Adventures in a Big Boy Bed

The big news of the week is that James is now sleeping in a big boy bed. I thought that since there are going to be a lot of changes in his life this year (new brother, new house) that we should probably get him used to this change in plenty of time for the next. Well, the transition has been ridiculously easy. We took the crib apart while he was still trying to climb all over it. Then, we took it upstairs (mostly I mean Kendal did) and brought down the twin mattress. He loved it immediately. He was climbing all over it, jumping up and down, and generally causing a ruckus. I had a hard time getting him off long enough to make it up. We haven’t got him to lay down and go to sleep by himself yet; he likes that his new bed is big enough for mom and dad to keep him company. If we leave right away he just gets up and follows us. So far it takes about one story and five minutes of pretending to be asleep before we can sneak out successfully.

I, on the other hand have had to adjust to the change. The first night he kept rolling over and hitting the wall. Since I sleep right on the other side of the wall the noise would startle me awake and I would be waiting for him to toddle in to see me. He never did. I remedied this by putting a pillow between him and the wall. I know, I am incredibly resourceful. This morning however, he snuck up on me from behind, and that startled me awake too. It is going to take some time for me to get used to him being mobile at all times of the night now.

James is going through a destructo phase at the moment. He likes to dump all of his toys out of their containers and spread them all over the room. Note the word “spread.” Yesterday he dumped out all of his toy animals and threw them all over the room. Then he dumped out the box of balls and rolled them all over the room. He likes even distribution. It is like he is decorating with sprinkles. It is not like he wants easy access to the toys either. He mostly ignores them once they’re out. He also likes to take his toys apart. Grandma Trudy gave him a xylophone for Christmas. While Paige and Peter (his cousins) like to bang on it as loud as they can, he likes to take off all of the metal bars and stash them around the room. Yesterday, he brought me PART of a wooden horse and made a frustrated sound because he couldn’t finish dismembering it by himself. Yeah, that’s my kid.

The Great House Hunt

The biggest job on our plate at the moment is looking for a house. I don’t know that I ever thought it would be easy, but I didn’t realize it would be so complicated. There are just so many factors to consider. Layout is big. I want my kids’ bedroom to be on the same level as me and I would prefer not to be going up and down stairs all the time. We really want a nice size yard for the kids to play in; I mean, why else buy a house and not a condo. Church is a huge factor. Originally we wanted to stay in our ward, but there just aren’t any houses to buy. We even talked about what it would be like to go to a different stake, but that is complicated too. Schools, access to stores, traffic, home builder, expansive soils, smoke free, PRICE, how much does it need to be fixed up? can it be fixed up?… the list goes on. And that is just for us to even consider looking at a home. And then the seller’s issues have to be considered. Are they about to go into foreclosure? Are they willing to negotiate? How much do they actually owe compared to how much they are listing it for? They call it a buyer’s market, but that is deceiving. People don’t want to sell their houses because they know they can’t get what they want for it. It seems like the only people selling their houses are the ones who HAVE to. So, there really aren’t that many houses out there, and most of them have issues. Anyway, it has been an adventure. One day we will find a house that is interesting, and I start to picture us there (I think you have to be able to do this to even be able to consider a house), but then I spend the whole night dreaming about a house, and I become attached, and then something goes wrong, and it isn’t right, and may sails are totally deflated. I am learning to not get attached, and I am learning to look at a lot of different options. The best thing is that we have time and we don’t have to get into anything we don’t love. That is really nice. We shall see how it works out. I don’t know what the Lord has planned for us.

January Ramblings

Alright, time to get my Blog on.  

BABY STUFF

First off, As blogged by Shannon we are expecting a boy in May sometime.  I'd prefer this boy come a little earlier rather than later cuz Shannon was hating life the last month or so with James.  However, she is doing awesome this pregnancy so it might not be so bad this time. 

We have a name pretty much picked out but don't want to publish it for a few reasons, the most important being we will need to see the kid before we are set on what we should call him.  For example, if he comes out with red hair his name is going to be Chet. If he comes out with brown or blonde hair we'll most likely go with the name we have picked out.  So yeah, you'll just have to wait.  However, it is the name of an American college if you'd care to narrow it down with that info.  And no, it's not Drake. 

JOB STUFF

I started with Lockheed Martin as an Engineering Planner on Dec 1, and it's been pretty great.  The 10 minute commute, the increased salary, the lack of office drama (everyone at my last work was sleeping around with each other and getting divorces), the career growth opportunities, and every other friday off are all AWESOME.  In fact, hear this now, I will NEVER work for another company unless they have this schedule.  It's like having 26 extra days off a year in addition to your holiday days and 3 weeks of PTO.  So yeah, I might switch to four 10's, but I like to work to live and not vice versa, and thus me likey the off fridays.  Also, during this time of recession, Lockheed is killing it and adding new business all the time. So yeah. 

JAMES STUFF

I would be amiss if I didn't mention what James is now calling the following.

Pig - Nose 

Monsters Inc movie - Roar's 

Cars movie - Brrrr's

Elephants -  Brrrr's 

Outside - Side

I really enjoy taking James outside "side" when I get home from work.  He runs and gets his coat and snow boots.  

BYU BASKETBALL

This team is bringing me a lot of happiness.  They are playing awesome.  I had the opportunity to watch them play Wake Forest in the Marriott Center on Jan 3rd. It was the 2nd largest home crowd in history and missed being first by 10 people.  The place was electric and like nothing I'd ever experienced in the Marriott Center before.  It was really cool despite Wake beating us in the final 2 minutes.  Wake is the best team in the country and proved it by mopping up the Tarheals last Sunday. 

This is the year we win a tourney game.  Promised!  Expect lots of running diaries on this blog in the weeks to come. 

The Total Ultrasound Experience

So, the big news this week is... we are having a boy! Again! I am actually really liking this idea. We have most of the stuff that we will need, including the name. I was having trouble thinking of a girl’s name that I could attach myself to for the rest of my life, I need another 3+ years to work on that one. I think James will really like having a little brother to run around with and cause a general ruckus. The only thing is that the pressure is really on for Kendal to make a girl next time. He has 3+ years to work on that.
The ultrasound is a really interesting experience. You go into a room and lay down on your back. The technician turns the light off, and squeezes a whole bunch of this gel stuff on your stomach. Then, she puts this magic wand thing on your stomach, and poof there are a whole bunch of blurry blobs on the screen. I actually had my own screen to look at which was nice so I didn’t have to crane my head around and share the same screen as the technician. Anyway, she starts to move the thing and push my stomach around trying to get the baby to move so she can see whet she wants. She starts taking pictures, measuring things, and labeling them. Most of the time it is not until she labels it that I actually can tell what part of the baby we are looking at. She has to take a lot of pictures and it takes quite a while. This is what is going through my head… “Why isn’t she saying anything? Is something wrong with the baby? No, she would say something then, just be patient. Man it is dark in here, and James woke up at 5:30 this morning. No! Don’t fall asleep. Oh look, there is his fingers, James put his hands on his face like that for his ulrasound too. Oh! We are going to actually have another kid! He is really coming. Is he a he? I wish she would tell us already. No, it is more important that he(?) is healthy. Man my back is starting to hurt, how can I reposition myself without moving? Oh, I felt him kick me and I saw it on the screen at the same time, that was so weird. Why does she keep digging that thing into me? She pushes my stomach around like it doesn’t actually belong to someone. Oh, there is his heart, and it is healthy. Deep sigh of relief. When on her checklist is the part where you check if it is a boy or girl? You’d think with all of these angles we have looked at we would have caught a peek, if I could actually tell what that is… Oh, that is his stomach and gall bladder huh? Nice to know. Oh! It’s a boy! I knew it! High five Kendal; nice baby making. Although, I get to take most of the credit. James is going to love having a brother. He is going to be a good brother. Am I going to be a good mom? Oh my gosh HE is actually coming. I am so excited and scared. I guess we will just figure out as we go. Ok all of this prodding is making me have to pee. Are we done yet?”

Yeah, that’s about it. Now you know what it is like.