Blowout

I was beginning to feel a little worried about my "super pooper" baby as he hadn't gone in 5 days. This is really weird for him and I was contemplating calling the dr.'s office. Today I was actually excited when I picked up him and realized he was poopy. Here's what he treated us to when I took his little sweats off....




Guess he was saving it ALLLLL up.  He sure was a happy baby after we took that diaper off and cleaned him up. It was funny how he was hanging out on the changing table. He was just looking around smiling & chilling with one hand on the side of the table and one hand on his knee. Pretty cute kid.

How to eat ice cream

Chandler is a HUGE ice cream lover. He would eat it for every meal and walks around saying, "Ice cream more!" Although it sounds more like "ice keem moor" Sunday we celebrated my dad's birthday and my brother Geoff thought it would be funny to give him the whole gallon of ice cream. His eyes got huge, he smiled and then bit down on the ice cream as shown in the picture. Then he proceeded to eat as much as he could before we took it away from him, lol. 

Jay's shoes & the Marshall

Imagine you see this as a commercial during a break while watching your favorite show like Lost, Grey's Anatomy or CSI.....
(and although this has nothing to do with the video - A VERY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL DAD TODAY!!!! LOVE YOU DAD....)

Rowan's 3 month pictures

Here are Rowan's 3 month pictures we had done at JCPenney. We really needed to get them done and I think I spent all of $10 and they really got some good shots. He looks really bald in all these pictures but does have a nice little covering of hair - about as much as Chandler at this age.

This is the picture we ordered

Just a couple comparison pictures - Chandler on the left & Rowan on the right. Seems like you can tell they are brothers, but other than that they don't look too much alike

Just can't get over it

First off - A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my older brother CLINT who turns 29 today - Happy Birthday!!

Thanks everyone who posted on our last post: "Who's reading?" It's fun to know that people we know are reading even if you don't always comment.
I've mentioned in the last few posts that we've been fighting a cold and it seems to be getting worse.  Marshall is ok now but the rest of us just can't get over it.  We went to the dr. today to figure out what is wrong.  Chandler has bronchitis and an ear infection in his right ear.  This is the first time he's had an ear infection that we've known about and he hasn't really acted like his ear has been bothering him so I was a bit surprised at this.  I have a sinus infection - surprise, surprise.  Rowan has lots of mucous draining down his throat and a cough & was tested for RSV which came back negative, thank goodness.  Rowan isn't on any antibiotics since he is so little but we'll just make sure to  keep running the humidifier, using lots of baby vapor rub, and giving him tylenol when he needs it.  The dr. said we probably have all these problems because we've had the cold virus so long that it developed into other things, alas the bronchitis, ear infection & sinus infection.  Chandler and I are on antibiotics now so hopefully we will start feeling better soon.  I'm glad we got it all figured out though as I have to work this weekend and that's hard to do when you aren't feeling great.
The job hunt is still on and Marshall had a phone interview with a company in Boise on Friday.  He's also got a couple other prospects in Arizona, Michigan, & Washington.  We'll see if anything comes from those.  He's trying to keep busy though, and decided recently to fix our car.  I should have taken pictures of it before he started fixing it, but I busted out the back taillight about a year ago and we lost half our bumper this winter.  Yes, it very much looked like a redneck car.  Marshall bought a new tail light & bumper and is over at his parent's house right now putting the new bumper on with his dad.

Yesterday we went and had Rowan's 3 month pictures done.  They turned out so cute and he was so smiley.  I will post them once they are available online.

That's all for now.  The boys are napping, guess I should get one in before work.

Who is reading?

Ok - so I put a counter on my site almost 2 weeks ago that is supposed to count unique users who come to our site.  I have well over 1000 hits but really only have 8-10 people who comment on a regular basis.  I have noticed occasionally I have those who comment who've maybe been in our ward before or who we went to high school with.  I've thought a few times of making our blog private but we've been able to reconnect with a lot of people we know through not making it private so it will continue to stay public for the time being.  So here's a shoutout to all who are reading - please leave a comment!

Hangout Mode

So we are in what I like to call "hangout mode"  meaning we don't have a lot of obligations right now and are getting to spend some time together as a family.  Marshall is still doing some fine tuning for the AAF presentation next week in Portland so he has still been spending some time up at the school.  However, we are seeing lots more of him now that he has graduated.  He's still looking for a job and had a couple opportunities fall through this week which was hard but he has some other places he's interested in.  Why is it so hard to get a job?  I guess it's a little bit of a blessing in disguise though as Marshall will be working the rest of his life, and he's getting a nice break right now.  It's been fun getting to spend some time together and just doing random things.  We'd be headed outside more but we still have this cold that is lingering and as you will notice in the picture below, we got about 3 inches of snow yesterday, go figure.

Yesterday Marsh was showing Chandler some videos on youtube and he came across this one with animals and a little kid singing in French.   Chan is definitely an animal lover.

Chandler also has a few new obsessions - a hat and his bear slippers.  He had a couple hats last summer but we lost them both.  We bought him a hat the other night and he wants to wear it everywhere. It is the hat he is wearing in the video above.  He takes it to bed and even kisses it when he takes it off.   

And here are his bear slippers he wants to wear everywhere.

Rowan is doing well, I'm thinking I might go get his pictures done tomorrow or the day after - he will be three months!  Where does time go?  He's developing more and more personality and is working on rolling over.  He can get to his side but hasn't made it all the way over yet.  He's also been drooling like crazy and I won't be surprised if he gets teeth early.  Chan's bottom two cut through just after 5 months. He also caught a bit of this cold we all have. He managed to hold out for almost a week (thanks to mommy's antibodies)  but started getting a little cough yesterday. It's not too bad yet, but we'll keep an eye on it.

 

I'm realizing now what a random post this was, but I guess in a way our lives are a little random right now.  I guess we'll continue to stay in hangout mode until Marshall finds the "perfect job"  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers...thanks :)

Marshall's graduation

I would have posted this a few days sooner but we've all been sick at our house - with the exception of Rowan. We've had some nasty cold since Monday that have progressively gotten worse. Chandler's had a bad cough and a nasty nose. I feel almost like I have a sinus infection. Marshall is feeling better so he left the boys and me home today and went to church with my brother Geoff. Anyways, a BIG Congratulations to Marshall who can call himself a college graduate! Marshall graduated with a BA in Communications with an emphasis in Advertising and clusters in Business & Graphic Design. His convocation was on Thursday night and we almost missed it not realizing his was that night. When I graduated, everything was on the same day. The big graduation and then we all broke up into our separate colleges for our convocation. Marshall called me after he was done with his classes on Thursday and said he thought he had something he had to go to that night. I said it probably wasn't a big deal and to just come home. (This was at about 4:00) He wanted me to look at BYU-Idaho's site just to make sure. After looking, I realized his convocation was that night, lol. We did make it so he could walk in his graduation :)

 We went to dinner afterwards with my parents to celebrate and then went out to lunch with Snedakers the next day to celebrate with them. Marshall was really excited as his parents got him a nice new pinstripe suit for graudation. My parents also gave him money to get some things for himself. We are so proud of Marshall! Congrats!

Slickdeals

One of my best buddies Camille introduced me to slickdeals a few years ago, and I must say, I'm addicted. I don't know how much $$ I have saved using this site. Diapers, clothes, toys, services...you name it, we've saved on it. I was especially excited about our slickdeal that we got today. Marshall and I got cheaper Samsung cell phones when we renewed our contract in July 06. They work pretty well but we decided we wanted to upgrade about 4 months ago. We bought Motorola RAZR's off ebay and I've never had such a crappy phone in my life. I had it all of 3 weeks before Chandler threw it on the floor ONCE and it broke. Cheap. Anyways, Marshall hasn't ever dropped his and it has bit the dust too. It takes all night to charge, he makes one phone call, and then the phone is dead again. The cover is cracked and the reception is horrible, he doesn't get his calls half the time. I also had major problems with a Motorola phone I had 4 years ago that we bought from t-mobile. I don't think we will be buying any more Motorola phones, we just haven't had good luck with them. So we have the Samsung phones that are still working but our SIL Natalie's RAZR bit the dust too so we gave her the older phone I was using. I am currently using Marshall's old Samsung that is held together by a piece of packaging tape. Pretty sad. So I started shopping around for new phones as we really need them. To upgrade phones for existing customers, it is ridiculously expensive. You only save maybe 20% off the original price and that's if you sign a 2 year contract. I found a killer deal in a slickdeal forum today for cell phones with tmobile. We were able to get two new blackberry pearls by adding 2 lines to our shared family plan.


It's an additional $20 a month for the two phones plus $20 that we have to pay for data services for the first month so we can get the phone free after rebate. (Part of the rebate regulations) So basically we will pay for 4 phone lines for 3 months and then cancel our original phone lines in July as the contract will be up for those. Sure, we will have new phone numbers, but we will let all our family and friends know our new phone number so it won't be a big deal. It comes out to $40 a phone. If we were to do a normal upgrade with t-mobile signing a new 2 year contract, it would have been $240 a PIECE, coming out to $480! Slickdeals saved us $400 today and we will have cool new phones! Not bad, eh?

Losing the baby weight

It seems like the weight is going to be a little more stubborn coming off this time than it was with Chandler. Granted I never got completely back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but within 5 lbs. This time I'm determined to lose it all and I've actually started to have some will power. I think like my sisters I am all or nothing when it comes to working out. I like to have a good workout and push myself really hard. It's the eating that's the hard part. I decided to start limiting my calorie intake and just eat things that are good for me. Sure, I have to have more calories since I am nursing but I've decided to make them healthy ones. I did really good eating this whole weekend and am starting to feel better too. Although I did have a moment of weakness tonight as I was craving chocolate peanutbutter squares and had to make them. I ate one huge one and felt like I wanted to puke afterwards. However, I have found good alternatives that don't have as many calories. Jello pudding packs are right around 100 calories and they also make a cheesecake cup with cherries that are 130 calories. Here is Chandler enjoying his pudding cup with me on Friday. Yes, he needed a bath afterwards.


My sister also told me about the sugar free jello cups that are only 10 calories- nice! My last sweet snack of choice - Dryers slow churned ice cream! Only 120 cals for 1/2 cup! Nice that I can still have a sweet treat without packing away tons of fat and calories. Anyways, trying to practice a calorie cut, eat smaller portions, cut out empty calories, and make nutritious meals. I made Baked Salmon with Tomatoes, spinach & mushrooms the other night and it turned out great. I'm not a huge fish fan but I like it occasionally. If any of you have any favorite healthy recipe's, please share!
I also decided to invest in a couple new workout videos. My parents have an exercise room here at their house that has a home gym, treadmill, exercise bike and a few free weights. I go out there to do strength training but cardio on a treadmill gets old fast. I have some Billy Blanks Taebo videos which are actually a great workout if you do the advanced ones but I needed something new. I went to my good friend ebay to try to find some bargains. I ended up getting Shaun T's Hip Hop Abs .  It was one that I saw on an infomercial at 2 am one time when I couldn't sleep and ended up watching it for over an hour. Here's their claim:
Ok....so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Shaun T has had 2 kids and stretch marks to show for it. I don't think my abs will quite ever look like any of those girl's abs on the video, but I proudly wear my "tiger claws" with honor as I have the most beautiful boys to show for it.
 It is actually a really fun workout and you can feel it by the time you are done.  Chandler and Rowan love it too, lol.  I put it in and they were both jammin out on the couch.  By the time I went to get the camera though, this is all I got.  Oh well :)

The other video I got was Biggest Loser Cardio Max .  Another good workout with Bob,  Jillian &  Kim.  They each do their own segment but I must say Bob & Jillian's parts are much harder.  My legs were killing me as Bob has you do jumping lunges in his segment.  

All in all, this extra weight is going to come off!  I haven't gotten a new swimsuit since Marsh & I got married almost 4 years ago.  (I don't think the maternity one I bought 2 years ago counts)  So - I get down to my goal weight and I get a new swimsuit...seems simple enough?  (yeah right...) I have 11 lbs to go and I'll keep you all updated on how it goes.

Grins & Giggles

I worked this last weekend for the first time since I had Rowan. Marshall took the boys over to his parents house Sunday evening to visit everyone. He called at about 9 and asked if I wanted to hear Rowan laugh. I could hear him squealing and giggling on the other side of the phone. I really felt bummed to miss such a fun milestone, especially when I am with him most of the time. We haven't gotten him laughing hard like that all week. This morning he was in a funny mood and I finally got him giggling. I love it!

Ouch!!

Today we had a playdate with one of my best friends from high school, Shelli. She lives here in Rigby with her two girls, Shayli (almost 4) & Teri (19 months). Chan was excited to get out and while we were there Shelli's sister came by with her little boy that is only a month older than Chandler. Chan played hard and we left at about 1:15. We came home, had some lunch and I could tell he was tired. Chan's in a pretty good routine now and goes down for a nap at around 1:30 most days. These last few days he's started to fight me at nap time and at bedtime as well. I put him in bed and then he jumps out. I put him back in and he just giggles hysterically. Well, about the 10th time I put him in he decided he didn't want to take a nap even though he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. I tried to put him in bed one more time and he pulled away from me causing him to fall. He sleeps on a futon right now so at the end of the bed, there is a wood which is the arm rest when it is a couch. He hit his head really hard and started screaming. Chan's a pretty tough kid and doesn't cry very long when he gets hurt. After about a minute, I knew he hit his head pretty hard and I wanted to get a closer look. He had a huge goose egg at the top of his nose. I went to get some ice when I noticed the middle of his nose turning purple. He just wanted me to hold him and instead of letting me put the ice on his head, he just wanted to eat it. I gave him some motrin and he started nodding off. I didn't want him to go to sleep just yet as he had hit his head pretty hard. So we ate huge bowls of ice cream with m&m's & magic shell. After he was done he looked at me with these huge eyes and said, "Tuart - mouse...tuart...mouse." One of his favorite shows right now is Stuart Little. He watched his movie for a while and started falling asleep on his toy chest. An hour and a half later, I figured he was ok to go down for a nap. I'm wondering if his nose is broken? I thought about taking him to the dr. but I don't think they would do anything for him so we'll just wait it out I guess. My poor baby....