Fall

The leaves are falling and the air has cooled a ton....it's Fall, it crept up on us while we were away in Oregon.      It is most definitely my favorite season, but it's also the end before Winter comes and Max is stuck in the house and I have to be more creative with inside activities and outings that will stimulate him.  Max is like a puppy he loves to get in the car and drive places, unfortunately with gas prices that's a little hard these days.  I remember when he was a baby we are always on the move and we would go to my Dad's to help him out two to three times a week, followed by lunch of course.  Then when Grandma Boots moved here we were visiting her two times a week just to make sure she hadn't burned down her apartment and she was still alive.  Today we have become homebodies, which is good, carting two kids around can be exhausting and I prefer going to the store by myself when Jake is home.

Oregon was very pleasant while we were there.  The sun was out and there was very little rain and the fog bank only came out once.  Max loved all the space there was for him to run around outside and he especially loved the chickens......he wanted to feed them all the time and when I say "feed" I mean through dirt and rocks at them.  I think he would have been content being out there all day if we let him.  He read books most of the day and played on the beach.  Unfortunately, Tyler and Ashley had seminary and school, and Barb and Ralph had work.  But we still had fun.  Max had a lot of fun and Dex was really good the whole trip.  but getting home was great.  I felt like I was drowning about 2 months after Dex was born, but getting away for a little bit helped me out.  

My low point of the trip was on the way there.  We decided at the last minute to leave on Thursday night, thinking the kids would sleep the whole time and we would be able to have an easier ride.  Wrong.  Well, Dex slept like a champ the whole night only waking up at 12 to eat and then 7 in the morning.  Max was extremely difficult and car sick.  He was confused about how long the trip was going to be.  He couldn't wait to get in the car and go to Oregon, but after about an hour he was complaining how he wanted to go home, and he was so tired.  He was completely confused and then car sick.  I think he finally fell asleep around 3 AM and then he would wake up every half hour to vomit.  It was awful   I hit a breaking point and told Jake I was never driving back to the coast again, and while we were driving there I was dreading making the drive back 5 days later.  But the drive back was so much better.  We gave max some Dramamine ahead of time, every 6 hours and we also moved his car seat in the middle of the back instead of on the end.    We also drove a different route, this time through Idaho.  It was probably an hour longer than the way we drove to get to Oregon, but it was less windey and we didn't feel like we were always in the middle of no where. If you don't already know, you are not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon, people do it for you.  I almost panicked when we were driving through a small town at 4 in the morning and only had a 1/4 of a tank of gas left and all the stations were closed.  In most states you can pump gas whenever you want and just swipe your debit card, but not in Oregon.  I thought we were gonna have to pullover and just sit in the car.  But we found a station and the manager was smart to open cause the customers were pulling in left and right.

Halloween was fun for Max.  He would talk about his scarecrow costume all the time, but would only let me put it on him.  I think we had three engagements total that required him to wear a costume.  he looked so cute but rarely would wear the hat.  Dexter was a gentleman.  He wore a little tuxedo onesie and we drew a mustache on his face.  He loved all the attention.  as always. 

Barbie Wedding

This truly made me laugh when I saw it on Pinterest.  This person not only organized all the positions of the dolls but took some fairly professional pictures as well.  I use to put together my own Barbie and Ken weddings on the porch of our old house on Gregwood  Place.  I still remember Mom taking me to Michael's so I could buy miniature white silk flowers for Barbie's bouquet.

http://pinterest.com/pin/55239532900662776/

Settling In

Things have gotten better.  I've learned to become a bit more patient with Max and I'm getting into a routine a little more.  The middle of the week can be a bit rough at times, especially in the evenings and when Jake is only home for an hour and I'm trying to get dinner ready for him before he leaves for class. But life has become fairly predictable.  Dex has this awful habit of only sleeping for like 40 minutes and then wakes up crying.  I'm hoping this phase will end soon,  the baby books say he just needs to cry it out and that I need to respect his need to sleep.  If he were a bit older I probably wouldn't care as much, but he's still just a baby so it's so hard.  On a good note, He's been sleeping through the night for the past week.  if he goes to bed at 8 PM he wakes up at about 4 AM to eat and then sleeps until 8 the following morning, but if he falls asleep late he will sleep until 6 AM and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.

We leave for Oregon this Friday.  It will be nice to have a big change of scenery and to get away for a little bit.  Unfortunately I'm not looking forward to the long drive with two kids in the back.  The trip is going to be really bad getting there, but I hope as soon as we arrive they aren't thrown off of schedule too much so we can enjoy our time there.

On a final note, can I just say how much easier it was to lose weight when I only had Max to care for.  I see why so many women let themselves go the more children they have, cause it's hard to find the time to do it, especially when all you want to do in your free time is take a nap or clean, or on days when Jake is home I just want to spend time with him and not leave to go to the gym.  But I am averaging about 4-5 workouts a week, and we haven't been eating out and I've cut back on sugar a bunch.  But the older I get the harder it is for me to lose weight,  It's times like these that I truly envy the flat skinny girls.

Here Comes Dex

I was really tired...we had to be there at like 5 45 AM and I didn't get any sleep the night before.

The vinyl printout Jake put up in Max's room.   This is one of my favorite books. 

Max hates putting on his onesie PJs, so Jake put on his  to  get him more excited about it. 

Big bro and little bro.

Thumbs up!

What a poser. 

zucchini from our garden. 

Dex wasn't so happy. 

Life is a Bit Crazy.

I understand why women get postpartum depression so often.  I myself have never fully been depressed.  I have been sad at times throughout my life, but a little emotion just reminds us all that we are human.  Having a child even if it's your first, second, third, etc....changes the routine that you have come accustomed to.  A change in routine can be a major change in ones life.  I myself do not have feelings of sadness, but I do find my emotions leading more towards anger.  I am extremely impatient, and I spend much of my days alone in my house or outside on the playground. When I say "alone" I mean away from any other adults.  Max has this bad little habit of ignoring me when I ask him to do something/stop doing something, until I sometimes raise my voice to get his attention or threaten him with a consequence.  I'm realizing this weekend that it is something I need to work on and find a better tactic to get his attention.  He loves his little brother, which is great but I think Dex is constantly wondering why this kid is pestering him when he's trying to sleep.  I'm waiting for Max's love for Dexter to ware off so I don't have to constantly monitor the two of them all the time, at least for Dexter's safety.

 I look forward to when Jake comes home, but then am disappointed when I find out that he has to go do homework or wants to rest for a minute or go to the bathroom or do any other thing someone would want to do when they come home from work or school instead of just arriving at the door and asking, "I'm home!  Is there anything I can do to help you?".  Oh wouldn't that be nice.  I do this selfish little dialogue in my head imagining what I would say to someone to make them understand that I do everything around here and am extremely unappreciated.  Then I usually come to my senses and realize how foolish I'm being.

last month was our 4 year anniversary and I have felt that although Jake is still in school, our life is fairly smooth and we haven't had too many challenges in life.  I think heavenly Father was letting me off the hook until now.  I feel things have been extremely difficult and they won't get any better until probably Christmas time.  I say that because that's when the semester will end and my husband will be around much more.  But nothing is permanent and things can change if you make them.  But I look forward to all the possible events that will be coming up.

1. Jake may be promoted to the data base administrator position at work.  This would be great for bumping up his resume and it would include a raise as well, I'm hoping a substantial one because more money would always be nice.

2.  Max will be turning three the end of this year and then will enter primary.

3.  Jake will start filling out applications for Graduate school the end of this year.  The process will be quite annoying, but at least it means we are moving on with our lives!

4.  As the weeks continue to pass since Dex's birth my body will continue to turn back to normal and my health and stamina will continue to return.  My Bodybugg is helping me stay on track.  I've already lost 3 lbs...which isn't much.....but a huge feat for me.  

5.  Come November we have the chance to Vote and hopefully things will start to "Change"  again.

I've been feeling unwilling to post pictures of myself lately.....I just feel fat and disgusting and who wants to really remember their post baby body?  But I love this picture and cherish holding little Dex in my arms.

July 12th 2012

At 8:02 AM our little boy Dexter was born.  I was extremely scared.  But the staff at the hospital was extremely helpful and great.  the process was fiarly quick, but I swear an epidural is so much easier to receive than a spinal block.  That was no fun, blah.  Jake and I made a playlist to listen to during the surgery, which actually helped out a lot.  It was funny to hear one of the surgeons singing along to our Simon and Garfunkel selection.  They said no one ever brings music in....I thought that was odd, I thought everyone had some sort of labor music.  

Dex was in the NICU for 12 days and left with Oxygen, which he remained on for about a week after discharge.  I was so glad when that was done.  Carrying around a big tank of oxygen made things a bit more stressful and Max was constantly tripping over all the tubing.  But he did really good constraining himself from pushing the tank around, he's into that "pushing things around" phase.  I have  to say that Max has been completely amazing.  He is helpful around the house and loves to come over and pat Dex on the head, sometimes he loves him a little too much.  Unfortunately, Max got a double ear infection this past week and he was a bit off.  Thank goodness for antibiotics.  I'm so sick of all the infection and issues that have been going on in our home.  Jake had an infection in his leg that sent him to the ER on the 24th of July.  It was ridiculousness and disgusting at the same time.  I was glad that Barb was here to help us out so she could stay with him in the hospital until they arrived home at 2 AM that night. 

Things have finally settled down.  Ralph, Barb, and the kids were here for a few days so there was a lot going on during that time and Max got so much attention from family while I was recovering that I thought he would freak out when Grandma left.  But he did really good after everyone left.  We went to the Neil Diamond concert On July 29th and the in laws came with us.  I had never been to Rio Tinto Stadium.  I was so tired during the concert, but it was really good.  Neil has still got it!

Dex has been sleeping 4 hour stretches at night and 3-4 hour stretches during the day.  He has been really good so far and I look forward to seeing his personality develop over the next year!