THE COLES FAMILY

Stella's 6-month Check-In

2012-01-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

As long as the holiday season seemed, I can hardly believe that it's already over halfway through January. I'm so far behind with my blog, so I'll have to definitely take some time to upload my pictures from the last few months and catch up with all the things we've been up to.

Stella has been growing by leaps and bounds. She's fully mastered rolling and can now hold up her head for as long as she likes - this is a feat considering the size and weight of her noggin. It always takes my babies a bit longer to master tummy time for this reason, but she's now gotten the hang of it. I feel like she's growing up so fast, maybe too fast. I love this phase she's in and I'm excited to see her learn how to crawl. She started eating solids and she loves rice cereal and vegetables, but she's not a fan of most fruits. I guess all the sugar she consumed in utero was more than enough to last her. I'm sure at some point she'll develop her mom's sweet tooth, but until then I'm just happy she likes the vegetables. It gives me hope that she won't develop into the super-picky-eater toddler that Jameson was.

She's still in the 90th percentiles for height and weight and head circumference. What's new? She is pushing 20 pounds these days so it really helps that I've been pumping iron in the gym to keep up with her rapid weight gain. I've never been much of a weightlifter, or paid much attention to weights at all, but I am a believer after just 2 months of Gold's Bodypump. Most. Amazing. Class. Ever. For reals. Also, can I just mention the cardio cinema... seriously... if there is one near you, it at least deserves a shot. Spence and I are totally converted.

Anyway, so last weekend my amazing photog friend Tracey took our family pictures. I haven't seen them all yet, but she did send me one sneak peak teaser...

She's such a happy girl and can melt your heart with just one smile (even though she's not smiling in this pic). I can't wait to see the rest!

It finally happened...

2011-11-05T23:24:00.002-06:00

Fall has finally hit, although it took a really really long time. We had fire scares and a zillion triple-digit days. We were so over it and so so our trip to Utah came at a great time. We were really excited to catch up with friends and family and get out of the heat for a bit.

We started the trip with a drive down to St. George for Spence to run his 2nd and probably last marathon. We've both decided that just because someone can do a marathon, doesn't actually mean they should. It's a physically and mentally torturous process and I'm not even talking about the running part. Try being the wife/mom with a new baby and an active 3 year-old who is abandoned every Saturday for a minimum of 2 hours. I know it doesn't sound that bad, but you weren't there. It actually wouldn't be that bad had he been training now, when the new baby isn't so new anymore and the 3 year-old is now much better behaved. Of course things never really work out in the most ideal way.

Back to the trip.... Spence ran a great race and we had a really fun family getaway. We swam, we ate (my first Cafe Rio visit of the trip) and we nursed an exhausted runner back to health. We returned to Salt Lake just in time for Stella's baby blessing. It was a slightly chaotic day, but it all worked out in the end. And of course in all the chaos, I neglected to get out my camera and have no photographic evidence of that day... or really the entire St. George trip. I'm a horrible person, I know. I did manage to snap a few shots on my cell phone of Spence after finishing the race, but that's about it. Let me make it up to you with a cute picture of Jamie in the bath.

How can you not love this face??

I spent the week in the office and was fortunate enough to receive some tickets to the Bronco Mendenhall Show (a radio show they put on every week at the stadium) from a really generous coworker. I, of course, gave them to Spence and his father while I went out with my girls for a fantastic dinner (something else I didn't get pictures of). But that's only because Spence had the camera, which he used to take several pictures of their fun night.

Richard showcasing the great view

The man of the hour - Bronco Mendenhall - and also a former player/high school teacher of Spencer's.

We were lucky (??!!) enough to see snow while we were there.... in October... like the first week of October. We were ready to get out of the heat, but not quite that ready. Jameson was enthralled...

We had some great family time.

Stella was enamored with her Grandma.

Seriously loved her... that was the happiest I saw here the whole trip. She's so hard to catch smiling on camera. She's usually so distracted by the camera itself that she stops smiling, but she was all grins with Grandma.

Overall, we had such a great trip and got to spend a lot of time with family and friends and got a great break from the weather. In fact, we came back to some cold fronts that have started to blow in. No rain, of course, but definitely some cooler temps... including sweatshirt weather as evidenced below. Ok, maybe I was a little overdressed as you can tell since my dad is next to me wearing only short sleeves and the kids aren't even in a blanket or coats. I just really wanted to wear a sweatshirt...

Seriously love that face!

Halloween snuck up on us, but we were ready with costumes we had bought way in advance so I didn't run the risk of forgetting or procrastinating until last minute. Jameson was a werewolf - some random costume we found at gymboree which was somewhat ineffective. Everyone thought he was a bear. Also, his gloves were too big and we could never get his little fingers in the right places so he was pretty ineffective at holding his own candy bucket. But he really looked cute... kind of like a lumberjack werewolf.

You can kind of sort of see the werewolf resemblance, right??

If nothing else, he sure loved candy.

Stella has been developing some new skills over the last few weeks. I'm really bad at making my babies take tummy time. I hate to hear them cry and struggle so I usually don't make them do it at all. It's harder for them than normal babies because they have abnormally large heads and a head weighs a lot. That, combined with their super-short necks, makes for a really tough go.

Showing off her super-strong neck muscles and her awesome tufts of hair

Looking super adorable and dressed for the cold front. Truth be told, our cold fronts aren't really that cold...

One of our many Halloween activities was trick-or-treating around Town Square in Georgetown. It was so fun to walk around the old shops surrounding City Hall. I think we'll make it a new tradition.

Stella munched on her fingers quite a bit.

Stella was a chili pepper for Halloween. You can only see the top half of her costume here, but it was super cute. She also suffered from costume confusion and because she was covered up most of the way with a blanket, everyone thought she was a pumpkin. Oh well... we'll be much more obvious with our costumes next year. Lesson learned.

Overall, we went to one Halloween Carnival, one trick-or-treat in Georgetown, 2 different ward trunk-or-treats, and actual neighborhood trick-or-treating in my parent's neighborhood on the real holiday. Our kids were totally spoiled. Although Jameson learned a valuable lesson about candy - with a little help from the stomach flu - and has started to associate eating too much candy (1 lollipop and half a pack of smarties) with puking. My apologies to the crew and fellow diners at Freebird's who had to clean up/witness that debacle. Jameson generously passed the flu onto us - Spence had it on Halloween day and I had had it over the weekend so I took the kids out that day to trick-or-treat without him (sad). Jameson was also kind enough to pass the flu bug onto my mother... sorry again for that. In all fairness, you did know he was sick and you chose to kiss him anyway. Luckily, I think we're all over it and moving on to the next fun ailment. In the weeks after starting Jameson in preschool (which I neglected to mention), we have been host to a number of various diseases, each one more fun than the last. We'll all be grateful when this onslaught of illness has ended.

By the way - Jameson started preschool. Hallelujah!! He really needed something where he could learn and grow without being hindered by Spencer and I's inability to spend quality time with him all day since we both work a lot when we're home. Jamie has really blossomed in preschool. He has better manners, has learned songs, started to master his letters, picked up new words, made friends, and has really started his love of education. It's amazing how much he's progressed and he's only really been 5 times in the last three weeks since he's been sick so much. I absolutely love his new preschool and am so thrilled with the decision. Just wish the germs weren't part of the whole package.

Things are moving right along. Stella turned 4 months in the chaos before Halloween and I didn't even realize it until the day after. What a horrible mother I am... or what a 2nd child she is... The pediatrician placed her in the 95th percentile for head size, 85th percentile for length and 75th percentile for weight. She's gonna be long and lean with a slightly large head. :) She's a great baby and is really ahead of the milestones - rolling from back to front to back and already able to use her exersaucer. I'm fairly certain we'll have an early walker (so not ready for that). She's also a big talker. She'll blabber away to anyone who gives her attention. And she'll be sure to blow a couple raspberries just to mix it up.

Jameson has also grown quite a bit. He's still on the low end for height and weight, but head size is still up on the top of the charts. I'm not sure if these kids will ever grow into their head size, but that's okay. Jameson has been learning letters and numbers, he's started singing and really getting into music. He's very picky about song choice and frequently requests his favorite songs - Move Like Jagger by Maroon 5 and Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. He loves them and always asks me to play them again after they come on the radio. He also likes Adele (much to Spencer's chagrin)... what can I say, the kid has good taste! He thinks he's hilarious - he'll repeat things you say at the most awkward moments. I was trying to have a phone conversation with my dad and was telling how badly I needed to focus to finish a work project and Jameson jumps on my lap and grabs my face in his hands and kept repeating "Focus Mom, Focus". I was trying to be serious but it just wasn't working, he's too cute. The other day I caught him mumbling to himself while rolling out playdough phrases like "Are you KIDDING me??" and "What the crap?" After cracking a smile at how ridiculous it sounded coming out of a 3 year-old's mouth, I realized that I really need to enter that phase of parenthood where I start talking like a preschool teacher. Blech... there goes the last shred of my pre-child persona.

Life is so busy now, but we're so happy to have great kids, great family and great friends to make it all worthwhile. We're especially excited about Christmas this year - starting our own traditions and really trying to teach Jameson about the true meaning instead of glossing over with all Santa stories to get him hyped up to open presents. It's so crazy to me that Jameson is going to be a Sunbeam in Primary this year - I can't believe he's that old! Before I know it, he'll be packing up to leave for college! I'm not ready!!!

Birthday Weekend

2011-09-15T08:27:00.000-06:00

Jameson's birthday fell on Labor Day this year and so we decided we'd make a weekend of it and take him to SeaWorld in San Antonio. We celebrated with a family party the day before we left for San Antonio and he got to open all of his presents and eat his "donut cake." It was an actual donut, yes, but not just any donut - the "Texas-sized" donut from Round Rock Donuts. It is probably the equivalent of an entire dozen donuts all put together into one large donut. Jameson is not a fan of many sweets and isn't really into cake or cupcakes - trust me, I've tried - so I thought it would be best to get him something that he would enjoy and I think I did pretty well given that he hasn't stopped talking about his donut cake every time we pass a donut shop (and yes, he knows them all).

BTW, I'm trying this new thing with doing picture collages since I hate the way that Blogger usually uploads photos.

Clockwise from top left: the donut cake, opening presents, cake face, admiring his cake, a closeup of the donut cake, complete with frosting train tracks and trains, one happy boy, enjoying his yummy cake, opening presents and the extravagant decorations ;)

Jameson's family party was not fancy, since we figured the trip to SeaWorld was his main present. We used his naptime to wrap presents, pick up his cake and decorate - a lot to do in a small amount of time. He's been really into trains lately and has been working on using the potty to earn a "Thomas" bed, so I kind of stuck with the theme, and used as much Thomas stuff I could find. That, and a few Chuggington items.

I do have to say that the donut cake was super yummy and probably something we'll repeat again - even though they spelled Jameson's name incorrectly (even after she insisted that they knew how to spell it since she had a neighbor who spelled it the same way). I still can't figure out what that letter is after the "m" in Jameson.

Spending some quality family time together before leaving for SeaWorld.

We took off for SeaWorld after church on Sunday and spent the evening at our hotel. We stayed at the Drury Inn since it had free breakfast, appetizers at night and popcorn in the afternoons - it was heaven for Jameson. From an adult perspective... probably not a place I'd like to eat at again... unless I'd just had surgery or was in a school cafeteria.

Jameson LOVED SeaWorld. It was probably the best day of his entire 3 years. Upon entering the park, we took him right to his first roller coaster - the kiddie Shamu coaster. I took him on it while Stella hung out in the wings with Spence. Afterwards, I asked him if he liked it and he said no. I guess that the thrill-seeker gene hasn't made an appearance yet. He did really enjoy the carousel, though. And since Spence took him on that one, I'm pretty sure Spence automatically became favorite parent of the day.

We then went to snap some pictures with the Sesame Street characters. We got shots with Bert & Ernie and with Cookie Monster. Jamie wasn't interested in the other characters, except Elmo. Unfortunately, they kept Elmo and Big Bird locked up inside where you had to pay to take pictures with them. Apparently, Elmo and Big Bird get injured when they're allowed out among the general public. Who knew that a mob of small children could be that dangerous??

Jamie and Spence caught the Sea Lion show, played on the playground until he injured himself (didn't take long), and then headed over to the Shamu show. Obviously Jameson hasn't spent as much time watching Whale Wars as I have, because I think that was my favorite part of the day. I loved watching the whales. They are such beautiful and intelligent creatures and I could watch them perform or even just swim around all day. I almost cried more than once.

Since the weather was so great (highs in the low 90s), we were able to spend a lot of time outside without sweating to death. I know that must sound crazy to all you non-texans, but after 75 days in the triple digits, the 90s are a huge and welcome change. Spence and I took turns going on the big kid roller coaster and both agreed afterwards that we are not kids anymore and roller coasters are not as appealing as they used to be. Don't get me wrong, it was fun - just not ride-it-again fun. While the kids hung out with whatever parent wasn't riding the roller coaster, they both crashed. Jameson crashed pretty hard. If you notice the picture in the middle, he is covered in orange Cheeto powder. It makes an attractive lipstick shade, right? His hand was still in the bag when he fell asleep.

We decided to hang out in the back of the penguin exhibit while the kids snoozed and get a little break from the sun. I couldn't help but think of Happy Feet while I watched all the penguins crammed into such a small space. Then they released one of the "chicks" from the "chick pen" and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was seriously the most odd and scary looking penguin I'd ever seen - like a penguin dressed up for Halloween. I don't really know how to describe it - it was covered in thick gray fur-like fuzz... and it was huge, as in bigger than the other penguins. I'm not sure how they can call it a chick. I stared in disbelief until the chick was escorted out of the exhibit into the backroom and then we left.

We then hit up the dolphin feeding pool where Jamie fed some dolphins. After that it was off to the shark exhibit and then we ended the day at the splash pool portion of the waterpark. As we left SeaWorld, Jamie pointed to all the people who were leaving at the same time we were and commented on how they had all come to SeaWorld because it was their birthday as well. It was really cute, but I guess I had made it a little too clear that we only go to SeaWorld for birthdays. We were all thoroughly exhausted, but the kids did great. At least until after we left the park. It took 2 hours to get out of San Antonio because of all the stops we had to make. Food stops, diaper change stops, nursing stops followed by formula stops (seriously, this girl is like a camel before bedtime). And then more stops to try and find gas. It was a long long time.

Jameson fought sleep super hard until we got home because he knew that a surprise was waiting for him. My awesome parents spent part of that day assembling and decorating his new bed.

A series of action shots capturing his excitement at having a new bed.

He was so thrilled about his bed. He's been sleeping like a champ since we got it for him. I wasn't too excited to get him a theme bed so I had the idea to get him a simple plain bed that we would decorate with vinyl wall art. That way he can pass the bed onto Stella when she's ready for it and we can decorate with an entirely different theme. Brilliant, right? Well, except for the part where I didn't realize that Ikea children's beds are a very unusual size and don't really fit normal toddler sheet sets or twin size sheet sets. So.... thanks to my mom, and some quick thinking, she made it work and was able to put the Thomas sheets on his bed. As long as he doesn't grow to fill the entire bed in the next 2 years, I think we'll be okay.

He still asks to have birthday parties and donut cakes, but I think he's starting to figure out that birthdays don't last forever. I sort wish his did though, I love seeing him so excited and happy to do things we don't normally do.

The 2 Month Mark

2011-08-31T21:06:00.000-06:00

Stella reached the 2 month mark earlier this week. It's nice to look back at the last two months and see how far we've come. I'll admit that my first month home from the hospital was pretty touch and go. Dealing with an imbalance in hormones, an adjustment to being a mom of two, dealing with the post-surgery issues and feeling cooped up all while running on next to no sleep can definitely take it's toll.

Stella's biggest milestone has been her ability to sleep through the night - a feat that is not matched by many newborns. She's always a very hungry girl in the evenings and eats 2-3 times the normal amount between the hours of 7 and 9pm and then sleeps solidly through the night until 6 or 7am when she wakes up to eat then the falls asleep again until around 10am. Since my production levels can't keep up with Stella's nighttime eating habits, she's been getting some formula to make up for what I can't provide. She seems to tolerate it very well and it's even helped in achieving the aforementioned full night's sleep. I feel like the first month was a test of my mental strength. I look at my ability to survive a full almost 7 weeks of severe colic and 2-3 hours of sleep every other night without causing any bodily harm to myself or any others is my badge of honor and also a form of hazing I had to undergo before being rewarded with that which was most important to me... sleep.

The kids both had checkups yesterday at the pediatricians yesterday. Stella has gained almost 5 pounds in 6 weeks and, just like her brother did, maintains 90th percentile measurements in all areas. She's also kept almost all of her hair and is growing more. I'm glad that she didn't suffer the same fate as Jameson, who was bald for a full 6 months. Jameson's percentages have been on a steady decline over the past two years. He's now in the 10th percentile for height and 50th for weight - his build is definitely reminiscent of his dad's.

Anyway, onto other topics. I went in for my post-op visit a few weeks ago with the OB. Also had an IUD put in (sorry for the TMI). For those who have been through this procedure before, OUCH! Glad it only needs to be done every 5 years. I was a little anxiety-ridden about this appointment since I wasn't too keen on sharing that much of myself with the public again for quite some time. Funnily enough, the fire alarm went off right in the middle of the procedure - ok, not funny and not really the best timing for a fire drill. The doctor asked if I wanted to stop, but I was not about to go through that kind of pain twice so I told him that he was only to stop if there was actual smoke or flames coming through from under the door. No smoke, no flames, and I was able to get through the appointment somewhat unscathed.

Lucky for me, the day before I had a visit to the urologist to further investigate symptoms that showed up during pregnancy that could be indicative of kidney stones. No idea what it was called, but I had another procedure done by that doctor to check my bladder for stones or other problems. Let's just say that was my week of difficult and uncomfortable procedures. I'm extremely happy that that week is over.

I started working out again by running my first mile - and it sucked. I have been following up with workout DVDs and more running (3 miles at my last workout). I really hate the beginning of getting back into shape. It's the most terrible and depressing time. People should just avoid talking to me while I'm working out for the next few weeks until I get through that wall. Spence and I have been trying to take the kids out on a jog/walk twice a week in the mornings. We have to go at around 7am so that it's not too hot to be outside. It's seriously been the worst summer on record for me in Texas - and I've spent a good amount of summers here. We're in a severe drought and we've had a record 75 days so far of triple digit temperatures. It's sickening. I've never missed cold weather in my life, but I have to say that for the first time, I look at the sweatshirts in my closet longingly and dream of the days when I'll be able to wear them again.

And on that subject, we're looking forward to our next trip to Utah. In all honesty, I'd love a trip to Antarctica at this point. For those who of our friends who are in Utah, expect a call from me in the next little bit. Can't wait to see you all!!!

Baby Stella is here!

2011-07-09T21:32:00.011-06:00

I figure that now is about the time I should be blogging again. We've been home with our new arrival for over a week now, which means that Stella is over 2 weeks old already! This delivery was a scheduled c-section so I was pretty prepared for everything. I'm not really sure how long I would've lasted if my doctor hadn't been so awesome as to schedule it a week early. Given the amount of swelling and water retention I had with my last pregnancy, he was more than willing to help me out.

We were scheduled for June 28th, one day after our 8th wedding anniversary. For the anniversary, we spent some time with Jameson at a bounce-house place while he went totally nuts. Then we spoiled him with a happy meal while we feasted on some sandwiches from The Noble Pig (amazing place if you live in the area, you must go there). That afternoon we dropped Jameson off at my parents house while Spencer and I headed out for sushi at Sushi Zushi (our waiter recommended some awesome rolls that weren't on the menu) and we left super happy and full. We walked over to the Gold Class theaters and settled in for our showing of Green Lantern (I didn't follow the plot very well, but our options were limited). I love these theaters because they have gigantic leather recliners, plush blankets for you to use, and a waiter that serves you delicious food while you're watching the movie. We had a nice chat with our fellow movie-goers (a couple who gave us advice on transitioning to 2 kids) before the movie started as we were the only 4 people in the theater for that showing (it was a Monday night so not a lot of movie traffic and not a great movie either). During the movie, we ate more - popcorn, virgin mojitos, Creme Brulee Cheesecake (heavenly) and an ice cream brownie sandwich (also heavenly). It may have been a little overkill, but since it was my last meal for a few days, I wanted to make it a good one. No pictures from that night (I'm not keen on pictures that make me look ginormous) but we had a fantastic evening.

We showed up at 5am the next day for our surgery, which was scheduled at 7:30am. We waited and waited and watched others come and go before us and we were finally sent to the OR around 8:30am (almost 2 hours late). Normally I wouldn't care, but I was a little hungry after fasting and the longer I'm awake, the hungrier I get. My last delivery was an emergency c-section and so since this one was planned, everything went a little differently. There's a whole pre-op process with IVs and medications and then you walk yourself into the OR and sit down while they get your epidural ready. Wasn't horrible, but wasn't my favorite. Then you are laid out like a frog which is about to be dissected (I actually told the doctor that when he asked me how I felt right before we started the surgery). This operation didn't go as smoothly as the last one, but I won't go into the details. Let's just say that there may have been some issues with the anesthesia and my body didn't react very well. I don't want to scare anyone (not that it's really that scary) who may be having a c-section in the future because my last one went perfectly and this one is probably just an anomaly. If you really want to know, you can ask me and I'd be happy to tell you.

Other than that, the baby came out just fine. We had been expecting her to be around 7 lbs based on the last ultrasound we had had a few weeks prior, but she weighed in at 9 lbs even (21" and born at 9:06am). Big baby, bigger than Jameson by about a half pound (and a week early if you recall). The only part of the surgery I recall hearing the doctor's voice was when he was trying to work our little bundle out of the womb. If you know our son, you probably know that our children don't have the smallest of heads. This is not my fault - I wear child-sized hats. I blame my husband's genes :) But our doctor's conversation went something like "Wow, this is a large head. Gee, she's really in there good. Man, this baby does not want to come out!" These are all very reassuring things to hear when you're lying on the operating table. But she came out just fine and was taken to be attended to, followed by her very watchful dad. After a while in the OR, again because of problems, I was finally released to post-op. Things are pretty foggy for a while because I'm fairly certain they gave me some sort of sedative to keep me calm while they fixed the problems. You have to stay in post-op for a while until you can move your feet and legs on your own, so you can imagine this takes some time. I don't remember much because of the aforementioned sedative.

Anyway, Stella was given a clean bill of health and sent off to the nursery while I recovered. The three of us had a wonderful time at the hospital, we stayed the full four days to take advantage of the wonderful gift that is the nursery and the awesome night nurses who take care of your babies for you while you sleep. Most of my nurses were rewarded with homemade chocolate peanut butter cookies (to die for). And because of that, I got great care. So thanks Mom for baking the cookies that basically ensured I had all my medications on time and lots of attention and favors from nurses.

Now that we're at home, it's been a bit of an adjustment. Jameson absolutely adores his sister, though he's not quite sure on how to handle her. Anytime she cries, he's the first one to call my attention to it and want to help her. He has suddenly become very helpful in other areas too and should eventually mold into quite the big brother. Stella is great, though she's much different than Jameson was as a newborn. Her digestive system is more active, and so we get our share of sleepless nights due to her colic. Spence is such a trooper and makes sure that I get at least one nap a day to make up for lost sleep. He's fortunate to have a job and supervisors that allow him to work from home on an as-needed basis to help take care of me, Stella, and Jameson. We're hoping that in a few weeks, the fitful nights will turn into more restful nights for us. Despite her fussiness, she's absolutely adorable and craves attention and human contact from her family whenever she's awake. I have yet to set up newborn pictures for her - mostly because we're in a new ward and I don't really know anyone, let alone who takes pictures and who doesn't. I may end up hiring someone I don't know just to get them done, but we'll have to see.

In post-pregnancy news, I've already dropped over 25 pounds (yay for dropping water retention) and am only 5 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Not trying to brag or anything, but after having such difficulty losing the baby weight last time, I'm thrilled to be doing so much better this time. Besides, this is my blog and if I can't toot my own horn here, where can I?

Just for fun, I tried on a pair of my regular jeans today... and they fit! I would actually wear them except that my incision is still a bit tender and I'm not quite ready for regular waistlines on pants. Still loving my stretchy pants, plus you have to love the fact that there are no zippers and buttons on most maternity pants.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures that follow. We have quite a few more than I will post, but I refuse to post pictures where I look more like Sloth from The Goonies than myself. Pitocin does me no favors.

My portrait - 37.5 weeks along - 1.5 weeks before delivery

My sweet Jameson giving his preggo-faced mommy a kiss so she doesn't feel like a total mess

Pre-Op photo opp, the gown looks weird, but it was awesome. It had this little part where a heater hooks up to it and basically your gown becomes like a little sauna for you during the surgery. LOVED IT.

Stella's Debut! She is quite the large baby, right? I mean look at her compared to the nurse!

First Pictures with the new baby!

Mother-Daughter Moment

Daddy-Daughter Moments too.

Stella with Grammy

Stella gave Jameson a learning laptop. He was immediately obsessed and it was all he ever wanted to do when he would come visit us at the hospital every day.

Grumpy with Stella - he missed Jameson's birth because of a business trip to Australia so we were thrilled to have him there this time around.

Cute close-up

Grumpy with our kids (still getting used to that word)

Daddy/Daughter Bonding

Okay, I admit that this was taken on probably day 3 of the hospital. No, I did not look like this on Day 1 or even Day 2. I choose not to post those pictures because it's my blog and I get to pick what you see and what you don't. BTW - Stella rocks some serious double chin in this picture.

Grammy helped Jameson "hold" Stella for the first time.

Second attempt at family pictures - the first attempt wasn't pretty (thanks to Pitocin and no makeup).

Auntie Sarah with Stella - Sarah missed Jameson's birth as well so it was fun for her to be around too.

Getting ready to leave the hospital.

Stella in her take-home outfit. They had a machine that took newborn pictures that you could choose the best ones and take as many as you wanted. I liked it so much better than the actual people who come around and take them.

Jameson holding Stella

What happens after Jameson has been holding Stella for about 5 seconds - boredom. Stella is promptly repositioned and then Jameson wants pictures of only him.

3 day countdown

2011-06-24T20:07:00.003-06:00

It's been a fun week. Every day I can move less and less. Yesterday I had to take off my wedding ring because it barely fits over my knuckle and I really don't want to have them saw it off before surgery next week. It's been hot still, but surprisingly it feels nicer since the temps are only highs in the upper 90s and not in the 100s. I've long since stopped cooking and we're down to easy meals that mostly are cooked in the microwave or whatever Spence can throw together.

We take Jameson on little errands when we can to get him out of the house and get some energy out. The other day we took him to Krispy Kreme. We pass it several times a week and Jamie always points it out and asks for a donut. It's right next to our oil change place and so every time Spence takes the car in, he brings Jameson along and then walks over to get a donut while they're waiting for the car. Usually I don't feed him any high-sugar foods, but every once in a while I will make an exception. So we decided we'd have a doughnut day and let him eat a donut. He was daring and even tried a bite of a chocolate frosted donut. It is funny to watch him eat so much sugar. He would take a bite and start dancing around. I tried my best to get it on camera, but of course I only caught the tail-end of him dancing. But it's a cute video anyway.

Today was my last day of work for at least 6 weeks. It's comforting to know I'm finished for a while, but it's going to be weird to not have to constantly check my emails over and over again. In fact, I'm already a bit bored. I wonder how many books I'll get through just over the weekend since I spend a lot of time resting in bed per my doctor's orders. My contractions are so frequent that they want me to do basically nothing as often as possible. And no, I have no idea whether or not I'm dilated. One of the best things about having a c-section is not having to get checked (unless you want to - but seriously, who wants that?). I have no signs of labor except for the contractions so rest is all I really need. I think I can handle it for 3 more days.

Other than that, I'm really not nervous about the surgery or anything. I'm actually looking forward to a quiet hospital stay with lots of movies and books and resting (in between all the blood draws and stomach kneading). My doctor assures me frequently that he is "very good at c-sections." It's comforting to hear someone so sure of themselves when it comes to surgeries. I think in any other facet of life that statement might be irritating or awkward, but in this case, definitely not. In fact, half the reason I picked this doctor is because of the recommendations by former patients who've all had fantastic c-sections with this guy. So other than the fact that I have to be at the hospital at 5am (major bleh) I will be very happy to come in and have the surgery. Plus, I get a baby out of it and I don't have to be pregnant anymore after Tuesday. These are all very good things.

Oh and our anniversary is Monday. That should be fun... we're not really sure what I will or won't be able to do on Monday. Our fallback plans are to go to Gold Class since they have fantastic gigantic recliners and lots of yummy food to eat while you watch movies. Our only problem is the lack of movie options. We're limited to Green Lantern or Super 8 - any opinions??

I'll be sure to post pictures of everything from the hospital - there's wi-fi there so I should be able to keep the blog up to date and watch plenty of movies. Wish me luck...

Waiting Game

2011-06-17T17:25:00.002-06:00

These last few weeks have not been my favorite. Jameson got sick and then passed to Spencer who then passed it to me. I think there should be some biological rule that you shouldn’t be able to get sick when you’re this far along in pregnancy. I spent the last few days of last week wishing I could be in bed in a dark room and just rest with no interruptions. Of course, then I remember that laying down gives me heartburn so bad that it sometimes works its way into nausea. And then shortly after that there is a toddler who meanders into my room and onto my bed and right into my face to tell me what fascinating thing Elmo is doing on Sesame Street. After a week of being down and out, I finally went in to the doctor and got an antibiotic for what seems to be laryngitis. I had either no voice or a man voice for 5 days, so I guess that should’ve been my clue. My voice had been so bad that last week when Jameson heard my voice from around the corner, he asked Spencer if Grandpa was here. That was a sad day for me.

The one thing I know I can count on is my appetite. It’s very steady and though I try to choose healthier options most of the time, I still fail in this department. I have been a sugar-holic this pregnancy. Last pregnancy was all about the red meat, the salt and, yes, even the disgusting Filet O’ Fish. Thankfully, my diet is much more normal and I don’t have any weird cravings… well mostly. Sometimes I wish I could punch those cute little Keebler elves for making such delicious cookies. I picked up a random package of cookies on Memorial Day, loved them so much that Spencer wasn’t allowed into that package at all, and then haven’t been able to find them since. Seriously, they're nowhere... can't even find them online. So instead of tracking them down, I’ve been buying other types of Keebler cookies and falling in love with more varieties. It’s dangerous. Seriously, someone needs to stop the elves. Also, the M&M guys who make those M&M Ice Cream Sandwiches. They’re like Pringles – so addicting.

In other big news, Jameson used the potty for the first time today!!! Well, for the right reasons at least. I'm not sure he knew what he was doing but I still consider it big progress. Another highlight of the day: he told Spencer he was poopy and then let out a big fart right as Spencer was smelling his bum. Jameson thought he was the funniest person alive and came dancing into my room afterwards. He is pretty hilarious.

We also bought him a "baby elmo" so he can learn about babies. The first day or so he was really good about holding baby elmo the right way and making sure that baby elmo had his pacifier. Now he pulls elmo's diaper off and takes his pacifier and puts baby elmo in timeout. I'm pretty sure that poor baby elmo doesn't deserve this treatment. Although it is rather savvy of Jameson to condense his 2.5 years of parental observation into 2 days. I'm just a little concerned about how the next few days are going to unfold...

We're just in a waiting game now for the baby. Delivery is scheduled for a week and a half from now but some say that the baby may not make it that long. Namely my mother - although if I listened to her, I would've had a baby 2 months ago because she just didn't understand how I could "get any bigger." Let me assure you, I did get bigger, but not crazy big. I'm actually 20 pounds under the amount of weight gain I had with Jameson. I'm not terribly swollen (just a teensy bit that only Spence and I actually notice), I can still wear my own pajama pants, shoes, etc. I just have a humongous belly and there is nothing I can do about it. Contractions happen every day, mostly at night, but I've been having some crazy painful ones lately so there is a strong possibility that it could lead to an earlier delivery. I'm working solely from home this next week, which should make my boss happy. I think he was concerned that my water might break at the office - we don't have a maintenance team to clean the offices so he would've had to clean it up himself. I can totally understand the discomfort at that thought; I wouldn't want to clean it either.

Until this baby is born the weather here will probably continue to decline. It's been two straight months of 90+ degree weather with a few days in the triple digits. These last few weeks have been record breaking triple digit weather and I don't expect it to lighten up at all. While I bide my time, you can bet I'll be indoors with the A/C pumping and the ice-water flowing.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted with any new developments...

Need Some Good Recommendations

2011-05-20T13:41:00.004-06:00

I love that my blog publishes my post on the day that it was started and not the day it was finished. The last post was actually from late April, not late March... just fyi. It makes me feel worse when I look at my blog and see how far behind I am. Then I realize it's lying to me. So I don't feel as bad anymore.

Countdown to delivery is on - 5.5 weeks left. Nesting has completely taken over. I wake up in the middle of the night to pee and then can't get back to sleep because of it. I have finished the nursery decor - mostly. I have clothing washed and folded and organized. I have my shopping list of baby items made, the budget for said items is set and also set aside. Now it's just hacking away at that list little by little. In reality, I'd love to just go out and buy everything at once, but I try to fight the urge and take it a piece at a time so I don't send Spencer into total tailspin.

Potty training has been thus far ineffective. I may have to change my tactics. I've just been trying to get him used to the idea of sitting on the potty and giving him an hour or so at a time on it, just hoping that nature will kick in on its own. I'm just not that lucky. Let's just say that I haven't had to clean his toilet because he hasn't given me any reason to. I'm really hoping for a reason soon, not because I normally love cleaning toilets, but I think I would be seriously excited about cleaning it for that purpose.

We haven't been up to much in the past few weeks. We did go to San Antonio for a weekend while my mom, sister and I attended Time Out for Women (put on my Deseret Book). It was amazing. Keynote speaker was Sherri Dew, who I love and who really had a very realistic and poignant topic she shared - dealing with situations that are "less than ideal". This is one of those that I'm sure I'll be thinking back to over and over again throughout my life and I'll still find meaning and substance in it no matter what the circumstances are. If she ever publishes this specific talk, I'll pass the link on because it's THAT good.

While I was in TOFW, Spence took Jameson to the zoo. We don't have a real zoo in Austin, just a few "animal preserve" backyard-type operations. Despite the heat and the heavy humidity we had that day, I think he was in 2-year old heaven. He's been talking about the zoo ever since. Too bad San Antonio is not within normal toddler road trip range. Austin really needs to step up its game with the whole zoo/aquarium/children's museum thing. We are really lacking in quality educational destinations for families, and with all the growth we've had in the past 20 years I think it's long overdue.

That's basically our highlights for the last few weeks. I am going to be fairly blog-active while I'm in the hospital I suspect. Mostly for reasons stated earlier in this post, but I do plan to take and post pictures pretty quickly so be sure to check back a lot starting at the last week in June.

Not much has changed. On that note, my feet remain unchanged for the most part, though every couple of days I notice a tiny bit of swelling in my feet and ankles. This pregnancy seems to be treating me much better than my last (*knocking on my faux-wood desk*). Though I wouldn't complain if my blood pressure suddenly shot up requiring either bedrest or early delivery.

I will say that lately I've been missing our old neighborhood a lot. It's going to be a much different experience having a baby here than it was in Salt Lake. And I say that only because I feel like I don't have the same amazing network of friends and family here as we used to. Our hospital room seemed to be bustling all the time with visitors and this time I think will be a lot lower key, and visitors will probably few and far between and will probably consist of mostly family. We just haven't hit our groove here yet, only being in the new ward for a few months now. The last ward stuck me in the nursery so I never got much socialization, aside from the people I already knew (a.k.a. my friends parents - who are all wonderful people). Anyway, it is just going to be different and so I'm thinking I need to put together a reading list for my hospital stay. I don't get much time to read, but I expect that four days with only a newborn and myself should allow for a lot of book time.

Sorry for the little Debby Downer rant, but I honestly do love and miss all our "people" in Salt Lake. But send some book recommendations my way if you have a chance. My requirements:

-nothing highly intellectual (no classical literature) - lots of pain meds can make books like this a little difficult
-nothing too long - if it's more pages than the bible, I'm not interested

Basically I want light and fluffy reading - not necessarily super happy ending-type books, but just something that I can enjoy while cooped up.

So there's your challenge. You have 5.5 weeks to complete the challenge...

What can I say?

2011-03-28T13:44:00.010-06:00

I'm just going to admit that I'm a total blog slacker. It's embarrassing to see that my last post was in January.... about 3 months ago. Even then I haven't really been paying as much attention to this blog as I usually do. With any luck, that will change.

What have we been up to?

Well, since moving into our own place again, we've discovered the many joys of apartments, like ant invasions, leaky air conditioners, crappy laundry machines, and noisy neighbors (ourselves included). Luckily, our complex has been pretty good about helping us out with most of these issues. But not without a few casualties - or really just one. I got really excited about Mardi Gras while out grocery shopping one day and Whole Foods makes the BEST King Cake so I decided to bring one home. Spence and I only had one night to enjoy it before the ants invaded. I'll admit, if I were an ant, I would find the sickeningly sweet aroma irresistible as well. I can't blame them for coming after it. But I don't like feeling like I no longer have control over my own home. And even worse, I hate that I had to throw out the rest of the king cake. Ask any of my family members, former roommates, or especially Spencer, I hate to share something utterly delicious with anyone. I get upset when Jameson asks for my favorite cereal which I hide in the back of the pantry (Reeses Puffs). So when the ants took over without even a "how do you do?", I was rightfully upset. This was probably the low point of my apartment experience thusfar. And because I was so freaked out by the ants, I didn't even bother to snap a picture of it. So sad.

I'm about 30 weeks along in this pregnancy. Things have been, thankfully, very normal and somewhat easy. Though I feel gigantic already, I know I still have most of a full trimester to go. It's a little depressing to watch your body change through pregnancy. And it's harder to find clothes that you feel somewhat fashionable in. I'm hopeful that I can avoid the horrible water retainage from the last pregnancy. So far, so good. My feet remain unchanged to this point and I can still wear normal shoes. ***Clapping for myself!*** Every few days I feel my feet starting to ache just the slightest bit and I'll start to reposition myself or stop whatever I'm doing and put my feet up to fight it. The weather has not been helping much, we had the shortest spring on record and jumped straight into the 90s as soon as this month started. I think we've even had a day or two in the triple digits - not terribly normal for this time of year and not very preggo-friendly.

Another thing that is noticeably different from the last pregnancy is that instead of craving a ton of red meat in the form of burgers or other super salty foods, I crave super sweet foods. This is probably just as bad for me, if not worse, and it's just too easy. When I was suffering from morning sickness one day, the only thing I could eat was a piece of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. And if you saw my pantry, you'd know what was on the brain while I was grocery shopping. And no, I will not take a picture of my pantry. I don't want photographic evidence of it's current state. So far my weight gain is somewhat on track, though my desire for exercise is very much lacking.

On a high note, we did get a vacation. Spence and I decided that after we became debt free, we would go on a fully paid for in cash vacation. It was awesome. Aside from the fact that I'm such a bargain shopper, I really felt like we were splurging. I'm sure some of you would laugh at what I refer to as splurging. For example, Spence and I set aside some money to go shopping while on vacation - a whopping total of $100. Big spenders, right? But we had so much fun. We ate out at some amazing places (and managed to get something for free at every meal), walked along some gorgeous beaches, read books, went to three movies, went to bed early, woke up late, and genuinely relaxed. And thanks to my parents, this was all child-free fun. You didn't really think we could actually relax while on vacation with a 2-year old, did you?

Anyway, my dad introduced us to Destin, Florida a few years back after we all rendezvoused in Atlanta for my sister's wedding. It was a stroke of genius on his part. I honestly can't ever remember laughing so much in 2 short days, it was a total blast. Spence and I were a bit limited on this trip. Because I am pregnant, there are time-constraints as to when we could go on vacation. We settled on early March, which was obviously too cold to venture into the ocean, but didn't make it any less beautiful. It's possible that we may make the trip to Destin a much more frequent excursion. I'd love to have a vacation home there someday so that we can go anytime we want. Seriously so gorgeous... the pictures speak for themselves... well, as best as they can from our point-and-shoot digital cameras. Just use your imaginations....

Jameson has grown like a weed. He's a total nut. Off the wall crazy with energy all the time. And I do mean ALL THE TIME. He won't sit to do anything, including to eat. And he's become so much more observant. His latest obsession: the potty. Not that he's ready to use it himself, but if he's not invited into the bathroom with you, he gets upset. He likes to have conversations about things that happen in the bathroom while in the bathroom with you. I'm hoping that these conversations will lead into actual interest for himself. After all, I do want to enroll him in preschool this fall. And preschool requires potty training. Thus, I want to be done by his 3rd birthday. And I know that I shouldn't expect too much right away and I shouldn't push the issue with him. And I'm not yet... but I still have 5 months to accomplish this feat so we're not at the critical point yet. Talk to me about 2 months from now when I also have a newborn to take care of. I did, however manage to coerce him into spending an hour on the potty yesterday with a little bribery. The big boy underpants with Thomas the Train seemed to do the trick pretty well. We played games and sang songs but alas, no action on the potty. On the second attempt, I started him giving him cups of water and having him drink. During one refill, he leaned over a little too far off the side and fell off. He hasn't been back on since... oh well. I'll give him a few days to forget and we'll get back to where we were.

In other news, Spence got a promotion at work - yay! He's now a full-fledged recruiter (as opposed to a sourcer). I'm sure he'll be great at it. It really is the ideal career for him - the perfect blend of the skills he developed in sales, business, and even real estate. He works a lot, but is happy with his new career choice and gets a sense of fulfillment every time he fills a position.

Other notable events included my spur-of-the-moment trip to Salt Lake (alone) for my sweet friend Megan's wedding. I felt so blessed to find a very affordable plane ticket one week before the wedding and even more blessed that I have a husband who allows me the chance to take a trip like this to spend with my old Daybreak girlfriends. I look absolutely terrible in every picture I took while in Utah, but I'll post them anyways since everyone else looks so amazing. I'm going to chalk up the puffy face to traveling and hope that I really don't look like that normally (though Spence assures me I do not).

Then we had Easter - Jameson loved it. Since he's not huge on candy and hates chocolate, the Easter Bunny brought him eggs filled with Goldfish crackers. He ate them all right away - breakfast of champions!! Later that day we had a lovely brunch with family friends and they hosted an egg hunt in their backyard. We practice with Jameson to prepare for the egg hunts but after the morning and the other hunt we took him to the day before, he learned that there are things inside of the eggs. He no longer saw the value in keeping the eggs and would instead pick up the egg, discard the contents of the egg into his basket and toss the empty egg shell back onto the grass. He's no dummy, he knows where the good stuff is at - not that he's eating any of it.

All in all, we're doing well. We're happy and healthy and still getting settled. Still haven't really gotten too settled into our new ward yet. I'm sure that will come. I feel like we keep missing for some reason - mostly being out of town or having stake conference or holidays or something like that. But there are a lot of people around our age with young kids, like us. We're just all spread out over a very large portion of North Austin.

The countdown is on for this little baby girl to join our family. The doctor already has me penciled in for delivery on the 28th of June. I'm thrilled he's allowing me to deliver one week early, even if it is the day after Spencer and I's anniversary. I will take any extra days available to me, especially if the weather stays in it's current state. It's weird sometimes to think about going through this newborn phase again, but for the most part I'm excited. I miss having a baby to cuddle with, because as cute as Jameson is, he's not very cuddly anymore. Wish us luck, because as good as my intentions are, I somehow doubt I'll be posting again between now and then. In fact, I may be MIA for a while during my adjustment period. I will try to upload pictures every now and again, but I'm not terribly good at blogging consistently lately.

And now for the review of the last few months in pictures... as if this post weren't long enough already...

Yes, we did actually get snow here in Austin - weird, right?

Jameson dressed up in my puffy vest one day - he looks so hilarious in it, like a little penguin.

How could you not love that face??

Robyn and Brian, two of my favorite old neighbors

Kacey, Steve and sweet little Halle

Melanie, Ryan & their cute boys Max and Lincoln

The girls (minus Tammy)

Me and Kacey - thanks again for letting me crash at your place!!!

Me with the stunning bride

(reminder that I'm only posting these pictures because eveyrone else looks so good in them - personally I wanted to photoshop myself out of these shots)

All the girls together at breakfast before I left for home. Notice Tammy's tiny belly (I think she had her baby a week later - not fair for her to be so small so late in pregnancy)

Me and Jameson waiting for the whistle to blow at the big Easter Egg Hunt

Coloring eggs together. Jameson was into it for about 1/2 a second.

His first taste of Peeps - not so much a fan

He decided that Dad should eat them since he didn't want anything to do with them

Hunting for eggs before brunch on Easter morning

He got quickly distracted by the giant playscape in the backyard

Spending some quality time on the potty playing games on mommy's phone

We've moved!

2011-01-31T20:44:00.003-07:00

Yay! Spence and I have been waiting a long time for this - we kept putting it off so we could keep paying things off - and we've finally gotten into our own place again.

It may not be fancy and it may not be big, but it's our new home and we couldn't be happier.

I feel like I need to publicly thank all the people that showed up to help us move - it was amazing. They had the truck loaded at one location and unloaded at the other in less than three hours. I don't know where we'd be without our fantastic friends and neighbors in our ward. Actually, we'd probably just be unloading the truck still...

It seems like we've been working constantly to unpack, but boxes keep popping up out of nowhere and it seems like there is always more to do. It's a good thing our cable doesn't get installed until tomorrow because otherwise we might not have made as much progress as we have; although the cable will be a welcome addition - as was the internet - if for nothing more than a relaxation device.

As part of the move, we purchased some new furniture. We've been saving up for new couches for the past year and we found a great one at Ikea. I know it's not glamorous, but the best part (and really the only thing I needed to know about them) is that the couch and cushions have removable covers that are machine-washable. With a 2-year-old like Jameson who is constantly on the go (even while eating) this was a must.

Lastly - I don't think I ever really made this announcement on the blog yet, so in case you didn't know, we're expecting a girl! I'm thrilled (even though I've known through the entire pregnancy and before - long story) that we are having a girl. I'm so excited to have some more feminine energy in the house. It seems like I'm surrounded by planes, trains and cars all the time. Plus, I think having a younger sibling would help Jameson to learn some valuable lessons in life - starting with soft touches (these two words do not exist in his vocabulary, nor does he want them to). I'm still working on the concept that when he hits, it hurts other people. It should be an interesting next few months.

He is progressing though, he'll be two and a half in a little over a month. He's learned a lot of new words, and attempts to put them into sentences, but most of the time you just hear a lot of mumbling with a few words that you can recognize. We've also ditched the pacifier (except for whenever he's in his crib). I think I'll save that stage for a little later. He just gets so excited to go to bed and take naps now that I think if I got rid of the it, he might just stop sleeping all together... and he would too, just to spite me. He is nothing if not defiant. My mom says he's the spitting image of me as a child, so I guess karma really does come for you.

And because I have the worst luck in the world, there will be no pictures in this entry either - I know it's been a while. It turns out that our new camera requires a super special cord to download to a computer - whatever happened to using a standard connection? I have about a million of those cords lying around, but not the one that I apparently need and that does not come with the camera. Boo...

And you can thank my lack of sleep for the aimless musings of this post... just in case you were wondering.

A Debt Free New Year

2011-01-03T13:38:00.007-07:00

So today it's finally official...

Spence and I are totally and completely DEBT FREE!!!

HOORAY!!!!

We've come such a long way in the past year - starting out at rock bottom and spending the last 12 months desperately clawing our way out. I know some of you may not be familiar with our story, so I will do my best to share it. You may not think of us in the same way after reading it, for good or for bad, but this is the raw and ugly truth that we have lived. For some, it may be irrelevant; for others, it might just change your life. I can only hope that our story can help someone else. Brace yourself, this post is LONG.

Spence and I started out our marriage with debt. We both worked our way through school, applied for and received pell grants, didn't use credit cards, found very small but affordable apartments to live in, and worked our tails off during the summers to save up cash. But every year, we fell a little short when it came time to pay tuition and so we took out loans. Not very much but most standards, but it adds up after so many years.

We figured we needed to get a newer car since Spencer's vehicle was not reliable and wasn't expected to last much longer. We bought used, thinking we had outsmarted the system, and took out an auto loan.

After a while, we fell into the credit card trap. We justified ourselves by paying off the balance every month and swearing we'd never have a late payment or carried balance. We thought we were responsible enough for those kinds of things.

When I graduated from school and got my first job, we thought we had almost made it. I had a good and steady income from my job, but we lived in an area which made it impossible to make that money last. So Spence and I both worked and he finished up school over the next two years. During that time, we traded in our "newer" car for a brand new car. It was a car I had always wanted so I put my better judgement aside and got it the only way we could afford it - a lease (our second dumbest idea of all time).

Once Spencer was finished with school, we decided it was time for us to settle down and buy a house. (This was by far our absolute dumbest idea to date). We thought that since we both had a combined income of well over enough to cover a mortgage payment that we would be safe. So we bought a house. We got a good loan and put as little down as possible. A few weeks before we moved in, we found out we were pregnant. It finally felt like our future was falling into place. The next nine months were fantastic and we tried to have as much fun as possible before the baby arrived. {Enter crazy spending binge.} We decided to trade in our other "old" car for a new version (yes, we know we were dumb - and this is dumbest idea #3)

Then September hit. Jameson was born early September 2008. I spent a few days in the hospital and came home to find that the US economy was on its way down the toilet. Not knowing anything about the financial markets, I just figured it would all blow over. Spence, however, had a college education in finance and knew much better than I did what we were potentially in for.

A few months later, I was scheduled to go back to work part-time only to receive a call a few days beforehand letting me know that the small business I worked for would be financially unable to have me back. I was sad, but Spence still had his job and we figured we could buckle down for the next year or so.

Not long afterwards, Spencer's job in real estate and was then switched over from hourly wages to commission-only.

We scrimped and saved where we could and lived on essentials. I should insert here that I at this point was not at all involved in the finances (we had tried that at one point and I had failed miserably, after which Spencer relieved me of my duties). Spence is great at finances, but after a few months of trying to shelter me from the truth, Spencer started to buckle under the pressure and let me know that we were in trouble. We hadn't had a steady income (or much of one at all) for the entire year and were barely able to make our mortgage payments. Everything else had to be charged on the credit cards in order to keep our lives going. We were scared - our mortgage was horribly underwater, credit card debt was piling up along with student loans and car loans. Things were looking bleak.

I took a trip home to visit family for a weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find a full-time job for myself. A week later, we were planning our move to Texas. It was not an easy decision, but the most necessary and timely for us. We couldn't keep going the way we had been living. It was only a matter of time before we couldn't afford the mortgage and would be foreclosed on and evicted. We had to make a tough choice so we did the first really grown up thing - we swallowed our pride and decided to short-sell the house. We knew we couldn't afford an apartment and needed time to sell our house, so we moved in with my parents (I know you're all jealous, right?). We found the best realtor we could and set him to work on the short-sale. Griff and Maryann worked wonders for us and had our house sold within 5 months of our move. We will forever be grateful to them for helping us through that difficult process and making it feel like the easiest choice we ever made.

So then what? Spencer put together an excel spreadsheet of all of our debt. It was intense - just shy of $50,000 and most of it for dumb things that we could've and should've easily avoided. {Enter extreme frustration and feelings of despair}. We thought it would take us forever to get out.

Then we turned to Dave Ramsey (our personal godsend). We spent what little money we had on two tickets to his live event in San Antonio. Although money and budgeting is not at all my thing, it was perhaps three of the best hours of my life. While there, we were so encouraged that we bought a lifetime membership to Dave's Financial Peace University course to help us work our way through a plan. Our class started a month later. After that, it just got easier and easier. For the first few months, we were paying off creditors and reducing the number of debts.

Spencer was blessed at this point to have been the focus of a friend of my family (also the employment specialist in our area) who happened to work with someone else who was in a position to hire someone just like Spencer. We felt like our prayers had been answered. Our income would increase substantially and we would be able to pay off our debt in months, rather than years. Not only that, but Spencer had found his calling in life (career-wise) and hasn't looked back since.

Shortly thereafter, we got the itch. All our credit cards had been paid off but now we had to tackle the car loans and the student loans. It seemed like an insurmountable task. We put our heads down and cut our budget where we could. Mind you, if you ever looked at our monthly budget, it's super intense. We account for every single dollar of our money. Spence is amazing at dealing with all the numerous spreadsheets and worksheets we have created to plan our budgets and track our money. There's never much breathing room, but we always manage to make it work and stay sane (mostly).

The final hurdle was getting through the holidays. Just before the holidays hit, we found out we were pregnant again. We had planned to visit family for Thanksgiving. We sat down to plan the budget for our trip and realized just how much it costs to take these trips. With our now 2-year-old, we would be purchasing 3 plane tickets and renting a car for a week or driving a car cross country with what I believe I mentioned was a 2-year old (not gonna happen) and a pregnant me. We made the biggest sacrifice we had made to date (and trust me, we've made a lot) and canceled our trip. We were pretty depressed for a few weeks, knowing what we'd be missing out on, but the extra money we had set aside really helped us get things moving along in the debt department. We also knew that with this baby coming, we had a big reason to finish up our debt payoff and start saving money. We set a tight budget for the holidays (overspent by a little, but were blessed to receive monetary gifts from several sources to cover ourselves and then some) and trudged on.

We had made the goal when we found out about the baby to finish paying off debt in January, and we could hardly wait until January to do it. As soon as we had enough money to pay off the last payment (end of December), we could hardly stand putting it off until this month. But we did it for a reason. Starting off this new year is a new us. A smarter, financially stable, and much much happier us. We look back at our old selves and all we can say is how dumb we were. And even when we were being smart, we weren't being smart. It's amazing how much you can learn from one person and we have Dave Ramsey to thank for that. I listened to his radio show as often as I could to stay motivated, especially when we had to turn down amazing opportunities, like a dream vacation to Hawaii with our best buds which had been in the works for a long time, as well as other vacation opportunities with other friends and family. If you know me, you know that I love a vacation probably more than anyone else on the planet, so this was probably the hardest part for me.

I do find it ironic that we are pregnant at this time. Just when we had thought that we would be able to spend a little money on ourselves (I talked all the time about what we would do first when we were debt free), we're reminded of what's more important than vacations or shopping or entertainment. And I'm grateful for that, too, because this is a long process and we're really only part of the way through it. Now we move on to the saving and financial planning portion, so really we'll be on this plan for years and years to come.

I know this post is long and a little intense, but its the story of what changed our lives. I would seriously recommend Dave Ramsey's program (or at least his book) to anyone and everyone (debt or no debt). It gave us a new perspective on life and we can never be dumb again.

Bust a Recap

2010-12-23T18:22:00.004-07:00

I love December, but I must have done something to upset it since it's been a very rough go since basically the 1st of the month. It all started with a doctor's appointment (for reasons explained in the Christmas card below). I got sick exactly 3 days later and have been horribly ill ever since! At first it was just the run of the mill head-cold (which paired with morning sickness is... well, it sucks). After about a week it morphed into an ear infection (enter antibiotic round #1) and a week later then into a sinus infection (enter current antibiotic round #2). I'm still trying to get back into my groove and thus my cranky tone.

Our friend head-cold basically took over - Jameson caught it, my mom caught it and then Spence caught it. Fortunately for the lot of them, they could all load up on medication and sleep it off in a few days while I tossed and turned miserably. And as a consequence of our houseguest, almost all Christmas/December activities were canceled or postponed. We did plan to drive to San Antonio to see the riverwalk all lit up - canceled. I did plan to get my Christmas shopping done early, which did not happen (aside from the few deals I attained on Black Friday). I had planned to throw my husband a fabulous 30th bday, which came and went with much less fanfare then I intended. I think I feel most guilty about this one - a monumental occasion, such as entering a new decade, should be celebrated with some sort of volume or at the very least a cake with number candles and matching balloons. The pie (requested in place of cake) should have been handmade by me, but was instead handmade by our good friend Marie Callendar. At least I was able to round up a semi-decent day-of gift since his big present was a pair of tickets to the TCU/BYU game in Fort Worth back in October. But I feel like I neglected to make my husband feel as special as he really is. And so I will now attempt to make up to some degree what I should've done yesterday...

I am incredibly lucky to have been married for 7-1/2 years to a wonderful, talented and kind man. He is my best friend in the whole world. He is an amazing father who makes time for me and Jameson whenever we need him, and still manages to help any other friend or acquaintance who needs it. I love you so much!! Here's to making the next 30 years even better than the last!

HAPPY 30TH!!!

And now to do a quick recap - pictures will not be a staple so much in this post since we lost our camera on our trip to Fort Worth back in October. I don't really have any pictures to post... Sorry.

I think my last post was August... pathetic. But still. I had a great birthday - Spence is a pro at making me feel like the only person in the world. We had a great trip to SLC in late August to visit family and friends and to celebrate Jameson's bday (a little early). It was so great to be able to see everyone and to feel such love and support from Spence's family and from people who I was sure would forget us the second we moved last year.

We had a somewhat quiet September. October brought on the weekend trip to Fort Worth for the football game and we had a great time just Spence and I. We ate, we cheered (even though they lost) and we explored the city. It was a blast. I look forward to days ahead when we can take vacations to more exotic locations (like places that require airplane travel and have things that we don't have here, like oceans, amusement parks, or really just anything exotic). I miss vacations... Back to reality - Halloween was great this year. Jameson really got into it. I ordered him a Mike Wazowski (sp?) costume from Monsters Inc. It was adorable. He was the hit of the nursing home Halloween festival (though he was scared stiff half the time - word of advice: small children and nursing homes don't really mix well, especially when you throw costumes into the equation). The ward trunk-or-treat was a blast. And thank heavens for that because the actual Halloween trick-or-treating was not so great in our neighborhood. We must just have a lot of Halloween Scrooges. We handled Jameson's candy in a matter of days (since he still has no idea what candy is... I prefer to keep this up for as long as possible) and just like that October was gone.

November literally flew by. My sister and brother-in-law came for a visit with my nephew and so we were able to get the two cousins together for a visit. We all had a great time. Then my parents flew out for the holidays so Spence and I were left to our own devices to create our own Thanksgiving feast. Let's just say that it was a lot of food for three people, but nowhere near the usual spread. Spence, Jameson and I all did the 5 mile turkey trot that morning and really felt it for the rest of the day. Who knew that fast-walking 5 miles was that hard on your body? Good thing I have no plans to ever run a marathon. I think my legs would just fall off after 10 or so miles.

And that brings us to December... Christmas will be here in a little over 24 hours. We're thrilled, but not for the reasons you would think. After multiple failed attempts to take Jamie along shopping, I've decided that Christmas decorations are the enemy. Jamie loves anything and everything having to do with Christmas. He might not understand what they all are, but he can name them all and has to wave at them or hold them or point them out to me every time we walk past. If I don't pay attention to him closely enough, he'll throw a tantrum. This makes any kind errand running or Christmas shopping very very difficult for me. So it's all been put off to the last few days. I believe I might have officially finished this afternoon, but still... it's the 23rd. That's not so good for me because it puts my stress levels up to an almost unmanageable level. Tonight I'm looking forward to a long night of uninterrupted (fingers crossed) sleep and hope to wake up newly rejuvenated and filled with the Christmas spirit.

Since I haven't managed to get Christmas cards out this year, make sure to read on to the next post to see the card I designed that never got printed or sent.

We love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-The Coles Family

The Christmas Card that Almost Was...

2010-12-23T18:18:00.003-07:00

Summer in Pictures

2010-08-14T15:44:00.005-06:00

I looked the other day and realized that I hadn't updated my blog in about 2 months. Sometimes I get behind, but two months is a long time to get behind. It had been so long that my blog template had totally malfunctioned on me and I didn't even realize it. So along with this post, there's also a whole new blog format.

Spence and I have been pretty busy. We've both been busy working full time and our spare time is limited so we like to spend it in ways that typically don't involve blogging. And since it's been so long, I can't really remember any specific stories so this post will mainly be a lot of pictures to summarize our lives. We're horrible at remembering to take pictures and since we don't get out much, we don't have a lot of opportunities for picture-taking moments. I keep meaning to go do this or that, but it's pretty darn hot outside and so we try to limit ourselves to a lot of inside activities or pool activities. Actually I haven't been in the pool in months, since I am usually too exhausted to bother with having to change and then take a shower afterwards in addition to changing and bathing a child at the same time. Just too much work so Spencer usually swims and then I take charge of the bathing and changing of Jameson. Our divide and conquer approach works pretty well and helps us to each have some down-ish time to somewhat relax. We love our jobs but it definitely is hard at times to balance everything.

Anyway, the following are proof that Jameson has spent a TON of time in the water. He's a pretty proficient swimmer as long as he has a noodle float with him.

Back in June, my sister Jessica and her son Graham came into town for a visit. Jameson took the opportunity to welcome Graham to the brotherhood of the grandchildren and knighted him as shown below:

They then took the obligatory bath picture together. Jameson HATES to sit down in a bath and really prefers to stand up and kick around the water or play with the faucet. He is, by nature, a ham in front of the camera though and couldn't resist playing the part for at least a few seconds.

During a trip to the nursery (gardening) we decided to cool off in the gift shop and found this hat for Jameson to try on. Since his head is so large, it fit rather well. I really think that both he and I have the same size head at the present time. It's a little weird, really.

Like I said, he's such a ham... he just can't help it... though in this picture, he does look like he's actually dropping a #2.

This picture is quite a bit older, but I couldn't do an update post without talking about Gideon. Our sweet family dog passed away recently. He was a such a good sport about having Jameson take over his territory. We'd had Gideon for about 10 years and got him back when he was 2 so he had a long and full life, but we'll still miss him.

A few weeks later, we all decided to try and fill the void with a puppy. I have all kinds of pictures of this dog, but very few with this pair sitting quietly together. Let's just say they didn't get along too well. The puppy and Jameson had a lot in common with eachother - too much. Playtime started getting a little too rough and I think Spence and I have all but decided that we need to hold off on getting a dog for quite a few years. The puppy (we never really could decide on a name - so I'll just refer to him as "the puppy") was fun and absolutely adorable, but sadly it just didn't work out.

Spence was able to go fishing with a friend in the ward who has been training for some bass fishing competitions in the area. He even got to go on a 3am fishing trip (in preparation for an overnight fishing tournament - I had no idea these even existed). I'm so glad Spence is getting to do some fun things.

We get a fair amount of rain every once in a while and Jameson is obsessed with these rain boots I bought for him. He would wear them every day if I let him.

Almost every Sunday, Jameson is in a tie. He's so cute, I can hardly stand it. He used to be the smallest kid in nursery, but he's now about in the middle of the pack. Since I got called into nursery, my Sundays are very long. I am learning to have more fun with the calling - it's been a while since I've been in nursery and it's definitely really tough having to be in there with your own child, but at least I get to see how Jameson interacts and can monitor him a little more closely.

We love Taco Cabana. It's so relaxed and so tasty. Luckily, there's one right around the corner.

Last but not least, Jameson has discovered a new love - the garden hose. In an effort to cool off one day but also to battle the onslaught of mosquitoes, we tried out the hose. After a few minutes, Spence let Jameson control it and the following is a documentation of what ensued... and I promise this was not even prompted or directed in any way...

In case you were wondering... he's DEFINITELY all boy!

The next few weeks should be a whirlwind... Spencer is starting school, we're taking a trip to SLC, and Jameson turns 2!! I can't believe how fast this year is flying by. Pretty soon we'll have to actually pay for his plane tickets. Yikes! And I'm sure he'll be talking up a storm before too long. Just in the past few weeks we've seen his vocabulary expand by about 100 times.

He can say:

Be-uh (bear)

Ba-wa-wa (butterfly)

nana (banana)

Bah (ball)

dah (star)

day du (thank you)

wah wah (bye bye - no idea why)

day is (there he/she/it is)

dedah o (any letter of the alphabet is the letter o)

hey

no way

dabu dabu (no no - not sure why he stopped actually saying no and started saying dabu, but oh well)

dah (dog)

cah (car)

various animal noises

And I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now. When he says polite words like thank you or bye bye he always says them in a high voice. It's hilarious.

Anyway, I'll really try to be better about posting - this is mostly just a mental note to myself. It's rare that anyone actually reads this blog, but someday I'll be glad I'm doing it.

Ketchup

2010-06-12T20:01:00.002-06:00

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever, and while I'm sure next to no one reads my blog anyway, I always feel better knowing that I've documented some pictures and activities in case our computer ever crashes.

We've been busy the last few months. Spencer had been applying to school for acceptance in the Masters of Education program and was recently accepted (YAY!!!) for fall term. He starts school in August. The program is set up so that he only has class once a week and it is an evening class that goes for about 3-4 hours. It works out perfectly, especially because of his new job. Oh wait, did I forget to mention that??

Spence had been casually looking for a job and came across an opportunity that was too good to pass up. So Spence is now once again working outside of the house. I'm sure this is much healthier for him, since he doesn't have to excuse away Jameson's whining or crying in the background of his conference calls when he's not at the house. And I'm not gonna lie... some extra income definitely sweetens the deal.

We've been attending Financial Peace University (which I whole-heartedly recommend to anyone - single or married, old or young) and have our last class this next week. It's sad to see it end, but it's really amazing to see the progress we've made while we've been in class. Our whole attitude about money and life has changed and we suddenly feel like responsible and intelligent grownups. Yes, we have been grownups for a while, but we've made a few financial blunders in our time and so we weren't terribly worthy of the title until now. I won't share details right now, I may share the entire story next year when we're all done, but not quite yet. I will say that after this month, we will only have one credit card left to our name. This one statement is probably the thing that makes me the most proud so far. Credit cards are lame and I will never own another one.

Aside from all of that, we've been doing our best to work hard and play harder. Jameson has been taking swim lessons from my sister (the swimmer). She has taught him quite a bit and Jameson is quite proficient in the pool with a noodle. He literally can swim around on his own. We aren't even more than an arm's reach away, but it's nice not to have to carry him around all the time. He really really loves swimming and so we try to go quite often. Most days when it's not too humid, you'll find us in the backyard pool before dinner. Unfortunately our backyard is home to what seems to be the entire mosquito population of Central Texas. We can slather Jamie in bug spray but the little bugs can still hone in on his sugar-sweet baby blood. His mosquito bites end up about 3x the size of any bite I've ever had. These mosquitoes must really be sucking him dry. Thankfully we haven't had any run-ins with fire ants yet so he hasn't developed any fear of bugs.

Spence and I are celebrating our anniversary this month (big #7) and we're heading off for a childless overnighter to the Horseshoe Bay Resort. As usual, it's because I found an AMAZING deal that I couldn't turn down (only 1/3rd of the normal price) and we'll head off for a weekend of golfing and jetskiing (sp?) at the lake. Seriously. Can't. Wait. Having Jameson has really changed our marriage for the better. Not like it wasn't great before, but it's way better now, if that's possible.

Lastly, I'm weighing the possibility of running a half-marathon next year. They have one here in February and Spence and I are considering running it. Okay, so maybe I am more considering running/walking it, but I'm still giving this one a lot of thought. I haven't run in about a month, so I figured I'd better start up again and made it 3.5 miles today. I guess I'll really need to work on running longer and faster to get to the point I want to be at by February. So am I crazy to consider this? My main issue is the whole asthma thing, which really holds me back. My inhaler has been rendered useless and I am basically left at the mercy of my lungs. Sometimes they cooperate and sometimes not. Also, I feel like I might go crazy trying to run for so long. The longest I've ever run for was an hour... can I really go longer than that? Knowing my pace it will take me well over 2 hours to finish. Let's just say I have a long way to go and I'll need all the time I have.

Anyway, I promise next post will have some pictures. For now, I'm off to enjoy what's left of my weekend.

Spencer's Bucket List

2010-04-22T10:25:00.004-06:00

I'm so proud of Spence's latest athletic feat - a full-blown marathon! Last year, he and Josh ran the half marathon and wanted to run the full this year. I was skeptical at first as to whether or not they'd do it (not to say that I didn't think they could complete it, but more of whether or not they'd stick to the plan to actually do it) but they did! I was really bummed I wasn't able to go up to SLC with Spence for the momentous occasion, but at least he took a few pictures.

And here is documented proof of the completion of a marathon:

Spence and his brother Rich, who ran the half at the same time.

Spence and Josh crossing the finish line - photo courtesy of Josh's brother who apparently is brilliant with taking action shots. Doesn't Spence look happy? Doesn't Josh look so focused? I'm told they sprinted the last block to the finish line... incredible!

Josh and Spence after downing a bunch of refreshments and most likely post-massage. I can't imagine they'd waste time taking pictures when they could be getting massages, though I do feel bad for the all the massage therapy students who have to touch the sweaty, smelly runners after they finish their races.

Spence and Josh also had some other friends who ran the half - Craig and Carol.

Our Spring Activities

2010-04-12T09:33:00.007-06:00

I have been meaning to get this post going for a while, but I've just been busy. Since it's warmed up here, we've been trying to get out and do a lot of things. I don't have pictures of all the things we've been doing, but here's what I have (sit tight, it's a bit long).

Back in February, I found an amazing deal on the new JW in San Antonio. So for V-Day weekend, the three of us went down for a couple of days.

Jamie loved to sit in the hot tub for a few minutes to warm up after being in the cold pool.

The hotel pool had a whole lazy river that wound it's way around the property. It was awesome and Jamie loved to hang out there all day long.

The pool was mostly empty the whole weekend. Temperatures were in the low 70s and I guess that wasn't warm enough for other people, but it was great for us. The hotel was so nice and I loved the pancakes I had for breakfast the next day - easily the best I've ever had.

We've taken Jamie to the park a lot. He has a ton of energy to get out every day. He loves the swings and the slides. We also found a park that has an old fashioned merry-go-round which he also loves.

And of course we had our snow day here. It was pretty cold for a few weeks after we got here, though I never expected this...

Jameson on his 18-month bday. We sang to him before he went to sleep.

Spence trained him to do an upside-down koala hold. It's pretty funny to watch.

We went to the rodeo/fair here. Wasn't what it used to be, but we had fun anyways. The most disappointing thing - no more gator-on-a-stick. I had that at the fair about 10 years ago and it was pretty tasty. I had wanted Spence to try it, but we couldn't find it anywhere. They had just about anything else you could want on a stick - twinkies, cheesecake, bananas, chicken, shrimp, sausage, corn (most of which were fried and/or dipped in chocolate).

Jamie enjoyed the petting zoo for a little while, but it was pretty crowded so we didn't stay in there for long. He liked petting the llama and the little goat in the next picture. It was the closest thing to his size so I think he felt drawn to it.

We also watched the hog races. It was a big hit with the kids. You can kind of see them at the finish line if you look closely. Then there are two stragglers at the edge of the picture.

Oh where to begin with this photo? Jameson LOVES the pool in the backyard. He's obsessed with it. He will walk around and around and around it. He likes to lean over the edge and stare down into the depths of the pool. We always make him wear a life jacket when he's out by the pool, for obvious reasons (i.e. the picture above). This was the first day he fell in - there have been other incidents, but he doesn't seem to be phased by it at all. And consequently, he's started swimming lessons with his Aunt Sarah.

We drove down to Brenham the Saturday before Easter for a trip to the Blue Bell Factory, an attempt at taking pictures in blue bonnets and an Easter Egg Hunt. The Blue Bell Factory was closed for tours, but we still got to get some ice cream.

They had a bounce house at the Easter Egg Hunt. Jameson made friends with this chubby little lass. He got a little frisky with his hand on her leg, but I'm pretty sure she didn't mind.

The shuttle from the parking lot to the egg hunt (yes it is a tractor pulling a flatbed trailer full of old couches) - a not-so-subtle reminder that we are definitely in Texas.

The easter egg hunt in Brenham was less than successful. The published time was 10am but when we arrived, they announced that we would be waiting for an hour before the hunt. We managed to keep Jameson busy for the hour but then they had delays (a pastor's sermon and a christian rock band that had to perform). Obviously they didn't realize just how little an 18-month-old cares about those things. He threw a tantrum and was on the ground screaming seconds before they started the hunt. It took a little encouragement, but once he realized that he finally got to pick up eggs, he calmed right down. Probably won't be going to that egg hunt again.

We had our own Easter Egg Hunt in between sessions of conference on Sunday. I'd trained Jameson how to carry his own basket and hunt for eggs before either egg hunt. He's a pro. I think it was much better in our own controlled area with no other kids, pastors or bands around. He loved to hunt so much that we had to figure out ways to sneak eggs out of his basket and get them back on the yard.

Notice Grammy in very close proximity to the basket attempting to sneak the eggs out of his basket.

And of course he was really upset when it was over. We kept it up for a good 45 minutes, but I guess that wasn't enough.

And in case you were wondering, here is Jameson in full-blown meltdown (photo courtesy of his Aunt Sarah who thinks these moments are hilarious).

Tomorrow...

2010-04-02T22:22:00.004-06:00

Sis and I are going to attempt these little beauties I spotted on Bakerella.com...

I'm fairly certain that they won't look anywhere near this good when I'm done making them, but I'm sure they'll taste DELISH!

Our Total Money Makeover

2010-03-11T20:36:00.003-07:00

Last weekend Spence and I went to see Dave Ramsey. To preface this, about a year ago, my parents had driven up to visit and used a rental car that had a satellite radio that they used to listen to Dave Ramsey's radio show the entire drive up. They had subsequently given us a book he had written and we never really got around to reading it. We meant to, we just didn't. Life got away from us.

There's not too many things I wish I could change in my life, but reading that book earlier (or even at all) would definitely be one of them. Although in thinking about it, I'm not sure it would've really helped us at the time. The valuable information would most likely have fallen upon deaf ears since we were convinced we were successfully managing our finances in our own way. I have no idea what made us think we were experts. Actually, I'm a self-proclaimed non-expert. I purposefully ignore bills and deadlines and account balances and just go about life like it doesn't matter. Spencer is a the money guy, and a really good one at that. But when there's no money to manage, you have to get creative.

Creative is an interesting word when it comes to money. Before the term "sub-prime lending" was coined, they called it "creative financing." Yes, it is "creative." And unlike other things in life, getting "creative" with money when you don't have any isn't necessarily a good thing. But creativity or not, we needed help. The world had not been kind to us. Given, Spencer and I had made career choices that didn't bode well given recent market turns - despite what you may think, real estate and construction did not fair well in the economic downturn. I lost my job and Spencer's slowed WAY down. But before we left college, those career choices seemed like our golden ticket, which obviously didn't turn out to be true. Throw a new baby into the equation and things got bad fast.

Now I am definitely not an expert on finances after just listening to Dave Ramsey, but I learned more useful and practical financial information in those 5 hours than I've learned in perhaps my entire life. We are changed people. We now can look at our previous mistakes and see them for what they are, blatant and stupid errors in judgment. We can plan for the future and live in the present without making it worse. Once again, we have hope. Big time. So it's actually working... already! And it's improving our marriage since we're both in such a good mood about it. In fact, it's funny how excited I get when I think about that day we can call Dave's radio show on a Friday afternoon and scream into the phone those 3 words that anyone who listens to him knows.

Not only that, but I'm excited to actually budget (we had our first budget committee meeting last night - and I was in attendance for the first time ever in our marriage). I'm excited to make payments. I'm excited to watch numbers get smaller and smaller and smaller until they're gone. I already have a countdown to that day that I calculated and added to the budget. I've never been a money person (except for the spending part - love that), but I have to admit that I'm really getting into this. I enrolled in his Financial Peace University program during the event and can't wait to start my class on the 23rd. I plan to drag my mother to the class with me because even though she introduced me to him, she hasn't done anything other than listen to his radio show. She hasn't even read the book she bought for us. Though she doesn't need his advice in the same way we do, his advice goes so much beyond getting out of debt. There is something useful for everyone.

I'm not trying to sell anyone anything. There is no benefit to me by telling anyone about my experience. I just felt like I had to document it because it's such a turning point in our life. It's almost like religion, I just needed to share it since it's meant so much to me. If you haven't read his book or been to his live event, check and see if he's coming to your area. Seriously, it's the best 5 hours you'll ever spend. If he's not, go get his "Total Money Makeover" book (buy it, borrow it, or get it from the library) and read it. LIFE.... wait for it.... CHANGING!

Settling In

2010-01-24T19:48:00.004-07:00

I officially feel like a bad mom - I haven't pulled out the camera once in at least the last month. Why am I not better about documenting Jameson's childhood? Note to self - take more pictures.

So Jameson has really settled in here. He's got his own little routine down - Wake up, play with cars (I store at least one in his crib at all times - it gives me at least an extra 30 minutes of sleep so it's totally worth it), eat breakfast, watch the movie CARS, turn on Jungle Book music, eat lunch, take a nap, wake up, play with cars, watch CARS (anyone sensing a pattern here?), go socialize downstairs, snack, play with other toys, eat dinner, bathtime, sleep.

It's hilarious to me how attached the kid is to his cars. He has several of the characters from Cars and likes those the best, although he's really not terribly picky as long as it has wheels. He practically asks to watch the movie, though his asking consists of grunting, pointing at the movie case and jumping. He definitely knows what he wants. He'll sit and watch almost the entire movie now. I'm sure my pediatrician would kill me if I ever let her know about his TV habits, but how else am I supposed to get any work done?

He's quite the character and loves to pretend like he's shy when he spots a pretty girl. Then he'll steal a few glances and eventually flash the killer smile. He's got the game down. Plus, he's learning some wicked cool dance moves, which mostly consist of headbanging of some sort and jazz hands flying in various directions. It's totally entertaining. He will dance to almost any sort of music, even my brother's violin lessons. Obviously, music is the other love in his life right now. He'll even watch/dance to Glee, SYTYCD, and American Idol.

He's so ridiculously cute that I can't even handle it sometimes and I really feel sorry for everyone who doesn't have Jamie for a kid (although I'm sure every mom feels that way about their own baby).

He's still somewhat underweight so we try to feed him whenever possible, though it doesn't do much good at all. He runs around way too much to pack on any pounds. This morning I chased him around the chapel for a good 30 minutes trying to get him to eat lunch. He literally runs up and down the aisles over and over and over again. Where do they get all this energy? Oh right, that would be all the food we're giving him. Haha.

Austin's been treating us well - the weather this week has been fantastic. And I even have a girls night out planned with one of my old favs, Meg (not that you're old Meg). I've been running the show here on my own for the last week and a half with another full week to go - Spence is up working as a driver for the Sundance Film Festival. I miss him like crazy, but hope he's having fun hanging out with all the beautiful people. So yes, I definitely deserve a girls night.

Since I've been so crazy busy, my workout regime has totally fallen to the wayside. Any advice for someone who can't really afford a gym membership? ...really missing the Daybreak Community Center right about now... and Spence... it really helps to have a spouse to trade off watching the baby and workout time. I was trying to convince myself that I was going to do another tri this year, but I'm just not seeing how that's really going to work out - maybe next year. Also, it really sucks having almost every single race here be on a Sunday. Why is that day so much better than a Saturday to have a race? All I really want to do is find a 10K that is on a Saturday. And yes, a 10K is a pretty big deal for me. Anyone who's ever run with me knows how bad I am at it (Ashley and Spence will vouch for this one... as well as all the really old or overweight people I ran alongside in my tri... and pretty much anyone who's ever run on a treadmill next to me). So a 10K is pushing the limits for me because asthma is not my friend and the most I've ever run at once was 5 miles.

In other awesome news, my mom signed us up for this ward Adult Friendship Dinner when we first got down here - then recently we both realized that Spence was going to be out of town for it. Now I have to go stag to the ward dinner - boo. I'm already pathetic enough living in my parent's house and now I have to show up without a husband too? Way to look totally appealing to all the other young-ish couples in the ward!

There's always so many stories I want to put up here, but since this blog is still public - though I doubt I would offend all 2 of my readers - I find myself holding back a lot. Maybe someday I'll think about going private so I can tell the stories I REALLY want to tell.

So we made it.

2010-01-04T19:02:00.003-07:00

Most of our boxes are unpacked and we are almost all the way settled in. It's a relief to have all that out of the way. Spence and I both returned to work today and it was a strange feeling to be leaving the house for a while. Luckily, Jameson is adapting to everything really well. He loves having twice as many people around to play with and he gets nonstop attention, he's so happy.

But after all is said and done, I feel so disconnected from the world - or I guess just our old world. I haven't really heard from hardly anyone since we moved and since it was so sudden, I guess I feel a little lost. My cell phone has been practically collecting dust from not receiving any calls or texts anymore. It's such a big change for me. It was really hard to leave such a great group of friends and now we have to tackle the issue of making new ones. PS - a HUGE thank you to those friends who showed up to help us move or pack or bring lunch... there is no way we ever would've made it without you. I am forever in your debt! It's just hard to leave after getting so comfortable somewhere. In short, I really miss you friends!

After our first week of church, I'm marginally optimistic about things. Jameson has two months before he joins nursery (blessed day)! On the other hand, our welcome into the ward was less than we had hoped. I guess because I have been a member of the ward previously (as in 10 years ago) most people kind of figured we already knew people, but they forget that the ward has changed SOOO much since I left and now I have a spouse and a child who have never been in the ward. To be frank, I know 10 or less families in the ward anymore and most of them are parents of friends, so not really playgroup material or anything like that. But I'm putting myself (ourselves) out there and signed us up for a dinner group. Hopefully there are people relatively near our same age that we can meet. I better stop before I start to sound pathetic - although I'm sure that point has long come and gone.

And now going back to Christmas, we had a wonderful time with Spencer's family. We spent most of our last days with them trying to soak it all in before we left. Despite our exhaustion from near-nonstop packing for so many days, we had a great time. From the grandkid nativity to opening presents to Spencer's birthday party that I didn't get to go to (long story), we loved it. We'll really miss having them around and hope they come visit us.

Anyway, I hope everyone's holidays were fantastic! And I hope you're all booking flights as we speak to come visit us... we'll make it worth your while!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Overdue Pictures

2009-12-16T08:31:00.008-07:00

I've been really bad about posting pictures for a while now - okay for like 2 months. So here's kind of a recap of the last little while...

We took a trip to California in late October and while we were there, we got to see some friends (Chris & Kristen and Ashley & Weston). We had a ton of fun and got to do some really fun things, but for some reason the only pictures I have of the entire trip are from the beach trip with Kristen and the only one in the pictures is Jameson. Kristen - I know you have some cute pictures from that trip, email those to me if you don't mind!

Jameson really loved the beach this trip. He liked the sand and couldn't get enough of the ocean. He kept pulling my hand to take him farther and farther in. He loves when the waves splash on him.

We also had a few birds that were smart and figured out that Jameson likes to toss the food he's not interested in to the side. So the birds got a pretty good snack that day, although they were pretty annoying.

When we got back, we took Jameson to the pumpkin patch. We didn't really made it out there until Halloween day, but the pumpkins were cheap (mostly dead, but cheap) and we had fun.

I had been trying for about 10 minutes to get a picture of him smiling with me, this was the best I could get.

I love that his hair is so light it just looks like his head is glowing. It was a bit windy that day.

Jamie really like the wheelbarrow ride he got.

And he also loved the giant old tractor they had for kids to play on...

...although he didn't like sharing it with dad as much.

Later that night we went trick-or-treating in Spence's parents neighborhood. Jameson was adorable in his chicken costume. He was just learning to walk, so the giant chicken feet weren't exactly helping him along. We had a bunch of spills that night.

I loved him in this costume, I just can't get enough of it.

Jameson really enjoyed trick-or-treating with his cousins. He got really good at taking a piece of candy and putting it in his bucket. Sometimes he would try to give a piece back instead of taking a piece.

And at the end of the day, he was pretty pooped. He was more interested in toys than candy - good thing for me!

A bit later, Jameson and I took a trip to Austin to visit my family. Jamie had a great time toddling around grammy's house. She lets him get into whatever he wants. Usually, it was this drawer of baking sheets.

He also likes this phone, although I don't know how he knows this is a phone since the only phones he's ever seen are cell phones. It was pretty funny to watch him babble to himself. He usually holds the phone up behind his head to talk on it, but the cord on this one kept him from doing that. I must look like I hold the phone behind me when I'm on it, I guess.

Jameson's only love - his toothbrush. He would brush his teeth all day long. If all he had was the toothbrush and toothpaste bottle, he'd be the happiest baby around.

After we got back from Austin, we had Thanksgiving here with Spence's family. We ran a 5K that morning (freezing) and had a fabulous dinner that night.

A week later, we went to Harmon's to visit Santa. Jameson loved being pushed in the cart with Bridger, I got the cutest pictures of the two of them.

I love this one because they both look so guilty. Or maybe they're just tired of taking pictures!

Last, but not least, a picture with Santa. He had a very confused look on his face, but didn't cry. It was great. Spencer sat with him to make sure we got a good picture.

I also have our family pictures somewhere, but they're on a cd and I'm sure they've been put in a box somewhere. Once I find them, I'll post one or two.

I doubt I'll be able to post much over the next few weeks since we'll be busy packing. Look for us in January once we get things settled again.

Merry Christmas!!

Blame it on Texas

2009-12-13T08:29:00.003-07:00

I guess this post is long overdue, since pretty much everyone already knows, but we're moving to Texas this month! We've had such a wonderful last few years here in Utah and we'll definitely miss all the family and friends we've made here. It's funny the curveballs life throws at you. I never expected to like living in Utah again, something about being here back when I was in school and having to walk around outside everyday in the winter must have done something to my brain, but I've really loved it this time. In fact, Spence and I were just saying back during the summer that we were really, genuinely happy here.

But, back to the topic at hand... some of you noticed that I left the post about Spencer's aptitude testing a little open-ended. The reason for that is that we were given several options that we were weighing. Several of them required more schooling and we wanted to make sure we knew which option would be best for us. Spencer made a decision to go back to school and pursue his PhD to be able to teach university courses. In order to do this, Spence needed time to study for the GMAT and someone (meaning me) needed to pitch in with the financial contributions. When we were presented with an opportunity from my old boss to work full-time on some big projects in Austin, we decided it would be the best way to accomplish these goals.

So, there you have it. We will make the big move the week after Christmas. Some of you may wonder what we're doing with our house - and we don't really know the answer to that question yet. We've been all our free time in the last week or two packing up different parts of the house. It's very liberating to go through your stuff and get rid of all the excess. We've been selling things, donating things and just plain throwing things away. It's great, I would recommend it to anyone. But a move is still a move and it's a little stressful so we'll be happy to finally get down to Austin and be finished. One thing we are both very excited about is the temperature change - no more shoveling snow, no more freezing pipes (which has happened twice in the last week), no more Sorels - it's enough to make a girl (and guy) cry tears of joy.

As for picture updates - I'll do that another time. I don't have the time or the camera nearby to download pictures.

Winner Winner!

2009-11-06T14:26:00.002-07:00

Sometimes in my life, I am blessed by luck. I'm not usually a lucky person by nature - I am clumsy and forgetful so I guess the luck balances me out. For some strange reason, I tend to frequently (not always) win drawings or raffles or giveaways. My most recent win was a giftcard to Dolcetti (a local gelato shop) in SLC from SaltLakeRestaurant.com - which, by the way, is awesome and everyone should join. They have giveaways every week for actually useful and delicious places, plus they have discount coupons for a bunch of restaurants that you can get for free. Seriously, check it out and sign up for their contests and mailing lists so you can win free stuff too.

My first win was in 7th grade, and was definitely a defining moment in my life. Ok, not really. But it was great to feel so much excitement in the midst of all that teenage awkwardness and social opposition. I guessed the closest to the actual amount of skittles in a jar. I can't remember what I won, but I just remember that it was awesome. But then again, I thought trolls were super awesome at that time too, so who really knows. I'm just going to pretend it was the best prize ever.

That is, next to my biggest win. This happened a few months after I took my first job with Standard Pacific Homes in the OC. Every year they have a golf tournament and afterwards have a lovely dinner with a massive raffle afterwards. During the raffle, I won a prize of 4 Disneyland annual passes. I thought life couldn't get any better, it was better than I ever expected to win. The last prize of the raffle was the biggest and best prize. For this year it was a $2000 gift certificate to Best Buy. And, much to the chagrin of all the other attendees, I won this too. It was a banner year for me at StanPac and our new TV. But just so you don't think things like that happen all the time, I never won another raffle prize anytime during the rest of my years at StanPac.

Anyways, I feel fortunate to be able to win these every once in a while. And it's also great when a friend wins. But mostly when I win. Did I mention how much I like winning?

...can you tell that my family breeds competition?

New Directions

2009-10-29T21:03:00.002-06:00

We took a trip to LA recently to get some aptitude testing done for Spencer. A while back, he was feeling like maybe he wanted to make a major career switch and go back to school (A LOT of school). So, before we invested the time and money into a decade of schooling, we opted to do some testing and see if that career path would be a good fit for him.

To most people, aptitude testing sounds kind of hokey, but anyone who has ever been tested at Johnson O'Connor will swear otherwise. All of the kids in my family (including me) have all taken this test and most of us are (or were) working or pursing careers in the fields that were recommended to us. The test combines your personality traits with skill sets and gives you a clear vision of not only what you would be good at, but what you would enjoy and the type of environment you would thrive in. I took it in high school to help give me a better idea of where to go in college, and as much as I tried to fight it, I always came back to where I started (which is what the test told me to pursue). Without that direction, I hate to think what my life would be like now.

It was great to meet with the testing director for the summary presentation after Spencer's tests were over. It brought back all the memories looking at the same exact tests that I had taken a decade ago. And, they had Spencer nailed. Everything they told us was something we knew, but not applied in a collective whole. It was amazing to have someone take all those characteristics and skills and give us a short list of recommended careers. And the funniest part was that of the two careers he told them he was debating between, they recommended something completely different - something that Spence has talked about wanting to do for years, but more as a hobby than a career.

Since the test, Spence has a renewed focus and is working towards a goal again. And even though more school is in our future, it's less school than I was anticipating and I can definitely live with that. More than anything else, I'm amazed that JOC can know someone so well after just a few hours. I'm amazed that anyone can walk in confused and come out with such a clear vision. I love it. If I wasn't a believer before, I definitely am now. And if you're wondering what's next for you, I totally recommend Johnson O'Connor. It's definitely worth it.

Fall Drive

2009-10-18T23:10:00.004-06:00

Spencer's been wanting to drive up the canyon for a while and we finally made the trip today. It was gorgeous! We stopped to take some pictures of Jameson...

Handsome 1 year old!

2009-10-18T23:07:00.002-06:00

Spencer usually tends to Jameson's needs during church, since I'm kept pretty busy with my calling. Last Sunday, Spence took out the camera to document Jameson's eternal cuteness.

WHAT A STUD!!!

Bouncin off the Walls!

2009-10-18T22:58:00.002-06:00

Jameson's friend, Jack, had a birthday party at Bouncin off the Walls recently and we took Jamie to go have some fun in the inflatable wonderland. He really was unsure about things for the first little while, but after getting used to everything he really loved it. We took him down the giant slide what felt like a few hundred times and pretty soon he started to push away from us as we got to the top of the slide. While at the cabin, I taught Jamie to lay down when he's going down big slides, and I'm pretty glad I did. After a few times, I decided to let him go down by himself with me just a few feet behind him. He loved it and started wanting to go down by himself every time. We snapped a few pictures because it was so funny. His mouth would be wide open the entire way down and you could hear him laughing hysterically through the entire facility. I don't think he's ever had that much fun in his life! And no, I don't doubt my choice in letting him go down by himself. While sending your infant on the Terror ride may be a bad idea, I think going solo down a giant inflatable slide is a process of empowerment. Of course, now he thinks he can do anything...

At the bottom of the slide, notice the smile on his face.

Mid-slide - still with a giant smile. I think this picture is hilarious.

Just to prove I went down with him, here's a shot of that... thanks for my awesome socks, mom!

And a shot with Dad. He's not smiling in this picture be cause he's about to start whining about wanting to go up to the top of the slide again.

Early October

2009-10-18T22:49:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, we went to the pumpkin patch with Jameson's cousins. I'm not quite sure why Jameson is terrified of all things Halloween ... oh wait, yes I am. Earlier this summer we took a trip with Spence's family to Lagoon. We only got admission passes (not ride passes) but sent Jameson on one ride with his aunt and uncle. He came out a changed baby and it probably wasn't my best choice ever as a mom, but I made them take him so he could go on one ride. That ride ended up being the Terror Ride. I wish I had a picture of his face when he came out of the ride, it was priceless and sad. He was so scared. So yes, I'm pretty sure his fear of Halloween stemmed from that one experience (totally my fault). But at least we got some cute-ish pictures of him at the pumpkin patch.

Family photo opp!

Not so sure of the pumpkin patch...

Although he did much better in pictures with his cousins.

Also, he started walking recently - note the picture above.

And of course we took him to his first Jazz game. It was preseason, but still fun. I mostly go for the food - I love stadium food!

Quick Cabin Trip

2009-10-18T22:43:00.004-06:00

We took a really quick trip up to the cabin last month with Rich, Brooke and their kids. It was short, but a pretty fun trip. I think the kids probably had the most fun - especially Jameson. He loves his cousins more than anything!

Bridger wanted to hang out in the pack n play with Jamie - he was also incredibly proud of his Diego gloves and wouldn't take them off all day.

Bridger is very willing to pose for pictures, although Jameson doesn't always get the concept.

And after a while, Jameson looks like this...

But soon things are back to normal.

We stopped at the wolf/bear reserve outside Yellowstone.

And they had a slide - Jameson's first ever experience with them. Obviously he LOVED it and cried when we took him away from them.

Spencer's Triathlon

2009-10-18T22:30:00.002-06:00

Earlier this year, they announced a triathlon in our very own backyard (Daybreak). We were both really excited about it, but Spencer decided to sign up for it - given my irrational fear of open water, I declined the opportunity. He spent a really long time preparing for it, and even kickstarted his weight loss again (finishing off the last of his baby weight - at least one of us has gotten back to pre-baby weight). He did it mostly with adding swimming to his already intense workouts of running and biking.

I think the swim was the most anticipated part of the race for Spence, but it wasn't meant to be. The weekend before the race, the health department shut down Oquirrh Lake because of several reported cases of roundworm. Days later, tests confirmed the parasitic presence and the race had to be revised. The swim portion was moved a mile down the road to our modest pool (3 lanes) and all 600 or so people were to swim only a 75 yard segment before tacking on an additional 1-mile run back to the transition area before finishing the rest of the bike/run portion as usual. It was quite a disappointment for Spence - although I don't think he took it too hard. One guy mentioned during packet pickup that he would rather run the risk of contracting roundworm because "it wasn't that bad, I had it on my mission." Crazy, crazy people.

Despite the changes, he did so well that I'm pretty sure triathlons are just the beginning of his racing career (Ironman, here we come). Here are some highlights that I managed to take while I was volunteering (with Jameson in tow) for the race.

It's still a bit dark, but this is the transition area (boat dock) before everything got underway.

Jameson was a great sport in his jogging stroller almost the entire morning. A few cheerios don't hurt, though.

Kind of a quick jump to the finish line, but I was kept pretty busy during the race. He hasn't noticed that I'm standing there with a camera yet.

And the quintessential post-race close-up. Doesn't he look handsome? I'm SO proud!

Lucky Day

2009-10-12T23:48:00.010-06:00

The other day, Spencer had a monumental find. See, a few years ago, we took a trip with Spencer's parents to visit his old mission stomping grounds. We didn't really take a camera (don't ask me why) so the picture taking and video tapes were all done by Spencer's father. We subsequently borrowed his camera to print off some pictures, but didn't think to save them to our computer. Spencer's dad, who thought we had saved them all or printed them all, deleted them from his camera. It was a sad day when we all realized that the pictures were gone forever and the trip has been a distant memory since that day. Until, of course, the other day when Spencer actually dug them up from the depths of his father's computer. It is incredible to look back 5 (or maybe it was 6) years ago and see just how different (and the same) we both look.

And now it's time for a blast from the past. Here's some of the pictures from that amazing trip...

Our first night in Madrid - the airline lost our luggage and so we were left with what we were wearing on the plane in the 40 degree temperatures (for me, that was a thin sweatshirt with flip flops)

Day Number 2 - notice we're in the same clothes. But at least there was a temple with a distribution center nearby. Definitely a lifesaver...

Later that day, we explored one of the palaces of the king. This picture was taken moments after Spencer's mother was almost shot after trying to get inside to use a restroom (language barriers can be a problem).

Day 3 (our first day on the islands and Spencer's bday) - One of Spencer's converts and a friend.

Spencer took us to this great place where we took ALOT of pictures. You can almost see Africa in the distance.

Spence also took us to an underground cave where we took this shot.

Spencer's first swim in the ocean!

During our trip we also visited an active volcano, which we are standing on in this picture.

Christmas Dinner - their version of American food. Fried chicken, etc. It was tasty, but nothing like American food.

This picture was probably against the rules, but we stopped by the missionaries apartment where Spence used to live and snapped a pic of the flag he signed while living there. It was still in the same place and now has been signed by countless other missionaries.

One day we took a ferry ride to another island, Fuerteventura, to visit another one of Spencer's friends from the mission.

Seriously one of the most gorgeous place in the world. They host all kinds of windsurfing events here. The inside of the island is mostly desert and dunes, the filmed some scenes from Star Wars here (whatever that sand planet is).

Yet another island, Tenerife, where we stayed right by this black sand beach.

Lunch at a cute little cafe across the street from our hotel where I probably ate my 10th grilled ham and cheese of the trip. I wasn't always up for the foreign food.

Tenerife is where they filmed the Princess Bride. The Fireswamp is just a few miles down the road from this beautiful place.

Who could forget the Cliffs of Insanity?? Which are actually called "Los Gigantes".

Canarians are descended from a group of "Indians" of which I can't remember the name. Spence does and I'm sure he'll insert it somewhere. They have these statues to them on Tenerife.

Our last day of the trip, Spence and his mom are in front of this little place we walked by a lot. There are a bunch of tide pools but there are also some places where people spearfish for octopus. It was crazy.

And Spencer also found this little gem which is in no way related to that trip, but was taken months later on our first anniversary. We shared that weekend with Spencer's parents who were in town and we all stayed at the Gaylord Texas (a very unique and fun hotel). Don't we look so tan? Gosh, I miss those days when I cared about those things...

Swinging at the Lake

2009-09-17T15:47:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Kacey and I went on a LONG walk to burn off the calories we consumed at Cafe Rio. We ended up at the beach at Daybreak Lake and put the two babies in a swing to see what would happen. It was so cute! Jameson squealed almost the entire 30 minutes he was in the swing and Gavin was either trying to eat the swing or was falling asleep. Here's the two of them...

August Update

2009-09-17T15:44:00.003-06:00

August was a really busy month for us - I didn't really get a lot of pictures. Not as many as I should have, I guess. We had a lot of wedding receptions that we went to, a trip to the cabin in Island Park, and Jameson and I embarked on a visit home to Austin. We were pretty tired after all was said and done. Jameson even fell asleep with his arm straight out in the air...

Spencer dressed Jameson in his golfer pants ($4 courtesy of Old Navy) and a bowtie for church one day. It was hilarious!

July Picture Update

2009-09-17T15:16:00.007-06:00

I've got a lot of catching up to do from the last two or so months, so get ready for a bunch of posts...

Jamie gets so excited before bathtime. He's so excited that he won't really sit still in the tub and hasn't quite figured out that standing up in the tub is not a safe option. Here he is playing with his rubber ducky pre-bath...

He really loves Eggo Waffles and gets super excited when I give him a few pieces of one.

He's also figured out what sunglasses are for. Usually he just puts them on top of his head - I guess he picked that up from me.

Father/Son haircut day! Don't they look so handsome??

We went to a Bee's game for the 24th and had a really good time.

And we also went hiking up to Cecret Lake... it was cold and rained most of the hike.

We got our lawn in FINALLY in May of this year (only after a year and a half in our house) so we took advantage of the new digs to have some little photo shoot sessions...

This one is after a trip to the pool when we literally let his hair air-dry. It was a bit windy, so it dried straight up! This was pre-haircut and was a pretty good indication that it was time.

Is it really already mid-August??

2009-08-13T21:58:00.002-06:00

Now that I actually have time to sit down and do a post, I can't find my darned camera upload wire thing. AHH! Oh well, I'll find it later.

I love summer, but it's really been keeping me on my toes. I find that I have to write things down to keep it all straight, so I've been keeping a calendar. It wasn't until recently that I noticed I also developed another habit - talking aloud to myself. I don't know if this is something that develops from being a mom after living day in and day out having conversations with yourself because the babies don't talk back to you. Wherever it came from, I realized that I have become that crazy person who gives a running commentary of whatever I'm doing when I'm anywhere with Jameson. In my mind, I'm talking to him and helping his language skills develop. To everyone else, I'm a self-obsessed psychotic. Haha.

Jameson's been awfully cranky and feverish lately. He's been throwing mini-tantrums when I don't let him play with or near certain things. I was thinking that I was encountering the terrible two's at a very early age, but then I was fishing a piece of baby wipe out of his mouth and felt a molar. Crazy! Since then, I've noticed that the poor boy is cutting three other teeth at the same time. Yikes.

In all the running around, we've tried to do some normal-ish things. We went camping. This isn't necessarily normal for us, though we want to start doing it more. Jamie did great, aside from our forgetting to bring his playpen/bed. He is definitely a bed-hog. That's what I get for not co-sleeping, a baby who doesn't want to cuddle. I already have a husband who doesn't want to cuddle, I don't need my son to be the same way.

We're still working out... a lot. It's my new goal to be at pre-pregnancy weight by Jameson's first birthday. It's not until I'm typing this out that I realize it's in like 3 weeks and I don't think there's any way I can possibly reach that goal in three weeks. Unless I come down with a horrible bout of stomach flu and workout nonstop for the next three weeks.

I've started tracking my calories through MyPlate on LIVESTRONG.com and it's awesome. Seriously so easy and way enlightening. I've finally been starting to realize why I haven't been losing the weight. Aside from my serious addiction to sweet and fatty foods, I eat way too many carbs (even when I feel like I'm eating healthy) and not getting near enough protein. It's a work in progress, but I think I'm starting to make headway.

We've also had a few less than happy moments - for instance a car accident. I won't really go into details since the claim isn't settled yet, but let's just say that I had a very unpleasant experience and do not wish to ever go through something like that again. No major damage or injuries (parking lot accident) but just some very disagreeable personalities. Being that it was my first accident ever where it was even remotely my fault, I was pretty traumatized and I'm still getting over my issues with driving Spencer's car - I blame his car for the accident.

Anyway, we still have a lot going on in the next month, so blogging will be pretty low on the priority list, but I'll try to get some good pictures up when I can.

Making Progress

2009-07-19T13:53:00.004-06:00

I wish I could know what goes on in a baby's brain. One day they just decide to do something and it's done. One day Jameson decided to pull himself up on the coffee table and he hasn't stopped since. One day he decided to crawl on his knees. One day Jameson decided to tackle the stairs. He still doesn't know how to get down them, but that's another lesson for another day. He's also started to walk with the help of the walls. And yesterday we had a big breakthrough. He's figured out how to feed himself snacks. I know that sounds small, but it was a big day, trust me. I no longer need to be chained to the highchair to give him snacks, I can just dump some out and he'll eat them one at a time - very slowly. It's like a whole new world has opened up and I can multi-task while he snacks. It's amazing.

We're patiently awaiting the arrival of his next two teeth - all scheduled to make their debut any day now. That will make six teeth total! But what amazes me the most is that he's coming up on his first birthday! I can hardly believe it's been that long. Life changes in the most interesting ways, with so little changing so slowly that it's hard to track your progress day by day. It's only when you look at the year in perspective that you realize how far you've come.

Speaking of progress... we traded in the 4Runner yesterday. It was a much needed and well overdue decision. We were lucky enough to find the perfect used car at the perfect price in almost perfect condition. What a blessing to find exactly what we had wanted and hoped for for so long. And how great is it to swap for a car that costs less but still looks and runs great??

Lastly, a mass congratulations to all my great friends & family members who have had their babies recently. I LOVE reading the stories and looking at all the adorable pictures. July has been a busy month for babies, but I'm so glad for all the new friends Jameson will have to play with. And each of you impresses me in so many ways that I'm always feeling like I need to catch up. For those of you who haven't had your babies yet (especially Katie), you're in my prayers and I hope those babies come soon and that everything works out great!!

PS - Tickets for the SYTYCD tour go on sale this week. Who wants to go with me??

I'm way overdue...

2009-07-03T11:00:00.008-06:00

for a post of everything that's been happening these last few weeks. I guess we've been busy, not that I expect it to get less busy anytime soon. Here's what we've been up to...

My triathlon was on the 20th. Let's just say that I finished and I'm happy with my time. I won't tell you where I finished in comparison to other people in my age group, or any age group for that matter. Everyone (meaning Spencer) tells me it doesn't matter if the only people who finished after me were all 50+ years old - whoops, did I say that? At one point, I was passed by a 67 year old man. That was a pretty significant blow to my confidence, but I guess if you factor in my heavy and slow mountain bike against his sleek and expensive road bike that it might make sense (or that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night). But even so, I did much better than I ever expected to do and more importantly, I never stopped to walk at any point in the race. I didn't put as many pictures up here as I have. It rained most of the race and I looked ridiculous. Here are some of the pictures...

I'm really tired in this one, I think it's about 5:30 in the morning. I think this might be the first sunrise I've seen in about a decade. The weather looked great when we got there before the race. Little did we know that the ominous clouds were rolling in.

The sea of red swim caps while we lined up by time. I really should have paid more attention and not seeded myself so far back. I had no idea that I would end up in the middle of a bunch of people who essentially waded through the pool instead of swimming. At this point, it was a steady sprinkle of rain.

In the transition area after the swim and before the bike. I took my time. You'll also notice that there aren't very many bikes left in the racks at this point. The sad truth is that most, if not all, of these bikes will pass me over the next hour. Still raining...

After I finished, they gave me a cheesy keychain of a shark. Hey, I paid good money to do this race and all I get is a keychain?? Oh well, at least Jameson really liked it. It's now in his pile of toys.

Soon after the triathlon, we headed to Austin. We had a great time with my family and were even able to get a significant amount of alone time - something we haven't had for quite some time. We saw movies, went to the biggest and best waterpark in the world, and we spent our 6 year anniversary there. Jameson loved spending so much time with his Grammy and getting to swim in the pool to cool off from the 100 degree temperatures.

We took Jamie to the Oasis, Spencer's favorite place in Austin. We had a great view of the lake and the sunset from our table. Jameson LOVES his Grammy.

We also took him to visit his great grandmother. They were making baby noises back and forth, it was really cute.

Since returning from our trip, Jameson has become increasingly mobile. He still isn't crawling by the book, but he's climbing. We've recently had to move the crib to it's lowest point after Jameson's latest assault on the humidifier. Our carpet has since dried and I can rest easier knowing that he will not be falling out of his crib anytime soon. He did attempt the stairs the other day (now blocked by several chairs) and even had a good rhythm going before I yanked him off. I have a good feeling that walking is not far off. Here he is posing for the camera (he knows just what to do when we pull out the camera).

Don't Be Fooled...

2009-06-11T12:31:00.004-06:00

The other day I was driving to meet up with Spencer for lunch. I had been out running errands and was in the zone and feeling productive when I hear this ad on the radio. It was for a clinical trial for a stretch mark cream. Normally I wouldn't think twice about this ad, but with the impending triathalon and accompanying 2-piece swimsuit I'll be wearing (still not sure why I talked myself into that one), I was feeling "in need" of this trial. Not that I have a ton of stretch marks, but they're there and I'm somewhat self-conscious about them. I just thought I had found an easy way to possibly get rid of them forever. So I dialed the number without any hesitation. I guess I figured that I'd be disqualified from participating because I'm still nursing but thought, why not try?

I probably should've figured it out after I was put into an automated system which asked me for my name and address before anything else. It was then revealed that it wasn't exactly a clinical trial, but more of a free trial of a clinically tested product. Then they asked for us to pay the shipping and handling charge of $8. I still figured that it was relatively free and if it cleared up the remnants of my stretch marks that it would definitely be worth the shipping charges.

So on I go with entering in my credit card information and am just about to hang up when they start to read the "fine print" to me. Turns out that the 2 month free trial isn't exactly a 2-month trial, but a 2-month supply with a 30 day trial. If the trial product isn't returned(mostly unused) by the 30 days, then they matter-of-factly tell me that I will be charged two low payments of $60. WHAT?? Also not shared until after they have seized my billing information is the fact that I will have to pay the return shipping charges as well.

I immediately wanted to back out, but they already had my information. Luckily, the next thing I heard was "If you would like to confirm your trial of this product and commence the payments, please say 'YES' now." I didn't say anything... not one word. I was hoping to be connected with a representative who I could assault with my best verbal lashing for using such dishonest methods of selling their product. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to. The line just went dead. Obviously, they don't care if you're freaking out at this point.

It took a bit of courage and a few hours to tell Spencer about this. I know he wants me to be happy, so he took it pretty well and understood why I wanted to participate in a trial for stretch mark cream even though he tells me that there is no reason for it (he's such a good liar). He even told me that I could keep the cream if I wanted to - which I obviously will not.

I like to think that I'm pretty good at spotting the scams out there, but I was totally fooled by this one. Hopefully you'll all learn from my mistake and not call when you hear that same radio ad playing at a station near you.

9 Months In, 9 Months Out

2009-06-04T11:33:00.007-06:00

Jamie's 9-month mark is coming up this week. For me, this is a milestone just because he will have been alive equally long as I was carrying him during pregnancy. It's hard to say which 9 months felt longer. I think that right after his birth I would have definitely said that pregnancy took the cake for longest period of time EVER, but motherhood brings a whole new set of challenges that can be considerably harder. While there isn't as much physical torture, it's more torture of the mind - lack of sleep, crying, constant poopy diapers (of which the smell is torture enough), nursing challenges (I've had my share), and of course the financial drain of buying food, diapers, and a new wardrobe every few weeks or months. During pregnancy, your finances are drained because of cravings which have no regard for cost or time and effort involved to satisfy such cravings. Then there is the neverending list of baby items that you just HAVE to have - most of which you'll only use once or twice. The only gratifying experience of pregnancy for me was the delivery. The birth of a child is like nothing else and those few days we spent in the hospital were like a honeymoon of sorts, something I'll never forget.

Since that day, Jameson has been the best addition to the family we could have ever hoped for. He definitely makes the challenges of motherhood worth it all. And speaking of milestones, Jameson has hit a lot lately. And by milestones I mean things that don't really matter to anyone outside of my family. But he is growing a lot and changing constantly.

He is now the proud owner of four teeth. His top two teeth made their appearance last month with a sizeable gap in between the two. It's cute for babies, but right away I'm seeing money going down the toilet for braces and orthodontic work in the coming years. I was really hoping he'd take after Spence and not need braces ever.

He's been sick a lot, it seems like he catches a bug pretty much every other week. I've gotten pretty used to carrying around a travel pack of tissues and checking his nose for boogers after every sneeze. On a sidenote, I wish babies knew how to blow their nose. It would make my life a lot easier. In a way, it's good because he's building up his immune system, but it also means that nights get harder. During his last illness for which we took a trip to the doctor's office, the doctor asked me if he was my 2nd or 3rd child. I told him he was my first and he seemed rather surprised saying that I was "pretty laid back" about things. Given his tone, I wasn't sure how to take that comment. Is it a compliment as in "you're a really easy parent to deal with and your kid will grow up to be very balanced and normal" or was it more "you really should show a little bit more concern and take care of your child unless you want me to call DCFS"??? I am still unsure what he meant, but seeing as he isn't our regular pediatrician, I am choosing to disregard the statement entirely.

Anyway, Jamie's perfecting his army crawl and has gotten pretty good at it. No regular crawling yet, but there has been the occasional pull-up to a standing position using the couch or coffee table.

And just to round out the post, I'll put up some pictures.

No, Jamie doesn't have two feet growing out of one leg. I accidentally snapped up his overalls after a diaper change with both legs in one opening. I'm still trying to figure out how I managed that one.

I love these pictures that Robyn takes of the babies. It's really cute to see how much they all grow every month.

Try to ignore my appearance. I spent all my time making sure Jameson was presentable and I didn't think much about myself.

It's definitely a lot harder to get 6 babies attention as they get older. I think they're all pretty much looking at their moms.

Jameson (on the end) managed to get his shoe off during these shots, but I didn't put it back on because it kept him happy and busy to be able to hold it. It was pretty hard to get them all positioned this time around, but it was really funny. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in a photo shoot before.

Robyn took these great shots during a break from the group pictures.

Chubby chubby cheeks with a little peek at the two bottom teeth. It's pretty tough to get to see the top two. You pretty much have to turn him upside down to get a view.

Family Vacation

2009-05-28T09:47:00.013-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Whoops! I guess time got away from me for a little bit.

So... we just got back from our first family vacation. Spencer had a convention in Las Vegas for work the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend so we decided to take the extra days in between and make it an official vacation.

Spencer's convention was Monday and Tuesday, so he flew in the day before. Jameson and I drove down on Monday to meet him, which went surprisingly better than I thought (only a few momentary meltdowns on Jameson's part while I tried to locate a place to park and feed him). The weather was gorgeous and HOT, just what I hoped for. While Spencer worked, Jameson and I went shopping and hung out at the pool. And trust me, the pool was amazing. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but we were so busy relaxing that I totally spaced it. Thanks to my wonderful parents, we were able to stay in a much nicer hotel than we could ever afford, the spectacular JW Marriott. Since I didn't get a picture myself, I'll put one from the website.

(I know, right?)

Jameson hanging out after our evening swim before he went to bed

So, after our brief stay there, we headed down to California. We only had a few days there, so we definitely didn't get to see everyone (sorry) but we had a lot of fun. Our first night was spent with Chris and Kristen who took us to this great little italian restaurant where we met the owner who just so happened to be married to a mormon lady whose sister lives pretty close to us in Salt Lake actually. Small world. Speaking of small world, we took Jameson to Downtown Disney. We didn't take him in to Disneyland because he's just too young to remember or even like anything. Maybe next year. Then I was lucky enough to be in town for Ashley's baby shower. She's due in July with their first boy, YAY! Friday I got to have lunch with a few of the Standard Pacific girls I used to work with, then we got to see good friends Brad and Becky and hit up our favorite restaurant in Orange County - Thai Bite!

Saturday was the official beach day and so we all packed up and headed out to another favorite, Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point. Sunday we headed back to Las Vegas for another overnighter in the fabulous Red Rock (I found a steal of a deal on Hotwire). We took Jameson to Salt Lick (his first experience ever - not the actual Driftwood location, but as close as you can get from where we are). They have a movie theater and a bowling alley there, but since Jamie was a little fussy that night, we opted to bowl over sitting through a movie trying to keep him quiet.

The drive back was long, but Jameson has already fallen back into his normal sleep schedule (thank goodness). I guess a little cold can go a long way with those kinds of things.

Anyway, here's some pictures from the other parts of our trip.

I wanted to get Jameson some Mickey Ears. We found these adorable ones, but there was no way he was going to keep those on for more than a few pictures.

Then we found these - love them! He's figured out to smile when we pull out the camera.

In the end, we opted for a more traditional hat - just because it would keep his face out of the sun.

Another shot outside of California Adventure.

Asleep at the beach with the only non-sand covered towel which just happened to be pink.

Again, this is a pink towel, not a blanket. I didn't want to get his blankets all sandy, so I didn't bring them to the beach.

The beach crew (mostly asleep, except for Hailey who is probably taking advantage of the opportunity to try to sneak some Red Vines out of the bin)

So cute!

We were posing him on the boogie board, he loved it.

Before we left, Hailey wanted to hold Jameson to practice for her new baby brother. She did a great job.

A Lovely Little Race Around Downtown

2009-04-30T13:26:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since I last posted, I've been really busy (blah blah blah). Anyway, I'm finally getting around to putting up the pictures from the 5K and Spencer's half marathon. In a nutshell, it went well - although I feel like we definitely weren't really prepared for the way a big race like this works.

Spencer and I had two totally different starting lines and two totally different start times. I managed to get Spencer to his start on time, but wasn't able to snap any pre-race photos of him and Josh (time constraints). Then because of traffic and closed roads, I wasn't able to get to where I needed to be in the amount I time I should have. Needless to say, I was running pretty late for my race. Between trying to find parking (a nightmare) and trying to make sure Jameson was fed before we took off for the race, I got up to the trax station just in time to watch the last train pull up. But, because of the limitations of the ginormous jogging stroller, they wouldn't let us on the train and we were forced to wait for the next train (meaning we would miss the start). I figured it wasn't a big deal, but by the time we made it to the start line (a good 30 minutes later) they were actually disassembling the entire thing. I was left to just start running and unfortunately the clock had been running already since the start of the race a half hour earlier. The other bummer was that the bathrooms were already being packed up and I was told I'd have to run to the first aid station to get a bathroom. Running on a full bladder is pretty tricky, but having to run a full mile on a full bladder was not very fun.

Anyway, I made it through the course in about a half hour, although my time said it took me an hour. I was being passed by half marathoners (which was pretty humbling) and ended up finishing the 5K at the same time as all the walkers/handicapped people (way more humbling). It's so funny to look online at the list of times because there are only a very small handful of people with a time over one hour and I am one of them. I'm sure everyone is picturing a girl in a wheelchair or on crutches crossing the finish line when they look at my time, but the sad truth is that I'm just a mom who was severely under-prepared. Moral of the story is that you always need to account for twice as much time pre-race as you think you'll need.

Oh yeah, Spencer and Josh did really well and ran the half marathon in 2:04. I don't remember what the seconds were, but Josh and Spence had the EXACT same time. They make a great team!

Here's some pictures of our bunch after the race:

Our group (Spence, Jameson, Me, Josh and Becca - who was supposed to be my running partner, but actually made it to the finish line on time and ended up having to start without me)

My buddy, my buddy! Wherever I go, he goes...

Our little family

After the race, the half-marathoners and marathoners were treated to complimentary massages (someone in the race organization is a little prejudiced against 5K'ers). Spencer's masseuse really liked him and gave him the FULL treatment, much longer than Josh's massage, and she also slipped Spencer her number. Ok, so it was her work number, but still, kinda funny. Oh and the guy in the right corner of the picture was so hilarious to watch while he was giving massages. He was dancing the entire time and at one point was doing the a ride-em cowboy dance whilst massaging someone's rear. So funny.

PS - There's still time to donate for the Race to the Cure. Thanks to Christina, Tony and Don who've already contributed. Now I just need 10 more people! Thirteen dollars isn't too much, but if you can't spare $13, just donate $5. I'm happy to raise anything I can for the cause.

Race for the Cure!!

2009-04-18T15:56:00.002-06:00

I ran my first ever 5K today - more on that later - but Spencer and I decided afterwards that we wanted to run a race together. We have also talked about giving back to the community/volunteering/bettering the world. So, we're going to combine those all into one thing, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I registered us today and we are now in need of support (by way of donations) and/or team members to join us in raising money and running the 5K. Our goal is to to have each team member raise $13 from 13 people since this is the 13th Annual Race for the Cure. Clever, right?

So, come on everyone - show your support and join our team (Jug-ernauts) or donate to our cause and help us fight breast cancer! Click here to donate your $13 or more (if possible). Click here to join our team. We'd love for all of our friends and family to be a part of this in one way or another because, let's face it, we have all been affected by breast cancer. One in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime!!! Those are not great odds. Help me help you!

Texas on my Mind

2009-04-11T12:49:00.004-06:00

Jameson and I just got back from a fun week in Austin. (Sorry to any of you who live in Austin that I didn't see... we didn't really manage to get out and see anyone). The trip involved wrangling Jameson through the airport entirely by myself - something I'd never attempted before. It wasn't near as bad as I expected, considering the SLC airport has this awesome family line at the security checkpoint where you pretty much get to cut in front of everyone else. I got a few nasty looks, but I'm sure they all understood why I needed that shortcut a few minutes later when I was attempted to remove my shoes and jacket, as well as Jameson's shoes and jacket, all while simultaneously folding up the stroller and sending that with our other bags through the x-ray machine. Wow... it's a lot of work. What surprised me the most was that the TSA employees in my line stopped what they were doing to come and help me! At both airports! I was sort of shocked, since I'm used to these people being in a pretty bad mood pretty much all the time. But hey, I'll take it.

We had a great time in the warm weather. We took walks every day, I got to run outside instead of on a treadmill, and we ate lots of good food. It was fantastic. Jameson was totally spoiled by being held literally every second of every day. Even Philip took a turn! Okay, so it was forced on him by me so that I could take a bathroom break - but he did it.

While we were there, we drove out to Burnet to take pictures of Jamie in the Blue Bonnets. Surprisingly, the Burnet (the Blue Bonnet capital of the world) has not seen many of the usually prominent wildflower this year. So we had to drive to Marble Falls. Still none... and eventually we managed to find a small church on the side of the highway that had some Blue Bonnet patches on their property. So here are some pictures of Jameson that we took in the Blue Bonnets.

In Burnet with the giant blue bonnet.

A Tribute...

2009-03-30T11:28:00.004-06:00

to my incredible, awe-inspiring, unstoppable husband. (Yes, this is a really long, but it's worth it.) I really can't put into words just how proud I am of Spencer's amazing accomplishments over the last few months. When he committed to the Adventure XStream race last year, I have to admit that I was skeptical about how everything would go. I wondered if he was training hard enough, if the 9 hour race would simply be too much for him, if it was a good idea at all. After all, this race involved around a 50 mile mountain bike ride, an 8 mile run, a 300 foot repel, and a 10.5 mile kayak, all in the beautiful yet treacherous wilderness of Moab. It's no walk in the park. But I've watched him slowly transform over the last 4 months into a whole new person. Not only is he now physically strong (20 pounds trimmer), but he is mentally strong as well. He's so dedicated and motivated to accomplish things that it's even inspired me to sign up for my own triathalon this summer.

A few weeks ago, Spence took me to my first spin class. It was killer! I struggled to just keep peddling during the hour at an easy pace, while Spencer managed to push himself to his limits for the entire class. For the first time, I witnessed firsthand the change that had taken place in him. He now possesses a mental toughness beyond anything I've ever seen from him, breaking out of any prior limitations and pushing the boundaries. I knew at that point that he was definitely ready. Don't get me wrong, I still worried about the race. I had become consumed with fear about the rappel. Spencer is pretty inexperienced with climbing and rappelling and would soon be presented with a 300 ft obstacle, over 3 times the height of anything he'd ever rappelled off of. To make it worse, all participants are required to certify in ropes training. This led me to believe that Spence would be responsible to tie his own ropes and set up his own gear for the race. I found out later that this portion of the race was already set up for them and would be heavily supervised, much to my relief.

As the day of the race approached, we were both filled with an overwhelming sense of anxiety. Spencer worried if he'd trained enough and if he was ready, while I worried about his safety. We packed up the car and headed down with one of Spencer's teammates (long-time friend Josh). The drive was great and Josh read aloud "Ultra Marathon Man - Confessions of an All-Night Runner" for the majority of the drive. I have to say that if you're training for something huge, reading the first half of the book is so inspiring and motivational - great for before a race.

That night in Moab, we met up with the rest of Spencer's team for check-in, as well as the other teams that had all been organized by Josh's older brother, which included several of Spencer's friends, his brother Rich and Rich's wife Brooke. At the check-in, there was a feeling of excitement and anticipation. I scanned the room and noticed just how many people really looked like the outdoorsy, super-competitive, granola types. They looked like they had done a million of these races... and they probably had. It was a little daunting for me to be surrounded by these athletes. Dinner conversations revolved around different aspects of the race and everyone scrambled to plot out the course (given only in compass coordinates) on the map they had received at check-in. After dinner, teams left to deposit their kayaks at the boat ramp in preparation for the following day. I don't think anyone slept well that night.

The next morning, we all woke up around 6:30am and headed out the door to the starting line. Bikes were tuned, gear was packed and spirits were high. The race began at 8am with a portion of the mountain bike ride. The bike ride led them from alongside the river at the start/finish line to the top of the land bridge where the teams rappelled and then took off for the 8 mile run back up to the top of the land bridge. They then were to take their bikes for the remainder of the 50 miles downhill and end up at the boat ramp where they kayaked down the river to the finish line. I got phone calls from Spence whenever he was able to get a cell phone signal and received updates on their progress. There were only two spots aside from the finish line where I would be able to watch them pass along their way. I assumed the first spot was at the rappel location, so when I received the first call from Spence at about 10:45 saying that they were almost at the rappel spot, I packed up Jameson and headed out to the site.

When I arrived, I quickly found out that the rappel location was not accessible to spectators and that we were positioned somewhere along the second bike portion (a good 80% into the race). After watching the first few teams pass, I couldn't help but feel the excitement and cheer them all along. I knew I would be at this spot for a while waiting for Spencer to pass, but I was really enjoying the upbeat atmosphere and chatting with other spectators. The next call from Spence came in the middle of his run. I couldn't help but notice just how easily he held a conversation with me despite his intense 8 mile uphill climb. What a long way he had come! After I let him know where I was, I waited for the next phone call which would come when he was starting the second leg of the bike. It came only 45 minutes later. I then called Spencer's parents and sister, who were down the highway having lunch to meet me at the spot to see his team pass. I estimated that based on their speed so far, we would only be waiting for about 30 minutes before we saw them.

We waited the 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes. I convinced myself that my estimation was off and that maybe the trail had been significantly more difficult than I had thought. After an hour of waiting with no word, I got a phone call from a race volunteer asking if I was in Spencer's party. Right away, I knew this wouldn't be a good call. The news: Spencer had fallen on the bike portion and was being pulled from the race. I wasn't given a lot of explanation beyond that. I was told to wait while he was brought down the trail. The waiting was the most difficult part. I received a few more calls from the race volunteers letting me know that Spencer was in an ambulance (what???) and that they had his bike and backpack and would meet me with them. While we waited, the rest of Spencer's team made it to the checkpoint where we were waiting. They spent a few minutes there with us explaining what had happened. Nobody had actually seen Spencer fall, but it was obvious that he had hit his head. While he seemed physically fine, he had started to ask his team members questions and seemed very confused. The race volunteers came along and evaluated him, deciding that letting him continue in the race would be a very bad idea. The ambulance was brought down from the rappelling spot to him and Spence was then driven down the trail. From what I could tell, Spencer had obviously suffered a concussion. This was his second concussion in as many years, so I had been through this before with him and knew the signs.

After getting his bike and backpack from the nice volunteers who had helped, I made my way to the hospital where they were taking Spencer. I arrived to find them checking his neck and back with a CT scan to make sure there was no serious damage done. There was none, thankfully. Surprisingly, aside from a raspberry on his cheek and a jammed finger, he was in fabulous physical condition. No soreness, no pain - a feat after 5 straight hours of strenuous activity. An hour later, he was discharged from the hospital and we made our way to the finish line, in hopes of being there when his team crossed the finish line. By a stroke of luck, we arrived within minutes of his team and Spencer was able to walk across the finish line with them. It was a heartbreaking moment to watch him relay what little he could remember to his teammates in his altered state. I knew that more than anything else, he would be completely disappointed and frustrated that he wasn't able to complete the race. After all, he had finished the grueling first 75% of the race and all that was left was a downhill bike ride and a kayak downstream to the finish line. Knowing that he had dedicated himself for the last four months to this, I expected this to be a heavy blow. Worst of all, the doctor was extremely concerned for Spencer, prohibiting him from any activity where head injury is at risk. Forever. That meant that Spencer would not be able to return next year to redeem himself and finish the race in its entirety. How on earth would I break this news to him?

That evening, we took pictures with his teammates, his brother and sister-in-law. He even received a medal for finishing, despite his absence from the last 20% of the race. Word had spread quickly about Spencer's injury and it was the talk of the evening. We all had dinner together that night and talked about the race. Spencer remembered a few bits and pieces, but his teammates filled the gaps with their recollections. The stories of the day all revolved around how proud they were of each other and how great they had all done. I couldn't have been happier with the team Spencer was placed on. What a supportive and caring bunch of guys.

In the days since his accident, Spence has regained his memories of the race and of his fall. He has been slowly coming to terms with not finishing the race and also the prospect of having to give up extreme sporting for less risky activities. Though I know he's disappointed, I couldn't be more proud of how far he's come and how much he's accomplished. I am definitely his biggest fan and look forward to cheering him on at his upcoming venture into the world of the half-marathon.

And now a few pictures of the day...

Prepping their bikes before the race.

Team Wild Mule!!

Down one member at the checkpoint.

In the ER - a little out of it.

Crossing the finish line!

Rich & Brooke's team at the finish line.

Spence with Josh and Rich.

After a REALLY long day!

Blessed Sunshine!!!

2009-03-20T22:24:00.002-06:00

We spent last weekend in St. George and had a really great time. It was so incredible to be able to spend so much time outside. Winter has been so long that I think Jameson had forgotten what the sun looked like (not that I encouraged him to look at the sun... I'm a good parent, I swear). We packed a ton of sunscreen and flip flops and took off for warmer weather. We were able to do so many things that we felt like we needed a vacation after our vacation.

We got to watch our cute niece and nephew on Saturday. We had a picnic, went fishing and then went to the pool. This cute picture is of Bailey and Bridger examining the fish they caught.

I think the three of them look so cute together. They had a lot of fun playing... Jameson is so entertained by them. Bridger was so cute all weekend and kept offering Jameson toys, sippy cups and even string cheese.

We went for a hike in Snow Canyon Sunday afternoon. It was SOOO beautiful and hot enough that we were a little sweaty. As weird as it sounds, the sweat made me smile because it was a welcome change.

Jameson was pretty good during the car rides, but needed to get out and stretch his legs every once in a while. Dad even let him drive for a bit! Ok, so he's not actually driving since we were parked, but he didn't know the difference. He just loved being up front with Mom and Dad for a bit.

The best part of the trip was coming home to 60 degree temperatures! It has been a great week of weather and I'm bummed about the impending snowstorm. Boo snow! Jameson caught a bit of a cold and has been feeling a little under the weather. Sick baby means very tired mommy and very few trips outdoors. Such bad timing for the great weather! At least I can look out the windows and imagine how great it is outside.

Last Chance!!

2009-03-18T10:24:00.002-06:00

I swear this is the last post I'll make about the Modbe stuff... forever.

Party was good, but nowhere near as successful as I'd hoped. I know a lot of you couldn't come for one reason or another, but there is still hope. You can still order through my Modbe rep this week and get the discounts. So let's talk about it...

If you're like me, you want/need a new swimsuit every year. These are the best, people. They are super slimming (trust me) and long enough to hide anything that needs to be hidden. Plus, for those of you expecting babies soon, I bought a pair of the swim bottoms last year to pair up with a motherhood maternity swim top and I couldn't have been happier with them. They are super stretchy and can either be folded down or worn with the flap up. Love love love them. And from what Melanie (my lovely Modbe rep) tells me, this year the tops are all made with this new liner that helps them be super stretchy as well - up to 600%. This means there are even some Modbe tops that would be really cute for the preggo gals (I love the rouched suits for preggos). Also, the swim skirts are super cute and comfortable too.

So, with the discounts, you can get a swim bottom, top and skirt all for 10% off. Plus, you won't have to pay shipping and handling.

Plus, I got a chance to try on the new exercise clothing line and I think it's fair to say that once I get a hold of those yoga pants, I may never take them off. They are reversible and they even have a built-in iPod pocket!

To wrap it up - folks, this is your last chance to get your hands on this stuff at a discount price. You know you want it (I do).

Visit https://www.modbeclothing.com/melanie to order and tell her Party# 1668.

Also, if you want to have your very own party, you can get a hold of her through her website. She's awesome and would be really fun to help you host a party.

Happy shopping!!!

One More Shameless Plug...

2009-03-17T12:13:00.002-06:00

to remind you all about my Modbe party tonight!

And yes, I expect everyone to at least drop by for a few minutes. You don't even have to buy anything, just come say hello. Mostly because I'm super nervous that the party will be a complete and utter failure and it will just be me and the Modbe rep sitting around the table surrounded by cute clothes and swimsuits eating cookie after cookie after cookie while I explain to her that I really did do my best to get the word out. At which point I would realize that all the cookies I just ate would prevent me from fitting into all the cute clothes that surround me, which would then result in my eating more cookies. It's a pretty pathetic picture that's swirling around in my head.

So help me out and come... leave a comment if you need any info on when and where. I'll get a hold of you in some form today.

Also, don't forget that you don't actually have to come to order stuff. Just let me know and I can hook you up with the same discounts you'll get at the party.

15 Reasons To Come To My Modbe Party...

2009-03-12T19:35:00.004-06:00

1 - They have the cutest swimsuits.

2 - All of said swimsuits will be 10% off at my party.

3 - You know you're already thinking about swimsuits anyway.

4 - They have great options for the post-baby body.

5 - Any order of 3 or more items will be 10% off.

6 - They're premiering the new workout clothes line.

7 - The jeans are pretty awesome too.

8 - You'll save more buying at my party than you would buying online.

9 - Saving money is awesome.

10 - What else is there to do on a Tuesday night?

11 - You can bring all your friends and neighbors with you.

12 - You know it's been way too long since we've seen each other.

13 - You don't even have to stay for very long.

14 - It's going to be amazing.

15 - There will be delicious food.

PS - You don't need to show up to get the great discounts, just get the codes from me and you can order online or through my Modbe Fashion Consultant.

Tuesday, March 17th

6:30 - 8pm (open house style)

My Place

Let me know if you are interested in coming or ordering and need directions and/or ordering information. I would love to see everyone and this is a great reason to come hang out if for no other reason than the super-tasty food. Seriously, just come... you know you want to.

Half-Birthday!!

2009-03-06T14:37:00.003-07:00

I seriously can't believe it's been six months since Jameson was born. It's also really hard to believe how much he's changed and progressed in these last six months. It's so fun to see him learn new things. He's such a happy and social baby, we're really lucky. We're also very lucky to have had a very pleasant last six weeks with temperatures up in the 40s-50s and even a handful of days in the 60s with lots of sunshine. It's been so great that we've even gotten out for a few walks this winter. The snow is all melted and not all piled up and crusty like last year. It has actually been very very nice (though I really don't want to jinx it).

We're really looking forward to a few things this spring - a trip to St. George, a trip to Moab and a visit back to Austin. I'm thrilled to visit some warmer places so that we can take Jameson outdoors more. Plus, the sunshine does tend to help me as well.

In other news, Spencer is getting ready to run his first ever adventure race. More details on that later. In his training, he's motivated me to do something athletic as well so I'm going to start training for a triathalon (sprint version - not the Ironman or anything crazy like that). We've made the decision to be a healthy and active family, even though it is tough during the winter months. I am really looking forward to running outdoors and getting myself in better shape again (hopefully in better shape than pre-pregnancy).

Anyway, back to the subject of this post... Jamie!! Here's some things that he really likes...

Ok, so maybe he didn't really like the pool the first time, but he was so cute in his little baby swimsuit. It probably wasn't a great idea to put him in the cold pool first, but he really warmed up to the baby pool.

Super cute father-son picture at the pool.

This is how Jameson usually falls asleep at naptime. He's like my very own koala bear. And no, that's totally not me in pajamas in the middle of the day...

Here he is in his overalls that slightly resemble Carhartt overalls. I think they're adorable.

We took this picture right before his first time eating rice cereal. A lot of people like to put up the post-rice cereal picture, but Jameson is a really good eater and doesn't like to let any of the cereal escape his mouth so he really isn't very messy with his cereal. The vegetables are another story...

One day I turned it to "Play With Me Sesame" just to see if he would be interested. As you can see, he was totally engrossed in Prarie Dawn. I think he has a crush...

He really loves his Exersaucer. It keeps him busy for a good 20 minutes at a time.

And he really loves playing with his toes. This is usually how I find him in the mornings... although now he somehow maneuvers himself to be laying width-wise instead of length-wise in his crib. I'm not sure how he manages that, but I can go and check on him at various points during the night and he'll be rotated another 45 degrees every time. We have yet to see him make the full 360.

More Pictures of the Neighborhood Babies!

2009-02-20T19:50:00.003-07:00

I know you've all been waiting for more of these pictures and I'm finally getting the chance to post them.

I like posting pictures of Jameson because it means less pictures of me that get posted... except for this first one. And it's clearly evidenced in the photograph why I don't like posting pictures of myself. Reason #1 - the presence of multiple chins along the length of my neck. Reason #2 - I think Robyn's camera must be broken because I swear it added 20 or 30 pounds instead of the usual 10. Reason #3 - every mom has a super-cute smile and is looking at the camera with the exception of myself. Why can I not focus on the picture being taken knowing that the outcome will look somewhat like this?? I must just be a really stellar and attentive mother who is so focused on my baby's needs that I will sacrifice my own appearance (despite how many generations this picture may be around for) to make sure he is happy.

Kacey & Gavin, Robyn & Teagan, Melanie & Lincoln, Megan & Jack, Tammy & Amelia, Me and Jameson

This next picture I think is hilarious mostly because most of the moms couldn't stop laughing as we were positioning the babies on the couch. Jameson got put in the middle since he's the sturdiest (haha) and we built out from there. At one point, it was just these three babies and Jameson somehow kicked himself into a slump and was laughing hysterically for at least ten seconds until he decided it was no longer funny that his arms were being sat on by other babies and started crying. At least we got this really cute picture of Jameson with Jack and Lincoln before he started crying.

Seriously, how could you not love this picture??

Another darling picture of Jameson trying to eat my hand...

Then he decided my face was more tasty...

Fat guy in a little coat...

Robyn and Kacey bought these adorable little suitcoats from Old Navy for the babies and were kind enough to give one of them to me for Jameson. Little did I know that Jamie would grow as fast as he did. He looks like a monster in this coat because it was a little on the tight side. I still think the three boys look really cute together though. Teagan is nice and awake and sweet little Gavin's coat propped him up ever so nicely so that he could manage to sleep while sitting up. Adorable!

In between pictures, Robyn got this great shot of Jameson on my lap.

I can't get enough of Jameson. I just wonder what my life would be like without that adorable face. It's easy to get frustrated being a new mom, but one little smile or giggle from him changes my entire attitude. He is such a blessing and an amazing addition to our little family!

Bye Bye Gummy Smiles, Hello Toothy Grins!

2009-02-04T22:23:00.003-07:00

I've been wondering why for the last few days my sleep has been seriously impacted by Jameson's sudden onset of insomnia. Why, after I worked so hard to get him sleeping through the night again, would he do this to me? It's so not fair!

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out if I'm eating something that hasn't been agreeing with his sensitive little digestive system or if I'm letting him take too long of naps during the day. Today, however, the culprit has been identified as a tooth! It's crazy, but it's definitely there. One of his bottom front teeth has cut through the gums and is making its entrance to the world.

I can't imagine what cutting teeth would feel like. I remember what braces felt like. I know what a toothache feels like. I'm sure it must feel somewhat similar to menstrual cramps, but in your mouth. Yes, I know it's a strange comparison to draw, but I'm pretty sure it would be a lot like that familiar dull, achy feeling we women experience once a month for the majority of our lives. So teething can really be looked at as a form of PMS, or PTS (for teething). Ok, I'll admit that was a sort of lame line.

Anyway, I tried to snap a picture of said tooth, but you have no idea how difficult it is to get a 5 month old to let me hold his lower lip down while he keeps his mouth open. Not gonna happen. At least not for a little while. I'm sure once the rest of the teeth that plan to arrive in the next little while are present that getting a picture will be much easier.

25 Things About Me

2009-02-02T15:56:00.007-07:00

I finally got time to do this Facebook tag after being tagged a few times. Since it took a while, I'm going to use it to double as a blog post so it makes me look more attentive to my blog. Plus, I think it should count as a double post since I typed this entire thing one-handed since Jameson wouldn't let me put him down (I think we're in the beginning stages of teething).

ENJOY!!!

1. I hate the dark. I can't sleep when I can't see anything. It drives a lot of people crazy (like sisters and husbands).
2. I'm somewhat neurotic about certain things. For instance, I have a very particular order for drying off from a shower. Face, neck, left arm, right arm, abdomen, right leg, left leg, back and hair. I promise I'm not OCD.
3. I have the inner ear of a 3 year old. I've had 4 ear tubes in my left ear since I was 18. After the third one, I had a hole in my ear drum that I was hoping would stick around and act as a natural ear tube. Unfortunately, I got pregnant and the body does a lot of crazy things during pregnancy - including closing up eardrum holes.
4. I'm horribly forgetful. I usually have to make several trips back and forth between the car and the house trying to get everything I need.
5. I hate doing dishes, but I love putting them away.
6. I used to be in choir - for about half my life. I'm pretty sure no one I've known for less than 5 years knows that I sing.
7. I am totally uncoordinated. I still flinch and usually duck when volleyballs, basketballs, etc. are thrown in my direction. Such a girl...
8. I hate the snow. The only time I can deal with it is if the sun is out. Sunshine + snow = I'm okay. Clouds + snow = Don't want to get out of bed ever.
9. I hate not finishing things. Once I start something, I'll usually work on it until it's done (even if that means late into the night).
10. I am not good at estimating how long something will take me (coincides with #9).
11. I have a phobia of antiques - especially old rocking chairs. I always imagine that they'll start rocking by themselves and then some creepy old lady ghost will appear in it.
12. I'm not one for having lots of girlfriends. I've never been good at talking to other girls, relating to them, initiating conversation, etc. This doesn't mean I don't want to, I'm just not good at it. There are very few girls that I consider good friends.
13. Following that line of thought, I always wanted to be a boy mom. I was thrilled when I found out for sure that we were having a boy.
14. I knew we were having a boy before I found out. I seriously did. How? Well, anytime I was out in public and made eye contact with a baby, the baby girls would all start crying and the baby boys would all start smiling. No joke. This went on for my entire pregnancy.
15. I love construction and consider myself fairly good at visualizing projects. However, I am the world's worst interior decorator. Anything you see that may possibly be cute in my house is absolutely a stolen idea from someone else.
16. I have never been able to do the splits, even after 6 or so straight years of ballet classes.
17. I hate cleaning, but am totally obsessive about it when company is coming over. And I can't sit still if there is something dirty while people are over.
18. I love food. All kinds except Chinese. The last time I had Chinese was right before an awful wave of the stomach flu came to town. You can imagine how fun that night was.
19. I love to travel and experience different people and places. I always try to imagine things from their perspective and what life would be like in their shoes. It's such an amazing thing to feel so small in the world.
20. I had extensive jaw surgery when I was 15. I had a condition with some fancy name that essentially meant that the mid-lines on my top and bottom teeth didn't line up (nothing that a normal person would've noticed). Funnily enough, the only "broken" bone I've ever had was my jaw (which had to be "broken" to fix the problem).
21. I hate mushrooms, zucchini and squash - though I'm gradually being converted to certain types of squash.
22. I was one of two people to drive a mini-van in my high school. It was a 1987 Plymouth Voyager. Yes, I was THAT awesome.
23. I was a very small child. Upon moving to Colorado, my first introduction to my third grade class was a greeting by one of the boys who asked the teacher why there was a kindergartner in the classroom. My orthodontist asked me how 7th grade was going. I was a junior in high school at the time.
24. I wear men's deodorant - preferably Old Spice. I know it's a problem, but I can't be convinced that women's deodorant is anywhere near as effective or pleasant-smelling.
25. I have been pulled over anywhere between 10 and 20 times. If I do anything ever remotely illegal in a car, I WILL be pulled over without a doubt. On the other hand, Spencer seems to be invisible to law enforcement when he's behind the wheel. He's only been pulled over once when I was in the car with him in the 6 years we've been together. I sometimes hope that he'll get a ticket... just so that things in the universe will balance out.