Thanksgiving

View from my parent's living room window. Under the tree on the left is the milking cow, Molly.

This year for Thanksgiving we were able to spend the entire week in Montana with my entire family. When we left Wenatchee on the 18th, the weather was mild and around 35-40* F. and when we arrived at my parents farm on the 19th(we stopped in Missoula for the night) the temperature was around -15*F with winds about 20-30mph. Needless to say, the boys and I stayed inside for most of the time. Jeff braved the weather several times to help with the chores that needed done, including milking the cow by hand and corralling the calves. Jackson had been talking about helping Nanny and Papa with the cows the entire week before we left, so he got bundled up a couple times and was able to go and "help" with the milking. He loved it and kept asking to go out again, even if it was dark and the wind was blowing hard enough to blow him away. Thankfully, we were able to see the cow out one of the living room windows, so he was able to watch from there a few times when it was time for the others to go out. Owen stayed inside with me most of the time, but by the end of the week, it had warmed up just enough for him to go out without freezing for a few minutes at a time.

Owen and Uncle Aaron sledding

Snuggling in the warm house while watching a movie

Because of the terrible weather, many of the extended family members we usually see at Thanksgiving weren't able to make it, so the crowd was smaller, but just as much fun as always. Because all my siblings were home, we attempted to take some family pictures. We got a few good ones and we got some pretty funny ones, but we weren't able to get all the ones we hoped for. Jen and her fiancee had to go all the way back to Billings and it was already dark, so we did a whole family picture and sent them on their way.

Our drive home was the clearest and the prettiest we have ever seen and we made great time. The roads were clear and dry for most of the way and the only place it was even the least bit slick was going over Roger's Pass in Montana, and even that wasn't bad. There was some snow on the road, but within 5 miles of the summit it had melted and was dry all the way down. Thank goodness for a Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. I am so grateful He takes care of us and keeps us safe when things aren't looking very safe. I hope you had a safe Thankgiving as well and I will update you after my next Dr appointment and let you know when we get to find out if our little bundle of joy is a boy or girl :)

This was almost the best we could get of the 4 1/2 of us :)

My whole family, L-R clockwise

Morgan, Jennifer, Chris, Aaron, Jeff, Nathan, Me, Liz, Jackson, Owen, Dad, Rachel, Mom and Justin

Blood test results!

So it turns out that my funky white blood cell count was just due to the fact that I was indeed very sick when they drew my blood the first time and they came back completely normal this time. Thank goodness. As for my food allergy panel, it looks as if I'm going to have to avoid wheat (but not nessecarily gluten), peanuts, sesame seeds, walnuts(which I don't like anyways) and scallops and hopefully I will start feeling better. I'm not allergic to any of these things, but I am highly sensitive to them and avoiding them will hopefully help me to feel better. Yay for answers! Now to find some replacements for wheat flour...

Appointment #2

Ok, so this is try #3 with this post, so lets hope 3 times the charm. My internet keeps quitting on me for some reason, so I'll make it quick. I took both boys to my appointment with me this month even though I knew Jeff wouldn't be able to come with. I was a bit nervous because my boys get into everything when we go somewhere new for any period of time. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Nothing is safe from their little fingers. Anyways it went a lot better than I expected and I am happy to report they were both good the entire time. Jackson actually stayed in the waiting room and quietly played with a wooden train set the entire time I was in the exam room. Owen stayed in the stoller and with me, which was as it always is, he wanted to get out and explore. When he was released, exploring is what he did, for a little while at least. It wasn't long and he was back in his restraints.
As for me, so far everything but my white blood cells look good. We aren't sure what's up with them, so they are being retested and if they are still funky when the results come back I'll have to go to a hematologist, or blood specialist, to figure out what the deal is. I'm not sure if it's good or bad or what at this point, so I'm just waiting to see what comes back. Because I've still been feeling not well lately, and I know it's not related to pregnancy, I'm also having a full food allergy pannel done to see if we can pin-point exactly what is making me feel like crap. Baby was hiding so we didn't get to hear the heartbeat for long enough to measure it, but we heard it and that's all that really matters. Anyways, I think that is all I have to report for now. I'll try and let you know what my test results say when I get them but keep me in your prayers until then and just hope that they came back weird because I had a cold and felt terrible at my last appointment. Love you all and hope you are well.

Hair Cut and Pictures

My sweet little baby's curls have all gone bye-bye :( I don't know if I have any good pictures of them on here, but it was definatly time for a hair cut. He would wake up with a literal poof of fuzz on the back of his head that was usually calmed down by his milky covered fingers during breakfast. He definatly liked to play with his hair because it was long enough to play with. All sorts of food stuff went into it and I was nearly tempted to bathe him every single night just because of it, but every other day does just fine :) Now his hair is short and it isn't as soft and he doesn't have ringlets sticking out the sides of his head, but he is still darn stinking cute.

Before haircut. Look at those curls! And the poofiness!

After his hair cut.

The beautiful curls are all gone :(

We can tell his hair is still going to be really curly, which is something I was a little worried about. I've seen little boys and girls with beautiful curls until they get their first haircut, and then the curls just go away. I just love curly hair on babies, don't you? Anyways, here's a few overdue pictures. Enjoy!!

Apparently Bananas with ketchup is pretty good. At least these two think so. Eeeeww!

Cheese!

Dipping it

Ew.

This boy loves his ties.

 

Where's Owen? He's figured out how to put on his own shirt and can occasionally take it off too. Sometimes he even manages to get his pants off.

Boo!

Announcement!!

Hello my loved ones. Now, this is one post I have been purposely putting off and therefore I do not consider it procrastinating. There is an actual reason why I haven't posted sooner, so I know you'll all forgive me, as you have done in the past :) This last week has been a bit of a rough one for me physically. Between being fairly nausiated to having a terrible cold, I've been verging on miserable, but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel. At least for the cold. The nausia, on the other hand, may be here to stay for a while longer. Yes, it is morning sickness. I had my first doctors appointment yesterday and got to hear the heartbeat, but because I'm seeing a midwife this time, I don't think I'll be getting ultrasounds unless I or the baby need one to make sure everything is alright. The heartbeat is about 164 bpm and I'm around 8 or 9 weeks, which puts me due in early May. Knowing me and how my other babies have been, I have no illusions that this one will be on time or early, so I'll probably end up with either an anniversary baby (our anniversary is the 12th) or a birthday that he/she gets to share with an uncle and a cousin on the 10th. Obviously I'm hoping for a girl, but I think I might come to terms eventually if it turns out to be a boy. At least we have all the stuff already, but I'm a bit girl crazy right now. I need a bit more pink and purple and a few more ruffles in my life. I'm craving red meat all day and Jeff thinks I may be slightly anemic. My bp was lower than it normally is, 90/60 rather than 120/70, but that could be because I've been so sick with this darn cold. So far my nausia hasn't been too bad, but this cold has been overpowering any affects it has had, but now that the cold is starting to subside some, my stomach is churning. Whether it is still the grossness from the cold or something else, only time will tell. I'll try and keep you updated with all that is going on. Good luck and keep safe. I love you all.

Home again...

Once again we've just returned from a wonderful trip to Montana, although it seems we took the bad weather with us only to bring it back to Washington again. The weekend was supposed to be the perfect temp, highs in the 80's, lows in the 70's, but instead I don't think it got above 65 the entire time we were there. Thank goodness we didn't actually go camping, even though we slept in my parent's 5th wheel. Despite the chill, I think we all enjoyed ourselves.

Jackson was outside as much as I allowed him to be, which was pretty much all day every day except Sunday. I got a call from my brother one of those days asking if I knew where Jackson's shoes were. Apparently he'd wandered down to the shop in his socks even though I'd just told him to put his shoes on before he went back out. Silly boy. Even though it was pretty muddy, his socks weren't in too bad of shape. A little dirty, but not completely ruined as I expected.

Jeff was out with the guys doing target practice or trying to help where he could. I rarely saw him any time other than first thing in the morning, when it was time to eat and when the rest of the guys came in for the night. I'm so glad I packed some grungy-er clothes for him because he got filthy doing all his manly-man things.

Owen entertained himself chasing my mom's chi-weiner(dachound/chihuahua, but mostly a wuss) around the house and giggling. Oh and he got into EVERYTHING! I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I found him behind my dad's recliner with a pile of movies and a portable dvd player he'd found, trying to watch a movie, yet when we'd put one in for him, he'd be off to do something new in 10 seconds. What a silly little boy. And so busy!

I mostly just hung out with the girls, attempting to help with whatever needed done around the house, or with the many quilt projects that were going on or sneaking in a few minutes of uninterrupted reading. I finished to book I started the last time we were there and figured out what I'm going to do for Owen's quilt. I was even able to raid my mom's fabric stash for some fabric that will hopefully work with what I already have.

We had the camera with us, but my mind has been a jumble of too many things that I need to get done, and because I somehow become the offical photagrapher when we go anywhere, it was only taken out once or twice. I hoped we would be able to get some family pictures done, but because Jeff was gross the whole time and it was either windy, rainy or just plain cold until the last day we were there, we never got the chance to. It didn't help that I planned for warm weather and we ran out of long pants for the boys to wear and all the had left were shorts. At least we had some long pants so Jackson could play to his hearts content. We are all happy to be home now, but we seem to have brought a bug home with us. Poor Owen has a runny nose and sore throat and is just feeling yucky and I'm heading in the same direction. Yuck. Anyways, I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend too! Till next time :)

Ok, ok...

Once again, who is a slacker? That would be me. I can't tell you how many times I get on here only to realise there are so many other things that need my attention and my blog seems to come in last. Doesn't help that the boys think that when I get the laptop out it's suddenly time to be in mommy's face and ask over and over again, whatchya doin mommy? or try and get up in my lap. Oh those boys. Good thing I love them :)

Anyways, this last month has been full of joy and full of tears for me. Much has happened and I think I'm stronger for it. I've had a couple fairly personal trials that many know about but that I don't feel comfortable sharing with the world of blogging. By far the best news has been that my older sister has finally found the man of her dreams. Though this news came on the hardest day I had, it cheered me up so much and made such a dreary day so bright and wonderful.

We were able to make a quick weekend trip to Montana to meet the man and to see everyone together. For the first time since before my little brother went on his mission, the entire family was in the same place at the same time, even if it was for a few short hours. Unfortunatly we weren't able to get a picture of everyone because those hours were in the middle of the night. Despite the trip being a short one, we had a blast spending time together and I can't wait to see everyone again. It seems like we never get to see them enough and we savor it when we are able to spent some time with them.

As for a family update, we are doing well. The boys are growing and they seem to be thriving. Jackson is nearing the end of potty training and is now fully in underwear with little to no accidents daily. We don't have a problem with him going potty at night because he is somehow able to hold it until morning. Hopefully that means we'll skip the bedwetting and not have to worry too much about it. He is quite the chatterbox and will talk the ear off a donkey given the chance. I am still constantly amazed at what comes out of his mouth and I can tell his imagination is really starting to grow. He likes to pretend and will tell me really random things or give me imaginary objects and tell me what I need to do with them. His current favorite things are chewing on random things, riding his bike and getting into anything and everything he can reach, even if it means climbing to reach the desired objects. He is such a little smarty pants and thinks very much like a boy, if you know what I mean. He can count to 10(usually skips 5 though) and can sing the ABC's song(with some of the letters a little mushed together) but he is more physical in his thinking and learning. If he cannot reach something, he will find himself something to stand on or he will try to remove whatever is blocking his path. He knows exactly how to work the tv and the blu-ray player(though he's not supposed to touch either on) and he is always trying to figure out how to work the other electronics in our home. He is definatly a hands on learner and if he sees you do something, he will most definatly try to copy you. He is always asking me questions like "What are you doing, mommy?" or "What's that Mommy?" even when he already knows the answer. Like I was at his age, his curiosity is incredible and he wants to know about everything. I have a hard time keeping up with him sometimes and would love to find better ways to help his imagination and curiosity grow.

Can you tell he's so excited his quilt is FINALLY finished?

Owen is almost 18 months and had his first time in Nursery last Sunday. I was super occupied in Primary and only heard him crying once, but other than that he seemed to have a good time. I think it helps that big brother is in there with him for now. He isn't offically old enough until the beginning of September, but I was a little stressed and Jeff is usually late coming to get him from me before church. Like his big brother, Owen too likes to chat up a storm though his vocabulary obviously has a long way to go before much of what he says is recognizable as actual words. His favorite things are his belly button(he always has his finger in it) following his brother around and randomly emitting high pitched screams just to see what we'll do about it. He is definatly entering into the terrible two's and I have to deal with daily fits that consist of him throwing himself backwards with or without me there to make sure he doesn't wack his head on things. This is usually accompanied by the high pitch screaming as well and usually results in crying and more screaming or screetching when he does land on something harder than the floor. He is also trying to become sneaky and if he knows he has something he's not supposed to have, he will try to hide it from me or run away as fast as his chubbly little legs can take him. I know it probably shouldn't, but I find his little fits highly amusing and have a hard time keeping a straight face when I should be getting after him. He's just so cute I can't help it :)

Helping out on the farm

I seem to be almost unchanging in the way I do things. My body, on the other hand, is changing of it's own accord. Remember me talking about that dairy free diet I was on? Well, it turns out that avoiding dairy has done more for me that just helping me feel better and get though the day without intestinal upset. In the 3 months since I first decided to make the change I have lost about 25lbs. All the other things I have tried, the wieght loss tips, the working out, the eating less, none of it has given me the results I've been looking for and the one change that I was so dreading and that has by far been the hardest, was the one that has made all the difference. I can't tell you how good it feels to have someone I haven't seen in a while take a double look and say to me, "You look good, have you lost weight?" I honestly don't see the results when I look in the mirror and didn't even realise I'd lost that much until I stepped on the scale at the dr's office. I was shocked. Surprised. In awe that something seemingly so insignificant to others has imacted my life so thoroughly. I feel better. I'm able to wear clothes that have been hiding under the bed since before I had Jackson and Owen. The downside though is that all my other clothes seem to fall off my behind now. We went shopping for some summery clothes about 2 weeks after I quit eating all things dairy and couldn't understand why, after a few weeks, they all suddenly seemed to be too big. I guess I'll just have some clothes to wear after our next baby :) So all in all, it is more clear now that ever that blessings will come through trials, we just have to look for them sometimes. Oh and another change for me, I highlighted my hair, so now my hair color really matches my personality :)

As for Jeff, he is as hardworking as ever. Between work, church and school I feel lucky to even be able to say Hi to him somedays. Right now he isn't actually attending any classes, but he will be starting again soon. Since he was accepted to BYU-Idaho but we aren't able to move down there just yet, he is planning on taking some online classes for this fall. We are still waiting to hear if he has been accepted into the nursing program for January and we probably won't find out until mid-November at the soonest. It is frustrating not knowing where our lives are going to be heading in the next 6 months and it's really hard to make any definate plans when our answers seem to take a long time to come. I don't know what his plan is, but my tenitive plan is to be moving to Rexburg, Idaho come January. I'm not looking forward to moving a household of things in the dead of winter, but I don't think we'll have much choice. If anyone can help me out with apartment hunting, specifically for subsidized housing as neither of us will have a job when we get there, please let me know. I've found a few places online, but the information and pictures are hard to find and don't really give details. I figure we better get our applications in now so we'll have a place to move into if we do end up down there, which I really think we will. Anyways, I hope you all stay safe until I'm able to get on here again. Love you all and hope you are well. Thanks for reading my rantings :)

I love this man!!!

Owen hanging out with Auntie Liz

Jackson found one of Papa's many "tractors"

Owen hanging out with Uncle Aaron

Dad aka Papa working hard

Uncles Aaron and Nathan hardly working :) They claim this is their better side! Personally I think the other side is less dangerous.

Vroom Vroom!!

My beautiful sister, my crazy husband and me. Aren't we adorable?

Owen got to take a ride with Auntie Liz and Uncle Nathan. He had a blast.

Jackson was glad when we finally got home.