6 Months of Change

6 Months...

Yikes...

How did I let it go this long??

Hello, welcome back to my blog. I've thought about this place a lot over the past 6 months and to say that there has been nothing to write about would be The Biggest Lie of the Century. But I just never got the writing bug. OR if I did, I just didn't think I should take the time to write when there were a million other things to do.

I decided I needed to stop waiting and provide an update. (Note that I wrote this post about a week ago and waited to post it until I could get some pictures up. In that week we had the most devastating blizzard in South Dakota history and because this post doesn't mention that at all, I wanted to explain why. Hopefully I can post about that mess soon because it would be an interesting one for sure...no electricity for 6 days, living in a cabin with my parents for that period of time, still no running water in our house...interesting eh?)

 

Ava turned One in May! I will try to post pictures because I loved how the party turned out. We did a vintagy tea partyish type thing. A lot of our family members came to Wyoming to celebrate and we had a grand time.

 

 

Jayden turned Three in September! I took almost 0 pictures. I did capture some video though! But the video is on the video camera and I haven't a clue of how to put parts of that on here. Sooo, no bloggy pictures or video but it was also a grand time. We did a Curious George theme and it was our first celebration in our new home.

And on that note, we have moved! Officially we moved at the end of August. That's definitely a blog post of it's own that I hope will get written one day because so much thought and prayer went into this move. I want to remember why we did this. We decided to return to our hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota and it is Awesome!

DJ is no longer working in college football. His last day was July 31. And this is a good thing. This will be covered in the future "Moving" post because it plays a large part in the "Why" aspect of the move. He is now working at a local sporting goods store as a sales associate and loving it. The company is amazing. The people are nice, fun people. And most importantly, the schedule allows a lot of family time. We love it.

Do we miss college football? Yes.

Do we miss the sacrifice that it requires? NO.

We have started a new healthy eating plan that is inspired by the Paleo lifestyle. Ultimately I would like to see us eating strictly Paleo but right now we are a gluten-free household. We are a little over a week into this (and it was admittedly put on the back burner during the Blizzard, but we're ready to get back to it!) and it's an adjustment for sure but not as much as if we were doing Paleo full force right away, i.e. no dairy, no grains of any kind including rice or corn. I tried to do that for the first day of this journey to Health and felt like I was being Tortured. I couldn't handle that much restriction and change to my diet so quickly. So we cut it back to just gluten and that has been much easier because there are so many gluten-free products out there these days. It's pretty awesome actually. I think we have already significantly increased our veggie and fruit consumption. We have definitely decreased the processed foods that we are consuming because, well, they are no longer in our cupboards! We still have a few items that are processed but we purchase them Very Intentionally. In other words, no sugar (or if something IS sweetened then it should be with fruit juice), no gluten, very few ingredients, and organic. So far, we are all doing great and I am excited to see where this journey takes us, both in our health and in our attitude about food.

I am still working for the same company from our new home. To say that this job is a blessing would be an understatement but truly that is what it is. This company has taken care of me for 7 years now, through 3 moves, and I am so grateful that God knew what he was doing when he nudged me in the direction of this company and not another one 7 years ago in my college apartment. I love seeing how God used that decision in my life over these past 7 years.

Jayden started preschool which is a great place for him but it's taking time for him to adjust. Ava is in a new home daycare which is taking time for ME to adjust. We are still looking for a church to call our own but God will lead us there in His own time. I miss my Bible Study ladies and hope to find a new group soon. We still haven't sold our house so we are living amongst rental things (a fully furnished home on my parents' property) and half of our stuff is still sitting in our house's garage in Laramie. We left one of our cars in Wyoming since we didn't want to drive separately to South Dakota while hauling a trailer but my inlaws are gracious enough to let us use one of their vehicles.

So much Change.

So much New.

But let me tell you, Life is Good. We couldn't be happier among family. We couldn't be happier together with DJ around so much. The last 6 months has brought growth, unity, laughter, happiness and faith.

So Thankful.

Parenting Practices - Part 1

One of the things that no one really tells you before you have kids is how you will question everything you thought you ever knew. It's probably because those people know that whatever they say won't really matter until you have kids of your own. BUT before I had kids, I thought I would do things just. like. this.. 

and I would never do that, *covering your mouth so said parent of child performing heinous deeds can't read your lips*

oh yeah, and what your kid is doing??

Abominable...

until my kid does it every day...and then? Perfectly acceptable.

I am being a bit facetious but seriously, I don't think I'm alone. Even after one becomes a parent it's still pretty common to look at another mother and wonder "what the heck is she thinking??" but then, at least now, I know to quickly remind myself that she is doing what she feels is best and it probably is the best for her child.

That's another reason no one tells you about the great "brain transformation" that occurs after you have your own child -- every kid is different and requires special treatment uniquely suited to their needs, temperament, etc...

So yeah, surprise doesn't adequately describe what "former self" would feel if she were to fast forward to see what "current self" is doing on a daily basis. It makes me wonder what my children will be thinking before they have kids. Will they remember how they were raised? Will they have developed an "oh no she didn't!" mind-set about other parents only to find themselves doing the same thing a few years later? I want to be able to remind them how they were raised and how I, as their mother, used what may seem to be unpopular parenting practices in order to parent them in the best way I knew how.

Also before I get started on my list (which I decided to post as a two part series because the post became rather long), I have to also add that even in the 2.5 short years of parenting, I have already changed my mind about certain mothering "policies". Is that bad? Maybe to former self from 1.5 years ago, but to current self, no. It's about being flexible and adequately changing to the needs of your family.

The Players in this comedy called Parenting:

 The Parents

 

Child #1 aka Jayden Noah - 2.5 years old

 



Child #2 aka Ava Grace - 10 months old

(Photo taken at 9 months old)

 

So without further ado, my current parenting practices - PART 1:
(I will be rating each practice according to what former self felt about such practices PK [pre-kids])

Breastfeeding: Unrated as I hadn't really thought too much about it until I was pregnant with my first child. If anything I would say I would have rated it as "the normal thing to do".

I really can't remember thinking too much about breastfeeding PK other than to think, oh my gosh that woman is feeding her kid right there in the middle of all those people!!!!!!!!!! How uncomfortable...poor thing...

LOL!!

I mean to former self, it was less about feeding a kid and more about the "nudity" aspect. Like, "you better cover that up!" I do remember seeing someone nurse their walking toddler in the middle of the forest once when my family and I were out rock climbing and I just tried not to stare.

As far as nursing older babies/children, I would have definitely rated that a GINORMOUS NO.

Now...I would say to each their own.

For myself, although open to the idea of nursing as long as child #1 wanted to (that is, once I reached the 6-9 month mark, since before that it was a mental, and sometimes physical, challenge to even get to the 6 month mark), I became pregnant with child #2 when child #1 was 11 months old and could only stand it another 4 months before saying "Enough!" I couldn't handle the sensation anymore given the current state of my extremely sensitive everything...i.e. boobs, hormones, personal space...15 months was the end of my son's breastfeeding adventures. Child #2 is now 10 months and I want to at least make it to the 15 month mark so I don't feel that I've given her any less than her older brother and then we'll see how it goes after that. I do think about the fact that there are MANY people out there promoting breastfeeding to at least the age of 2 (current World Health Organization suggestion) but I look at my 2.5 year old and cannot imagine how I could possibly still be breastfeeding him. I mean, ew. I don't know if it would be different if I had never stopped but I can't even really wrap my head around that because all I can think about is "ew". That's just weird to me. (Note that it only became "ew" once I actually had a 2 year old myself who had not been breastfeeding for several months. AND that only applies to ME breastfeeding MY 2 year old. I don't think "ew" when I see other people breastfeeding THEIR 2 year old...or 3 year old. Seriously. I really feel like "to each their own".)

Co-sleeping: Rated a big NO-NO in my pre-children days

This next practice lends itself naturally to breastfeeding so makes a perfect second practice to discuss. Co-sleeping in our family started out as an "accident" but has become something that I am pretty passionate about. Initially it was a way to get. some. sleep. Something that I took for granted just days before my son was born, when my one and only all-nighter in college resulted in me sleeping the entire following day to catch up. Yeah, that doesn't happen once you have kids. So you find other ways to cope. For me, that was co-sleeping. Child #1 was not a good sleeper in terms of being able to (1) go to sleep on his own and (2) stay asleep on his own. So I found nursing him to sleep was easiest and he was often held while he slept. I loved that and everything I was reading was saying that was great. (Granted I was not reading books like "Babywise" or Dr. Ferber's book - the great "cry-it-out" advocate -- or any other books out there that said that you must teach a child to sleep on his own. One of the first books I read was "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" produced by La Leche League and I can probably thank them for all these "crunchy" tendencies that have since developed.) So when it came to nighttime sleeping, I couldn't very well hold him because I become rather limp when I sleep so the next natural step was to lay him next to me. He got to eat whenever he wanted to, I didn't have to get myself out of my oh-so-comfy bed to get him when he cried (which would have been all. night. long. since he didn't like being by himself) and I hardly had to wake up to attend to his nourishment needs.

So those were the early days, but since then...I have discovered other great benefits of co-sleeping...

(1) Breastfed babies thrive in the presence of their mother and the risk of SIDS goes waaaay down. The baby's breathing becomes regulated and they often wake more frequently which helps to avoid "failure to rouse" which is theorized to be linked to SIDS. (Failure to rouse is terminology used to describe a very deep sleep when it is difficult to wake the baby - almost like a coma.)
(2) When they make little noises and you're not sure if all is well, you can just peek an eye open and see yep, they're still breathing and go back to sleep.
(3)  When they puke in the middle of the night, you are right there to turn them over and make sure they don't choke. (Yes, this has happened and I was SO glad that we were right there to attend to his needs.)
(4) There is more time to bond with the baby especially when you work full-time, like I do! This one has always eased some of the mother guilt that I have from working full-time. (A mother is always measuring the minutes she spends with her children, as if there is some chart out there that says a certain amount of minutes spent with children equates to being a good vs bad mother...)

And those are just a few of the benefits, there is much more scientific evidence that I've discovered as well but those ones up there ^^^^ are the most important to me.

Part 2 of Parenting Practices will continue mañana...that's tomorrow...

"Twinkle, twinkle...T, U, V..."

I love this video so much. Jayden is so funny as he tries to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and gets the words confused with the "ABC song". He was doing so many cute things that night and I didn't get it all on video but I'm glad I got this much!

Winter 2013

We're going back and forth between warm(ish) weather and freezing bitter snowy cold this winter. We had some pretty snow off and on this past week but then it warms up and melts it all off right away. And then we have days like yesterday where the wind just blows and blows and makes us all want to dig a hole and hibernate. But I can't properly enjoy spring until I've had some of this freezing cold so I say, Bring it! 

Besides the weather, here's an update on what's been going on around the Martinez household:

• Ava is over a bout of RSV, praise the Lord! It didn't even last very long although it was very "not fun" while it lasted (about a week). She wheezed something awful and it made my heart sad to hear her breathe like that! This little girl is giving us a lesson in infant illness though. Jayden had his first sickness after he turned a year old and already Ava has been sick probably 7 times. Ugh, I can only hope this means we will have less sickness after she turns a year old!

• Jayden and Ava are adapting to a new daycare facility. Jayden more so than Ava. This is Ava's first time at a day care because fortunately we were able to avoid it for the first 7 months of her life but it came down to necessity and I really needed consistent child care so daycare it was. Because the daycare could only get her in part-time though, she is also still being watched all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays by my neighbor and friend. (It's a longish story about why we have this new system and why they're both in a new daycare, different from the one that Jayden went to from 14 months up until Christmas this year, but I'll possibly get to that story another day.) Anyway, Ava doesn't really eat or sleep while at daycare because there is so much going on and she's quite the social butterfly. However, thankfully, she makes up for both of those things just fine at night. Also currently, she is only at daycare for an entire day on Mondays so that day is quite long for her with the no-sleeping, no-eating thing but the rest of the week is manageable. If we're away from each other for the entire day, I go nurse her at noon. Jayden actually seems to like this new daycare better than the one he attended before so I'm so happy about that!

• Jayden got his two year molars in (or is still getting them in, but they've both popped through) and Ava has gotten her first two teeth in the past month so we have two teething kids but actually it hasn't been too bad!

• Ava crawled for the first time last week and I was there to see it! It actually was way more exciting than I could have anticipated because well, we have anticipated it for so long! She has been on the brink of crawling for months. Also I wasn't there to see Jayden crawl (or walk) for the first time so this was a first for me too! She is getting more and more mobile and we all get a kick out of her moving her legs that way. She also is really enjoying trying to pull herself up on things. She still gets wherever she wants to go mostly by scooting on her tummy or rolling.

• We are getting some good family time in these days which is a VERY nice change from the Cowboy football season. There's been swimming (indoors, of course), walks, basketball games, puzzles, family movies, and lots of toy playing going on. And for DJ and I as a couple, we're also getting to spend more one-on-one time together which is more overdue than one could ever imagine! We started going to a small group at church, and have found time to make some new friends, some of which we got to hang out with a couple of weekends ago (sans kids!). So whereas some people find winter dreary and confining, I actually sort of look forward to it since it means a break for us as a family.

• We have no trips planned which is actually nice for once. We spent the fall going somewhere almost every. single. month and let me tell you, that was fun, but also very exhausting! So for this winter, we've been somewhat intentional about deciding not to go anywhere. Sometimes it's nice to just stay home and enjoy being home!

• Work is going well for both DJ and myself. I am finally truly and completely caught up with my work after taking my maternity leave this summer. Oy vay. If there is a "next time", I think I will work until I have the baby, go have the baby and then return as soon as medically possible. As much as I SO enjoyed taking that time off and spending it with Ava, I'm not sure I can ever do it again. It took me 5 months  to catch up and it was not fun. I am forever grateful for my job though and the fact that I can work from home!
• DJ is splitting his time between football, golf and soccer this winter. One of their trainers had a baby a couple of weeks ago so they are all picking up the slack. Normally DJ would just be overseeing a little bit of golf this time of year in addition to football. He will be headed to California for his annual golf trip with the team and I have no doubt it's a trip he looks forward to every year. The big news at work for DJ is a new water facility room in the UW training room. He and his boss designed this water room, which includes hot and cold tubs (which used to be located outside, by. the. way, brrrrr), and it took several months to finish the project. They spent the entire fall working in only about half of their training room since the other half was closed off while it was being renovated. Even I, as a non-sports minded, non-athlete type, can appreciate how nice this must be for them to have for the use of rehabilitation and performance management for their athletes. 

• A few other noteworthy pieces of news...I am having a much anticipated craft party this coming weekend with a whole bunch of new people that I've never met...at my house...but I'm actually really really looking forward to it. I have really missed crafting and have gotten to do a little bit here and there but am looking forward to meeting some people that are also craft-minded so we can possibly do this on a more consistent basis!

• I am in love with warm boots, wool socks and cozy hats right now and cannot stop buying this stuff for me and my children. I have to admit, I do love living in Wyoming because we can legitimately wear wool-lined well, anything, and have a 'durned' good reason!

•  My mom and in laws made the trek to WYO this past weekend to watch the Super Bowl to play with the kids. We all had a great time and the weekend went incredibly fast. But one aspect that will stand out for me was the church service that my mom went to with me and the kiddos. They performed baptisms during the service and it was unlike any baptism service I had ever been too. We have three services at our church and the first service was the only one that no one had "signed up" to be baptized. So our pastor just said that if anyone felt like God was speaking to them to be baptized right now then they could come up front and "be dunked"! We prayed and I asked God that He would give people courage to come forward if that's what they felt led to do. And guess what?? FIVE people walked forward, in their church clothes, hopped into the water, and were baptized right then and there that morning. It was seriously so amazing to watch these people obey God's calling right in that moment and actively see them walk to the front in courage and announce their desire to obey God because they love Him. We all had tears in our eyes because, if you are a Christian, you know that God can call us to do some scary things and although walking to the front of your church in front of people who love and support you is not one of the scariest things you will do, it is definitely a big step in the Christian faith. And when you allow God to give you the courage to take those scary steps that He will ask you to do, it is a RUSH when you learn that God will indeed walk every step with you! And you will succeed because of it! Awesome.

• During the baptisms, Jayden announced loudly during a quiet moment that those people were "taking a bath." LOL

And that's about it for now! I'll leave you with a video of DJ and Jayden playing the Sesame Street Matching game...

For clarification, "Roweeta" is Rosita...lol...you may notice DJ has trouble remembering the proper pronunciation at one point too.

Jayden Memories {27 Months}

Jayden is at such a fun age right now (however terrible the twos may be at times, they are equally, if not more, terrific!) He is learning words at a whopping rate and is putting together some great sentences. He continually amazes us at the way his brain puts together thoughts and he continues to get better at expressing himself through verbal communication as opposed to taking our hand to show us what he's saying or at his worst, a temper tantrum. He is very patient with himself as he tries to get new words out and will try a few times if he has trouble with a word until he gets it right. I just find it completely fascinating and always find myself comparing it to when I was learning Spanish. It's a continual process of practice, practice, practice!!

 Some fun words/phrases that Jayden says lately are:

"flagango" {rhymes with mango} = flamingo
"Ooo nice and warm" Usually said when we're putting on clothes lately since I like to tell him that to encourage him to get dressed faster.
"Coozy" Said in reference to his blanket that his Grammy knit for him.
"Where Daddy go?" Said every. single. morning. when Jayden wakes up and looks over to where DJ sleeps (which is empty since DJ leaves much earlier before the rest of us are awake).
"Bob!" Not so much a fun word as it is a very very common word since Jayden wants to listen to Bob every time we get in the car. Bob is Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales.
"I did it" When he does something by himself or figures out something all by himself. He's always so proud!

Some cute things that Jayden does lately are:

-Pulls his tummy up, up, out of the way, to get his diaper off. When it's time for his bath, I ask him to take his diaper off, so he hefts his tummy up, pulling at it with his hands (which, by the way, has slimmed up significantly so there really isn't much to "heft") and then he searches with his fingers for those darn diaper tabs that always seem to evade his reach way beneath his belly. I get a kick out of it every time! Lol

-Reads to Ava from his books. He'll sit right in front of her or sometimes half on top of her if she's in the bouncy seat, and "read" his books. Ava usually attempts to eat the book if it gets too close to her mouth but Jayden does a really good job of staying patient with her.

-Looks at me with utter surprise when he encounters a new sound (like a train whistle) or learns something new (like unscrewing the top of a water bottle). I love watching this sweet boy learn.

-Also love the look of questioning that Jayden has perfected when he wants to do something and asks me permission with a look and a little questioning noise. I don't know where he learned it but it's hilarious!

-Loves to come to my office and type on the computer. He absolutely gets a kick out of this! Funny thing is I remember when I was just learning to type and doing the same thing on my Dad's *ancient* computer and how fascinating it was so I can totally understand his excitement!

Some of Jayden's favorite foods are:

Cheese of any kind
Peaches
Fruit snacks
Raisins
Crackers, bread, any grain product
Yogurt

He actually does really well with just about any food but these are the foods that I try to limit because he would eat them all day, every day if I let him!

Activities that Jayden is enjoying these days:

Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles
Books
Trains
Cars
Movies - Cars, Elmo, Polar Express
TV Shows - Dinosaur Train, Sesame Street
Stickers
Helping clean (the other night in the bath tub, he was insistent on making sure the tub and his plastic boat were spotless before he would get out)
Watching football with his daddy, especially after this past Sunday when they attended the Bronco game - their first football game together! (Since DJ is always on the field working, he doesn't obviously get to sit with us and enjoy the game with his boy.)

FALLing back into a routine

As you may remember when I posted back here, I am not really looking forward to fall this year. However, because it IS inevitable, I am trying to find things to keep me looking forward! Pinterest is a great pick-me-up and if you haven't discovered the wonderful world of Pinterest, then allow me to introduce you...

Pinterest, meet fellow blog follower who has never met you... (you will need an invite to actually join and start your own pinning so just let me know and I can send you one!)

Anyway, I spent a good hour finding all sorts of yummy fall foods, decor, crafts and toddler activities associated with a fall theme so I'm sort of, a little more, kind of, ready for fall now. Now I just need to find cute fall outfits and that might boost me over the edge into a teeny more ready for fall!

On another note, fall has brought with it a bunch of work. I started back to work two weeks ago and it's been a whirlwind to say the least. I am forever grateful to the woman who took care of my duties while I was out but it was a little much for her since she was taking care of my work PLUS still doing her own work that gives her a full-time job. So I started out behind and I am still behind but slowly creeping forward day by day. 

On top of my work, I have decided to keep Ava home with me until she is six months old. At six months or so, she will start part-time at the same day care that Jayden goes to but I wanted to wait until she was a little more independent and aware of her surroundings, not to mention she can get a flu shot at that point. Sooo many germs in a day care, especially in November or December when she will start going! But for now, she is with me. I work when she sleeps or when she's happy to stare at a toy or sit on my lap but the rest of the time, I have to wait till everyone has gone to bed and get some work done then. I have also "hired" two girls to come watch her three afternoons a week so that gives me some solid time to get things done which has been a sanity saver for sure!

We're well into football season now too which makes for busy weekends! So far we have either been gone or had company every weekend since September began and that will continue till about mid-October. It's great having the diversions but it sure does make the weekends go by fast! Unfortunately our Cowboys are 0-3 so the football aspect of our weekends haven't been near as much fun as we would like. Here's to hoping that will soon turn around!

Jayden is going to day care full-time now but, to be honest, I haven't missed him as much as I thought I would, only because I have been so extremely busy while he is there. I don't even have time to miss our park visits....yet. As soon as I get caught up on my work though, I know that will change. And as soon as the first snow falls and it's not as easy to make a run to the park, I will definitely be missing him like crazy!! He seems to be handling the transition from part-time to full-time fairly well. He has developed a new little "habit" which shows itself when he doesn't get his way or gets frustrated. He has started hitting. Nothing painful for the one getting hit but definitely a new challenge for us parents as we try to figure out how to change that behavior. He also bit another kid at his school one day - now that was a shocker! He has never been a biter and so far, that was the only instance (and they're not even 100% sure it was him although it's quite likely based on what they told me they saw after the incident - they didn't see the actual incident itself) so I hope that was just a one-time thing!

DJ is busy as ever but I have found that not thinking about when he will get home (usually around 7:30-7:45 pm every day except for Fridays and Sundays which are later and Mondays, which have been earlier) or when he will leave in the morning (6:30 every morning except for Wednesdays and Fridays when he has to be gone by 5:30 am) has helped my mental state. I just get in the groove and determine to get things done without his assistance for the most part. It is much easier than what I had been doing the last couple of seasons. I always expected his help and then would frequently get disappointed when he would be late or unable to be home for something. I think we are both happier this way! He doesn't feel like he's always disappointing me and I don't get constantly frustrated with his ever changing schedule.

Coming up this fall, we have several trips planned, some with the kids and some not. I will be going to Reno, Nevada in a few weeks for the football game and it will be the first time that the kids will stay overnight without me or DJ being there. Crazy to think about but probably time! I also have planned trips to Albuquerque and Phoenix - the former trip, Ava will be going with me and the latter trip, both kids are going with me along with my brother.

So as much as our life right now is NOT a routine, it sort of is. Things are a little more predictable week over week and since I've read that kids like a routine, then I guess I am grateful for that aspect of fall this year.

Angel Sightings

About a week ago we had an interesting occurrence around here. My mom was staying with us for the week while I got back into the work routine. She and Jayden were playing in the living room while I was making dinner one night. I was sort of listening to what was going on and I faintly heard Jayden asking "Who's that?" I assumed he was at the window asking Nana who someone was that he was seeing outside. He asked it again and I hear Nana asking Jayden "Who's who, Jayden?" 

And then she asks ME, "Nichole, is there someone upstairs?" 

Instantly my heart jumps a little and startled, I say "No!" and quickly walk over to where Jayden is now standing, by the stairs. 

Pointing up. 

He's still asking, "Who's that?" When I ask him, the same question my mom has been asking, "Who's who?" he replies, "Man." 

Well I'm still slightly puzzled about what's going on, but Nana, who's had time to process what's going on, is extremely concerned and bordering on frightened. My mom tells me that Jayden seems to be seeing someone upstairs, A MAN, and I should go look up there! I am feeling mildly horrified at that idea and when she suggests that we go outside instead, I jump at the idea and grab Ava and make a beeline for the door. My mom grabs Jayden and her phone and we take off. 

Once outside, we're not really sure what to do. DJ is not due home for hours and the male neighbors that we know aren't home yet either. I call DJ, tell him what's going on but he's in the middle of practice and can't come home.

We hang up. 

I tell my mom to go stand at the side of the house (we're currently at the back of the house in the car) and I'm afraid if there IS someone in the house, they could just escape out the front door so I want her to watch the front door. I'm about ready to call the police to see if they can just send a car over when DJ calls back and tells me that a friend of ours, a man, is headed to our house to check things out. 

Thank goodness! And on the other hand, Oh great... 

because I realize that I feel slightly crazy that I am listening to my two year old who, I've read, is developing an imagination and believing that he actually saw a man in our house when I know this is just not logical. I was, after all, just upstairs working and there was really no way for someone to get upstairs AND we can hear when people are walking around on the second floor and it was quite still when we were inside a bit ago. 

Nevertheless I start quizzing him about who or what he might have seen. I try not to lead the questioning but if you've ever asked a two year old questions, you know it's easier to go with yes and no questions however unreliable they might be.

"What did you see Jayden"
"A man."
What did the man look like?"
"Ummmmm..."
"Did he have dark hair like Daddy's?"
Ummmm....
Did he have blond hair like....um....(I can think of NO ONE with blond hair that Jayden would have a good memory of...) "Oh! Did he have blond hair like Miss Kylie?" (His daycare teacher.)
"Yeah!" Interesting...
Then I see if he is just saying yes to everything.
"Did you see Mickey Mouse?"
"Yeah!" Ha, this is getting nowhere. And yet...
I ask him again, "What did you see upstairs?"
"Big man."
A big man??

Our friends drive up at that point (the man's wife had picked him up from work so the whole family - wife and kids -- were privy to this crazy scenario) and I get out of the car to inform them that we are officially crazy but would he please satisfy our crazy and go upstairs to check things out. These friends of ours are seriously the nicest friends we have here in town and without hesitation, he heads in. Unarmed. I am thinking, I really should have armed him with at least a golf club!

When he comes back out a while later, he, of course, tells us that no one was up there. He checked the closets, under the bed, in all the rooms (my dirty bathroom, eek!!), behind the doors and he's sure there is no one up there. So they leave. We head back inside. And we naturally continue talking about what happened.

Jayden keeps saying that he saw a man or a big man upstairs whenever we ask him. AND, what I didn't mention before was that my mom had been videoing him when they were playing and she happen to catch bits of when Jayden first saw "the man." We watched that several times and this is what we have concluded,

Jayden saw an angel! 

A real life angel, with wings. Or not. I did ask Jayden if the man had wings and he did say yes but I'm not really sure he would even know what wings would look like. Other than bird wings.

Here are the facts that convinced us that he actually did see an angel:

(1) he saw a man;
(2) it was a big man;
(3) he was not afraid of a big man;
(4) Jayden is afraid of most, if not all, men, big or small, when he first meets them;
(5) Jayden did not hurry to me or my mom when he saw the man, he followed him; and
(6) Jayden continued to talk about the man, in a non frightened way, for the next day or so.

I have to admit, the whole thing freaked me out just a little. At first, I didn't think that it could be an angel because God wouldn't do something to scare us. I mean, we were completely freaked out. But I don't believe in ghosts. And I do believe that Jayden saw something. And then I thought about Mary, as in the mother of Jesus, and how she was frightened when the angel first appeared to her and I suddenly felt a little more "in the know" about what Mary must have felt when that angel appeared. It took me a couple of days to get over the eebie jeebies of feeling like someone was in every room with me and just about to suddenly appear. I really didn't like being scared, knowing that angels aren't something to be scared of, but come on! having something just suddenly appear in a room, is just not something we are used to in this world so naturally, I would be scared.

I have decided, and this is what I told Jayden the next morning when he mentioned the man again, that God sent an angel to Jayden and the angel is there to protect him. It is a special thing to be able to see the angel and there was nothing to be scared of. 

Oh the life of a toddler, what an adventure!!

Jayden - 2 Years Old

Oh my goodness, where do I start? First of all, I feel so guilty for not having this post already written! Jayden has been 2 years old for 10 whole days now and although I've certainly THOUGHT about writing a blog post to document my feelings on this, it has not been done. Life is SO busy right now, but I think that busy is here to stay, so I just have to sit down and do this!

My Jayden, he amazes me every. single. day. He is a talking, singing, running, hopping ball of energy. The joy this kid brings me is unimaginable and I know this because never in my life before having this child did I know that my life could be so FULL just by adding a little person to it. I love it. And yet, it also brings so much worry, guilt, heartache and fear at the same time. I've never known such a paradox and I am often shocked by the turmoil that I can find myself in. I've always been a fairly even keel person, at least not one to make big scenes (my parents may object to this since I may not have always been like this, i.e. stories have been told about blood curdling screams in very public places when I haven't gotten my way...but people, I was TWO or thereabouts...); however, now, I would without hesitation or any doubt in my mind, throw myself in the front of a moving bus if it meant saving either of my children or, on a less dramatic front, confront anyone who so much as thinks about hurting my child. And that is something to be proud of I think. The momma bear in me is fully matured. 

I find it interesting to see how I have evolved as a mother and how I am still very much a "baby" momma, trying to learn this very complex job of being a parent. It's been fun having Ava around for that reason because I can compare myself now to how I was just two short years ago in this same life stage of my child. I am more relaxed, for sure. In fact, my mom was visiting last week and noted that I did not immediately jump up and rescue Ava when she so much as whimpered. I can remember that feeling of slight fear, not knowing what was wrong with my baby for him to make such a sound. But now, I am more familiar with the sounds of a baby and don't feel the need to jump at every innocuous cry. I am quicker to listen and slower to act when the situation doesn't call for it. It is a comfortable feeling knowing that one is familiar with the sounds of her children.

But enough about me, I'll write more on my thoughts of being a mother later. For now, I just have to write about my amazing, complicated son who has me intrigued with every word that he says.

Jayden's interests these days revolve around trucks, especially construction trucks that were in abundance around our house this summer, stickers galore, trains, pine cones, and general hoarding or "packratting". We all find it pretty amusing at Jayden's tendencies to store things in little pockets all over the car, house, garage, or anywhere else that he frequents. Here is a picture of the items that we emptied out of Ava's cosleeper pocket. Hilarious? I think so. Random? Definitely.

Some things that Jayden likes to do are:

• Watch Little Angels - he would watch this all day, every day if he could. As it is, we allow him to watch all or part of 1 movie each day. He knows more about Noah than Santa Claus which became apparent to me the other day when, pointing at a picture of Santa Claus, someone asked him who it was, and he said Noah. I had to agree there were similarities with the beards. So funny.

• Do puzzles. I think we need to start giving him some more complicated puzzles because these are becoming too easy for my smart little boy! He can finish them in minutes!

• Play with stickers. He loves to stick these on paper, on himself, and basically anywhere that has a surface.

• Play with water and sand in his water/sand table. He received this table from his grandma and grandpa this summer and can spend forever playing in it. He likes to find rocks and sticks and trucks and a whole variety of other things to play with in the water and sand. And usually this play time evolves into playing with the water hose.

• Play with his Legos and build towers and houses. I love that there are activities that he is interested in now that keep his attention for more than two minutes! This is one of them.

• Moving things from one place to another. This may actually be the thing that takes up the majority of his time! He moves everything around -- stuffed animals, pieces from his toys, cards -- he likes to move them all over the house and put them in piles of like items. And if we are going upstairs, he is always intentional in bringing certain toys that must go with us upstairs. Not that he wants to play with them up there, but just to have their presence upstairs...I guess.

Jayden is a great eater but oh so messy! We are trying and trying to keep him from throwing things on the floor when he eats but it is a rare meal when the floor stays clean. But Jayden is usually pretty willing to try anything we put in front of him even if it's just enough to appease us. He is known for just barely touching his tongue to a new kind of food in order to satisfy our need for him to at least try it. He is a sneaky one, that boy.

Jayden is wearing 24 month and 2T clothes. The 2T clothes are usually too long and we mostly just have pajamas in this size so it's not a big deal. The 24 month pants are really too big but the 18 month pants were too short so he is officially stuck between sizes when it comes to pants. At his 24 month appointment, he weighed 28 pounds and is 33 inches!

We haven't started potty training him yet, mostly because I don't feel that he is ready and also partly because I'm not ready nor do I have the time right now. Since he just turned two, I will start thinking about it and hopefully by the time he starts showing more signs of readiness, I can muster up enough courageenergywhateveryouneedtogethroughthispottytrainingbusiness to get him trained. (I've heard it's rather difficult...)

Jayden is a good little talker. He has a pretty decent vocabulary, is saying two and three word sentences and will work at getting his point across when we don't get it at first. He is really cute when he says words wrong and he knows it, because he will try again and go really slow, enunciating it very carefully.

He can walk up and down stairs, run without tripping (98% of the time), is starting to understand football or at least really enjoy the games, can sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and the ABC song, can count from 1-10 (always skipping 6), can take off his shoes and buckle his car seat, and many more things that I had no idea two year olds could do! What can I say, I'm a proud momma!

There is so much more that I want to say but it is late and this is getting long so I will end with this. Jayden's personality is so sweet. He is funny, considerate - always saying "thank you" without being prompted, thoughtful, helpful - always helping his momma whenever I ask him to bring me things, and so very smart. I love watching his brain work and process things. The past two years have been an adventure and, although I fear time is already moving too quickly, I cautiously look forward to the years ahead with him and am grateful that I have the Lord to guide me since every new change with Jayden scares the crap out of me. Sort of joking but not really... I am realizing more and more that DJ and I are in charge of molding this little body into a God-fearing, responsible, respectful man and that is some "I-am-in-this-thing-with-no-way-out" scary stuff!

Happy Birthday baby boy!!

We spent Jayden's birthday day in Austin, Texas for the Wyoming Cowboys first football game of the season (with my brother - DJ was in Laramie already) and with no real plans, per se. We were just waiting for our flight later that day. So this video was our attempt at "officializing" his birthday with candles and a cupcake. (More to come on that trip later!) The first 50 seconds of this video are the best part and then the rest is kind of drawn out; it was such a random day!

Eyebrow Entertainment

Birthday Week

We are within days of my baby boy's day of birth and I have been giving him lots of extra lovin' in the form of sweets. That's the only excuse I can think of since I don't normally give him tons of sugar but it's been fun for me too since he gets so much pleasure out of eating these special treats.

Case in point...

We made cupcakes WITH FROSTING on Sunday and I let him eat an entire cupcake right there in one sitting. I decided to video him eating it and I'm glad I did because he was too cute!

Three Months

Ava Grace is...

• Growing! Ava is still wearing some size 1 diapers that we've had left over but fits more comfortably in size 2 diapers. Her hair is getting long and just the other day I was checking to see how much longer it would need to be till I could get it in a little pony tail! She's wearing 3-6 months clothing and the last of her summer clothes in 3 months. We are going to Texas at the end of the month and I bought her a few 6 month outfits since I didn't think she would fit in her 3 months outfits that long. 

• Sleeping! This girl is a dream baby and I just love her so much! She sleeps 9 hours a night going to bed about 8:00 and waking up about 5:00 for her first feeding of the day. She then goes back to sleep till about 8:00. She takes a nap about 10:00 and another nap sometime between 12:30 - 1:30. She also takes another late afternoon nap usually while Jayden and I are playing at the park. Sometimes she'll take several cat naps and sometimes she takes longer naps depending on the day. I have absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to sleep with this sweet baby! 

• Talking! Or at least vocalizing. I can already tell that our little girl is going to be a talker. She loves to use her voice and I love hearing it. Here's a video to hear some of what we hear every day! It's like music to my ears.

• Laughing! Sometimes I get a little giggle out of Ava and I just love that noise. There's nothing like watching a person learn how to do one of the best things in life! Ava seems to find it especially funny when I am changing her clothes. For some reason when I put her clothes over her head, maybe I am tickling her unintentionally, she will giggle. It's so funny!

• Eating! Right now Ava seems to be eating less or at least there is more time between feedings so I don't know what that's about. She is still growing, as evidenced by the new rolls that we are seeing all the time and the clothes that seem to be steadily shrinking plus she has lots of wet and dirty diapers every day so for now I will just be thankful for a little extra time to do get things done! 

• Working out! This girl is trying so hard to sit up already; I swear it looks like she is doing crunches! I will sit her in the bouncy seat and she lifts her head and strains to sit up. Poor thing, I have to tell her that she is too little and just needs to sit back and relax till she gets a little older! She is also constantly kicking her legs and moving her feet. When I lay her on her back she always rolls to one side like she is getting ready to roll over. She's an active little baby!

• We spend our days right now enjoying each other's company because soon that will be over or at least for me. I start back to work September 4 so while she can still enjoy watching me; I will have to enjoy these last couple of weeks soaking her in. Ava is such a joy and every day I fall more in love with her. She is just the sweetest blessing in my life and we are all thoroughly enjoying her, including Jayden!

Miss Ava is a mover so it's tough to get a decent picture these days! This outfit is what she wore to church on Sunday.

I don't think I have ever seen anything as precious as these little feet in these little shoes! Jayden never really could wear actual shoes till he started walking and slimmed down a little bit. 

 I told Jayden to show me his teeth so I could get somewhat of a smile, lol. He is so hard to get a picture of too these days! He is just going, going, going!

Ava sure is loved by her big brother. Jayden loves to get right in Ava's face and say "Hi Ava!" Every morning when we wake up, one of the first things Jayden does is lean over me and point at the sleeping baby next to me and exclaim "Ava!" and gives me a huge smile like he is shocked that she is still here!!

Bean Seeds

I bet you didn't know that you could have a whole meal with just green bean seeds. Or did you? Maybe it's just me that was unaware of that fact because Jayden certainly thinks so! He pretty much only ate the seeds from his green beans for his entire dinner one night. Oy vay!

Special Sibling Sentiments

I thought you might enjoy seeing how Jayden interacts with Ava on a daily basis. I captured a few seconds on video the other day and it has a little bit of everything in it. I feel like the way Jayden has been with Ava and accepted her into the family has just been perfect. He's not so aware of her that he's jealous of the time that I spend with her and yet he's not completely oblivious either. For example, when I pick him up from "school" he will point at the car and say "Ava?" as we walk towards the car. (I leave Ava in the car while I go in to get Jayden and before you judge me, remember we live in Laramie where the crime rate is like 1% so I feel like it's very safe to leave her for a few minutes, but I digress...) Another example is when he was holding both pairs of sunglasses  -Jayden's and Ava's -- and he dropped Ava's pair on the ground and exclaims "Oh Ava's!!!" It's so cute because he's come to expect seeing her around and he's usually very sweet with his interactions with her (he does have his moments of possessiveness so it's not all puppies and rainbows all the time but that possessive streak is rare albeit very normal for a toddler). I just pray that they always have a special bond and that I am able to foster that caring spirit in Jayden so he'll always watch out for his little sister!

Swim Lessons

One of the fun things that DJ decided to do with Jayden this summer was enroll in swim lessons. Both DJ and Jayden have loved the swimming experience together and Jayden has gotten so confident in the water. Swim lessons seemed like a good idea to give DJ more ideas on how to help Jayden become even more confident in the water. I went to watch Jayden at the pool the other day and it had been a few months since I had last seen him in the water. I was so surprised to see him dunk under the water, run in the water by himself and go down the slide by himself several times! He would cling to us when I last saw him in the pool and there was no way he would have even come close to doing the things I watched him do this week. My little baby is getting so big!

Enjoy these clips of DJ and Jayden playing together in the pool!