Winter Fun

We have been having so much fun lately enjoying being so close to Salt Lake.  Recently we went to a Jazz game where they played against Jimmer Fredette and the Sacrament Kings.  It was really fun. Afterwards we went down to the court and got some pictures, as we left we were invited to a vip room and got some free chocolate cake and sodas, awesome! This past weekend we went to the lights on temple square and visited City Creek Center.  We ate out at one of our favorite places Chik-fil-a. On Saturday, we took a ride on the new rail line from Salt Lake to Provo.  It was a free ride day so the train was full.  Luckily we got some good seats on the upper car and had a table too.  It was fun, but I was happy to get off when we got home.  James decided to break up the monotony of the ride and started everyone singing Christmas Carols.  He asked me to join him and we got a pretty good group to sing for a while.  It was a memorable experience. Here are some pictures of our recent adventures!

Dash's Birth Story

Before I forget all the details of how Dash came into the world, I am going to write them down.  So I was totally convinced that he would come early.  I had had two ultrasounds done around 18 weeks and 20 weeks, one said he was due on Oct 8th, the other on Oct 15th.  I had also been measuring big every time I had gone to see the midwives.  At my midwife appt on Oct 1st, the midwife told me I would go into labor within the week, ha! Jokes on me! I also wanted Dash to come while my mom was here since she would be here from the 12 to the 19th. The night of the 15th I was just getting so fed up.  Tired of being pregnant and people looking at me like I was the 8th world wonder. That last month was so hard! The morning of the 16th I was awake around 7am and started having some intense contractions.  By 9:30 they were about 5 min apart.  I wondered if it was truly labor or just a false start.  I wanted to do natural birth and from all the books I read about it, they all said to labor as much as you can at home because once you get to the hospital you can't eat and you are hooked up to monitors and lose a lot of freedom.  So I went about my day, cautiously hoping it was really labor.  I went to story time with my mom and Jet, and came home.  I went on a walk with my dad and dog, tried to rest and was managing the contractions alright.  By 2:30 I had decided that I should get to the hospital just to see how things were progressing.  I also knew that I needed to get 2 doses of antibiotic 4 hours apart so I would have to be at the hospital early enough to get those.  I messaged James to come home and get ready to have a baby.
It was all so exciting, with Jet I didn't go into labor on my own and had such a different experience.  So we packed up and went to the hospital around 3:30.  I was already dilated to 7 cm when I got there and I was so excited for that! I couldn't believe that I was doing it all on my own.  Unfortunately that meant that I could not get both doses of antibiotic and the midwife even suggested I get an epidural to slow down labor and to help lower my blood pressure which was creeping up.  I said no thanks and that I would just have to deal with not having the antibiotic and having to stay in the hospital a couple more days because of it.
So I was in the labor and delivery room with my family (mom, dad, James, and Jet), no nurses were there and I had  a very strong contraction.  It was so strong, I thought to myself  'something has got to give here', and then my water broke.  I pushed the button to call the nurse and told her my water had broke.  The next thing I know is that Dash's body had descended down the birth canal, I feel a ton of pressure and I say 'I need to push!' Dash was crowning at that point.  A bunch of nurses, the midwife and all this equipment come out to get ready to deliver.  I pushed twice and he was out at 5:19pm! So amazing and quick. He weighed 9lbs 10 ounces and was 23 inches long, one big baby!
I was so happy that things worked out and that I was able to birth Dash naturally.  It was so nice to get up and walk around, almost be normal after having him. My body has healed and felt so much better because of it.  If anyone gets the chance to birth naturally I recommend it, you will feel so much better and recover so much quicker and your labor is shorter too.  I had built  up natural childbirth in my mind as something that was difficult and potentially so painful it would push one to the edge of death pretty much.  It was not as bad as I had thought.  I didn't even use any of the pain coping techniques I had studied about.  I just breathed and let my body do its thing.  It was truly an amazing experience!

We know how to have fun!

These last few months until our new son comes have been filled with lots of fun and getting out while we can.  I have taken Jet to so many parks and done other activities with him, taking advantage of the fact that we don't have to be home all day like we used to at the storage units.  Recently I took him to the Discovery Gateway children's museum in SLC.  Its more like a big indoor playground than a museum.  Jet loved it.  He loved the ball display the best where you put balls down tubes.
We have done other things together like, ride bikes, go swimming, ride the paddle boats at Liberty Park, go to the Aviary with some friends, and watch a Salt Lake Bees Game. We have gone to a Gymboree class, story time at the library, visited temple square, went to an open house at the Spanish Fork airport among other things.  Whew! We sure do know how to have fun! Gotta take advantage of the warm weather and time before brother comes.
Here are some more pics of our fun times:

Bring on Baby!

YAY! We are getting so close to baby coming and everything is almost ready.  I am working on a couple of sewing project to get done for him and myself, and I should probably make some meals I can freeze for after he comes, but other than that I am ready! As ready as I can be.
This past Monday I was 34 weeks and that means plus or minus 6 more to go.  I have a hunch that he will come a bit earlier than 40 weeks (at least I am hoping).  Actually just hoping he comes when he is ready.  Baby has been measuring a week ahead at all of my appointments so that is why I think he will be ready before the 15th of October.  Plus if having Braxton Hicks contractions all the time is any indication of being ready, then it is probably going to be sooner than later.  Leave it to mother nature though to prove me wrong though.
I am getting excited for a whole different birth experience too.  Last time I was on bedrest for a month, had high blood pressure and was induced, and labor was 16 hours.  I did not like any of that, so hopefully this time things will be different.  So far I don't have any high blood pressure so that is a relief and the midwives told me the second time around labor is like half the time.  I am hoping to have that moment when I am at home doing the dishes and labor starts or sleeping and my water breaks. The more spontaneous the better right?  I am also hoping to do a natural birth.  I have been reading a few books about it and no doubt if you are healthy and pregnancy going well, it is the best thing for you and the baby. I know this in my mind and hopefully I can stick to it and that no complications come up.

I am ready to have my lap back and to have Jet climb all over me without having to shield my stomach, sleep on my stomach, among other things.  I just can't wait to see his face, his little toes and give him big kisses!

Updates on Jet and Pioneer Day Parade

Last week was the Days of '47 Parade.  I decided to take Jet and see if he would enjoy it.  I think he liked it a lot.  He would point to the horses (and call them cows), dance with the marching bad music and talked to everyone he came in contact with.  I was expecting to see the prophet in the parade, but didn't see him.  The parade was interesting because it had a lot of floats that were made by church members of different stakes.  It was cool to see Utah celebrated and the pioneers recognized.  Here are some pics from the parade:

And as James would say "Jet is really blossoming lately".  Seems like he is always blossoming or doing new things.  The latest is climbing out of his crib.  We are still trying to tackle that one and finding a way for him to nap instead of climbing out to play.  We may have to do the toddler bed thing though because once he climbs out he can't get back in.
One of the things I have noticed him doing is interacting with his stuff bears or dolls.  He will ask them if they want milk, if they are tired, if they want to go the park, or go swimming.  Usually he just says one word like 'milk?' but inflected like he is asking a question.  It is so cute.  He also puts his Pooh bear in the swing and pushes him or tries to feed him.  
He is starting to put words together like 'bye-bye Cody'.  He asks several times a day 'where's Daddy?' or 'Where Daddy go?'
He loves to go outside and I have taken him swimming (which he loves), bike riding and just on walks.
One thing that I hope he grows out of soon is pitching a fit anytime I try to put him in his carseat, the grocery cart, go to change his diaper or take him away from something he wants to do.  He will fight, pull hair, arch his back anything but get into the carseat or whatever.  He is a strong kid too, we are a pretty good match.
Jet is very smart, I have been impressed with how well he is picking up on new things.  We have recently started teaching him to identify different letters of the alphabet.  He can recognize 6 or 7 letters right now and sometimes when he sees a letter he knows while reading a book or on tv he will tell us.
We haven't officially started potty training, but we are definitely exposing him to as much of it as possible. We have a little toilet seat for him and before taking a bath we try to get him to go potty because he always goes when he takes a bath.  Last night was a miracle, James asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes so James put him on the potty seat and he went! We praised the heck out of him and gave him a treat.  I have tried a couple of times when I notice him grunting like he needs to do #2 but haven't had any success.  I still think he is a little young for potty training, so I might wait to hit it hard until he is more ready. 
One of the cute things he does is when he does his countdown before jumping off something or whatever instead of counting '1, 2, 3', he can only say the number '2' so his countdown is '2, 2, 2!'
He points and names things all the time, and several times over. If he sees a bike, he will say 'bike, bike, bike, bike'.
He is so social, we haven't enforced the 'no talking to strangers' yet.  Wherever we go he tells random people 'hi', 'bye-bye', or will just start jabbering to them.
Sometimes I wonder if Jet thinks he is a dog.  He certainly knows how to imitate one. The other day a maintenance person was over to check out our fridge and he came up to him and started sniffing him, just like Cody does to anything and everything.  Sometimes he picks up toys with his mouth and shakes them like a dog too.  Pretty funny kid.
Anyway, it is so awesome to watch him grow and develop.  He certainly surprises us sometimes. We love him to death and I just can't get enough of his cute face.

Moved

Recently we moved up to Salt Lake, more specifically Taylorsville.  We are loving it! Both James and I had our own reasons why we wanted to move, and it was something we had thought about for a while and 2 weeks ago we finally did it.  For the past year, James had been commuting on the bus to and from work from Spanish Fork to downtown SLC.  Usually an hour for him on the way there, but sometimes up to 2 hours on the way home.  I can't believe he made it a year doing that, but I can't believe I survived managing and living at a storage unit facility on my own for the past year.  So for James, it means a shorter commute and more time with us! Yay! For me it means I don't have to be a stay-at-home-never-leave-your-home mom.  There are so many things I won't miss about managing the storage units.  To name a few:

• having to be home from 9am to 6pm everyday (except weekends), yeah I went a bit stir crazy
• loud trucks in the early morning (we lived next to a cement plant)
• having to drop whatever I was doing at any time to tend to a customer or phone call
• after-hours customers knocking on my door (seemed like you never really were 'off' from work)

Anyway, there are tons more, but we are grateful for the chance we had to experience it and it was a blessing to stay at home and contribute financially to the family. 

Even though where we live is not anything fancy, to me it is soooo nice.  There are parks around, the complex here has a pool and workout room, and the layout of our apartment is much nicer (no stairs within my apartment among other things).  We have been impressed by random people that helped us move in, the responsiveness of maintenance, good neighbors, how quiet it is, and how well managed the place is.

Now that I can leave during the day, I have been able to do more things with Jet like going for bike rides, going swimming, taking Cody to the dog park.  I am grateful to be a stay at home mom and I realize that it is a luxury, not every woman can afford to do that.  I am grateful for these next couple of months I will have to spend with just Jet until his brother comes along. 

The move went so smoothly.  I had most of a week to pack and sort through things.  We had a lot of help from the ward. One of the members of our ward let us use his trailer and drove all the way up and helped us unload. It was so helpful.  Now that we are situated we are looking forward to making new friends and exploring more of Salt Lake.  I actually think the Salt Lake temple is our temple to attend, how cool is that?!

Here are some pictures of the move

Birthday and Father's Day

James recently celebrated his 30th birthday and we just had to do something special for him.  His birthday was on a Friday, so I took the day off and Jet and I drove to Salt Lake and surprised him at his work with balloons.  I also made some mini cheesecakes with strawberry as cheesecake is traditional birthday cake for him.  I think he was pretty surprised.  We got to hang out with him at work and in Salt Lake a little bit, we checked out our new apartments we are moving to in a couple of weeks and watched a movie when we got home.  I hope he felt celebrated because I am so glad he is here and is my husband.  He is a great man and great father.  We both love him so much and can't get enough of him.

Getting ready to surprise Daddy!

Happy Father's Day

I had a double whammy with James' birthday and Father's Day the same weekend. Jet managed to make him a cool picture and handprint to show how much he loves his Daddy. I love the picture of Jet and James, they are so cute!

Loving Summer

I have to say that summer is my favorite season.  When you live in Utah where it is winter half of the year, the warm weather is a welcome change.  I mean, what is not to love about summer?  I can't think of one thing.  I love being able to go outside, go swimming, the sunshine, going to the park, eating snowcones, wearing shorts and flipflops, just about everything
Recently we took Jet to the pool for his second time, last time he was like 10 months old and did great. This time, Jet was scared mostly for the couple of hours we were there, but near the end he would wade out into the water on his own. 

Summer also means cleaning windows.  James and I have been cleaning windows on Saturdays and I haven't minded really even being pregnant.  I guess because I am usually inside or home most days, it is nice to get out and do a job outside and move around, plus a little bonus money never hurts.

 Hope you are enjoying summer as much as we are!

Kidney Stone and It's a BOY!

Yeah I know, how do those two go in the same title you might ask. Well last week on Friday I had felt some cramping or soreness mainly on my left side.  I didn't think anything about it since I am pregnant and your body does weird things anyway so I just ignored it pretty much and took it easy.  The next day, Saturday, I was working the storage units at home and Jet was upstairs napping. James was out cleaning windows and out of nowhere I started to get a sharp pain in my left side where the cramping had been.  I thought, 'well that for sure is not normal'. So I tried to call James and texted him that I was heading to the instacare. I got Jet up from his nap,  packed him up and headed to the instacare about 5 min from my house.  I went in and they told me to go to the emergency room because my blood pressure was high and they didn't have imaging or ultrasound really to help me.  So I packed Jet up again and the pain was still there.  As I was driving myself to the emergency room, the pain was getting worse.  I was scared I wouldn't make it to the emergency room.  I made it there, got Jet in the stroller and they checked me in.  The nurse said it sounded like a kidney stone, so I guess that made me feel better.  After I had been checked in, Jet and I went to our room.  The pain got really bad.  I mean like, pain so bad you throw up, feel like you are going pass out, break out in a sweat type pain.  The nurses could hear my moaning and crying and gave me a couple of doses of morphine, and even then the pain was just bearable.  I made sure everyone knew that I was pregnant, like 3 times so the morphine was ok for baby. Anyway, I called James and told him to come over and soon he was there.  The nurses had already changed Jet's diaper twice, so that was nice to have someone else do that for a change. I felt bad for the kid having to watch me writhe around in pain, but he got a cookies and chocolate milk, so I don't think he minded.
          We went into the ultrasound room to try and see the kidney stone and check on baby.  Baby was doing great and I asked the nurse to see if baby was a boy or girl, just to brighten my day.  The tech found the parts and asked if we were familiar with them, and for sure it is a BOY! Even though I was kinda out of it, I was so happy.  It could not be more perfect if I had planned it myself.  Two boys, two years apart, both in October. I have everything ready for their first 20 months of life. I am soooo excited to see them grow up, play with each other, and become friends.  I really hope they are great friends; I will do my best to foster that friendship.
    So as far as the kidney stone, I went home after my emergency room visit and still had pain, bearable pain.  It got a little better for a few hours, then got worse towards 11pm at night.  I took some pain medication and was able to sleep for a while.  I woke up mother's day morning and the pain was gone! Best mother's day present ever! I went to church, just sacrament and felt a lot better, later that night the stone passed and I was done with it.  During the ultrasound the tech saw another kidney stone hanging out in my kidney and someday it might decide to make its descent, something to look forward to :(.
     For now I am just grateful to not have that pain of a kidney stone, but it reminded me of how things in October will be when boy #2 joins our family.  At least with that kind of pain it peaks and fades a little and you get a precious angel in the end.

 On May 11-12 Jet and I went on a Father and Sons campout.  At first I thought he was a little young for it. But I said
what the heck and knew that one way or the other would create a memorable experience.  While I was at work, Amanda packed the car with our tent, chair, stroller and other things.  We drove up Spanish Fork canyon to a place called Wanrhodes.  There was a great turnout and some ward members even brought their horses.  We started the evening with some great dinner. We had beef stew and cheesey potatoes. Then for dessert we had dutch oven peach cobler and ice cream.  After that we sat around the campfire and Jet got to pet a dog and go look at the horses. After that I thought I should start getting the tent set up.  I later found out that we were the only ones staying in a tent.  Other people mentioned sleeping under the stars and others brought travel trailers.  That was okay, I was up for the adventure.  The only problem was that there wasn't very many places nearby with flat ground.  I found a place that was 20 feet from the fire and 10 feet from the horses.  This later turned out to be a problem. After that, Jet got to roast his first marshmallow over the fire, although he wasn't as interested in roasting it as he was just eating it.  We did go down to a little river for a bit, but I soon thought he would get dirty and or wet, so I took him back up away from the creek.  I changed Jet's diaper in the tent and we started to make for bed.  Jet was a little bit scared I think at first, maybe a little claustrophobic I don't know. Then he didn't have too much trouble going to sleep. It was a little bit colder up there than I thought, so he slept in his jacket and other clothes.  I couldn't get to asleep, partly because I was on my back and the other part because people were talking around the fire for another couple hours, also someone had a lantern on and so there was plenty of light coming through the tent.  I didn't have it in me to ask people to be quiet or turn the light off, or go do it myself, so I just relaxed for a while in the tent.  I must have fallen asleep because next thing I knew I was waking up and it was only 1am.  I had to go the bathroom and it was really cold.  The other problem was that the air mattress was losing air.  So although I didn't want to, I knew it would be better if I went the bathroom and put more air in the mattress.  In doing so, I woke Jet up. At one point we did get the stars out and it was very beautiful.  At another point I remember bear hugging Jet and putting us both in two sleeping bags and trying to stay warm together.  Jet was really such a trooper.  He cried a little bit here and there, but overall I was so proud of him.  He was up for the adventure.  It really was a great bonding experience for us.  I just wish it had been 20 degrees warmer.  So the other problem was that I lost my glasses somewhere in the middle of the night....I had always said that if ever got too bad, we could just pack up and go home.  Well now I had to wait till morning light to find my glasses, because I wasn't going to leave without them.  But we were so cold.  There was litterally frost on the car and tent in the morning. Another part of me wanted to hold out until breakfast.  So we got some sleep here and there, and we waited for light at around 6am and I was like, I am freezing, I don't care about breakfast, I am out of here.  So I backed the car up to the tent and turned on the heater. I put Jet in the car while I was packing up.  I remember it was so cold, that I even warmed up in the car for a few minutes to have a break from packing up the car.  I found my glasses in the tent and then I stuffed everything in the back of the car. I was hungry and thought we'd get a small breakfast at McDonalds.  It was pretty fun, me and Jet on a adventure, 7am in the morning at McDonalds.  I bet we looked like an odd pair.  We got some breakfast and then I let Jet play in the play area for like 30 minutes, trying to buy some time, so that Amanda could sleep in some more before we came home. We came home and showed Mom all our pictures and then went back to bed.  It was a great trip with some hiccups.  I was happy to make some great memories with Jet and be a cool dad for him.  We'll have to do it again sometime!!!

Father and Son

Silly, loving, and goofy are probably the best words to describe how James and Jet play with each other. Lately I have been really enjoying those two interact with each other and seeing Jet bond with his Dad. Jet is definitely a daddy's boy. The other day I was folding James' clothes and Jet said , 'dada'. He knows his dad very well and gets so excited when he comes home. He runs up and gives him a big hug and kisses. I have to admit I think Dads are much cooler than mom, especially in this case. James always has the energy to toss him around, chase him, or wrestle with him. They have so much fun together playing catch, playing with the trains, or reading. Daddy makes everything more fun.
I was telling James the other day that even though he and I have different likes/dislikes or interests, Jet has given us something in common that is so wonderful and eternal. We both have a common love and find joy in our little boy.

Jet at 18 months

This week we had Jet's 18 month doctor's appointment and have some fun updates on how he is doing. We love being his parents, he is such a sweetheart. He is also pretty tough. When he got his vaccinations he cried while they were being done and for a minute after, but that was it. He is an amazing child! Here are some of his recent growth stats.


Weight: 24 lbs
Height: 32.75 inches
Head: 18.75 inches

He is right in the middle of the pack when it comes to all of his measurements. As the mom, I feel a sense of pride knowing that I have helped him grow and develop and be such a healthy kid. I hope it continues!

Some of the fun things Jet is doing:

getting into everything
pretending he doesn't know what 'no' means
talking (he can say: mama, dada, dog, duck, truck, grandpa, grandma, no, ball, basketball, book, apple, balloon, banana, elmo, and a few others I can't think of)
climbing on everything
plays basketball for half hour a day
runs
likes to dance or walk in circles
laughs at himself randomly
gives the best hugs and kisses
loves dogs and animals
eats just about everything mom and dad eat or give him
sleeps 10-12 hours a night and takes one nap (2 hours) during the day
points and tries to name things
has nearly all his teeth except the back molars (canines are coming in)
loves to be outside and go to the park
sucks his thumb and puts his other hand down his shirt when is tired, upset, or bored
throws everything!
eats with a fork
folds his arms for the prayer
he can spot a ball or balloon from a mile away literally
he LOVES balls, he has called several things balls such as the moon, the at&t symbol, google chrome symbol and pretty much anything circular, his favorite word is definitely 'ball'.


One of the funny things he has done recently is when he starts to play with the lamp on our headboard I always tell him 'no-no'. Now whenever he starts to play with the lamp he says 'no-no'. He probably thinks that is what I call a lamp.
He is a very loving child and I love his cute face. Jet is going to be the best big brother too! We love Jet so much, he has filled a spot in our hearts we didn't know we had!


This video is of Jet at the dog park in Oklahoma.

12 Weeks

Today I am 12 weeks along and that means that baby #2 is well on its way. Baby is due the middle of October, so that means Jet and baby will be almost exactly 2 years apart. I am so excited to meet another precious spirit straight from Heavenly Father, they truly are angels at least until they are teenagers right? I am more nervous about this second one than the first because I know how much work one is and now I will have a 2 year old and a newborn! I am sure I will be tired for the rest of my life basically. But I know that they won't stay that way very long and I see Jet becoming more independent each day and that makes it easier on mom. Anyway, I have felt different this pregnancy in that I have felt a lot more nauseated and have thrown up a couple of times. I read somewhere that if you are more sick than you were with a boy, then it is a girl but I still have no clue. I would like to have a girl, but I love little boys and think they could be great friends and playmates. If it is a boy then I already have what I need so that's nice. Hope it is smooth sailing all the way through. We feel so blessed to have another angel come to our family and I know Jet will be such a good brother.