UPDATE: I am happy to report that Tom and I both got up this morning and exercised! When the alarm went off I REALLY wanted to stay in bed, but I thought to myself,"What if someone checks up on us to see if we exercised? I can't tell them no!" And sure enough, at least one person did, thanks Jenny! Tom went running and I did part of one of my videos (I am waiting for some pregnancie videos on hold at the library) until Tom got back and then I went for a short walk. Tom and I both actually liked getting up early. Once you are up and awake it's not so bad!


Monday is the big day. Tom and I are both going to start exercising again. I think I feel well enough to get in some kind of exercise and Tom has been wanting to start working out again also. We decided we needed to pick a day to start and wake up together. We will alternate one of us staying home and doing a video and the other will go outside and run/walk/bike. (I will only be walking!) I decided to annouce it on my blog so that we HAVE to do it and hold ourselves accountable.... otherwise we might just decide to sleep in.

Tom asked me to look at the library catalog online and find him a "manly" workout video. So, I found quite a few videos that I thought would work for him, but unfortunately he didn't like any of them:

- Belly Dance/Cardio Shimmy
- 1 minute workout
- Zookinesis Chair Exercises
- Latin Rythm Workout
- I Want That Body
- Shrink Your Female Fat Zones
- Island Girl Dance Fitness
- (my favorite) Chubby Hubby Workout

Note: Tom is very tolerant when it comes to me teasing/making fun of him on my blog. Thanks Tom for being such a good sport!

Oh the things kids say...

Last night it was finally cool enough to go out and do something. So, we took the kids to Settler's Park. There were tons of people there too because it was so nice outside. We had to laugh after we left, because we had a lot of kids come up to us and ask about Jordyn. Usually the kids just stare and occasionally ask questions, but we probably had about 5-6 kids ask about her. What is really funny is that children are actually more tactful than adults when asking us questions! Adults will usually say: What is wrong with her? What does she have? What does she suffer from? etc...
Kids will say: Why is she in a wheelchair? What happened to her? Why is she like that?
Ok, so maybe the adult questions sound a little better! I guess the only one I don't like is "What is wrong with her?"

The one that REALLY made me laugh was a little girl who was about 7 or 8 years old. She saw Jordyn, put her hand over her mouth, gasped, and then said "oohh, awww". It's kind of hard to explain what she sounded like, but she acted like she was going to cry because she was so sad for Jordyn. It doesn't sound funny, but it was actually quite hilarious and I almost laughed out loud.

On a more serious note, one thing I don't like is that most people don't even acknowledge the person pushing Jordyn around.... they will say stuff or stare like we aren't even there. ( I had a guy at the store stare at Jordyn for over a minute and so I was staring at HIM for a minute and he never once looked at me to smile or say anything. I thought that was strange.)

A couple other funny examples. One day at church, in our old ward, a 9 year old girl came up to me and Jordyn and said (in a very distraught voice)," Oh... what happened to her, is she ok?" I told her Jordyn was born this way and couldn't walk or talk. The little girl said,"Oh, I'm soooo sorry!" And I said,"It's ok, she's very happy and she'll be ok." She continued to say how sorry she was and that it must be very sad and hard to deal with. I couldn't believe a 9 year old was so upset over it and so caring at the same time!

I was at an appointment awhile ago and we were sitting in the waiting room. A girl game up to us, about 6 or 7 yrs. old, and starting asking questions about Jordyn: Why is she in a wheelchair? She can't talk? Does she know how to play? She was actually very nice and cute with Jordyn and was trying to play with her and hold her hand. Then she went back to her mom on the other side of the room and said (loud enough for the whole waiting room to hear!)... "That little girl over there doesn't know how to talk or walk! She doesn't know how to play either!" Then the mom proceeded to say (in a very loud voice also!), "God makes some people VERY special. Even though they are different they are very special and we should always be nice to them. You don't ever make fun of them, honey, that is very mean to do!" I think she may have thought her daughter was making fun of Jordyn, but she wasn't. Anyways, I just smiled and held in my laugh!

I love the fact that Tom and I both think that any "strange" things people ask or say about Jordyn is actually really funny. I think we are also lucky that we have never had anyone say anything really rude or offensive to us either. Strangers are generally very nice and polite to Jordyn and us, too! I am sure we will have many more experiences like these through out our lives!

Gimme a Break!

Today I was day dreaming about what new workout plan I will have after I have the baby. (I know.... a little early to be thinking about losing the baby weight!) I had seen an infomercial awhile ago that I wanted to look up. I forgot the name and just got on the As Seen On TV website. I don't know if you've ever looked at this website, but it can be quite hilarious. I have to admit, it does have some cool and interesting gadgets.....and some not so much. So after browsing awhile, I decided why work out and eat healthy when I can just start this:

I can eat cookies all day and lose weight? Yep! You can eat one cookie for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and then eat a sensible dinner. They claim each cookie is 150 calories, full of vitamins and minerals, and very tasty! A box of 12 cookies is $20, too. Sheesh, come one! If anyone knows me well, you know I am very anti- any diet! I hate them, they are ridiculous! This one is actually much like other diets where you eat their "product" for all meals except dinner. You are losing weight because you are not eating very many calories! You are eating just 600 calories before dinner. Even if you ate a dinner that was 1,000 calories, that is only 1600 calories for the whole day and you are supposed to get 2,000 to 2,400 calories. So, yes, you will lose weight, but I'm sorry.... eating one cookie for snacks and meals WILL NOT cut it for me. I would starve.

This is called the "6 second abs". Hmm what else is their to say about that one! I think we have gone from seeing 6 MINUTE ab workouts to 6 SECOND ab workouts. But, to give them some credit, I actually think there are even crazier ab machines out there than this one!

Who doesn't want to work out on a tiny trampoline? ME! Who thinks up these things? And even worse, who buys them!? When I see this, I just picture a person all geared up in their workout clothes, jumping around on this trampoline, and it makes me laugh to myself.

I found this and thought it could be the perfect Christmas gift! So, if I buy you a Christmas gift this year, this is what you'll be getting! Hope you like it as much as I do.

Random Photos

Last night Evan climbed up on Jordyn and sat on her lap, all by himself! I was laughing so hard. He even would lean back on Jordyn and relax (1st photo). Of course, Jordyn didn't like it too much when he leaned on her face! Then Evan thought it was a fun game to get off her lap, get back on, get off, get back on. We had fun and Jordyn even laughed part of the time.

I think Evan has a love/hate relationship with Jordyn. I am sure EVERY sibling relationship is like that. He has learned to give Jordyn kisses and even will try to snuggle with her on the floor. But then, he also likes to hit her on the head/face and mess up her hair too!

Jordyn made a clone of herself at school in Spokane. They actually traced their bodies and then printed pics. of their faces. And I love how they added in her pigtails! It was so hilarious to see all of the kids with their "clones" hanging on the wall. Every day Evan and I would go pick up Jordyn we would stop and look at Jordyn's picture. Evan always just stared at it like "what in the world is Jordyn doing up there"? When we brought her art work home, we hung it in her bedrom by her bed. But, the next few nights she was very fussy when falling asleep and we think the picture may have been scaring her! We took it down and she was much happier. When we moved, I didn't know how I was going to pack and store her art work without it getting ruined so I decided to just take a picture of it. (an idea from my organized sister, Jenny!) I just laugh at this picture every time I look at it because it kind of freaks you out. It looks like Jordyn has a scarey twin.

Here is Evan goofing off at breakfast. We had to go and buy plastic dishes after Evan broke about 3 small bowls when he threw them on the tile floor. In Spokane we had carpet and they never broke! I guess we didn't really think about the tile floor and breakable dishes! He is also the messiest eater I have ever known. We almost have to give him a bath every time he eats. I can't wait until he can figure out how to use a spoon and fork!
We are having so much fun with Evan learning new things. Once again, this is probably the kind of stuff that most parents don't get too excited about, but I always want to tell everyone about it. It's fun that he can actually communicate with us and we can figure out what he wants! We've been trying to teach him sign language too. He almost has "eat" figured out. This week he started shaking his head "yes" and "no". Of course he has no idea what they mean. He loves to go and turn the TV off while we are watching a show. He doesn't really mess too much with the volume or channel button or turning the TV on.... just turning it off! He hears the TV get turned on and waddles over, turns it off, looks at us, and walks away. We have to laugh because it's like he's saying "stop watching TV!" or "pay attention to me, not the TV"! I guess we should be really glad that he doesn't WANT to watch TV! Evan is really starting to like books also, which is fun. He also loves giving kisses to everyone, including dolls and pictures in books.

Big Announcement !

Well, I think everyone will be very surprised to read this post and found out that the Bybee family is now expecting their 3rd child! You are probably just as shocked as we were! I think it is no secret that this was a huge surprise to us, but we are very excited and couldn't be any happier. I am 13 weeks along and my due date is January 9th. I had my first doctor's appointment yesterday and got this ultrasound picture. Hopefully you can make out the different body parts of the baby. Right side of the photo is the head, middle/top of the photo is the spine, and the left is the bum, and below the bum are it's legs curled up. So cute already! haha

We found out the big news 3 weeks before Tom's graduation. I told my sister, Susan, first because I had to let her know I would not be doing the sprint triathlon that was in two weeks! Then we decided to wait until my first appointment to tell everyone else. Things have been going pretty well so far. I am definately feeling the sickness part of pregnancy. Not fun. Now I can finally complain about it to the whole world, not just Tom and Susan! For me, this is the hardest part of the pregnancy. Once I am over being sick, it's usually smooth sailing! It's funny because most people think pregnant women want to eat, eat, eat everything they see. It is the opposite for me (at least right now). NOTHING sounds good and very few things taste good. EVERYTHING smells bad too. I am constantly saying "BLAH, that stinks!" and Tom says,"I don't even smell anything!" I have 3 main things that I eat right now and they are the only things that I actually like: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, turkey sandwich, and baked potatoes. I think I have also been cursed with being sick longer than most pregnant women too. Oh well, I made it through being sick with 2 other pregnancies, I can make it through another one!

Before we even found out we were pregnant, Evan kept lifting up my shirt and pointing to my stomach. We had NOT taught him this! He also really likes to lay his head down on my stomach too! It's very funny and we really do think he knew there was a baby coming before we did!

I guess this news also means I will be postponing my marathon! I was obviously a little dissapointed, but I am also excited to "re-train" after the baby is born and plan for a marathon and sprint triathlon later down the road. This also means that those who are running this marathon (and anyone else who wants to) will have to run ANOTHER marathon with me!

I am very excited to found out the gender of the baby! I can't decide wether I want another girl or boy. I guess either one would be really great since we already have one of each! We are also glad that Evan will have a sibling to play with that isn't too much younger than him. Well, I will keep you updated on everything that happens during my pregnancy. It's fun that this is our first child that we are able to blog about! Wish us luck...

Fun 4th of July

We started off our day by going to a ward breakfast. We kept hearing everyone talk about the great food they were going to have and that this activity is one of the main events of the year. Well, they were right, the food was awesome. They had omelets, hash browns, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. It was REALLY good food. Someone said that the family who puts this on every year has a cooking business on the side and that they cook food for almost every ward activity. We also got to meet and chat with a some of the people in the ward and get to know them better. Then we had to go home and take a nap because we had waken up so early to go to the breakfast!

Later in the afternoon we went to a Farmer's Market to buy corn on the cob and some fruit for our dinner. We also went and bought the kids a little blow-up swimming pool because it is getting very hot here(possibly 107 degrees on Sat.) ! We had a great BBQ for ourselves and were pouting a little because we didn't have anyone to invite over. We are sure missing having the Kovich's to hang out with all the time! We had corn on the cob (very good corn!), steak, and fresh pineapple. Then we made somewhat of a strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Around 9, we headed for downtown Boise to watch the fireworks. It is the first time since 2003 that they have had fireworks here. We'd never seen the downtown area yet and after going for the show last night we are excited to go back and check out more of the downtown area. The fireworks were in a huge park and we walked a little ways and got very close to where they were setting them off. It was an excellent show with some massive fireworks that almost reached the ground and a really great finale too! Evan was a little scared at first, but by the end he was clapping and pointing at the fireworks. Jordyn wasn't scared at all and really seemed to like the fireworks. We had a great Fourth of July!

Here is the photo that the Dustin's Paw company took of Jordyn with one of their dogs, at the Resource Fair we went to. The cardboard is supposed to be a pirate ship, but you can't really tell in the photo! I also like the special touch they added by putting a little chest of treasure on the ship (upper right hand corner). Jordyn doesn't look too amused..... maybe she didn't want to wear the hat. But, she really did like the dog!