Happy Birthday Jeramie!

I must say that I think that Jeramie had a great birthday! We celebrated with my family this past Sunday. Baylee got him a pair of pants and long sleeved shirt in preparation for the Fall. Wyland got him an authentic “WyLAND” hat that we had to import from Hawaii. It’s cool, it has a shark embroidered on the front and then says WyLAND on the back. Jeramie has been very envious of my dad’s WyLAND attire that he picked up when my they were in Hawaii last year. So I bit the bullet and ordered him something online. I hate paying shipping so it was a big deal for me .. lol. Then Jackson got him some online gaming points (lame, but he always loves getting them). Then I got him a mini fridge for the basement. It will be primarily for his large soda consumption while playing video games. I asked him for weeks to give me any ideas that he wanted for his birthday and he never did. I think we did pretty good despite the lack of suggestions from the birthday boy.

Wyland sporting the WyLAND hat.

Jeramie had some help with his candles.

However, I paled in comparison to my parents. My brother Mike has been planning to go to South Bend, Indiana for the University of Utah vs. Notre Dame game for several months. He was originally just going with his brother in law (on Amber’s side). Well then my parents asked me whether I thought Jeramie would like to go as well .. umm does a bear you know what in the woods???! So for his birthday my parents got Jeramie a plane ticket to Chicago and for an early Christmas present they are buying him the ticket to the game. Jeramie is beyond excited. He had absolutely NO CLUE and I do believe he was literally speechless when he opened the gift and figured out where the airplane ticket was to. I’m really excited for him to get to do this as well. Other than business travel I think this will be the first ever “big” trip Jeramie has taken with just “the boys”. Certainly only one since he and I have known eachother. I guess I should mention that Jeramie is a huge Notre Dame fan. So he will be rooting for the enemy! Either way I know he will have an absolute blast and I’m thrilled that he gets to go, even though I won’t be going with him. Jeramie totally scored in the in-laws department .. thanks Mum and Dad!! Now it’s time for us to save up some spending money for him to take.

Jeramie was really trying to see what the heck this paper was.

Apparently it didn't actually say Chicago, it had the 3 letter abbreviation for the airport.

 
Jeramie is my very best friend.  I love being married to him.  I can't imagine a better father for my kids.  I hope that he had an amazing birthday (even though we celebrated a little early this year).  One thing you may or may not know about Jeramie is that he is one of the most genuinely nice people out there.  "Envy" really isn't something that runs in his blood whatsoever.  When my brother Mike was talking about going to this football game even though it would be amazing for him to go too he was just genuinely excited for Mike.  He didn't think to himself, "Man I wish that were me."  It just isn't who he is, it's hard to describe and such a rare quality.  He is one of the most generous people I know.  I may complain about him not picking up his dirty clothes, or that he likes to take naps on the couch at the most inopportune times.  But the things I don't brag about nearly enough are all the ways that he is amazing.  He makes me a better person in just as many ways as I like to think that I do him (I hope).  Happy Birthday Jeramie!!  Lots of love and kisses.
 
Okay so just a few pictures of my ultra cool husband.  Notice anything similar in any of them???
 

Give him a break .. it was Easter morning.

I told you .. no joke .. the kid is a fan.

To say he's excited is an understatement.

However, he has been known to bleed red too .. GO UTES!!!

Next Big House Project: THE BASEMENT

So we have identified (or rather I have and poor Jeramie is along for the ride). It’s time to carefully clean out our basement and do a little restructuring. I wrote up a lengthy three page document detailing all the steps we need to take and in what order. It helps me to have it broken down into bite size pieces. It goes as follows:

1. Storage Under Stairs (clean and organize)

2. Storage Room in Bathroom (clean and organize)

3. Clean out bedroom and repaint (then move Baylee into it .. maybe?)

4. Clean out living room and repaint (then move all the toys from our main level to the basement)

What are we hoping to accomplish by this daunting task you might ask? Other than the obvious, clean and organized space? Well with the new baby on the way we have needed to start thinking about where to put him. When we moved in we designated the 4th bedroom in the basement to be for Jeramie’s boys. However, we will now have 4 children living at home full time and so it no longer makes sense to have a 4th bedroom that only gets used 4 days a month. Also, being that this little one is also a boy, I just can’t see us squeezing 3 boys into one bedroom. My two youngest at 4 and 2 are still too young to move to the basement bedroom, which is what we originally thought we would do. So Plan B is to move Baylee down there and then have 2 boys in one bedroom and 1 in the other upstairs. Jeramie is really struggling with the fact that he is basically losing his “man cave”. Right now the only people that go down there are him, Jonathan and J’von. Change sucks and I feel bad that he’s losing a large space that has pretty much solely been his for 4 years. However, times are a changing. There will be some unique challenges with moving Baylee down there too. #1 is how do we make sure that she is still separated from food at nighttime (since PWS is accompanied by night food seeking)? Then the second big one on my list is how to make sure that Baylee doesn’t wander around with little clothing on when Jeramie’s kids are over? This one I think will be a bigger challenge as it’s not something that I can really control with something tangible. Apparently lack of modesty is a PWS thing .. and let me tell you it’s not fun! Poor Jeramie. She just doesn’t understand that it’s a problem, and it’s hard to convince her otherwise.

Then once we get her moved we have to decide who will share a room. Not to mention redecorating Baylee’s current bedroom that is pink. Whomever shares a room will move into Baylee’s room since it’s slightly bigger. Should it be Jackson and Wyland sharing still, or Wyland and the baby since they’re younger?? I just don’t know (totally open to suggestions and the reasons why).

This was a little bit after we started (I almost forgot to take my "before" picture)

After (we have started by putting luggage back there)

But that's it for now.

So a few weekends ago we began the big basement project. We started with the storage under the stairs and completed it. I even set aside the items I will try and sell online and took pictures of them to post the ad’s. My hope is to just sell them for super cheap to get rid of them, perhaps making a tiny bit of money that can be used towards our decorating expenses. Next we’re moving on to the storage room which is a total mess. Wish us luck!!! I’ll continue to post before and after pictures to document our ongoing progress. We’re hoping to have the entire “project” finished by the time our baby arrives. Then we will move on to repainting our main level.

Next up:  Storage Room

Baylee starts middle school.

Today was a big day for Baylee. She transitioned to middle school.  She now attends West Jordan Middle School.  The good thing about this is that this is the school that is actually designated for our neighborhood.  The bad news is that I don't know that there are other kids her age in the neighborhood.  We'll see.  She still gets bus services even though the other kids (if there are any) don't.  She was very excited (as much so as I was apprehensive).  Jeramie was a good dad and drove over to the school to make sure that she made it to her classroom.  I had little confidence that there would be someone there to meet her off the bus and show her where to go.  However, this wasn't the case.  Apparently the bus had arrived early and Baylee was already in her class when he got there.  Tomorrow the 8th and 9th graders will be joining all those new 7th graders. Should be an interesting year.  Good luck Baylee!!!

Love the new kicks!!

Weekend at Jordanelle

We had another fun weekend at the lake.  This is our last local trip this summer.  It was a hit and a miss all at once.  This was the first weekend that anyone else has stayed up there overnight with us.  Evan and Rachel joined us Friday night.  It was fun to have some extra company. 

I guess I should back up a minute.  A little over a week ago my Dad got a call from the place that we store our trailer.  Apparently someone had broken in to the facility and ransacked several of the trailers inside.  We had hoped that ours wasn't one of them.  The owner indicated that it didn't appear that anyone had trashed the inside of ours.  So Friday was the first day we'd had a look inside.  Unfortunately we had not survived unscathed.  We were counting our lucky stars that we hadn't left any wakeboards inside, since we frequently do thinking they're safer in there than in the boat.  The people that broke in took the oddest of items.  They took several things that could be used to carry items in. Such as dumping out the duffle bag that contained toys for the boys but leaving all the toys in a pile on the bed.  Then they took things like all the canned food, new rolls of paper towels, shampoo, soap, etc.  It's such a violating feeling having our trailer broken into, but we're grateful that they didn't take anything really valuable, nor did they make a mess of the place.  Could have been a whole lot worse.  So some of Friday night was spent taking an inventory of the items that were missing.  Then first thing Saturday we were up and getting ready to toss the boat in the lake.  So far the weather was looking good. Not a cloud in the sky.  We packed up our lunch and off we went.

Evan was the first one in the water and he by far had the best water of anyone.  He was quickly followed by Rachel and then Jeramie headed out and got the crap. At which point my dad opted out of wakeboarding. 

Evan always gets the highest jumps.

Wyland's being flag boy.

Jackson getting a little lake time.

Rachel having a turn on the board.

See I was there too!

Jeramie had a turn on the wakeboard.

Love this kids personality!!

With the wind having picked up we decided it might be time to go and get the tube.  My little boys aren't quite big enough to really enjoy the tube just yet.  They're still scared.  Jackson has been a couple times but doesn't love it too much.  Wyland is still too small.  Having experience Baylee having a dangerous experience on the tube I'm not quite ready to "encourage" the little guys yet.  Our tube has a tendancy to sink in the front when going too slow which is pretty scary because there's no turning back.  You're going down.

The tubing began with Jeramie, Evan, and Rachel.  It was pretty good tubing water.  White caps everywhere, it took absolutely no effort to toss anyone off at all.  After the first group I was driving the boat and so we don't have pictures of my dad, Evan and Jeramie.  Then just Evan and Jeramie went for a short period.  I always enjoy watching tubers.  It looks like so much fun .. and to a degree it is.  I got tossed in a nasty way the last time I tubed and it's put this bit of fear in me.  I'm sure as the boys get bigger I will be required to overcome the distaste.

All is happy in tube world.

Ahh .. this is fun.

YEEHAW!!!!!

Survivors.

Babies and Binkies

So I thought this would be a fun topic to talk about. It seems that for the most part people usually have pretty strong opinions on the topic. I can’t speak on behalf of my experience with Baylee, because of her Prader-Willi Syndrome we were lucky to get her to barely suck on a bottle let alone a binky. So Jackson was really my first experience with a baby and a binky. And boy did this kid LOVE his binky. He had it until he was two years old. But looking back it was the best. He rarely had bottles in the middle of the night, he just wanted his binky popped back in his mouth. In all reality I would rather he sucked on a binky at nighttime then have that milk swimming around his teeth. It was such a great way to quiet him down when he was upset too. It was soothing but at the same time it stopped the wailing noise! The main reason that we got rid of it at 2 years old was because Wyland was expected the following month and we didn’t want him stealing the babies binky. Little did we know this wouldn’t be a problem.

Wyland on the other hand never really took to a binky. I didn’t push it on him (I don’t recall pushing it on Jackson either). Wyland just would spit them out, he really wasn’t remotely interested in them. Since Jackson had become SO addicted I didn’t see the good in encouraging Wyland if he didn’t need one. My mum always said, “none of you guys had binkies!”

Now don’t get me wrong I too look at parents walking around with their 3 and 4 year olds and wonder what the heck are you thinking?? That kid is TOO old for a binky!! But up to around age 2 I must say there are way more positives than there are negatives. With my next baby I will for sure ENCOURAGE a binky!! I know some people will tell me that I’m crazy, but that’s just my opinion. I know people say they’re ugly and this .. that and the other. I think in a lot of ways it was a good thing with Jackson, at least for my sanity. When I’ve been at work all day long I don’t want to spend all my time trying to console an unhappy child that could just as easily be happy and consoled with a binky popped in his/her mouth. I would rather spend that time playing and having fun!

Any other strong opinions out there?

Howard Family Date Night

So a month or so ago I suggested we do a Howard Family Date Night once every few months. I’ve come to realize that perhaps I try and do too much sometimes, just as far as planning fun things to do. Since both Jeramie and I work full time we try not to do too much during the week but then end up cramming tons of stuff into the weekend. We feel this much more in the summer time when we’re camping so much too. So my idea was that rather than trying to get together every month, or even every couple months, I think every three months is more likely to happen. So we picked the date. Now the reason this is such a big deal is because this is a evening out without any of the kids/grandkids. We do TONS of stuff together as a family all the time, however we rarely do anything that doesn’t include all the kids too. Sometimes it’s fun just to have some adult time. So this is an adult only event. Fortunately our first planned weekend actually happened to be on a weekend that my aunt and uncle were also visiting from England. The timing couldn’t have been better. I’ll start by saying it was a SMASHING SUCCESS!!

We had all planned to meet up at Red Rock downtown for dinner. We then decided that taking Trax might be a better option rather than finding parking downtown and then having to move cars and the such. So all of us except for Evan and Rachel rode Trax uptown. We had a delicious dinner at Red Rock. I’ve only been there a few times but love it every time. I couldn’t be more thrilled that they are building another one closer to us at Fashion Place Mall! It was so enjoyable to just sit and hang out over a meal and not be rushed. Then we headed over to the Tavernacle, where Mike had reserved us a table. Only Evan and Rachel had been before. For those of you that don’t know this is a piano bar in downtown Salt Lake. It was SO MUCH FUN! Who would think that it would be fun to go with your parents to a bar? They played much from their popular days to our own. We all sang along and had a grand time. I LOVE that they have banned smoking in all the bars in SLC. Otherwise I wouldn’t have felt good going, pregnant and all. I would totally recommend this place. Not that I see us going all the time or anything, but once maybe twice a year .. fun stuff.

Jeramie and Evan .. always good for a laugh.

My Uncle Andrew (my dad's brother) and Aunty Judy

Don't he and my dad look alike?

Just me and the sibs ..

I do believe my dad might be Jeramie's favorite drinking buddy.

Long before it got late my dad asked what time the last Trax trains ran. The consensus in the group was 1am (not even sure what made people think this was right). Mike and Amber were the first to leave and they soon texted us to say that the last train had left at midnight and they’d barely missed it. They were off to get a taxi home (ouch .. to the pocket book). We were lucky that Evan had decided to drive his Honda Element because next thing you knew we were squeezing 7 grown adults into that little car. I was lucky because I got to be the driver. It was SO funny looking at all those people squished in there. Definitely a very memorable night!!!

Additional highlights included: Older gentleman in a zebra striped shirt, skinny jeans and flip flops. He was a character, but he did like the way my mum’s skirt was so swirly he told her outside. Something about a foul odor that “someone” thought would be okay to release in a small space containing 7 adults (no names, to protect the innocent). Oh and someone almost getting caught slipping a little something in a purse at a restaurant (hilarious). Good times were had by all.

Half Way There

So last week I hit the 20 weeks pregnant mark. It’s kind of strange to think that I’m already halfway there. It’s been a totally uneventful pregnancy (knock on wood). I had my official ultrasound a couple weeks ago and everything looked great. I don’t think I’ll even have another one before the baby arrives. I have purchased quite a few outfits for the little guy, mainly because both Wyland and Jackson were born in the summer time therefore I didn’t have a whole lot of long sleeve newborn items. Sounds like a good excuse to me! Carters has had amazing sales over the past couple of months so I’ve really gotten a lot for my money as well.

My heartburn hasn’t been as bad as it was with Wyland and Jackson so far either. I’ve only gained 4 lbs so far, so I definitely can’t complain about that. My next challenge will be maternity clothes. All mine tend to be summer related but this time I’ll be needing pants. I HATE maternity clothes. I haven’t worn any yet so far at all. I stick to just stretchy stuff. But trying to maintain a decent degree of complying with company dress code but also comfortable is a challenge. It will be much worse as the Winter weather arrives. All in all I can’t complain things are going well. The kids are really excited. Baylee LOVES babies so that is no surprise she was excited with both Jackson and Wyland. Jackson is a pleasant surprise because he “understands” it a whole lot more this time around. He’s cute about it too, like he’s shy when he talks about it. He told my mother in law the other day, “My mom is getting FAT. It’s because she gets a baby at Christmas.” So cute. Wyland just wants to lift up my shirt and kiss my belly, he says “Kissy Poo’s” Jeramie taught him that. I think they will love having another brother. We still haven’t done anything to prepare furniture wise, or deciding where we’ll actually put the baby. I figure we’ll have several months of him sleeping in our room. More importantly at this time is getting a dresser or something to put his clothes in. Plus where do we put said dresser? Hmm.

Oh and also (I almost forgot) this week apparently my due date got moved up based on my ultrasound. I’m now due on Dec. 23rd. This means I will be allowed to deliver as early as Dec. 16th. This is good because it means that we’ll get to come home for a few days before we launch into Christmas.

Baby Bottles

Isn’t it funny how this can be such an important decision? Well for me it is. When I had Baylee I bought all Avent bottles. Then Jackson had second hand Avent bottles. Then Wyland had third hand Avent bottles. Now they’re all about them being BPA free, well I have 2 Avent bottles that are BPA free. But I have a huge supply that I’ve accumulated over the past 13 years. Can you believe that? These bottles are 13 years old!! When I had Wyland I also bought a sizable assortment of plain Gerber bottles. But to be totally honest I hate them. Plus Wyland never loved them either. So here I am back at square one. Here is what I have now purchased for the new baby:

Tommy Tippie bottles. What an adorable name!! Plus they get extra bonus in my book because they’re made in England. Yeah that means I pay more for them, but I’m okay with that. My mum even said that these were out there when I was a baby! With my English background I always like to introduce just a little of England whenever I can. My strollers are Maclaren too, however these have really taken on well in the US recently. They’re great strollers. With the Gerber bottles, although the bottles themselves were cheap I was constantly buying new nipples for them. So it just spreads that cost out over time. I know that since this little guy will be the 3rd boy in our family (not counting Jeramie’s 2 that don’t live with us) that there will be many things that he won’t get brand new. So I feel good about getting him new bottles that aren’t 13 years old!

What all do you other mommy’s out there use? Well and more importantly why?