Jamison blows my mind.  This boy is constantly doing funny things and surprising me with his growing skills.  He changes every day.  Sometimes it feels like he changes every time I turn around!  He is speaking up a storm these days.  The child almost never stops talking and we're not just getting two word sentences anymore, he is talking in full-blown sentences.  He works hard to say words right and have good diction, so his sentences (and words) are choppy, but so cute!

He is still dressing himself, and he asks to help with everything.  Sometimes I have to be pretty creative to let him be helpful.  For example?  He wants to help me when I check Grandma's blood sugar and do her insulin.  So we take turns.  After I check the blood sugar, I let Jamison take the monitor and go through the motions of checking it.  With the insulin?  Well, I let him hand me the cap for the needle.  With housework, everything takes twice as long and is twice as messy but my child just wants to help and I'm not going to discourage that!  It's getting to the point now that he even tries to help Grandma push her walker.  I have to keep a close eye so that helping doesn't become a danger.  I just love how sweet my child is though, and how much he wants to help.  It's darling.

 (He grabbed a baby wipe and began cleaning his slide...he also cleaned the wall, the floor, and his toes)

We've been busy the last few weeks with holidays.  My mom and sister both had birthdays and then we had Pioneer Day.  For my sister's birthday there is always a theme and this year it was The Hunger Games.  There weren't a lot of options for someone Jamison's age and I didn't want to spend a lot on a costume for him so....we made him Haymitch.  (If you don't know about the Hunger Games, Haymitch is a drunk....)  He helped with his own costume, of course. 

 Haymitch with Katniss and Peeta

 Citizens of the Capitol (My sister is Effie Trinket...the rest of us have no specific identities)

And for Pioneer Day, Jamison loved the parade.  Well....at first he was a little nervous but by the end he was loving it.  And for days afterwards it's all he's talked about.  That and the "firetruck works" (also known as fireworks). 

Jamison with his baby cousin.  I think he's warming up to the idea of a baby brother because he will bring up "the baby" sometimes and talk about his toys.  When we pulled out the baby's car seat, Jamison kept talking about how it was for the baby and he seemed a little excited.  We'll see if the excitement lasts after his little brother is actually here!

Yesterday Jamison and I went to a pool party with my parents and had a blast.  Even though Jamison was up way past his bed time, it was so worth it.  He loves water and he was so happy to splash and play.  He also said so many funny things that night!  When my dad tried to teach Jamison how to blow bubbles in the water, Jamison ended up trying to drink the water.  So we explained to him that we don't drink the water we swim in, and I told him "ew, that's gross."  Jamison asked his grandpa to blow more bubbles (by saying, "Umpa, drink?  Bubbles?") and then when Grandpa obliged, Jamison said, "Ewww, Umpa!"  He did this over and over again.  He also liked it when my dad would swim under the water and pop up right in front of him and he'd ask him to do that by saying, "behind the water?"  Then, when it was time to go...well, of course Jamison didn't want to.  So I told him that it was dark and they needed to turn the water off so that everyone could go home and go to bed.  This, Jamison decided, was a legitimate reason to leave.  So he said goodbye to Nana and Grandpa and without me needing to prompt him said, "thanks for playing in water!"  Proudest Mom moment!  Oh, and then as we left he continued waving and saying "Bye Nemo!"  Which is weird because he's never seen the movie Finding Nemo so I'm not sure where that came from. 

I just love my boy so much, and he's doing so much lately.  Sorry this post is kind of braggy....but it's going to continue to be because I'm also so proud of my husband who in the past month has gotten not one but TWO promotions at work!!!  I couldn't be happier for Tyler.  He now has the job he was hoping he'd get if he stuck with the school district for five-ish years.  But because the person who had the job got a better offer elsewhere, they have given the job to Tyler.  And I know he will blow them away, because he's a fast learner and a hard worker.  I can't give you his exact job title, and I'm not even 100% sure what all his responsibilities are but he's still doing computer tech support stuff.  He's on call now so that if the network goes down, he has to go to the schools to fix it.  The other day he was at work for 12 hours, came home for 4, and had to go back in because the wireless was down.  So it's a higher stress job with more responsibility but...he loves it. 

I am now 37 weeks along in my pregnancy and I think Gregory is ready to come.  He dropped about two weeks ago and then this week, he dropped further (which I didn't even know was possible!)  So he's sitting pretty low now.  Unfortunately, my body isn't cooperating and I'm not dilated at all.  My doctor informed me that I have a strong cervix and it will take a lot of contractions before I'm ready to deliver.  So I'm in this weird situation where I want to give myself lots of contractions because if I don't go into labor by 40 weeks...my doctor isn't willing to induce me and I will have to have another c-section.  I'm doing what I can to prepare for either option and I'm praying to Heavenly Father that things will work out as is best for myself and my baby...and that whatever way that happens, I can have peace.  Because right now?  I really, really want a VBAC and it literally makes me cry when I think that it might not happen.  So I need the Lord to help me be calm and okay with however my baby can get here healthy and safe. 

.

I have had an awesome few days, and I just wanted to share.  Mostly so that I have a record of it for later...because let's be honest, I haven't written in my journal since Christmas (blush). 

Thursday, Independence Day, we spent the afternoon with family.  My aunt's family owns a private bit of space on the mountain that they used to ranch.  So we still call it "the ranch" but now it's just a playground, pavilion, and small pond, along with some old farm equipment and hiking trails.  Jamison was in heaven playing in the water.  We spent an hour and a half swimming and splashing (well, no swimming for Jamison...he just splashed...) and I don't have a single picture because we were all too busy playing and my camera is not water-proof.  When Jamison started shivering, we tried to tell him it was time to get out but he kept telling us no.  I finally had to bribe him with a cookie.  He ended up eating two.  Oh well!  After all that swimming, little man was exhausted.  He fell asleep about a minute into the ride home.  And he looked so cute.  :)

That night, Jamison had a sleep-over with my parents.  Tyler and I enjoyed the night to ourselves and then the next morning we headed to Logan for a mini-vacation.  It was our early anniversary trip because Tyler has a work training over our anniversary and I will be so hugely pregnant that I don't expect to be much fun to be around. 

So Tyler and I spent the day in Logan.  We went to the Tabernacle, walked along Main Street, went to a Pepperidge Farm outlet, and to Gossner's Dairy (where they were all out of Mango Milk which was seriously the only reason I went!) and then went to our hotel for a nap.  The rest of the night we went to dinner, watched a crazy storm come and go, saw the sun set, watched an interesting documentary (Craigslist Joe), and just enjoyed each others' company.  Oh, and played with Legos we bought at Wal Mart.  ha ha. 

Saturday morning we went to a HUGE car show.  They boast that it's the biggest/most popular in the Western United States.  I can't say that for certain but it was definitely large, and really neat.  I'm glad we were about to go.  We had no idea it was going on while we'd be in Logan but we kept seeing neat old cars driving down the road while we wandered Main Street on Friday, so we got on Google and found the car show.  I'm so glad we did!  We walked around for an hour and a half and I'm sure we still missed a lot of cars but let's be honest...34 weeks pregnant and walking in the heat?  I could only hang on for so long!

The neat thing was coming home and showing the pictures to my grandma.  She told me that she remembered when these cars were on the road!

When we came back Saturday evening to pick up Jamison I had envisioned this sweet reunion where he was super happy to see us and hugged me and maybe wanted to sit in my (non-existent) lap for the rest of the night.  Instead he refused to even look at me.  I was in deep trouble for leaving him!  It wasn't until  I gave him milk over an hour later that he'd finally even talk to me (though he was playing with his dad much sooner than that...don't know why I was the main one in trouble!).  And it took even longer before Jamison was willing to let me give him a hug and a kiss.  When we brought him home, Jamison was excited to unpack his bag and hop into bed.  Oh how I love that boy!  I'm glad he forgave me but I do worry now about how he'll respond when I leave him for a few days and then come back with a baby....Wish me luck!

Guess what friends?!  Life is super, duper crazy right now.  I have so much to share, it's hard to know where to begin.  Let's start pretty much where my last post left off: with my ultrasound (and a new picture of my pregnant belly).

When I went to get the ultrasound done, I forgot to grab the address for the office before we left the house.  Normally I go to their Orem office but they do ultrasounds in their Provo office instead.  So we just googled the address on my phone (the joy of modern technology!) and got there with two minutes to spare.  Not that it mattered because the office was running way behind.  We had to wait over an hour but it was fine because my sister was watching Jamison and all was good.  When we got back to actually get the ultrasound, the tech asked me if I have the doctor's orders.  I didn't remember being given anything to bring so she tells me to make sure they fax her the order.  I thought it was kind of weird because I was just going to the doctor's Provo office instead of the Orem one I normally visit...why on earth didn't they have the order?!  Well, I went home and got busy and forgot about it until it was too late to call.  And then the next day when I remembered to call, no one answered.  I forgot about it again until yesterday (Wednesday).  And the receptionist at the office was VERY confused  when I called and told her what I needed.  She told me I'd never even shown up for my ultrasound and they had my order.  I'm like...yes...I did....According to her records, though, I had been a no-show.  Anyway, skipping past the details of my conversation with her...I went to the wrong doctor's office.  Apparently there is a Valley OBGYN and a Utah Valley OBGYN.  I went to the Utah Valley OBGYN instead of the Valley OBGYN.  Their offices are a few blocks apart.  Ooops!  The weird thing?  1-When I didn't show up for my ultrasound, why didn't they call to find out where I was?  I mean, who really misses their gender ultrasound?!  And even if they didn't have time to call me then, why haven't I heard from them since about rescheduling?  2-When I showed up to the wrong office, why didn't they say, "Who the heck are you?  We don't have you on the schedule and we don't have any of your information on file.  Go home.  We are already overbooked" (because they were)?  The blame is not all mine, that's all I'm saying.  So now I am in the process of trying to get a hold of the ultrasound tech who did the ultrasound so that I can get the results faxed to the right doctor.  Only she's out of town this week.  And the only other person who can access the information is also unavailable.  Also, I have yet to mention this little mishap to my insurance company...hopefully they don't kill me for this.  I have no idea if the people I went to are covered by my insurance.  Is that not the most ridiculous story ever?!

Moving on to Easter!  YAY!  (Have I ever mentioned before that Easter is my favorite holiday?  Not only because I LOVE Easter candy better than any other candy but because of the beautiful reason for celebrating Easter). We didn't have the Easter bunny visit Jamison until I got off work (I had to work the lunch shift) and he woke up from his nap.  When I got home from work he was still sleep so I just put his Easter basket where he could see it when he woke up.  Watching his excitement at getting some eggs with candy and a book was so darling.  He kept saying, "wow!" and was super giddy.  It was so sweet. 

We had dinner at my parents' house and then my mom did an Easter Egg Hunt for Jamison.  He is such a funny kid.  His current favorite candies are Candy Corns (heaven only knows why!!!) and Life Savers.  So Mom bought him a bunch of the Easter colored ones. When he realized that was in the Easter Eggs (along with some cars and money) he got super excited.  He was dancing around and he told us "I got candy corns that I like!"  We have it on video and it's the cutest thing!  (If you are friends with me on Facebook, my brother posted the video and tagged me in it.  Go watch it, you won't regret it.  I promise.)  I would say it was a pretty successful Easter for my little man.  And me too.  I enjoyed Sacrament meeting (which was the only part of church I could attend because of work) and the sweet Spirit that reminded me that I have an older brother who loves me enough that he will do whatever it takes to help me be happy in this life and in eternity.  It gives me warm fuzzies.  :)

Now for more news!  Keeping with our tradition....we will be moving again this summer.  We knew our landlord was planning on moving here this summer, but what we didn't know was what he planned to do about us renting the basement.  At one point he'd said he'd keep us around.  But he hasn't kept us in the loop and so Tyler finally asked him and...yeah, we have to move out.  Sigh.  I'm so tired of moving.  We'd hoped to stay here for a while. So we have started looking around at our options.  We found an AMAZING deal in Orem.  It's a basement apartment, 1350 sq ft., and under $750 a month with utilities included!  We went and toured it the other day.  Tyler was hoping we could hand them a deposit and take it then and there and be done with the apartment search but....the people had a lot of interest (imagine that, with that much space and such a low price!) so they were doing tours all week and said they would let us know when they decided who they were going to rent to.  It felt like a job interview.  We filled out an application, gave references, and were told they would let us know.   We've since found out that we won't be getting that apartment, so the search continues with another tour tonight and probably even more in the future.  We are just praying that we will find the right place...and find it soon.  Moving + pregnant = not so awesome.  Plus, I probably haven't mentioned this before, we don't know if Tyler will get to keep his job.   Because of Obama-care, the school district wants to cut back their employees hours so that they don't have to give them benefits.  Tyler's boss is really pushing to get to keep Tyler at full time but we are still waiting to see what will be decided.  And they don't technically have to give us an answer until July.  So it's just a waiting game for now. It all feels a little reminiscent of when I was pregnant with Jamison and Tyler lost his job.  I'm hoping we don't have a repeat with every baby!!!

So that's us.  We keep life exciting.  :)  I shall now end with more cute pictures of my darling son and handsome husband.  They play so well together!

Wow, it's been a crazy week!  To answer the most common question I've been getting the past two weeks, I've begun working where I used to work while I was making money to get through college.  In the dining room at Courtyard at Jamestown Assisted Living Community. 

Before I could start work, though, I had to get a TB test.  They prick your skin and you go back two days later to make sure you didn't react.  Guess what?

I did.  So then I had to get a chest X-ray.  They didn't let me keep it, but the good news is that my chest looks just lovely and TB free.  It's possible that the disease is lurking in my body, waiting for the perfect time to attack but you can't really prove that without blood work and then 9 months of antibiotics and for now I'm going to opt out of that because...I don't think I really have TB.  I had the BCG immunization as a baby (outside of the US you get immunized for TB) and so it's probably somehow related to that...hopefully....

I spent a lot of time running back and forth from my dad (who is the nurse at Courtyard) and the health department and a million other places this week.  Jamison spent so much time seeing my dad that now every time we get in the car he thinks we are going to see Grandpa.  And the ducks.  He is obsessed with the ducks. 

This weekend I didn't work so I insisted we do a few fun holiday things.  We took Jamison to see Santa at RC Willey.  They were letting you take pictures with him for free!  Jamison didn't talk to Santa at all but he did sit on his lap and accept a candy cane and as we left he shared a Chinese grin with him. 

Unfortunately, the picture they took got erased somehow and when we tried to re-create the beauty of that picture, Jamison wasn't as eager to participate.  When I tried to move out of the picture he screwed his face up and I could tell he was ready to scream, so I went back to him and ended up in the picture.  He doesn't look too thrilled but at least he isn't crying!

Before we left RC Willey we browsed a bit.  Jamison enjoyed looking at all the balloons they had around the store.  And he and Tyler both spent a few minutes watching Tangled in 3-D.  I think they both look adorable in the 3-D glasses!

Then we took Jamison to see the lights in the Riverwoods.  He was enthralled.  He loves looking at Christmas trees and Christmas lights and he had to stop and touch every tree.  He'd place his finger on it and pet the branch and whisper "soft" (which is what I've been telling him whenever he starts yanking the balls on our tree).  It was adorable. 

The holidays are so much more fun when I get to share the joy of them with my son!  I hope that despite working most nights we'll be able to fit in a few more fun holiday things before Christmas is over. :)

Guess who is joining the work force again?  Just part time.  3 hours a day, in the evening after Tyler is home from work.  And I'll be home before Jamison even goes to bed.  Still...it's a huge adjustment for me.  Wish me luck.

But guess what else?  We had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  Tyler's dad came.  We haven't seen him since we moved (when Jamison was not even 4 months old) and Tyler's youngest sister hadn't seen him since she got married (over 18 months ago).  It was a short trip, but a wonderful one.  Look at the fun things we did:

Hurray for family time and holidays full of thankfulness!

We've had another adventurous week, though luckily not in the scary way of last week.  And I have pictures to go with it all...well, most of it anyway....YAY!

We had the ward Halloween Carnival on Wednesday.  There was a lot of noise so Jamison was a little overwhelmed but he enjoyed winning a cupcake in the cake walk and getting a candy when he went "fishing".  And he got to see one of his friends!

Thursday we had our first snowfall of the season.  Our whole family was not impressed.  Tyler and I were on the verge of just packing up and moving.  We are not snow people.  And Jamison?  I'd show you the video but it won't load, so let me just describe it.  I opened the front door and Jamison looked out and then he cried and ran to me.  So I tried to calm him down and get him to look at/touch the snow and he cried some more.  These picture should help you understand:

Like I said, we just aren't snow people.

Luckily the rest of the week the weather warmed up.  We took Jamison to a pumpkin patch.  Tyler didn't really get "the point" of getting Jamison a pumpkin but I like having fun traditions and I knew that Jamison would love it.  Every time he sees a pumpkin he points at it and says, "It's a cook!"  It's darling.  And his response to all the "cooks" at the pumpkin patch?  Priceless.  He was laughing and kept exclaiming and pointing, "oh it's a cook!"  We picked one up and we told him he could take it home.  Every morning he likes to go outside and look at his "cook."  Love that kid!

 

We also went to the Pumpkin Parade hosted at a local strip mall thingy (I don't know what they classify themselves as but I would say it's a fancy strip mall).  I had heard there would be a lot of jack-o-lanterns that local people had done and I thought it would be fun for all of us.  There weren't actually that many jack-o-lanterns but it was fun for Jamison all the same.  He (of course) loved the pumpkins but there was also trick or treating, a petting zoo, and a hay ride.  And it was all free!

Jamison had his second Sunday of nursery today even though he doesn't hit 18 months until Friday.  Tyler and I were teaching Sunday School and so we took Jamison to nursery last week to get him used to the idea before we had to worry about our class.  He's doing alright.  Last week he was super happy to play with all the toys.  This week he sat on the leaders' laps the whole time but I think that may be because he is teething.  Hopefully he'll be happy again next week!  

So Tyler and I were supposed to teach Sunday School this Sunday but we didn't know where our classroom was located, we'd never met the kids, and we haven't even been set apart (a special blessing given when you get a new calling at church.  Like extra help from God).  I don't know about Tyler, but I was a little worried how the day would go.  And then we couldn't find our kids when we did find the classroom!  No one was there and no one could tell us where our class was.   We asked a member of our bishopric and then the Sunday School president but no one knew.  So we went to the adult Sunday School class.  After we'd been in there about 30 seconds the Sunday School president came and told us our class had been found, they'd gone to another kid's home to try and convince him to come to church.  I'm glad we got it sorted out.  Our lesson went well and though we'd been warned the kids could be a handful (12 kids that are 14 and 15 years old....) they were good (granted only 6 of them were there...).  

Oh yeah...I am not training for a triathlon anymore.  Just wanted to say that in case anyone was thinking I was cool and hardcore.  There are 3 reasons.  1-I don't have a bike.  2-I don't have a pool.  3-I have a stress fracture in my foot.  Pretty legit reasons, right?  Still, as much as I didn't want to train I WAS looking forward to being sexy and skinny.  Now thanks to my injury I can only do low-impact aerobics and pilates for the next 6-8 weeks.  I'm gonna be a fatty.