2 Months Old & Jordyn Update

Is that even the same baby? He looks so different! (you gotta love the little bug eyed look) Today Carter is two months old. Some days I feel like the time is flying by and then other days it feels like he's been here for more than two months! He weighs 12 lbs. 8 oz. and is 24 inches long. He's starting to sleep longer and some nights he only wakes up once. Ever since the day he was born he has been grunting and moving all the time... I don't think he ever sits still! Now we are just waiting for him to smile at us... I think he's getting close.

Well I thought I would give a little update about Jordyn's appointments. She had her overnight sleep study a few weeks ago and today we met with the doc. to get the results. They said she has a little bit of central apnea. Nothing too serious. They are leaning even more towards acid reflux as the cause of her waking up. (Jordyn spits up pretty much all day long now...it has gotten even worse in the past few weeks) They suggest we see a GI doctor. So, now I just have to get that set up. Most likely they would do tests and possibly try meds. to help. I know they also do surgery to fix the problem, but we aren't even thinking about that right now.

We also went to a geneticist a few weeks ago. He suggested doing four different tests. Two of them were really rare diseases. We already tested for them and the results were normal. Now onto the next two tests. It's actually two tests for Rett Syndrome! If you've been following Jordyn's testing closely, you know that MANY specialists/doctors have thought Jordyn has Rett Syndrome, but the test for it came back negative. Well, in the past year they have discovered two NEW ways to test for Rett Syndrome! So, we'll send off some blood work for those test. They said it will probably be two months before we get the results. And they also told me not to get my hopes up. With every test we do, half of me thinks,"This test is definitely going to come back normal." and the other half of me thinks,"This is it! This is going to be the disease Jordyn has!" So I guess half of me already has my hopes up! We'll let you know what we find out.

I guess now all we have to do is see a GI doctor now. Other than that, we just have to get Jordyn to stop pulling out her hair when she is mad. Poor little girl doesn't have very cute hair anymore! Maybe I'll post a picture soon so you can see what it looks like.

Happy 29th Birthday!

Today is Tom's 29th birthday! We decided to celebrate last night and go out to eat. We had originally planned to go to Texas Roadhouse, but when we got there, at 5:30, it was already an HOUR wait! So, we went to Applebee's instead. We always get the spinach artichoke dip... it's so good! So, we had great food and the kids were all really well behaved to top it off. Tom requested I make German Chocolate Cake for his birthday dessert. We decided we didn't want to make an entire cake that we would have to eat ourselves, so after contemplating for awhile, we came up with German Chocolate Cookies. It was basically a Devil's Food Cake mix, made into cookies. And then German chocolate frosting sandwiched between two cookies. It worked out great and now we don't have an entire cake to polish off.

Every year, Tom informs me (in a teasing manner) that it is his "birthday weekend" so he gets to do whatever he wants and GETS whatever he wants. So, if the kids have a messy diaper.... "It's my birthday weekend." Or if I ask him to do some kind of chore, "It's my birthday weekend." Then, eventually it turns into...."It's my birthday WEEK, I get to do whatever I want" and THEN... "It's my birthday MONTH!" hahaha It's always funny because we both end up saying this every year around our birthdays! It's kind of a tradition now. I can't wait until my birthday month!

Happy Birthday Tom, we love you!

I've been dreading the day when this would happen. Evan figured out how to open doors by himself! I thought he was watching cartoons while I was in the bathroom getting ready, but I came out to the kitchen to find him in the pantry. I don't know what inspired him to go open the door to the pantry. And of course kids always seem to go straight for the flour. Luckily I caught him before he made a really huge mess! Last week he got into the potato flakes and dumped those all over the floor. I think I'll need to rearrange the pantry today! We'll see how long it takes him to reach and figure out the deadbolts on the front door and door to the garage! Isn't it so fun "kid proofing" your house at all their different stages?

We had a great Valentine's Day. Jordyn had a field trip earlier in the week and her class walked a few blocks to the post office to mail Valentine's to their families. So, we got our Valentine in the mail yesterday. It's so cute to see the artwork Jordyn brings home!

In the afternoon while Jordyn was at school, I took Evan and Carter to a playdate/Valentine's party with Lori, Wendy, Holly, and Jennie. We got all the kids together, had pizza, decorated cookies, and the kids traded Valentine's. We got some great candy and I had to post a funny picture of Jordyn eating her candy later that night.

Tom and I got Mexican food for dinner and then ate our beloved pink sugar cookies. Anyone else love these cookies?! I have to say they aren't as good as my mom's sugar cookies with frosting, but I didn't feel like attemping to make those, so we bought our second favorite thing. YUM! We also took the kids to Walmart to spend their Valentine's money from Grandpa and Grandma. Carter got an outfit, Jordyn got a cute shirt, and Evan picked out a truck that makes sounds.

Going off of the Valentine's day topic...here is a picture of Jordyn holding Carter and trying to eat his hand.

And here is a video of Carter rolling over...... yes, rolling over! That has to be some sort of record for a 7 week old baby! The first time he did it, I thought it was a fluke. But, he's done it about 4-5 times now and I got it on tape too. You can hear on the video that Evan calls Carter "Car-Car". Pretty cute nickname I think. He calls Jordyn, "JJ" too.

Husband Tag & Happy Valentine's Day

How long have you been married? 6 years

How long did you date? We started dating in May of 2001, got engaged 2 months later, and then married 2 months after getting engaged! I know, FAST! We had been really good friends for about 8 months before we started dating....that's my excuse.

Who eats more sweets? Hands down... me! Tom isn't crazy about chocolate and has great self control when it comes to eating a lot of sweets. I don't at all.

Who said I love you first? I'm not really sure, but I think I did. Hmmm, no maybe he did. Whoever said it first, the other said it right after!

How old is he? He'll be 29 on Feb. 24

Who is taller? He is.

Who is smarter? I think he is! I'm still smart though. :)

Who can sing better? I would say that Tom sings better. Both of us are "OK" singers.

Who does the laundry? Me. I think I can count the number of times Tom has done the laundry on one hand. That's ok though... I like to do it a certain way! Have you ever seen the episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" where Debra figures out that Raymond has been pretending that he doesn't know HOW to fold laundry, or do the dishes, or change diapers.... just so Debra would never ask him? Well, I think Tom does that with folding laundry.... he acts like he doesn't know how to fold it! hahaha Nah, I always fold laundry while he's at work anyways!

Who pays the bills? I do. But Tom is still very involved with our finances.

Who sleeps in the right side of the bed? I do. Tom sleeps next to the alarm clock. And just to brag, he also sleeps near the door and gets up in the night when Jordyn wakes up! He gets major points for that!

Who mows the lawn? The HOA! We love that. If we had to mow it, Tom probably would.

Who cooks dinner? I do. If I have to feed Carter, he'll cook or finish what I started. He also grills all the time.

Who drives? Most of the time Tom does. Now that I think about it, it's been awhile since we "argued" about eachother's driving skills!

Who is more stubborn? I think I am.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me first. It was at my house on the front porch. He said that after he left, he wanted to come back, knock on the door, and kiss me again. Awww, so cute!

Who ask who out? He did. As I mentioned earlier, we were friends for about 8 months. I think our first real date was right before we officially started dating. He took me to the Outback Steakhouse and to a Diamond Rio concert.

Who proposed? He did. He said he had bought the ring and couldn't stand to wait any longer. We were at my house and I was getting ready to go with him to a Singles Ward dance. I said,"Help me pick out something to wear." (I know, every guy's dream... yeah right!) I left the room for a second and when I came back he said,"I know what you can wear." And I said,"What?" He pulls out the ring, shows it to me and says,"This!" and then asked me to marry him! Then we got to go the dance and tell all our friends and I got to show off the ring!

Who has more siblings? I have 5. He has 2.

Who wears the pants? Well, I don't know if Tom agrees, but I think I do! I get kind of bossy and demanding sometimes.

Tom really is the best husband and dad! He works so hard for our family and only wants the best for us. He is hilarious and has the best sense of humor. I love his personality and how he truly is the best match for me. I love him to death and I am so greatful for him in my life. I would be lost without him! I know the kids would want to tell him that they love him too! Happy Valentine's Day!

Like the photo? It's me right before my first run today! I'm finally able to exercise and started earlier in the week with some TaeBo workouts. I'll have to dust off my other workout tapes/dvds! Then today I finally got to go running! I was like a kid on Christmas morning, waiting for the right time to go running today. Luckily, the weather cooperated and it was around 45 degrees when I was out (I dressed a little too warm!) and almost all the snow was melted. My plan was to run half a mile. Yeah that is not very much, but I am starting from 9 months of no physical activity! But, I surprised myself and ran 1 mile! It was very hard and I could immediately tell my body is very rusty! I can't wait to slowly work up to more mileage. I've got a training schedule all typed up... I'm working towards a 5k in March and a 10k in May. I always have the hardest time talking myself into working out everyday (except for today). But, then when I start and get into it, I'm always thinking,"I love working out!" I just need to find a way to motivate myself before I start. Anways, I'm so excited to being exercising again and can't wait to get back into shape!

Inspirational

Many of you have heard of Team Hoyt. They are a father and son team that race in marathons and triathlons together (the son has cerebral palsy and rides along in special equipment) . Well, today I was picking up Jordyn's diapers from a wheelchair and medical store. I saw a magazine with a picture of a dad on a road racing bike, pulling his son behind him in a special wheelchair(photo below), and I was immediately intrigued! I brought the magazine home and read the short article on them. They are just like Team Hoyt and they run races and triathlons together. The dad was inspired by Team Hoyt and decided to start racing with his son, who is 9 yrs. old, back in 2004. I couldn't find the article online, but I did find a website with some photos of them in a race. I'm sure they will be featured in more articles or stories soon! Here's the link: http://www.jstriclub.org/

Everytime I see stories like this, it really inspires me and makes me want to do the same thing. But, then I start thinking #1 I don't have the equipment and I'm sure it's difficult to get. #2 I'm not sure if Jordyn would like it! hahaha Maybe that should be my number one concern! Tom and I have talked about it before and we decided Jordyn wouldn't want to sit for that long and might hate the wind in her face. I can just see us in a race and Jordyn is screaming her head off because she hates it! hahaha But, you never know, maybe in the future when she is older, she would like it. I guess I could always run shorter races with her too. Maybe I can be the first MOM to race with their disabled child! Wouldn't that be so cool!?

SNL

Recently my sister posted one of her favorite Saturday Night Live sketches and her husband posted one of his also. It got me thinking about all of the hilarious SNL episodes. So, here is my all time favorite SNL spoof. It makes me laugh EVERY time I watch it... probably because it's so true! I love it.