Wanted: The Sandman

Where are you Sandman? I need your magical dust to put me to sleep...actually that's not true. I don't really need your magical dust for me, I'm sleeping just fine. I need you for my boys. Please come and sprinkle them so I can get a decent night's sleep before the baby comes! Otherwise, I don't think I'm gonna be able to take care of three kids all day long.

It's really not as bad as I'm making it out...my boys sleep. They go to bed at a decent hour, and this tired mommy goes to sleep right along with them, but then David gets up at least twice because he's lost his binky or had a nightmare, and Jacob gets up to have a bottle and diaper change. Some nights he's up more because...who knows why, he just does, but all I have to do is put his binky back in his mouth and he goes back to sleep. But I'm still jostled out of my deep sleep to take care of them.

So you would think with all of this disturbance that they would want to sleep in. Nope. For the past couple of days they have been up at 6 or 6:30. Not terrible, but if you know me you know I am not a morning person AT ALL! I'm trying to be though because I know when this next baby comes I'm going to be thrown into the whirlwind of everything that comes with a newborn while juggling the daily grind of two little toddlers. I've really wanted to get into the habit of getting up before the boys so I can get a shower and maybe have some time to myself. But what pregnant woman wants to get up at 5 every morning knowing she won't have a nap all day long?

Oh did I forget to mention that? My boys are also on opposite napping schedules...Jacob goes down in the morning and by the time he's waking up, David's ready for his nap, and by the time David wakes up from his, Jacob is falling apart and ready for another one. No matter how hard I try I just can't get them to sleep at the same time. So no nap for mommy. And then I go to sleep when the boys do, so no me time either. It begins to wear on you after a while.

So please, Sandman, come and sprinkle that dust that will put my boys to sleep AND keep them asleep for the whole night! Please!

A 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

Hard to believe you have gone from this...

to this!!

What you are now doing on your 1st birthday:

- walking...practically running, you've got a very fast walk little man!

- still eating like a pig! I don't think I've ever seen a baby eat as much as you

- can climb onto and off our couches

- can climb up stairs, although you haven't quite figured out that it would be in your best interest if you turned around backwards to come down! haha

- can drink out of a sippy cup...although you are lazy and we have to hold it for you. You are capable of doing it yourself but you just prefer to be babied!

- starting to hold your own against your big brother

- can imitate lots of sounds...you are quite a talker

- can put yourself to sleep (been doing that since you were like 5 months old), but I greatly appreciate it, especially with your little brother on the way!

- love to sing and dance...you know how to shake your body!

- is a BIG momma's boy...I love this sometimes, but other times I just wish you would go to Daddy every once in a while. :)

And so much more!! I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for you little man! We love you sooo much!!

We Love Our Family!

Sorry I've been MIA this last month and so...here's why...

1. Brandon graduated from BYU-Idaho in December...sorry no pictures, he decided walking across the stage was pointless because we had no family coming out, so it would have just been me (no way was I taking the boys if we did go), and we could celebrate just fine by ourselves.

2. Brandon got a job for SRC (Syracuse Research Corporation) in New York, so we were busy packing up.

3. We flew home (Maryland) for Christmas and spent a whole month with family...

Pictures are in reverse order...sorry, there are too many for me to want to fix

Loving the dancing flowers

We celebrated Jacob's birthday a little early up at my Grandparents house...

David loving his cupcake

Trying to get Jacob to blow out the candle (his birthday is tomorrow!!)

My mom with her grandsons

Me and my mom...please ignore my chubby face...

Jacob still not sure if he likes Grampy's beard

Feeding the rabbit with Grammy

Kicking a ball around on a warm day (it was in the 60's!)

Dancing with Grampy and Grammy

Great Uncle Lind and Aunt Donna...David didn't want to be in the picture

Love this picture of my dad and Jacob

My brother, Uncle Kevin, was great with my boys!

Grandma and Jacob

We went to the Washington D.C. temple before Christmas to see the lights and got an updated family picture...last family picture was when Jacob was like 4 months old!

Rough-housing with Grandpa! The first night they got to see him!

I have a TON more pictures I could post but don't really want to deal with blogger...if you want to look at them they are on my facebook page.

4. Why we spent a whole month with family...we originally planned for 3 weeks before Brandon got this job in NY, so when he did we decided that it would be best if just Brandon flew back and packed all our stuff into a U-haul and brought it to our new place in Liverpool (we didn't think our boys could handle a 5 day cross-country drive). Luckily, my dad volunteered to help him...so while they flew back, packed our stuff and drove cross-country to NY, I was staying with my mom and got to visit a few more people! Then my mom and I drove up with the boys and met them at our new town house!

5. Now we are working on unpacking and Brandon starts his new job tomorrow (wish him luck!)

Oh, I would also like to mention that while we were home we celebrated Brandon's 27 birthday! Hard to believe we started dating when he was 21 and I was 20!

So that is why I have been too busy to update my blog...but don't worry, now that we are settling in I will get much better.

2012 is going to be a wonderful, interesting year!

Baby #3 is a...

Boy!!!

And looking so cute already!

Haha I can't believe we're going to have three boys running around our house.

I am so totally out numbered!

I have to admit that I broke down and cried that night...come on, a mother has to have a girl somewhere in there! I have the best relationship with my mother and I want to have that sort of relationship with my daughter.

And to be honest, I was hoping he was a girl just so I could be more excited about having another one.

I don't know how I'm going to handle three kids.

More power to those women out there who have more!

But, I think Brandon and I settled on a name.

I know, shocker, right?!

Now I just have to pray Brandon doesn't change his mind because I don't think I'll be changing mind.

So what is it, you might ask...

Gabriel Matthew

beautiful, huh?

I love it, and am now slightly more excited to meet him.

Is that a bad thing that I'm not really that excited to be pregnant again?

I hope not.

Our Mini Vacation from Hell!

Sorry, no pictures this time. Not that I didn't take my camera, it's just we were in Brandon's car, which is a 2 door car, so we were pretty smashed in there. And then the rest of the time my hands were pretty full...as you'll soon find out!

Let me first start off by saying this trip was not planned at all. Brandon had been gone the beginning of the week (Monday the 14th-Wednesday the 16th) because of an interview in New York. Then he had to drive down to Utah Thursday night for an interview on Friday. We found out that the hotel room he was in had a king size bed so we (the boys and I) decided to tag along because we didn't want to be without Daddy for another day. Brandon's car is in better shape and gets better gas milage than my 4-Runner, so we decided to take his car.

Mistake #1. It is VERY difficult to put kids into a car that only has 2 doors.

Plus, since Jacob's carseat is still backwards facing, my seat was pushed far up and it was very uncomfortable for me, being pregnant and all.

Mistake #2. Believing that every child is a little angel.

We got a pretty late start so we stopped at a McDonalds in Idaho Falls for dinner. They had a play area so while Brandon was ordering, I went in with David so he could run around and play for a little bit. Next thing I know, David is screaming bloody murder in one of the cubby areas and I go to find a little girl with her hands on David's face. Turns out that little girl was trying to gouge out David's eyes! I pulled him out and looked him over and found all these little scratches from his hair line near his ear all the way across his nose and to the other side of his face. It looked so bad, and I felt so terrible that I let that happen to my son. When I told Brandon, I think he would have yelled at the kid's parents if I hadn't stopped him and told him her parents made her say she was sorry. He was still pretty angry though...but I think with good reason.

Mistake #3. Letting the boys sleep so long in the car.

We ended up getting to the hotel around 10:30 pm, but because the boys were so rested from their multiple naps neither one really wanted to go to bed. Brandon and I were exhausted, and Brandon was short tempered because he wanted to be well rested for his interview. Needless to say, I was chasing the boys around the room until about 12:30 am. And then they decided to get up around 6:30...it was NOT a good night!

Mistake #4-5. Not bringing a stroller but believing that the mall play house area would keep the boys occupied for the 2 hours that Brandon was in his interview.

Brandon's car has a small trunk as well so we couldn't fit a stroller into the car, but I thought I would be ok without it. When we got down into Utah, Orem area, I remembered the mall and the nice big tree house play area they have in there. I told Brandon that he could drop us off there and we would just hang out there until he finished. That tree house kept David's attention for all of 30 minutes! Then he was off running all over the place and I had to chase him while holding Jacob the entire time. Well, my arms got tired pretty quickly so I decided we would go get something to eat. Yeah, David decided to throw a temper tantrum right then and there. So while I was bending over to grab David, Jacob decided to also lean over and slipped right out of my arms and fell flat on his back! I thought for sure he had gotten a concussion, but luckily he seemed fine. We got our food, ate, and while I was cleaning up David decided to run a little ways ahead. He was still in my sights, so I didn't mind too much, until I had trouble getting the trash in the trash bin. I guess I must have looked down for too long because when I looked up again, he was GONE! Let me tell you, WORST FEELING EVER!!! I looked around for a little bit on my own but eventually had to go get security to help, and about 20 minutes later we saw him walking out of a store with a toy! He could have cared less that Mommy wasn't with him...but let me tell you, Mommy was a basket case! Stupid pregnancy hormones!

The rest of the day didn't go so hot either but they weren't as bad as those...so yeah, lessoned learned. It probably would have been better to go one more day without Daddy then try to tag along!