A new record

I have officially set a new record for how long it's been between posting times. Remember when I used to be a professional blogger? Don't worry, life is settling down and I'm back! Where to start?

How about how we live in Missouri??? Who knew I would ever say such words. I remember about 6-7 months ago having to look up exactly where Missouri is on a map. I passed the states map test in 9th grade, but I guess the information didn't stick.

Well after going about 500 miles through Nevada and Arizona to Utah for Jacob and Julie's wedding, and then going another 1200 miles through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa, we found it and it has actually been a very nice place so far...except the mosquitoes. We're settling in, making our townhouse more townhomey, making lots of friends and having a really nice summer. We love the fireflies and the crazy lightening storms. The humidity is another story, but nothing we can't handle.

Our move with Uhaul, however, was pretty crappy. To make a really long story short, our uhaul broke down when we had only about 200 miles left (after driving over 1000). We got help and about 2 hours later we were told they couldn't find anything wrong with the truck and sent us on our way. About 18 miles later it broke down again and after a total of nine hours later (and after a new truck and moving crew were sent to transfer our stuff) we were once again on our way. And then there was the fun of being homeless for 4 days since when we arrived we found out our house wouldn't be ready for us on time. Luckily we had some friends to stay with or we would have been camping out in the front yard. Besides all that moving across the country has been a piece of cake...but that's mostly because I'm almost 7 months pregnant so Jared did most of the work.

Anyways, I guess that is our only big news. Except that (if you haven't already noticed) I changed my blog name. Soon to come is a blog make over too. I guess I just felt like since we've made so many other changes my blog needed some changes too. New house, new state, new school, new people, soon to be a new baby, why not throw in a new blog name?

P.S. For the 4th we went to a neighborhood bbq. Lots of food, people and fireworks. And here are the pictures:

Adelyn gagging on a hotdog.Cheese!Sparklers...but it looks less sparkly and more flamey.

Adelyn and Jane who lives a couple doors down from us.

Baby brother makes a really good pillow for Adelyn.

Baby Brother!

Well the Chinese are wrong, I'm having a boy! When we first started doing the ultrasound the doctor was looking at the top of the baby's head and Adelyn kept saying "Ball! Ball!" And we'd say "No, that's the baby's head." Then she moved it so you could see the baby's profile and Adelyn got really excited and said "Baby!!!!"
I know a lot of people don't put up the shot of the private parts to spare their children's embarrassment later, but my question is this...aren't parents supposed to embarrass their kids!? And we're also kind of proud of his little family jewels. When the doctor finally got to that part she immediately said "Well it's DEFINITELY a boy...no mistaking this one." That was an especially proud moment for Jared.

We don't have any names picked yet although Jared has suggested Thrasher...Thrash for short. FYI: Thrasher is Jared's video game alias (mine is Phoenix).

Also the doctor moved up the due date by about half a week. The new due date is September 30 which puts me at exactly 20 weeks tomorrow.

Hooray for little boys!

To Chase Away the Birds

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry I forgot your first birthday. It was yesterday. Kind of a momentous day, my second child turning one. I obviously don't love you as much as I do Adelyn....I slaved for hours making her not just one, but two cakes. She had a party, and presents and a pretty birthday dress. And yours was forgotten. Sorry kid, better luck next year.

-Jen

Holy Poop.

I have nothing to say but this, during Adelyn's nap the following events occurred:

1. She woke silently
2. She pooped
3. She stuck her hands into her diaper and pulled said poop out.
4. She proceeded to smear poop on the sheets and blanket and her face, legs, stomach and chest.
5. She cried

We were all too traumatized to get a picture.

In other news: I get to find out the sex of this baby inside me exactly two weeks from today! Like I said I've had no feelings one way or the other, but the Chinese Lunar Gender Prediction Chart (based on mother's Lunar age and month of conception) says it's a girl...they were right about Adelyn's gender, so we'll see about this one. I also did the ring test...where you take a string and dangle your wedding ring over your belly...if it swings side to side it's a girl, if it swings in a circle it's a boy. That test also said I'm having a girl. And the baby's heart rate has been around 160. They say if it's above 140 it's a girl, below 140 is a boy. So 3 out of 3 tests say I'm having another girl. BUT only time will tell... does anyone know any other old wives tales to know the gender of a baby?

15 Months

Adelyn is 15 months old today. She is changing so fast into a little girl instead of my little baby. The biggest thing that has changed is how much she talks. She is our little parot...she can pretty much repeat back to you most one or two syllable word you say. But besides paroting words, she actually knows and understands a solid 20-25 words. And she does about 10 different signs (as in sign language.) This is a video we did tonight before bed...we only asked her to say the words or names that she actually knows and will say on her own in the correct "context," but this actually doesn't include all of them. Besides the words in the video, she also knows frog, lion, bathroom, no no, ice, dinner, bread, olive (her very favorite food) and some other names, her friend Georgia that sits with us at church (she also remembers who Georgia's mom is and will say "Georgia" to the mother even when Georgia isn't there) Chad, Kurt, Alex, and she'll say Kari sometimes and sometimes it's Ri-ri (those are all people in my family.) The thing that I think is most amazing is that except for a few words, you can actually understand what she is saying...it is very clear, as in people that aren't around her all the time can understand her. Ok well enough about that...just watch the video!

Other honorable mentions are her teeth. She has 4 molars (those were pretty awful coming in) and I think about 6 front teeth.

And the best part of growing up is that she is really starting to show us she loves us. She learned to give kisses a while ago if you asked her to. But now she will randomly give Jared and I kisses and hugs. When she gives you a hug, she pats your back. It just feels wonderful.

She's now not only walking but running...and climbing everything. We turn our backs for a second and she's climbed onto a kitchen chair and then all the way up onto the kitchen table and she'll be dancing on it. It's really silly.

And now it's after 11pm and I'm exhausted and like I said, I just don't have the motivation to make this interesting tonight :) So I'm sorry. I promise I'll get my blog mojo back soon.

Here is a sum up of what's been going on since the last time I blogged: lots of work, lots of overtime, BUT tax season is over so work won't be so stressful anymore, my birthday, Easter, very sick Adelyn, Adelyn got better, sick Jared, I'm now 16 weeks pregnant, and that's all I can think of right now. It seems that sometimes I cave under the pressure of my blog...I want my posts to be good, and if I'm too tired or just unmotivated I just don't do it...and then a few days go by and I feel like since I've missed so much my next post has to be REALLY good...but I'm still tired so again I don't do it...and then a couple weeks have gone by...and well you get it. So to get past that really awesome "first" blog pressure I'm just going to update. Then when I do have something great to say, I won't have to feel that pressure. So here goes!

Pregnancy: Like I said I'm now a little over 16 weeks. Which means we find out if this kid will pee standing up or not next month. With Adelyn, Jared and I both felt very strongly that it was going to be a girl. With this pregnancy I have had no feelings either way. So your guess is as good as mine. First trimester was also quite different than my first pregnancy. With Adelyn, I've mentioned that I was horribly ill. I threw up about 10 times a day, lost about 19 pounds, couldn't eat, had absolutely no energy. This baby seems to love me a little more...I threw up maybe a total of 8 or 9 times. However, I was still nauscious for most of the day, especially in the morning. BUT, if I always made sure I had something to eat, I would feel a little better. I also had more energy. These differences have made me think a little that it's a boy...but I just don't know. One similarity is that when first trimester ended so did the morning sickness. As long as I don't get hungry I feel fine.

My birthday: On my actual birthday (April 7) Jared had gotten a sitter and had planned to take me to a nice dinner...but after work I was so tired and Adelyn was sick that I decided I would rather order pizza and snuggle on the couch with my husband and my sick baby. It was a very nice night...except for Adelyn being sick. I also had pie at work. Because I was born at the craziest time of tax season with a father who is an accountant and a mother who works for him...my entire life I have never celebrated my birthday on my birthday. I usually had a birthday party a few weeks later, when my parents had time. So we actually had a celebratory dinner at Macaroni Grill with my whole family just last night. And a very important thing to mention is that my sweet amazing loving husband got me the best present in the world. I have been wanting a professional camera for about 3 years. And my dreams finally came true. I still need to spend a lot of time learning to use it, but that, like blogging has been put off. Seriously though, it is beautiful.

Easter: Here are some pics...

Decorating Easter eggs.

Egg hunt

Reese decided she wanted both baskets.