Doing Swell

We are all doing great. Randy went on the father and sons campout trip this past weekend and had a great time, he said the only thing that would make it better would be if he had his own son to take with him. Maybe this baby will be a boy and they will be able to go together in a few years. Boy or girl, I just want a healthy baby. Only 3 more months to go and I my belly is swelling up already. I tried to give a sister at church a hug today and it was pretty funny to see, everyone around us got a good giggle because we were unable to reach each other around our pregnant bellies. Jolee now thinks that there are babies inside of every stomach and will say "hi baby" and pat just about any belly, including her own belly. We have a bunch of books on a new sibling that we have been reading to her. I doubt she really understands, but I am hoping it will help to prep her for her new sibling in August. I only have 3 more night shifts, then I will be switching over to day shift for a while (not sure how long). I am excited to sleep on a normal schedule soon. This switching back and forth while pregnant and being a mommy to a toddler is a bit taxing. Somedays I just sit around and read books with Jolee and do about nothing around the house. Which means that other days I get to clean clean clean. Oh, I hated having Randy gone overnight while he was camping. Now I know how he feels, with every creak of the house sounding threatening. I woke up in the middle of the night and had the hardest time falling asleep. I am so glad that he is home, although neither of us slept much last night as Jolee's molars are getting closer and closer to breaking through meaning no sleep. Still going crazy without having a fence. Most of our projects are on hold until we can get a fence up, so our spare room is still a bit packed with random boxes. I still haven't found everything we need, so I end up just doing without so random things, like the web cam. (sorry Mom I still haven't found it, but I know it is somewhere.) Jolee's potty training is starting to go a bit better. She has fallen in love with panties and hates having to put a diaper or pull ups on. I also started to reward dryness more than using the potty, so she is a bit quicker to get to the bathroom. One jelly bean if she uses the toilet and had a little accident in the panties and three jelly beans if she uses the toilet and is dry. She really doesn't like getting just one jelly bean, so we went almost the entire day without any accidents. She actually went to church in panties and was accident free (horray!). She didn't have any accidents until she got home and she only had one because she was playing a little too much and put it off too long. I make her clean up her messes ("no, mommy do it" is her usual comment) so I think that is helping to encourage her to be accident free. I feel like I think about potty time all the time. I would love her to be completely potty trained soon so that we can be diaper free for a least a few months before baby is born. I am so excited to meet our little cygnet and have just a little bit bigger of a family.

Still kicking

Yes, I am still alive. I know I haven't posted in forever, but I blame my princess on that. She loves to be wherever I am at and "help" with whatever I am doing and after 3 or 4 posts that I had started were deleted, I gave up for a while. As she is asleep right now, I have a few minutes to write, before I am going to go crash. I am finally working part time and I am LOVING it. It is one of the best things to happen since Jolee was born. I love getting to spend more time with Jolee. Life is so much better when I get to be home more. Working full time nights was starting to drag me down and I was losing far to much of Jolee's childhood for me to be happy. I am trying to make the most of each day that I am home. We have done quite a few zoo trips. Our day usually starts off with breakfast. Then I turn the radio or a CD on and we dance. Jolee is a great dancer! I want to put her in ballet when she is a few years older. Jolee loves to blow bubbles, but I have to hold the bottle or she will dump it everywhere. She is actually pretty good at blowing bubbles. She likes to build towers with blocks or legos and then knock them over. We are working on learning more sign language and talking more. She knows how to sign: food, water, milk, cracker, more, again, hungry, cuddle, dog, peach, color, thank-you, please. Jolee says: mama, dada, hi, bye, more, cracker, hungry, dog, baby, peach, apple, keys, puppies. She probably says and signs a few more words, but I can't really think tonight. She also is working on learning animal sounds. She woofs like a dog, quacks like a duck, moos like a cow, meows like a cat, and opens her mouth like a fish (it is hilarious). She knows how to use keys to unlock locks and open drawers. She likes to climb and do anything dangerous. She loves getting the mail. Lately she has been getting in a lot of trouble for trying to run rampant in the grocery store and for trying to run and hide in the parking lot. NOT good. She is going through another growth spurt and has been super snuggly, so I have been slacking on housework and spending more and more time just holding and cuddling her. She loves to cuddle. We are again trying dairy products with her and she is finally able to tolerate them! She is really enjoying yogurt. She still has mostly soy, but dairy is officially been added to her diet. It is going to be so much easier to cook without having to check ingredients all the time. Randy continues to enjoy teaching in Nogales and we are planning on him continuing to teach in Nogales for at least 3 more years, but possibly much much longer. With Randy having to drive an hour and 15 minutes each direction, it is getting to be more and more pricey with raising gas prices and Jolee and I are missing having him home. With all of this, we are starting the process of looking for a home in the Rio Rico area. I always said that I wasn't going to move again until we move to Idaho, I guess I was always wrong. I am still running (just ran 4 miles tonight). I ran a 5K a few weeks ago and I will be running a 12K in December and another 1/2 marathon in January. I am having the pleasure of helping one of my very good friends train also. It has been a blast to run with her and help her "learn" to run. I miss having Randy with me, but it is much easier to run with someone closer to my height and not have to try to keep up with Randy. We continue to be doing well and we are excited and a bit terrified at the thought of a new home and the changes that go along with it (having to find a new babysitter, YIKES!). Love you all, Sarah

Oh, I almost forgot, Jolee is working on potty training (yes, I know it is early, but we are using cloth diapers and I am very motivated to help her learn to use the potty). She is starting to both sign and say potty. She loves to say peepee and poopies. She is getting better and better at telling us when she needs to go potty and she running to the bathroom. When I was over at a friend's house visiting teaching, Jolee had a piece of toilet paper and proceeded to wipe her fully dressed bum. I think I will have to start working on teaching her that the potty is a private place. I think I am up for a lot of embarassment in the next few months.

Mess = Bath Time

A few weeks ago we had the missionaries over for dinner. Jolee refused to wear a bib and proceeded to have one of her messiest dinners yet!

There is just something really fun about squishing cereal in between fingers and smearing it everywhere :)

One of Jolee's favorite things to do is to blow rasberries. Although this is slightly dangerous for whoever is feeding her (namely me this night)

I am starting to think that somewhere in that innocent little mind of her's she has come to understand that if she gets messy enough, then she gets to take a bath. My little girl loves baths so much that I think she might be part fish.

Here she is going for the soap. She would grab the soap, drop it over the side of the bathtub, then lean over the tub and try to reach it. It is definately a splishy splashy event when Jolee bathes.

Covered in cereal or covered in soap bubbles, either way is fun for our Jolee.

Jolee and I post bath. I am a little wet, but it is worth watching how much fun she has and for that mmmmm mmmmm clean baby smell.

A goal... two posts a week

As I sit here, with Jolee sleeping on my lap (finally), I am feeling very overwhelmed by all of the stories and pictures that I want/need to post about. Hmm, deciding what to post about first. So much has happened in the past 2 months. Jolee has grown so much. She is way beyond scooting around, she has mastered crawling and is becoming more apt at causing trouble, leading to the purchase of a child gate. She is now trying to learn to walk (she is not even 8 months yet). She can pull herself up to standing in the blink of an eye and she loves to walk along using the furniture. How can she have grown up so speedily from my tiny (well relatively tiny) infant to this almost toddler. Time seems to be flying by so quickly and I never have enough hours in the day. So here it goes, I am going to try to post at least twice a week on days off and try to talk Randy into posting at least once a week.

Pulling Up

Another first. Jolee has now pulled herself up to standing three or four times by reaching up and grabbing onto the couch. She does this more when I am sitting on the couch. I am so amazed at how quickly my little girl is growing up.

My talking little girl!

About a week or so ago Jolee said her first word... Mama! I am so proud of her. She was babbling with Randy and keep saying "mmm" "mmmm" and then Randy said "momma" and so Jolee clenched her little fists made a very serious face and said "mmm" "mmaa" "mama." Since then she now says mama all the time, but mostly when she gets angry and wants me to pick her up right this second. I love it :) It is definately because of me that "mama" was her first word. I replaced all of the words to the songs I sing to her with "mom." For example, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Start" is "Mom-mom, Mom-mom, Mommy Mom." We are now changing the songs over to "dad" so that Randy can enjoy her calling for him too. His favorite thing about her saying "mom" is that I am more than willing to take her when she is cranky because she is "calling me."

A Month of Pictures

Wow, half a month has gone by since I have updated, where does the time go? Jolee had her 4 month check up on Monday. She is 25.5 inches long and 15lbs. I am amazed at how quickly she grows. It seems only yesterday that she was born. She has been teething and she got 3 shots during her check up so she has been really cranky. She is finally starting to feel better today (hurray). I have not slept much because I have been so busy with helping her feel better. She is definitely worth it. Well here are the pictures and updates...

Jolee loves to play here, she will bat at the toys at her hands and kick the ball at her feet. It is so fun to watch!

I gave her this toy phone/rattle and she instantly turned it sideways and started chewing. She actually had it in her mouth with her hands down, but once I got the camera out, she reached up to try to grab it out of her mouth so I wouldn't get evidence of her cuteness. She was clearly too slow.

Jolee in her jumper. She looks like she is doing some kickboxing in this picture.

Jolee had her first picnic at the park.

She still hasn't decided what all the fuss was about.

After the picnic we went for a walk around the park. Here she is by the lake, this lake is from a natural warm spring, I think it is the only one in Tucson. Our own little oasis in the desert.

Randy loved this park of the walk because the mesquite trees grew over the path and made a tunnel. It kinda made us forget that we were in the middle of the city.

Randy had a good time too. What a great view of the mountains.

By the end of the walk, Jolee was fast asleep, too much excitement for one time.

She woke up in a great mood as we were leaving. (Another pic of me wearing my new glasses).

Mommy helped Jolee play hide and seek with Daddy. He had a hard time finding her until she started cooing.

I love this smile of hers. She looks so cute, but so mischievous.

Working on chewing her fingers.

Too cute.

More jumper pictures. Randy had accidentally put the jumper chain up to high and so he stacked the books up so Jolee could jump. I laughed and laughed when I came out of the bedroom to see this.

Jolee liked watching me laugh. I guess I was pretty entertaining to her too.

Mid bounce

Snoozing after too much time playing.

We finally finished a package for my brother, Russell, in Russia. Here is Jolee inspecting it for shipping.

"I think this corner is secure, just let me check real quick."

"It tastes like it is sealed properly."

Bright blue beautiful eyes! Mommy and Daddy are smitten with just one look.

Jolee also loves to play with her hands. Hey, they are toys that go anywhere.

More time in the jumper. Jolee spends a few hours every day jumping. It is definitely one of her favorite things to do.

Pretty in blue too!

I love this grin!

This is what Jolee wore to go with Daddy to priesthood session of General Conference (see lds.org for information about General Conference). She is a heart stealer!

"Mirror mirror in my hand, who is the fairest baby in the land." "You better say Jolee or I am going to lick you."

"Well, I will lick you anyways just because I can!"

Time to Play and Milestones

This is Jolee's newest form of entertainment. She just has a ball being able to swat and kick the toys. Jolee also learned that she has a voice and that she can make her voice very loud. She loves to spend the day yelling, then she will look at me and laugh as if to say "I did that! Aren't you so proud of me!" It is just too cute, except when we need her to be quiet (in comes the pacifier aka silencer).

Jolee is such a morning person. Her favorite time of the day is when she first wakes up. She usually spends her first 1/2 hour awake laughing and laughing. Her grin makes my day! It is amazing how much I love being a mommy. Talk about the world's best job ever! For you mommies out there that get to be full time at home moms, count your blessings!

School is going well for Randy, he had his first day as a substitute teacher yesterday, which was very fun for him because he got to sub at the preschool he used to observe. Jolee and I went over for lunch and so that Randy could show off Jolee. I love watching him interact with Jolee. She just adores her daddy and will give him the biggest grins.

Jolee reacts so differently to Randy and to me. To her daddy, she is all smiles and only wants to be held and refuses to be set down. To her mommy, she talks and talks and talks and enjoys being able to play with her toys and is okay with being laid down as long as she can see her mommy. It is so fun to watch her grow and to learn.

She now rolls from her back to her tummy, but she prefers to roll to her side. She has been acting like she is teething lately (not so fun). She chews on anything she can get in her mouth, usually her fingers/hands and she is drooling up a storm. She was so cranky the other day and nothing would make her calm down. All of my usual tricks were failing, so pulled out one of my parents' tricks for me when I would scream and scream. We went on a walk, at least when we are outside, her yells didn't echo off of the walls. Once outside, she started to calm down; after walking about 100 yards, she stopped crying; after about a half mile, she was fast asleep, finally!

Jolee is now sleeping through the night almost regularly. Occasionally she will wake up at 3am to eat and for a diaper change, but she usually will sleep 8+ hours straight. She is such a great little girl.

We are still cloth diapering and I love it! We haven't bought disposable diapers since the middle of July. Talk about a serious money saver! The diapers that we use are so much like disposables and are so easy to use. No pinning or folding. They go on exactly like disposables. We use baby wash cloths for wipes (same habits with cloth diapers and with disposables, it is too easy to stick the wipe in the diaper and disposable wipes going through the laundry would be bad). We just wet the wash cloths with water and stick them in the wipe warmer and tada all done. Between te disposables and our special butt cream, Jolee hasn't had even the slightest hint of a rash since July. (To make the best ever butt cream, mix vaseline [barrier] with some maalox [neutralizes acid poops] and just enough lanolin to make to two mix together [this is the magic ingredient, don't know why it works so well, but it does] and stir like crazy and your done; this is the mix that worked when nothing else did when Jolee had the worst open horrible rash ever).

Being a Mom

Being a Mom is one of the best things ever. I so enjoy every bit of it. Even the late night feedings and diaper changes. Jolee and I have just been relaxing and getting to know each other these last few weeks (she is going to be 3 weeks tomorrow, yikes!). She is such a happy baby. She loves to smile at me when I talk to her. Big gummy smiles. She has learned to enjoy riding in her sling and goes everywhere with me. She gets too many ohhhs and awwws whenever we go out. The biggest challenge is keeping strangers from putting their hands on her (the problem of being simply adorable). This week we made our first trip outside of the home without Randy. We went to Randy's school to visit him during his lunch break. It was so wonderful to get to see him. Usually he is gone from 7am to 9:30pm on school days, so we end up missing him all day. It was definitely worth the extra effort to see him. His classmates are super sweet and gave Jolee a bunch of girlie clothes (most of her clothing is neutral, but I bought a bunch of bows that help everyone know she is a girl). Jolee and I spend a lot of time snuggling and cuddling. I am completely captivated by my little girl. I thought I would enjoy being a mommy, but I never knew it would make me this happy. Hurray for Jolee!