows, then makes a noise like "oooooooh!"

Thankful Today and Everyday

So last night, I was preparing to make dinner. I decided to make spaghetti and homemade meatballs. I had never done meatballs before, and thought it would be a nice addition to the normally boring dish of plain old spaghetti and sauce. I pulled a pound of beef (actually I only use ground turkey, not beef) out of the freezer, and popped it in the microwave for 5 minutes on defrost, then went about other business getting a pan ready, a bowl for mixing the meatballs, etc. The microwave suddenly stopped and I thought it was the fastest 5 minutes ever! But the microwave didnt beep like it does when the time runs out, letting you know its finished. I looked at the microwave, it was dead. My first thought was that the power went out... but no, the music was still playing on my laptop, the TV was still going... I had Baby Einstein on the DVD player for Jadon (he LOVES it! he says "Eye sty" everytime he wants to watch it... also its a good distraction while im busy in the kitchen). Everything seemed to be in working order. So I checked the cord to make sure the microwave was still plugged in. It was. I pressed buttons.... nothing. Opened it, closed it, unplugged, then plugged back in.... still nothing. It appears as though the thing just quit.

So, after 5 years, almost to the day, our wedding gift microwave died on us. Tonight we'll be heading to town to find a new one! There's not really a point to this story, other than to say how thankful I am for the little things that are almost always overlooked in life... like a working microwave. This morning I had to boil water on the stove for my coffee and Jadon's oatmeal. It was only slightly more inconvenient, but quite a bit slower. Last night Derek had to eat a luke-warm dinner when he got home from work, which bothered me much more than it bothered him. Its the little things that get used everyday that we take for granted.

So, with that said, id like to say that today (and everyday) im thankful for a microwave, stove, refrigerator, my laptop, tv, lights, running water, a heater, an a/c unit.... all of these things are essentially luxuries that are overlooked until we have to endure an hour or a day or two without them...funny how it feels like the world is coming to an end when we have to live without one of these things for just a short time.

Curious George

So the other day, I think it was saturday, Jadon was in the living room playing while I finished eating my lunch. He was being a good boy, and I kept peeking my head over the couch to see what he was doing. Well, after awhile, he got really quiet, so I peeked my head over the couch again and he was sitting on the floor playing. I couldnt see what he was playing with, but he wasnt getting into anything, and the only thing in the living room within reach (that I thought) was his toys. Couple minutes passed, and he was still super quiet (very rare when we're at home), so I again peeked over the couch, but this time I stood up so I could see the whole room and see what he was playing with that was so intriguing. It was like slow motion when I stood up: first I saw his head, then his shoulders, then chest... oh wait, theres an arm going up in the air with a kleenex on it... oh no!!! Slow motion continued as the rest of the room and floor came into view. Sure enough, he had gotten ahold of an almost full box of kleenex and pulled out every single sheet! I couldnt get mad at him though, he's just curious and didnt know that he isnt supposed to do that. Time to move things to higher locations though.... he is just getting too tall!!!

Here's a video of him putting the kleenex back into the box after he pulled them all out... very cute! He's easily amused! ;)

Horray for Derek!!

So I'm very pleased and proud to announce that Derek got a new job! Still with the hospital, but now instead of working on desktop support he'll be working with servers and stuff. Its a slight raise, and he'll be able to work his way up the ladder in this job much easier than at his current job.
I am so happy and proud of him (as I always am!) :)

In other news, this week Jadon and I learned sign language for things around the house- kitchen, family room, bathroom, sink, refrigerator, stove, sofa, rug, tv, table, toilet, bathtub, shower. Plus, we check out Baby Einstein dvd's from the library and the one we recently checked out has some sign language in it as well... so from that we have learned- driveway, sidewalk, garden, playing field, playground, trail, school, library, bank. There are many more on that dvd, but I cant remember them. I am only listing the ones that I can remember. I am really enjoying learning sign language... its amazing to me that people can actually communicate by using sign language! Its supposed to be really good for kids too, and help with tantrums and frustrations. So far Jadon hasnt picked up on anything, but we've only been doing it for a few weeks, and so far he just watches intently.

Dancing Baby

This was the cutest thing ever!

Derek, Jadon and I were at the mall the other day, and we were walking by a store that had really loud music and Jadon was holding Daddy's hand while we were walking. So when we walked by this store with the loud music, Jadon suddenly stops dead in his tracks, so Derek and I stop to see why Jadon stopped. Well, it turns out he had to bust-a-move to the music! He heard the music so he stopped what he was doing and started dancing! :) It was really cute!

And once again i'm reminded of what an adorible son I have!

Talking Jadon

So, I won't be adding to Jadon's word list anymore. Starting late last week, he has started repeating many words that we say... (all done, arm, ouchie, etc.) so I am expecting that his talking will really begin to take off now! Its really exciting! Derek just mentioned a few days ago how he can't imagine Jadon having conversations with us! It will be really weird, thats for sure!

I hope he learns to call me mommy or mama someday soon though! Apparently right now he thinks I am a dada! So, both Derek and I are Dada. He can say mama, but it means either "more please" or "water". Oh, and Jadon calls himself dada also, only it sounds just ever so subtly different than the dada he calls me or Derek.

We have also been learning some sign language. (well, ive been learning it, Jadon just watches it) PBS has a show called Signing Time, and we like to watch that! Last week we learned lots of colors- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, black, brown, white, silver, gold. A few others we learned from the show are: crayons, broken, new, great, look... I can't think of anymore at the moment.

Teething pain (for the parents!)

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days... Jadon's getting his eye teeth, and anytime he is teething his sleep patterns get totally screwed up. So all week long he has been going to bed at his usual time 8:30pm. But then he's been waking up at about 11-11:30pm every night, and not wanting to go back to sleep until after 3am. With that said, mommy and daddy dont usually go to bed until about 10:30-11pm! So, since Jadon's not going to back to sleep until after 3am, he usually sleeps until 8:30 or 9am the next morning, which is good, but still doesnt give him enough sleep for the night, and not enough sleep for mama either! Needless to say, i've been napping in the afternoon when Jadon naps to try to make up for lost sleep.

Good news though, last night he went to bed at 8:30am, woke up about 7am, so I went and got him and brought him in my bed to warm him up.... ok, so thats a partial lie.... I love to cuddle with him in the morning! :) So he fell asleep again in bed with me until 9am!!! Horray!!! We all got a GOOD nights sleep and made up for lost sleep in the last few days! I wont get my hopes up though... he will sometimes have a few bad nights, then a good night, then another few bad nights.

Derek has next week off for our anniversary (5 years!!!!) so I am hoping Jadon gets back on schedule because we have alot planned for that week!

Happy Birthday Derek!!!

My wonderful, handsome hubby turned 27 today! He hates the attention on his birthday, but I can't help but post on here at least tell him Happy Birthday!!!!

We celebrated by going to dinner (just the 3 of us) at Red Robin (Derek's choice for the evening), and then having dessert at home of chocolate cream pie (he's not much of a cake person).

I still havent bought him a birthday gift... ive been asking him for the last 2 months what he wants, but he has never given me much of any answer... I havent gotten him anything for fathers day yet either (for the same reason as mentioned above), so now I am behind by 2 gifts! Yikes!!! He is the hardest person I know to buy gifts for, yet he is the most thoughtful gift giver when it comes to presents for his wife! He has no problem digging deep into his pockets to buy me expensive and terrific gifts, and yet wants nothing in return. I'm sorry, but I cant give him nothing! He works hard and is very good to me and Jadon, so he deserves something too! I just better figure out something to give him before Christmas!!!!! :)

Happy Birthday Daniel!!!

So yesterday was my baby brothers (well, one of my baby brothers anyways!) 13th birthday!! Daniel’s big 13th birthday, and I can hardly believe where the time went! Seems like just yesterday I was out driving the combine and he came out to ride with me as a young toddler… about Jadon’s age! He wasn’t much of a nap taker when he was little, and back then we had a hammock on our side yard… I remember swinging on the hammock with Daniel trying to get him to sleep. He did eventually go to sleep, but then as soon as I moved he would wake up! (Jadon??? Sure sounds like Jadon!)

Daniel is not a little guy anymore though… he’s now 5 feet 7 inches tall!!! Just 2 inches shorter than me!! Yikes!!! I predict that next year on his birthday he will be taller than me!

So anyways, to celebrate his special day (and it was also a celebration of Derek’s birthday which is in a couple of days), we went to the new Italian restaurant here in town, Carinos. Just the family: mom, dad, the kids, Ashley, and Derek, Jadon and I. The food was terrific! I got chicken fettuccini alfredo, and Derek got the lasagna. They also serve the best bread before your meal comes, and a salad that’s a little on the small side, but really good as well! After lunch we went to my parents house for cake and ice cream and conversation. Jadon had fun playing “catch” with the kids….. or should I say it was playing “fetch”???? Jadon would throw the football, and thought it was hilarious when the kids would go get the ball and bring it back to him.... sounds more like fetch to me! ;)

Overall it was a nice time, and I hope that Daniel enjoyed his special day!

Happy Birthday Big Dan!!! ;)

Isn't he the cutest thing ever?!?!

So I know all parents think their kids are the cutest and smartest kids ever, but I really do think that Jadon is one of the cutest!!! And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mommy! ;)

When he was a newborn, I thought he was so cute and that he certainly couldnt get any cuter! But sure enough, he's turned into such an adorible, happy toddler!

He is growing up so quickly! He is walking very well now... and has started doing a little running too, though its pretty clumsy but improving every day! He is saying about 15 words now, and understands almost all of what we tell him. It just seems like he is picking up new things every day! I never imagined I'd enjoy having a toddler as much as I thought id enjoy a newborn... but I am just LOVING his age right now! Well, aside from his little tantrums that he has even started doing in public, I am loving everything about being a mommy of my 16 month old!

He is also growing up quickly physically lately! His lower half has always been a size smaller than his upper half... but he is now wearing some 18 month shirts, and 12 month pants! His feet are growing faster than anything though! He's wearing size 5 easily now, and I feel like any pair of shoes he fits into one month, the next month he has completely outgrown them!! He's got 12 teeth now.... the 12th tooth just poked through a few days ago... one of his eye teeth! I'll be really glad when teething is done with because it really messes with his night time sleeping.

A few days ago we bought him a booster chair so he can sit at the table with us. He still has to use his high chair for messier meals until we can find some plastic covers to put on our kitchen chairs.... you've seen the mess he makes!!! Here he is in his new booster seat at dinner the other night. What a big boy!!

He's just got the cutest little personality too! He is very much like both his mommy and daddy... he's very timid in large crowds or unfamiliar places like his mommy, and yet at home he is the BIGGEST goofball like his daddy! Tonight while we were eating dinner, daddy ripped one at the dinner table and started laughing, then Jadon was laughing at daddy, which made me laugh, so before you know it, we were all laughing hysterically! Jadon loves to laugh with us, and tries to make us laugh as well by doing silly things.
He has brought so much joy to our life, and I can't even remember how it was before we had him, and I dont really want to!

The Coast

So Derek took thursday and friday off of this week, so yesterday (friday) he decided he wanted to take Jadon to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. So after we ate lunch, we hopped in the car and headed for the coast. We went to the Aquarium first, and Jadon liked all the fish tanks! We had the opportunity to watch the otters and sea lions get fed, but when we got to those exhibits, there were tons of people already crowded around, so we couldnt see anything. So we left and went to the Passages of the Deep exhibit. Jadon also liked that. Before leaving, we stopped off at the potty's.... I was going to go, but after stepping foot in the bathroom, being hit with the worst possible wave of the smell of butt (not poo, but like someone hadnt washed their rearend in a few years! gag!!!) I turned and hightailed it out of there!! Holy cow, it was awful!

So then we headed to the historic bayfront in search of a store selling salt water taffy. We found one, and spent $17 on taffy!!! The price was $5 per pound, so it was easy to spend $17! Now we've got enough salt water taffy to last us for quite some time! YummY!!

After that, we stopped at a restaurant called the Rogue. The food was okay..... but it smelled alot better than it tasted. Derek and I both ordered Halibut fish and chips... The fish part was good, but there was alot of deep fat fried batter on it that was almost too overpowering. Jadon got chicken strips and chips and jello. We were expecting french fries to come with his meal, but they served potato chips with it, which we thought was kindof strange. He didnt eat real well, but we werent surprised, he was very distracted by everything going on around him, and he had a very short nap in the car and was acting a little cranky.

After dinner, Derek wanted to go see the historic bayfront lighthouse which was about a 5 minute drive away. It was closed... had just closed shortly before we got there, but there was a "park" and a great view of the ocean and the boats coming and going, so we stayed for awhile and wandered around, letting Jadon get some use of his legs before going back into the car for the ride home. The "park" was just picnic tables and a few paths.... there was a bum laying beside one of the picnic tables, and we werent sure if he was alive or dead. Also found a used tampon on the side of the road... yes thats right USED!

Luckily the weather was nice...clear, and not too cold, but still required a lite sweater for those gusts of wind, and the view was beautiful as the sun was going down on the ocean. We got home around 7:30pm or so. Even though our trip to the coast wasnt perfect, it was nice to get out of the house and away from everything.

Here's some pictures of our day. Its really hard to get good ones of Jadon anymore... he never smiles and wont sit still long enough to get a good one! So, here's the best I could get:

Doctor appointment

So this morning I had my follow up appointment with my OB. It was horrible sitting in the waiting room because all the women who came through were very pregnant! Made me jealous! I also felt a little emotional being there for the reason I was there.
Anyways, I basically got all the best possible news that I could have asked for! Everything healed up just fine, so that was good as well!
My first question was "when can we start trying again?" To which she answered- after I have my first post miscarriage period. Horray!!!!!
Next I asked if there was an increased chance for another miscarriage. Her answer was- no, not really since both of my miscarriages were pretty early on. And since i've had a successful pregnancy already, that definitely is in my favor.
The final question I asked was if there was something other than genetics-gone-wrong that caused my miscarriage- Since after a heartbeat is found, the chances of having a miscarriage drop to 5%? Her answer- The chances of miscarriage drop to 5% once a heartbeat is found AFTER the 8 week mark. Before 8 weeks, the chances of miscarriage are still higher. So this baby probably died for the same reason the first one did, and for the same reason that most miscarriages happen- chromosomal abnormalities. Again I urge those of you who arent familiar with miscarriage to read the link that I posted a week or so ago.

The doctor did mention that when I get pregnant again, in the second trimester I may need to have progesterone shots to help the next baby make it to "full term" (that is 38-42 weeks). We'll cross that bridge when the time comes though! I'm so thankful that I received all good news!! It makes me feel so much better about the next pregnancy!

Family Weekend

So this was a fairly busy weekend I guess. On Saturday, Derek, Jadon and I went to the park and had a picnic lunch and played for awhile. Then that evening we went to Heidi and Mike's new house for a BBQ for a going away party for Jen and Ryan/birthday party for Karla. Then Sunday evening we went to my parents house for some dessert of ice cream and cake and/or root beer floats.

Jadon had a good time at Heidi's pushing around a doll stroller, and at my mom's house he had fun playing with the dog leash. ;) I swear, just give that kid a piece of string or rope and he could entertain himself with it for hours! Here are a few pictures from our picnic at the park:

Today when Jadon is napping, I think i'll move a few bushes in my yard. Derek gets so annoyed with me because I will plant a bush or flower or tree and then a year or so later decide to move it somewhere else. Usually I do this because the plant is either A.) not growing how I thought it would. B.) not thriving in the part of the yard its in: ie, too shady or too sunny. C.) If I move things around, the space will look better. Its my way of improving the yard without spending the money on more bushes. Plus, I love working in the yard, and at the moment, we really dont have a whole lot left to do with the yard, so I FIND things that I can do. :) I don't particularly care for the roses that are in the little bed around our front porch.... I mean yes they smell delicious when they are blooming, and they are really pretty, but they get so big that they hide the whole porch, and the bushes themselves are not that attractive. I would love to move those somewhere else, but i'm pretty sure Derek would kill me if I did that. :)

Our Day

So we have only gone to 3 of our swimming lesson days this session because of me having the miscarriage. We did get to go on tuesday, and its a good thing because it was picture day! So i'll be posting some more underwater pictures again soon. We were going to go to swimming yesterday as well, but Jadon developed a nasty diaper rash the night before, and I didn't want the highly chlorinated water to irritate or hurt him, so we missed another day. I think his diaper rash is from eating a lot of pineapple... i'm thinking the acidity of the pineapples was burning his butt!

Anyways, instead of going to swimming, Jadon and I decided to go to Corvallis anyways, and so we stopped at Arby's and ate lunch together before the 9-5 crowds showed up. Then we made our way over to the new Michaels Arts and Crafts store. I hadn't been in there yet and was very eager to check it out. Oh, I am in love with that store! I think its my new favorite store! My mind was just running wild with project ideas! Its like heaven for the artistic person! I'm not saying i'm very artsy fartsy, but I really really want to be, and my mom is very crafty so I have to have the gene in me too.... right??

Anywho, eventually I knew I had to leave Michael's because it was getting close to nap time, so reluctantly we left and went to Winco for a few groceries, then headed home. It was a fun day, a beautiful, warm (but not too hot) day, and I will never forget my time in Michael's! :)

Avery Park

Took Jadon to Avery Park this weekend for a little bit. Most of the toys on the playground at the bottom part of Avery Park were a little too old and advanced for him, so really he could only play on the swing. After a bit, we decided to walk to the top part of the park where the small playground and train and dinosaur bones are. We let Jadon walk by himself, but it took us a long time to get there! He was so distracted by everything..... a dog playing in the distance. He stopped and pointed to the dog and said "Puh Puh" (puppy). Melts my heart everytime I hear him "talk"!
Also, he was a little afraid of the big leaves and sticks on the ground. We dont have any big trees that leave sticks or leaves in our yard or around our house, so they were foreign to him. Also, we were able to walk a good part of the park in the shade of those big trees, but every once in awhile we would get to a clearing where the shade would end and the sun would be shining brightly on the ground. Poor little guy was afraid to walk on the sunny parts! It took quite a bit of convincing, and even a little nudging to get him to walk on the sunny areas.
Once at the top of the park, we went in the train- he wasnt really interested in the train yet. Then we went to the playground area, and he got to swing some more, and also got to play on a this little mini teeter totter thing. He liked that! Then daddy put him down the slide.... his face was one of complete worry, though it happened so fast he didnt have time to even think about it.
Anyways, it was fun! Makes me wish we had a bigger yard that he could run around in, and trees that he could seek shelter under from the hot sun. Hopefully someday we will be able to have a home with a little more space (indoors and outdoors!) For now, we are just happy to own a nice home and have a roof over our heads, and shelter from the hot/cold weather!

Update

So I have to go back to the OB office in a few weeks. The nurse called today and said that the doctor likes to make sure everything heals up good for her patients that have miscarriages. They didn't do that after my first miscarriage, but then again, I wasn't an "established" patient of theirs yet.
I look forward to that appointment because then I can ask her some questions like what are my odds of having another miscarriage? Why did the baby die after a heartbeat was detected? (like i've said before, once a heartbeat is found, the odds of miscarriage drop to less than 5%).

I found a website that explains very easily why miscarriage occurs- if anyone is interested, here's the link: Miscarriage. It also has a section at the bottom for people who know someone who's miscarried, and things to say or not say to that person. I know people are just trying to help when they spurt things out sometimes, but it isn't always helpful in the healing process. So far, with this miscarriage, I haven't had anyone say any boneheaded things to me. With my first miscarriage however, I had lots of hurtful things said to me, like: "It just wasn't meant to be." That is NOT something you want to hear right after a loss.

Emotionally we are doing pretty good this time around. The second I started spotting, I started to prepare myself for a possible miscarriage, so I had many good cry's before the miscarriage even happened. By the time we actually had the miscarriage, I had come to terms with the inevitable and was able to accept it and have peace about it when it did happen. The Lord was very good to me in preparing me ahead of time for this! I feel very blessed!

Anyways, I will keep you up to date on my follow up appointment if anything turns out to be abnormal! :)

This will make you smile!

Here's some adorible videos of Jadon laughing! Derek always finds things to do that make Jadon just laugh hysterically, and I always try to get it on video (of course! I love his little smile with all his big teeth and his innocent laughter!) For this particular incident, Derek was rolling Jadon's plastic toy rings down the slide and saying "Bonk!" when the rings would roll into the couch. For some reason, Derek saying "Bonk!" just really gave Jadon the giggles.

Thank You

I wanted to thank all our friends and family who have been praying for us these last few days. It has really helped!

I had the miscarriage this morning.... actually about an hour or so ago. I have had very little pain, surprisingly, since my last miscarriage I was in excruiciating pain.

If you have a weak stomach you may not want to read the rest of the story.....

So when it happened, I went to the bathroom, wiped, and there was a clear blob on the TP. I picked it up with a clean piece of TP to examine it (yes, discusting I know, but I knew what was happening, and I wanted a chance to see my baby). It turns out it was the baby in its protective little sack. Its about the size of a piece of rice.... you can see the spine all the way down, it still has a little tail. You can see little tiny bumps where the arm buds were, and a big red area that was the heart. It is pretty incredibly amazing! Horribly sad and heartbreaking, but absolutely amazing and beautiful too. I imagine we will bury it somewhere in our yard. I don't want to throw it away or flush it down the toilet because afterall, it still is our baby whether it is 5 gestational weeks old or 15 years old.

Here is almost an exact picture of what the baby looks like:

Still Waiting for "It" to Happen....

I woke up today feeling sorry for myself and also feeling very angry. We didn't have anything planned today and I just felt like staying home and sulking anyways, so we did pretty much nothing today. When Jadon went down for a nap, I grabbed a book and laid on the couch and read the whole time. I had a few cramps this afternoon, but nothing like whats to come. I'm hoping the miscarriage will happen this weekend while Derek is home with me, and that way he can be here to take care of me and Jadon, but mostly so I don't have to wait any longer for it to happen. The worst part is knowing there is a living little being in me, with a heartbeat and everything, and knowing that it doesn't have a chance at life.

On top of that, I gained 5 lbs within the first 2 weeks of this pregnancy, and with the way i've eaten the last couple of days, i'm sure i've gained another 5 lbs. I'm such an emotional eater, its not even funny! Whats worse is that I don't even really care.... I figure i'll "care" a little more after this ordeal is done and over, and i've had a chance to grieve, accept and move on.

Anyways, thats how most of the day went. This evening we did a few fireworks with Jadon. We bought a few little ones that didn't make too much noise. Unfortunately the neighbors had some illegal fireworks and were setting them off starting before 8pm until about 10:30pm... they were very loud and really scared Jadon. He didn't go to sleep until shortly after they stopped. Poor guy was horribly tired!

We did manage to snap a few pictures, so here they are:

Annoucement

Derek and I thought we should announce that we are pregnant. This was not planned... we had planned to wait until August to start trying for #2. We were going to wait to announce it until closer to the second trimester after the risk of miscarriage dropped.

Before you get excited though, let me finish. We are supposed to be 7 weeks 3 days pregnant today. Last week I started having some spotting.... for the first couple days it was just on and off, hardly anything at all. I was even questioning whether or not to be worried about such a small amount. When it didnt go away and got a little worse, I started to have doubts that the pregnacy was going to continue. By Sunday night I had fully convinced myself that I was going to miscarry again. I even started researching what the next step would be to get the miscarriage to progress.

Monday I called the doctor, got an appointment for Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning I went in, Derek got away from work for a little bit to come with me. My cervix was closed, and the doctor found a little beating heart! (Both very good signs!) I cried because I was not expecting to hear that there was a heartbeat. The baby was measuring a week and a half smaller than what it should have been though, so they sent me for blood work, and then again today for more blood work to check my hormone levels. In early pregnancy, hormone levels are supposed to double every 2 days.

This evening right after dinner, my doctor called me to inform me that my hormone levels dropped and that it was inevitable that I was going to miscarry again. Now I just have to wait until next week to go in to see the doctor again to talk about medication to help the miscarriage progress a little quicker. (Unless it happens sooner on its own) It can take several weeks for your body to realize the baby isnt growing anymore and miscarry on its own. I feel that would be emotional anguish and am going to opt for meds to help it along.

No, there is nothing wrong with me that I would have another miscarriage. My body has proven that before by conceiving, carrying and birthing Jadon. We are just unlucky. Once a heartbeat is established, the risk of miscarriage drops to less than 5%.... unfortunately this time, we are in that less than 5%. Maybe after a 3rd miscarriage we would start to think about doing some testing to see if there is something else going on.

I am trusting God with this.... He made something beautiful from my last miscarriage-(Jadon)- and there's no doubt in my mind that He will make something beautiful out of this one too.
I dont know if we'll stick to our original plan and try in August still.... probably not. I want to have a full cycle or two before trying again. However, none of my pregnancies have been planned so far, so the next one probably wont be either! The good news is, we have no problem getting pregnant easily.

I'd be lying if I said that this wasn't upsetting to me, or that I haven't questioned over and over why this is happening to me again. I know God has a purpose and a plan for my life, and because of that, I am at peace with this.

Anyways, I hope you will keep us in your prayers for a quick recovery- both physically and emotionally. I'm sorry to have to announce it like this.... Derek and I couldnt wait to share it with everyone a little farther down the road. It just didnt seem right to not tell our family and friends at all, even though we are losing the baby.

Hope you all have a very fun and safe 4th of July! Take care!

Happenings...

So Jadon's new carseat arrived on Monday. I let him play on it a bit before daddy put it in the car. He had alot of fun playing on it for 10 minutes! He looks soooo much more comfortable in the new seat now instead of his old infant seat. Does anyone know where I can get OSU patches at??
Anyways, here he is in his new carseat!

He figured out how to climb up into his stroller, and had a blast with that for a day. It lost its thrill after that though! ;)

Jadon's still working on getting his molars, and 3 have poked through now.... one of which is almost fully in! That makes 10 teeth all together! I can't WAIT until teething is done with! Its really screwing up everything.... his temperment, his eating habits, his sleeping. He's been waking up again in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep until several hours later. We've tried giving him teething tablets, Tylenol, Motrin, Orajel, and none of those seem to help with his midnight wakings. If we give him a cold rag to chew on, he just sucks the water out of it and doesn't chew on it. We've brought him back in our bed a couple of times, and that sometimes settles him down after awhile and he'll go back to sleep. Last night I did that, and he tossed and turned ALL NIGHT LONG! I hardly slept at all. He kept doing like a crocodile death roll. Then he'd put his feet all over me, and put his hands in my face. When I'd roll over so my back was to him, he would pull my hair. Finally at 7:45 this morning he finally quit moving enough to get 30 minutes of motionless sleep before waking up for the day. *sigh*

We started summer session of Waterbabies on Tuesday, and it went ok. As I mentioned in a previous post, his teacher wasnt going to be doing summer classes, so we have a new teacher who isnt as good as his old teacher. Definitely aren't going to get as much out of this session as the previous sessions... not to mention its outdoors so its very distracting! I think we will take second summer session off from swimming. I'm really disappointed.

Weird dream

I had a dream last night that I was at Kohl's shopping with Kate Gosselin and the sextuplets! Actually, I was more of a babysitter, but still..... I spent most of the dream chasing after the kids.
I need someone to interpret that dream for me! ;)

The Sweetest Thing

After dinner tonight, Derek was cleaning up the kitchen, I was folding some clean laundry, and Jadon was watching a Baby Einstein DVD that we picked up at the library today.

After I finished folding the clothes, I put them back in the basket and went to put them on the stairway above the safety gate so that Jadon wouldnt get into them and unfold them all!

As I was on my way back down the stairs, I slipped down the last two stairs (thanks to my slippers which dont have any traction) and fell down them on my butt.... I winced in pain on my way down as my left arm tried to catch my fall, and scraped the carpet on the way down.

I ended up sitting on the floor at the bottom of the stairs... Jadon was standing right next to me and had witnessed the whole thing. The second my butt landed on the floor, I looked over at him, and he had a horrified look on his face and was starting to wimper in fear, so I snatched him up and held him closely while I continued to wince in pain. He just sat there in my arms with his head on my shoulder, cuddling me for a long time.

It was at that time that Derek came over after having heard the commotion. I explained to him what happened, and Jadon must've then realized that Mommy was ok, so he sat up and gave me a big kiss and was fine after that! (I can't say the same for my left buttcheek though!)

It was sooooo sweet that he was so worried about me! Its so amazing that he has feelings like that now, afterall, he's only 15 months old! They grow up so fast!

My precious, sweet, caring little boy!

Terrible Two's at 15 Months??????

So Jadon has really been "testing" us lately. Just in the last week its gotten noticeably worse. He throws tantrums about EVERYTHING! He is only 15 months old... I thought this wasnt supposed to happen until 2 or 3? I thought we had at least a good 9 months left still! haha! :)

His tantrums get worse when he's hungry or tired (understandably). I know you're just supposed to ignore it, but my biggest problem is trying not to laugh at him! He's still cute even when he's throwing tantrums! The screaming is the worst part though... its ear piercing!

Usually his tantrums are reserved for home only.... probably because that is where he feels the most comfortable. Hopefully it will stay like that! I hate to imagine him throwing a tantrum in the middle of a store........................

15 Month Stats

We had Jadon's 15 month check up today, and he is doing very well! He weighs 22lbs and 5.5 oz now! Is appox. 32 inches long! He is in the 75 percentile for his height!! And his weight is almost to the 25 percentile. Considering our little boy started out at 5lbs and 19inches, and not even on the charts, he has sure come a long way! I'm so thankful he is doing so well!

I always love our well baby checkups, they always set my mind at ease and let me know that as parents, Derek and I are doing a good job and raising a healthy, happy boy! My biggest concern today for the doctor was Jadon not wanting to drink milk much, to which the doctor answered that its not a big deal. As long as he is getting a large variety of healthy foods, he will get plenty of calcium and fats from those foods. *sigh of relief from me*

We ordered a new carseat today as well, since Jadon has pretty much outgrown his current infant carseat. We got a really good deal on a Britax Roundabout..... they had about 8 collegiate models that were really cheap... unfortunately there were no OSU ones, but we ordered a Virginia one, which has an orange cover, and I thought id just try to find an OSU patch to stitch over the Virginia logo. Only the collegiate models were on sale which is why we bought that one rather than just a normal one. Thought we could live with a Virgina carseat if it meant saving $70+ dollars! Anyways, Britax are supposed to be really great in safety, size and comfort... so basically all around great! PLUS, we can keep him rear-facing until he is 40 pounds which is so much safer for him, and was really important to me! Anyways, here's the link to the one we ordered: http://www.babyage.com/products/e902aub_britax_britax_roundabout_convertible_car_seat_collegiate.htm

So long Dairy Queen, So long!

Well, after 14 and a half months of breastfeeding Jadon, i'm sad to announce that I am no longer the queen of dairy for him. If it wouldve been up to him, he probably would have stopped at least a month ago, but I pushed us forward. I wanted to get him established with his whole milk before quitting, but that didnt happen. We are still working on the whole milk thing. He's not a big fan of it, and I cant say I blame him much... I am not a big fan of milk either.

I think we did really well considering when I was pregnant with Jadon, my goal was to nurse until he was 6 months, then switch to formula. I'm soooo glad we chose to continue breastfeeding, it has saved us TONS of money im sure! I never imagined id enjoy breastfeeding so much, but it was such a great experience, and I fully plan to nurse the next one until at least a year as well!

Waterbabies

Just wanted to post Jadon's latest underwater pix. There's only one this time because the first one I dipped him too low, and the second one turned out so good we didnt need to take anymore!

We've decided to take waterbabies this summer as well. I wasnt going to, but after careful consideration, I felt it would be good for both Jadon and I to be able to get out of the house twice a week. Also, he is doing extremely well, and I really didnt want to take him away from that. Unfortunately I just found out yesterday that the teacher he has had this whole time will not be teaching any summer classes, and might not even come back in the fall. I am really bummed, she has been such a great teacher! We will miss her!

Oh To Be A Child Again...

So our weather hasnt been the greatest again... I keep hoping that one of these days it will warm up again and I can take Jadon outside again. He loves it outside, and trys to coax me to take him outside alot. Poor kid is getting sick of his indoor toys.... I dont blame him! I'm sick of being inside as well!

Well a couple weeks ago it got up to maybe 70 degrees, and Derek was watering the yard. Jadon decided to walk through the sprinkler fully clothed and had a blast doing it! After a few runs through it, I just decided to take off his shirt. Then eventually his pants started sagging under the water weight, so I just stripped him down to his diaper and let him run wild. He loved it, although I dont know how he wasnt freezing to death... it wasnt very warm outside! Eventually we took him in to warm him up and get him ready for bath and bed, but he wasnt very happy about it and screamed and threw tantrums! Yes, he can throw a tantrum like a pro! And to anyone who is thinking about commenting that we are lucky he didnt catch a cold, fyi, you cant catch a cold from being out in the cold, or from being wet and in the cold! ;)

I love taking him outside because he loves it so much! I cant wait until we can go outside more often! Here's some pix of him running through the sprinkler. My favorite is the last pic.... he's just so carefree!

Brag Session

So with Fathers day coming up shortly, I thought id take the time to brag about my husband and why I love him so much. WARNING: Sappy content ahead!

Derek is my best friend. He means the world to me, and then some! He is loving and caring. He's honest and trustworthy. He thinks im beautiful, even at my very worst. He loves me unconditionally. He always trys to make me smile and laugh. He still opens every door for me, even after almost 9 years! He makes me feel special. He takes the garbage out every week without me having to ask him to. He's handsome and kind and loves Jadon to pieces. He's sweet, thoughful, romantic, goofy, hilarious, wonderful and amazing. He works hard to make our relationship top priority, he even does a marital devotional with me every night. Not many men would be willing to do that!

I wish that everyone could be as blessed in their marriages as I am. I don't know what I could have ever done to deserve someone as wonderful and perfect for me as him, but I am so thankful that we found each other and that we get to spend the rest of our lives and eternity together.

When I was pregnant with Jadon, I would often think about how lucky Jadon was already to be entering into a family where his mommy and daddy love each other so much, and strive to keep their relationship strong. Not many kids these days can say that they dont come from a broken family, and I take pride in knowing that Jadon will never have to say he's from a broken family.

I love you Derek!!

Jadon's First Haircut

So, the time had come for Jadon to have his first "real" haircut, and not just a little trim here and there. His hair was beginning to get bushy and hard to take care of... he always puts his dirty, food-covered hands in his hair at meal times. Earlier today he got Velveeta cheese in his hair, and you can imagine how fun that was to get out afterwards! That cheese is like glue, but ooohh so good! Anyways, I decided just to cut it myself with the clippers. We stripped him down to his diaper, and put him in his highchair, and gave him a few washable toys to play with. He did really good! Moved ALOT, but wasn't scared of the noise of the clippers at all! Anyways, I took before & after pix of my handsome little boy to share with you. He looks like such a big boy now!

Happiness is being a mommy

Some days I still find it hard to believe that I am a parent. Especially when I just sit back and watch the wonder that is my son. Then I look at Jadon's happy face and think to myself "I'm doing it! I really am a mommy! And i'm raising a toddler!! And he's such a happy and healthy little man!"

How blessed I feel to be the mommy of this wonderful little boy, and the wife of such an incredible man!

Pewy! Stinky!

Jadon's learning new things every day, and closely watching Derek and I all the time! His latest new learned skill is really cute.... of course everything he does is cute! In the past, whenever he would toot (fluff, fart, pass gas... whatever you care to call it), we would say "Pewy, stinky!!" and wave our hands in front of our faces like it was stinky. Now whenever he toots, and we say our "Pewy, stinky!" line, he smiles and waves his hand in front of his face! :)

Sleep Baby, Sleep

My sweet, adorible little son just melts my heart sometimes....ok, ALL the time!
For all the sleeping issues we have had in the past with him, he has totally made up for it in the last 2 months.

When Jadon was about 9 months old or so, we purchased a Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium for him, hoping it would help him sleep at night in his own bed. It didn't, but that aquarium has been a wonderful piece of equipment these last 2 months! (for anyone who is wondering what the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium is, here is a link: http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=buocean&pid=33157 .... although ours is a little different than that one).

Anyways, whenever Jadon wakes up at night , he just sits up, or stands up in his crib and presses the seashell button that turns the aquarium on, then lays back down in his crib, sucks his fingers, and goes back to sleep. What a little angel! Everytime I hear him wake up at night, (through the baby monitor), I hear him move around, then I hear the aquarium come on and its like he's instantly quiet again... my heart just melts! Suddenly those 12 long months of him sleeping in our bed, nursing all night long, and me getting very broken sleep every night, has all been worth it! Jadon makes me proud every day, but this is one of the things that makes me incredibly proud of him!

The Library

Last night after dinner, Derek, Jadon and I went to sign up for library cards at the library! Derek is really enjoying reading now, and wanted some new books to read. (you know men, they like to have something to read while on the toilet!) ;) Haha, just kidding, he likes reading other places as well. We have been trying to read to Jadon since he was about 2 or 3 months old, but he has never showed an interest in it. Over the last week, he's started to show a little more interest: sitting in our laps while we read to him.... we can actually get a few pages read before he starts wanting to rip them and eat the book! Thats improvement! So we stopped in the kids section for just a couple of minutes....Long enough to find a Where's Waldo book that we don't already have! Not for Jadon though, for the adults in the house. ;)

I'm excited to take Jadon to the library as he gets older. I have such fond memories of going to the library as a child with my mom and brother! Of course, that was the Corvallis library... unfortunately we have to use the Albany library.

So Jadon is usually a very quiet child in town, just taking everything in and sucking on his fingers. So wouldnt ya know, at the library he wouldnt be quiet and kept making loud noises. It was actually rather funny... for us that is. I'm not sure how all the people trying to read felt about it.

Fun in the Sun!

So we've finally had some nice weather around here! A few days ago I finally got to set up Jadon's little pool for him to play in! He loved it! After I got some cute pictures of him in his little swim trunks, I took them off as well as his diaper and let him play naked. He's never gotten to do that before, so I figured he would like it! He did! Also, he loves playing with the garden hose!

On Saturday we decided to take a trip to the coast so Jadon could play in the sand and ocean for the first time. It was a beautiful day, around 70-75 degrees. He loved playing in the sand, and was fascinated by the water, however it was FREEZING cold, so after about 2 seconds in it, your feet would begin to ache and hurt. We were on the beach for quite some time, and Derek and I got sunburned pretty good. I remembered to pack the baby sunscreen, but forgot ours. After awhile, Jadon started getting hungry and tired, and was on the verge of a meltdown, so we treked back to the car.

It was an exhausting day, but I woke up the next morning wanting to do it all over again just so that Jadon could have more fun again! Seeing joy on his little face makes my day.
The last few days have been in the mid 80’s and even mid 90’s! Tuesdays forecast is now calling for a high of 58 and rain. Its no wonder I get migraines so often with the weather changing so drastically all the time!!

Here are some pictures from the last several days!

The Worst Dream EVER!

I had the worst dream ever last night! I dreamed that Jadon was shot and died before the paramedics could get to him. (I think I watch too much CSI!) I woke up at 5am crying and I went to check on him in his crib just for some peace of mind. He was fine of course, but I was so heartbroken when I woke up, I didnt even feel like living anymore. It was definitely the worst feeling i've ever felt, and i'm so thankful for my loving husband who comforted me at 5am until I had recovered. I dont ever want to dream something like that again.... id rather dream about spiders every night for the rest of my life than have another dream like that.

Finally some nice weather!!!

We finally got some nice weather, and it couldn't have come on a better day! (my birthday) I'm 28 now! Yikes! My mom left me a voicemail this morning, and to quote her, she said "I cant believe you're pushing 30!" Yeah, thanks for reminding me mom!! :) Anyways, the weather... it was about 75 today and beautiful! Tomorrow its supposed to be in the mid 80's and then Friday its supposed to be in the 90's! Good grief, what happened to slowly warming up so that we can acclimatize ourselves to the hot weather? Oh well, I guess I should just be happy we finally are having some sunny days!!! Tomorrow I am getting Jadon's baby pool out so we can play in it!

So for my birthday today, Derek surprised me by taking the day off of work! Then we just had a nice, lazy morning. After Jadon woke from his nap, we went to Corvallis for a little bowling... something we hadn't done since I was pregnant! It was fun, although neither of us did very well! Then we came home, and walked over to Valentino's for some pizza, and after pizza we decided to take a walk. Then we came home and I watered my flowers. It was a good day spent with my 2 favorite boys! :)

Jadon's first molar popped through today too! So now he has 8 teeth all together. 4 on top (5 with the new molar), and 3 on bottom. I can also see another molar on top on the other side of his mouth that's getting ready to pop through too.
The other day, Jadon found Derek's computer joystick and was trying to plug it in to Derek's server. I got some pictures, and it was really cute, he looked like a little computer tech! Its so funny the things that he picks up on!

Fun weekend

We had a pretty eventful weekend. Heather, Chad and Hayden came over for dinner on Saturday evening, and Jadon had so much fun following Hayden around! Its so cute to watch them play. Hayden is 9 months older than Jadon, and its weird to think that in 9 months, thats where he will be at developmentally. Anyways, I snapped some pictures of them while they played... not an easy thing to do when they did not stop moving for one second! :) I just wish that I had a tiny portion of their energy!!!

Here is Jadon running after his cousin. Its a little blurry, but he was so happy and it was so cute, im happy to have gotten this picture even if it is blurry!


Here they are playing on a play structure. Jadon isn't sure how to use it yet, but Hayden knew exactly what to do.



Hugging cousins


This is one of my favorites...


If all goes according to plan, our next children will be close in age too. Its neat to see them growing up together, and unfortunately they dont get to play together that much because life sometimes gets busy! Thats definitely been the case for us lately!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers day was very nice... hard to believe it was my second one already! Derek, Jadon and I spent a little time with each of our moms, and Derek and Jadon took me out for chinese food at Pings. It was super good!!! Jadon got me August Rush... one of my favorite movies!
Derek and I keep talking about how now that Jadon sleeps at night, and has a regular bedtime, we need to start renting movies again. We haven't rented a movie since I was pregnant with Jadon, and even then I couldn't watch anything because I was asleep within minutes! Ah, one of the many joys of pregnancy!!

Me Week

So i'm not 100% sure how my diet has gone since I started. I finally went out and bought a scale a couple weeks ago, and it has been a tremendous help! Helps me realize when i'm doing good, and/or if what im doing isnt working, etc.

So the first week I had the scale was a bad week, and I didnt lose any weight. (didnt gain anything either though, so thats good!) This week I was super good, and I lost 1 pound!! I know it doesnt sound like much, but come on, in all honesty, I really dont need to lose a TON of weight, so if I were to lose 5 pounds a week, I would be done dieting in a month! ;) Of course it cant be that easy though, so if I can just continue to lose a pound a week, I should be at my goal weight in 20 weeks! ;)

Also this week I joined an online weight management program thats FREE, its called Sparkpeople.com if anyone is interested. Anyways, it has been a real eyeopener for me! Sparkpeople has all kinds of tools to help you on your weight loss journey, including a place where you can input what you eat that day and it calculates calories, fat, etc for you. I am amazed how fast the calories can add up!!!! It really has helped me stay on track though! I HIGHLY recommend Sparkpeople to anyone who is looking to lose some weight!

On a different note, on friday night I went to a friends house for a "spa night", and we had a nice dinner of salad, and Papa Murphys delite pizza (lower calorie pizza), and fruit for dessert, then we gave ourselves pedicures, manicures, and facials! It was a lot of fun, and I hope to post some pictures from it on here someday soon! Jadon stayed home and spent some time with daddy, and by the time I got home, it was late and he was in bed sleeping, so I didnt even get to kiss him goodnight. By the time morning came, I really missed him!

I also got my hair cut this week for the first time since June of last year! Yikes!! It was in desperate need of it, and the girl did such a nice job! I love it! It looks sooooo much better. Oh, and I bought a shirt and some shorts at Old Navy this week as well! I'm calling it my "Me Week" because I took out alot of time for myself this week to remind myself that while I am a mom now, I am also still a wife and a woman who needs to do things for herself to feel good about the way she feels and looks! Being a mom, its soooo easy to forget about myself and just throw on my most comfortable outfit and put my hair in a ponytail. A little "me time" is good for a woman once in awhile. :)

Busy weekends were well worth it!

Our last few weekends have been pretty busy! Not last weekend, but the weekend before, my brother and dad came over and installed new windows in my living room. They look fantastic, and I am soooo happy with them!! I cant thank them enough for doing that for us! It was a little scary at first seeing a saw cutting into your house, but once they got the holes cut where the windows would go, I was very excited!
Thank you so much Chris and Dad!!!

We've had some leaky pipes in our master bathroom, and until this weekend had just chosen to ignore it, and quit using our master bathroom shower. Derek's uncle Mike came over this weekend to help us with the pipes, and we had to cut a big hole in the ceiling in our kitchen to get to them. Again, very scary seeing a hole being cut into your ceiling! It appeared that the problem was that the builders had just failed to tighten the pipes very well when they built the house, and also not enough putty around the drain.... I think. There was also a little mold where the water had been sitting. Thank you Uncle Mike for volunteering your Saturday morning to help us with this! We greatly appreciate your help!

After that, we had to go to Home Depot to get some supplies so Derek could patch the hole in the ceiling. He did a fantastic job for having had no experience, and I am very proud of him! Then Saturday night, I was getting ready to go to bed, and I opened the front door to call the cats inside, and I noticed what looked like a huge spider on the porch railing. So I called Derek to check it out. Turns out, a certain plumber who thinks he's funny had left a plastic spider there for me to find and freak out at. Lets just say that even being close to a plastic spider made me a little panicky, so I made Derek throw it away.... BUT I made him wrap it in toilet paper first because I just know that when I go change the bathroom garbage, I would see that spider there and probably scream and scare the daylights out of Jadon again!

Anyways, I wanted to show you pictures of our windows!

Here's a before shot, showing you our old windows.....

And here's the new windows....


While I'm at it, here's a picture of the main upstairs bathroom that I recently painted (cupboards white, walls tanish color...) sorry I don't have a before shot of the bathroom.

Beautiful day gone sooooo wrong!!

Well it surprisingly turned out to be a beautiful day today! With that said, while Jadon was napping, I was able to go outside and get some flowers planted. I've been waiting to do that for a long time! Seems like its been a very long long winter, and that it doesnt want to go away!

ANYways, as I was sitting on my driveway planting flowers, there was one area that was pretty heavily bark-mulched. I start moving it around with my hands (I was not wearing gloves, I should add), and grabbed a clump that I thought was a rock, or a wad of clay. Our yard has been a real mess to deal with since the day we moved in because all of the soil in our yard is clay. So after years of experience with the clay, that is what I thought I had picked up. Turns out it was a nice, FRESH, yellow cat turd!!!!!!!!! I just stared at it in my hands for a minute, shocked at what was currently taking place in front of me, and awaiting that too familiar scent of cat poo. It never came though. For that, I was grateful! But ick, it was all over my hand, so I wiped my hand on the grass, then I hosed my hand off, then came inside and washed my hand twice, and I STILL feel dirty! YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

This yellow mess was no doubt from a very LARGE cat....

It's A God Thing!

So I am a part of a group called the Pinecone Research Panel. Its an online survey company, they send you a survey once or twice a month in your email, you take this survey that is no longer than 20 minutes long about potentially new products coming out on the market, and a week or so later they send you a $3-$5 check. I know, its not much, but since I do not help with the income in our house, I enjoy doing these little surveys to earn a few extra dollars, because at the end of the month, thats an extra $3-$5 that we didnt have before that I can now blow on lunch for myself or whatever! Anyways, occasionally they send you a free product to try.

A couple weeks ago, I did a survey about a new low calorie/low sugar soda possibly coming out. Today, I was in my kitchen feeding Jadon lunch, and it was just kindof one of those irritating mornings, I was feeling kindof tired, cranky and sorry for myself. I thought about how I really wanted a soda right then, but how I didnt want to leave the house to go get one. I wished that I could just go online and order one, or call and order one (like pizza), and then I even thought about how I wished one would just appear out of nowhere!

No more than 45 minutes later, as I was cleaning up our lunch, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door, and there was a box on the porch and the UPS man was just pulling away. It was from the Pinecone Research Panel..... and I immediately knew what was in the box! They sent me a 20oz bottle of soda to try out! I smiled to myself and instantly my mood changed.

I felt like it was Gods little reminder to me that He is always there with me, even in my down times, and that He was reminding me that I have so much to be thankful for! Its the little things, like this soda showing up on my front porch, that remind me of how much He loves His children!

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, the soda is REALLY good! I cant tell you anything about it though, i'm sworn to secrecy! :)

Happy unBirthday Jadon!!

Today was the day Jadon was supposed to have been born (a year ago anyways).... obviously he had other plans though! Its just weird to think about... for me it really puts into perspective just how early he was. It seems like his first birthday party was months ago!

Well it looks like we might get some snow tonight! The weather men are saying theres a chance! I cant believe it, its April 18 for Pete's sake! I'm more than ready for some warmer, nicer weather! I even bought some flowers to plant yesterday, but thought id keep them on the porch until this unseasonably cold weather passes. Its beginning to feel like winter is never going to leave!

Tomorrow morning my big brother is coming over to replace our downstairs windows! (He is a general contractor.) I cant wait!! I hope the house will look ok with bigger windows! I took before pictures, and I intend to take some after pictures as well! I'm very excited!!!

Well, Jadon is AGAIN sick! Wednesday he was doing a little coughing, then Thursday it got a little worse, and by Thursday night he was up all night coughing, and today he's got the coughs, sneezes, and really runny nose! He had a very minor low grade fever tonight as well. Poor guy! I feel so bad, we are still not quite over our other colds yet! I'm sooooo ready for summer!!!!!!!!!

My kid can eat!!!!!

So, since shortly before Jadon's first birthday, we've begun having some issues getting him to eat certain things. Its gotten better, but he still will not eat more than a couple bites of some foods. His favorite foods right now are anything that has to do with fruit, olives, and jelly sandwhiches (we havent given him peanut butter yet.) Usually he will polish off half of a jelly sandwhich like nothing, so I always end up giving him several other things to satisfy his appetite. Today for lunch I decided to make a whole sandwhich and see how much he ate of it. Well, he ate all of it but 2 bites! Yes! So then I gave him about 6 bites of the bean burrito that I was eating... would've given him more, but that was all that was left of it. So I then gave him some diced fruit as well! When he eats things that he likes, he is like a bottomless pit! How does a person that is soooo small, eat soooo much????

My next story is just amazing to me. Jadon makes a filthy at all meals, so we strip him down to his diaper most of the time, and let him make as much mess as he wants. Afterwards though, cleanup is a disaster! He manages to get food all the way to his feet, on his legs, in his diaper, on his back, and then from the chest up he is completely covered in his meal. As we clean him, a good portion of it falls on the floor, so after i'm done cleaning him, I grab a rag, and crawl around on the floor wiping up all the crumbs and mess. Well yesterday I was folding clean towels, and Jadon grabbed one of the clean towels, went over to the linoleum and started "wiping" the floor!!! The amazing thing to me is that he is beginning to comprehend these everyday things now and remember them! It is just so cute! Oh, and he calls our cats "sss." (not like hissing) Pretty much any word that you say that has an "s" in it, he picks up on it right away and says "sss". But today the cats walked by him and he actually called them "sss".

I love being a mom!!!

America's Funniest Home Videos

So I don't know if you all watch America's Funniest Home Videos or not, but we do on occasion. Last night I was watching it while I was feeding Jadon. One of the videos was a man talking on the phone....he is scared to death of spiders. And someone put a tarantula on his back, and it crawled up his back, over his shoulder and down his chest. The man has no idea, and everyone around him is laughing. The man stands up facing the camera, (still talking on the phone) and the other people in the room must start pointing to his chest or something, because the man starts feeling his shirt, and puts his hand right on this tarantula!!! Then freaked out obviously! As many of you know, I am horribly terrified of spiders, and for some reason I couldn't stop watching this video! I got so into it that when the man put his hand on the spider and freaked out, I too started screaming and freaking out! Then I hear Jadon whimper and I was brought back to my senses and I looked at him, and his little bottom lip is sticking out a mile and he starts crying. I had scared him!:( Then Derek came running downstairs saying "whats going on down here?"

I really really REALLY hate spiders!!! I used to have nightmares almost every night about them... just ask my husband, I woke him up every time I had one because I would suddenly jump out of bed, turn the light on, and start looking through the bed sheets to make sure there were none in the bed. Thankfully, I haven't done that in a long time! ;)

Sick of Being Sick!!

I've had this cold now for about a week and a half or so, and I'm soooo ready to just rip my nose off! I woke up this morning and my chest just aches from all the coughing, and I'm afraid I'm going to get laryngitis.
I spent half the night coughing and blowing my nose, and the other half with Jadon who again didn't want to sleep. Nothing is more frustrating than laying your tired head on your pillow, only to have your nose plug as soon as you lay down. So you try breathing through your mouth (which I hate doing!), only to get a dry, itchy throat which prompts a lovely little cough attack. And the cycle just repeats all night long!

THIS is why I am germaphobic!!!! I hate being sick!!!!!!!! :(

Sorry!!!

Sorry to all my loyal readers.... i've been MIA for a while! I decided to paint our main upstairs bathroom, and it took a good solid week and a half to do it! I decided to paint for several reasons. Its a small bathroom, so I decided to paint the cabinets white to try to make it look bigger. Also, when/if (I say if because of the way the economy is now) we sell I want it to look as good and as big as possible! So the cabinets I painted white as well as all the trim, and the walls are now a light chocolate-ish color... very pretty! Then yesterday I went to town and bought a few new things: shower curtain, a few hand towels, soap dispenser, 12" fake palm plant, a yummy smelling reed diffuser, and a bath mat. So after I got the place cleaned up of all the painting materials, and put out all my new things, it now has the feel of a mini-spa! I love it! I still need a few more decorative items (artwork for the walls mainly), and I still have some minor painting to do, but other than that, I am very proud of the fruits of my labor! It was really hard trying to balance everything: Jadon, Derek, my other household duties, etc.. along with the painting, and I started to feel like every other aspect of my life was beginning to suffer... Jadon wasnt getting my attention, the house hasnt been cleaned in a few weeks now and is totally driving me nuts, and we had a few nights of just nachos for dinner. So I feel great now that I'm done with that project for the most part and can focus my energies back on the things that are more important in my life.

On that note, I wanted to update you on Jadon's sleeping. A few weeks ago I had written that he had 6 great nights in his own bed, then 2 bad nights. After those 2 bad nights, he went back to sleeping again in his own bed, and has been there ever since!!! I didnt want to say anything sooner and jinx it, but its been two or so weeks now, and things are going well! Last night wasn't the greatest, he was awake at 1:45am, and didnt sleep much more after that. So I think he's going to be conquering a new milestone, or cutting some more teeth, because thats usually what he does for several nights when something big is going to happen! We'll just have to wait and see now! Also, he is completely walking now... only crawls about 3% of the time! He just LOVES being able to wander around and carry his toys with him! Its so cute! I am so lucky to have two of the greatest boys in my life! :)

Wow I'm Getting Old!!

Has it really been 10 years already since I graduated from highschool???? How is that possible??!! I'm beginning to feel ancient!
Last week, Derek and I were watching American Idol, and the contestants had to sing songs from their birth year, and one of the contestants was born in 1990! In my mind, someone born in 1990 should only be about 5-8 years old! Not 17! I was trying to think of where the last 10 years of my life have gone.... and its pretty simple:
First year after graduation I just worked and screwed around, and wasted money. The next year I met the love of my life and then my head was in a fog for several years. ;) Then the 4th year after graduation, I got married to the love of my life, and landed my glorious job at the Corvallis Clinic. The following year, we bought our first house...(oh the excitement of purchasing your first house!) The next two years were spent working, traveling, and purchasing things for our house to make it our home. The 8th year, we got pregnant unexpectedly, then miscarried, then a month later got pregnant again unexpectedly. Then last year was spent doting on our first born, and that brings us here to today! Other than that first year out of highschool, the last 10 years have been amazing! We are so blessed to be where we are today!

On a different note, as many of you already know, Jadon developed a nasty nasty rash on sunday evening. I took him to the doctor on Monday, and they said it was a reaction to a virus and told us to give him childrens benedryl. Whether or not she's right or not, we may never know. I still have a feeling that this rash was caused from his chicken pox vaccine that he had had just 2 weeks earlier, especially after hearing of my cousin's friend whose son had the exact same thing happen after his chicken pox shot. Either way, Derek and I both agreed we'd rather Jadon have a nasty rash for a few days than the full-blown chicken pox! Today the rash is almost gone, but he still goes back to the doctor tomorrow to get rechecked. He has also developed another cold from who knows where... probably the nursery at church. I too have had a scratchy throat for the last few days, and still waiting to see if its from Jadons cold, or if its seasonal allergies. Hopefully just allergies, but I will gladly and happily take a cold ANY day over the stomach stuff!

What is going on???

This weather we're having is insane! Its been snowing off and on today, then really windy the next minute, hailing the next, sunny the next, etc..... I guess I should remember that this is how spring time is in Oregon! I am sooooo ready for some warmer, drier, sunnier weather!!!!!!!

Well, bad news, after 6 great nights of Jadon sleeping in his own bed all night, the last 2 nights he's reverted back to his old habits. This is very frustrating for me, but maybe it is a sign of good things to come! He also had a fever for 2 days from his MMR shot he got last week, so maybe that has been a problem for him, although he has continued to be his normal, ACTIVE self! Oh well, we'll get through this eventually. Its like the pediatrician always tells me "this too shall pass." I guess I should enjoy his time in bed with me now, because in a few years he'll be begging for his own bed!

BIG news!!!

No, we're not pregnant! ;) As you all know, Jadon has slept in our bed since he was just a couple months old, and wouldn't sleep during the day unless he was being held. At 6 months, he finally decided he was able to take naps without our help, and we were thrilled! We have since struggled with getting him into his own bed at night however. During the holiday season, we spent several months trying to sleep train him and get him to sleep in his own bed, however it was just not working. So we stopped, and vowed to try again after he turned one. Well, we haven't officially started sleep training yet. But, a few nights ago, out of exasperation of him not wanting to go to calm down and sleep in our bed, I put him in his crib, and he fell asleep. No big deal, we can almost always get him to sleep in his crib, but he always wakes up several times and WILL NOT go back to sleep. Well, this time, he slept in his crib until 6am! We did this again the following night, and he slept until 6:45am! Then again a 3rd night, but this time he woke up at 4:45am (still a HUGE improvement). And then last night, he slept in his crib from 10:30pm until 8:30am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for him!!!!! I'm hoping this isn't a passing thing thats going to happen for a week, and then he'll be done with it. I hope that, like his naps, it has just finally clicked in his little brain that he CAN sleep alone, and sleep very well!
Anyways, just thought id spread the good news! This has been a HUGE step for him, so we are thrilled beyond belief! ;)

Weight Loss

So now that the emotional rollercoaster of Jadon's birthday is over, the holidays are long gone, and life is getting back to normal again, i've decided im going to try to lose a few pounds. Why am I telling you this? Well, simply because I want everyone to hold me accountable wherever I am eating! My plan is to just eat smaller portions, and healthier options. I am still going to allow myself a nice mt. dew or two when we go out though. I will never succeed in losing weight if I completely restrict myself from the things I love the most. My goal is 10-20 pounds.... so not much, but enough that I can fit back into some old clothes! :)

On a different note, I forgot to mention that the doctor gave us the okay to cut out one of Jadon's Zantac dosages. Over the last 2 months we've slowly decreased his doses, and now its to the point where he's barely taking anything anymore. So far he has done great! Had one spit up incident on his birthday, but thats it! Horray!!

1 year appt.

So I thought you'd all be interested to know what Jadon's latest stats are. I'll start off with this: today was his 1 year appt. and he is looking really good, right on target for everything says the doc. He got 4 shots today, and didn't like that one bit! So anyways, his stats... well im pleased to say that he is now on the percentile grids in all three categories: head, length and weight! (Not that it really matters at all.) So his height is now 29.75 inches, and his weight is.........19lbs, 4.5oz! So since the day he was born a year ago, he has grown 10 inches in length and 14 pounds in weight! Thats alot of growing to do in one year!!! Congrats to whoever chose the 3rd line on the poll!

On a different note, I got a call from the banks fraud dept last night at 10pm.... someone apparently got my visa check card number and went to use my money at catholicsingles.com. (nice, huh?) I feel so violated! Derek and I work so hard to protect our info as much as possible, so this is just really frustrating to me. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD TODAY!?

Birthday pix are in!!

So the birthday pictures are now here!! Ive got pictures from his actual birthday, and then from his birthday party as well.
For his birthday (thursday) we had a busy day! First was swimming lessons, then we went home for a bit to nap, then went to get Jadon's one year pictures done (which turned out really really cute!!) Then Jadon, daddy and mommy went to dinner at a mexican restaurant to celebrate the day together. After that, we headed home, and Jadon took a tiny snooze. Then Jadon opened his presents from mommy and daddy. As soon as that was done, Gramma Karla and Gramma Debbie and Grampa Byron and kids all came over to give Jadon a couple more gifts.
After that, Jadon had some dinner (mommy and daddy were still full from mexican food lunch)- He made a nice little mess eating dinner like usual, so daddy threw him in the tub afterwards and gave him some baby bubble bath! Jadon was seriously unsure about the bubbles, as you'll see the worried look on his face in the slideshow.
Anyways, then on saturday was the birthday party, and we've got lots of messy pictures of that for you to enjoy as well! Hope you enjoy!!

Well, the day that I have been dreading and looking forward to for a long time has now come and gone! We had Jadon's first birthday party today, and boy was it exhausting!! I ended up with a migraine the size of Texas when we got home... my whole head hurt! Luckily with a little ibuprifn, 50 mg of Imitrex and a little rest, it went away pretty easily. This week has been such a draining week, mostly emotionally draining. Its sad to watch your children grow up, but at the same time its so rewarding!

Anyways, the party went pretty well, I thought. I am not an entertaining type, never have been, so today was pretty draining on me! I better get used to it, Ive got many more years of parties ahead! ;)

Thank you to everyone for coming and sharing this special day in our son's (and ours!) life! We are so lucky to have you all in our lives!

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow my little man turns 1.... this day has been creeping up on me for the last 3 months, and I can't believe its already here! I never imagined id feel sooo emotional about a birthday before! I feel so sad that my baby is growing up so fast, but at the same time, I feel so proud of how far we have come, and that my son is a beautiful, healthy and HAPPY little guy! I just wish it didnt have to fly by so quickly! :( Now I know why they say that parenting is the hardest job in the world..... its an emotional rollercoaster!

Anyways, ive been working on a little slideshow of Jadon's first year of life that I will be posting soon. Don't worry, its not very long. ;)

Hope you are all doing well! Look forward to seeing many of you at the birthday party!

New Video!!

Ok, so I added a video of Jadon when he was first learning to snort like a piggy. You'll probably have to pause the music in order to hear it, and turn your volume up!

So he snorted by accident one day, and then had to figure out what he did to make that sound come out of him. So in the beginning of the video, he was doing it backwards (blowing out instead of sucking in), but towards the end he really figured it out, and the rest is ancient history! Now its one of his favorite things to do and he know's people laugh at him when he does it, so it just eggs him on even more! :) Takes after his daddy! ;)

Why I love blogging

When I started this blog, the first few weeks I thought it was going to be kindof a pain, and something that no one would read. Now, a couple months into it, I am really beginning to enjoy it! Heres the reasons why I love blogging so much:
1. Who doesnt love showing off their kids??! Obviously I do, especially considering this blog is 99% about Jadon! :)
2. It gives me a chance to express my creativity and thoughts. I'm constantly trying to find new and interesting things to add to the blog to keep our 3 readers coming back. ;) I've loved doing things on the computer since college, and now I feel like I get to use some creativity to put into this blog, which I love doing, and am constantly striving to improve things.
3. Everyones doing it man! Well not EVERYONE, but it is gaining popularity pretty quickly! Id like to encourage everyone to make a blog.... best of all, its free!

On a different note, my little man is sick. He got his daddys cold this weekend, and its so horrible to hear him coughing, I just hate it! This is only his 2nd illness since he was born. As hard as I strive to keep him away from germs, once daddy or mommy gets sick, I doubt theres anything that can be done at that point to keep him from getting sick! I'll just have to give him extra loves and cuddles! (oh darn!) ;)

Having a baby changes everything

So as Jadon's first year of life comes to a conclusion, my thoughts are brought back over the last year and all the changes we've encountered. It was this time last year that Derek changed jobs, and I quit my job which was really hard even though I hated the clinic.
Then our son tried to enter the world 6 weeks early, and I was put on bedrest in the hospital for 5 days, but Jadon had other plans and didnt want to wait any longer to meet us. Even though he was born 5 weeks and 1 day early, the doctor said "he acted like a 37 weeker." In other words, he was in fantastic health despite his early appearance.
As I look back, I am constantly reminded of how God has just totally worked everything out for us. From the timing of our job changes, to keeping our baby boy healthy, to keeping food on our table... He has always been there for us. And I am confident that he will continue to provide for us!
It is true what they say "having a baby changes everything." Just about every aspect of your life changes in one way or another. In being a mom, my favorite thing to do is just to sit back and watch my son as he explores and discovers new things. Remembering how hard those first few months of his life were, watching him now makes it all so worth it! You never really know that you are capable of this kind of love until you have your own child. Its amazing in every aspect of the word! So yes, having a baby DOES change your life, but in the best possible way you could ever imagine!

Horray for Jadon!!!

Jadon took 2 steps twice tonight!!!! Won't be long before i'm having to chase him all over the house! :) Its amazing how fast he is learning new things these days! I forgot to mention in my last post that he is also waving bye-bye now. Its getting to be so much fun because he's definitely starting to understand us and imitate us!
Alicia

This and That

So Jadon's just learning new things left and right! He now tries to imitate a lot of what we do, for instance, if we cough, he coughs. He "tries" to say some things that we say too.
His favorite new thing is snorting. We did not teach him how to snort, he figured that one out on his own! But he thinks hes Mr. funny guy when he does it because everyone laughs at him. Its really cute!!! Also he is starting to stand by himself, and "dances."
I have a couple of large palm type trees in my house, and they are too big to sit on top of tables or somewhere that he cant get to them, so they sit on the floor, but the leafs are up high. Anyways, he's recently discovered the dirt in the plants and eats that. Mmmmm, YUMMY!!

So I sent out an email letting all the women know that I am selling Home Interior products now. I decided to start selling Home Interiors simply because Jadon is getting bigger now, and less "needy" so I feel that this is a good way for me to make a little extra money to help out with our income and yet I can still stay home with Jadon. I have a friend who has been selling Home Interiors for a few years now and has had great success with it, so I'm hoping that with the support of friends and family, I too can have this kind of success!

Until next time...
Alicia

The countdown is on!

Today is Jadon's 11 month birthday, only 1 month left to go until the big #1!! The countdown is on!! We are feeling both excited and sad.... where has the year gone??!! Our plans are to have just a party with family only since he will not remember it anyways!

Also, we have tooth #7 coming in, and possibly tooth #8 as well! So he wants to chew on EVERYTHING! I will be so glad when this teething business is finished! ;)

We started session 2 of his swimming lessons this week, and im not sure if I mentioned before, but last session he was the only kid in class. This session there are 6 kids so far (including two women that were in our childbirthing class!), so it should be alot more fun with more people in class!

So we got to look at both mine and Derek's baby pictures recently, and we have come to the conclusion that Jadon looks very much like Derek did when he was a baby, but with my smile. We could not have asked for a cuter baby! He is such a blessing to us!

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Alicia

Poop, and other things in that general area.....

One of the things I find very humorous about being a parent is that suddenly a great deal of your adult conversation is centered around your child's bowel movements! With that said, Jadon has recently discovered his winky, and so whenever I'm changing a dirty diaper, he likes to grab himself and giggle! He just thinks it is soooo funny! He's probably laughing at me though, because I'm trying to hold his legs and bottom off of the changing table with one hand so I can wipe him with the other, and then I see him reaching for his little soldier and I only have 2 hands that are both occupied so I try to tell him to not touch it yet since its dirty, but its already too late, so I groan in disgust. Oh but its not over yet!!! Now I have to really hurry to get him cleaned so that I can stop him from putting his now poopy fingers in his mouth! (As I'm sure most of you know, he LOVES to suck his fingers.)

So, now that he's discovered his winky, he also now has a new bath toy! ;)

Well, thats all for today! Have a great weekend!

Jadon's Doctor Appointment and Swimming

Well Jadon had his 9 month doctor appointment last week (even though he is actually 10 months now) and is doing very well! He weighs 17 lbs, 11 oz and is 28 inches tall! The doctor says he looks very good! Over the last few weeks he has began crawling everywhere, and pulling up on everything and getting into EVERYTHING. He is keeping his mama very busy!! :) He is a very busy baby now!

He started swimming lessons a couple weeks ago and is doing very well with that as well. He is very comfortable in the water, and the instructor is very impressed with how relaxed he is. Can you believe that they actually dunk the babies on the first lesson?! I couldnt believe it, but its pretty impressive that he isnt the least bit fazed by it! ..... Future olympic swimmer in the making?????? ;)

I've begun planning his 1st birthday party, and its hard to believe that it is in less than 2 months! I remember everyone telling me when I was pregnant to enjoy him because they grow up so fast, and they were definitely right! Watching him grow up is very bitter sweet!!

A New Year Has Begun

This new year will bring many new adventures! Our handsome son, Jadon, will turn 1 in March! I am not sure where the time went!

Today I will reflect on the last year. The first few months of his life were, to say the least, a little hard. In addition to being born 5 weeks early, he had jaundice for the first month of his life and had to lay on a "bili blanket" 24/7. That was hard because we couldnt hold him and because of that we felt like we couldn't bond with him.

Also, getting him to sleep has been a struggle since he was 1 week old. And it continues to be a battle every night. At 6 months old, it was as if a switch was turned on in him, and he suddenly started taking naps on his own twice a day! Night time is still a struggle, and I imagine that it will be a struggle for many years to come.... however, we've come to accept that fact and are just dealing with one day at a time.

At 2 months old, Jadon was diagnosed with acid reflux, which is common in premature babies. He has been taking Zantac prescribed by the doctor twice a day for his reflux, and that has been a miracle medicine for him! Most babies grow out of their reflux by 1 year of age, however a small few will go on with the reflux into their toddler years. We are slowly decreasing his medicine dosage and hope for the best!

At 5-6 months of age, Jadon really began to become a little person. Thats when he began eating solid foods, and had a major growth spurt. Shortly after that he began sitting up on his own, and that has recently led to crawling and pulling himself up to standing. He is so proud of himself, and it just brings tears of joy and sadness to my eyes to see him accomplishing these things. It means that our baby boy, our first born, is growing up, and that is so bitter sweet!

Although the first few months were difficult, this journey of parenthood has been so worth every second of it. Jadon is such an amazing blessing to our family and we are so thankful for every second!

Take care!
Alicia