Joey J - 21 and 22 months

I totally spaced doing a blog post about Joey last month.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to start spreading them out a little further as we adjust to having two kiddos.  So this post will be about the last two months :)

- We finished out our holiday season with lots of Christmas celebrations.  We went to the "Teddy Bear Bash" at Neal's work.  We ate snacks, "fished" at the North Pole, and had fun looking at all the beautiful Christmas trees that were set up.

- We bought our Christmas tree.  Joey LOVED the tree, loved helping decorate it, and loved plugging in the lights every morning.

- We celebrated Christmas.  You can read about that here.

- Joey got the stomach flu...twice in three weeks.  Blegh.  I still feel my heart drop into my stomach if he wakes up crying after we've put him to bed.

- We played out in the snow...a lot.  Joey LOVES the snow.  We bought him some snow boots and ever since then, he is fearless in the snow.

- We had a quiet New Year's Eve.  Joey went to bed on time (I'm too mean of a mom to let him stay up until midnight), so it was a pretty normal night for us.

- We spent New Year's Day at the Family FunPlex in Greeley.  Joey had SO much fun, and overcame his fear of walking through the water to get to the slides.  I'm pretty sure he would have gone down those slides all day if we had let him.

- We ended up in the hospital...until 3 am...I hate croup.  Positive thing is that his pediatrician's office unofficially diagnosed him with asthma, so he is now taking daily medication to help his lungs stay open if he gets sick.  He hasn't even had a runny nose since starting that medication (I'm going to jinx myself).

- We're starting to figure out that he loves making people laugh.  He will do almost anything if he thinks it'll make you laugh.  I'm sure we'll love that when he's a teenager ;)

- We went to my grandparents' house for my aunt's birthday party, and Joey got to see Papa Joe's trains.  Joey adores trains and was fascinated by the model trains.  

- My dad had to move a hot tub and rented a forklift to move it.  After they were all done my dad let Joey "drive" the forklift.  Joey thought it was pretty much the best thing ever.

- Joey is thrilled to be a big brother.  I'm not totally positive that he actually understands what it means when we say there's a baby in my tummy, but he'll pet my stomach, kiss "the baby," and cuddles with my belly.  Any time I ask him to help get something ready for the baby, he runs to the baby's room with a huge grin on his face.

I can't tell you how amazing this little guy is, and how much we adore having him in our family.  Neal and I talk so often about how blessed we are and how much joy Joey brings to us.  We're doing all we can to prepare him for the changes that are going to happen in our family.  He's going to be an incredible big brother though, and we're so excited.

Baby J #2 - 35 weeks

How far along? 35 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +29 lbs
Maternity clothes? Are starting to get too small
Stretch marks? Just the one small one still
Sleep: Depends on the day.  Some days I sleep really well and others I don't
Best moment this week: My "freezer-meal" baby shower :)
Have you told family and friends: Yup.

Movement: Lots.
Food cravings: Chocolate and peanut butter
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not eating enough.  I'm having a hard time eating enough because baby's taking up so much room.

Have you started to show yet: Oh yes.  In fact, most people think I'm due in any minute when I still have a month to go.
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor Signs: I actually started having pre-term labor symptoms on Saturday night that freaked us out a little bit.  Thankfully they calmed down and went away after I drank a ton of fluids and rested.  It made us realize how not ready we are - I've gotten a lot done since then.
Belly Button in or out? Neither.  Just gone.
Wedding rings on or off? On.  I only have to take them off during the night.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I was moody until Saturday.  Now I just feel grateful that he didn't come then.
Missing: Not being pregnant.  I'm getting to the point where I can't remember not being pregnant.

Gratitude

This week has been a rough week.  Joey had a stomach bug, and then went straight into having croup.  Saturday night we ended up in the ER to get him steroids to help his breathing.  On Monday he was unofficially diagnosed with asthma, and we have to start doing daily medication to help keep him from getting so sick.  It brings back a lot of memories from when I was a kid about how much I hated my asthma, and I subconsciously feel blame for him having it (even though I have zero control over it).

Yesterday, Joey didn't nap because of his cough, and because of the lack of sleep for both of us the last week, we both went into melt down mode.  Last night, as I was reading him "Love You Forever" I was reminded of a lot of things this last week that I'm really grateful for.

1 - I'm grateful for towels.  Seriously, I can't imagine what we would have done when he had the stomach flu if it wasn't for towels.

2 - I'm grateful for my husband who is willing to deal with and clean up any mess - he got the nasty part of the stomach flu job.

3 - I'm grateful that the after hours number for our pediatrician's office gets us to Children's Hospital.  I had to call them twice and both times they were super helpful.

4 - I'm grateful Neal's cousin works at our pediatrician's office, and that she passes zero judgement when I text her with questions.

5 - I'm grateful that we have good insurance.  It made going to the ER a lot less painful than it could have been.

6 - I'm grateful that there has been so much advancement made and knowledge gained about asthma since I was a kid.

7 - I'm grateful for doctors that trust what parents' say was happening, even if it isn't happening when the doctor is examining them.

8 - I'm grateful for the book "Love You Forever."  It reminded me how quickly he's growing up already, that it's normal for Joey to be "driving me crazy," and that the negative moments we're having right now will pass quickly.

9 - I'm grateful that I can trust Neal with Joey, no matter what.  I hear a lot of wives say they can't leave their kids with their husbands, especially when they're sick.  I had zero worries for the short time I left them on Sunday to go to primary.

10 - I'm grateful for bedtime.  Both Joey's and mine.

11 - I never thought I'd say this, but I'm grateful for Daniel Tiger.

I have a lot to be grateful for.  A lot.  So although I've been posting some negative things on Facebook, please know that we have so many positive things in our lives.  It just takes me a while to remember them sometimes ;)

Baby J #2 - 31 weeks

How far along? 31 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +27 lbs
Maternity clothes? For a long time now
Stretch marks? Just the one small one still
Sleep: Well, that's completely thrown off right now - Joey being sick has totally jacked up my nighttime sleep
Best moment this week: Neal being able to feel "the dance party" going on in my belly
Have you told family and friends: Yup.

Movement: Less in total, more that can be felt on the outside though.  So begins the "running out of room" stage
Food cravings: I'm having more aversions than anything.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing specific, just things here and there

Have you started to show yet: Yes.
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks.  That's about it.
Belly Button in or out? Almost flat. It might actually pop this time.
Wedding rings on or off? On.  But they're starting to leave indents in my fingers, so I imagine I'll have to go down to one ring soon.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Depends on how much sleep I got the night before
Missing: Being able to cuddle with Joey like a normal person - I always have to lay in weird positions to avoid crushing him or to avoid getting dizzy

Family Theme 2016

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know (but may not remember) that in 2015 we started doing a "family theme" for the year.  Last year our theme was "We Are One" (you can read about that here.)  We feel like we accomplished what we hoped to this past year, and became more unified as a couple, and therefore as a family.

For 2016, our theme is "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear."  This is part of a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants (a book of scripture in our church).  This year, instead of just having the theme, we're setting goals to go along with our theme.  We're focusing on financial and emergency preparedness.

We're pretty excited to see what this next year brings!  Happy New Year friends!

Christmas 2015

Our Christmas was calm and enjoyable this year.  We learned that having a child at Christmas time is way more incredible than Christmas as a child is.  Watching Joey's face light up at every Christmas light, ornament, and Christmas decoration filled my heart with joy.  His excitement opening presents Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was super fun to experience.  There truly is nothing like experiencing life through the eyes of a child.

During the day on Christmas Eve, we hung out at home.  We watched Christmas movies, and played.  During the evening, we went to Neal's aunt's house for dinner, singing, and a nativity.  Our dinner was themed around the 12 Days of Christmas song.  Each person was secretly assigned one of the numbers from the song, and had to prepare a dish relating to that number.  On Christmas Eve we all put our dishes out and had a competition to see who could guess which dish applied to which number.  It was fascinating to see the different, creative dishes that people came up with.  I was also pretty excited because I somehow managed to get all 13 dishes right and won the game!  Dinner was delicious.  We then sang Christmas carols as a family, and the kids acted out the nativity while Neal's cousin read Luke 2.

Neal's uncle then read a story about Mary from the eyes of Joseph out of an advent book that Neal's grandma made for us.  I realized something as I was listening to that story - Mary was probably in early labor at some point as she was travelling.  Preparing myself for labor currently, my empathy for Mary increased ten-fold.  It was a pretty incredible experience for me.

On Christmas morning, we got up early and went downstairs and opened presents.  Joey loved everything he was given, and was super excited to hand out the presents to Neal and I.  We then went to Neal's brother's house for brunch and to open presents with Neal's immediate family.  Joey had so much fun playing with his cousins.  We then headed down to my grandma's house for lunch and presents with my extended family.  Last we went to my parent's house so we could open presents with them.  Joey was seriously (but gratefully) spoiled.

We loved feeling near to Christ, and teaching Joey about the birth of our Savior.  The best part is that Joey learned to say "Jesus."  It was a pretty incredible year :) 

Baby J #2 - 28 Weeks

How far along? 28 weeks.  Third trimester.  Woohoo!
Total weight gain/loss: I honestly don't know.  I'm pretty sure my scale is broken because it says I haven't gained any weight, but I know I have.
Maternity clothes? Yup.  My mom gave me a new shirt last night and I love it!
Stretch marks?  One tiny one near my belly button
Sleep: A nap finally isn't a necessity anymore.  Acid reflux has been waking me up at night though, so my nighttime sleep is not so great.
Best moment this week: Having Joey start kissing my belly to give the baby kisses, and finding out that I don't have gestational diabetes.
Have you told family and friends: Yup.

Movement: A ton when I'm not too busy
Food cravings: Nothing really at this point.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Have you started to show yet: Yes.
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor Signs: Nope.  Not even Braxton Hicks.
Belly Button in or out? Almost flat.
Wedding rings on or off? On.  But they're starting to leave indents in my fingers, so I imagine I'll have to go down to one ring soon.
Happy or Moody most of the time: I was pretty moody this week.  Neal worked a lot, and I bit off more than I should have helping other people.  It made me cranky - may have led to a breakdown about the state of our house last night.  Haha
Missing: Being able to lay on my back