Cars 2

Yesterday downtown they were doing a promotion for Cars 2! Jayden's friend is as much a fanatic for Cars as Jayden is for Toy Story, so we went down to check it out! The boys had fun, although Mommy nearly melted it was so hot!

We got a bunch of pics taken and got to pick out a keychain, which is now for our mail key! There was a forever and a day long line for temporary tattoos, but we figured our time would be better spent buying some at Party City (if we ever decide we care that much), so we skipped that line.

Then we went over to the park in the shopping center and played and played and played. This park is quite fun, they have a few different tree-houses, a splash pad, a maze, a play theatre stage, etc.

We spent most of our time on the slides and in the water.

That 'voluptuous lady' on the left accidently bumped Jayden while trying to splash her sister, and took a weird, almost creepy interest in Jayden from then on. Not a fan.

We had a great time, and ended the day with a visit to Dairy Queen! Even though it completely wiped Mommy out (and then some), Jayden was kind enough to wake up at 5:20 am! For the love!

Thanks Daddy for getting up with him so I could go back to sleep!

Baby Update

Well, we've had a bit of a roller coaster ride the past few months regarding the baby! Way back, I tested positive for an antibody test, and I will try to make a really long story a little shorter as I explain what that means...

Basically, Brian has an antigen that for whatever reason my body doesn't have, and he gave it to Jayden, and when I delivered Jayden he gave it to me. My body didn't know what to do with it, so my body started making antibodies to fight this "foreign" antigen, should my body ever encounter it again.

Once I got pregnant again (baby #2 also has the antigen from Brian), my body recognized it and started creating more antibodies to fight off this antigen. At first, the antibody levels were low enough and the cells were big enough that they weren't crossing the placenta, but then my levels increased, so Zumba/exercise got cut and off I went to a specialist. We found out a little more, but this is a pretty rare situation, so information has been hard to find. My Dr. warned me that searching on the internet was going to bring up a lot of horror stories. At this point I was told that if my antibody levels increased again, the safest way to protect baby from my antibodies would be to deliver him. It would be safer to treat a preemie baby out of the womb than from within. That was horror story enough for me, so I opted not to upset myself even more by searching on the internet.

I have been seeing my regular OB and a specialist every week for a while now and have had to get bloodwork, an ultrasound to check the baby's fluids and bloodflow to the brain, and the stress test to monitor the baby's heartbeat every week. These tests all monitor the baby's condition and give signals as to whether the antibodies are harming the baby or not. The antibodies can cause a range of problems, including blood deficiencies, jaundice, anemia, organ damage, etc.

Since I have been seeing both my OB and a specialist, my antibody levels haven't increased any more, and yesterday my antibody levels actually went back down! Baby seems stronger and more active than ever, and doesn't appear to been affected yet, which is fantastic!

I have made it this far, which is farther than either Dr. initially predicted (the original goal was to try to make it to June 1), which is great. He is really low now, and I am scheduled to be induced Tuesday afternoon. At that point I will be 39 weeks, and the benefits of keeping him in aren't worth the risk of my antibodies and such.

So, 5 days and counting until we meet baby brother!

His nursery is all ready, and I've been finishing little things, like taking Jayden to the Dr. for an ear infection, laundry, and prepping meals ahead of time, passing the days until Tuesday!

We did decide on a name, so check the blog on Wednesday or Thursday to find out!

One little Jayden jumping on the bed

Jayden loves jumping on our bed. Here he is waiting for me to get ready for church, and Brian is helping to keep Jayden entertained. He's counting to ten. His one sounds like "no", and his seven sounds more like "mama", but it's adorable.

Last pics as a family of three...

Since at most we only have 3-4 weeks left until baby brother is born (there are some blood issues and we are hoping and praying my body can cooperate long enough to reach 37-38 weeks before they induce me), we decided to get some pictures taken! We bought a few Groupons that we plan to use after baby is born, but decided to get some of our little family of three before it's too late!

Jayden was NOT cooperative at all, so these are literally the only two pictures that looked even close to decent. Oh well, the life with a toddler, right?

I tried to be realistic going in, knowing that with Jayden's whiny attitude and my pregnant body, there were bound to be pictures that wouldn't come out, but I was really disappointed that he would not kiss my belly for anything. He does it all the time at home, but he was so stubborn and would only kiss, hug, and be held by Daddy while we were there. Oh well, I guess I can't really blame him, it's not comfortable for me to have him sit on my lap either ! ;)

Dancing Jayden

Last night we went to our local elementary school's fundraiser carnival. Jayden is so funny, he loves to dance, and did not hesitate to join in the Cupid Shuffle! We had funnel cake, kettle corn, voted in the chili cook-off, played a few games (he's holding the little pink ball he won at one of them), and, of course, DANCED! He is so into music, his favorite FHE game is the Freeze Dance.

We were joking that we had it wrong when we jokingly called him Chuck Norris when I was pregnant-now we know he wasn't kicking, he was dancing!

Easter 2011

The Easter Bunny came to visit Jayden! Yay! Just like his stocking, it took him forever to get to everything in his basket. He was the most excited about the cheap stuff from the dollar store. Go figure.

Jayden invited some of his friends over for a little Easter Egg Hunt at the toddler park by our house. They were so excited! Jayden kept saying "Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!" all morning long.

I'm ready, are we there yet?

Just getting the hang of it...

Jayden taking a break from egg hunting to race. Maybe he should have told his friend he was supposed to run...

Wow...rocks and dirt...

Oh yeah...I was looking for eggs!

Of course they were all into opening every egg as they found it, not bothering with the fact that there were more eggs to be found!!

The three of them admiring their eggs.

And here we are dying eggs for FHE.

What a cheesy smile, hope he grows out of that before kindergarten!

This video isn't Easter, but it's so funny I had to include it. He got a balloon at Red Robin, and Brian being the loving father he is, decided to play a game with Jayden and the balloon.

I love how he puts his hands in the air and says "Where'd it go?" (Or at least his version of that)

I just have to tell the story of what happened last night at bedtime, because every day Jayden does something new that makes me laugh, and I think his spirit is just a tad bit too big for his body!

You know, bedtime has been going much better, and we've been putting him to bed with a book, which has helped him stay in bed until he falls asleep. Last night we heard him through the monitor, so we knew he was either awake but in bed, putting his feet up on the wall or through the rails of the bed, or else he was just sleeping very restlessly. So Brian went in there to see, and he said that Jayden had his eyes all squinted shut, and after Brian reached the bed and stopped moving, Jayden peeked his eyes open just a bit and then when he saw Brian he squinted them shut again! What a turkey! He is too young to be fake sleeping! ;)

My Rant

I know I'm pregnant and just have to deal with everyone's advice and comments, but I have to say that I am surprised how many LDS women there are that seem so insensitive to the joys/annoyances about being pregnant. I don't understand how easily they forget (especially when their own daughters are currently having babies of their own) how rude it is to tell people how big they are, and go on and on about it.

There is a lady in my ward that ALWAYS talks about how big expectant mothers are getting, and she basically doesn't have a filter between her brain and her mouth. I'm sure she means well, she's a chatterbox, but she just processes her thoughts out loud-not just about pregnancy, but that's when it really hits the nerve with me.

Before I was even thinking about getting pregnant with this one, she would make so many comments about how big other women were getting, and finally I got so sick of it I flat out told her she needed to stop saying things like that about expectant mothers because it's just a particularly rude thing to say to a pregnant woman. Did that stop her? NO.

Now before I go on I have to say that I have been much, much healthier with this pregnancy. I still go to Zumba twice a week, I eat better (and less), and I have only gained 10 lbs so far, all of which I am pretty proud of. I compared myself to pictures of this point during my pregnancy with Jayden, and I am smaller and haven't started swelling yet, which I had with Jayden. (Although I am still all belly, and look and feel huge-who doesn't at 31 weeks?)

About a week ago she kept asking me if I was going to get as big as Sister So-and-So did, which I thought was an awful conversation to be part of, so I tried to politely change the topic. Then, on Tuesday, she said I must be due any day (because of this woman's calling she absolutely knew I at least wasn't due any day, so this irritated me even more), and I said no, I have two months left, and she kept repeating "Really? Two whole months left? Wow." Then she started talking about how tiny her daughter is (who is maybe 20 weeks and was tiny with her first baby anyway), and then she asked me if I was bigger this time than I was with Jayden. No, thank you, I'm actually smaller and weigh less, but thanks for the boost.

Ugh. I'm sorry if you actually read this whole post, I know every pregnant woman has had experiences like this, and I know I just need to brush it off, this woman is just like that, but I just think that especially LDS women/mothers should be the most understanding of anyone! Duh! Isn't it a no-brainer? I know it sounds cliche to say this, but I was having a whopper of an awful day, and it was just the worst day ever for this woman to say stuff like that to me. Ugh.

Anyway, Jayden and some of his buddies are doing a darling little Easter egg hunt today, so on to better and happier thoughts and activities! My parents are visiting this weekend too, so hopefully it will be an uplifting weekend! Hope you all have a good weekend too!

Bedtime Update

So, I am extremely happy to report that bedtime and nap time have been going much better!

Last I wrote we were sitting outside his door, making sure he stayed in bed, but before too long he started thinking it was a game, and he would try to see if he could sneak out and over to the door before getting caught, and before we knew it we'd see his shiny little eyes right at the crack in the doorway. Then he'd laugh hysterically and run back to bed. He'd do that repeatedly, and it was driving us crazy.

So, since he was seeking attention, and I didn't know what else to do besides spank him (and I didn't want to have to spank him like that, how awful would that be?), I thought, what's the harm if he plays a little? Worst case is I'll have to put him down earlier than normal, and yeah, he will play a little, but eventually he will get bored being alone and start crying, which would mean he'd probably be more receptive to going to sleep, or maybe he'd fall asleep on the floor...who knows...all I knew was that anything else would be better than the alternative of spanking him to get him to stay in bed.

So, we decided we'd put him to bed/nap like normal, (read stories, say a prayer, hugs & kisses, put him in bed and leave the room) and if he got up we'd let him play for 10-15 minutes, and then if he was still playing we'd go in, not say anything, and just pick him up and put him back in bed and then leave. That was our plan. We also didn't mind the fact that this house has round doorknobs and he can't open them yet-hee hee! ;)

This plan has worked so much better for us now! At first it would take a while to get him to actually fall asleep, and his naps ended up being quite a bit later than normal, but now, sometimes I go in once, sometimes I don't have to go back in at all! It's so nice.

My only complaint is that the way his window is, I can't put up the light blocking curtains I had before, so now he wakes up with the sun, which means he sleeps less at night than he was before. I've tried keeping him up later, and putting him down earlier, but he doesn't usually fall asleep until the sun sets-he's too much of a busybody-and is up as soon as the sun starts creeping up. Mommy just wishes she could sleep in a little more!

But, the best part is, if I give him a book when I put him down, and tell him it's time for night night but he can lay in bed and read a book, this is what happens...

I know it looks like he is in a weird position, but I promise you he is asleep. He has his Toy Story pj's & blanket, his stuffed dog, and has falling asleep to a good book-all the requirements for a good nights sleep!

Boy Names

So all of a sudden Brian thinks he "might" have issues with the name I thought we had pretty much decided on...so I need help! I need boy names! Please share any and all ideas!

Thanks!

What General Conference looked like at our house

The morning session:

The afternoon session:

Need I say more?