It's a Miracle!

Guess who slept 11 hours straight last night? That's right, after 377 nights of waking up at least twice at night, my little man finally slept through the entire night. It was heaven.

And a cute video of Rowan walking since I've never posted one :)

Living Room, Kitchen

I've finally got around to taking a few pictures, but have only done a few rooms. These two are on the main floor. The living room used to be painted really dark colors, and they weren't entirely horrible, (although I hated them), but there just wasn't enough light in the room to pull it all off. They started off as a chocolate brown, green brown and barn red. We painted the entire room a light sage green. It is a tad bit darker than it looks in these pictures. One minute I feel like I really like it, the next I don't so much and think it is too much. I think this is because we haven't painted much before. It took 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of regular paint to cover the dark colors, but it did a good job. Marsh and I spent 8 hours painting last Saturday, whew! It does let a lot more light in too. I'd love to get different curtains for the window, throw pillows for the couch, hopefully soon.

Here's pictures of our kitchen too. It is so much more space than we've ever had in a kitchen and I love it. It doesn't feel crowded, and I really like the cabinets and countertops. We have lots of ideas for the kitchen too so we can consider these "before" pictures, right?

Living Room Before (The white on the walls is where we were patching the holes.)

Living Room After (This is looking at the front door & hall closet)

Looking out from kitchen sink

Basement, bedrooms and bathrooms to hopefully come soon!

Feeling Grateful

My mom was headed down Thursday night to spend the weekend here in Utah.  Avry's birthday is today, (Happy Birthday Ave!) and mine is in a couple weeks so we were going to have a girl's day today and go shopping.  My mom was also bringing down a bunch of Marshall & my stuff that we had in storage since we have room to store it now.  (Stuff from when I was younger, missionary letters and memorabilia of Marshall's, etc.)  She decided to drive their Yukon since she could fit all of our stuff in there.

It was raining really hard while she was driving down, and the temperature hit freezing.  She was talking to my dad when she started sliding.  It sounds like she spun around a few times and rolled the car at least twice.  I'm sure it was extremely scary to my dad to wonder what was going on.  She luckily was ok and called 911. I'm sure her seat belt saved her life, not to mention that she was in a big SUV.

 From what she says, it sounds like she could see car accidents in front and behind her.  All of the windows in the back were smashed in and most of our stuff went flying out of the Yukon.  Avry came to get my mom and they gathered everything together that they could since it was dark and pouring. I'm sure there's still some mushy missionary letters floating around on the highway from me to Marsh.






 It's things like this that make you step back and really realize what is important in your life.  It sounds like my mom was very lucky that she was ok, and she's been very shaken up about the whole thing.  The  pics are from my mom's Blackberry but both Avry and my mom said that the pictures don't do it justice.  

Needless to say my mom didn't stay the whole weekend although we all met up (My mom & dad, Avry & Justin,& Jason) for dinner at Red Lobster, or "Red Monster" as Chandler calls it.

I'm hoping that both mom and Avry will do posts as well as they had different perspectives as well as some other pictures.

I'm so glad you are ok mom!  You are an amazing woman I am thankful for you and what you mean to me in my life.   LOVE YOU!

Weaning

So Rowan is almost officially weaned.  I really have had a lot of mixed emotions and feel pretty emotional.  (I'm weird, I know.) I know I should feel good that we made it to a year, I just really feel sad about the whole weaning thing? Maybe because nursing was totally a better experience this time around than it was with Chan. Or maybe I'm in denial because I feel like he won't "need" me as much more.  It's been fairly smooth, much smoother than taking Chandler's bottle away.  He drinks great out of a sippy and tolerates whole milk really well.    He's also sleeping much better.  He still has yet to sleep through the night, but 2 nights ago he had a 7 hour stretch which was pretty much - AMAZING.    I can't remember the last time I got that much sleep, but then again I didn't.  I woke up a few times during the stretch, guess I have an internal clock that wakes me up.When he did wake up, I gave him his paci and rocked him for 2 minutes and he was back out.  I probably need to put 10 pacifiers in his crib so he can find one and soothe himself without me coming in, lol.

We also went in for his 1 year checkup the other day.  The Dr. got after me for not giving him his Singulair and Pulmicort like I should.  His breathing has really been good so I thought he didn't need them.  Turns out it isn't just to treat but to prevent.  I wish he would have told me that to begin with.  It doesn't help that he's had a little bit of a cold and sounded wheezy when the Dr.  listened to him.  On top of all that, he has 2 ear infections. He also hasn't gained much weight in the last 3 months - only about 9 ounces I think, but I'm sure it's because he walks the perimeter of any room he's in ALL day long.

Here's his 1 year stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 5 oz (25%)

Height: 30 1/2 inches (80%)

It's nice that he's over 20 lbs now - we just got him a convertible car seat and he is facing forward now.  He loves it.

Preschool Playgroup

Our new ward here does a 3 year old Preschool playgroup.  There are 2 groups with 5-6 kids in each group.  There was an opening in the one group so Chandler gets to be a part of it.  It's 2 days a week in the morning for an hour.  The moms in the group take turns having the kids each week.  They sing songs, do the pledge of allegiance, learn about something new (colors, shapes, animals, etc.), and do some sort of craft.  Today Chandler made a heart shaped sugar cookie that has his name on it and colored a heart that said, "I love mom."  They also do field trips once a month where we carpool to do some activity with the kids.  Seems like it will be a great outlet for Chan, give him more social skills and help him learn some new things.  It sure beats paying $60+ a month for preschool here which seems to be the going rate.

Here is Chan with his cookie outside our new home. 

An outside picture of the new house. (I know the for sale sign is still out front. I'm ready to rip it out....except it's really stuck in there with the snow. Can't believe the realtor hasn't come to get it yet...)

Is he really a year?

Saturday the 17th was Rowan's first birthday.  I tried not to think too much about it, because it just makes me feel sad.  I thought Chandler's first year went fast, but Rowan's has been a blur looking back on it.  

We took the boys to Boondocks, a local entertainment/family fun center and let them play on the toys and in the arcade.  They both loved it to say the least.

In fact, Chandler was a bit peeved when we had to leave.  I love this picture :)

After that Marsh took the boys to get tacos while I went to the doctor.  I had been running a fever for a few days and had horrible back pain.  Didn't get much of a diagnosis except a virus.  Wish I had waited it out because I started feeling pretty good Sunday evening.  Anyways, we came back to the house and Marshall made the cake.  A few weeks back, when we were out of flour, Marsh went to the store to get some.  Instead of getting all purpose, he got self rising.  So he made a chocolate cake from scratch and half of it ended up all over the oven.  We still ate it, it was just much thinner in some parts, lol.  And although it was quite ugly, it tasted fabulous.  

Rowan opened presents and got a leapfrog spinning toy and a stuffed kitty with money that grandma and grandpa Nielson  sent, a pull along puppy from his Snedaker granparents, and a chattering cookie monster from us.  I think Chandler is getting more out of the new toys than Rowan.  



Rowan loved the cake and loved getting lots of extra attention, hugs and kisses. Happy Birthday to my sweet cuddly little boy....  

1 week

So I finally called to get our internet hooked up and they won't be able to do it until next Tuesday. Ugh...what's another week though, right? I have so many pictures and videos I want to upload and it's frustrating I can't. I guess I shouldn't complain since I've been able to pick up this very slow wireless connection....occasionally. It's a miracle I got the one photo below to work. So only a week left until we are internet savvy again! :) (Marsh's b-day and fun facts below!)

Marshall's Birthday

Marsh's birthday was on the 7th - 26 years young :)

I packed candy and a card in his lunch and let him know we were coming to get him for lunch. We went to Bajio for lunch and took him balloons. That evening, we went out to dinner to the Olive Garden. After that we came home for cake and ice cream. I think he had a great day! Happy belated Birthday to my tall, dark and handsome man!

December/January Fun Facts

Rowan

*Is walking

*Has  a hair fetish.  He will sit and pull and play with my hair, his own, or anyone who is holding him.

*He loves plastic spoons.  He likes to have one in each hand while he is walking around.  If he sees me unloading the dishwasher, he will make a beeline to it and pull out the plastic spoons.

*Is still the most terrible sleeper in the world at almost a year old.  The other night he kept waking up screaming and would not calm down. He's never cried and screamed so much, Marsh and I were both at a loss of what to do. We finally figured out that popsicles seemed to help a little - so I guess it is his teeth hurting him?  We tried teething tablets, tylenol, motrin, and orajel.  I was up most of the night and we even watched Baby Einstein at 2 am for an hour and a half.  After about 2 hours of sporadic sleep I broke down when Marshall was getting ready for work.  He stayed home from work until about 10 so I could get some sleep and cleaned and took care of the boys.  I feel more human now but I dread nighttime with Rowan.

*A few days after this last episode, he cut both his top molars and his bottoms are close behind.  10 teeth in all now.

*He hates the bathtub right now.  Whenever we put him in, he starts freaking out and crying hysterically.  He is really going through some weird phases.

*Started saying Mama!

*Likes to play with cars and trucks and will drive them along the floor, it's so cute to watch.

Chandler

*Chan is so funny with the things that he says lately.  He was looking through a temple quiet book that I made him and said, "Look it's just so perfect....and beautiful."  

*He still loves Thomas.

*He got Kung Fu Panda for Christmas and loves the show.  He pretends to fight Tai Lung with his swords, and has watched it enough that he will recite lines from the movie.

*He drinks massive amounts of chocolate milk.  He asks for it at every meal.

*Is really good about going to bed.  I really appreciate how he sleeps 12 hours at night and still occasionally takes a nap.

*Loves the new house and does not miss our apartment at all- we went back to our apartment last week to clean and he said, "Oh no!"  and almost started crying.  

*Is doing a better job of sharing with his brother although it is still hard sometimes!

*Really likes to sing :)

A little nutty

So I'm going a little nutty not having the internet yet.  I can pick up a neighbor's spotty wireless connection but it drops often and is VERY slow.  We haven't hooked up our internet yet because it costs a ridiculous amount to have someone come install it. (Mostly because we live farther out and don't have the option of Comcast or Qwest out here..)  Hopefully by the end of next week though...

I have some cute videos of Rowan walking and pictures of the boys but I can't upload them on this slow connection.  I also missed doing the fun facts last month, so I'll have to combine them with this month. 

 I can't believe how much independence Rowan has gained just since he started walking, and I totally forgot about this stage of babies/toddlers.  Church on Sunday was the first week it has ever been hard with Rowan.  Chan was a good boy while Rowan screamed and wanted to get down and walk.  We ended up walking the halls a LOT during church and I find myself starting the countdown until he can go to nursery.  I think we will really like our ward here.  A lot of young families and once again, a TON of Sunbeams Chandler's age.  Chan did really well for his first week of Sunbeams.  There were tons of little kids crying.  He walked past them all,  sat on a chair on his row and folded his arms.  It was so cute.  His teachers said he did great too!  

I also have a hard time getting stuff done as Rowan is into EVERYTHING.  We have 2 flights of stairs and he likes to make a beeline for them and start climbing.  Yesterday he figured out how to open the dishwasher when it isn't locked, and start it when it is locked, found all of the cleaners, figured out how to take the nightlights out of the wall, and tried to stick his little fingers in the wall sockets.  Crazy little boy! We also made a trip to Target yesterday and Rowan screamed to get out of the cart while Chan just sat there like a nice boy and watched his brother throw a fit.  Chan seems to have gotten easier overnight.  He likes to do his own thing and loves having so much more space, I think it helps a lot so he doesn't get bored.  It's funny how it almost seems that Chandler and Rowan have changed roles.

We are slowly getting unpacked.  The people who lived here before us were pre-forclosure so they trashed the place in a lot of ways.  The showers were black when we moved in, they left tons of stuff in the cupboards, and it seems like they never cleaned.  I am deep cleaning as I unpack and Marshall and I have made a wish list already of things we want to do with our home.  First thing - paint.  The walls in the living room are painted a dark chocolate brown, green brown and a dark barn red.  I can't stand them.  There isn't a lot of lighting in the room, so it makes the room feel that much darker.  We are thinking a light sage green but are waiting again to get a little extra $$ before we can start painting.   I'm dying to hang stuff on the walls but won't until we paint, and have the cutest new decoration Avry gave us for Christmas.   Rowan's room is also painted a bright yellow right now.  I almost feel sick everytime I walk into it because it is so bright.  Yuck.  

Marshall has found that his new commute to work isn't bad.  While it isn't the 2 minutes that it used to be, it takes him less than 20 minutes which isn't bad.  

I finally got to go try out my new lap suit and goggles at the pool last Friday.  It was so nice to swim laps and forgot what a great workout it was.   Although a girl did try to steal all of my stuff.  You have to bring your own locks or rent a lock at the rec center.  I bring my own lock and left it unlatched for like 10 seconds while I put conditioner in my hair before I put my swim cap on.  I came back to put my conditioner in my locker and lock it up and there was a girl getting into my stuff?  She saw me and bolted.  Come to find out later, a girl had her jacket stolen and another girl had a bunch of cash and gift cards stolen.  Neither of them had locked their lockers??  Some people are a little too trusting.  

I've also been a bit accident prone the last couple days and have managed to fall down the stairs twice and sliced my finger open this morning while making Marshall's lunch.  Just a little klutzy lately. :(

Marshall's birthday is tomorrow.  I was hoping we could go out, but don't know a lot of people yet  who could watch the boys so we might be doing something with them....

Hopefully I will have internet soon and can post pictures!  Thanks for reading if you made it this far.... :)