Poopy!

Jadon went poopy in his potty today for the first time! It scared him when he saw it in there, so we'll see if he wants to sit on his potty again! ;)
He has been doing really good on his potty, and knows when he sits down on it now that he needs to go pee, so he gets right down to business, sometimes even pushing a few drops out.

We still have a long way to go though. He doesnt remember to tell us most of the time when he has to go potty, and most of the time we have to ask him if he wants to go sit down on his potty, to which he says "diaper? yes! Okaaaaay!" He says diaper because he wants to take it off to sit on the potty.

Its just cute because he gets soooo excited when he goes in his potty, probably because WE get really excited and give him tons of praise.

Spring Fever

I cant believe its been a week since I last posted! Nothing new going on here... its been pretty uneventful in our house, other than Jadon's sleeping issues (again.) He has been waking up twice during the night almost every night.... sometimes just once. We are still thinking its the teething. I'm expecting this to go on for quite a few months. When he was a baby, he started teething around 3 months, but didnt get a tooth until I think 6 months. So, I figure he'll be teething for a few months, then we'll finally see his molars come in! Hopefully after that he'll start sleeping through the night again. He is gnawing on his hands like crazy though.

Anyways, we had a beautiful day here today, and Jadon and I spent a good hour in the backyard before dinner playing and pulling weeds. It was so beautiful, around 56 degrees and clear, and now I have spring fever. We have been lucky this winter and have not had much rain, but I figure it will make up for it in the spring.

Another good thing... the days are getting longer!!!! I really cant stand it during the winter when the sun sets at 4pm, and I always look forward to the spring when daylight savings starts again. Only 17 days to go!! But who's counting??? ;)

Has it really been a week since my last post???? Sheesh, time sure flies these days! Well, nothing much to report here.... Jadon has been keeping us very busy. He is such a busy body!

I'm still trying to think of what to do for Jadon's birthday. I made out a guest list, which is just our immediate families, and it brings us to 24 guests... 27 if you count Derek, Jadon and I. Of course I know everyone wont be able to come, but still... thats alot of people! I was thinking of just going to a pizza place for his birthday, but Derek says thats expensive. So I have a question for everyone... do you think it would be rude to ask everyone to pay their own way? I know in the past when we've gone to birthday parties and have had to pay our own way, I have turned my nose up at that, but then again, those were much smaller parties. Jadon's birthday only comes once a year, and I dont want to be total tightwads and not give Jadon a special day. I wasnt planning on anything extravagant.... probably no decorations, just a cake of some sort.

So what do you all think.... is it rude to ask everyone to pay their own way?? Honest opinions only please! :)

On a different note, I cant believe he is going to be turning 2 already!!!! It just blows my mind!!! We can certainly tell he is nearing 2... he's been throwing some good tantrums, having some major separation anxiety, and we are pretty sure his 2 year molars are on their way because he has been knawing on his entire hand and drooling all over. He is really learning things left and right now... its incredible!!!!!! He's saying several words at once.... and sometimes he'll say words that we didnt even know he knew!!! However, "fork" still doesnt sound like fork, and also "jammies" doesnt sound like jammies. ;) I mentioned before that we have been working on his colors.... but we arent having much luck with that. Everything is yellow according to him. He is really enjoying coloring and playing with stickers lately. He also enjoys running laps around the table, or running in a circle in the living room. Yesterday he was running in circles and saying "today." Over and over! ...he's been throwing things ALOT, and is very familiar with timeouts now. Mommy has become a bit of a softy.... something that neither Derek nor I thought I would be .... its just crazy how much that little boy melts my heart!! Especially now that he calls me mommy!! :)

First cold of the year

Have I mentioned how much I hate being sick????? Yeah, pretty sure I have many times! ;)

Well, Jadon got his first cold of the year late last week, and passed it on to his mommy and daddy. Jadon's cold seems to be the worst of all of us, however yesterday (Sunday) I felt like absolute garbage!! Today seems better though, and I think both of us feel alot better. Haven't talked to Derek yet today to see how he is feeling.
Oh well, i've said it once and i'll say it again... i'll take a cold ANY DAY over a stomach bug!! This time of year I always start getting really paranoid about germs (even moreso than I already am), because the stomach bugs always seem to surface more often in the winter and early spring.

We've had some very unseasonable sunny and rainless weather lately.... this weekend we took Jadon outside to use some sidewalk chalk for the first time. He wasnt nearly as excited about the chalk as he was to just be outside. Plus he kept dropping the chalk and it would break in half. I am getting really eager for warmer weather.... looking forward to getting out in the yard and getting my hands dirty! I think this year Jadon will be able to "help" me in the yard. Last year I always had to wait for him to take a nap and then go outside while he was napping.

Well, Jadons birthday is in 5 weeks! I cant believe it, and I still dont know what im going to do. I just want to do something small and probably just with our immediate families.

I'm Mommy!!!!!

Jadon's been calling me Mommy for about a week now! I didnt want to say anything until I knew for sure that he knew what he was doing, but I think its pretty obvious that he knows now!! I'm so happy!!! :D Its so good to not be Dada anymore! Silly kid!

Also, he's going through a mommy phase right now... i'm not sure why since he is with me 24/7... literally! You'd think he'd be quite sick of me!! Last night I went to dinner with some friends, and he was so excited when I got home! It was nice to get out of the house, but at the same time, it makes me realize just how much I don't want a job until he's in school... I would miss him too much.

Jadon's in need of another haircut, but after our last haircutting experience, I dont know when we'll ever be able to cut his hair again. Yesterday when I got him up from nap, he didnt want to wake up, so I got the scissors and trimmed the hair over his ears while he slept. Its amazing how much of a difference that it made in his appearance!!!!

Could it be????

That Jadon will be potty training sooner that we thought? He peed in his potty twice today! And twice on the bathroom floor too... but it was all his idea to sit on the potty! We will see I guess... maybe once the excitement of it wears off he will stop wanting to use the potty.

Also, a few days ago, out of the blue he just stopped sucking his fingers. Now instead he is sticking his whole hand in his mouth and chewing on it. I'm thinking that the 2 year molars are getting ready to make their debut, plus he has been 100% more cranky and whiney too. Oh, and his sleeping has been horrible over the last 2 weeks. We are having a hard time getting him to go down at night, I think that is partially due to the whole separation anxiety thing. Plus, he is waking up at least once during the night as well. So, from what we have learned in the almost two years that we have been parents is this: if nighttime sleeping issues appear out of nowhere, it usually means he is having a developmental growth spurt OR he is teething. Lord knows how horrible his sleeping was between 3 months and 12 months thanks to teething. I say, lets just get these darn teeth in already so we can all get some sleep again! ;)

We have pee-pee in the potty!

This morning Jadon went potty in his potty chair for the first time! We think it was a fluke, but STILL!

Jadon tidbits

So we have recently discovered that Jadon knows almost every animal! We have several animal books, and we ask him to point to a certain animal, and he knows pretty much all the animals!
So yesterday I started working with him on identifying the different colors. Even though he didnt seem to be that interested, I know he is absorbing everything!

Most of the time when Jadon eats, he gets it all over himself, and when I remove his booster seat tray he's got food stuck all over his diaper and legs and even rearend (it falls down the sides, and he moves around and ends up sitting on alot of it.) Its particularly discusting when he's got oatmeal all over him... it isnt very easy to clean up! And just when you think youve got it all, you spot another piece of oatmeal. Anyways, in the past I used to take his tray off and say "oh gross." Well, of course he picked that up right away, so now whenever we clean him, or whenever he gets anything on himself he says "Oh Gross!!" Loudly! He's done that in restaurants before too! Also, he has a little lineup of phrases that he says all together. So alot of times when he says "Oh gross!" He will follow that with "Oh Man!" then he follows that with "amazing." lol!! He is such a silly kid! I think its just adorable when he says amazing... it sounds more like Oh-may-sing. Of course when we laugh at him it just eggs him on more and he tries to be even more silly! Hmm... wonder who he got that trait from (Derek)!

He helped me wash my car the other day. It was a beautiful sunny day out, but still only in the upper 40's, but I knew it would be good for us both to get outside for a bit. He "helped" me for about 3 minutes, then he decided it was funner just playing in the bucket of bubbly water. By the time we went back inside he was soaking wet and shivering! But he had a good time, and thats all that matters to me!

Papa Loveless got Jadon an instrument set for christmas, which includes a drum and drumsticks, a tamborine, a set of maracas, and a harmonica. He just loves the harmonica, and he calls it "haw-kuh-aw." He just walks around making music on it... the nice thing about the harmonica is that you really cant make a bad note on it, so it always sounds like.... well... music!

Jadon is really starting to understand soooo many things these days, its absolutely "oh-may-sing" to me! He can tell us when he's hungry...he says "hunry, eat" and signs "eat."
About the time his naps are everyday, he starts saying "nap... nap."

He absolutely adores Little Einsteins!!! One of his favorite episodes is about a car (named Carmine) that races in the Grand Prix, and the Little Einsteins have to help him win the race. All day long, he says to me "carmine?"

He also says Fork... however it doesnt sound like fork!! Its kindof embarrasing at restaurants when he says it!! I hope people dont think we are teaching him to say bad words!

Just in the last couple of days he has really started going down single steps all by himself without holding onto things. In the past he has either had to hold on to something, or crawl down backwards. Yesterday he went down two steps in a row on our stair case all by himself! I thought for sure he was going to go face first after the first step, but he did just fine!

We have been encouraging him to sit on his potty whenever he says "poo poo"... however by then the damage has already been done, so its more like just practice getting him ready.

He's been going through some separation anxiety in the last month or so, and im actually surprised he didnt go through this much earlier! The worst so far has been at church when we leave him in the nursery. However, he gets over it very quickly and by the time we pick him up he's happy, smiling and playing just fine!

Well, thats all the tidbits I can think of for now.....

Going for Gold

Recently my mom gave me a book for mothers of miscarried babies, its called A Time to be Borne. Anyways, this book has been great in helping me understand the "why me?" that always keeps popping back into my head from time to time. It doesnt make it much easier, but it does help me understand why.

Here is a passage of one of my favorite pages in the book:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Going for Gold
"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." - Job 23:10

"You were beautiful before, but God must want you even more beautiful. I know you'll come out of this trial as gold." Tears sent tremors through my twin sister's voice in her phone call to me from a neighboring country.
Gold? I silently repeated. Who wants to go for gold? If heading for gold clearns one stack of sympathy cards off the coffee table just to receive a fresh batch, if it renders my heart a growing cavern of ache, if it makes me feel adrift and anchorless on a rough sea at midnight, count me out. I'll settle for plain tin. Focusing only on the heat of my hardship made me lose sight of the pure and priceless end result.
Gold. God is going after gold! He knows that fire removes the dross of pride, deceit, and complacency in me. He reminds me that the more often metal enters the fire, the more durable it becomes. The Refiner desires a weight of gold so shining He can view a reflection of His own beauty in it.
Oh, God, let me catch a glimpse of Your anticipation as You turn up the heat on the refining furnace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So basically I feel comfort from that passage because I know that God has given me these trials to face so He can make me a better and stronger person- the person He created me to be. He is going for gold with me!

On another page theres a quote:
Have patience and endure; this unhappiness will one day be beneficial. - Ovid

By the way, thanks Mom for this book!

My son the Ham- pictures

Well, we are having better luck getting Jadon's picture lately. I think he finally figured it all out, and loves to see the pictures we take of him.

For christmas we got him a potty to start getting acquainted with. We have no plans to start potty training until he is more ready, but we want to get him used to it. The other day Derek managed to convince Jadon to take his diaper off to sit on the potty. He is not real fond of that, I imagine the seat is cold on his little tush. His arm happened to be in just the right place at just the right time! ;)

The other day I made blueberry pancakes to freeze so I can easily pull them out in the mornings and feed them to Jadon. During the week he gets oatmeal or frosted miniwheats for breakfast, and on the saturdays I give him either pancakes, waffles or french toast as a treat and to give him something different. I dont have many options for breakfast, because he doesnt like eggs... so I cant make omelets, or scrambled eggs. Anyways, back to the blueberries... i gave him the leftover blueberries to eat. Derek said it looks like hes wearing lipstick.

Derek cleaned Jadon up after dinner the other night, and of course Jadon had the food all over in his hair.... this always seems to happen with the messiest meals. When Derek cleaned Jadon's hair, he spiked it and of course when I pulled out the camera and told Jadon to say "cheese" he turned into a big ham.

What a joy that little boy is to us!

Growing up

Jadon is growing up so fast, and every day I am more and more thankful for my little man! He is such a blessing to us!
Yesterday we were eating lunch, and I handed him a Ritz cracker, and he looked at it and said "circle." I then tried handing him a square piece of cheese and asked if he knew what shape it was, he said "cheese." Ok, so he doesnt know squares. ;)

He is such a cuddle bug, and always has been. Sometimes if he wakes up really early (like 5am-6:30am) in the morning we bring him back to our bed where he will cuddle with us, then go back to sleep, and will usually go back to sleep until at least 9am-9:30am.
Some days he wakes up at 7 or 7:30am, and I am not quite ready to get up (I've got to start getting to bed earlier), so I will bring him to bed with me, and he will just lay there cuddling with me....sometimes for 30 minutes or more. Just sucking on his fingers and cuddling. Doesnt make a peep or whine, and doesnt try to get up either. Sometimes we will lay there "talking".... like I ask him a question, or ask him to repeat a word that I say (for instance, 'Jadon, can you say elephant?') I love our morning cuddle time! He is so much like his parents in the fact that he likes to sleep late!

His newest interest at the moment is trains. Ever since he saw the train at my moms house on Christmas Eve going around the Christmas tree, he has been obsessed with trains! When we were in Washington this weekend, one day we went to the Silverdale mall for a bit to let Jadon get some exersize, while we were there we stopped at a Barnes and Noble store to look for a book for Jadon to read while in the hotel. He found a Thomas the Train book, and fell in love with it. Its the kind of book that you press the buttons and they make noise. Now he always walks around saying "Tobas."

Not only is he growing up so fast mentally, but physically as well! He is getting so tall! He doesnt fit on his changing table anymore. Also, he can reach all the door handles with ease now, and doesnt even have to get on his tiptoes. It seems like just yesterday he had to get on his toes to reach them.

I'm just amazed at how perfectly he fits into our family and how he just completes us!

Did you miss me??

We are back from our 4 day trip to Washington. They reopened I-5 on friday afternoon, so we headed out! Jadon was really good on the drive up... he took a 45 minute nap, and a short 10 minute nap before we stopped for dinner. He was happy, and pointing out all the school buses and trains/train tracks to us the whole way.
Unfortunately the first night in the hotel didnt go as well as the drive up. He didnt want to sleep at all the first night, and the next day I felt like an absolute zombie from lack of sleep. The other 2 nights went better though, but the drive home wasnt as good as the drive up. We did alot of driving over the 4 days, and I think he was just ready to be out of the car already.

We were really glad to see Derek's grandparents though. It was hard for Derek to say goodbye to his grandpa on our final day though, knowing that it could be the last time he will see him. We do hope to get up there again real soon.

It is nice to be in our own COMFORTABLE bed though!
Here's a few pix of Jadon on the trip.

Ok, well Blogger seems to be having an issue letting me put spaces between pictures so I can't explain each picture, so i'll just tell you from here. Picture #1 is a picture of Jadon about halfway to our destination. Picture #2- we were at a Mexican restaurant in Silverdale having lunch, and Jadon was just being a ham. Picture #3- Jadon resting on the hotel bed watching his all time favorite show Little Einsteins before bedtime. Picture #4- Sitting on the hotel bed eating a snack before bedtime (a different night).

Derek's Grandpa

We just got word yesterday that Derek's grandpa isn't doing well, so sometime in the next couple of days we will be making a trip up to Washington to see him. Please keep the family in your prayers.

It will be Jadon's first "trip"...i'm just sorry its not under different circumstances. I'm also a little worried about Jadon sleeping away from home... the last week we've been going through sleep issues with him again. One night he didn't go to sleep until after 11pm.... and several nights he's woken up hungry. Last night he woke up at 1:15am hungry, so I brought him downstairs for a snack in the dark. He ate crackers for a half hour!! Finally went back to bed at 2:30am. Then woke up again around 6:30am scared. I went in his bedroom to get him, and the first thing he said to me was "hairpane" in a pathetic little voice. I think he must've had a scary dream about an airplane or something.... at that point I just brought him to bed with us. Then he slept until 9:15am!

These weeks where he wakes up alot are always difficult weeks for Derek and I as we aren't having consistent sleep patterns, and our sleep is always broken, and usually for me that means getting a headache or migraine. I'm beginning to wonder if this is the reason why God didn't want us to have another baby yet... He probably thought that we would lose our minds from having a newborn up all night, and a toddler who doesn't want to sleep too!!

Happy Anniversary!

To my parents, who have now been married for 18 years today!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Its hard to believe that Derek and I have been together now for over half of the time they have been married! This September 14th, Derek and I will have been together for 10 years! (married for 6 years in August). That makes me smile! What an accomplishment!!!!! :) I am so proud!! Nothing is better than being married to your best friend!
When we celebrate our 18th "anniversary", Jadon will be 11 years old! How sad that my sweet little man will be about to enter puberty at that time! When we celebrate our 18th "wedding anniversary", he will be 15! Probably learning to drive, embarrased by his parents, and too cool to laugh at his silly dad or give his mom a hug. Hopefully by then he will be able to sleep through the night! ;)

Happy New Year!

I am so ready to leave this year behind and start a fresh new one! I'm hoping and praying that the new year will turn out a little better than this year has, but I certainly have my doubts.

Anyways, I made a new slideshow of Jadon for this year. I got rave reviews from many of you on last years slideshow and many requests to continue doing it every year. It starts from Jan. 1st, 2008, and goes in order from there to today. It was quite a year of growing and learning for him! From swimming lessons, turning 1, getting that mystery nasty rash on his body, as well as all the holidays! Learning to walk and then run, to use a spoon, and talk. Finally sleeping through the night, then waking up several times a night, then sleeping all night, then waking up.... its been a neverending cycle, and we have come to the conclusion that the weeks where he is waking up at night, he is reaching a new developmental milestone. Usually after a couple weeks of bad nights, he goes back to sleeping all night again until he is ready to reach another milestone.

I really enjoy making these slideshows and looking back over the year at all of Jadon's accomplishments. This years slideshow was especially meaningful to me to create, after having such a crappy string of miscarriages. Out of 5 pregnancies, Jadon is the only one that made it all the way (well, almost all the way), and to me he is a complete miracle. This journey of motherhood has been such a blessing to me, and i'm so grateful that God chose me to be Jadon's mommy!

Christmas Day

Christmas day started for me at 6:45am when my alarm went off. Not wanting to get out of the warm blankets yet, I laid there for 15 more minutes. At 7am the baby monitor next to me made a loud noise then started beeping that it had lost connection, so I was fidgetting with it trying to get it to go back on, then I realized that the power went out in the whole house. "Oh great!" I said aloud, and somehow that woke Derek up which is crazy because he doesnt wake up for anything!
So, I went and got Jadon and brought him to our bed to sleep some more and where we could keep our ears on him. He had not wanted to go to sleep the night before, so we knew he'd be sleeping a little longer. I could have sworn that in the semi darkness outside that it looked like there was a tiny dusting of snow on the ground. I thought it was just too dark and my eyes were playing tricks on me. Derek got up a few minutes later to see if the rest of the neighborhood was without power as well. When he came back to bed he said it looked like a dusting of snow on the ground, but thought the same thing I thought. Shortly after that Jadon woke up, so we all got up, and sure enough, there was just the tiniest dusting on the ground, but was already melting. I consider that a Christmas miracle!!
So after we got up, we ate breakfast, then Derek read the story of Jesus birth from the bible while I listened, and Jadon played with his toys from the night before. I was so eager for Jadon and Derek to open their presents so I insisted we start opening them right away after Derek finished reading.
As usual, Derek and I went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overboard on our gifts for each other. Derek got mostly clothes from me, and I got mostly electronics from him.... very strange because usually I am the one getting clothes and he is the one getting electronics. However, Derek was in need of several clothing items this year, including a winter jacket. He hasnt had a heavy winter jacket since I have known him, which is almost 10 years.
Derek got me an mp3 player so that when I use my treadmill, I wont have to use my big, bulky discman anymore. He also got me WiiFit, which I asked for. Although its more of a gift for both of us. We have been having lots of fun on it after Jadon goes to bed at night, and my goal is to lose 15 pounds in 2 months, and Dereks goal is to gain 5 pounds in 2 months. Its pretty fun, and the funniest part is seeing Derek trying to do the hula hoop excersize! I hope to get a video of him doing it, but i'll have to get it without him knowing. Its so hilarious, he looks like he's doing a booty dance, or giving a lap dance or something! Yesterday I was in tears watching him do it!

So after our little christmas, we headed over to Derek's family christmas. We opened presents there and relaxed, then Derek and I came home to feed Jadon a little lunch and get a nap. Then we went back to his families house for more socializing, dinner and game playing. It was a very relaxing day, and it just wouldnt be christmas if Karla didnt start the marshmellows on the sweet potatoes on fire! ;)

Overall, it was a wonderful christmas eve and christmas day, and like I said in my previous post, the contrast between the my families christmas and Dereks families christmas is such a perfect one, and I love them both!

Thank you to all our family for making the days so special! We love you all!!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve evening is always spent at my families house. We have a little socializing, then we eat dinner, then we open gifts, then more socializing. Its extremely crazy every year, and every year my mom insists she is not getting anybody gifts (except the kids), but every year she ends up getting everyone a ton of stuff. This year was no exception!

Anyway, when it comes to gift time, we all gather in the living room, although we hardly fit there anymore, and the kids pass out all the gifts at once to everyone in a frenzy of excitement! Then after everyone has all their gifts, we just tear into them. Its crazy, but I love it, and I wouldnt have it any other way! Derek always feels a little overwhelmed by it all, but it just wouldnt be the same if we didn't do it that way. Plus, the family is getting so big, we would be there all night long if we all took turns opening gifts!!

So this year I decided to take a video of the chaos that is my family's christmas, and share the madness with you all! The video does not do it justice! It actually looks fairly calm on this tiny video!

Derek and I found an area near the tree to open our gifts, so here is a video of Jadon opening his gifts. Last year he had no idea, this year he opened a few, then got bored with it.

My mom always has the most beautiful christmas trees! Every year they have a different theme too. This year she did her tree in all gold. So pretty!!!

She also has several other smaller, fake christmas trees around the house. One of them is in the kitchen area.... she bought a big train and tracks and it was going around the tree. Jadon was in love with that train and the "mote" (remote) that goes to the train!! We "won" the train, so we got to bring it home and will set it up at some point. I'm not sure where we are going to put it in our tiny house!
Christmas morning we will get up early and open our gifts from each other and to Jadon, then we will head over to Derek's families christmas, which is much calmer than my families! Its a nice contrast between the two different christmas' and I feel very blessed to have two wonderful families!
Well, its late and time to go to bed now! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

With all this crazy weather we've been having lately, I was able to divert my thoughts away from the mess thats going on in my life for a good week. It was nice to not be constantly thinking about it every second of the day. Then I went to get my blood redrawn yesterday so they could finally run the last test. As I was sitting in the chair waiting for him to take my blood, all I could think to myself was "remember why you're here?" -Ouch- nice blow to the stomach.


Anyways, sometimes I wonder if God gave me such a perfect little guy (Jadon) now because I will never be able to have more kids. I know I know, i'm getting carried away with my thoughts on that one, and when Derek reads it he is going to scold me for being so pessimistic. He's a "glass is always half full" kind of guy and i'm the "glass is always half empty" one, or as I like to say, I'm just being realistic.


I have decided that I want to learn to play the guitar. Haha, go ahead and laugh, but I think I need a new hobby and a distraction. Plus, when Jadon gets older I really want him to play an instrument, and maybe I could teach him to play guitar so we wouldnt have to do expensive lessons. They actually have an "acoustic guitar for dummies" book, and it comes with a guitar and some other little things! I think they have a "dummies" book about pretty much anything!

It is finished

I think our snow streak has ended. They were predicting we'd get more overnight, but that didnt happen, and it appears to be raining now. Sounds like our friends up north of us are getting some more snow however. I'm feeling pretty disappointed about not getting more. Yesterday we woke up to lots of great snow to play in, so I took Jadon out in the morning and we played for an hour. It was fun, but unfortunately Derek couldnt play with us because he was at work. Derek was pretty bummed about that too, so we were really hoping for some more snow this morning so that Derek could play in it with Jadon.

Snowfall

I always love to watch the snow fall, especially when its alot of big, fat flakes! Theres just something so calm and peaceful about it, and I still feel that childlike excitement everytime it snows! Anyways, miracle of all miracles, we are actually having MORE snow!!! So for our friends and family in warmer climates, I took a few short videos of the snowfall so you can enjoy the beauty with us! Hope you enjoy them!! Unfortunately the videos just do not do the beauty of it any justice. Oh, and the floating christmas tree in the second half is a reflection of our christmas tree in the living room.

Soooo Coldddddd!!!

I'm pretty sure that the banana tree that I planted this summer in the back yard will not be surviving to see another summer. It has been sooooo cold here the last couple of days....as I am typing this post it is only 14F degrees! I glanced at the banana tree really quickly the other morning when we took Jadon outside in the snow, and it did not look very happy at all.

Derek had a funny thought this morning. He said "I bet that the temperature outside is about the same as the temperature in the freezer." Very weird. So I guess I could just go put all of our freezer items outside and they'd be fine! I think it only got to 29 degrees today. Jadon and I again bundled up and headed outside in the warmest part of the day, and it took us about a half hour to walk down the road to get the mail and back. Jadon was afraid to walk on the snow and ice for some reason today, even though yesterday he was fine with it. He made me hold his hand the whole way, which is fine, I like holding his little hand while we walk together. By the time we got back I thought for sure my toes were frost bitten. And once we got inside and as I was stripping all the layers I had put on Jadon, I felt his little hands and feet, and he was actually quite warm! I guess the warm boots and fleece gloves and hat were doing their job!

Tomorrow its supposed to warm up, but they are forecasting more snow and then rain in the afternoon. If the roads improve at all, I am going to think about going to town to get some envelopes so I can finally mail christmas cards. Plus, Jadon and I are getting bored being cooped up in the house.

All I can say is, this weather is very abnormal, especially for this time of year! Derek and I are not huge fans of cold weather, and right now we are wishing we were in Florida with my grandparents, or in Hawaii with our friends the Georgievs!

Snow Day!

So I woke up at 6am on Sunday morning, and there was a dusting of snow on the ground, I was really excited but went back to bed. By the time I got up with Jadon at 7:45am, the snow was already melting, and the temperature was 34F. By noon it had all melted away... Very disappointing.

Then last night it started snowing again, and the temperature was dropping quickly. Unfortunately it snowed the very dry kind of snow that isnt much fun to play in... it doesnt pack well. On top of that, its REALLY cold out, so its not much fun being outside. I took Jadon outside for about 3 minutes this morning so I could get some pictures as evidence that we actually have some snow! In the Willamette valley, you need to take pictures anytime theres snow on the ground as evidence because its pretty rare that we ever get anything worth getting excited over. So anyways, I got a few pictures of Jadon in the snow before he pulled his mittens off, and before we completely froze through. Then this afternoon when it had warmed up to a balmy 28 degrees, Jadon and I bundled up and took a walk..... although the sidewalks and road were really slippery, so it took us about 20 minutes to walk to the end of our street, and then back again.

Anyways, here's pictures from this morning that I took really quick before the camera battery died! Jadon was a little concerned walking in it..... by the way, I forgot to mention that we got a whopping 1.5 inches!!!! WooHoo!!

Anyways, the forecast for the next few days is this: VERY cold tonight... supposed to be 15 degrees. YIKES! Clear, sunny and freezing on tuesday with a high of 32F. Wednesday, looks like snow/rain mix, and then thursday and friday looks like more of the white stuff!! At least at this point.... It always changes though. The stinky part is that the roads are all slippery, so Jadon and I will probably be stuck in the house for the next 5 days unless the ice clears. I love the snow, but not the ice.

Saturday this and that...

The lab called yesterday afternoon about my final lab order. I was thinking she was going to tell me that it was positive and thats why she was calling... I thought it was a little odd that the lab tech called to tell me that, and not my doctor. However, she was just informing me that they lost that last lab order so I would need to go in and get my blood redrawn. GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That WOULD happen!

On a different note, it looks like we might get some snow here in the next couple of days! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! We also are forecast to get some really low temperatures in the very near future as well, and the newspaper this morning said something about freezing rain too.

Well, Jadon has recently started saying 2 and 3 word sentences. He says "sit down", "watch out", "come on", and "There it is!" Before we know it, he will be carrying on understandable conversations with us! Oh, my little man.... he's growing up so fast! I wish I could keep him this age forever!
Last month he was really into books.... this month its puzzles. I look forward to seeing what next months fad will be! ;)

Have a great Saturday everyone!

More Results

I got another one of my test results in the mail today, for the chromosome analysis. It was also negative. So, just one more left (MTHFR mutation), and I am sure that one is probably a negative as well.
I have a feeling that the cause of all of these miscarriages is from my hormone levels just not rising like they should during pregnancy... and that is really frustrating. However, it is reassuring to know that my OB is going to put me on baby aspirin and progesterone suppositories as a precautionary the next time I get pregnant.

I have thought over and over about when we might try to get pregnant again, and had mentioned that maybe in January we would try again. However, since this last miscarriage has really been hard on me, I decided that it would probably be best to wait for awhile so that I can heal emotionally, even though I don't think I will ever completely heal. I really feel God urging me to wait on Him so he can teach me patience and perseverance. Everytime I think about trying again right away, I hear a voice in my head say "wait." Thats it, just "wait." Its a tough pill for me to swallow, but so is the thought of another miscarriage.

I'm trying to think of the positive side of waiting: I get more time to spend and devote to my beautiful son, who is growing up way too quickly. Jadon will be older by then, and probably more able to understand. Plus, it might give us some time for potty training, and moving him into a toddler bed.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree the other night, courtesy of Steve and Karla (by the way, thanks again!). It just so happened that they had an extra tree lying around, and offered it to us. I love how God always takes care of us in little ways like that!

Anyways, we put it up that same night. I didnt want it laying in the garage until the next night.... one of our cats is a bigtime sprayer and I didnt want him spraying the tree because then it would reak once we brought it in. Derek struggled with getting it into the stand, as he does every year. Finally at 9:30pm, he made a run to Fred Meyers and bought a new tree stand. I had to put the lights on it once we got the tree up, because I wanted Jadon to see the "pretties" (the lights) when he woke up the next morning! Plus I wanted him to adjust to the tree before we put the ornaments on it.

He tried to play with the lights several times during the next day, and also unplugged them 3 times and an attempted 4th time but I caught him in the act. We decided it would be best to not use any of our breakable ornaments this year, and to only put them on the top half of the tree....we know our son, and he is Curious George. We know he would never leave the tree alone if there was something on it that he wanted. We did give him one of my homemade ornaments from when I was little to play with and hang on the tree as he pleases, but as of right now its laying on the kitchen floor.

Here's a picture of our sad tree.... half naked... angel is too small.... i'm still trying to adjust to the LED lights we bought for it. They are great lights, and they dont get the least bit hot (or warm) but they are blinding, and sometimes if you look at a light at a certain angle, you can almost feel your retinas burning!

I'll post another picture of it as Christmas gets closer, and after I put the presents under it..... and hopefully I'll get a picture of Jadon in front of it too if he will cooperate! :)

The Results Are In....***UPDATED***

Two of my test results came in yesterday. Diabetes and thyroid. Both were normal, so neither of those things have been causing the miscarriages. Darn it, I was sortof hoping that it would have been my thyroid so at least i would have an answer and an easy fix. I'm still waiting to hear the results of the other 3 tests: the chromosome analysis, Factor V Leiden mutation (a blood clotting disorder), and MTHFR mutation (some kind of disorder that effects how you absorb certain vitamins, i think.)
I feel kindof in shock about all of this. I never in a million years thought id have to deal with fertility issues. On top of that, my wonderful monthly friend decided to show her ugly face yesterday.... 33 days after my last miscarriage. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly my body always goes back to normal after having a miscarriage..... almost like I never even had a miscarriage. The first "Aunt Flo" after a miscarriage is always the worst because until she shows up, theres always that little tiny spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't really a miscarriage that I had. However, since I actually have seen 2 out of 4 of the babies that I miscarried, I was holding out hope that I had been pregnant with twins and only lost one of them. Crazy, I know. Unfortunately it didnt work that way though, and there will be no baby in my arms come February, or April, or June as I had thought each time.

***UPDATE***
Also got results today of Factor V Leiden.... also a negative.

Perfectly Put

I follow several blogs other than our friends/family blogs. I found a website awhile back for people who have had miscarriages or pregnancy losses and at this website, people post their blogs for other people to read. The topic of all of these blogs is the same: overcoming grief after having been through a miscarriage/stillbirth. So i found several that i have bookmarked of amazing christian women who are going through the grief of losses, and i follow them almost every day. Its nice to read the way these women are feeling each day, whether they are feeling great one day, and crappy the next day.... its nice to know that what i am feeling is normal, because i feel that sometimes i am misunderstood.

Anyways, on one particular blog, this lady was talking about all that she was thankful for this thanksgiving. She had lost a baby boy at 19 weeks of pregnancy earlier in this year. Anyways, one thing that she wrote was just perfect to how i feel but could never think of how to word it. Heres what she said.... actually she didnt write these words, she actually read them from somewhere else, but still, this was typed in her blog:

“I think the important element is to recognize that we don't give thanks for the circumstances themselves directly, but give thanks for how they bring us to a place of emptiness that allows us to be more filled by Him. We give thanks for HIM being glorified and being sufficient THROUGH pain and suffering. So somehow, we don't elevate the ‘things’ to a position of ‘gifts’ from His hand, but we recognize that things that rob us, allow Him to restore us. Things that empty us, allow Him to fill us, things that knock us on our faces, allow us to be carried by Him, things that tear us down, allow us to be built up by Him. So we don't give thanks for the things in and of themselves, but for how they provide opportunity for us to truly be filled and blessed by the The Great Physician. We don't give thanks for the ailment, but we give thanks that He heals, He restores, He is making all things new and perfect in His glorious way and timing. And He is all we need.”

I just think that is so wonderful! Perfectly put, and so true! But its also a hard pill to swallow sometimes! After my miscarriages, and especially after my most recent one, I have a totally different look at life. I find that I am asking the Lord for more help in healing and dealing with this. Its been a very rough and bumpy road, and im sure its going to be a long one, and one that I'm sure I will never forget. I just hope that I can someday use my unfortunate "experience" to help other women who are going through a similar situation.

Jadon Tidbits

Just thought id share some cute Jadon tidbits in this post!

He is such a goofball and a ham sometimes.... many times throughout the day, Derek and I will tell him "you're silly!" or "you're cute!" When Jadon says the word silly, he says "sicky", and when he says the word cute, he says "cuke."

Also, the other day we bought some LED christmas lights that were on sale. When we got home, I took them out of the package and plugged them in for him. He just loved them! He calls them "pretties."

A Week Off!!!

I'm so excited!! Derek has this whole week off! Not sure what we will do with our time...I'd like to get Christmas shopping done. I think we are going to get Jadon a potty for christmas. Not because he is ready for it, but i'd like to get him acquainted with it before we really start potty training. Lately he's been telling us "puh puh" and grabbing his diaper when he has just went potty (pee or poo). I'm so proud of him!! We put him on the big potty a couple weeks ago when he said "puh puh", but he looked a little concerned when he was on it. I think he was worried he might fall in, even though Derek was holding him.
On Thursday (Thanksgiving day) we are spending the afternoon at my parents house eating my favorite meal of the year! Yummy!!!!!!!!!
On Saturday, Derek is going to the Civil War game with a friend, and Jadon and I are going to go to the Downtown Twice Around parade with my mom and the kids.
Then on Sunday after church we will be having Thanksgiving lunch with Dereks family! I'm so excited to spend time with our families....we have so much to be thankful for, and our wonderful families are very high on our list of things that we are thankful for!

The Appointment

I had my follow up appointment today. The good news is, now that i've had several miscarriages in a row, it raised a red flag with the doctor. Thats about the only good news so far. Basically she told me alot about what I already knew from all of my googling, so with that said she suggested that I could get some bloodwork done to see if there is an underlying cause.

The good news with that is that there are 10 things I can get tested for. The bad news is its really expensive.... the doctor came in with my lab order and said "ok, here's the million dollar work up." She didnt have exact prices on the tests for us, but she figured that all 10 tests would be several thousand dollars. Ouch!!!!! We opted to do just 5 of the tests today- the ones that are the most common cause of multiple miscarriages. That includes thyroid and hormone level tests, 2 other ones that I cant remember what they are, and also a chromosome analysis. Alot of the tests can take a long time to get results on, for example, with the chromosome analysis, they have to "grow" my chromosomes so it takes time obviously to do that.

At this point, I just wait on the results of those 5 tests. And unless I get answers before January, we will probably be waiting until next summer to try to get pregnant again. Oh, also, next time I get pregnant I will probably be given progesterone suppositories and baby asprin in the first trimester as a precaution. This supposedly helps increase your hormone levels, however from what ive researched in the past, the results are not 100% conclusive that it really helps.

I'm sure that some people are wondering why we are so eager to get pregnant again. Basically, my biological clock is ticking. I'm going to be 30 in a year and a half, and I want at least 3 kids.... the older you get, the higher risk you are for things like down syndrome, and even miscarriage, as well as other things. Plus, I want to have as much energy for my kids as I can. Besides, now that i've been pregnant 3 times this year and my dreams have been crushed each time, i'm dead set on having another one as soon as we can.

So basically to summarize, my appt. went as well as could be expected, still no answers yet as to why im losing babies, waiting on results of bloodwork to find out.

Like father, like son

So I have heard the story several times from my mother-in-law, Karla, that when Derek was a youngster, he decided to paint the walls with his poop.

This morning after breakfast, I was enjoying my fresh cup of coffee while Jadon was watching one of his favorite shows, Little Einsteins. At one point, he came to me and requested that I pick him up. Sometimes in the mornings he just needs a few extra minutes of cuddle time with me, so I obliged, but before I sat him on my lap I smelled it- Freshly squashed poo.... and I dont mean he had pooped and then sat on it in his diaper... no, this was definately not the same kind of poo smell that my child normally creates. This was the kind of stench that smells likes poo thats been messed with- like a pile of dog poo thats been stepped in- It has a different odor to it than a pile that hasnt been disturbed. So Jadon smelled like poo that had been messed with. It was then that I noticed a smear of brown on his side, under his belly button. I quickly looked his hands over but didn't see anything on them, looked him over every where else and didnt see any more evidence, so I told him we needed to go upstairs so I could change his diaper. On the way to the stairs, I quickly scanned the living room to make sure that there were no toys with poo on them, or on the carpet. But low and behold, Jadon decided to paint the entertainment center!!!! Gross is all I have to say about it!
I didnt even know he had pooed! Usually you can smell him a mile away, but I smelled nothing until I had picked him up.
Like father, like son!

Oh swell.....

My appt is next week, and i've been eagerly looking forward to it..... until I found this article about miscarriages in the NY Times from several months ago. It says: "For 80 to 90 percent of women who lose one pregnancy, the next one, even with no treatment, results in a successful birth. But the devastation is compounded and the statistics slightly less hopeful when a woman has lost two or more pregnancies. After two consecutive miscarriages, there is a 75 percent chance that the next pregnancy will be maintained. After three miscarriages, there is a 65 percent chance." Thats only slightly more than 50%! Thats just great.
Then it goes on to say: " Even after the most thorough work-up, half to three-fourths of couples with recurrent pregnancy loss 'will have no certain diagnosis,' the report states."

I'm beginning to feel like we may never have another baby. Sorry for such a dismal post, but like I said in a previous post, there are good days and bad days.... today's one of those not-so-good days. I caught baby fever again yesterday from out of nowhere. Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks since my last miscarriage, however it seems like its been months. Thankfully I havent had too many "bad" days in the last 2 weeks.

Stress

So Jadon's diaper changes can get a bit stressful sometimes... and the dream I had last night just proves it!
This entire dream was about changing Jadon's poopy diaper! Basically it was a really poopy diaper, and poo was squished into every male crevise Jadon has. He kept getting his foot in the dirty diaper, then when i'd try to wipe the poo off his foot, he'd stick his hand down there and would get poo on his hand. So i'd wipe the poo off his hand and his foot would get in it again! It was a nightmare!!! And it was like that for several minutes- foot in poo, wipe foot- hand in poo, wipe hand- foot in poo, wipe foot, etc.
The sad thing is, that is sometimes how his diaper changes are!!! Apparently its torture to make a 20 month old sit still for 2 minutes to put a clean diaper on!!

Hmmm....

Is it too early to change my playlist to Christmas music??? I know some people say no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but thats not really fair when all the stores are already decorated for Christmas!!!!.... it gets me in the Christmas spirit! Besides, it seems to be approaching at "an incredible rate of speed." (movie trivia anyone????) :)

Anyways, Derek insists that now that we have a kid, we have to get a Christmas tree every year now. I'm a little concerned about Jadon getting into the tree and pulling it down on himself. He's not a child that will just leave something pretty and shiny alone, so i'm pretty sure it will end up on top of him somehow. Especially with Derek's history of setting trees!! (It hasnt been pretty! One year we had to tie the tree to the ceiling!!!) Anyways, I think i'll try to talk Derek into putting the tree in our bedroom, either that or just get a little tiny one to sit on the table or something! Otherwise I may end up being the tree's security guard for the whole month of December!
It will definitely be interesting this year!

The Maid

Jadon can't seem to stay out of the kitchen if we are in it, so today when I was in the kitchen cleaning up after lunch, he kept getting into the cupboards and drawers. Today the dishrag drawer was the focus of his attention, and he grabbed a handful of "wags" and all of them stayed on the floor exactly where he threw them and didnt move, except for one that he used to wipe the floor and his toy helicopter with. Also in the dishrag drawer is a couple of aprons that I never use...... anyways, he got one of the aprons out and put it on. Of course it was way too big for him, so I worked my mommy magic- I knotted it up here, pulled it up and tied there, and Ta-Da!!! Instant maid!!!!! He had a blast with that for about 20 minutes. Its amazing how easily amused kids are! Anyways, here's some pictures of the maid.

Wiping the floor and heater vent

Hauling around his wheel barrow

Pausing from a hard days work for a couple pictures

Gosh he sure is cute!!!!!

Here we go again

Well, less than 2 months left until Christmas. This is not where I thought we would “be” by now, but I’m learning to deal with the cards I’ve been dealt lately.

We had a difficult summer…. The month after our miscarriage we ended up having a chemical pregnancy (basically a really early miscarriage). We chose not to announce it since I was only pregnant for a couple days. After that we waited a full cycle before trying again. We ended up getting pregnant right away (big surprise since im obviously Fertile Myrtle) …. And that brings us to today. We are 7 and a half weeks right now, almost 8 weeks, and it looks like im having another miscarriage. For those of you keeping track, that is pregnancy #5, loss #4. With all of my pregnancies that ended in miscarriages, right from the beginning I felt like things weren’t right, and so far I’ve been right each time. When I found out I was pregnant with Jadon, I knew right away that things were going to be ok that time. I guess ive got a good intuition. I was hoping that this time it was just my fear of the past getting the best of me.

Anyways, whenever I have my follow up with the OB, this time I will be requesting that she do some bloodwork to make sure that my hormone levels aren’t wacky, and to make sure that I don’t have hypothyroidism or something… both things that can cause multiple miscarriages.

The last 5 months have been very tough ones…. If I hadn’t had the first miscarriage this summer, I would have been around 25 weeks right now, and we would know if we were having a boy or a girl. Its always hard to think about the milestones like that. The hardest part about having a miscarriage is that it suddenly feels like everyone else in the world is either pregnant or has a newborn, and it makes me feel angry and upset, and I then I feel guilty for feeling that way. I was researching multiple miscarriages last night and came across an excellent website that talks about coping, dealing and healing after miscarriages, and it made me realize that its completely normal for me to feel that way, and I don’t need to feel guilty for feeling that way. Its part of the healing process. I am finding that its really hard to not question “why me again?” But then again, I would hate to have anyone go through this. Derek keeps reminding me that this is all part of God’s plan. Ever the optimist, he is such a wonderful husband, but at the same time I think the grief is different with men than it is for women. Men don’t have their hormones going crazy, and they don’t get to start that immediate bond with the baby that women get as soon as they find out they are pregnant.

Derek had an eye appointment a few days ago, and Jadon and I went with him. Back to my old place of employment. I’m so glad I went. I got to talk to one of my old co-workers (I will not disclose the name so don’t ask) who has had two 2nd trimester losses, one fairly recent. My heart just breaks for her. Anyways, she told me about a support group in Albany for women who have had any kind of pregnancy loss….we talked about the possibility of going to that together. I was fine after my first loss… I managed to get pregnant with Jadon almost right off the bat, and that took my mind off of it. I was doing pretty good after my 2nd loss as well. Of course there’s always good days and bad days, and that’s how healing goes. And im even handling this one fairly well. However, after 4 losses, it would be really nice to be able to meet and be around other women are going through the same thing that I am going through.

With each pregnancy loss, I’m reminded of just how miraculous pregnancy and life really is. And with each pregnancy loss I feel more and more overwhelmingly thankful to have been blessed with my beautiful baby boy….. He is truly a miracle to us.

So anyways, that is where we are at. Our parents and a few close friends knew about this, but we didn’t announce to anyone else. If anyone asked, I didn’t deny that we were pregnant but I didn’t tell anyone unless they asked. The reason I’m even writing about it now is that this blog is like a journal for me where I can write out my thoughts and feelings, and I know that the people who read the blog are people who care about what is going on in our everyday lives. So, your prayers would be greatly appreciated as we go through this yet again.

Just in case you missed it....

Here's the video from Betty on the Rachael Ray show today:
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/one-womans-struggle/
I have to admit, I teared up when she came out on stage. I'm just so proud of her and she totally deserved a neat experience like that after all her hard work!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news around here, Jadon's been saying weird words for several days at a time and then abandoning the word and moving on to a new one. So, a couple weeks ago he kept saying "shy po." We thought maybe he was saying slipper, but I dont think we ever came to a clear conscensous of what he was really saying. After that, he started saying "bocca bow"... to which we found out he was saying "basketball." The last few days his new word has been "paco." And we have no clue what that one is either. And he hasn't said it once today, so maybe "paco" is long gone and he's busy trying to come up with a new word. Whatever the case, he sure is adorable!!!!! I can't wait to hear the next new word!!!!

More Signing

So Jadon can now sign 11 words!!

• Freezer
• Cold/winter (same sign)
• Hot
• Milk
• Grass
• Wind
• Rain
• Bug
• Dog
• Ball
• Football

Plus, he has his own sign for "Signing Time." He points to one of his palms and says "Ss Ss".... I think he is trying to sign "time" but I can't guarantee that yet. And he keeps doing it over and over and over and over again until I finally put Signing Time on! He just loves that show!!! And I feel good because its educational. :)

Heavenly Harvest- Part 2

So yesterday Jadon and I went back to Heavenly Harvest for a playdate with Becky and Cooper. Unfortunately the cashier lady told us that the corn maze was really long- 20-30 minutes for adults to get through, and that she heard alot of children whining and complaining after they finally finished the maze. (isnt she supposed to be making money for the company, not discouraging service???) So anyways, since it was during the week, there was hardly anyone there. We decided to skip the corn maze, and went on the hayride again, and then the duck race again. The duck race was alot of fun for the boys, and then after about 15 minutes, they started playing in the water, so we moved on. We then went to the hay bale maze again, and that was amusing watching them... Jadon kept going down a dead end, and Cooper kept going in circles around a row of bales. Finally we had to help them go through it, and by then they were tired of it anyways. After that we headed toward the back of the property where the farm has some chickens in a coop... the boys thought that was great! And then we noticed that 3 were out of the coop, and Cooper was chasing after them having a great old time, giggling! Jadon went up to a house that was in the chicken coop, and squatted down so he could see inside and said "hi" to the chickens. He also kept "balking" at them.
Eventually it was time to go home again, but we were there for an hour and a half. It was a beautiful day, a little on the windy and chilly side, but sunny and beautiful regardless! Here's some pictures of the boys:

In the Hay Bale Maze

Resting on a stack of hay bales

Jadon posing with his pumpkin after we got home

Pumpkin Patch

This morning we headed out to Heavenly Harvest Farm for a pumpkin for Jadon. Actually, they have all kinds of fun Fall stuff for kids (and adults) to do. So anyways, the three of us took the hayride down to the pumpkin patch and picked a pumpkin for Jadon. Jadon also did the duck races, although he had no idea what was going on, and just sucked his fingers. It was really busy, so he was distracted by all the people and kids around him. His favorite part was the hay bale maze..... we were actually really surprised, but he took off in that maze like a test rat!

Anyways, we got there at about 11am, had to wait in line for awhile just to get our tickets for the events.... then we did the duck races. Then we got in line for the hayride and pumpkin picking, and waited for what seemed like forever. Finally at almost noon, it was our turn! Jadon just about fell asleep on the hayride! It was his lunchtime, and getting close to nap time! He's such a good boy though and didn't put up a fuss once! After we finished the hayride, we put our pumpkin in the car and headed over to do the hay bale maze. Then we thought that Jadon might like to watch the corn cannon, so we went over near that. It scared Jadon to death though, and he had a pouty bottom lip for several minutes afterwards! Then we decided we should head home to eat lunch and nap. We were there for almost 2 hours though, and probably would've stayed longer and done more things if it hadnt been so late. By the time we left, the parking lot was jam packed! Jadon and I are supposed to go there again on tuesday for a playdate, so maybe then we will do the cornmaze!

We had alot of fun for only $8!! Can't wait to take Jadon back next year when he's a little older!
Here's some pictures of the day:

Duck Race

Hayride-on the way to pumpkin patch

Pumpkin Patch

Bum Bum Bum, Another One Bites the Dust...

So the other 2 fishies died last night. I'm not sure what happened... I cleaned the fish bowl yesterday, and then 4 died. I followed the instructions that came with the bowl on how to clean it properly, so i'm not sure what could have gone wrong. I cleaned the bowl last week and nothing happened to them. Hmmm....

Three Fatalities

Three of Jadon's fish have died now... one yesterday, and two today. I'm not sure why! So now we have two left. At this rate, we'll be buying new fish every month! The two remaining fish seem happy though, although one of them was acting like it was going to die earlier today when I was eating dinner. Hopefully the last two will live a bit longer, at least until the end of the month! :) Oh, who am I kidding, i'm sure i'll wake up in the morning and find that the remaining two have died as well! I've already started thinking about what kind of fish to get next!

Make that three.....

By last night, Derek and I had really scratchy throats, and today I feel horrible... my throat feels so scratchy and dry and swollen. None of us got any real good sleep either... Jadon woke up around midnight and wanted someone to comfort him about every 20 minutes (if that). Finally I brought him to our bed and moved the vaporizer into our room so we could all benefit from it.
We slept fairly good until about 6am, then Jadon woke up coughing. I knew he wouldnt be going to sleep after that, so I just got up with him.

Its going to be a loooooooooong winter at this rate!!!

First Cold of the Season

Jadon developed a runny nose yesterday, and by last night it turned into a full blown cold with lots of snot and coughing. The poor guy cant breath, so sleeping last night was difficult for him. There's nothing you can give to kids under age 2 for colds, and I heard a rumor that they might even remove all cold products for kids under the age of 6!!! We ended up getting the vaporizer out at 5am this morning. Also, we've got a pot of water boiling on the stove to make it humid in the house. The vaporizer and the boiling pot of water were very effective with all his colds last winter!

Anyways, I'm pretty bummed because we were going to go to the pumpkin patch today, but I'm thinking that we will probably end up staying home today instead. I hope we can find another nice day to go in the very near future! I think I was much more excited about going to the pumpkin patch than Derek, but he's a party pooper like that. ;)

Growing up too fast!

Jadon is just picking up so many new things every day now! Its really amazing!

He hears the school bus go by everyday and gets really excited to see it! He points to it and says "Sss" ... (I'm guessing he's saying "school" ????) I'm really amazed with all the new words he's picking up, and the new things he's doing! A few of his latest words are: Octopus, turtle, tattoo, one, two, three. Pretty much he repeats anything we ask him to say! He's making a lot of different sounds too, and sometimes sounds like he's telling a story by rattling off all these different sounds.

Also, he is really starting to sign now! A few weeks ago, we were outside... it was a nice day with a gentle breeze. He was playing around, and all the sudden says "woo" and starts waving his arms back and forth. It took me a minute or two to figure out what he was doing, then it dawned on me, he was signing the word "wind!" He must've felt the wind blowing, and recognized it from Signing Time, and started signing it! I was so proud!!! He also signs "bug" (the little insect-- not the verb). And tonight we were sitting at the dinner table eating, and I mentioned how it was starting to rain, and he repeated the word "rain" and did the sign for it! I cant even tell you how exciting it is for me to see him signing! Not only is he learning and greatly benefiting from learning sign language, but I am also learning it and keeping my mind active as well! I am really enjoying it!

Here's a couple pictures of him "cooking" in the kitchen the other day:

Eating Slump

I know toddlers have amazingly fickle eating habits, and i've read and heard plenty of times how most toddlers will eat really well one day, and not at all the next day... or those same eating patterns but over a longer periods of time.

Well, I think Jadon's starting an eating slump. All week long, he's been eating half of what he normally eats at every meal. He's also refusing to use his silverware now, so I think that the excitment of using a big boy spoon has worn off for him.

We've been very blessed that in the past he's had a very hearty appetite, so its frustrating to me as his mom when he wont eat. I know he wont starve, but its still hard to see your child eating so much less than what was once "normal."

Shhsh!-- updated

So Jadon's latest Baby Einstein dvd rental was one thats all about water. And it showed lots of fishies on the movie, or "shhsh" as Jadon likes to call them. I decided that I thought we should get a fish for Jadon.... nothing big and fancy or expensive (or alot more work!!!). I was thinking just a glass fish bowl and a goldfish or something.
So Derek came home from work early today, and we went to Petco to look at the animals and get a fish. We ended up with 5 because they were having a sale on guppies, 5 for $5. So, hopefully they will last and not die within days!!!! Anyways, I dont have any pictures yet, but i'll try to get some tomorrow. They really are pretty ones though! They are males, so they have the pretty colors and bigger tails. We've got 2 bright orange ones, a bright yellow one, and one thats a neat sortof multicolored, and then a darker colored one that I really havent looked at enough to really see what color he is.
Unfortunately Jadon just wants to stick his hands in the bowl, so luckily I have it up, well out of reach of his little lightening fast grabby hands! Anyways, i'm off to bed now!!

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Ok, here is a pix I took this morning of the fish...they are still alive, so thats a good sign! ;)

Dead Arm

Today, Jadon woke up from his nap a little early, and he was crying. He was obviously pretty upset about something-- it was obvious by the type of crying he was using. So I went up to see what was wrong, and I opened his door and he continued to cry a little, which is unual. He usually stops crying the minute the door starts moving opened. As I moved further into the room, I see him SITTING in his crib... also unusual... he normally stands up the minute he wakes up. Also unusual was the fact that he had tears on his face... he rarely ever crys in a way that requires tears.
Anyways, so I asked him what was wrong, and he points to his left hand immediately and wimpers some more. So I picked him up to see what was wrong with his hand, and couldnt find anything out of place or any ouchies or anything abnormal.
I brought him downstairs and he sat on my lap, and started sucking his fingers (on his left hand). It was then that I noticed the great big red mark on the underside of his arm... like he had been laying on it while he was sleeping. So i'm 99.9% sure that he woke up and had a "dead" arm and it probably scared him and probably hurt a little too. I know it always hurts me when my arm falls alseep!
So anywho, it was just the cutest thing and I wanted to share the story with you all! He sleeps in the weirdest, most uncomfortable looking positions most of the time, so i'm not surprised that he slept on a limb and it fell asleep on him.


Here's a picture of one of his most popular sleeping positions... not sure how having your butt up in the air like that can be even the least bit comfortable!!! :)

Eating like a big boy

So, Jadon's eating has greatly improved lately! He is eating with a bowl... let me rephrase... he's eating with a bowl that doesn't suction to the table, and not throwing it! He does start to play with it after he starts getting full, but we just take it away from him then. We are finding less and less food on the floor (hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and more going into his tummy.

Since we've been having such great luck with his eating, a couple days ago we started letting him use a spoon to eat, and to our joy, he uses it just like he's supposed to! We have tried a spoon in the past, and he just wasn't able to get the hang of it. I've been working with him and his spoon in the mornings with his oatmeal, and daddy taught him how to use his little fork to stab foods. He is doing really good! I'm so proud of him! I was afraid we were never going to get out of the horribly messy eating habits stage, but I think we are on our way finally! Don't get me wrong, meals are still messy, but at least i'm not on my hands and knees for 10 minutes cleaning up the floor anymore!

Here's a couple pix of him this morning eating his oatmeal.... I tried to load a video, but for some reason it would never load, so you'll have to settle for pictures unless I can figure out why the video wouldnt load.

Lord, Have Mercy!!!

So the last few days i've tried shortening Jadon's nap to see if it will help him go down at night better. Here's how its gone so far.

Monday, I shortened his nap to an hour and a half. (He has been known to take 3 hour naps during the day). That night he went down very well, without a complaint!

Tuesday, again I tried an hour and a half nap. Didnt go as well that night... he would not go to sleep until late again. Grrrrr!

Wednesday... so after the night before, I thought ok, i'll shorten the nap another 15 minutes. So one hour and 15 minute nap. Last night didnt go well again. He would not go to sleep when we put him to bed.... was screaming like he was dying or something, it was horrible. I was so frustrated that at 9:30pm I decided I needed to clean the refrigerator. Cleaning always gives me a sense of control and helps me think through my frustrations. So I pulled out all the food, all the shelves and washed everything down by hand and dried it. Finally about 10:30pm Derek got Jadon to sleep. (He woke up again at 1am, and thats another problem we will be working on after we get this going to bed thing solved.)

So, today, Thursday, I am going to try a half hour nap and see if that makes any bit of difference. Or we could just keep him up until at least 10pm every night! He's like the energizer bunny at night, I swear!! Hopefully mommy wont lose her mind with this short nap!

But, at least I have a clean refrigerator now! :)

18 Month Check-up

Jadon had his 18 month checkup today. I'm always so excied for his appointments to see how much he's grown, and see how well he's doing. This appointment didn't end up being as good though.
He grew a little bit (is 33 inches tall now), but barely gained any weight... just a few ounces. That's pretty normal since he's so much more active now, and he's always been a little on the tall/skinny side! You have seen his daddy, right????? ;)

Anyways, everything is looking fine! No shots today! He was supposed to have a Hep A shot, but was just 2 days too early to get it done, so he will get it done in November when he gets a flu shot.

A hot topic of conversation at his appointments has always been his sleeping issues. Lately, Jadon has not been wanting to go to sleep at night, and has been up until midnight some nights before finally going to sleep. She said he might not need a nap anymore, or we just need to shorten his nap, or make it earlier. (UGH!!!!!!!!!!) So, we are going to try shortening the nap some. The pediatrician said to never let him sleep longer than 2 hours. So, i'll be waking him at 1.5 hours to start with. This was not the news I was hoping for! His nap time is also mommy's "lunch break" time where I get chores done around the house and relax a little!

Random

Derek and I do the Blockbuster movie rental thing for $4 a month. We get to watch two movies of our choice every month, and they mail one to us, we watch it, then mail it back, and then they send us the next movie. Two movies a month is plenty for us, plus its so nice to not have to go anywhere to get a movie!
But anyways, a couple nights ago, we watched Meet The Robinsons (another Disney movie). I remember seeing previews for it when I was pregnant with Jadon, and they always made me laugh. So we finally got to see it, and I was a little worried that it wouldnt end up being that great, but it turned out to be a really good movie! It ended on a "feel good" note, and I always like that! Anyways, 2 enthusiastic thumbs up to that movie!

On a different note, I'm trying to decide if I want to enroll Jadon in swimming again, or if I want to do something different. He is 18 months old today, and there are a couple things in the Albany Parks and Recreation activity guide that he can do now. He could do a music class, but im afraid it would end up being all girls in the class. Theres also a Lil' Kickers (soccer) program for 18-24 month olds..... I thought about doing that... its on saturdays, so Derek could do it with us as well, however its $100 for just 10 sessions. Swimming is $50 for 10 sessions. So, i'm not sure what to do....I have to decide fast though because classes start in a week!! Yikes!!!

Locks of Love

So my hair has gotten pretty long again. Its just a couple inches shorter than it was on my wedding day, which is pretty long! Anyways, I've always wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love, and thought about doing that this time. They need 10 inches off of your hair, so I thought i'd grow my hair out a few more inches so that I could have a long enough bob when I cut it off that I could still pull it back into a ponytail. However, I went to their website to read about the other qualifications your hair has to meet in order to be acceptable to donate.

It turns out, they accept colored or permed hair, but not highlighted hair (because its bleached). Stink! I guess my horribly crappy $6 summer highlights were a complete bomb afterall. So, I dont know what to do now. I really do want to donate but I dont know if I'll ever have my hair really long again (afterall, I am a mom now, and the more kids you have, the shorter it gets.....or so i've heard!) ;)

So, I'm bummed.

Signing

So Jadon's beginning to pick up some signs, and im so excited! He always does the sign for "dog" almost everytime he sees a dog now! He will also do alot of signs after he sees them done on TV or by me, but doesnt quite associate the sign with the object yet... other than dog. Its really cute and exciting though!

As for me, I know well over 50 words now! I stopped counting at 50 a couple weeks ago. Even Derek used a sign the other day, so I know he knows at least one sign! :)

What a weekend.

Well, I was looking forward to a nice, quiet, uneventful weekend after having had a busy week.... I should know better than to think that a quiet weekend would've actually happened!

It all started on thursday night when Jadon got diarrhea. I thought it was because he had had alot of juice last week, and we dont normally give him juice, but Jadon's great-grandparents were here visiting from Florida, so we had been eating away from home alot, and he had more juice last week than he's had his whole live! Anyways, after a couple diarrhea episodes, he was fine, and was back to solid poo's by friday.

Friday evening at about 8pm, Jadon started throwing up. Then about 30 minutes later, Derek starts to feel sick and ends up throwing up as well. Jadon threw up every 15 minutes until about 11pm, then I finally got him to sleep... to which he woke up 45 minutes later to throw up again.... then went right back to sleep until 1:15am when the freezer made noise and woke him up. We were downstairs sleeping surrounded by towels because Derek was upstairs throwing up every 2o minutes or so for the entire night! Anyways, at 1:15am when Jadon woke up, he was requesting water, and so I gave him a few sips every few minutes. But he was also starving to death and was wining and begging for food. I was hesitant to give him anything because I didnt want him to throw it back up again, but after he was able to keep his water down, I decided i'd give him some yogurt. We took it very very slowly, and he kept that down, and then started playing! Kids are so resiliant! The next day, he had a little bit more diarrhea, but other than that, he was fine!

Derek on the other hand continued to throw up at least once an hour all day saturday. He wasnt keeping anything down, not even sips of water. Thanks to this Gilberts Syndrome, everytime he gets stomach bugs, he usually is out of commision for many days. Today is tuesday, and he is still home from work trying to get his strength back, but he is eating and drinking now, and has an appetite.

After the last time Derek had a stomach bug several years ago, and we took him to the E.R. because he wouldnt stop throwing up, it was then that I decided that I would become a major germaphob and strive to keep the house and everything in it as germ-free as possible, and constantly remind Derek to wash his hands before he eats lunch, etc. Since then, we have stayed pretty darn healthy!! But now we have Jadon, and everyone wants to kiss him on the lips and feed him from their spoons, and let him put his hands in their mouths, etc. At the risk of sounding like a majorly freak germaphobic person, i'd like to request that you keep your kisses to his cheeks, and your spoons to yourselves, and don't let him put his hands in your mouths. I know, he is a kid and the germs will find him, but i'd like to do as much as I can to ensure that we keep these stomach bugs away for Derek's sake. I appreciate your cooperation even if you do think that I am a nutcase.... but I know Derek feels the same way about the germs, especially after the weekend he had!

Anyways, back to the story. I ended up with a migraine and the runs as well on saturday. Jadon was horribly clingy for the whole weekend, and I couldnt even go to the kitchen without him throwing a tantrum. I spent Sunday and Monday trying to clean up the house and doing laundry. By the way, is there any special way to get vomit out of carpet? I think I did a pretty good job, got most of it cleaned up fairly well immediately after it happened, then I went back over it yesterday and scrubbed the daylights out of it to get the odor out, and a few lingering stains. Now it looks like new carpet compared to the rest of the carpet!

On a positive note, I lost over 5lbs! On a negative note, Derek also lost over 5 lbs! lol!

Well, this is a slightly depressing sounding post, not to mention its not very pleasant, so i'll stop here and post more pleasant things later on! :) Hope the rest of you had a much better weekend than we did!

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: