Disneyland!

We flew out to Disneyland on Tuesday the 26th of April. There were a few firsts for us and our kids. It was the first plane ride for either of our kids, unless you count that I flew when I was pregnant with Xander. It was Jerry and my first plane ride dealing with very young kids. It went alright, not any worse then I would expect with a 9 month old and a 2 year old. I tried to keep Wesley asleep for most of the plane ride. The best thing for Xander was letting him watch cartoons and have snacks. That is what I would recommend to any parent traveling with a toddler.

We didn't go to Disneyland our first or even second day. We spent our 2nd day in the California adventure park. I think my favorite ride was the Hollywood tower. I didn't even know what to expect when I first rode it. It is one of those rides that drops you. I love those rides. I love the Rocket at Lagoon, which has a similar principal. My brother Michael (aka Jose) and his girlfriend Kristen came along to help us out a little. I would not have gone on this trip without help. They watched the kids a few times so we could go on rides. On our third day we spent most of the day in Disneyland. It was also my brother's birthday so we ate out at Buca di Beppo. That is a very interesting Italian restaurant. On our last day we went in between both parks and tried to go to anything we hadn't experienced yet. We flew back from sunny California to cold and snowy Utah. I can't wait for it to actually be warm here in Utah!

This trip was a little tough for baby Wesley. I think it was just overwhelming and strange. He was the biggest mommy's boy. He just wanted me to hold him all day everyday. I liked it, but it makes it hard to do anything! Right now it seems like Xander is a daddy's boy (always has been) and Wesley wants his mommy more.

Wesley turned 9 months old right before our trip. I can't believe it has been that long. I think I have some birthday planning to do very soon. He crawls and can pull himself to standing. He is super active. I took him to his checkup today and he lost instead of gained weight. His doctor was a little concerned so we had his blood drawn for some tests . I hope he is doing okay. He was really sick in March and lost weight then. I think he is having a hard time gaining it back because he is so active. He was 17lbs 5oz (down from 18lbs 2oz at 6months) and about 28inches tall. It is weird having a smaller baby since big brother was so chubby at the same age. Xander was 21lbs and I never worried about him starving. With Wesley, I am a little worried, but I hope it is normal. Worrying is just a part of being a parent!

Easter

I keep wanting to post, but I'm always so busy. I guess I haven't even posted since our wedding anniversary. These kids keep me so busy. It's a crazy life, but it's always amazing to watch how Xander and Wesley learn and grow. Wesley started army crawling around 7 months. He is kind of stuck on that right now, but he will get up on hands and knees and do a real crawl. He just turned 9 months old. He is pulling himself up on everything, he feeds himself finger food and he is the cutest babbler. I forgot how cute baby talk is. Wesley is just an adorable baby who is into everything now.

Xander is learning new words and will communicate with us, most the time. Sometimes he just gets cranky and will just whine when he wants something. I just hope he catches up with kids his age. It's hard worry about him all the time and hoping he will be able to talk and learn normally. He is a funny guy and he loves his baby brother. They are already buddies. Sometimes they will just giggle at each other while I am driving them somewhere. I hope they don't fight too much as they grow older.

For Easter, I was able to get work off Saturday and we took the kids to the grocery store. Smiths was having an Easter party, so I decided to check that out. Last year we took Xander to a hunt at the park. We were a few minutes late to that, and it was already over. At Smith's they just laid out candy in the aisles and separated the different age groups. Xander did really well and got way more candy then a 2 year old needs!

We are going to to pack up our two kids and fly out to Disneyland on Tuesday. I am nervous to travel with two kids. I know it will be tough, but I hope we have a fun time too. I need a vacation. Although my favorite vacation ever is going on a cruise. I hope to do that again soon. My next post will probably be about our trip and if we survived or not.

Seven years down...

I probably say it every time, but I can't believe it's already been seven years since Jerry and I got sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. We have been together for 8 years. We started dating in the winter of '03 and here we are 8 years later. We have two cute little kids, so now we are a little family. Baby Wesley came into our lives last summer and we are really enjoying having this sweet baby around. I think even Xander loves and enjoys having a baby brother around.

Thanks to my parents, Jerry and I were able to take a night away from the kids. We did a dinner and movie date and then spent the night at The Anniversary Inn. As much as we love our children it is important that we have some time together here and there, just to reconnect. Sometimes I don't even feel like we can have a conversation on most days because the kids need us so much. If we aren't all together we are usually at work. There just never seems to be enough time to all be together. We are still hoping to find a way for me to stay at home with the kids, but the future is so uncertain. I'm sure most families are like ours, just super busy. I just hope we don't miss out on the important things in life. I'm just glad we found each other so long ago and I think we make a good team!

Mommy brag post

Flipping the bird

Wesley will be 7 months old in a week, but I wanted to post about his 6 month stats I just haven't had time. At his 6 month checkup he was 18.1lbs and 26.5 inches long. I was surprised that he only gained a pound since his 4 month checkup. His pediatrician wasn't worried since he has been a very active baby. He was more active then Xander in my tummy and he started rolling at 4 months. Right now he can roll across the floor. He does the baby push ups like he is trying to crawl, but he's not quite there yet. He can also move himself around in a circle on the floor. We are still working on sitting up, but he just doesn't seem interested. If I sit him he tries to lunge onto the floor. I have started giving him cereal. I waited until after his 6 month checkup. We are not regular with eating though. I maybe give him cereal only a few times a week, not everyday. He seems very healthy and happy. He smiles and laughs and I enjoy being with him and caring for him. I'm sad he will not be this way for much longer. He's already changing way too fast! The only thing we really wish would change is that he would sleep better. He was sleeping all night at about 9 weeks old and was doing great until January. Now he is waking up too early, or just waking up several times in the night. I'll admit, Jerry does most the work in helping him, but we are both exhausted from the whole situation. I know Xander went through something similar at his age, so that's what I'm hoping we are dealing with and that it ends soon.

Xander is doing great as well. He hasn't had a checkup recently but he still weighs about 33lbs which was his weight at his 2 year checkup. He is about 36 inches tall. He is making some progress with his speech. He knows a lot of words and he is always imitating us. He is finally calling me mommy which makes me happy. He says I love you, "Muv woo." He is very energetic. He loves cars, Buzz and his baby brother. Sometimes he loves Wesley too much and I always have to watch that he doesn't smother him with all the hugging. We are working really hard on potty training and making some progress. He will go #1 on the potty sometimes. I would love to have one kid out of diapers. Hopefully that day will come soon.

When I am home with them I feel super busy keeping them both happy. When I work I just have to pray that they will be kept safe and happy. I have yet to find a daycare I can be completely happy with. I wont even start to write the long list of things I have been unhappy with in all the places I have tried. These two kids are a lot of work, but I look forward to the days I can just have fun with them.

Life so far in 2011

I have been wanting to post on here forever but I have been super busy lately. I just transferred to a new job in my company so I could have better hours and because I was feeling a little burned out at my current job. I gave my boss my notice in at the end of December, but they really needed me to keep working in that lab so I finally just finished my last day yesterday. In the meantime I have been working my seven on and training for a couple days on my off week, so I have been getting lots of overtime and just being too busy. I can't wait for things to settle and fall back into some sort of routine. I'll miss my old job but sometimes it's good to change things. I have been wanting to get a little more sleep. I never felt rested especially since I had to be at work at 4am. I don't think that is good for my health to keep working a schedule like that, especially with two young children. If I didn't have children to worry about and care for then I know I could find a way to get more rest on that schedule. As it is right now, Wesley has been sleeping poorly lately, which in turn causes Jerry and me to get poor sleep. I have been running on sleep deprivation for a long time now. I would love to find a way to catch up on sleep. Honestly if somebody offered me a vacation right now without my kids in tow, I would choose one where I could just relax and sleep. That would be so nice right now! I think any parent with young kids could agree with me!

January was a month of birthdays, sort of. It was Jeremiah's 31st birthday on the 30th. Both our children have their half birthdays in January. We didn't celebrate those, but it's still significant, especially when a baby reaches 6 months. They really start to change their personality. For Jerry's birthday we left the kids with my parents and we did laser tag and a movie. I had to work on his actual birthday so we did this on a different day. It's always nice to get away and be alone. Luckily we have friends and family around to watch our kids once in a while.

We have been trying to find a way to move closer to Jerry's job and possibly even downgrade our housing situation so I can be home with the kids, but the outlook doesn't look good right now. Hopefully we will find a way. I have been praying about it, but we haven't found an option yet. We can't even refinance our home right now. This market is just really tough for families like ours. In the meantime I am grateful that we do have a beautiful home to live in and we can afford our payments. I know there are people our there who find themselves all of the sudden not being able to have the money and having to lose their house. However, if one of use lost our job or couldn't work we might be in a similar situation. All we can do right now is work on paying off debts and paying our tithing and just hoping something works out. It's still my greatest dream right now to take a few years off of work to be home with my kids. I didn't realize how important that was to me until 2008 when I had Xander. I only wish I had realized this dream sooner and things might be different today. I can only count my blessings I do have right now.

I'm looking forward to a good 2011 and trying to keep my perspectives in the right place. I know there is so much I can work on, but it's just easier to do one thing at a time.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Morning!

Wesley enjoying some lights

I have been wanting to post on here for a while about our Christmas. Things have been so hectic and busy for me so far this year that I haven't had time yet. We had a wonderful Christmas with our family and my family. I thought it would be tougher with two kids, but Wesley is such a good baby, he hardly changes my routine at all. Jerry had 10 days off from work so we spent the whole holiday together as a family. On Christmas eve we finally made it to temple square. I love going there. I pass by it often on my way to work, but never actually have time to just walk around the temple grounds. We have been to see the lights almost every year and I hope we can keep making it a tradition as long as we live close to Salt Lake. It really gets you in the proper mood for Christmas, especially with the nativity scene they have in front of the visitor's center.

On Christmas day we opened presents at our house first, then drove over to my parent's house to open the rest of our presents. Our little boys got spoiled with lots of toys and some cute clothes. I think Xander is understanding the holiday a little more. He had fun opening his presents and helping other people open presents. He must have picked this up in daycare, but when he saw something Santa related he would point and say, "Ho, Ho, Ho." It was pretty cute. He had new tubes put in back in November and I think this time around it's helping him to hear better so he can learn new words. He has a good vocabulary, but he's not saying sentences yet. He still has a long way to go. I hope he can catch up with kids his age with his language development.

Surviving the Holidays

He started rolling to his tummy at 4 months old!

Once you make it through Halloween, Thanksgiving flies by and then it's already Christmas. This Thanksgiving, I made my first turkey dinner ever. I've never cooked a turkey and I was so worried about ruining it. Luckily I was really only cooking for 3 other people, Jerry, Xander and my brother Michael (Uncle Jose). The turkey was still frozen solid when I took it out of the fridge on Thanksgiving morning, even though I had placed it in the fridge 2 days before. I had to thaw it in a sink with cold water, and that did the trick. My parents and my sister and brother-in-law were all out of town and I didn't feel like dragging two kids everywhere to eat other relatives' food. I have always wanted to make my own dinner anyway. I missed out on some of my favorite dishes, but I did make some of the traditional ones. I did the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberries and rolls. I think my mom usually makes a shrimp salad, yams and fruit salad too, but I didn't have time. I hate yams anyway! I also made my favorite thing, the fruit cocktail with 7up. It all turned out well and we were all stuffed afterwards.

Now I'm working to get Christmas together. There is still so much to do, but I'm trying not to be stressed about it, I will get done what I can get done. I think we mostly just need to shop for Xander and Wesley. It's hard hauling around two kids, but we still try to see the lights on temple square. I love going there and seeing it all lit up. You really do get so caught up in the presents and everything else that you need to step back and let yourself be reminded of the true spirit of Christmas. For those who are religious the meaning is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ (even though his birthday is really in April). We celebrate his life by helping others around us, friend, family and strangers. I try to keep this with me throughout the year. My biggest excuse for not helping others enough is that I feel so busy. I am busy, but I know that if you truly want to do something you make time. Just like I love to workout at the gym, I make that time almost every single day. I need to make time once a week or more often to do service for others. I did make yummy treats for my neighbors to enjoy, but I know there is so much more I can do to help out. I also love doing the angel tree every year and buying things for children, who just want one toy, or just desperately need a new pair of shoes to give them a good Christmas.

I hope this Christmas can be a really good one for everybody. We only have 12 days left until the 25th!