This girl has been sick…

Can you tell? For the last week, I have done so much laundry, and our baskets our still full. Why? Because I have done nothing but stuff that has been thrown up on or pooped on. The point of this bath was to clean up after her pajamas filled up with poop. Good news is, fleece pajamas don’t allow anything through. So, if your kid is sick, just put on some fleece pajamas. It will keep everything contained, or keep stuff out. Then you don’t have to wash the bedding along with everything else.

One thing I love about living here, is all the color in the fall. The streets are full of reds, oranges, and yellows, with a green backdrop to make them stand out. Even through winter, it’s still green everywhere. There’s enough trees and foiliage, there is always a green backdrop. This makes the colors of fall stand out even more. On a clear day, it really makes me happy. I didn’t have many trees to watch change color growing up. Palm trees are either green or brown. Watching the colors change never gets tiring.

Jayci, my cousin, was here visiting her parents. We were able to go see her and one of the cutest little boys in the world. We got there, and Jameson immediately wanted to see, “Uncle Bruce’s motorcycles.” My Aunt tried to tell him he didn’t have one (thinking he meant a motorcycle like Kevin’s), but he wanted to see the little ones in the cabinet. I told him he had to have Uncle Bruce get them out for him. Uncle Bruce was still outside, doing yard work, so Jameson waited patiently. As soon as he walked in the house, Jameson was his shadow asking to see all sorts of stuff. Luckily, Aunt Colett wasn’t working that day, so we got to see everyone, and have some delicious lunch together. The kids all did well at the restaurant, and we watched a seal play out in the water.

We even got the kids together for a quick picture. (October 15th)

Mont loved teasing Jameson. See… here’s proof. 🙂

I have been pretty good about Ella only having baby food. I want her to eat the vegetables, so I’ve tried to limit sweet things she eats. The other night (Oct. 8th), I decided to give her a treat.

She LOVED it! Oreo cookies are now her favorite. She gnawed that cookie till there was nothing left. It was the biggest mess to clean up, but totally photo worthy!

Jameson enjoyed them, too.

It’s been a few weeks now, but we had our family pictures taken on Sept. 22. One lucky winner will be on our Christmas card this year. I am determined to get those out since we have added to our family this year. I think I’ve missed the last two years. Maybe just last year, I’m not sure. Here they are…

We had an amazing photographer named Christie, but she doesn’t do this as a business. So if she ever decides to, I will give anyone her info. We were having so much fun chatting and playing, we forgot to do individual shots of the kids. So those will be saved for a later date.

It has officially been a year since we packed our house and moved away from Reno. We moved to Seattle conference weekend, arriving here on the 4th of October. Our good friends came over that morning to see us off. Kevin drove our moving truck while I drove our car with Jameson. (We left Kevin’s car to be picked up in a few weeks. In the last year, we have had 3 homes…

to here   to here 

Some things that are different about Washington:

• Carpool lanes are sometimes on the right (not the best idea in my opinion)
• There are bus stops along the freeway
• We don’t have sprinklers… everyone’s grass slowly turns brown as the rain stops, and then within a week it starts raining again. No need for sprinklers.
• I am the only one speaking English at the park… at least as a first language.
• There are 4 distinct seasons. I love watching the leaves change. Which leads me to…
• Your cars get covered in crunched up leaves, not dirt. Nevada, we wash cars when they get too dusty. Here, the leaves fall, get crunch as cars drive over them, it rains, and that gets stuck to your car. Kind of looks like mud.
• Everyone drives s l o w. The speed limit on the freeway is 60 mph and everyone does about 55 mph or less.
• Driving 20 minutes to work is a “good” commute.
• No one stops for the rain. I wait to see if anyone else has an umbrella before I get one. Which means, usually I don’t use one. Most of the time, the rain is more of a mist. It’s really not enough to get you wet.
• Parking spaces are more narrow. They don’t like bigger cars here.
• Our grass is mostly moss, which makes it really soft.
• Stores have racks of umbrellas and galoshes year round… not sun glasses.

I’m sure there are way more, but I won’t go on. Some people asked how I did it. How I handled moving away from everyone, and then how I handled Ella’s stay in the NICU. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I didn’t. I ignored what was really happening, and went into more of a survival mode. Most of the time, I do not get too personal, since I do not know everyone that reads this blog, but I feel I should share this. Hopefully it helps someone else.

We were at a place in life where we felt stuck, I guess you could say. Kevin felt that in order to progress in his career, we needed to move from Reno. There were also some other motivations, but I won’t go into those. I wanted to stay on the west coast. The technical hubs in the west are: Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Bay Area, or Seattle. Well Phoenix was not an option for me. I’ve lived in the dry desert heat and would rather never have to do that again. Bay area was too expensive. We looked at Salt Lake, but opportunity wise, Seattle was the better option. So resumes went out to the last two. Kevin arranged it, so he could work remotely for the month of October. Honestly, we picked a date and said we were moving by that date. There was no job we were moving for, but since we hadn’t heard from anywhere, we chose Seattle. Kevin felt once he was here, he would be able to interview and get a job. After much prayer and thought, we felt Seattle was the right move. With no job to be moving for, I had to completely trust my husband on this.

As word got out we were looking for a place in Seattle, a guy Kevin knew from work offered his place. He was in Reno fulfilling a contract and wanted to rent his town house to us. It was fully furnished which would give us time to figure out where we wanted to live without having to unpack very much. It also allowed us to sell most of our larger items and not have to move them. So we packed. I put on a smile, and kept telling myself it would work out. I cried when no one was looking, but tried to be strong and support my husband. He was excited to move.

Friends and family came to help load the truck Friday evening, and Saturday morning we got in the cars. I fought back tears as I hugged my friends, good-bye. I held them in until after we stopped for breakfast. I didn’t want Kevin to see me with red, puffy eyes. So I only allowed tears if I knew it was going to be long driving stretch.

After two days in the car, we arrived at our new home. I had tried to prepare myself for what I would find, knowing a middle aged bachelor had lived there. Nothing can prepare you, though. I didn’t know the phrase, “Fully furnished,” would also include clothes in the washer, and food in the fridge. That’s when I lost it in front of Kevin.

So Kevin sent me to the store, to get what we needed, and he stayed with Jameson, trying to clean and move things as best he could. He worked his butt off, let me tell you. That night, I wrapped myself in a blanket from the car, and went to sleep. I will remind you… I also had pregnancy hormones to deal with which may have cause some emotions that normally would have  been under control.

The next day, we hired some guys to come unpack our truck. Kevin made sure I didn’t have to do anything. The first week was a lot of trial and error, getting lost, and unpacking. Luckily, it wasn’t raining when we got here.

Kevin had received a call as we were driving up to Washington. They had a position they wanted him to fill, but it was in Seattle, not Reno. Lucky for them, we were on our way. So Tuesday, he started his new job. This meant, for a month he would be working two jobs.

Our first Sunday at church we were invited to dinner. This family has become like family to us. She was such an example to me of the importance of reaching out to new people. I have tried really hard to make sure I make people feel accepted the way we did that first week in a new ward. I have come to really love the organization of the church. I knew before we got here, I had a support group waiting for me. There are people waiting to be your friends, and waiting to serve you.

I have learned, through moving and also through Ella’s birth, the ward is truly our family. The power of the priesthood is real. There are people who will drop everything in their lives, to be in yours in your time of need. No request is to troublesome. I am grateful for everyone that has made our transition easier. We really have had opportunity here we wouldn’t have  had in Reno. We have also grown closer together, and closer to Heavenly Father by having to depend more on each other.

So if your wondering how I managed (which I hear a lot), I did it one day at a time, with support from those around me. I am trying to do the same for others around me. I know I don’t always accomplish this, but I’m working on it.

The older I get the more I look forward to conference weekend. I’m sure we’re all like that. Now, when I watch, I am looking for answers. I’m looking for answers related to being a parent, a wife, a member of the community, and a member of this church. In between sessions, Jameson helped me make some cookies. He loves to bake with me in the kitchen. Maybe it’s just because he knows he can get some dough out of it. But I like to think, he just loves being with me in the kitchen.

Please don’t mind me. I hadn’t showered yet. Jameson did crack his first egg (on purpose) into the bowl. Literally. He cracked the egg, and dropped everything into the bowl. My first reaction was not the best, I must admit. I kind of panicked, which cause Jameson to think he was in trouble. Kevin came in to see what was wrong, and Jameson looked at the ground in shame. I felt so bad. We assured him he did a good job, while I fished the shell out of the dough. After much praise, we explained which part of the egg goes in the bowl, and what part goes in the trash. After licking the beater, he didn’t care anymore. This kid is worse than me with sweets.

(October 1st)

Ella at 7 months

This little girl has hit her 7 month mark. I can’t believe it. About 3 weeks ago, she was 18.5 pounds which puts her in the 95%. When I find the paper from the doctor, I’ll fill in the rest. I know her height was in the 90% and her head below 25%. Weird that my children have small heads. Nice, but weird. At this point, her accomplishments are:

rocking on all four’s

Looking when her name is called

Rolling every direction possible along with army crawling

Trying to push herself up to sitting position

• Sitting, although not long.
• Blowing raspberries
• Smacking her lips
• Feeding herself with hand to mouth (not able to open hand and eat from it yet)
• Passing items between hands
• Chew everything
• Belly laughs and giggles
• Yell to let you know she wants something. She definitely loves her own voice
• Loves to watch her older brother
• Will stand if you hold her hands
• Will take steps forward if guided and held by you
• Sleeps through the night, usually about 8 pm till 7:30ish am (at least I do, so I hope she is)
• Trying really hard to crawl, but can get to whatever she wants by army scooting
• Will eat pretty much any solid (fruits and vegetables) if hungry, but starting to feed real food. She loves graham crackers and rice cakes.

Almost every one comments on her cheeks. I’ve had people walking by my car as I’m getting her out, and stop to say, “Look at those cheeks!” She is a pretty content baby, and loves attention. We already have a little diva on our hands.

We went to the mailbox today, and Jameson found a package from Grandma Gordon! He loved it. He knew it was candy without me even telling him. As soon as we got home, he was putting the candy in his “diaper bag.” I guess any kind of bag is a diaper bag to him. It is constantly referred to as his “Candy diaper bag.”

Saying cheese for the camera…

Telling me, “Mom, just 3 candies ok?” No, I think you can eat 1.

While we were out that day, I went to the store to find him some church shoes. He grew out of his black ones, and he hasn’t had any. Leave it to the store to put the Buzz/ Woody and Cars shoes right next to the shoes I need to buy. We ended up coming home with 2 pairs of shoes. Jameson picked out his own shoes from the store for the first time. He went all out, too. These shoes not only have every character on them; they light up and TALK, too. This is how he looked the rest of the night. (Don’t mind his hair. Kevin cut it into a fohawk, and I hadn’t trimmed it yet.)

He was so happy. His new shoes, and his candy diaper bag. Every time he pushes the button on his shoes and hears, “Buzz Lightyear, to the rescue,” he jumps off of whatever he is on. (It’s been 3 days and he’s still doing it.) The good news is, I never have to fight him to put his shoes on.

The first night, he even slept with them.

Do you see them in his bed? Along with big and little Buzz? He would have the next night, too, except he couldn’t find them. Now, they are not allowed, because they have been outside. Seriously, might be the best $3 dollars ever spent. (They were on sale, plus I had Kohls cash. :)) Crazy child.