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!

'Bout time

...for an update. This will be long.

How was everyone's Christmas? Did December go by as quickly for you as it did for us? I can hardly believe it's nearly over already! Next year I need to start doing Christmas-y things early so they all get in there. We didn't even get a chance to go see the lights at the Mesa Temple! (Thankfully, I'm told they're up through January, so even though it will feel kinda funny, we can still go see them.)


I'm six months along now (though not quite, in this picture), and definitely bigger this time around. I seem to be carrying lower, and pants have become a problem. Even one of my pairs of maternity jeans from last time don't fit--they make my hips ache and throw my back or something out of alignment! My first choice of pants these days are Jason's pajama pants. Ugh. Three more months is looking long and uncomfortable from that perspective, though maybe a little too soon in regard to all the changes little No-Name will bring.

Still no real prospects on a name for this little man. We've tossed a few around and looked at some websites and a baby-naming book, but nothing feels right yet. :( Suggestions welcome as long as you're not offended if we don't use it. :) I like names that aren't too common, but not too weird either.

I'm wondering if this baby will be a bit calmer than his older brother. I'm not sure why I think that, though, considering that he's still plenty wiggly. I don't know how he manages it, but he seems to be able to dig way down into BOTH of my hips at the SAME time!

Jamie is doing really well. His vocabulary and ability to formulate sentences seems to improve by leaps and bounds all the time. When we were at Jason's parents' house for Christmas, Uncle Justin was tickling him, and Jamie very clearly said, "Hey, don't tih-toe my feet." Other than asking him to put a "please [pees]" in there, we were proud. He still talks in third person a lot ("Hey, wait for Jamie!" "Jamie no wahn go nigh-night!" "Jamie wahn some tan-dee!"), but that's improved also.

He also likes books a lot more than he used to, which is great. I started cutting back on the amount of TV he watches, and it has helped so much with his obedience, his moods, and just the general peace in our house. He's learned to find other things to do, and he doesn't even ask for TV very much anymore.


Speaking of "other things," jigsaw puzzles are Jamie's current obsession. There are usually between two and six of them out on the table. He's up to ones with 50 pieces, and he's really good at them. Every day, puzzles, puzzles, puzzles.

(I had to pretend to burp to get this face.)

One of his most exciting accomplishments is potty-training! He's doing really great at keeping his big-boy underwear dry all day, most of the time. He has gone #2 in the potty once, but now always goes in the diapers we put on him for bed- and naptime. We're not worried, though; he'll get there, and this is a huge improvement over just two or three weeks ago. Thanks to my sis-in-law, Michelle, for giving us the idea (and the courage) to just put him in underwear all day so he could feel wetness. It's worked great!

I'm remembering a high school newspaper convention that my journalism class went to in my senior year, half because it was in Anaheim and we could go to Disneyland (remember, Crys?), where we had our paper critiqued and learned that graphics make something news-y much more readable. I apologize. I need more pictures. Maybe tomorrow I'll take some to match the subjects of all this text.

Okay, I'm not so great at this--to go back a bit, here are a few highlights from our trip to Nor Cal for Thanksgiving. (I did put pictures up on Facebook right away. It's just so much easier to do on there...)

Okay, this is before we left. I made these, and both cost me less than $3 (with plenty of leftover stuff). I really like how they turned out. I barely finished them a day or two before we left, so next year they'll feel fresh and new.

The group of us, after the meal had been eaten and we had somewhat digested, just before we headed to the Cox-side-of-the-family dessert get-together. I asked my parents to let me take a picture of them at some point, too, but it never happened.

The lone picture I took at the get together--Jamie on Ali's toy horse. I really am a total slacker about taking pictures a lot of the time...

On Saturday, we headed up to Apple Hill again with Rob, Michelle, Conner, and Michelle's dad, her sister Keri, and her two little girls, Corrinne and Lily (Lily's the little one).

Un-toe Rob and Jamie, waiting for the horsey rides to open

Oh my goodness, Jamie loooooved his pony ride.

See that grin?
(He threw a total fit when his ride was over.)

Both of us who drove up (I drove my parents' car and Keri drove hers) left our lights on by accident because it had been really foggy down in the valley. Fortunately my parents' battery didn't die, so it was available for jumping Keri's, which did. (It was no big deal, and I enjoyed getting to see how jumper cables work. And the men enjoyed being manly. :))

How about we leave it there for this post? It's taken me all day to get just this much done. I started this morning, did a little more in the afternoon while Jamie napped--or rather, I heard him start talking and yelling from his bed almost as soon as I sat down, and I shamelessly let him sit in there for ten or fifteen minutes so I could do a little more--and now Jason is getting Jamie ready for bed. (I had to sit down. I was standing in the kitchen forever putting together chicken enchiladas and my legs are tired.)

December/Christmas post, hopefully with three, count 'em, THREE videos coming next!

Keeping it real

The other day Jamie followed me into the bathroom, and I let him, but I tried to teach him about not opening the door again until I was no longer "nakers," as we've come to call it.

"Auntie Shell," Jamie's Aunt Michelle whom he LOOOOOVES, got to my parents' house after work later that day to join the rest of us. When she got here, Jamie followed her to the bathroom too, but she told him she needed to go by herself.

While she was in there, we were starting to informally fill our plates and eat dinner, and I had Jamie say a prayer. When I prompted him to thank Heavenly Father for Rob, Michelle, and Conner, he said "tank you for Rob Shell Tonner, Shell going pee-pee potty all by self."

Pertinent information, right?

Then, when Michelle came out of the bathroom, Jamie looked at her, grinned, and said, "Auntie Shell no more nay-ters!"

1st belly pics

Totally rocking the purple polka dot pants, right?

Hanging Organizer

I've actually made a LOT of crafts and stuff lately that I haven't posted on here, believe it or not. I've been crafting so much that I think it would bore everyone to tears if I posted every little thing.

But this...this must be shown off. It took SO LONG to make and I was SO TIRED of working on it! It took me more than TWO WEEKS to complete! For anyone who knows my crafting preferences, that's not me. I like projects that don't take long; instant gratification, baby! But now this is done, and I have to admit I'm proud of it.

I got the idea and instructions (I never would have attempted something like this by myself) from this post on Make It and Love It, the absolute best crafting/sewing how-to site ever. LOVE it.

She used it for jewelry; I'm using it for all my sewing notions. My little sewing box was crammed so full, it was hard to close it!

(If you're wondering, the doorknob hanger is from the dollar store. I bought the pumpkin as-is and simply glued ribbon to it. Adds a little fall cheer to my kitchen. :))

Now I don't have to go digging for all these little things in that crowded box.

Here's the other side. It's the same fabric in a different color; wouldn't have been my first choice except I was trying really hard to use up what I already had instead of spending more money on new stuff. As it is, I only bought the bias tape, vinyl, and zipper for this project. $5-$6, maybe.

So, the zipper I mentioned--that wasn't in Ashley's design. I put that in so that I could store bigger things, like my quilting ruler (is that what it's called?) inside. (And yes, I am proud of my little self for thinking of it, figuring it out, and getting it to work!!) I got that idea from a hanging wrapping paper organizer that my mom has. Why not utilize all parts?

When possible, I also put projects in there that I'm working on or planning to soon work on.

I still have a long way to go to get all my crafting/sewing stuff organized the way I want it; that probably won't happen until we have a bigger place. But I'm making progress, and we've been seeing a lot more of the surface of the dining room table since I made this!

Yay.

He has my forehead, unfortunately.

First off, thanks so much to those of you who have commented. Maybe it's silly, but it seriously made me feel good to know that someone cares! (And as of right now, those four of you who have commented, I read yours, too! And I'll try to comment more.) I promise that I told myself I'd try to post stuff I've been meaning to on here during J's nap today BEFORE I saw the comment love. ;)

Now to the good stuff:

My second baby boy!

See the foot totally up by his head? Oh, to be so flexible again!

This is the awesome, makes-me-want-my-baby-NOW-so-I-can-cuddle-him picture that already went on Facebook. Can you believe how clear that is??

Smiling!! Awwww!

This one cracks me up. Was he having a dream where he got mad about something? What do fetuses get mad about, exactly?

When my dad saw this one, he guessed that the baby was thinking, "Quit sending broccoli down!" (Ha. He knows I hardly eat vegetables. I'm terrible like that.)


I think he was definitely making these faces in his sleep, though. For one thing, it just seems natural, and for another, the CUTEST yawn you ever saw was caught clearly!

On this one, his little face is in the upper-left corner, and you can see both his feet all the way up with his leg practically touching his nose. So funny.

While I was at the doctor's, they gave me first one, then later another CD, and I was a bit perplexed at why there would be two but didn't ask. When I finally sat down just now to look at them, I discovered one was a DVD that has, seemingly, the ENTIRE ultrasound--over nine minutes of footage! I got to see the yawn!! (I was looking away when it happened at the doctor's.) I tried to put it on YouTube but couldn't figure out how. Darn.

Anyway, isn't it crazy how much the little tyke looks like Jamie? And isn't technology amazing??

Just blah...

I haven't been posting much lately. I'm not sure many people read this anymore. (I'll be honest. I could really use a little comment love right now. Just tell me if you're still reading, okay?) And with my new Pinterest addiction, most free time is spent cleaning, crafting, or adding to the list of crafts to do by surfing Pinterest.

Tonight I was dying for "my" time (a.k.a. after Jamie goes to bed) to come so I could get sewing and otherwise crafting. Nothing went right. Projects turned out ugly, or I just didn't have the motivation for them. Then I accidentally synced my iPod while trying to charge it and all my music is now gone. (Our old desktop died, and ALL my music was stored on a huge hard drive we had in it. Jason is working on finding some adapter so we can plug the old hard drive into our new computer, but the one he bought didn't work and he's been too busy to get back to Fry's.) So I'm feeling irrationally depressed.

I just feel so blah. Pregnancy hormones can really be the worst!

Well. Why dwell. A few things about Jamie, since I don't want to forget all the precious things once they stop:

He loves to go to the park and feed the ducks and fish, and look for turtles. THANK GOODNESS we are finally getting the "winter" of wonderful weather that, as Jason said the other day, we really earn here by enduring the summers. It's nice to enjoy being outside again!

He LOVES "horsey movie" a.k.a. "Tangled," loves when "Fin" comes on. We watch it every. single. day. Sometimes multiple times a day. It has even replaced his morning episode of Sesame Street, and I now know every song by heart.

He loves a weird book I got at DI before he was born called Oscar's Spots. We read that every day. We usually read Goodnight Moon, about 50% of which he can recite as I read, each night before bed.

He loves to hide from us, listen to us say "where did he go?" then pop out and say "Yeee-eeesss! Jamie hide!" (We're working on getting him to say "I" and "my" instead of using his name all the time.

He likes to try to tickle us back, saying in a high voice, "tih-toe, tih-toe!"

He loves to call Sammy, our cat, inside in the mornings--loudly. "SAAAAAAAAMMY!"

He loves to say prayers, and his prayers are adorable. Today at breakfast he thanked Heavenly Father for "Rob, Shell, Tonner [Conner], horsey movie, Andee, Bahnee [Barney], Opie, Oh-tiss, sip-sures [scriptures]."

Notoriously picky. He basically eats chicken nuggets, peanut butter and jelly/honey, eggs, "oh-nee teese" [macaroni & cheese], and quesadillas if he's in the mood. Other chips, crackers, cereals, etc. he's okay with, but dip the quesadilla in sour cream and salsa, and he won't touch that piece.

Still shrimpy, as I rather bluntly call it. Today he was wearing 2T pants and I had to roll the waistband down so they wouldn't fall off him.

Good at doing things on his own. He loves to "buckle self" into his high chair, car seat, and shopping carts, and yesterday a public restroom changing table. He likes to dress himself as much as possible, doing zippers and velcro, and putting his shirts on by himself often. I like this trait.

He knows all his letters and numbers; he can sing the ABCs and only miss a few (usually because he's putting more of his effort into showing off), and can count to ten or even more without missing any sometimes.

He loves all things transportation-related: "air-peens," trains, heh-dih-dah-ders (helicopters--he can almost say it right if we stop and work on it), motorcytoes, etc.

He loves his "boo [blue] bee-bee/ban-tet [blanket]" that I made for him, and it's hard to get him to sleep with any other. That means a lot to me. And it's a good blanket. :)

He's kind of unbelievably good about being in bed even if he's not sleeping. A little while ago, I heard a little voice singing from his room: "Thaaaaat El-mo wuuuuld [world]!" So cute. And I'm so glad he doesn't mind entertaining himself in the dark. He doesn't usually call for us but we sometimes hear him talking and singing to himself for hours.

Really sweet story: on Monday he didn't get a nap, and at bedtime he fell asleep lying next to me on the twin bed in his room while I was singing to him. (Practically unheard-of for him, trust me. He almost NEVER falls asleep in the car or on us.) I just snuggled with him for awhile and enjoyed it, then carefully scooped him up to put him in his crib. (As long as he's not climbing out, I'm milking it for all it's worth.) He shifted, but instead of waking up, he just snuggled into me again and put his little hand on my chest and continued to sleep. I almost never get moments like that with him, so I was standing there holding him and enjoying it, when I suddenly heard a rather sleepy, "Tank you for Rob Shell Tonner, name Jee-sus Thyst, Amen."

I have my hard days, and he can drive me up the wall at times, but he's such a good little guy. He's so sweet, so fun and fun-loving, and so eager to learn. I understand now why all kids seem to sound the same when their parents describe them...it's pretty hard to put into words the tenderness and incredible love I feel for my sweet baby boy. I don't want him to grow up.

I worry about the effect the new baby will have on him. I have trouble giving him all the attention he wants as it is, and it breaks my heart to imagine that he might think we don't love him as much when the baby is in mama's lap and taking up Mama and Daddy's attention. I know, they adjust, things turn out okay...I just don't look forward to the adjustment period.

On a non-Jamie note, I got AMAZING 3D pics of the bun in the oven on Monday. I'll try to put those up soon...if there indeed is anyone out there who wants to see them? Well, grandparents obviously do, so I guess that one is self-evident.

I'd better get to bed. Maybe a decent night's sleep will help my mood...darn hormones.

Ducks

Yesterday while Jamie and I were walking to the park, we were trying to feed the ducks, but they were afraid of us.

As we kept walking around the pond, Jamie shouted in that cute little voice of his, "Dutts!" [Ducks. Keep in mind, all his "ck" sounds come out as "t" sounds.]

"Hey, dutts! Tum-mere! [C'mere!] Dutts! Tum to Jamie!"

Just in case you haven't heard...

...through Facebook or other means,

it's another BOY!

Another Pinterest success

Shaving cream + food coloring + shower...

= one happy Jamie!

(He's "painting" himself here. :))
I was sitting right next to the tub and only had my phone, so this was the best picture I could get. But BOY, did he have a good time! And so did I!

Mission: Keeping a toddler entertained on a plane

We got back from California on Wednesday, and although I plan to post some pictures from the trip, I wanted to post these first because I was really happy about how they turned out.

I stayed up way too late the night before, going shopping for supplies and then making a whole bunch of stuff to keep Jamie busy and happy on the plane. Thank you, Pinterest!
(Are you on Pinterest? Are you addicted? It's hard not to be, dontcha think?)

Here's the collection of stuff I bought/made for him to do.

This one I got from this blog via Pinterest.

A geoboard! I decided that for travel I would use a small corkboard instead of a wooden board because it was lighter, didn't have to be painted, and easier to get the push pins in. I wanted to use these hair bands I bought (at Dollar Tree) on it, but they didn't have enough stretch.

I got this one from the same blog here. I got the puffballs and the magnetic letter set (which I want to get more of) at Dollar Tree. I stinkin' love that place! I bought a package of magnets and the baking pan (0.97) at Wal-Mart, as well, and still have lots of magnets left over.

I like that the sides come up, as opposed to a cookie sheet, to keep things more contained. Jamie loved rearranging the letters, I spelled things for him, and we made letters out of the puffballs.

Be sure to look at the link, because this lady had lots more uses for the puffball magnets for her older kids!

You can also use the other side and the magnets as a nice hard coloring/stickering/painting/whatever surface!
Here's the funny thing. Jamie loved the magnets so much, I actually didn't get to try out most of the other stuff on him yet! Near the end of the trip TO Sacramento, he finally got tired of it and we put fish stickers (yay Dollar Tree) on a paper. On the way back to Phoenix, he got mad when I took it away when the plane landed, and he refused to get off! (It was past naptime.)

This one was my own idea. Empty wipes case, and I photocopied colorable pictures from the church nursery manual and added a set of Dollar Tree crayons.

I super-glued a clip (from a free magnet I got somewhere) to the back to make a good coloring surface.

I have to say, though, the crayons don't work very well, and the ink from the pictures smeared. I printed them from our home printer. So I've been thinking about lamination and dry-erase crayons, maybe using a commercial copier or something...let me know if you have any ideas!

Another of my own ideas. Some felt shapes stored inside the case...

I meant to get a picture of the back by itself--that big blue piece of felt (the sky) is glued to the back of the wipes case to make a felt board.

Here's another option. Still trying to think of more ideas for this one.

I really want to try to do more creative things with Jamie, and I've had some more ideas on how to expand the uses of some of these since I made them. Hopefully this is the beginning of a more fun mom!

***Edited 9/20/2012*** I noticed that this post has had over 600 views--crazy for my humble little blog, and obviously due to Pinterest. Please, if you like what you see, make a girl's day and leave a little comment. It would make me so happy to feel like I had made a difference to someone!

I would have been the weird one

I'm home alone (!) watching "I Love Lucy," and thinking that I could not have survived if I was married in the 1950s. If I had to say "yes, sir" to my husband, or beg him for money, or be in charge of the kids full-time while he earns the living, or ask permission for everything, I would have rebelled and talked back and been the talk of all the biddies at the bridge games.

RRRRGH! Lucy just bought new furniture without Ricky's permission, so he's taking it to his office and making her pay for it out of her "allowance." She washes one of his suits in the sink to show she's economizing to save for the furniture--and to get back at him for yelling at her--and he says she has to pay an extra $100 for the furniture. So she wants to have one last party night before she starts saving money, which means a perm and a new dress. Ricky sternly shakes his head.

"If I make the dress myself, can I have the permanent?"
Like a father dealing with an aggravating child, he sternly shakes his head.
"If I give myself the permanent, can I buy a dress?"
Head shake.
"If I give myself the permanent and make the dress, will you take the extra $100 off?"

Like a child having to do chores to earn an allowance, not like an equal partner!

Tonight Jason is baby-sitting for friends of ours--their oldest child and I do not get along, so it's understood that Jason (who is so much more patient and understanding) babysits when their oldest is there, not me. He even took Jamie with him so I could have a little time to myself--with which I need to get up and continue accomplishing things in a minute here--so he's with three kids by himself. He said he needs the practice anyway, because we'll be to that point eventually. Now, that's a real man!

I guess I shouldn't have referenced the 50s. Plenty of women are still dominated by men, in subtle and horrible ways. But I'm glad that at least in our culture, it's encouraged, even expected for husbands and wives to be equal partners, and for fathers to be parents to their children, too. And I'm so grateful to be blessed with a man who believes that, and practices it.

B&W photo session

I wasn't expecting to have another ultrasound until the big one, so I was pleased to go in for routine tests today and get to see my little baby!

Can you see the arm and little hand?

The Halloween picture. It's the baby looking right at the "camera" and showing the bone structure of the face.

4D, scrunched up with the little fists near the eyes and the feet propped up, just like a baby in a car seat

Different angle

My favorite--the nurse and ultrasound tech agreed that it looked like the baby wanted to do a hand stand. It kept using its legs (right side, looking tadpole-ish) up against the side of the uterus to bounce its little bum up and down! SO funny and cute!

I told Jason we have another little stinker on our hands. It took the tech three tries to get the angle she needed for the test that would be done. She was jostling my abdomen, poking (gently) at it, I had to cough, go to the bathroom, lift my hips and then plop them back down, and that baby still refused to move!