Why I Am So NOT a Sewer

My mom is an AMAZING seamstress. She can make anything from quilts to blessing dresses to bridesmaid dresses to purses to, well, pretty much anything she puts her mind to. Unfortunately that sewing gene fell a little too far off the tree when it came to me (I still make valiant attempts, all of which seem to fail. Like the throw pillows I made last year whose seams are all popping out now). I always thought it was neat how my mom made baby blankets for all 10 of her kids. I still have the one that she crotched for me, it is gorgeous (and that is why I almost had a heart attack last winter when Jason grabbed a stack of blankets out of the closet to cover the plants up during the frost and I woke up in the morning to find my baby blanket and wedding quilt, that my mom hand stitched also, draped all over the front lawn. Typical guy thing.) Anyways, so today I decided I wanted to make a baby blanket. This is where my first mistake starts. Instead of spending the time taking a sewing class, or perhaps at the very least just talk to someone who knows a thing or two about sewing blankets, I decide on a whim that today is the day for blanket making. I mean come on people, we're making a square here, all straight lines, how hard can it be? The second problem is that I'm not a perfectionist. Whereas Jason is quite the opposite, when it comes to projects he tends to go with my dad's motto: "Any job worth doing is a job worth doing well". I have my own motto: "It's good enough, now lets move on". So I drag Jayden to JoAnn's with me (with a nice piece of Power Ranger fleece that he found as his bribery to stay in the cart and stop pulling everything off the shelf) and lucked out to find some fabric I actually liked (with so many fabric choices there, why do I have the hardest time finding anything decent?) As I'm there I remember that most blankets have that satin binding and was glad that I atleast thought to get some of that. Of course I hadn't even thought about how much fabric I would need, let alone how much binding (who has time to take measurements before shopping?), so I ended up cutting off a big chunk of fabric when I got home so that I would have enough binding to go all around. (But try to give me some credit for atleast being resourceful, I used the extra pieces that I cut off and some ribbon I had laying around to make these cute burp cloths):So I get started as soon as I get home and am pretty confident that I'll be done in an hour tops. This is where the real fun begins. I didn't realize there is certain fabrics that are better for quilting (something I would have found out if I had taken the time to do some research) and the one I got is a little stretchy, so of course it keeps puckering up. I am not a patient person when it comes to pinning, I stick a couple in and call it good. Of course that means that my lines aren't straight and I end up picking out every stitch and starting over like atleast 10 times. Almost every time I start a sewing project, I always forget to get the right color of thread and once I get excited about a project I don't want to put it off until I can go back to the store for the right thread. This wasn't a problem since I sewed it inside out, until I got to that last little bit that I had to sew on the outside after flipping it right side out. Then there's the problem with the corners....in my mind I didn't think that it would be too hard to figure out. Apparently my mind was deceiving me. After many failed attempts I finally googled how to sew corners on the binding. Too bad I had already cut all the strips up and you're supposed to leave the binding in one whole piece and just fold it then sew. This is the result of my impatience (Mandy, you may want to close your eyes, I know how corners that don't match up affect you :): Finally about 6 hours later I finish my simple one hour sewing project (meanwhile my neglected children who have been watching tv for the past 3 hours are starving, the house is a wreck, and I have a half hour before Young Womens to get dinner and homework done. Once I start a project I can't stop until I finish). Now that it's finally done, I kind of like it (as long as you stand atleast 10 feet away when you look at it!) But next time I may just save myself the 6 hrs, spend a couple bucks more and just drive to the store and buy one. Although you never know, maybe one day my little man might just look at all the imperfections on his blanket (right before draping it on a plant to protect it from the frost) and think of the blood, sweat and tears that went into making it. Either that, or he may just realize that his mom is a sewing retard. (Man, I really wish my mom lived closer!)

Mean Girls

One of my biggest anxieties about having my kids grow up is watching them get hurt as they face the real world. I just don't know if I'm strong enough to handle watching their little hearts break. It's hard to let them out of their safe protective bubble here at home and send them out into the world knowing that they will eventually get hurt and there's nothing that I can do to prevent it. I hate feeling so helpless. We lucked out last year in kindergarten, Kylie had such a cute class. They were all the best of friends and we never had any issues with teasing, cliques or bullies, which I am very grateful for. This year we weren't so lucky. There was a new girl in Kylie's class and Kylie was cute to go out of her way to help her. A couple of weeks after she told me about this girl I asked her if she still played with her. She got a sad look on her face and said, "no, at recess I asked her and her friend if they wanted to play with us and she told her friend, 'ewww, don't talk to her'". What a brat! There were several other incidences after that but the most recent was this past week when she was so excited to bring in some sea shells that she had found at the beach to show her class. When she came home that day she was obviously hurt and when I asked her what was wrong she told me, with tears in her eyes, that the same girl told her that her seashells were dumb and then she grabbed them and tried to break them. It broke my heart and I was beyond ticked that she keeps singling out my sweet little girl (please excuse my horomonal imbalance as of late :). I've seen this girl (when I sized her up at the lunch table after the first incident) and she looks like she comes from a rough background so I know I should be sympathetic, but I can't help it. I know I should be saying things to Kylie about how she should still be nice to her no matter what, but I can't help it. I know I should stop getting worked up and overreacting about this, but I can't help it. It just hurts me to see her get hurt. I'm having a hard time knowing what to say to Kylie and how to deal with the situation. When I had kids I wasn't prepared for the level of love that would come with raising a child, the way your heart is attached to theirs, or the pain that comes from seeing them hurt. I know this is just the beginning and it scares me to think of the day when the mean comments go beyond just sea shells.

One Last Horrah

Even though it's been four years since I've traveled with a newborn, it still hasn't been long enough for me to forget what it's like. There are so many things about having a baby that I am so excited about, traveling just isn't one of them. That's why we decided to do one last family trip before the little dude pops out. We took a quick beach trip over Labor Day weekend and it was the perfect getaway. It was so relaxing spending a couple of days on the beach with friends. The kids had the best time playing in the waves, digging holes, building sand castles and finding shells and sea creatures. I'm still trying to clean the sand off of them. It was great as always to hang out with our Cali friends, Shawn, Melinda, Nate, Tara and their cute kids. My only complaint about the trip was that it wasn't long enough! Besides the beach, we went to the Orange County swap meet, went to dinner with Jason's aunt Polly, swam at the hotel, grilled it up at Shawn and Melinda's and of course ate at our favorite joint, Wahoo's. Kylie's favorite part was when we went with the Morris' to the tide pools at Laguna beach. She was in awe with all the sea creatures like the anemone, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, snails, crabs and all sorts of other things. Jayden wasn't as impressed, he thought that beach was too stinky (hence the oh-so-joyous look on his face in the family picture). His favorite part of the trip by far was the hotel (and the $1 generic lego airplane that he got at the swap meet and still hasn't put down since). We went straight to the beach the first day and about every half hour Jayden would run to me and report that he was so excited to go to the hotel and kept asking how much longer until we could go there. I still don't get what the hype is about a hotel for him (when I asked him why he was so excited to go to the hotel he responded "I so excited to see what color it is inside!"), but as we were pulling away on the last day he had tears streaming down his face as he was begging us to let him stay and live at the hotel. Give that kid a hotel and McDonalds (or "DicDonald's as he calls it :) and he would be about the happiest kid alive. Needless to say, we had a great time and I couldn't help but realize how different our next trip will be....pack n' plays, naptimes, bottles, dirty diapers, screaming in the car, diaper bags, sand covered binkys, schedules, nursing under the beach towel, staying out of the sun....of course we're so excited for the new change coming, but I admit that I did smile a little bigger as I sat on my beach chair absolutely all day just watching my kids play.

Huntington Beach

They loved the hole Shawn and Jason dug, especially when it got filled with waterJason and Shawn boogie boarding
finding hermit crabs and snails at the tide pools One of the many hermit crab pets Kylie found (and tried to convince us to let her bring home) Tara and her too-cute-for-their-own-good twin boys

For Papa


It all started about 3 years ago when we went to visit my parents for the first time since they moved to Indiana. Several months before we came, my dad told Kylie that they had found some frogs in their backyard and so everytime she talked to him on the phone she would ask about the frogs and couldn't wait to see them. Inevitably those particular frogs hopped away to another home and my dad was worried that Kylie would be disappointed if there weren't any frogs. As luck would have it, a couple days before we came to visit there was a big rain storm and when they came out of a store the parking lot was filled with tons of baby frogs. It still makes me smile to picture my parents (and I'm pretty sure Jessica too) catching all these little frogs to bring home for Kylie. Of course Kylie was beyond thrilled to see so many frogs and ever since then her and Papa have had a little frog thing going on. He was cute and got her a stuffed frog for her birthday that she loves and she always tries to pick out birthday and father's day cards for him that have frogs on them. She adores her Papa and I love the cute relationship that they have. So this past week we had a huge monsoon storm and we were surprised to find this big frog doing the back stroke in our pool (where the heck does a frog come from in the middle of the desert??). Jason caught it and saved it to show the kids when they woke up in the morning. As soon as Kylie saw it, the first thing she said was "I have to call Papa!" then she insisted that I take pictures to show him. They were excited to have a pet for a day until we released it into the wild (if you can consider the little man made pond in our neighborhood "the wild").

Frogs, snails and puppy dog tails....well, maybe not. Jayden thought he was brave enough to touch the frog, but as soon as he did it hopped and totally freaked him out. He screamed like a girl. After that this is as close as they would get to it (you can't even see it, it's a tiny speck in the grass about 10 ft away from them)

34 Weeks

According to Jayden, my belly is bigger than his whole entire body. I tend to agree, or atleast it feels that way.

Wish List

Jayden is constantly contemplating his life and coming up with different wishes. These are just a few of his high aspirations from this past week:

-I wish I be a mommy so I could sleep in your bed
-I wish I be Caillou
-I wish I live at Cole's house
-I wish I be a blue #10 (from some Mickey Mouse episode)
-I wish Grandma could be my mom
-I wish I could have a dog
-I wish I be a rocket guy
-I wish I be a daddy so I can drive
-I wish you were a frog and Grady's mom could be my mom
-I wish I be a girl 'cause I don't like pokey hair (he hates when I interrupt his playing to spike his hair. He doesn't think it's necessary at all and says it's "only for decoration" and doesn't see the point)
-I wish I be a bird
-I wish I never be a skeleton
-I wish I be a pirate captain
-I wish I be a daddy so I never have to go to preschool
-I wish my name be George
and my favorite:
-I wish I be pregnant (I never knew I made pregnancy look so appealing to a 4 year old!)

Thoughtful

Kylie has always been sensitive and has a soft spot in her heart for those in need. It's one of the characteristics that I really admire in her. Recently an 8 year old boy in our ward was suddenly diagnosed with a cancerous tumor, which was discovered after it had ruptured. Needless to say, it has been a heartbreaking ordeal for the family, but it has been good to see the ward and community pull together to help them. They sent a letter home from school saying that this past Friday (which was his birthday) was going to be free dress day where the kids can wear non-uniform clothes if they bring in money to donate to the family. As I was helping Kylie pick out her outfit the night before, I told her that I would put the money in her folder to take to school. She replied, "actually mom, I was thinking that I wanted to use my own money from my piggy bank, I think he would like that more". I couldn't help but tear up a little bit as I watched her dig through her bank and without hesitation handed me $1.37 in change, which was no small sacrifice considering she doesn't even get an allowance. Thanks, Ky, for your selfless example!

It's a Sad Life

This poor Transformer was stripped of his pride when he found himself nestled under a satin pink flowered blanket. He now reigns as the current resident defender of the Barbie house. It's a sad life, but somebody's got to do it. I guess atleast Jayden's making a step in the right direction in the masculinity department (even if it is just baby steps).

PS-I had to do another post really quick because I couldn't stand having Jayden's psycho eyes being the first thing that I see.

CREEPY!!!

Jayden has discovered this new little talent and it CREEPS ME OUT!! Of course he thinks it's hilarious and does it even more. It's a little awkward when he does it in public and people look at me like he's one of the Children of the Corn (never seen the movie, but I'm pretty confident this look would fit right in).

Overwhelmed

My friend said it best when saying that "being a Mormon is stressful!". Yes, we know we get blessings for being obedient and there's a reason that we do what we do, but let's face it, it can be stressful trying to keep up with everything! Recently our stake has requested that every family has atleast a 2 week supply of water. There has been a lot of speculation as to why, especially since the last time a stake in our area made a request like this Hurricane Katrina happened shortly afterwards and they were able to use all the water to ship to those in need. I'm not making any speculations, but it does make me re-evaluate how prepared we are. I was so excited that Jason finished the shelves under our stairs so that I can finally have a place to keep my food storage (what I would give for the basement I had in Utah!). My food storage isn't much, but atleast it's a start (I've been going with the "buy things that you use" route, and so far it looks like at the end of the world we'll be eating cold cereal, flour and soy sauce). I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'm getting my water and food supply built up, but what about all the toiletries, emergency stuff, medications, etc.? It's stressful! Not to mention all the other worries that us mom's, particularly mormon moms, have to deal with:

Am I doing a good enough job teaching my kids about the gospel? How do I keep them more reverent at church? Is my scripture study effective? Am I attending the temple enough? Are my kids eating healthy enough? Are my kids getting enough exercise? Are my kids watching too much tv? Did they get their homework done? Am I spending enough time playing with them? How do I keep the house clean and organized without neglecting my kids? Did they brush their teeth? Did I remember to pack lunches? Am I finding time to teach Jayden his letters and numbers? Should I be volunteering more at school? What can I do about these scorpions, we just found another one outside the kids bedrooms? I should be doing more to develop my talents, but what and when? I keep hearing scary stories about immunizations, am I making the right choice to immunize this next baby? Am I giving them enough chores to teach them responsibility? Should I start allowances so I can teach them how to manage money? How can I plan more effective FHE's? Am I patient but not lenient? Am I firm but not mean? Am I sympathetic without coddling? Am I teaching them good manners? Am I staying on top of my journaling/scrapbooking? Should we be starting their college fund now? Am I doing all that I can for my calling? Do they have clean clothes to wear? Am I shelterig them too much or not enough? Am I making the most of my time? Am I staying within the budget? Is there a healthy home cooked meal, that my kids will actually eat, on the table every night? What can I do to strengthen my marriage? What traditions am I passing on to my kids? Did I do my visiting teaching? Am I spoiling my kids? Am I serving as much as I should? And the list goes on....It's amazing that us moms even get any sleep at night! I guess all that I can do is try my best and hope it's enough.

While The Kids Are Away...

I feel like I'm a bad mom when I say that I enjoy having my kids in school. It's not that I don't enjoy having them around, because of course they mean the world to me. It's just that I feel like I'm a more patient and loving mom when I have that time to just rejuvinate. I feel like I can get everything done that I need to while they're gone so that I can really enjoy being with them when they're home. Besides, they really enjoy school so I think it's sort of a win-win situation. It's just been nice filling my time getting projects done, going out to lunch with friends, going to the temple (thanks Chelsea!), leisurely shopping trips and uninterrupted cleaning days. Some of my projects include finally making the drapes for my loft. They're nothing fancy but I've just been putting it off for like a year. I was also excited to bottle homemade spaghetti sauce for the first time with my friend Mandy (thankyou!). Yes, it is cheaper and less time consuming just to buy it, but there is something about doing it that makes me feel so domesticated and you can't even compare the taste of this 100% natural, no preservative sauce--so yummy! Besides, it's nice just having an excuse to spend all day hanging out with her :). Speaking of domesticated, I just learned how to make homemade bread for the first time (not counting my bread maker) and this isn't just any bread, this is THE sacrament bread. We're talking seriously good. Each Sunday I battle with Jayden as he tries to grab as many handfuls to shove into his face before I can stop him. I even catch Jason eyeing out the biggest piece sometimes. It's in the oven now so I really hope it turns out (thanks Trish)! A couple of us also started a little craft club in our ward. It's not ward sponsored, so it's just a word of mouth thing (this is an invitation to anyone in the ward reading this, so let me know if you want to come!) and it has been so fun getting together once a month to make different crafts. So far we've done these canvas art, hooded towels and holiday decor signs. There are so many cute things planned, I can't wait to make them all. We've got some seriously creative and talented people in our ward, thanks girls for sharing!

We've also been doing some house projects like replacing this entry way light. My neighbor moved (sniff, sniff) and told us we could have her chandelier if we could find a way to get it down. When there's a will, there's a way. We rented this huge 14 ft ladder from Home Depot and then just try to imagine pregnant Jamie up there 2 stories high trying to balance this huge light fixture while Jason did the wiring, not once but 3 different times as we went between houses switching them out. It was pretty scary (and probably not the smartest thing), but Kylie was nice enough to offer to catch me if I fell. She also gave us another light fixture for our kitchen and this electronic basketball thing for the toy room that attaches to the wall (don't even get me started on hanging that thing!) She was such a great neighbor, I'm going to miss her!

So it's been nice feeling productive lately, especially since pretty soon my days will be spent changing diapers and having a baby permanantly attached to my boob.

What's Worse....

....than having your air conditioning break in the hottest month of the year in the hottest state in America while you're huge and pregnant and nobody is available to come and fix it until tomorrow? NOTHING. Oh yeah, and our 2 year warranty expired last month so only the parts are covered. It's a good day.

Young Women Campout

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to go to a campout for the YM and YW in the ward. Last December (or maybe January?) the bishop had given the youth a challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon by this month and then they planned this really cool campout as the culminating event. They put so much work into it with some great activities and firesides, I'm so glad I was able to be a part of it. I decided to bring Kylie with me and she had a blast (and I was glad I didn't have to sleep by myself in the tent :). She thought she was so cool to be able to hangout with the big girls and there were also some other girls her age to play with during some of the activities. She was so excited about the camping part since we are not a camping family and she is seriously deprived in that department. It's just fun having her older and being able to tag along with me to things like this. Jayden had a fun little boys weekend with Dad doing all his favorites like McDonald's, building a fort and having a sleepover in it, going to the store to pick out treats for a movie party and even "helping" him build some storage shelves for me (I was so excited about the shelves, it was the best surprise. I never thought I would reach a point in my life when I would get so excited about storage shelves). Back to the camping...as wonderful as the daytime activities were, the night was a whole other story. I figured I wouldn't get much sleep because I would be so uncomfortable, but what I hadn't planned for was the heartburn, sinus infection and 9 beehives sleeping in a tent 5 feet from mine that were awake until 5:00AM! I started out by sweetly reminding them that it was bedtime, but with each hour that passed they saw me transform into this cranky pregnant monster. Obviously my yelling wasn't intimidating enough because 5 minutes later they would be laughing and talking loud again. I know I was the exact same way when I was that age so it was all payback--karma is a funny thing. I could hear every word they were saying (I learned more than I wanted to about those girls!), and it made me laugh when I heard one of them say, "you guys better be quiet or your going to make Sis. Young go into labor!" Or they would say, "do you think Sis. Young is asleep yet?" and I would immediately yell back, "nope, I'm still awake!". Finally around 3:00 I managed to fall into a restless sleep, only to be woken up 2 1/2 hours later with the breakfast preparations. Oh well, it was just one night and I'm not too old to remember how much fun those overnight YW activities were, so I'm glad the girls had fun. As I was laying there listening to the things they were talking about it made me really scared to have Kylie grow up. The challenges these girls face are so much more intense then what I went through and it's scary. However, the next day they had a really spiritual testimony meeting and as I sat there listening to the amazing strength and testimonies of these kids, it brought me comfort to know that when the time comes for her to grow up and face all those challenges, she will have the gospel, great leaders and strong friends (hopefully) to help her make it through. I'm grateful for the amazing youth program that the church has and it's been such a growing experience for me to be a part of it. I know that I definately learn more than I could ever teach them!

Student of the Week

When Kylie got picked to be the first student of the week, Jason was convinced it was because she's asian like her teacher. He was a little disappointed when Kylie told him that they drew names out of a jar, but secretly he still thinks her ethnicity will score her the "favorite student" spot. I'm thinking they probably don't promote reverse racism in first grade, but either way, Kylie was excited to be the first student of the week and it was fun to come in and see her little presentation. We brought in donuts and while I was passing them out the teacher was collecting these gold fish that they earn throughout the week. If they earn 20 then they get to put their name into a raffle drawing. Kylie thought she had 20 but when she took them up there her teacher said she only had 19. Immediately a little boy came up to Kylie and gave her one of his goldfish so that she would have enough. It was the sweetest thing ever, I think I want her to marry him. So far she is liking first grade, and I think I'm the one that's missing kindergarten the most. In first grade they already take the morning recess away, no set snack time, 30 spelling words and phonograms instead of 15, they play on the big playground with the big kids and no more cutesy songs and projects. But she's having fun so I guess that's all that matters, right? It's cute to see her becoming more responsible too, she still wakes up with her alarm every morning and gets herself dressed and ready. She also doesn't fight me as much with the homework (it's still a point of contention, but atleast we're making progress). I'm glad she's enjoying school and she sure did make a cute little star student!

For the Girlies

I came across this cool blog with lots of hair ideas for little girls (it also has lots of links for more hair ideas). Kylie's loved picking out a different hairstyle every day and it's nice to do something other than just ponytails. Just thought I would pass it along....(http://www.shedoeshair.blogspot.com/).

A Baby Story

Like every mom, each time my kids have a birthday I can't help but think back to the day they were born. As I was thinking back to four years ago, I realized that I don't have Jayden's birth story written down and thought that it would be something worth recording. So this entry is for my own journaling sake...

My original due date was August 9th (the same day as Jayci and Papa Jolley's birthdays), and those last few weeks were miserable in the summer heat. I couldn't wait to meet my little boy and to be done with my pregnancy. I had a C-section with Kylie, but this time I decided to try a VBAC. My doctor wouldn't induce me because of the risk, so we were stuck playing the waiting game. Jason's cousin was getting married the last week of July in California. Two days before we were supposed to leave I told my doctor that I wanted to go. I don't think that he was very happy and stripped my membranes without telling me, I think in an effort to stop me from going. It hurt BAD and poor Kylie was at the appointment and still remembers when I said owww when the doctor "poked my bum" (I wouldn't have brought her if I knew what he was going to do!) I was kind of mad that he did that and when it didn't put me in labor I decided to still go to California out of spite. It was a fun trip, but the driving was completely miserable, I was so uncomfortable and had to stop for potty breaks every half hour. We mapped out all of the hospitals along the way just in case, but I did get a little nervous during those long stretches of desert without cell phone service. We made it back without any close calls and five days later he stripped my membranes again (this time I was prepared). It was on my 24th birthday. That night we went out to Uno Chicago pizza for my birthday dinner and while we were eating I started noticing that I was having a lot of contractions. We went home and they were still continuing. I was too excited to sleep. They started getting harder and more regular so by 2 AM we decided to go in. We had recently moved to Phoenix and didn't have any family or good friends to watch Kylie. There was a sweet lady at Jason's work whom we adopted as "Grandma Barb" that didn't live too far away and was nice enough to offer to watch Kylie when I went into labor. We were so grateful for her, especially when she was willing to come over at 2:00 AM (my brother's girlfriend who lived down here was also soooo nice to come and stay the second night). We headed on our way and had to drive what seemed like forever to Desert Samaritain hospital in Mesa. There are several hospitals alot closer but I had to drive all the way out there since I was considered high risk and they were better equipped for those types of deliveries. The whole time we were driving I was in so much pain (or so I thought) and was worried that the baby was going to pop out before we even made it to the hospital. I thought for sure that I would be dialated to atleast a 6. We got to the hospital and when they checked me they told me that I was only at a 2!! Apparently I have a very low pain tolerance and it was at that moment that I knew I could never survive a drugless delivery, I thought I was going to die at a 2 for heaven's sake! One advantage of having a VBAC is that they don't like to send you home because of the risk (even though I don't think I really was in labor). I think they got tired of my whining and opted to give me an epidural right away. I won't lie, I have a very strong love/hate relationship with the epidural. Obviously I couldn't handle the pain, but I absolutely hate the feeling of being numb and not in control. I had several panic attacks and the oxygen mask was permanantly attached to my face. I had the shivers and uncontrollable shaking alot, I think that kind of freaked Jason out. I tried sleeping that night and thought for sure by the morning we would be making some progress. Not the case. I stayed around a 3 FOREVER. They wouldn't give me pitocin (once again because of the risk), and finally at noon my doctor was able to make it over to break my water. It didn't help much, but I eventually made it to a 4 a couple of hours later. There was no end in sight and I thought I was going to die. At one point I took matters into my own hands and decided to try and do some sit ups and crunches in bed in an effort to try and get some action going. A couple of minutes later the nurse buzzed in and asked me if I was okay because they kept seeing some odd readings on my monitors and thought I was throwing up. I didn't realize they were monitoring me that closely out at the station, but I still tried to play it cool like nothing had happened. Finally by 9:00 that night I still hadn't progressed at all so they decided to give me a teeny tiny dose of pitocin and within an hour I went from a 4 to a 10 (why could they not have given it to me 19 hours earlier??) I pushed for about 15 minutes then his heart rate started going down, so they used the vacuum (which left me with a nice 4th degree tear) and he came right out. He was born at 10:30pm (20 long hours after being admitted), weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 21 3/4 inches long (although the reason he was so long was because he had such a huge cone head from being sucked out with a vacuum. At his 1 week check-up when his head was back to normal he was only around 20 inches long!) Being able to hold him for the first time is a feeling that I can't even express. It's such a magical moment to be able to look into the eyes of your little baby for the first time. We were so excited to have Jayden become a part of our little family and we can't imagine life without him.

Happy birthday, baby doll! (I don't know how he lets me get away with calling him that still. I tell him that it means that I love him and so now he calls me his baby doll too). You are such a sweet boy and all you have to do is give me that adorable smile of yours and I totally melt. I love that you are a mama's boy and always have extra hugs and kisses for me. The things you say always make me laugh, I love hearing what goes on in your little head. Thanks for making me smile every day, I love you!

Birthday Boy Interview



Jayden still didn't think that today was his real birthday since there wasn't a party with friends, but he still had fun. I made muffins like he requested for his b-day breakfast and he opened his presents first thing in the morning. I took him to McDonald's for lunch then brought cupcakes to his preschool that afternoon. He was so excited when he saw me come in and did his little trademark arm pump and said "yessssss!" Total cuteness. We went to dinner tonight then ended the day with about the 20th round of the "Happy Birthday" song before bed.


Here's the list of Jayden's faves now that he's four whole years old:

Favorite toy: race cars
Favorite color: blue
Favorite food: mac and cheese
Favorite clothes: cool ones
Favorite thing to play: transformers
Best friends: Grady and Tanner
Favorite thing to do with Kylie: play race cars
Favorite thing to do with Dad: camping
Favorite thing to do with Mom: play Candy Land
Favorite place to go: McDonald's

One Year Older and Wiser Too...

I don't know about being wiser, but I'm definately feeling older as I'm inching my way closer to 30 (only 2 more years to go!). It was a fun day that was kick started with a pancake breakfast and then I decided to take advantage of having the kids in school to squeeze in a lunch date with Jason instead of trying to track down a baby-sitter that night. The night ended with a great sacrifice on Jason's part as he endured the movie "PS, I Love You" (okay, so maybe he didn't stay awake the whole time but he was atleast in the same room. I have to admit I'm probably the only girl on the planet that didn't absolutely love that movie. Maybe it was because I was so tired or maybe it's because I was expecting too much, but I thought it was really slow and long). Kylie got a box of brownie mix from her primary teachers for being reverent and she decided that she wanted to use it for mine and Jayden's b-day cake, awwww. (I think Jayden is getting tired of sharing a b-day cake with me every year and got mad at me when I tried to blow out my one solitary candle). She was also sweet and wrapped up a piece of licorice and 5 pennies each for Jayden and I. I always love seeing what creative and thoughtful things she comes up with. I'm still on the hunt for a diaper bag and some other stuff for my b-day present (I usually just get clothes but this year I'm boycotting that route, considering my ever growing belly. I have a thing against maternity clothes, I've got a severe aversion to those hot itchy elastic waist bands so I avoid them for as long as I can. Rubber bands have become my new best friend. And I hate buying all new maternity clothes just to wear for 2 months. So for the next couple of months I'll be rotating through like 3 outfits). Jason was also cute and fueled my licorice and mozarella stick addiction when he brought some home for me. Thanks so much to everyone for the phone calls, cards and stopping by, it meant a lot and made my day! By the way, I didn't realize how many places give out free things on your b-day. Like you can get a free meal at Black Angus (and for you local folks you can get one at Joe's BBQ or Farm Grill), free ice-cream at Coldstone, a free movie ticket at Harkins, free movie rental at Hollywood and Safeway, and even a free Oil change at Auto Zone (a lot of them you need to register for on their website and I don't know if they're all legit). There's tons more free stuff that I found on this website: http://www.mrcheapstuff.com/deals/2006/10/huge-list-of-restaurants-that-give-you-free-birthday-meals/. Pretty cool stuff if you're cheap like me and it beats the traditional free scoop of ice-cream and annoying singing like at most restraunts :)

Tears

I know it's mean to laugh when your kid is crying, but sometimes I can't help it. Like today when Jayden came to me and said,
"Mom, I really wish I could see inside your body."
(me)"how would you do that?"
"Maybe you could eat me, except my eyeballs so then I can still see in your body."
(me) "don't you think that would hurt?"
"You can put me back together when I'm all done."
After many attempts to convince him that it wouldn't work, he just couldn't understand why I would refuse his offer and burst into tears saying, "just eat me mom!"

I was on a roll and made Kylie cry later that day also. She was asking if it was going to hurt when the baby came out. I told her that I wouldn't feel anything because they would give me medicine. She kept asking me about the medicine so I finally told her about the epidural. They say that you should answer honestly when they ask, but maybe I should have left out the fact that the needle they stick in your back is like a foot long. She immediately burst into an unconsolable sob and kept saying "I'm never ever going to have a baby!" I finally got her to calm down when I told her that she could adopt a baby instead (she then began into the questions of how the baby gets in your tummy, but I figured I had done enough damage for one day so we ended the conversation there). I really hope I haven't scarred her for life.

Pirate Party

Jayden is turning 4 on Tuesday and has never had a friend birthday party (whereas Kylie has had one every year except one--I promise it's not a favorites thing, just a second child thing, which still isn't much better). This year he has been so excited about having a birthday party and decided he wanted to go the pirate route. I had a hard time finding pirate gear (I guess Pirates of the Carribean is soooo last year), so I had to be a little creative (thanks to my mom and sister for some great ideas too!) I sewed up some pirate bandanas that they decorated, along with cardboard swords, eye patches and treasure maps. We played some games, ate some pizza, had a treasure hunt, opened presents and finished up with cupcakes and ice-cream. It was a fun little party, the boys were all so cute. I was a little nervous having six other little 4 year olds running around, but they were all so adorable and well behaved. Kylie was also really cute to help out. She took her role as the oldest one at the party very seriously and helped organize the games and helped out with the crafts. It was a fun day and Jayden was so excited to finally have a party that I think he could really care less about his real birthday coming up! (treasure hunt)

First Day



It seems so early to start school in July, but I am really loving this modified year round. Not that we didn't have a fun summer, but the heat kind of puts a damper on the fun. The kids get so cooped up and bored in the afternoon so I think everyone was ready for school to start. Kylie surprised me and wasn't nervous at all for the new year, I think it really helps that her two best friends are in her class. Her teacher is new to the school this year so I wasn't sure what to expect, but after the meet the teacher night I totally love her. She's a cute young Asian girl, so Kylie immediately liked her too. She was so excited for school to start that it's hard to believe that it was just last year that I had to peel her off me and walk away as she clung to me crying when I dropped her off on the third day of school (it still breaks my heart to think about it!). This year was much easier for both of us and I'm so glad that the year has started out so great.

Jayden was also excited about starting preschool again, although I think he's mostly excited to finally be able to wear his new shoes. I wasn't as impressed with his teacher when we first met her. She seemed kind of gruff and didn't fit the cutesy preschool teacher stereotype, but she's slowly growing on me. Atleast Jayden seems to enjoy school, so far all I can get out of him is that they have cool trucks. He gets to ride the baby bus again this year, but I think the novelty is starting to wear off. They switched the school boundaries so the school he goes to is a little bit farther and so his bus ride is anywhere from 40-50 minutes, poor kid! I'll try and drive him when I can but the timing with carpool doesn't always work out. I'm glad they're enjoying school so far, I do miss them but I'm also enjoying the free time (although I still don't know where all the time goes!)
In other news....I was driving in the car when they said on the radio that there was an earthquake in LA. They said if you knew anyone there then give them a call. I immediately thought of our friends Nate and Tara and then I realized, oh crap, Jason's in LA today! He had to fly in for one day and of course that one day happened to be the earthquake day. It wasn't a very big one, but he said it was still kind of exciting. "Exciting" isn't the word I would use, but this is his 3rd earthquake so apparently it's old news.

A Little Bling-Bling

The rule in our family growing up was that you had to be 13 to get your ears pierced. I remember that it was such a big deal and I couldn't wait for the big day. Now that I have my own little girl I decided that instead of setting an age rule, I would just let her decide when she was ready to do it. She has talked about it for a while now, but was always too scared that it would hurt too much. Then at the beginning of the summer she decided that she was brave enough to do it since she wasn't in kindergarten anymore. I told her that I would give her the summer to think about it and if she still wanted to do it then we would make it a special occasion right before school started. She was all excited about it until about a week before when we were at the mall and happened to watch a little girl get her ears pierced. After that she decided she wanted to wait until she was 10. I didn't push the issue, I wanted it to be her choice and after a couple of days she decided she would go through with it. School starts on Monday so this past Saturday we had a little girls day out and I took her to get it done. She was cute and wanted to bring her own bear to hold (Wes, do you recognize the bear? It's the one you gave her when she was born. She even had to dress it in her favorite outfit). She was a little nervous but mostly excited. She kept asking me to pinch her ear every couple of minutes to show her how bad it would hurt. Finally it was her turn and she was so brave! I know I flinched more when I got mine done at 13 years old! There was another little girl who was watching her get it done and after she saw that she didn't cry she decided that she wanted to get hers done too. Judging by Kylie's reaction she must have thought that it didn't hurt at all, so the look on her face when they did the first one was hilarious (okay, that's mean to laugh). She burst into tears and they had to wrestle her down to get the other one in. Poor girl. (My memory card got filled up as soon as it was done so the video is short, but atleast I got it.) She is constantly admiring her ears and can't wait to show them off to her friends at school tomorrow.

29 (almost) Weeks

Pregnancy and 115 degree summers do not mix well. You would think I would have learned my lesson when I had Jayden in August, but apparently not. I'm hitting that uncomfortable stage where I can't sleep at night because my back is killing me, I can't bend over without grunting and I've managed to perfect the waddle. Other than that, the pregnancy is going good. Things are even better now that Jason is done traveling (for now). He's been gone every week since the end of May and 2 months of single motherhood about did me in. The poor guy has been working so hard to close out this account, so even though he is home we still don't see much of him. He usually works every night when he comes home, sometimes until 2 am and even some weekends. I don't know how he does it, but thankfully it's not always this busy, just with certain accounts. He's glad to be done with the traveling, especially during one of his recent flights from Vegas. It's monsoon season here and there was a big storm so his flight got delayed. They finally got to board and after sitting on the plane for about an hour they said that the Phoenix airport was shut down so they let them get off the plane and wait it out. They finally got the go ahead and were able to board the plane and take off a couple of hours later. That wasn't even the bad part. Once they landed in Phoenix the airport was so backed up that they sat in the plane on the runway for THREE hours waiting for a gate. I seriously get claustrophobic just thinking about it. So his 1 hr flight turned into a 7 hour nightmare. As hard as it is being a stay at home mom at times, there is absolutely no way I would want to trade that in to be a career woman!

Jayden's Mini-me

How cool is this?? You can already tell that he looks just like Jayden...

The doctor was a little concerned with my last ultrasound, the baby was only measuring in the 6% and he had a cyst on his brain (it sounds a lot more serious than it really is. Jayden had one too, they're really common and usually go away), so they wanted to schedule another ultrasound to make sure that he was growing right. I tried not to worry about it too much, but it's always an uneasy feeling knowing that the doctor is concerned about your baby. I was anxious for this ultrasound and was surprised when she started doing the 3-D images, it was so crazy seeing our little man swimming around in there. It's hard to believe that he's only about 2 pounds but already looks like a real person. It was really cool, I wish Jason and the kids could have seen it (of course Jason is out of town again...). Some parts are still measuring about 3 weeks smaller than they should, but not to worry he's got a nice sized noggin that's measuring right where it should be (the cyst was gone too, so that was a relief). The doctor's not as concerned anymore, he thinks he'll just be a smaller baby. He may be disproportioned with a huge head, but atleast he's healthy, right?

Why This Picture Makes Me Feel Really, Really Old

See that tall, beautiful, college graduated, married, pregnant full fledged WOMAN standing next to me? Yeah, I used to BABY-SIT her. Man, I feel like I should be poppin' in my dentures right about now.