Big Leagues

I have been looking to make a little extra money at home and I found my niche!....I think.
I am now the Aurora New Moms Examiner.com writer. If you like my blog, I promise you will love my articles. It's basically the same idea, just more newsworthy. Here is my first article!

Expect Delays

Announcement.

I have decided to go private with this blog. If you would still like to read about Jadyn please send me your email address. Don't be shy. I love hearing that people read the blog, even people I don't know very well. I would imagine that it is especially entertaining for mothers of much greater experience than me reminisce about the "new mom" days. I get people coming up to me all the time saying "I follow your blog". That's awesome. I just want to avoid bumping into some creeper I've never met saying "I follow your blog...hehe" Get my drift?

...you have one hour.

JK...you have like a week.

Day One-Hundred and Forty Seven: High Rolla!

Day One-Hundred and Forty Six: The Smile

Jadyn and I were sitting outside, enjoying the pre-fall weather. I pulled out the camera and said "Smile Jady." I have accepted the fact that I am just a little crazy when I do things like give my daughter a command because she doesn't have a clue what I am saying. Apparently I'm not though! Who woulda thought? I got this precious face.

Day One-Hundred and Forty Five: Officially Official

Today was a day of wonderful accomplishments. I had been saying for nearly 6 months that I was "Officially" graduated. When I finished my classes I thought to myself, " Ok! This must be official." When they said they would be sending me my cap and gown I thought, "Ok! Now this is really official." When I called to figure out what the deal was with no diploma in my hands and they said they would take care of it I thought "This better be official!" When I spent the day crying in the academic advising center, marching to the head of department's office, and using my cute baby as leverage to waive a mysterious one credit delinquency I was not aware of I thought, " Meh, Official is overrated."


But it happened. 

The most official of all official signs of graduating college finally came out of my mail box and snuggled in my bosom. I received my Diploma. I am a college graduate!

Also, I finished my mother-in law's Birthday Present. My dear, sweet, beautiful Mamma Harmer is one of my greatest idols. Naturally, I whooped my bum into oblivion trying to make the perfect apron (she had requested it for her present after I gave one to her Jenedy). There it is...in all it's glory.... I hope she doesn't make any sudden movements in it...It may fall apart haha.

Day One-Hundred and Forty Four: Our Baked Goods' first stop

We made enough broomstick goodies for me to bring them to mutual. We were having a Halloween party at one of the young woman's homes where we would be watching "The Corpse Bride". I was just glad I talked them out of watching "Coraline".  I thought Jadyn should be a little festive. Jace claims her shoulder buttons resembled something Michael Jackson would wear, but I see no such connection.

Day One-Hundred and Forty Three: Family Night, Bake Night

It was my turn again! I tend to get so excited when it's my turn that I try to cram all the ideas I have into one night, making it a mega long activity. This activity took about a week to complete.

My idea was for us to make some Halloween-y treats for people we wanted to get to know better or that we thought could really use a little sweet something. We were going to deliver them that night, but I have a horrible concept of time with baking. I suppose it would have been frowned upon if we showed up at people's doorsteps (people we didn't know very well, hence wanting to get to know them better) at 11:00 at night. 

They eventually got finished and delivered. As always, Jace surprised me with his enthusiasm with this activity. He particularly liked putting stickers on the boxes. It made it look like we had five year olds decorate them. Jadyn enjoyed the commotion from the Bumbo. I seriously don't know how cavewomen survived without Bumbos. But then again, they probably didn't have countertops. 

Day One-Hundred and Forty Two: High Chairs are for fun, not food

Jadyn has embraced the IDEA of food. She really likes sitting in her high chair while we all sit down to dinner. She gawks at my food and tries with all her might to convince me to put a little in her bird face. When I feed her baby food instead she always seems so disappointed. She holds her spoon and bangs it on the table, sucks on her bib, but refuses to enjoy a little bit of mush!

This is the face I get most often. 

Day One-Hundred and Forty One: Flowers from Grandpa

My dad came home tonight and handed me a bushel of carnations. He said the handful was for me because I was a wonderful mom and one of them was for Jadyn because she was a wonderful Granddaughter. There may be days that I get a little fed up with living at my parents' house as a "grown up", but today was a day I was grateful to have my dad under the same roof.

Jadyn also learned some new tricks with her feet tonight.

Day One-Hundred and Forty: Rice Cereal

My girl is just about a week shy of 5 months and finally showing some interest in what I'm putting in my mouth. The Gerber Baby face is actually quite accurate as to what a hungry, curious baby looks like. So we have been trying Rice cereal with her. This is a picture of the very first attempt. She was fascinated, but not enough to swallow much. She prefers it all over her bib. Notice how her cheeks look especially chubby? It's because she has some chipmunk instincts so instead of swallowing what I put in her mouth, she stores it in her cheeks and waits for me to turn around. She then proceeds to spit it all out. She also finds it polite to get a big bite in her mouth and then sneeze all over mommy.
It's a work in progress.

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Nine: Jenny Jump-Up

The memories of me at this age are quite slim, but I do remember jumping in the "Jonny Jumper" in the doorway of our kitchen while my mom made dinner. Apparently they needed to make the product more gender aware, so this is a "Jenny Jump-up"...point is, this is the one thing I vowed to get for my children because I remember it was just so much fun. I thought I had died an gone to heaven when I put Jadyn in it. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen before. Her entire body fits in that little pouch. She just looks like a head with limbs. And she loves it! I do remember bouncing a bit more in mine. Hmm. Either I was fatter than her or lighter. Physics lesson anyone?

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Eight: Big girl in a high chair

When Jadyn was just a little newborn I would imagine what it would be like for her to do "big baby" things. I was so excited for the day I had a busy little scientist in my arms that wanted to touch and taste everything. I imagined how fun it would be to see her sit up in a high chair with toys all around her. I thought of how nice it would be for her to hold her own head up so that we could just play on the ground together and I wouldn't have to prop her up and try to convince her that having a wobbly head wasn't so bad. Again, I find myself looking at her now realizing that time really does vanish. She is a grown up kind of baby now. New things are happening left and right and I haven't blogged for two months! Oh the things I probably have forgotten.

Luckily, Jadyn is still cuddly like a newborn. She still likes to take naps next to me in bed. She still thinks I am all that matters in this world even though I am so undeserving of such a title. I don't think it will ever stop being amazing having moments with your children when you find they have learned something new and it had nothing to do with you. All her milestones blow me away right now but I can only imagine it doesn't stop there.

Someday she will learn how to tie her shoes.

Someday she will go to school all on her own.

She will make friends.

She will learn how to drive a car (Ahh!)

She will learn that boys don't have cooties.

...But there will be times that she wished they did.

She will fall in love.

She will grow and learn and discover how to live and sure, I could take credit. It seems appropriate since I gave birth to her. But I really haven't done much. I just get to enjoy it.

My busy bug. 

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Seven: More Tummy time

She's a little rolling machine. We're still working on the back to the belly roll, though. She just hates that tummy. We have discovered that one of the best motivators is to put someone she likes in front of her. She is bound to try and grab them!

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Six: Costume Crazed!

I may or may not have purchased/made/found in the attic about 6 or so Halloween costumes for Jadyn this year. I had no idea I would get SO EXCITED to dress her up. This was one option that I just adored. Too bad I am a little nuts and felt that Jace and I would have to have coordinating costumes to whatever Jadyn was. We could not find a match for duck.

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Five: Ward Conference

Jadyn wore her new dress Grandma Harmer got for her. She thoroughly enjoyed all the sounds she could make with it. It was a wonderful Ward  Conference. Jace and I got to sit with each other all three hours! I loved the combined lesson with the youth. There are moments I am blown away by how powerful these kids really are. This was one of those times. They are amazing. They deal with such grown up problems.

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Four: Hmmm

It seems I did not take a picture today. Left our SD card in Arizona and were waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Harmer to send it to us, so I had to get a little creative for a while with pictures. I must have lacked the creative juices this day.

Day One-Hundred and Thirty- Three: Fact

I took an acoustics class back in college. Most of the information has slipped my mind, but one given fact resounds  over and over again because my life is now in context with it. Here is your science lesson for the day:

Sounds travels in waves. The amount of waves per second a sounds passes you is called the frequency. The unit of measurement is hertz. A higher frequency will have shorter wave lengths meaning a larger amount of waves will pass per second. We generally are able to hear frequencies ranging from 20-1700 hertz. Men have a harder time hearing higher frequencies, especially when they get older. Ever heard an old guy say "What was that little girl?" The high frequencies literally do not pierce their drums anymore. A baby's cry is usually at a frequency of around 1600 Hz.

The meaning of this mumbo jumbo: When our husband's say they didn't hear the baby cry all night THEY PROBABLY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH. It's true. Also, that very frequency for a woman is similar to an overtone. It is piercing to us.

Jace is overcoming his handicap more and more. There are nights that I only have to wait five seconds longer for him to pop out of bed. He's amazing.

He babysat her for a little while today. He may not be as good as I at waking up with her, but he is certainly good at going to sleep with her. 

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Two: One Oogly Eye

This is Jadyn's absolute favorite book. I grabbed it out of the dollar section at Target.

Every time we read it I get the same reaction from her. She gets so excited she can barely contain herself!

Day One-Hundred and Thirty-One: Not a good picture, but you get the picture

She is on to the chewing on everything within her grasp stage. I think it's so cute!

Her favorite chew toy: Jace's fingers. 

Day One-Hundred and Thirty: Rolling!

Just moments before she rolled over for the first time! I screamed and maybe cried a little bit I was so proud. Too bad I couldn't catch her doing it again.

Day One-Hundred and Twenty-Nine: Family Night at the Zoo!

Jace and I have decided to take Family Night up a notch (aka: start doing it). Our game plan is to have a simple lesson on Sunday. Sometimes it is something we have been reading about in our personal scripture study or learned in church, other lessons are to prepare for when Jadyn will participate so we color pictures for felt board stories (Jace likes those best), or things we need to focus on such as budgeting. Sunday is rarely a day of rest for Jace and I due to our callings so it is nice to sit down together for a little while. Monday is our activity day. We take turns choosing the activity. This also counts as our date night now because Jace is just a busy boy once the week gets started! I LOVE having our dates on Monday. No one else is out and everything is cheaper!
For our first official Family Night Jace chose to go to the Zoo.

He planned on drawing a giraffe for his class that week and wanted to gain a little bit of inspiration. It was so much fun!  

Jadyn could not get enough of the fishies. 

Jace could not get enough of the Komodo Dragons.

I just wanted to see the penguins and the monkeys; both of 

which we did not get very good pictures of. 

Family Night was a success!

Day One-Hundred and Twenty-Eight:Daddy got to choose her dress.

Whenever Jace get's to choose what she wears for church the inevitable tutu is put on. It is still too big but he just can't help it. She is his little princess and he wants to make sure she looks like one! This Sunday was Stake Conference, so she was able to show off her oversized tutu to a much bigger crowd including her good friend Austin (Amy and Jeff's little boy. The marriage has already been arranged). 

Day One-Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Chit Chat

She is such a talker!

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five to Twenty-Six: A little premature

A really awesome habit I have noticed about my husband is that when he enters new situations he seeks out the really "important" people and becomes their friend. At the Art Institute for instance, his closest friends are: the head of the Graphic Design department, various teachers that have important friends, and the director of the Communications Department. I didn't believe in networking until I saw how well he did it! One of his friends got him an interview as a junior designer at Qdoba. The day that he had the interview, I just started preparing to congratulate him. He was a shoe-in. He's a fantastic designer, has amazing references, and is a wonderful interviewee. They had already mentioned that they don't usually offer jobs to undergrads but they just loved him so much. Plus, I had a really good feeling about it. He came home to my very fancy sign and just laughed because he wasn't going to receive an answer from them until the next day. I wasn't worried though. He already planned to meet with the friend, the Head of Graphic Design, to move his schedule around so that he could fit a full time job in with his full time school schedule (bless his heart...Hey! That's the first time I could say that phrase in such a fitting way). 

To both of our surprise he didn't get the job. It was not because he was under qualified. In fact, they said he was TOO QUALIFIED. He hasn't even graduated yet and a huge corporation thinks he is too qualified! How do you cope with such information. Finding out that you don't qualify is one thing. You know where to go from there: improve. But when you are already too good: dumb down? It's not really something we should be upset about. I was disappointed. But how could I be upset that people think my husband is really good at what he does? So instead of a solemn "Welcome Home. Shoot, I really thought we had our big break that time..." I decided we should have another celebration! 

Everything on the menu that night was overcooked, over-manly, or had something to do with Bunnies...because they overproduce. 

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four: Tutu

Target is the ultimate place to buy baby clothes. I have found things for $1 on MANY occasions. I took a trip to target while Jace was hard at work. Everything I bought was under $2.50 except this little thing. It was a whole $4 and well worth the extra buckage. You can't get much cuter than a tutu swim suit.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Three: Slow down!

She is getting so big! I think a couple times a month your baby will do something that just amazes you and you realize that somehow, even though you feel so incapable, they are learning new things all the time. Since Jadyn has a fairly easy time sitting in the Bumbo, we decided to try out the UltraSaucer (P.S. some toys have really lame names). I was blown away by how well she did. After a week or so of putting her in it every day I can now leave her to play for about 20 mintues. Hallelujah I can eat breakfast in peace! She is growing up.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Two: Not a day too soon

I am a believer that you shouldn't say things out loud because they will probably come true. For instance, on this day I was thinking "Gee, Jadyn is 4 months old now. I wonder if she is going to start teething soon." BAM! She is. The screaming, oh, the screaming. Luckily she is as sweet as a baby can be so she only has short outbursts. Most of the time she puts on a happy face for mommy even though I know she must be in pain. I felt so bad for her. I bought every teething thing I could find! Teething tablets are now like candy for her. She gets just as excited to get a tablet as she does to get her pacifier.

Magic Daddy

This doesn't really fall into a certain day. It is a re-occurring fact. Jace is magic. Granted, he does not have the massive strength I do because he gets extremely tired from holding Jadyn pathetically fast, but it only takes a few minutes in those big, comfy arms. Sometimes he is holding her out to look at him and she just passes out. I'm not sure how he does it, but if he were a super hero his name would be "The Sleeper".

Day One Hundred and Twenty One: Swim Swim

The date that the pool would be opened was extended! So we mozied on over so Jadyn could have a little swim. She really seems to like the pool. This suit is the one that my little sister wore when she was Jadyn's age. The elastic had about 5 minutes of life left in it so we enjoyed it to the fullest.

    

Day One Hundred and Twenty: Surprise!

Whenever my mom goes out of town, my dad feels the need to do a project that he has every intention of finishing before she gets home. Of course, he underestimates time, his tendency to buy really cheap material that he will more than likely break while in the process and will end up spending more time and more money for a seemingly simple project. What usually happens is my mom comes home to everything covered in fiberglass dust, a wall knocked down, and dad severely injured. Jace has lessened these occurrences drastically due to his choice to do projects exactly the opposite of the way my dad would like to. So this time, my mom came home to find her guest bedroom she has been working on for weeks was finished! It was painted, the base boards were up and shelves were in. What a nice surprise. 

Day One Hundred and Nineteen: A Happy Reunion

I am so behind on my blogging that these next few posts will be from a very vague memory tucked away in a random corner of my head. I counted from Jadyn's birth date to make sure I was actually on the right day and Yipee! I was.

Jadyn was greatly missed by the men. The first thing Grandpa did when he came home from work was scoop Jady up and take her to his office. They were both hard at work.

Jace went for her first when he got home too. 

Aunt Mindy let us borrow the Bumbo she was borrowing from her sister. We'll send it back with them at Christmas. This little seat is fabulous. I can cook and eat and do dishes while she watches me and chews on stuff.

Day One Hundred and Eleven-One Hundred and Eighteen: Baby Sister goes to college

I can't believe it! My sister is in College. My parents and her left a week before orientation to spend some time with the family in Utah. The night before they left Moose sat down with me on the couch, journal in hand and we had a good laugh reading about what kind of sisters we were. I was blown away by how much she really saw of my life: the good and most shocking was the bad. Such a young, sweet girl wrote some very deep insights about her rebellious older sister. It tugged at my heart to know that she had been experiencing the hardest times of my life right along with me. She truly is my best friend.  During those awkward times you get caught laughing in public for no apparent reason, it has almost always been because of something I knew her and I would think was hilarious. It is her beautiful voice I hear sing in my head when I look to the words of a Hymn for comfort. Somewhere around 90% of my childhood pictures have her in them. When we moved to Colorado, she was the only friend I had (except you, Carly, of course...but for dramatic effect just bare with me). And when Jace and I moved back in with my parents, she was again the only real friend I had. This hit me a couple hours after they drove off in a car packed with all her belongings. This was it. I will more than likely never live in the same house with my sister again. It's even a gamble that we will live in the same state! We will see each other during holidays and talk about our separate lives. My best friend has grown up. It has been a very long time since I felt this yearning, but for the thirtieth time in my life I said, "I don't want to grow up." I want her here with me forever. I am so happy for her. I am so excited for her to have her own adventures and donate plasma to afford it. But I certainly miss her. When Melissa hinted that she may like to have me there to see her off, I didn't hesitate. Jadyn and I were on a plane thursday morning to Salt Lake. Accomplishment #1 on the trip was of course successfully getting through security at the airport without Jace--with Jadyn--in a timely manner. Melissa and Mom had spent the week in Utah camping, getting Carter ready for his first day of school and SHOPPING. They saved a little of that for my arrival as well. I may have splurged a bit but then again,  when you spend virtually nothing  two years of marriage, everything feels like splurging.

We watched Carter's soccer game. It's not the best picture, but it is the best moment I captured. He just assisted one of his teammates in making a goal. What does he think of someone else scoring a goal even if they are on the same team? "Thumbs Down!" Mindy's still working on the teamwork concept. 

We also went bowling.

Brett's still learning how to hold a baby.

Travis. What can I say?

We finally got to meet Brett's mystery woman: Vic. I approve. 

Jadyn was such a good girl all through the driving. 

She snuggled up to her giraffe on the way to Rexburg. 

It took two full days to unpack this girl. But she's worth it...

cuz I love her and all her luggage (name that movie girls!)

We were too lazy to walk to the other side of the dorms to stand next to the nice sign that didn't have a dumb "Loading Zone" sign...you get the drift though. This is where college began for me. Good old Ricks hall. Good memories. College just flew right by! 

And now it is her turn, starting at Ricks Hall. It is somewhat like ground zero for us girls now. 

It's a good hall. 

I didn't really cry when my mom left me at college. But I was not Melissa. I'm not saying she is more of a wuss than me. I'm sure she would vouch for the fact that it is probably the other way around. Melissa has seen all her siblings leave home, all the way down to number 5. When I left she was still there with mom. The youngest and mother always seem to have a special bond. She was mom's buddy when everyone else was gone. So when it came to saying good bye to our dear Melissa, the family member that has always been waiting for you to come home, we all cried. You will be missed ya goon. I love you so much. And I am sure I am missing you more than you are missing me now. You're too busy conquering the world. Just remember that your big sister will be waiting for you to come home.