He looks pretty happy! I'm wondering how long it will take until he figures out that he can easily get out of the bed. I'm hoping for at least a year! :)Monday, March 23, 2009
Bed Update...
Yesterday J had a three hour nap in his new bed and went to sleep at bedtime without a peep! He slept all through the night and woke up very close to his normal time (7:40 instead of around 8:00). Hooray! Here are some morning wake-up pictures...
He looks pretty happy! I'm wondering how long it will take until he figures out that he can easily get out of the bed. I'm hoping for at least a year! :)
He looks pretty happy! I'm wondering how long it will take until he figures out that he can easily get out of the bed. I'm hoping for at least a year! :)Saturday, March 21, 2009
Success! (So Far...)
Well, we did it! We put Jackson down for his nap today in his big-boy bed for the first time. He did GREAT!!! Not a peep out of him for a little over two hours! We were very happy, but I have to admit I was a little bit sad to walk past the nursery during naptime and see an empty crib. Sniff, sniff. How did he get to be almost two years old already?? The success with this new sleeping situation certainly helps alleviate some stress (although we fully realize that he may have some issues in the coming days/weeks and have not raised the crib mattress up to newborn level yet). I was really worried about J having sleep issues in his new bed with a newborn in the house, and I wanted to be able to keep the crib in the baby's room and out of J's room for aesthetic reasons. :) Hopefully by the time the baby gets here all quirks will be worked out and everything will be back to normal.
I just took a break from writing this to put J to bed, and he cried a little bit when I left the room this time, probably because it's darker in there now than it was at naptime. He's quiet now and I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear if he's going to cry again! We don't want him to be scared in there, but we really want him to get used to it. It's so hard to know if we're doing the right thing!
Speaking of the two rooms, they are finally finished. Hooray! It felt a little weird today for Phil and I to not have any projects to take care of. Here is the new baby's room...
We're pretty sure about the name, but nothing is set in stone yet. We can buy new letters if we need to! Now that I'm looking at this picture, the last three letters look a little crooked to me. Better fix that!
It's hard to tell from the pictures (kind of just looks like white paint), but Phil put beadboard wainscoting all around the bottom of the room. I just wanted to give a shout out to him for doing such a great job on that, and the crown and chair rail. 
We had to put his bookcase in the closet b/c the furniture is so big and we have that huge window on the one wall. It works out pretty well, though... I like being able to shut the door on the book and Lego mess! :)
This is J's "cheese" smile. He just started doing that!
I just took a break from writing this to put J to bed, and he cried a little bit when I left the room this time, probably because it's darker in there now than it was at naptime. He's quiet now and I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear if he's going to cry again! We don't want him to be scared in there, but we really want him to get used to it. It's so hard to know if we're doing the right thing!
Speaking of the two rooms, they are finally finished. Hooray! It felt a little weird today for Phil and I to not have any projects to take care of. Here is the new baby's room...
We're pretty sure about the name, but nothing is set in stone yet. We can buy new letters if we need to! Now that I'm looking at this picture, the last three letters look a little crooked to me. Better fix that!And here is Jackson's room...
When we ask him, "Where's the cowboy?" he laughs and points at the picture of John Wayne.
It's hard to tell from the pictures (kind of just looks like white paint), but Phil put beadboard wainscoting all around the bottom of the room. I just wanted to give a shout out to him for doing such a great job on that, and the crown and chair rail. 
We had to put his bookcase in the closet b/c the furniture is so big and we have that huge window on the one wall. It works out pretty well, though... I like being able to shut the door on the book and Lego mess! :)
This is J's "cheese" smile. He just started doing that!
Okay, baby, we're totally ready for you! I, for one, am more than ready - it feels like he's running out of room in there and I'm constantly being assaulted from the inside! :) Only one month to go, though, and I think I can take it.
We visited the hospital today to check out the labor and delivery department and were very pleasantly surprised! They actually call it the "Family Birthing Center" and it really seemed to be very family-oriented and less... clinical, maybe? than our last hospital. It seemed very clean and quiet and the rooms were large and newly remodeled. There are only single rooms (no sharing) and that was a big relief! Another thing we were happy about is that we won't have to switch rooms after I deliver. With Jackson we had to move out of the "delivery" room to a "recovery" room almost as soon as he popped out, and that was kind of rough. At this hospital we get to stay in the same room until we're discharged. One last good thing - they're very big on keeping the baby with mom and dad. Last time, Phil and I were pretty adamant about me being able to hold and feed Jackson immediately after he was born, and we pretty much had to fight for that. Luckily, my nurse (and good friend), Tracy, ran interference for us so that I could feed J for a few minutes before they took him away. Here they let you hold the baby for as long as you want after delivery and even bathe him, clean him up, put on the eye goop, etc. in the same room. So the whole thing sounded pretty good to us - hopefully it will be a good experience!
We visited the hospital today to check out the labor and delivery department and were very pleasantly surprised! They actually call it the "Family Birthing Center" and it really seemed to be very family-oriented and less... clinical, maybe? than our last hospital. It seemed very clean and quiet and the rooms were large and newly remodeled. There are only single rooms (no sharing) and that was a big relief! Another thing we were happy about is that we won't have to switch rooms after I deliver. With Jackson we had to move out of the "delivery" room to a "recovery" room almost as soon as he popped out, and that was kind of rough. At this hospital we get to stay in the same room until we're discharged. One last good thing - they're very big on keeping the baby with mom and dad. Last time, Phil and I were pretty adamant about me being able to hold and feed Jackson immediately after he was born, and we pretty much had to fight for that. Luckily, my nurse (and good friend), Tracy, ran interference for us so that I could feed J for a few minutes before they took him away. Here they let you hold the baby for as long as you want after delivery and even bathe him, clean him up, put on the eye goop, etc. in the same room. So the whole thing sounded pretty good to us - hopefully it will be a good experience!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Spring Fever
These past two days the weather has been absolutley gorgeous, so we've spent some time at the park each day. I expected to just be able to sit on a blanket and enjoy the sunshine while J ran around on the grass, but nope! I had to climb up and down on the play structure to make sure someone, who just had to climb up over and over, didn't fall through the open parts. I was proud of him, though, for learning how to climb up on his own after just watching me walk up there once. He had so much fun and even kept his hat on the whole time (we get sunburned up here after just a few minutes in the sun).
He even learned how to slide down the big slide all by himself. Yesterday he wanted me to be up on the structure with him when he slid down, but today he climbed up and did it all by himself several times!
My friends, Lana and Rocky, and I have a standing lunch date every Tuesday. This week we went to a yummy place that didn't have a highchair. We have a portable highchair that clips on to the side of the table, but our table that day was too thick so it wouldn't work. SO, Jackson had to sit like a big boy in a regular chair, and he actually did great! I thought for sure I would be holding him the whole time, but he was content to sit in his own chair and munch on his lunch. It did help that a little Irish band was playing music right next to us the whole time... that kept him really entertained.
Jackson enjoying the band...
...and eating lunch...
and showing Katherine and Carsen his animal book... 
Last, but not least, I just wanted to post some pictures of how Phil found his office when he got to work last Friday. The students had covered everything with aluminum foil. Pretty funny!
He even learned how to slide down the big slide all by himself. Yesterday he wanted me to be up on the structure with him when he slid down, but today he climbed up and did it all by himself several times!My friends, Lana and Rocky, and I have a standing lunch date every Tuesday. This week we went to a yummy place that didn't have a highchair. We have a portable highchair that clips on to the side of the table, but our table that day was too thick so it wouldn't work. SO, Jackson had to sit like a big boy in a regular chair, and he actually did great! I thought for sure I would be holding him the whole time, but he was content to sit in his own chair and munch on his lunch. It did help that a little Irish band was playing music right next to us the whole time... that kept him really entertained.
Jackson enjoying the band...
...and eating lunch...
and showing Katherine and Carsen his animal book... 
I sure hope this weather lasts! I have spring fever pretty bad right now. It smells like spring outside, and it's so nice to go places and not have to bundle in 6 layers. We might even have a fire in the firepit tonight!
Last, but not least, I just wanted to post some pictures of how Phil found his office when he got to work last Friday. The students had covered everything with aluminum foil. Pretty funny!
Napa Valley
Ahhh, this is nice! Right now J is actually playing by himself in his new big boy room. I just snuck down the hall to check on him and he's sitting on the floor "reading" some books ("reading" = pulling every.single.book out of the bookcase, looking at it for about 10 seconds, and chucking it on the floor). Luckily, he has a gozillion books, so this takes a while. We had an eventful morning out of the house, so that's why he's enjoying playing inside. Usually by this point in the day he's going stir crazy. :) I thought I'd take this lovely moment and post some pictures from my fabulous trip to Napa Valley. Nine of my friends and I met there for a long, relaxing girls' weekend at the end of February. We live all over the country at this point (Hawaii, Alaska, Virginia, Florida, Arizona, and Oregon), but we were all stationed together in Alaska a while back. It was such a great reunion!
The limo that we traveled in on our big wine-tasting day...
Our first winery... specializing in champagne...
Second place... Conn Creek...
Milat Vineyards...remember this one, Becky?
Three of us went to Hendry Vineyards the next day and had a great, personal tasting...
Lunch at the Martini House on our last day... two people ordered snails and I tried one!
My good friend, Aree, and I... she's 35 weeks pregnant in this pic and I'm 32...
Here we are with our first pregnancies - she's 29 weeks here and I'm 25. It stinks that we don't live in the same town... our kiddos are pretty much exactly the same age!
Three preggos (pregos?) on the porch... we're lucky the chair didn't break!
Making Pugs' (our awesome squadron commander when we were in Alaska) famous tortillas for our last dinner...
The view from our house on the hill...
The limo that we traveled in on our big wine-tasting day...
Our first winery... specializing in champagne...
Second place... Conn Creek...
Milat Vineyards...remember this one, Becky?
Three of us went to Hendry Vineyards the next day and had a great, personal tasting...
Lunch at the Martini House on our last day... two people ordered snails and I tried one!
My good friend, Aree, and I... she's 35 weeks pregnant in this pic and I'm 32...
Here we are with our first pregnancies - she's 29 weeks here and I'm 25. It stinks that we don't live in the same town... our kiddos are pretty much exactly the same age!
Three preggos (pregos?) on the porch... we're lucky the chair didn't break! 
Making Pugs' (our awesome squadron commander when we were in Alaska) famous tortillas for our last dinner...
What a great trip! I'm very blessed to have such wonderful friends (and a sweet hubby who stayed home with the baby!). :)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It's So Hard to Think of Creative Titles...
Jackson's sleeping in today (it's 8:30 and he's still not up) so I thought I'd take this time to blog a little bit. My mom has been begging for more pictures. :) We had a pretty nice weekend... Friday was absolutely gorgeous around here - sunny and in the 60's - so J and I went to the park for about 2 hours. He had a great time running around and I enjoyed sitting in the sunshine. I actually even got a little sunburned!
The weekend weather was pretty gross, but luckily we had a little leftover sunshine on Saturday morning, as we had a photographer (Kelly Armijo) come to our house to take pics of us before the baby comes. She was really great and was so good with Jackson, who just wanted to run around outside and wasn't interested in posing for pictures. She put some of our pics up on her blog today.... www.armijophotography.blogspot.com... if you're interested in looking at them. I think they turned out great, especially considering how antsy J was and the fact that the wind was blowing about 20 mph! I'm so glad to have found her - I've always wanted to have professional artsy-type photos taken of our family. She's awesome - really personable and fun, has great ideas, makes you feel comfortable, is great with kids, and her prices are reasonable! My friend, Katie, (who has some pictures of her family down at the bottom of Kelly's blog page) told me about her and I'm very thankful! I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures. Kelly's going to come back after the baby is born and take some newborn photos for us. We didn't do that with Jackson, so I'm looking forward to having some professional pics of this new baby.
Phil and I got both of the boys' rooms pretty much finished this weekend - I'm just waiting on some wall decor that I ordered for J's room. I also think I need to add more stuffing to the crib bumper, as J has pretty much flattened it over the past year. :) I'm really happy with the rooms and I think/hope, hope, hope that J is going to like his big boy bed. We've been spending quite a bit of time hanging out and playing in his new room and on the bed to hopefully get him used to the space. Our bed rail is supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, so we will probably try having him sleep in the big bed this weekend. Say a little prayer that he does well with it, please! He's already figured out how to get up and down out of the bed - is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
Then turns around and scoots down to get off of the bed...
Lately I figured I'd better start letting him make a mess and experiment more with using utensils. I really haven't let him use any up until this point b/c my OCD self didn't want to have to deal with the mess. It's still hard for me, but I know that he needs to learn how to feed himself like a civilized person, rather than a caveman, so I've been sucking it up and dealing with the mess. Now he almost won't eat at all unless I give him a fork or spoon to use. Here are some pics from an obviously yummy cottage cheese experience....
We didn't go outside at all on Sunday b/c the weather was so terrible, so Phil made J a little lookout station at the front window...
It's sunny again today with highs in the 50's, so we'll probably visit the park again. I hear someone babbling away in the next room (9:00 - wow!) and I think that's my cue to get off of the computer. Hope your day is sunny, too!
The weekend weather was pretty gross, but luckily we had a little leftover sunshine on Saturday morning, as we had a photographer (Kelly Armijo) come to our house to take pics of us before the baby comes. She was really great and was so good with Jackson, who just wanted to run around outside and wasn't interested in posing for pictures. She put some of our pics up on her blog today.... www.armijophotography.blogspot.com... if you're interested in looking at them. I think they turned out great, especially considering how antsy J was and the fact that the wind was blowing about 20 mph! I'm so glad to have found her - I've always wanted to have professional artsy-type photos taken of our family. She's awesome - really personable and fun, has great ideas, makes you feel comfortable, is great with kids, and her prices are reasonable! My friend, Katie, (who has some pictures of her family down at the bottom of Kelly's blog page) told me about her and I'm very thankful! I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures. Kelly's going to come back after the baby is born and take some newborn photos for us. We didn't do that with Jackson, so I'm looking forward to having some professional pics of this new baby.
Phil and I got both of the boys' rooms pretty much finished this weekend - I'm just waiting on some wall decor that I ordered for J's room. I also think I need to add more stuffing to the crib bumper, as J has pretty much flattened it over the past year. :) I'm really happy with the rooms and I think/hope, hope, hope that J is going to like his big boy bed. We've been spending quite a bit of time hanging out and playing in his new room and on the bed to hopefully get him used to the space. Our bed rail is supposed to be delivered on Wednesday, so we will probably try having him sleep in the big bed this weekend. Say a little prayer that he does well with it, please! He's already figured out how to get up and down out of the bed - is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
He uses his chair to climb up on the bed...
Then turns around and scoots down to get off of the bed...
Lately I figured I'd better start letting him make a mess and experiment more with using utensils. I really haven't let him use any up until this point b/c my OCD self didn't want to have to deal with the mess. It's still hard for me, but I know that he needs to learn how to feed himself like a civilized person, rather than a caveman, so I've been sucking it up and dealing with the mess. Now he almost won't eat at all unless I give him a fork or spoon to use. Here are some pics from an obviously yummy cottage cheese experience....
We didn't go outside at all on Sunday b/c the weather was so terrible, so Phil made J a little lookout station at the front window...
It's sunny again today with highs in the 50's, so we'll probably visit the park again. I hear someone babbling away in the next room (9:00 - wow!) and I think that's my cue to get off of the computer. Hope your day is sunny, too!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Lately...
We've been laying pretty low out here, with all of us feeling pretty yucky these past few weeks. Jackson is finally feeling better - sleeping great again with normal diapers, a non-runny nose, and no cough. Yay! I am feeling better after a relaxing weekend with 10 of my friends in a gorgeous house in Napa Valley. Who wouldn't feel better after four days without kids filled with great friends, great eating, relaxing, laughing, and an itsy-bitsy amount of wine tasting? Phil again stayed home with Jackson all weekend (what a guy!) and was lucky enough to end up with a bad cold himself. He's feeling pretty miserable right now - we actually think he's got a bad sinus infection. Yuck! We are hardly ever sick around here, so it's always tough to deal with when we are. This weekend is a work weekend for the guard and the base doctor is supposed to be here, so hopefully he can give Phil some relief.
These are some of the only pictures we've taken in the past few weeks - I need to get on the ball again! We have taken several videos that I've posted below - for those who are interested. Hope you're feeling good!
Please ignore the messy shirt - I don't know what was going on there!
Oops - toppled over!
These are some of the only pictures we've taken in the past few weeks - I need to get on the ball again! We have taken several videos that I've posted below - for those who are interested. Hope you're feeling good!
Please ignore the messy shirt - I don't know what was going on there!
Oops - toppled over!Banging, Shoes, and Hank
We kind of regret teaching J how to bang with the hammer. He bangs on everything now! Please excuse the outfits... we're usually in our post-nap loungewear in the late afternoon. :)
A Special Treat for Grandy and Popeye
I even filmed it twice - just to show it wasn't a fluke! Love you two!
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