Getting into Shape

For months I have been trying to help Jack figure out shapes. He was never all that interested in his shape sorter unless I put the shapes in the holes so he could pound them through with his hammer. But I've been noticing that while he won't really just sit and match shapes, he is picking up on the concept that certain objects fit in certain ways through certain holes. So yesterday I got out his shape sorter and we went to work. He did so great! He isn't clear on which one is the circle or the square...but he has finally grasped the concept of fitting each shape into it's correct hole. And then today we were doing puzzles and he matched up his shape puzzle like a pro. I'm so excited. He still doesn't really have the personality to just sit down and fit shapes together until he's got it figured out but he is learning the concept. Wahoo!!!!!

Well At Least Two Of Us Are Home

We made it home without incident yesterday from San Diego. The trip home went much smoother than the trip out there and for that we were very thankful. Jack slept for the first two hours of the flight home and for that we were very thankful again. We finally walked in our door at 6 last night and Paul had to turn around and go to work for a bit. He had to go have his review...which went really well! I knew it would, he works very hard and from what I can tell he is very good at his job. Then he left at 6:15 this morning for Tucson where he'll be until Friday. He is going to be tired when he get's home! 
I got all our pictures off the camera...over 400! Perhaps I get a little photo happy sometimes. I went through them and picked out less than 150 to share with you. They are posted on my Picasa site. I've also posted a slideshow below. 

Our Vacation So Far

It's our last day of vacation and we've had such a wonderful time it will be sad to get on the plane tomorrow. While we know Jack won't remember this trip it was special for Paul and I to do this with him before the babies are born this summer. I think part of my enjoyment of this trip has been seeing Jack have so much fun. We have been able to do quite a few things while we've been here. We toured the aircraft carrier Midway, we took a harbor cruise and saw sea lions and learned a little about San Diego. We went over to Coronodo Island and played on the beach and chased birds. We went to Sea World and saw a lot of really cool animals. I thought the Balooga whales were very cool and the sea lion show was very entertaining. The Shamu show brought tears to my eyes...probably a side effect of pregnancy, but I thought it was so cool. Paul, Megan and I hadn't been to Sea World since we were much younger so we all had a great time. Jack enjoyed it a lot too.  But of all we've done so far Jack has a select few favorites. A few of Jack's favorite things. Watching birds fly around and land close to him, then chasing them. Opening and closing the door in our hotel room. Riding the bus from Los Angeles to San Diego. And playing in the sand on the beach. I guess at his age it really is about the simple things in life. Often when we would point out an F-18 taking off or a cool boat or something, he would see a bird first and think that was the coolest and not even pay attention to what we thought was cool. This isn't to say he hasn't enjoy the other things we've done because he definitely has, just that these were are his favorite. Off to Balboa Park for today, we'll see what adventures we can find.

Jack's First Flight & A New Skill

Jack took his first plane ride yesterday. Unfortunately the day turned into much more travel than we had anticipated which made for a very long day for an antsy 1 year old. Considering the length of the flight and the overall length of the day he did pretty well. He loved the airport, especially looking out the windows and watching the airplanes come and go. He was interested in the plane when we got on but that interest soon turned to impatience and frustration at the lack of activity and movement. We were slightly delayed in our departure so we sat on the plane for a while, Jack was quite tired and actually fell asleep before we ever took off. Paul tried to wake him for take off so that he would be too startled but he was too tired. So Jack officially slept through his first take off and because of that was a little confused when he woke up later and looked out the window to see nothing but bright sky. His nap was short lived and we spent the rest of the 4 hour flight listening to him whine and cry. He also threw almost everything we gave him, sippy cup, pacifier, markers, books and so on. I was fed up with him but I think the people around us were ok and not too annoyed. It helps that airplanes are pretty loud. So we survived and I realize that while I wasn't pleased with his behavior, it could have been a lot worse and I am thankful that it wasn't. 


To add to the general ordeal of flying, we ended up not being able to land in San Diego. The wind sheers were to strong to land so after one attempt at landing we pulled back up and flew to Los Angeles. Jack was thrilled with that...not so much. United has three big buses for everyone to drive us back to San Diego so we boarded our bus and got on the road for a 2 hour drive. Jack was so excited about riding a bus and was very good. He charmed all the people sitting near us of course. Then he fell asleep for about an hour which was a relief since he was exhausted. So while we got into San Diego much later than anticipated and much more tired, we made it and we all slept good last night.


This morning we are taking it easy at the hotel. Jack is having a lot of fun playing in our room and discovered a new skill of his. He can open the doors here. We have a room that has a door separating the bedroom from the living area and he has been opening and closing it all morning. His current game is to move all of his toys into one room, close the door, open the door, and move all of his toys back to the other room. Very thrilling. And I am thrilled that he can open doors....actually no I'm not. Could cause some problems at home, not to mention the threat of pinched fingers!

P.S. Highlander, You Did Not Redeem Yourself

The narrower car seat did not really make the difference that we were hoping for. If all we had to do was fit three car seats with no kids...we'd survive. But I'm pretty sure that the amount of force it takes to lock in the car seats into the base, due to the tight fit, would cause some sort of issue for the babies. And if not, then it would at least cause them to wake from any nap they might be taking. Ah well, guess it's time to start looking at vans.

Dear Highlander, You Failed Us

We tried to fit three car seats in our Highlander today. The results were not what we were hoping for. Hmm....what to do when you can't fit your whole family in one vehicle. Funny thing is they fit in our Accord. It wasn't a great fit but they were all strapped in and the doors closed. Getting the infant carriers out is a bit of a challenge but not totally impossible. So now we have decide what to do. I think we have two options. A) Find Jack a thinner car seat. It's possible that Sunshine Kid's Radian might work for us, but that is yet to be tested. B) Sell the Highlander and buy a minivan. Now I have nothing against minivans. My problem is the money....we had no plans of purchasing a new vehicle anytime in the near future. But this might force our hand. I guess there's not much we can do for now. We need to test option A first. Because while a new car seat is not cheap, it's much cheaper than a minivan!

Now That's What Saturday Mornings Are For

At the young age of 21 months Jack has learned the purpose of Saturday morning, sleeping in! Oh how I wish this were true. This morning I was sleeping soundly when I realized that Paul was no longer in bed and in fact was in the bathroom getting ready. Since we had nowhere to go until 10, I thought this strange since Jack wasn't up yet and normally starts our day around 7 or 7:30.  So I checked the clock and to my surprise it read 9:00 am. I couldn't believe Jack was still in bed, but I was glad so I went back to sleep for a little bit. Paul left just before 10 and then I got out of bed. I decided around 10 that perhaps my son needed to be checked on. He has never slept until 10 am, especially when going to bed at 7:30. So I crept up to his room and very quietly opened the door. Low and behold the kid was just sitting in bed wide awake playing with his blanket. I have no idea how long he had been up and I have no idea why he didn't make a single peep, but I did enjoy sleeping in until almost 10!

Watch Natalie Grow-Week 12

The first of many posts like this. I'm not sure how often we will take pictures, it will possibly depend on how quickly I grow. I would say they will come every 2 or 4 weeks, and increase in frequency the further along we get. Enjoy!

                     Week 12                                   Week 12

   (sucking in to pretent like it' earlier than week 12)

          

Since Then

Wow. I want to thank everyone who has read my blog this week, seen our exciting news and offered up their words of encouragement and excitement for our family. We are blessed to have so many friends. I want to give you all little bit of an update about how we're doing since I first wrote those posts in November and December. Things have definitely settled down for us. Paul and I are both warming up to the idea of twins and have become much more excited then we were that first day. I think we both still have things that we are nervous about but we are trusting God and not allowing those things to overwhelm us. I think my biggest concern, which I can't do much about, it the health of the babies and myself during the coming months. I'm praying for no bed rest and that we don't deliver until at the earliest the beginning of July. But as I said, I can't do much about these things except pray and take care of myself in the ways I can and worrying only increases my stress and thus my blood pressure which makes bed rest more likely....so I'm not worrying. My mom said she would for me since she's on blood pressure medicine. Thanks, Mom! I think Paul is most concerned about the logistics of things, making room in our home and in our cars and providing for a family of five. But I have confidence in him and I know with him as the head of our household we will be fine. 

Outside of all that I am very much looking forward to getting past this "I just feel fat" stage and moving into the cuter, more desirable baby bump stage. And I'm very excited for the day I start feeling the babies move. This was one of my favorite things with Jack and I'm very interested what it will be like with two! Our latest ultrasound went very well and we are planning on taking photos of me to see me grow. Should be interesting. I'll leave you with this. Our first ultrasound (around 6 or 7 weeks), the image that will quite possibly be engraved in my memory forever.

My Name Is...

For a couple months now Jack has been able to pick Paul and I out of pictures and know that we are Momma and Dadda. But for the life of him he could never recognize who the kid with his momma and dadda was. But the day has come! Yesterday Jack was looking at my phone and saw his picture. Without prompting he pointed at his picture and said "Jack". I excitedly encouraged him and cheered for him. Then I asked him what his name was and he said "Jack"! Yay. I've asked him this plenty of times before only to receive a confused look or to be ignored. I'm so excited that he knows his name!

Big Friend Family News

The following two posts (within this single post) were previously written and then tucked away for the day that Paul said I could post them. I apologize for the length but it's very exciting news for those of you who perhaps haven't heard. In the next day or two I'll give you an update on how we're feeling these days as compared to the time these were written.


Baby Number 2!
I'm writing this post on Wednesday, November 25 but most likely it's much later now that I've actually posted it. Paul returned from a work trip this morning around 11 and I had quite the surprise for him. Around 6:45 this morning I woke up after having several vivid dreams of positive pregnancy tests and went to the bathroom to take one for real. I'd had suspicion for a few days that I might be pregnant but I was trying to be very cautiously optimistic. My main clues were the quantity of sleep I'd been getting; 1-2 hour naps a day plus earlier bedtimes than normal, and a desire to drink orange juice which isn't really my favorite beverage. But also I knew I was getting sick so I wasn't sure what the cause might be for these "symptoms". So this morning like I said I took a pregnancy test. The first one didn't work, but thankfully I had a second and it worked just fine. In a few minutes I read the news...pregnant! I'd been hoping for this and praying for this and now a little stick was telling me it had happened. I was really excited and nervous and almost in disbelief. I couldn't fall back asleep so I just watched TV until Jack woke up. Later I put the test in a mailing envelope and stuck it between the screen door and front door. That way when Paul got home he would see the package, open it up, and surprise! It pretty much worked that way, Paul was only a smidge suspicious. He was excited as expected but before we could hardly say a word about it Jack ran to his daddy, tripped and busted his lip on Paul's knee. So he bled for a little bit and screamed, while Paul tried to absorb the exciting news. Such is life.


At a time like this my brain starts spinning and my emotions jump all over the board. There are the questions that need to be acknowledged but not necessarily dealt with at this moment. Like, where are we going to put a second child? Will the kids share a room or do we need to clear out the office? When should we move Jack to a big boy bed so that the crib is available when it's needed? Will it be possible to potty train Jack in the next 9 months? Do we want to find out if it's a boy or girl or just wait and be surprised? When do we tell people and how do we tell them? and so on...

And then there are the emotions. I have been wanting this for a while and know that we for sure want another child but now that it's actually happening it's a little scary. I think it's weird how I can be excited on one hand and then on the other wonder what have we just done. I mean, two kids! There are days I don't know if I'm cut out to have one kid. It's a little terrifying to know that our lives are changed forever now and there's no going back. And it's totally wonderful to think of a new life just starting inside of me. It makes me happy to think that Jack will have a little sibling to grow up with, but them I'm also so nervous because I think we're probably only 4 weeks along right now which is super early and so many things can happen in the next few months. I just pray that everything goes well and this little baby is healthy and growing just as it should be. I also think how gracious God is in that while painful childbirth is a result of sin, He at least gave us fairly forgetful memories. So while I know that there will be uncomfortable and painful times in the next nine months I don't remember those specific details as much as the thrill of feeling your baby kick and the joy of seeing an ultrasound or hearing the heartbeat.  So I'm excited, I'm nervous and I'm praying for the best.
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The Day Our Lives Changed Forever
Here I am writing another post that won't actually get posted for another month or so. It's December 9th and Paul and I have just gone through one heck of an emotional 24 hour roller coaster. Jack has been sick, getting really high fevers and last night it hit 105.2, yikes! So we were dealing with that but that wasn't all. I had some bleeding (sorry if that's TMI) and got a little panicked. I spoke with my doctor and she told me to come in first thing in the morning to have an ultrasound to check on things and told me to try not too worry too much. Ha....I shed a lot of tears and of course worried all night long. It was a long and fairly sleepless night as Paul and I tried our best not too worry about the possibility of having miscarried. By the time morning came around I had tried to convince myself of the worst so that I would be prepared or pleasantly surprised. Little did we know that the day held much more than we ever expected. Within seconds of the start of the ultrasound I noticed that things looked different than any of Jack's ultrasounds. And sure enough the ultrasound tech quickly said, I have a surprise and it's a good one. Holy Crap! Yes there we were staring at the screen seeing not one baby but two. I think I went a little numb. She measured them and listened to what were good heartbeats and eased our earlier fears regarding the bleeding. Of course now we have so many new fears. I went from expecting to not be pregnant anymore to expecting twins. Paul just did a lot of laughing. We were both in shock.


That was just this morning. Several hours later it's like the word twins is tattooed on my mind and even when I think I'm distracted it pops in my mind and I get all freaked out again. At this point I really want to be excited but honestly I'm not there yet. I'm terrified, I have so many questions, I want to cry and the fact that I want to cry makes me want to cry. I'm worried about having what is considered a high risk pregnancy. I'm worried about Jack and how he'll adjust. I'm worried about me and how I'll survive...I thought Jack was challenging so I can hardly imagine how two at once will be. I'm concerned about space in our house and space in the car. I'm trying not to question God as to why this mom who feels like she struggles to be mother to one is now going to have twins and suddenly be mother to three. I was already nervous about having another child...now I'm so much more nervous.  Like I said, I want to be excited and see this for the miracle and blessing that it is...but I'm not there yet. Perhaps by the time I actually post this post. Only time will tell.


Side note: Due July 28, currently 11-12 weeks along.

Update on Jack's Tests

We got Jack's results back from his blood tests last week. Thankfully the celiac came back negative. Some of the other things they looked at came back with slightly high or slightly low numbers. Nothing to cause alarm at this point but we'll be doing a follow up blood test in 6 weeks to see if those numbers are changing for the better, worse or not moving at all. So I guess for now nothing to worry about, we might know more mid-February.

Dirty Baby Finally Takes Bath

Jack got a lot of fun gifts for Christmas, almost none of which were from Paul and I. But the one thing we did get him was a bath toy. It's a faucet that runs on batteries with a few different cups to play with. He loves baths and this one looked like a lot of fun and was pretty inexpensive. Yesterday was his first bath since Christmas....yikes! That sounds bad. We tried on several accounts but kept failing. First we had a frozen pipe, then we were gone all day and evening, then he had a fever and so on. Think of me what you will but he's clean now! He loved his new toy. He was in the bath for almost 40 minutes yesterday playing with the same toy. He was shivering but kept refusing to get out. So I'd say we did a great job with the one gift we got him.

Funny Sticker

Jack had a weight check this afternoon and it turned into a little bit more than expected. First of all he got a fever today, so he hardly ate anything which I'm sure didn't help in the weight department. Also due the fever he ended up having an unexpected check up and throat culture to make sure he didn't have strep. He didn't gain as much weight as we would have liked, about 5 ounces in three months,  so that combined with a few other things such as his recent random vomiting and not so pleasant stools lead to tests. The doctor decided to go ahead and test for celiac disease and a few other things since they were drawing blood anyway. I don't think the doctor or I really think that there is anything wrong but it's sorta just a double check to make sure we're not missing something. Unfortunately the testing required blood to be drawn :( That was so sad. But Jack was really brave and did a great job. Afterwards he looked at his arm and the band-aid with gauze that was there and seemed a little disturbed. I told him that it was a funny sticker and every time he looked at it or showed it to me I laughed and told him what a funny sticker he had. He thought that was hilarious and was quickly laughing and repeatedly showing me his funny sticker and cracking up. So we survived an eventful doctors visit and are saying our prayers that all his tests come back negative and whatever is causing his fever goes away ASAP.

Our Worst, I Mean Most Memorable Vacation Ever

There is a lot that could be said about our Christmas vacation this year. I'll probably make a Shutterfly book to cover all the details and show all the pictures so I don't feel as though I need to do that here. Plus I'll most likely most pictures on Picasa in the near future. I think here perhaps I'll tell you all the reasons this was the worst vacation ever and then all the reasons that even the worst vacation ever is really pretty good.

Reasons Why This Was Our Worst Vacation Ever (and we've taken a lot)

1. Out of the 11 people on the trip, 7 of them had the flu (vomiting and diareah) within the two weeks prior to leaving on vacation. Paul was first, then Dennis, Hailey, Micah, Matt, Amanda and finally Megan on the 26th. Two others got the same flu while in Nashville, Dad on Monday night and Mom on Tuesday morning. Dad was down for a day or two and unfortunately Mom felt the effects all week long. Jack had some sort of something and puked three days in a row, but only once or twice each day and was fine the rest of the time. Somehow I was the only one to escape what seemed like impending doom. And as of yesterday Hailey and Micah have it again. Ughhh, will this family ever escape this nasty flu?

2. There's also the obvious, we didn't get to go our our Bahama cruise. Nashville is great and all if that's where you were planning on going, but it hardly compares to the sort of vacation we had all packed and planned for.

3. Despite telling the hotel when we made reservations that we would need two cribs, no mention was made to us that there might not be any available. So when we checked in we were quite surprised and dismayed to hear there were no cribs available. Thanks, could have mentioned that on the phone don't you think? So Monday night Amanda and I drove to what ended up being a nice Wal-Mart, thankfully, and purchased two cheap pack 'n plays. By the time we got back to the hotel, we had one out of two cribs. Nice. Oh well, it all worked out.

4. We had lovely plans to go to Wild Horse Saloon for dinner and dancing on Friday night. We were all really excited for it and wouldn't you know the place was closed for a private event that one night. Just our luck. So no dancing for us.

5. And to make it an even 5, I'll add on our visit to the Parthenon. Just to give Dennis a hard time since he wanted to go and seemed to enjoy it. But actually it was pretty lame and we teased him about it all week long. Perhaps if we hadn't been cheap about it and paid for the museum part it would have been cooler, I guess we'll never know.

Reasons Why We Still Had a Great Time

1. All the girls got new cowgirl boots, including Hailey. She loved hers even though I think they make her feet hurt. I guess it's never to early to learn that style and good looks can be painful in the world of women's shoes.

2. Our hotel was amazing. The Gaylord Opryland Hotel has three atriums with beautiful plants and waterfalls and palm trees. We tried to use these features to help us pretend we were actually in the Bahamas. Also the kids absolutely loved the place and were always wanting to explore and look at the water.

3. We got to eat ice cream and pizza several times and went swimming twice which were most of the things Hailey was looking forward to on the cruise. And we also got to ride a shuttle bus a few times which Hailey and Jack absolutely loved.

4. We had lots of time to relax, take naps, and play Wii.

5. We had Bahama night on New Year's Eve which was fun. We dressed nice, in the clothes we would have worn on the cruise, went to a fun aquarium restraunt for dinner and tried to ignore the cold air against our legs as we walked back to our hotel. We were going to do a family picture with the palm trees, but we ended up in front of a Christmas tree instead. It still turned out cute.

6. There were no car accidents, thefts, deaths or major injuries. I think any of these things would have made vacation a whole lot worse.

7. Taking a road trip with my family brought back many fond memories of driving to Colorado so many years when we were younger. It sorta made me nostalgic and excited to be doing something similar with our children even though the drive was shorter and less snowy and our kids will likely not remember this trip.

8. We were together. We laughed and had fun and our kids did the same.

How We Traded Tans for Cowboy Boots

For all of you out there wondering what happened to our cruise vacation, here is the story in all it's sad, sad detail. My mother worked very hard to plan a nice vacation for my entire family. She spent months working with a travel agent and arranging all the details in an effort to provide her family with a memorable, funfilled family vacation. For her efforts we are all very thankful but unfortunately all the best laid plans mean nothing when an airport cancels your flight. We arrived at the Peoria airport on Sunday, December 27th. We had mounds of suitcases packed full of summer clothes, sunscreen, sandles and beachwear. We got in line and began the tedious process of checking in. Everyone was checked in except Mom and Dad and TSA had even scoured several of our suitcases already to be sure we weren't a terror threat. While Mom and Dad were checking in and just as the rest of us were ordering some lunch a voice over the intercom announced that the flight from Chicago to Peoria had been cancelled and therefore the return flight to Chicago...our flight....was also cancelled. Crap. So immedietly my parents started working to find us alternate travel plans and the rest of us ate and hoped for the best. The ticket agent did all she could and the cruise line who was in charge of our travel did all they could. There were no flights available that could accomadate 9 people and two lap children, our group was just too big and we weren't willing to split up. The lack of flights was frustrating but the cruise line made it worse by refusing to refund us our money even though we had trip insurance to cover catastrophes like this! Argg....so all of this took a couple of hours and left us with a lot of tears and feeling very sad, angry, frustrated and defeated. Our luggage was returned to us and we sat around wondering what to do next. All we could do was go back home. There wasn't enough time to drive to Florida and flying was out of the question so we officially were all packed up with nowhere to go. Once we got hom Dad told us it was lemonade time. We needed to figure out how to make this situation better. We had two options sit around, cry and feel sorry for ourselves or come up with plan B and make the best of things. We decided we were willing to drive somewhere but nowhere too far. Nashville was the farthest we would drive. We talked about a few places but nothing sparked our interest so we settled on Nashville thinking, hey at least it's south and it's a place at least some of us had been wanting to go to. Monday morning bright and early we drove our three cars down to Nashville and embarked on our new adventure. Turns out despite a number of setbacks and a string of bad luck we still had a very memorable and funfilled family vacation.