Long time no see

Wow how time flies! I'm just going to picture dump and try and fill in a few things that have happened.

We got through tax season! Yay! John really worked hard and sacrificed a lot to try and be in two places at once. I knew he needed to be at work but I always wanted him home. I'm glad it's over for another 7 months. 

We had our first restaurant outing. We took Spencer down to City Creek after it opened and did some window shopping and went to the Cheesecake Factory. He just sat wide awake in his car seat the whole time and didn't make a peep. What a gem. Speaking of gems, John bought me a ring that day. I didn't have a wedding band when we got married and I always told him he could just buy me a ring for my right hand when we had our first baby. I was joking, but he wasn't. I love it! It's an aquamarine (Spencer's birthstone) and there is a whole sneaky story that goes along with the purchase. He's a tricker.

We went up to Boise at the end of April for a tennis tournament with the girls. He was a total dream on the drive and the whole time we were there. He even had the perfect outfit for the occasion (plus we have it in 6 month and 12 month size!)

He likes his swing for short amounts of time. I wish he would sit there for longer but he has about a 15 minute time limit for everything. Swing, bouncer, bumbo, jungle mat...

Jake got the math award for his 2nd grade class this year. I was surprised...I didn't know he liked math all that much. Good thing John is smart because I think Jake will pass me in math knowledge at around 5th grade... 

I have other pictures from Spencer's blessing that I will post eventually but I have to get them from my mom and John's brother. He looked so handsome but I was so paranoid that he was going to poop on his white outfit, that's why the shorts are already off in these pictures. John gave him a great blessing and we were so lucky to have so many great friends and family there.

This is what Jake's face looks like when he plays sports. All sports.

We went to Colorado to visit my brother and sister at the beginning of June. He was awesome on the drive there, but the way home was a little more difficult. 9 hours is a long time to ask someone to sit strapped to a seat. We hit a HORRIBLE storm on the drive there-rain, hail, wind, lightning...you name it. To top it off the truck had some troubles when we were about 20 minutes from their house so we drove the rest of the way on back roads through Denver going less than 20 miles an hour. Luckily because of the storm, no one was going any faster! Jake got to play with his cousins and grandma bought Spencer his first swimsuit. We only put his feet in though because we didn't have any swim diapers.

The Colorado fires were just breaking out as we were on our way home...

We spent a few days in Bear Lake with grandma and grandpa so dad could stay home and get some work done. He just always wants to be home with us! I'm a bad mom and Spencer got his first sunburn on his face. Go me!

First time actually IN the pool! I don't know if he loved it, but he didn't fuss at all. Just floated around with dad for about 20 minutes before he started to get cold. I didn't want to change him and put his clothes all back on to go home and take a bath so we just bundled him in a towel and locked him in the car seat. Luckily we were only about 2 minutes from our house. 

You wouldn't think so from this picture, but he doesn't love tummy time. He does however love to roll from his back to his tummy-he just can't flip back over so then he gets angry. The last few nights he has been rolling over and sleeping on his stomach though. Good for him, but I just sit awake in bed and watch the monitor to make sure he is still breathing. He started 'sleeping through the night' when we got back from Denver-about 15 weeks. I feed him and put him down around 10 PM and he sleeps until about 8. Eventually we will work to an earlier bedtime, but this works for now. Summer is too hard to try and be home by 8 every night. Plus I know how temporary this is. In a week we will probably have a different schedule or he will start waking up again. I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts!

John wallpapered the upstairs bathroom. Yay! And he drew that picture of Spencer that is on the counter. He super duper.

And last, I can't believe this little stinker is going to be 8 in a few weeks. I have an almost 8 year old. It's crazy! He is such a good big brother. He loves to play with Spencer and try and make him laugh. We are getting smiles a lot more but so far he has only laughed 3 or 4 times. We must not be that funny!

25 days...

We are surviving! We have been lucky to have such a good baby. We still have no schedule or routine which makes the nights a little hard but sometimes he let's me get a good sleep and other times it's more of an adventure. We finally put the tv up in his room so at least if I'm up for hours I can fill it with some Dancing With The Stars or Big Bang Theory.

This is his old man face. He seriously looks like an 80 year old with a cane sitting around the Village Inn with his other old man friends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 I love when he is all snuggly and squishy

He really does hold his own bottle sometimes. It's more because he won't move his crazy hands from his face so by the time I get the bottle in his mouth, he props his hands under his chin.

Jake got a little travel chess set for Christmas and we have been playing it a lot so his Omi (John's mom) brought him this set which was Opi's and is made out of marble. He is so excited about it. The pieces all look different from traditional chess pieces so he and his grandpa have made up some funny names.

He is almost through the Harry Potter series! I told him he couldn't see the movies until he read the book for each one so he has been cruising through them.

Oh baby!

The title says it all! Thursday, March 1st we had a doc appointment in the morning and he told us to head on over to the hospital! I had a mini breakdown in the room before we ran home to grab our things. He also said that once I checked in, the hospital would starve me until that baby got here so we pulled into Jimmy Johns for my first turkey sub in over 7 months! We got checked in around 1 PM and they got me all hooked up to everything. My water had already broken (thank heavens) so they didn't have to do that part but I wasn't dilating at all so they started me on pitocin which I had really hoped to avoid. They told me I needed to get my epidural either before 5:30 or after 7:30 because of a scheduled c-section. At this point (about 4:30) I was still feeling pretty good so I decided to wait. My parents came over to sit with me while John took Jake out to dinner and while he was gone my contractions went into overdrive. I finally got my epidural around 8 PM and I was able to rest comfortably until around midnight. I was trying to sleep but I started feeling some serious pressure around then and every time I was just about out, it would wake me up. Between 12 and 1:30 it just kept getting worse and worse. They pushed my medicine button a few times but there was just no relief. I was finally ready to start pushing with the nurse around 1:30 am. She was so great. I was in a lot of pain but we all just kept chit chatting trying to keep my mind off it. By 3:00 he had made progress, but I was so so exhausted that I was only pushing for 1 count of 8 instead of 3. They got Dr. Housel (poor guy had done 4 c-sections that day already and had been sleeping at the hospital since 1 waiting for me to deliver) and told him that I didn't know how much longer I could keep pushing so they wheeled in all the equipment and he pulled out the suction dingerdoo. I honestly don't even remember the last few minutes of it. I was so delirious and in pain. At some point he told me I really needed to pull it together but I was past that. Eventually Spencer was here at 3:31 AM. 8 lbs, 20 1/2 inches long! 

Early on in the night...still feeling good.

Hi dad!

Getting ready to go home

Jake has been so great. He is definitely getting a little cabin fever but luckily he is at school all day.

Getting him started early. It is tax season after all!

It just doesn't get any sweeter

He really does have a lot of hair in the back (party) but it's all business and receding hairline in the front.

We took advantage of the Saturday weather and Jake and John went and played tennis. We have to break him in early. It will be his second home lol. First time to the courts!

I want to snuggle him all day!

Nighttime has been bearable so far but I don't do much else during the day except take care of him and be lazy. Luckily John is okay with this and my mom has been coming over to help keep things clean, plus we are still trying to finish moving things out of the old house. We love him!