The Ride

This morning, I decided I would venture out of the house (FINALLY) and hit the gym. The H1N1 infestation has put me on a bit of a scare, but I'm putting my trust in the Lord that Hunter will be ok. Julia and I will get vaccinated as soon as the vaccinations become available. Since he stays in a part of the play area that is specifically for babies, he doesn't have any contact with the other children really. He pretty much stays in his car seat carrier or a swing if need be. I need the gym so badly, I just had to go! This morning I decided to go ahead and take a spin class this morning. I wanted to challenge myself and jump start my routine. It felt great to be sweating on the bike today. At the end of our ride, our instructor told us some fabulous words of advice. " If we had a good time, enjoyed the workout that we should hold onto the feeling for the weekend, the next week, the future and bring the positive and happiness into our lives. It's more powerful than anything else. " So, I enjoyed the ride and I think I just might remember the feeling for later. So excited for some more "beating" in the future. Boy oh Boy I missed the gym!!

Our October

As I sit here with my bowl of Edys Vanilla Bean ice cream, I realize I really need to blog about SOMETHING, ANYTHING. So, since October is in essence, at an end, I figured I would give a recap of our adventures. We were daddy-less the beginning of the month, followed by Hunter's blessing and a birthday party for two (all in the same weekend). Happy Birthday Julia and Jocelyn!! Followed briefly with sick children (that caused me to reschedule BOTH appointments I had this month) and finished off with a move that took a week to accomplish and will continue to span the next few months (we're downsizing)!




The move will be good for us - I like that there is more room to live here. Melanie has been doing GREAT with school!! GO GREEN DAYS!!! Yipee!! Although in the grand scheme of things - I think public schools have it in for our young ones. They will get less desirable colors (yellow, red) for "working" (read fighting) things out with peers. They promptly receive a green day (very ideal color) for tattling on everyone around them. ugh.... and thus the tattling phase has begun. At least we see those green days and have stopped receiving little notes stating our child has bitten another child or keeps messing with another girls hair!! What has the educational system come to??? On an up note, Melanie has been reciting her months of the year and other random facts throughout the day - VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!

Living life by the seat of our pants!

As if our little family hasn't had enough "big" changes lately, we are moving this week!! Yikes! We will be moving (literally a few houses away)starting Thursday. We have to move ourselves and they are giving us a week to do it! I think if we got much less than that I wouldn't be able to get it all done. (We learned we were moving on Friday of last week) On our quest for boxes this past weekend, we were not very successful, so I think it will end up being a gradual process (since we are due for a much bigger move in a little over 6 months). If any of us needed to adjust to change, now is our chance! I am getting EXTREMELY excited about getting the OK for exercise this week (yes, it will be 6 weeks since Hunter arrived). Can't wait to hit the gym running! Please bear with me as I am really truly planning on updating, we are just busy busy!!

Hunter's Blessing

Our little man got blessed today. So exciting! It's actually one of my friend's birthdays today too!! Happy Birthday - you know who you are! I can't believe Hunter is already a month old!! Time flies. The only plus of him growing up means that I will be back to the YMCA REAL soon. Yipee!! I'm so excited to start exercising again.
That's all beside the point though....our little bundle of joy has brought so much joy to our lives! He likes to look around and take it all in a lot more lately and is a really good sleeper. I think he will end up being our biggest cuddler so far - he LOVES to be held. Of course I think he is way too cute! Today when he was blessed, he wore his dad's blessing outfit. Yes... this little outfit was worn several decades ago when my husband was given his name and a blessing (and has been worn at least 3 times after that before today). How stinkin cool is that?

p.s. We tried taking his paci out for the photo... he didn't like that much, so I had to settle for this.

TOFW

Got back from Time Out For Women this weekend and really wish it would have been longer. =0( There will be more opportunities later I guess(sigh). i think I speak for the entire group as a whole when I say that I had a blast. Thank you ladies!! It was too much fun! We had a lot of laughs and went through a TON of tissues (H.K). I did my best to get pictures of every speaker/performer there - I just didn't get a good picture of Mary Ellen Edmunds (MEE). Here's our collage.
 

We hung out with Michael McLean, Hilary Weeks, Deanne Flynn, Brent Top, Kim Nelson, Mark Mabry, and Mary Ellen Edmonds this weekend. After the first night, we high tailed it to Cold Stone for a treat. We made it just in time before they closed... really they closed when we ran inside... but they helped us anyway. Thanks again for a GREAT time ladies!!

Oh, and there was this SUPER cute little girl sitting in front of us (she is 5 months).... yeah, can you tell I was missing on my little boy?? Here's her mug...

Juggling Life

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I have been "juggling life" lately. Last week was almost full with appointments and running to the pharmacy. Just when I think I am getting in the swing of things and getting a great schedule down... and... dare I say... having "free time" things change. Thus... the life with a newborn. I love it though - our little man is such a good baby. He has his bad nights (and bad days) - what can I say? (FYI By "Bad" I mean that he doesn't want to be put down OR he wants to "snack" all night) He LOVES to be cuddled!! I may end up strapping him on me like my dear friend Jenn does with her little girl! I'm sure he likes life better still being able to hear mommy's heart beat during the day! I'll gather up some things to post here in the near future. I just wanted to be sure everyone knew I was still alive (Jocelyn) and well!

So much going on....

Welcoming a new addition to the family has been a fabulous experience so far. We aren't quite a week into the swing of things, but I think life will be good. I try to eat up as much time as I can snuggling with Hunter. He has been VERY laid back so far. We all really do love him to pieces. Melanie looks forward to coming home from school everyday so she can hold her little brother. She is fabulous with him, and Julia doesn't mess with him much. We hear her talking to him sometimes and trying to carry on a conversation (i.e "Hunter... we're going to the library, we're going to have fun.... right??) with him. I find myself trying to just enjoy this week with Jeremiah since he will leave once it's over. Then the fun begins. We haven't been crazy busy... just busy trying to enjoy each other. I think Jeremiah is just loving it up. Life without the belly bump has been wonderful. I enjoy moments of being pregnant - at the end however... I'm just miserable!! Bending comes easily, I can roll over in bed without problems, I can bathe the girls, and I feel like my energy is back! (still waiting on some of it though - gearing up for some workouts in the next few weeks) HOORAY!!

During the past few weeks, many of you know I have been called to serve with the Young Women of the ward. I am SO excited! I look forward to the activities and chances to get to know them (as well as the girls from the other ward). My first activity as a Young Women leader was to go crabbing with them. Here are a few pictures from that.




We're hoping to get a chance to head up to the temple this weekend as well. We aren't sure if we will be attending the meetings with our stake, but we look forward to partaking of the spirit there as a couple before Jeremiah has to start work ups. Hopefully our next duty station will place us MUCH closer to a temple so we can get there more regularly. I am so grateful for my family that is fortunate enough to be able to help us when we plan these temple trips. They normally come down to the temple as well and help watch the children while we go in for a session.

Melanie has also started school and has been enjoying it for the most part. It is sometimes crazy to think she is that big, but then she will do things that are proof she is growing up. Hopefully school attendance will help her with her listening skills. Since she is in school, it ties us down here in the area a bit more. I don't have as much freedom to just pick up and go out of town for a bit - most of my visits will have to be during the holiday "off days". I think it will make the holiday time off a bit more rewarding and special. We certainly can't be too lazy in the mornings now!

Pictures of Hunter's big Debut

 

(from left to right)
Top Row: Hunter's first bath, Mommy after delivery, Lying around
Middle Row: Hunter with his girls
Bottom Row: He fell asleep in this position today - too cute!, Daddy with Hunter right after delivery, Going home outfit

Pictures are In....

Well, Hunter finally joined our family on Thursday Sept 10. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and a length of 19 3/4 inches. It took forever to get him here, we had a lot of trials through the ordeal and overall, the blessings triumphantly dominated. We are so thankful for all that Heavenly Father did to help us welcome Hunter to our family that day. His face is a little purple/bruised because they told me I delivered him too quickly (two pushes). Because of his facial bruising, I waited a day to take most of his "newborn" pictures. He has made a lot of progress and doesn't show too much of his mother's early unintentional abuse. Here are a lot of them... with more to come as time passes.

Have I ever mentioned that I have wonderful friends?

I have the great blessing of having a lot of ladies from church that I consider my friends. I enjoy every chance I get to visit with them and hang out. The last Saturday in August I got to "hang out" a little bit with some of them. Only... there was a little twist, it was held to celebrate the upcoming birth of my first little man!! Brief explanation about that: I have ALWAYS wanted a male in the family....I begged my parents for a brother for years and of course I put in a lot of orders for a son before getting pregnant with him. As well as a lot of prayers that it was a boy up until the ultrasound day when we found out for sure. It's definitely been something that I have REALLY REALLY wanted for a REALLY long time. My friends wanted to help me celebrate that and threw a shower for me!

Upon arriving at my dear friend Allyn's house (she was gracious enough to let us borrow her house for the afternoon) I was totally shocked. There was tons and tons of delicious food and a beautiful cake (picture below) not to mention the super fun decorations in the living room (which I didn't get a picture of - I don't think). Well, needless to say, we had great fun, played a few games (I found out that I am 11 toilet paper squares around right now), and I think Hunter is set for the entire first year of his life!! The clothes were beyond adorable and I'm excited to see him in each of the outfits. Thank you guys for throwing the shower for me and going through all the trouble of planning and preparing. I love you all and am truly grateful for your friendship!! Hopefully I have the product that caused all of this celebrating REAL soon so you all can see him. My hospital room is open for visitors anytime!


Tara's beautiful cake. The top layer is coconut and the bottom layer is chocolate!

 

Some of the photos my friends took for me - all surrounding the notorious face shot of Deborah and Jenn!! A collage just isn't a collage without that kind of picture! Please don't mind the pregnant face - or belly for that matter!

Growing up?? WAY too fast!

So I hear that this time of year is like this for a lot of parents. I find myself being a little anxious and excited for Melanie this year. I think she will do great and have so much fun she'll forget about dear 'ol mom! To me, that is what being a little kid is all about though - enjoying yourself. I can't believe that come Tuesday.... my little girl will technically be a big girl. I'll update this post with some pictures of her first day and some of her own "quotes" as well. For now... enjoy the commercial.... a few friends told me about it.

And the Winner Is....

I remember a few months back, Vicki saying that her son would be on Wipeout. That episode got postponed and was scheduled for tonight. I decided I would watch (I do occasionally) and see how he fared. Low and behold.... he WON! He did a great job! Imagine that... someone we know (sort of) just made 50,000 on a TV show!! If you've never checked out Wipeout, you can catch it on the ABC website tomorrow. The episode should be available then. Congrats Travis!

Running out of Space and Time

I'm starting to think that my son must really have the wrong impression. It seems as though he thinks I still have plenty of room to spare in that uterus of mine and that my organs don't really need the amount of space they are currently taking up. Maybe he is shooting for some kind of goal to make sure my stomach and bladder stay as flat as pancakes so that he can continue with his exercise routine. My theory continues with the realization that there must be about a month's worth of memory erasing that happens the moment the baby is born. Gone are the memories and suffering of heartburn, restless nights, constant punching bag practice, and of course natural delivery.

My time is almost up, that egg timer is really getting ahead of me. There is so much I want to accomplish and that I need to do. My body is gradually giving up! Anytime I take the opportunity to lay on my side to "relax" a bit... my eyelids start drooping and I nod off to sleep. Now, that isn't going to help my nesting instincts! This week has been a little busy for me with taking that driving course test (which I passed by the way), phone conferences, trying to enjoy the last few days of Jeremiah's leave, school orientations, and hospital preparations. I'll find out Monday if my body is really as ready for this as I'm thinking it is. I'm hoping I'm dilating already, even though that doesn't mean much for predicting the big day. Tomorrow will make it official that it is finally "safe" to have the little man without the fear of him being pre-term. Yay!

Would you want to hang out with these guys for a week?

I got to hang out with these cuties for a week. I was so excited to have some time with some babies (I need to fill the void I currently have). Now that vacation is over, I just have to hang in there for a few more weeks before I get to have my own! Not to mention that I don't get to give this one back when he's hungry or wakes up in the middle of the night. Eh...I'll just have to live. I do have two amazing helpers though - the girls were just beside themselves trying to help with these little ones. It was wonderful to watch!

Baby Brooklyn at 5 months with her Momma Steph


I love those cheeks!


My husband's cousin, Tristen's, little guy. His name is Julien. How cute is he!? He's just a month old! I didn't get to hold him... but watching him was WONDERFUL!

Julien with his grandpa (known to us as Uncle Tom)! Yes, Jeremiah's family is just filled with big guys.


This is Tristen, Julien's proud daddy. I was hoping to get some family pictures done before the week was done, but they had to scoot out earlier than the rest of our pack.

Part II

We headed off to Hatteras/Buxton for some exploring one morning. Jeremiah climbed the lighthouse and I stayed with the kids (there was a height limit... and no carrying allowed - that's two strikes for our girls!) and waited as the temperature outside started to climb for the day. We also tried exploring some other things, but pretty much just got pictures of the lighthouse.

 

The girls were HILARIOUS at the beach. Julia was really into the water, once she was "bored" with that - she hung out in the sand and dug like a champ! She even made some fun poses for the camera. She cracks me up. Melanie was mostly busy playing with the sand toys and running away from the water when her dad wouldn't hold her. I just sat there on a boogie board in the sand and looked 9 months pregnant. Oh wait, I AM!

 

Justin joined in the digging fun and Wyatt even came up to punch my shoulder for a close-up!







The Dads were having some fun tossing the kids up in the air - and of course the kids loved it more than the dads! Cousin Tristen stood in to be Mel's tosser since Jeremiah was busy with Julia. It was great to see the guys in the water with the little ones.

Uncle Ben used to work with a lot of pools and hot tubs. One day this week he decided he would help educate the children on different parts of the pool and how to stay safe. It was so cute to watch the kids just watch him and be so excited about their "game".

We're Back! Vacation Part I

We finally arrived home from vacation today. It was sad knowing that our week of "away" time had already come to an end. However, with Hurricane Bill off in the Atlantic, it made parting so much easier this year! On the way home we encountered numerous bits of congestion with people stopping for 2 inches of water on the roads. Then the roads were lined with parked cars - people waiting to catch a glimpse of the waves. There were plenty of surfers out there just checking out the surf. I couldn't see the water from the road because the dunes were so high... but I could see the people hanging out at the tippy top of the dunes so I guess the waves were coming in pretty close.

Anyway... .
the beginning of the week started with the girls, boys, and Dads on a "monster truck" ride at the Grave Digger attraction. The girls were loving it and screaming the whole way. Wyatt was um... yeah... pretty terrified. He kept screaming (in a frightenend kind of way and trying to cling to Jeremiah) and Justin loved it so much that he cried when he had to get off! I'll do what I can to post the video I got, I don't seem to have the best luck at posting those. Hopefully this time we will be successful! They also had a little "petting zoo" that wasn't really being run at the time. The kids just looked at the pigs and chickens - but really enjoyed seeing them for sure



Then we had tons of time in the pool - swimming almost everyday. The girls really took to the water this year, I'm smelling swim lessons for this fall! Then we headed off to the beach.




Since we went so far south this year, there was 4 wheel drive access at the beach we went to and Jeremiah drove the Xterra onto the beach where we were "camped out". After loading up all of our gear (plus ourselves) we got a little stuck in the sand. After a few minutes of letting a bit more air out of the tires and having a Sand 101 lesson, we were as good as gold!

OcraJoke

Since we are staying further south than we have in the past, we thought it would be fun to see some of the "sights" near by. There was a map in the vacation guide of Ocracoke Island. In order to get there - you need to catch a free ferry ride from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke. Needless to say.... we had to wait 2.5 hours to get on the ferry for a 30 minute ride to the Island. Then upon finally arriving...quite a few places were closed/out of business and there was WAY too few parking spaces available for the different shops. It seemed as though the beaches were catching the biggest crowds. We would have loved to see the lighthouse there, but there were no parking spots and definitely no space on the road to park anywhere and walk to it. Quite a disappointing (not to mention hot as well) day. Fortunately, once we finally turned back for home... the return wait for the ferry was about 20 minutes. YAY! I think the girls enjoyed the ferry the most out of the entire day. The sights were so disappointing, I didn't even get pictures! Poor Jeremiah was excited to see Teach's Hole (Blackbeard exhibit) and was so disappointed, he didn't even stop to go see! Upside is, it did have some great views when you could see over the dunes to the ocean or sound sides.

Hanging in Hatteras

Here are a few of the things we've been up to this week. It's sad that our time away from home is almost over. Jeremiah and I went for our first massage at a spa today - I forgot to get a picture of the place... so we'll run by tomorrow so that I can have documentation.

 

Having Fun

We arrived here in Salvo, NC safe and sound on Sunday afternoon and checked into our "home" for the week. We took a few stops along the way to stretch and get those kiddos out of the car a bit. I think overall everyone enjoyed it. By the time we reached the house I was wishing Hunter was already here so I didn't have to be so uncomfortable. I even got sunburned on my right arm and right knee (where my shorts stopped)from sitting in the car so long. Ugh. OH WELL!! We also quickly discovered that we had left all but one of the girls swimsuits at the house (Jeremiah washed them up on Saturday and we just forgot to get them in the bag). Needless to say - we bought a new one Monday so that Julia could go swimming - we hope to go to the beach early this morning before the temperatures get too warm. So excited!

Drum Roll....

It is almost vacation time, I am so stinkin excited. I hope this year is extremely relaxing as I think that is going to be the only key to my survival with these past crazy stressful months/weeks/days. Here is the place we will be calling "home" for a week starting Sunday. It should be fun and I hope I don't go into labor while I'm gone!