Luke taking his first steps

I was taking a picture of Luke today, and thought to try to get him to finally take more than a couple steps, while I had the camera out. And amazingly, it worked!!!

Our junior graduate! (video added)

Performing a song (it was so adorable)

Receiving his diploma--unsuccessfully trying not to smile!

yay for Jamie!

March and April (pics and videos)

Obviously, I've been posting less and less lately. Facebook-itis. But I wanted to make sure that the grandmas (and any other interested persons) who don't use it still get to see pictures, so, here we go. :)

I made this blanket (it's quilted along the lines) and embellished the pillowcase for Jamie. Did I already post this? If I did, sorry. 

He especially likes his "J pillow." :) When he saw it, he said, "Hey, that's a 'J' for 'Jamie'!" Then he said, "Can you make a 'L' one for Luke?" He's such a sweet boy.

This simple set of magnets I made has been a big help. He gets a star for every day he does them all, and when he has a week's worth of stars, he gets a prize. After he got a month's worth, he got a big toy airplane.

On our anniversary (Mar 9) last month, in the afternoon, we went to a "rodeo." There was almost no action going on yet that was truly rodeo-ish (that happened in the evening, after we left), but there was this little "petting zoo." Jamie had fun petting all the animals.

Luke is a big fan of balloons.

I love this picture :)

Grandma and Grandpa Yarwood sent Jamie this really fun scooter. He likes it, though he hasn't gotten the hang of pushing hard, then riding--he just keeps pushing with one foot, over and over, so he gets tired out. But he'll get it eventually.

Obviously, I love this one, too :) I do love it when I get to snuggle my babies, but both at once is the best :)

Luke's birthday turned out kind of odd. I'd made these muffins (they're sugary enough--I'm not into giving babies regular, crazy-sugary cake with frosting), but Luke slept through dinnertime and past bedtime, and we didn't want to do the singing and candle without Jamie. So this is him eating a preliminary birthday muffin, while Jamie was in bed, without fanfare--but he didn't seem to really care for it! Rrrgh. 

This was FOUR DAYS LATER, when we finally were able to sing, have him blow out a candle, and he ate some pudding I made. Maybe not so traditional, but it worked and he was happy.

I left the cleanup to Daddy.

In fresh pjs, ready to open presents.

Big brother found it very difficult to restrain himself from "helping." :)

Here you can see that we've been working on staining our bench and chairs. Only one of the chairs is finished, and everything else needs at least one more coat, but we've been using them until we get time to finish them up. And I LOVE how much better they look!!

I just heard Luke calling from upstairs, done with his nap. But there's not too much to say, really. Jason is almost done with his Master's program!!!!! That's our biggest news. His graduation ceremony is May 8, and I can't wait to see him in his special regalia, that he (and we! ;)) have worked so hard for almost three years now to attain. I'm so proud of him! Pretty soon we'll be seeing where life will take us next. Very exciting, a little scary. :)

I'm just plugging along about like usual, taking Jamie to preschool, trying to exercise more (I have about three pounds to go until my first goal, which is the weight I was when I got pregnant with Luke). I've been going to Zumba two or three times a week, and really enjoying it. Experimenting with new recipes, making a blanket for my new NEPHEW DANIEL!!!! that I can't wait to show off, but it will have to wait a month until we visit CA and actually give it to him.

Aaaand now I hear Jamie bellowing at me, too. Better go. Videos are uploading to You Tube and I'll add them later.

Temple talk

...and other videos.

I'm not good at naming my posts cleverly. (Is that a word?)

Anyhow, here're some videos.

For those of you who may not know, the angel's name is Moroni--moe-roe-nye.



Here's the temple that Jamie usually sees once or twice a week, since it's being built in our vicinity:

And this is the "golden" angel (saying "der-der DER!" on his trumpet :)).

(If you're not sure what the heck this is about and would like to find out, click here.)

Jason helped Jamie build this "fort" the other day, and when I attempted to take video, I only got the Armageddon-esque end of its existence.

This was earlier tonight. You should have heard Luke laughing when this first occurred upstairs, where the lack of tile allows for MUCH better thumps upon landing. That boy is so enthralled with his big brother!


By the way--despite the abundance photographic evidence, I can assure you that Luke doesn't spend the majority of his time in his swing.

And yes, I'm feeling big-wordish tonight.

Squealey squealey

Have I mentioned this little tank (as his Grandma Noall calls him) is SIXTEEN POUNDS??

The boy loves to be sung to!

Jason was jumping around in back of me, being a goof and getting Luke to laugh. Daddies are so fun. :)

Ice, Ice, and Baby

Luke video

Popcorn popping

Yesterday I was teaching Jamie this song--"Popcorn Popping." At first he was singing, "popcorn popping aper on da cot tree." So adorable. Unfortunately, he fixed it quickly, though it's still very cute:

And here's one from Tuesday--Luke was totally smiley, then stopped when I took the trouble to run downstairs for the real camera. Of course. :)


It's so fun. It's hard to get things done, but Luke fits into our family like a glove. He has his place, and we can hardly believe he wasn't here (at least, visible) just a couple months ago.

Luke likes to smile at night, especially. He had his two-month checkup on Monday, and he was about 12 lbs 5 oz.  and 23 3/4 in. That's almost 4 inches he's gained since he was born! He outgrew the newborn clothes so fast, he didn't even have a chance to wear all of them. He wears 0-3 mo, 3 mo, and sometimes even 6 month sizes! (Those often have extra room, especially on the sides, but not that much top to bottom.)

He loves to cuddle and doesn't like to be left out of things. (It's pretty hard to get even the most basic things done a lot of days, but not as hard as it was with Jamie.) He does like his swing (thank GOODNESS--Jamie would never stay in it long), but if we're out of his line of sight too long, he voices his opinion about it. What can I say, he's a sweet boy who already loves his family :)

Well, I hear Jamie waking up, so my 1/2 hour of free time will soon be ending. Have I finished the dishes yet?...

Videopalooza: Old McDonald/Jingle Bells

More are uploading.

Christmas festivities 2011

He had so much fun decorating the "Tuss-muss" tree, he kept asking to do it again for days.

When we got to Grandma and Grandpa Noall's house, they had one for him to decorate himself, with unbreakable ornaments. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it--after he was done, it was very bottom-heavy. So cute. :)

I like this picture.

He had a bow on each shoulder, and of course, this is the closest I got to capturing it--him removing the second one. :)

Jamie had a Thomas the Tank Engine/Sesame Street themed Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he got to open his Elmo slippers. We and Grandma and Grandpa each got him a new Thomas "set"--tracks with different themes, kind of--and Janelle got him a Thomas jigsaw puzzle that came in a cool tin lunch box thing. He also got some nice clothes from Grandma and Grandpa, and his first real Legos from Uncle Justin.




I also got a very exciting new toy for Christmas:

The Silhouette Cameo!!!

Jason faked me out so good. He totally made me think I was getting something else, though I had no idea what. I was so shocked when I opened it!

This isn't actually a picture of mine--I've only used it once on a test run. I'm waiting to get the vinyl and other stuff I ordered. (Plus I hardly know where to start, after wanting one for 2+ years!) So now I just need to bust that baby out and get to work creating! There are definitely "Big Brother" and "Little Brother" t-shirts in my near future.

One of Auntie Janelle's and Jamie's favorite things to do together while we were there was "flipping" on the couch or a bed. This boy LOVES to jump, flip, throw himself over and off of stuff, etc., so he was in his element.

Overall, it was a very nice Christmas spent with family. I know Jamie had a great time and got tons of love! Now we're glad to be home, getting ready for Jason to start a new semester and entering my third trimester.

Speaking of which, I've made a decision that would never have crossed my mind when I was pregnant with Jamie. I've decided to at least attempt a natural, no-drug birth, and I've switched to a midwife. I'm even planning on doing some laboring in water, which is supposed to cut the pain in half, at least.

The reason I would do such a crazy (I would have thought so up until a couple months ago) thing?

A lot of it is what I learned from watching this incredible movie:



I have a friend who had an all-natural, at-home birth recently, and she recommended this movie to me. After she told me how wonderful the home birth was, and after I heard from her husband (who is your average lawyer who works a lot) how nice, peaceful, and family-oriented it was, I decided to watch this movie.

Quite honestly, I felt like I was enlightened and I'll never be able to go back. The movie is not about conspiracy theories; it puts forth good logic and statistics from respected, knowledgeable people (such as the former MD over maternity and pediatrics for the World Health Organization) who are suggesting that birth doesn't usually need a doctor, because it's not a sickness. My baby's birth will take place in a hospital, with all the medical interventions I could possibly desire nearby--if I need them. But unless I do, my baby's birth will be assisted by a Certified Nurse Midwife, and I'm so excited about that!

As usual, as verbose as I am, I still don't know how to describe exactly what I feel. But I prayed a lot about the feelings watching this movie inspired in me, and I've felt peace about going this route. A lot of the reasons are too personal to share here, but one way to put it is that I want this baby's birth to be personal, and I want nothing in the way of my being able to immediately bond with him. I also don't want to risk the possibility of any drugs that could hurt him or me.

Sound crazy? I don't blame you for thinking so. I'd been an epidural enthusiast since I had Jamie. All I can say is, watch the above preview if this is an area that interests you at all. And if you feel the slightest bit of intrigue, PLEASE take an hour or two of your life and watch the whole movie. (It's on Netflix instant queue, or I believe you can watch it on YouTube.) I've watched it three times and showed it to Jason. (As we were watching, he said, "I don't know why you want to know my opinion. Everything they're saying makes sense.") I'm so grateful for what I've learned--or really, just the perspective I've been able to switch to--since watching this.

And let me know if you do watch it. But please don't post any comments telling me it's not a good idea, or that I'll fail, even jokingly.

I'm also not knocking those who go the drugs route, so don't be offended if that's you. Heck, I did it, and I may end up doing it again, but it's important to me to try this for my own reasons.

Okay, that was a good tangent. But I've become rather passionate about this subject, and you know how that is--you want to convert others. :)

Hope everyone has a very happy new year!