Christmas Recap Part 1

Here are a few pictures from Christmas-still need to get the ones from my parents so those will come later.

Despite the lack of smiles from Isaac in ALL of these pictures, he had a great Christmas. I think he was just a little overwhelmed by it all-especially Christmas morning at Jake's parents' house. Then again, who wouldn't be with 13 kids and 10 adults all opening and playing with new presents at the same time. :) Christmas at my parents' was a little quieter as it was just my parents and us. My sister and brother and their spouses were out of town this year. Naturally, the thing Isaac has played with the most since Christmas is the little cart from his monkey backpack/suitcase my parents got him.

Let me explain why Isaac is wearing so many different outfits for one holiday! The first ones when he's in his brown jammies it's Christmas morning at home. He's opening a little race track from us in the first picture and just showing us his cute little tongue in the second picture. The red jammies it's still Christmas morning, but we're at Jake's parents' house opening his stocking stuffers-one is an ornament and the other is a car that is pretty cool (you shake it and then set it down and it goes-the longer you shake, the further it goes!). And next the striped shirt outfit...it's still Christmas day, but we're at my parents' house. This the little backpack/suitcase he got from parents that I was talking about before. And lastly....this is what our house looked like once we got all the presents home and in the house-plus all the shopping my mom and I did at the outlet mall on the 26th. Whew! I'd like to have an after picture for you with it all put away, but we're still in the process of doing that. Maybe that will be done later today... :)

New Poll-Please Vote!

Alright, if you read my last post you know we're getting closer to a name. Jake suggested I add a poll to the blog about his hesitancy with the name Leah-he is really, truly convinced that people will call her Lee. "But I'm not naming my child based on the results of a poll on our blog," he says. So please just vote and then he'll realize that people will NOT call her Lee. :)

Getting closer to a name!

It's almost 1:00am and this pregnancy has made me more lose way more sleep than my pregnancy with Isaac. Maybe it's a sign that I'll get more sleep once she's born than I did with Isaac. Ha-probably not! Oh well, maybe I'll get to visit with Santa when he stops by...

Just thought I'd update everyone on our baby-naming process. I think we now have it narrowed down to two-Lauren and Leah. Middle name would be Lynn (my middle name) for either. Jake is somewhat compromising on this because he's not totally in love with either name, but he is now really set on her initials being LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Why? Because Isaac's middle name is Nathaniel so his initials are INC. I keep reminding Jake that we didn't choose Isaac's name because of the initials it formed, it was just a conincidence, but he seems to believe otherwise. By the way, I'm not sure why he wanted an "H" name a few months ago? Personally, I am not in love with the middle name Lynn for either of those names, but I guess if I get to have my way on the first name, letting Jake use Lynn for the middle name won't be so bad. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything at all against my middle name and I really like it with other names, but we'll see what ends up happening-7 weeks and counting! I asked Jake if we were going to have to name the rest of our kids in a way that their initials would form business related acronyms and he said yes. I doubt that there are really any more-certainly not 3 or 4 more that we could use. Hopefully not anyways. It's really a rather ridiculous method for naming one's child, don't you think? Having written all of this, don't be surprised to read later on that we've chosen a totally different name. Jake seems to be changing his mind quite often about this topic. Perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut about the whole thing and then when she's born we'll just have to choose either Lauren or Leah because those were the last two names we discussed. Might work, right? I'll keep you all posted....

And because a post is always better with pictures, here are a few from Christmas Eve...

Here's Isaac helping me make some ever-so-tasty cookies in the afternoon.

We went to Jake's parents' house to open presents for and from Jake's Grandma. Isaac got a Little People Farm set that he LOVES.

And just a random picture from the other day. What a cutie!

Our tree and me!

Here's a couple pictures I promised...

This is our tree-at least during the day. Like most trees, it looks more magical or whatever when it's dark. Hopefully next year's tree will be about half that fat and a littleshorter.

And here's me-all 33 weeks of me and baby girl (no, sorry, she still doesn't have a name).

I would put a picture of Isaac on, but I've been a very bad momma and haven't taken a picture of him since we went tree shopping. :( Thankfully, my parents took some pictures this weekend so I'll have to get those from them soon. In the meantime, enjoy this one from about a year ago...

Yes, we're still alive...

I have done nothing with our blog for a long time with the exception of chaning our background so I figured it was probably time for a post. Here's what we've been up to....

My sister and brother in-law hosted a Murder Mystery party...Jake was a 1920's golfer and I was a 1920's reporter. (Remember I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant in this picture and not a big heifer).

Isaac had several Dracula nights where we'd find his crib sheet rather bloody in the mornings when he woke up. This picture was taken on the worst day. I put him down for his nap, heard him just talking away, looked on the monitor to see him just sitting in his bed. I figured he wasn't going to go to sleep so I just went in and got him. This is how I found him. He didn't seem to be in pain. We never did figure out what it was from-most likley his teeth? It's stopped now so no more worries.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went Christmas tree shopping. I wasn't all that impressed with our choices because we needed a small tree and anything that was close to small was already sold (it was only one week after the place had opened!!!). We finally decided on this one. It's a little larger than I would have liked, but it's a nice tree nonetheless. I'll try to get a picture of it all decorated put on soon. Isaac even saw Santa-with no tears!

As far as baby updates...baby is fine and growing well. She kicks like a maniac soccer player. Rather than kicking my ribs like Isaac did she has a way of sticking some part of her little body under my hip bone. Nice, huh? Still no name-not even close! And as far as all those sewing projects that need to be done in less than 2 months-well, they're all started in one form or another. Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll have before and after pictures of the nursery as it goes from "Fly Fishing" to "Polka Dots and Stripes."

Pregnancy Updates

Good news...I passed my icky Glucose Test! I must say I was very relieved when I got there and found out I only had to drink the stuff once. For some reason I was thinking that I had to drink it every hour. Not sure where that idea came from. The blood draws weren't bad-there was a student there doing it and that made me rather nervous, but she did great. In fact, the real phlebotomist did one and it hurt the most and left the largest bruise! Also...my Dr. did an unexpected ultrasound yesterday and it is-for sure-a girl! Now on with all those projects I've been putting off until this was confirmed. This baby is looking to be even smaller than Isaac was (he was 6lbs. 110z.) which is somewhat expected being a girl. Guess I better start stocking up on all those preemie clothes....good thing I have a niece who was a twin and was born in February as well who may be willing to lend some of her clothes to this little one (*hint*hint*Stephanie). No, we still don't have a name. In fact, we're not even making progress with choosing a name. Two and half months to decide still-plenty of time, right? Sorry there's no real pictures-I'd scan the ultrasound "girl" picture but it's not really anything exciting. Here's a picture of me during my test...

Time for a Post

Well....I was just reading through everyone's recent posts and decided I ought to post something myself. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Isaac to post other than really old ones. It's not an anniversary of any kind so nothing there to post about.

So I thought I pre-post about tomorrow. Drum roll, please....Glucose Tolerance Test Day! Woohoo! Actually, BooHoo!!!! Let's just say no one looks forward to sitting at the hospital for 4 hours being 6 1/2 months pregnant with an empty stomach except for that awful orange poison, I mean drink. Here's some more reasons it will be not-so-fun for me:

1. I woke up this morning with a very mild, but still existent, head cold. Maybe that will mute the taste a little, right?

2. I have to be at the hospital at 7:45-which means I have to be up at probably 6:15. I can do mornings, but getting up for this? I'd rather not.

3. I like to be productive and I'd rather do this whole thing at home (I know it's not an option) so I can be working on something rather than just sitting and reading. I'm actually thinking of taking my laptop and all my recipes to type up and get into one unified form or another.

4. I do not like pop because of the carbonation and I do not like orange juice, Sunny D, Sunkist, etc. Should be a tasty morning, huh?

Alright, I think that's enough being whiny for now. I'm sure it will be fine and I know I'll survive, but I didn't have anything else to post about...sorry if you're disappointed!

Tags

I have 2 tags that I need to do....so here they are:

The first one is the 8 Things Tag:

8 Favorite TV Shows(In no particular order)

1. Clean House
2. Survivor
3. Amazing Race
4. Family Feud
5. America’s Funniest Videos
6. Wipeout
7. What Not to Wear
8. The Office

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Woke up at 6:00am
2. Made breakfast for my family (Biscuits and gravy for Jake, breakfast burrito for me, sausage and a yogurt smoothie for Isaac)
3. Stopped at Nobbies and Bed Bath & Beyond for a few last minute items for my family holiday party
4. Played with my bubba
5. Went to our Primary Activity/Sacrament Meeting Program Practice
6. Ate….A LOT!!
7. Watched Jake whoop up on my uncle at Wii Baseball
8. Thanked Heavenly Father that Isaac was finally asleep on the way home (up at 6am and no nap plus Mommy leaving him for 3 hours=a VERY long and cranky day!)

8 Things to Look Forward to

1. February 10th(ish)
2. Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. Taking my sons (and some daughters too!) to the MTC
5. Being a wise Mom
6. Another family vacation-maybe to DC in the Spring?
7. 4:00 today-the Primary Program will be over (don’t get me wrong, I love it-it’s just a lot of work!)
8. Setting out my Christmas decorations and decorating the tree

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Cheesecake Factory
2. Panera Bread
3. Olive Garden
4. PF Changs
5. That Italian place next to PF Changs….can’t think of the name
6. Joe’s Crab Shack (though I HATE all their nasty-implying shirts)
7. Pizza Hut (lunch buffet especially!)
8. Dairy Queen actually has some yummy food in addition to their ice cream

8 Things on My Wish List (to someday accomplish)

1. Paint the window trim in the kitchen
2. Hang blinds in the kitchen windows
3. Buy a headboard for our bedroom
4. Finish finishing the basement
5. Have a sewing/craft/scrapbook room (not just a corner in the kitchen)
6. Paint the trim on the outside of our house
7. Have a house with enough bedrooms and bathrooms for all my kids, with an open kitchen with 2 dishwashers, an attached garage, fireplace, and a fenced backyard
8. Have a year’s worth of food storage

8 People I Tag

1. You
2. Anyone
3. The person reading this
4. My friend
5. My other friend
6. My family member
7. My other family member
8. Somebody else

And the other is a picture tag....Post the 6th picture in your 6th folder and tell about it:

Alright, this is kind of lame because I just posted this picture with all my Halloween posts. This is me and Isaac at Howell's Pumpkin Patch. Really couldn't tell you what he's so surprised about, but he's pretty darn cute, huh?

Baby Update

Alright, so I've now had 3 inconclusive ultrasounds as to whether we're having a girl or a boy. My doctor is still 75% sure it's a girl-he's not seeing anything to make him think it's a boy. Still haven't gone on a pink shopping spree, just adding a few outfits and things every now and then. He'll do another ultrasound the beginning of December to be sure baby is not too small (I make small babies, so my doctor says). We're all hoping to know for sure by then. I have lots of sewing to do as soon as we know for sure it's a girl...making the nursery gender neutral (which basically means making new curtains-just a couple hours for that project) and sewing a blessing gown. That will certainly be my biggest and most time consuming job. Here's the hardest part-emotionally anyways-I am going to cut a piece from my wedding dress to sew into the gown. I just love my dress so much-if I could wear it to church on Sundays I honestly would. Oh well...a $600 dress worn twice should be put to use as much as possible, right?!?! (Note how I'm really still trying to convince myself to take scissors to my beloved wedding dress). And the last (and most poopy!!!) part of this update is that I failed my glucose test. I know get to go do the 3 hour test at the hospital in a week and a half or so. Should be great fun. I hate drinking that stuff-why can't they just the test with non-carbonated, non-orange flavored stuff? The carbonation is really what gets me. Ick! Wish me luck! I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining about any of this...I'm really very blessed to have had a healthy pregnancy and no morning sickness of any kind. Hopefully baby and I will both continue to be healthy and I'll pass my next glucose test! :)

TOFW

So this will be a no-pictures-of-Jenn-post because Jake had our camera this day. I went to Omaha the last weekend in October with my mom, sisters in-law, and Jake's mom and grandma. We attended Time Out For Women. It was awesome! There were so many great presenters-both musical and just speaking. There was even a little store set up-a mini Deseret Book if you will. It was fantastic-so glad I was able to go! We are planning on going next year to Minneapolis. TOFW and Mall of America-can it get any better than that!?!?!

Jake came over to Omaha as well and he and Josh took Isaac and Kyler to the Children's Museum (among other stops at Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop). Here are some pictures of my little guy on his outing with Daddy! (There would be more pictures if I had been there, sorry for the lack, Jake said it was a great museum and that we'll have to go back when Isaac is a little older). Jake said one of the coolest things there was a fog/bubble maker. Appearantly, there is bubble maker that fills the bubbles with fog so they're really easy to see and much heavier than usual. You can kind of get the idea in the video.

Howell's Pumpkin Patch

Earlier in October we went with Jake's family to Howell's Pumpkin Patch. It was really a lot of fun despite being a little warm for a Fall activity. Isaac's favorite part was the corn box. I really think Jake should make one for Isaac-he played in it for so long. Jake thought it was great that he could bury Isaac in the corn and he didn't even seem to notice...although I did when I changed him a couple hours later and he had corn in the cuffs of his pants and the waist of his diaper! There was also a corn maze where we saw tons of little orange and black caterpillars. We opted for an Isaac-sized pumpkin...picked by Jake himself. It was the first real pumpkin patch we've been to and it may become an annual tradition...only time will tell!

Omaha

My little brother and his wife were sealed this last weekend in Winter Quarters (Yahoo!!!). Jake and I were able to go the endowment session and the sealing thanks to his wonderful parents. They came to Omaha with us and took Isaac to the zoo. My cousin Sara and step-grandpa Skip joined in for the fun. Isaac had a blast-at least that's what they all said. Like other trips to the zoo, his favorite part was the fish. I think we may be investing in a couple of goldfish for Christmas for him. That's our kind of pet! He was a trooper for the most part considering the long day he had. Thankfully, he slept most of the way home so we adults could enjoy some big people discussion! Congrats, Travis and Brianne and thanks again Mom and Dad!

Happy Halloween!

We had several little Halloween adventures this year. We went to my parent's house on Thursday since it was their Beggar's Night. Isaac got a little bag with some toys and a book from my parents. He also raided their candy corn dish as always. Friday night we went to the ward Halloween party and Trunk or Treat. Isaac did more passing out candy than taking it-he won't eat most of it and Jake and I won't really either. Then we went to Jake's parent's house. I don't have any pictures from there because Isaac was not a happy camper. He bawled through most of the pictures for some reason. My sister and brother in-law were going to host a murder mystery party, but my sister got sick so it's been postponed-be looking forward to the pictures from that in about 2 weeks. Oh yeah, can I just say this was the best costume purchase-I got it on Craigslist for $5!!! I'm out this afternoon looking for costumes for next year!

I'm still glad that I voted...

I'll be honest that I wasn't overly optimistic yesterday while I was voting. However, I felt that it was the right thing to do and every vote matters, right? Thankfully, I didn't have to wait in line at all-we vote at the library just a few blocks from our house. I was able to take Isaac for a walk and then play at the little play area in the library after we voted. Jake, on the other hand, had to wait for quite a while because he went after work (he went to work before the polls opened). He was up until past midnight watching FoxNews. Then he was up around 7:00 this morning to get the latest updates. While our candidate didn't win, there are a few postives to mention:

1. Prop 8 in CA passed (Jake said there were similar measures that passed in AZ and FL as well-Hooray!!).
2. Mitt Romney can run again in 4 years instead of 8.

What's in a name?!?!?

Alright, this not having a name for our baby thing is starting to drive me crazy. Maybe it's because I'm a planner, maybe it's because we had Isaac picked out before we were even pregnant with him, I don't know. I do know that I'd really like to have a name chosen and soon. (By the way, my doctor did another ultrasound yesterday and thanks to the good ol' umbilical cord, the results are still inconclusive, but he's still pretty sure it's a girl). That all being said, HELP!!! Please give us some ideas. Jake is still on his H kick, which is why Haley (Grace probably for a middle name) is the only name we both like. I'm not crazy about it, but I don't hate it. I also like Lauren and Leah, but just saw they were on a "most popular names" list. I'd prefer to stay away from names in that category since my name was in that one for about 10 years. (Just count how many Jennifers you know-I like my name, really, I do, I just don't like that there are 54,375,287,129 other Jennifers around). Probably Elizabeth for a middle name for Lauren and still no middle name for Leah. The other name I like is Anna-Jake says it's an old woman's name. I disagree. Alright, there's the extent of our name dilema as it stands. Thanks to the few of you who have given us some ideas-all are being considered, but I'm tired of looking online and checking out the baby name books from the library. Help! :)

Quick update-I just looked at another list and all 4 of those names were on it. Agh!!!

Another tag

My friend Laurie had this on her blog and so now here's my version of it. Now you can learn more about me and my deep, thoughtful, mysterious self. No, actually, I'm pretty boring and predictable, but go ahead and read on....

I am...

i am: a happy mama
i think: too much
i know: I am a daughter of God
i want: more space to be organized in
i have: a baby on the way
i dislike: angry people
i miss: living close to friends
i fear: being in a car accident
i feel: sleepy
i hear: myself typing
i smell: my Febreeze plug in…Ahh
i crave: pumpkin cookies (will be making some tomorrow)
i cry: way more than before I had a baby
i usually: don’t finish all I need to in a day
i wonder: where we will live next
i regret: only a few decisions
i love: my hubby and baby boy
i care: for my home
i always: kiss my hubby goodnight
i worry: that I’m not prepared enough for an emergency
i am not: a drama queen
i remember: as much as I can
i believe: it’s going to get colder
i dance: rarely-for the sake of all those around me
i sing: every day
i don’t always: express my gratitude for others
i argue: with myself-not with others
i write: in my journal much less often than I need to
i win: sometimes at bowling Wii
i lose: at pretty much anything I play with Jake
i wish: I was the person I can be
i listen: and sometimes bite my tongue
i don't understand: why people are mean to one another
i can usually be found: at home playing with my boy
i am scared: of letting others down
i need: friends and family every day
i am happy: with my life
i tag: anyone!

Isaac Walking!

Isaac has learned some new things the last few weeks.


1. Waking up at night. :( Maybe it's an effort to get us back into infant mode with another baby on the way? It's not every night, but we're trying to figure out what's waking him up-hunger, being cold/hot, etc...no luck with anything really yet. At least it's just once a night and then he's usually pretty good about going back to sleep.

2. Praying-well, at least that's what we call it. See video-it's the cutest thing ever!



3. And last, but not least-walking! He's been walking a little for quite a few weeks-but just from one person to another. Now's he just the point where he's walking about 50% of the time. Here's a video for that too!

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? No

2. What kind of car did you drive? Um, I went through several...the first was an oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and then I wrecked that one right after I turned 16 and got an early 90's Chevy Lumina-my sister got that one as a bribe to stay at BYU and then I got a 90's something GrandAm. My brother got that one when I left for BYU and then I got a Chevy Malibu-my first car I really did like, I think it was a 98 or later. (Some of that may be wrong-I think my parents went through 7 cars for 3 kids. Sad, I know.)

3. What was the most embarrassing moment of HS? Hmm...I really can't remember one. I'm sure there were several.

4. Were you a party animal? Ha! Let's just say my friend and I went to a PG movie the night 80% of the school was at a kegger sponsered by a parent/employee of the school.

5. Were you considered a flirt? Nope-see answer to #1

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir for all 4 years-I loved it! Especially because it got me a trip on a cruise my senior year for Spring Break. It was supposed to be a competition thing, but it was right after 9/11 so all the other schools backed out and we just went anyways. It was rockin'!!! This picture is obviously from graduation-I am the only alto (on the right side of the picture) in the yellow cap and gown. Look closely if you really care to find me.

7. Were you a nerd? Nope

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Yes-Football Cheerleading (Captain actually my junior and senior year), Basketball, and Track

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Nope...never even had detention!

10. Can you still sing the fight song? Probably-and dance it as well (remember the cheerleading?)

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Bechtel, Ms. Kepley, Coach Klein, and Mrs. Lehman

12. Where did you sit during lunch? At whatever table my friends and I could find in the cafteria

13. School mascot? The Eagles

14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who? Yes, freshman year with someone who's name is escaping me right now, sophmore year with Scott Moran, junior year with Shane Thomas, and senior year with Mike Wilson, and then Jake's senior year with him

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Yes-well at least 99% of it

16. What do you remember most about graduation? That I was totally over high school and ready to be done with it!

17. Where did you go on senior skip day? I don't think we had one...

18. Were you in any clubs? National Honor Society, Student Government my freshman year-there wasn't a lot to offer at our little high school of 400 students

19. Have you gained some weight since then? Yes-but only because I'm pregnant! :)

20. Who was your prom date? Junior year-Josh Mullin, Senior Year-my hubby, and then I went when I was a Freshman in college to Jake's senior prom (he's 2 months younger than me and a grade behind)

21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? If there is one

22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Talk to more people. Don't make your parents buy 50,000,000 senior pictures unless you're actually going to give them out to people. Go to bed earlier-early morning seminary is a killer, but totally worth it. Learn what an AP class is before you get to BYU-it'll save you a lot of time and tuition if you can start ahead of time.

And a couple of pictures for you, Janelle, (even though you didn't tag me!) since you're the first one whose blog I've seen this on. Enjoy! :)

I tag anyone who has the time to dig out, scan, and crop all your high school pictures-good luck on your trip down memory lane!