What we have been up to lately

Now that Xander is getting older, we have been trying to take him out to some fun places. I know he still wont get much out of the experience, but the weather is nice and it is something to do together as a family. Jerry took a Friday off a couple weeks ago so we could go to the zoo. It was fun just to spend time together, since we really only get every other weekend as a family. I think Xander only liked the stuff that he could grab and he was exhausted by the end of the day. Just yesterday we decided to go to a dinosaur park up in Ogden. They had a fun playground and we let Xander ride in a swing. I think he liked it. I got him to laugh a little bit. Now as summer approaches we are trying to think of some fun stuff to do. Jerry and I were thinking of planning a road trip down to Texas. If my mom is still willing to take Xander, we were going to take a couple's vacation somewhere. It's just hard to decide where to go, but I know I would love to take a break and go somewhere new. Xander finally figured out how to crawl and he loves to move around the house and find bad things to do. We just have to be more vigilant to keep him safe. He is growing so fast! I am already in the first stages of planning his 1st birthday in July. Time flies!

ABC's

I'm just bored at home on a Friday night...

A - Age: 25
B - Bed size: queen
C - Chore you hate: dishes
D - Dogs names: no dogs, I'm not really a dog person
E - Essential to start your day: A good breakfast
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gold or Silver: white gold
H - Height: 5'7
I - Instruments you play(ed): piano, flute, saxaphone, guitar, bass guitar, percussion
J - Job title: Medical Technologist, and mommy
K - Kid(s): Alexander Thomas
L - Living arrangements: We live in a lovely house in Kaysville
M - Mom's name: Denise
N - Nicknames: Sweety, mommy, punkin
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: none!
P - Pet Peeve: I have a few, my weirdest one is that I find it annoying when people roll down the windows of their car while driving and hang body parts out
Q - Quote from a movie: "Mawiage, mawiage is what brings us together." -The Princess Bride
R - Right or left handed: I'm a left-handed freak
T - Time you wake up: I wake up between 6-7am on my off week and 2:35am on my on week
U - Underwear: garments (LDS)
V - Vegetable you dislike: yams
W- Ways you run late: getting baby stuff together, getting distracted
X - X-rays you've had: I think I've only had 2 x-rays
Y - Yummy food you make: homeade pizza
Z - Zoo favorite: the big cats

Some things I have learned about motherhood

A year ago I was awaiting the arrival of my baby and now I have a wiggly, crazy little boy who is almost 10 months old.

I find motherhood to be very challenging, but I feel rewarded when I see a smile or get a laugh out of Xander.
I can't believe how amazed I am at every single milestone that he hits. It's so exciting to see what he will do next.
I didn't realize how much bedtime meant to parents until I became one. I used to think my parents were punishing me. Now I know that it is sometimes the only break that mom and dad get all day.
Putting Xander on a schedule saved my sanity! As soon as I put him on a schedule, he started sleeping better and now he's just a happy healthy baby.
I didn't realize how tough the baby blues would be. Working out has been my anti-depressant and taking some baby breaks.
Being a mom is tough, and I do miss my pre-baby life, but I know how much fuller my life is as a mom. I wouldn't trade motherhood for anything.
I love my beautiful blue-eyed boy so much. I live for him and to see him smile and laugh at me everyday.

Unfortunately I had to work on my very first Mother's day, but it was still good. Jerry and Xander came up to my job and spoiled me with gifts. Xander helped his dad pick out a beautiful diamond Mother's day necklace and then Jerry spoiled me with my favorite stone, the emerald.

May Day

I just thought I would make a post before my off week ends. Xander will be turning 10 months old in a couple weeks. He has been working really hard to learn new things. He is still not crawling, but he is doing a lot of other things. He can scoot around and reach for toys. He still loves rolling everywhere. We still haven't childproofed, but we need to for sure now. He will be going mobile anytime soon. I am already spending his waking moments with him keeping him out of trouble. I have to make sure things don't fall on him and stop him from grabbing electrical cords. I am excited and worried for him to start walking and crawling. That little guy is going to be a handful! I think most boys are handfuls when they are really young.

We took Xander swimming for his second time a couple weeks ago. I thought he would love it since he loves bath time, but he just didn't seem to be excited. I will keep taking him since swimming has always been a favorite thing of mine. I'm sure he will love it when he is older.

Life is going pretty well for us. There isn't anything too exciting going on. We are just staying busy with our little guy and our careers. I am grateful everyday that even though I have to be a working mom, that I can still stay at home with Xander every other week. I get to watch him change and grow. There is always something new, being a parent.

Xander's 9 month stats

Xander just turned 9 months old yesterday and had to go to the doctor for another well baby visit. He weighed in at 21 pounds 9 ounces and was 28 inches long. I think he is 29 inches and that the nurse measured wrong because he seems a lot taller. His 12 month pants are getting short on him. He wears 12 month and 18 month clothes right now. We are continually buying him new clothes because he is growing so fast. The growth is finally slowing down a little, since he has only gained one pound since his 6 month appointment. At 9 months he has already spent more time out in the world then he did growing inside me. He was only in my belly for 36 weeks 6 days. According to a chart that I used, he is 39 weeks old. I'm definitely glad he is out of my belly. I can't imagine I would be walking very well with a 21 pound baby inside!
Xander can be a really happy baby. He has lots of smiles and he giggles a lot, especially when we play peek a boo. He is still not crawling. He rolls around to get places. We are working on getting him to stand better. He will put weight on his legs, but he is wobbly and has to be supported in order to stand. He can sit up and play just fine on his own and lately he is showing an interest in pulling himself up. His pediatrician is not worried that he is not crawling yet. Xander is just the laid back type and doesn't want to learn too fast. Plus our home is not adequately child proofed yet. We still haven't found a baby gate that will fit our wide staircases. He finally got his first tooth about a week ago. This teething thing has been going on for a long time!
Our world revolves around Xander right now, until he gets a little brother or sister someday (still hoping for a girl). He keeps us busy and I am just trying to enjoy these moments, because everyday he needs mommy less and less. I realized that today while I was giving him a bottle. He grabbed it and fed himself. He wouldn't let me help him. He's also a master at inserting his own Binky's and stuffing baby puffs in his mouth. I only have 3 months left to plan his 1st birthday. I'm so grateful that we have made it this far and are a busy yet happy family.

I am off for seven days again so I thought I would take the opportunity to post a new blog. It's so nice to not have to worry about my job every other seven days. When I am working my seven days though, it seems like everything is happening. Weddings and birthdays and parties seemed to be planned for my work weeks. I do my best to make it to everything. When I am finally off work it feels like nothing is going on.
This last work week Xander and Jeremiah both got sick. I went to pick Xander up from daycare last Friday and he felt really warm. I decided to take his temperature. The best way to take a baby's temperature is rectally. You can try under their armpit, but most babies are too wiggly. There is no way it will work in their mouth. I felt bad, but I had to take his temperature. It was a 102.6! As a first time mom I was really worried. I went and grabbed my medical reference book and it did say that rectally the temperature is a little higher then the actual body temperature. I was still worried so I called the pediatrician's office. The nurse told me to give him Motrin or Tylenol. Jerry and I just cuddled him close for the next couple days. It was so sad to see him not feeling well. He wasn't his usual smiley giggly self. I had to work my 12 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday, so Jerry was stuck in the house all day caring for a sick baby. By Sunday night he was in a better mood and seems to be feeling a lot better. I just felt bad that I couldn't be there for Xander since I was stuck at work.
On Sunday Jerry started having mouth pains that kept getting more intense. I didn't know how to help him since I was busy working. He decided to call the dentist and go in for an appointment on Monday. They thought he might need a root canal and he was referred to a specialist. Luckily they think it might be a sinus infection. We are crossing our fingers that he wont need a root canal.
Xander is doing well and learning new things everyday. He doesn't crawl yet. His preferred form of mobility is rolling on the floor. He can roll pretty fast. He will get on his tummy and try to crawl, but he doesn't seem to know what to do with his legs. Crawling is not considered a milestone that babies have to meet so I'm not too worried about his lack of crawling. Jerry and I are working on teaching him to stand so he can just skip the crawling if he has too. He is doing pretty well. He even tries to pull himself up on his toys, but he hasn't been successful yet. He is a big boy weighing over 20 pounds, so it has to be more of a challenge for him to learn to stand. He will be having his 9 month appointment in 2 weeks so I will post his stats on here. I am really curious how tall he is right now. His 12 month pants are getting short on him. He can fit in some 18 month clothes already. I really need to do some more clothes shopping for him. He grows out of his clothes too fast now.

Lucky 13

I just had to share some old pictures on our blog. On 3/13/09 Jerry and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Yes it is not as big as a 20th or even a
50th wedding anniversary, but it's still a big deal. That is 5 years that Jerry has been putting up with my cooking. That is 5 years I have been picking up after his messes. (Okay, he does clean up after me too.) Most importantly it is 5 years of loving and supporting each other through all that we have gone through. We have accomplished so much in 5 years. We bought and sold a condo in Bountiful, and then bought a beautiful home in Kaysville where we now reside. We both had really crappy jobs while dating. I worked at Taco Time and Jerry worked in the catalog call center for JC Penney. We now have our bachelor's degrees and work in our careers. I work for ARUP in the Huntsman cancer hospital lab. I am a Medical Technologist. Jerry is a software developer (I hope I got the title right), working for a small company called Reading Horizons. What marriage would be complete without adding a little bundle of joy. Our first baby Alexander Thomas was born on 7/13/08.

We have spent the majority of our marriage getting through school. I graduated in May 2007 with my Bachelor's degree in Science. Jeremiah finally got his Bachelor's degree in December 2007. We just love to have fun and spend as much time together as we can. Now we get to spend time as a family with our little boy. Our future goals for the next 5 years are to just have fun and enjoy the life we have made for ourselves and our family. I don't know if there is more schooling in the future. Only time will tell. I'm sure that we will be adding on to our family in the next 5 years as well. I just know that Xander doesn't want to be an only child. I'm really hoping to give him a sister, but I know it is in God's hands.

Thanks to my supportive family, Jerry and I were able to celebrate our anniversary by spending a night alone together. We left Xander with my sister and her husband Chris. My mom picked him up after she got off work and he slept at Grandma's house. My mom had to leave for work early so my brother got stuck watching him until we picked him up. It all worked out okay. Jerry and I ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square since the Hard Rock Cafe isn't there anymore. I don't know if it went out of business or moved, but we had one of our first dates at the Hard Rock Cafe. We then spent the night at the Anniversary Inn. It was really special just taking the time to be alone together and just realizing how much we love each other. It is hard to realize this while you are trying to calm a crying baby. On our Anniversay day we dropped Xander off at daycare and went and got massages. We then just hung out and went shopping together. It was really refreshing to take all the time toghether. I hope we can do it again soon.

13 is a lucky number in our family. My parents were married on 12/13/80. Jerry and I were married on 3/13/04. Our first baby was born on 7/13/08. We just celebrated our anniversary on Friday the 13th.