Xander is 2!

New tricycle, I hope he likes it more as he gets older

Toy Story, Xander's favorite!

Checking out the presents

Opening Presents

Xander turned 2 on July 13th but we had a last minute birthday party for him on Saturday the 10th. It was last minute because I have been worried about this baby coming at any time. Xander was 3 weeks early, originally not due until August, so I kind of expected this baby already. Right now I'm looking at 9 days left and no baby yet. I really hope it's soon. I'm getting way to anxious and I really don't want to work anymore.

We just had a small party with some family and friends. Xander was spoiled and got plenty of new toys. He had so many toys that we had to put some away. I can't believe how many toys we have accumulated since he was born. I'm sure he will have plenty of toys to share with his new sibling. I wish I could make Xander understand that there will be a baby around, but I still feel like there is a language barrier. He only says a few words and doesn't even use them regularly. We are doing speech therapy and I hope we can get him talking soon. I'm sure he will catch on someday.

It feels like we just celebrated Xander's 1st birthday and now he is already 2 years old. I think the second year of his life went by faster then the first year. I'm praying and hoping the next blog entry will be a birth announcement, and in a few days time!

Almost ready for baby

Cars blanket for Xander

Baby blanket

My huge stomach

Crochet baby blanket

We are looking at less then 4 weeks until this baby is due. If history repeats itself we have a lot less time then that. Xander was 3 weeks early so I'm feeling more and more anxious. I hope I'm ready for all of this. I hope I don't go into labor and have to have the baby in a car, or some other crazy situation. I have done this before so I know that labor is not really a fun or comfortable experience. You just never know what to expect. I'm trying not to worry about everything.

To occupy myself and get excited I have been doing a few projects. I decorated a nursery, but I also wanted to acquire some new talents. I decided to try crocheting. It was really tough at first. I was so frustrated because I couldn't even make a simple chain. I got a little bit of help from two of my coworkers who crochet and I was able to get some projects started. I have been working on hats and my biggest one was a baby blanket. I don't know how many hours that took me, but I finally have it finished. I can't do anything difficult and patterns just confuse me, so I have had to do my projects from scratch. Maybe I can take a class someday and patterns will make sense. I work at a cancer hospital, so it would be neat to crochet some hats for the patients undergoing chemo.

Through the help of one of Jeremiah's aunts I learned how to make tie blankets. They are very simple and fun to make, plus I think the end product is pretty cute. For a baby blanket you only need a little more then a yard of two fabrics. For a child blanket you need about 1.5 yards, and about 2 yards for an adult. You put the two fabrics together and cut them until they are about the same size. You then find a perfect square that's probably about 4x4 inches. You put it on each corner and cut around it. You have a square missing from each corner. You then cut out strips from all the sides that are even and start tying your two fleece fabrics together. If my explanation doesn't make sense, I know there are a lot of places on the internet you can turn to, to find a good pattern. They are really very simple though.

California Trip

Xander and great-grandma

In San Francisco

On Alcatraz

A smile captured on camera!

We decided we needed to go on a trip before we are busy parents of two kids and changing tons of diapers all day. We decided to drive out to California in mid-May. It was our first real trip with Xander. It was kind of tough like I expected it to be, especially being in my third trimester of pregnancy, but we still managed to have some fun. We drove all the way across Nevada and stayed in Reno for the night. We then finished our trip the next day arriving at my Grandma's house. We spent a day in San Francisco and visited China town and Alcatraz. The next day we went to Six Flags in Vallejo. The toughest parts of the trip were keeping Xander happy because he was totally of schedule. I think he really needs that schedule which is bedtime at 7:30pm and a long mid day nap. We just kind of had to throw it out the window for our trip. He managed to take a short nap everyday. You would think that he would sleep on the long car rides, but he had a hard time being comfortable. The thing that saved us was buying a portable DVD player for the car rides and letting him watch cartoons. It was tough being pregnant on the trip because there was a lot of walking and my feet are starting to swell. We survived and we managed to have some fun. Plus we got to visit my grandma who I usually only see a couple times a year.

Enjoying the spring weather

Easter weekend was cold and wintry, but this last off week from work was just the opposite. It has been warm and gorgeous, but it is Utah, so things could turn back to snow any day now. We finally got started on yard work. I will try to make the flower beds look as nice as I can until this baby decides to arrive. With warm weather comes..swelling. I feel my rings getting tight and I definitely don't want them to be cut off. I do have some fake rings I can try to wear soon. I would just feel naked without my wedding ring.
Jerry took the day off on Thursday to get some yard work done and so we could take Xander to the zoo. I think his favorite animal is the monkey for now. They are the most interactive out of all the animals. I think he had a good time, especially when he had his first ice cream cone.

Easter Time

We didn't do anything exciting for Easter, but at least we got to spend time as a family. The biggest problem was the lousy weather. We had some beautiful days in March, but it has been snowing, hailing and raining lately. It must be spring time for Utah. We took Xander to his first Easter Egg hunt, but didn't get to do any egg hunting. I guess there were so many people who went that it was done and over with in a few minutes. I'm sure he will get more out of the holidays next year anyway. He was probably just wondering why we were dragging him to a cold place. I probably should enjoy the comfort of this weather right now. I was pregnant two years ago and almost as far along as I am now, and I remember how I felt when it got hot outside. I couldn't wear my wedding rings or find comfortable shoes. I hope it's not as rough as it was last time I did this. The due date is still July 23rd, so I have plenty of time to suffer through the heat.

Update on our kids

You can really tell how cute this kid is going to be!










On the 30th we had the big ultrasound at 23 weeks. I think most doctor's offices do them earlier, but not the new one I go to. I get an ultrasound every time and it's a nice office but the wait time is ridiculous. I'm not sure I want to continue with my current midwife if I have to wait 1-3 hours to be seen for 5-10 minutes. It wasn't this way at all with my last midwife. Jerry and Xander both came to the appointment and I think we waited about 90 minutes to be seen. Luckily they have a big playground in a side room by the waiting room. Xander had a good time going down the slide and running around. We got to have a regular and a 4D ultrasound which turned out some really good pictures. The baby is measuring pretty close to my due date of July 23rd. They estimated them to weigh 1 pound 4 ounces which is normal. Hopefully I wont have too big of a baby. Xander was only 6lbs but he came early. Everything looks great so far. I know I'm blessed to have the chance to be a mommy to 2 healthy kids. I know not everyone gets that opportunity in life.
I took Xander in for an Early Intervention evaluation to see if he qualifies for speech therapy..and no surprise he does. The positive is that he isn't super far behind. They observed him and asked questions and none of his skills go below 18 months. He is 20 months now and born 3 weeks early, so he isn't as far behind as we thought. We still need to find a way to clear up his congestion. I'm sure he would love to breath normal someday. The tubes don't seem to be helping. The cool thing is they put his large motor skills at 24 months. It seemed like he was so slow to catch on his first year, but he is learning so quickly the last few months. He didn't walk until 14 months, but it seems like he is doing so well since those first steps. I can't wait to get him to communicate with us someday. I would love to be called mommy since I have been one for almost 2 years now.
We have less then 4 months now to prepare for a new addition...We have a room to furnish, turn Xander's room more into a toddler room and take one last big trip before we are busy with two kids. Who knows when we will have time for anything after that.

Married 6 years!

Jerry and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this past weekend. I can't believe how fast 6 years goes by. It is our second anniversary as parents and we took the night off from Xander thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Batt. I hope he wasn't too much trouble for them. They were nice enough to watch him overnight last anniversary too. I know Xander has a hard time sleeping in places other then his crib which is why we have only taken two overnight trips with him since he was born. Both trips left us sleep deprived. Honestly though, I think we have been tired everyday since he was born so it's nothing new.
Our anniversary was on my seven days on, so I had to trade Saturdays at work. We didn't plan anything elaborate. We just drove to Logan and stayed at the Anniversary Inn. I think we have stayed there at least seven times now. They do have fun rooms though and it's very relaxing. It's just refreshing to know that despite being so busy all the time with work and being parents, that we are still the same couple that have been together almost seven years now and we are still best friends. Almost seven years ago while we were dating we had a talk one day about our goals and intentions with our relationship. We both agreed that we wanted our relationship to be a meaningful and long lasting relationship since our previous ones were exactly opposite. A couple weeks after that talk we decided that we would like to get married someday. This was during the spring of 2003 and we got married in the Salt Lake Temple in March 2004. We aren't perfect but I feel like we have what it takes to be happy together for many more years and hopefully to eternity, like we vowed when we were sealed in the temple.
Xander is a keeping us very busy these days. He is a sweet, loving and very energetic toddler. We still have problems with his ears. I still feel like the tubes are not helping him and am wondering if I should see a new ENT specialist. He still has yet to say no, or even mommy and daddy. He does speak his own Xander language. I'm trying to figure out how to get him evaluated by early intervention but I'm not sure where to start. At least he is happy and healthy despite his small challenges.
The big ultrasound is on the 30th of this month. I know there are rumors going around, but I will wait to announce the gender to everyone after the ultrasound. I will say that if this baby is confirmed another boy I think I'm just going to sell all my girl stuff because we will probably just be one of those all boy families. We probably just don't make girls. I will post how things go at the end of this month.