Jenson's Room

I've been wanting to do this post forever. My favorite room in our house is of course my baby's room. I knew from the very first moment I found out I was pregnant that if it was a boy, His room would be Navy blue and lime green. I am definitely not into the traditional baby blue stuff that's out there. I was scared to do a theme because I knew it would grow old. 

His room was pretty hard to decorate. We live in an older house and his room in particular has a lot of different pitches. You'll be able to know what I mean when you see the pictures. I can't hang too many things on the wall because of those darn pitches. But I still LOVE the way everything turned out.

Also, I'm not talented with the camera AT ALL. So the lighting in some of these isn't too great...

See those pitches!!

This dresser was my old white dresser. It was the first project I started. I had to sand it all down, which took A LOT of work. Then I repainted it. It took 5 coats of paint to cover everything up!!!I am so happy with the way it turned out!

His closet is kind of small and you can't put doors on it because of, once again, those darn pitches. But, we made it still turn out great! P.S. I buy way more clothes for him now days than I do for myself... :)

This was the first craft I did after he was born. I knew I wanted to do something like this from the very beginning but we didn't know for sure what his name was going to be until he was born. I got the letters and scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby.

I totally copied my friend, Rachel, on this project. It was too cute, I couldn't help myself :)

My mom made all his bedding. She did such a great job! We got the crib from Downeast-screaming deal! Mobile is from Buy Buy Baby

This lamp is probably my favorite purchase for Jenson's room. I got it at Hobby Lobby. I knew as soon as I saw it, I HAD to get it.

This is the cross stitch I made for Jenson. I got it as something to do for the last month I was pregnant. It gave me something to do when I didn't feel like moving. Haha :)

Well that pretty much sums it up. Cutest baby boy room EVER! 

7 months!

I swear time is going by faster and faster!  This last month felt like a week. And to think he only has 5 months before he is a year old. And how much he is going to change in those 5 months! :(

The past few weeks have been rough. I feel like Jenson has been more fussy than usual. I'm assuming it's teething. Ahhh I just want those dang teeth to come in already!! I want my happy baby back!

He's been waking up in the middle up the night a lot lately and I think it's because he gets to hot/uncomfortable because of the swaddle he is in. I'm hoping I can figure out a way here soon to transition him out of the swaddle. Anyone have any tips??? He needs to be swaddled up to get to sleep but then wakes up because he's not free to move around. Poor babe :(

He's nap have been really good lately! He takes 3 a day now.

Sunday's are our longest days. He does NOT sleep at church and he gets so cranky! It makes it really hard to teach primary with a grumpy baby. Al and I have to take turns. One giving the lesson and the other wondering the halls with Jenson.

He loves sitting out on the front porch and watching cars drive passed. It's the only way I can calm him down on his fussy days.

He loves going for walks

Has started to get on his toes and push his butt in the air when he is on his belly.

He rather play with Rorie's toys than his own. :)

Lately instead of crying he yells, "mmmmmm, mmmm, mmmmmm" Over and over and OVER! And he won't stop unless you pick him up and yes, you have to be standing. Holding him when you sit down doesn't count. Little turkey!

Definitely a momma's boy. Which I love sooooo much but also can be exhausting when he wants no one else to hold him. I got some good 'mom muscles' ;)

Puppies!

Ever since we first got Rorie, we knew we wanted to breed her at least once. For the experience and well... not to lie, the money. It took a lot of convincing from my Dad when Rorie went into heat this fall. Was she ready to be a mom? Was I ready to take care of puppies!! Well, sure enough I was convinced and I found a Standard size, beautiful, cream colored poodle available for stud service on KSL. They brought him (Drake) over to our house for the week for them to... uh.. do their thing. Man, that was an adventure in itself. We had to keep both dogs outside all day long because male dogs tend to pee on everything when around a female dog... and sure enough he did! Drake had to pee on every bush/flower/weed...etc. multiple times. Rorie pretty much thought we had abandoned her because she is not use to being locked in the back yard with some strange dog 24/7

After Drake left it was all just a waiting game. Wait to see if she was pregnant. I did a ton a research and most people said you usually can't tell if a dog is pregnant until the last few weeks. The gestation period is usually 60-65 days. So, only two-ish months. Man, how awesome would it be if humans only had to be pregnant for two months????

There were a few signs that Rorie was indeed pregnant. She peed WAY more often. We had to wake up 2-3 times at night and let her outside. She was more work than baby Jenson! She also ate more too. But I was doubtful. I didn't want to get mine/or anyone else's hopes up. Fianlly, her belly started expanding. And when she would lay down, you could watch tiny puppy movements. It was crazy! You could tell Rorie was completely miserable though. She would sleep and mope around all day long. So, I guess like typical pregnant women ;)

This picture was taken hours before she went into labor. Hahaha I laugh everytime I see it. Doesn't she look so uncomfortable?? Poor Rorie. 

It was Halloween day and  I was sure she had to be close! The research I had done, told me there are 3 phases of actual labor. The first one is when the dog starts panting a lot and shaking and it is the longest phase of pregnancy lasting anywhere from 12-48 hours . After all our Halloween festivities were over, we started getting ready for bed, when I noticed Rorie was pacing the house and panting. I thought, "Okay, this must be the beginning of the first phase." I tried calming her down and all of a sudden she starting shaking. Al and I both got very anxious, knowing that the puppies would be here within a day or two. Again we tried to calm Rorie down and tried to get her to go to sleep. But she simple could not stop shaking! I started freaking out a little. Rorie ran down stairs to her favorite spot, behind the couch where we store all her toys. Al tried getting her to come out because we did not want her having her puppies behind the couch!! As Al was trying to get Rorie to listen to him, I was busy in the kitchen getting newspaper and stuff ready just in case is happened early morning.... I called my dad letting him know it might happen soon because he promised he would help me through the process. 

While on the phone, I hear Alek say, "LINDSIE! OH MY GOSH, THERE'S A PUPPY BEHIND HERE!" 

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" 12-48 hours my butt.  I told my dad to get over to my house ASAP. Then I ran into the living room to see Alek moving the couch a little bit, holding Rorie back by the collar and sure enough there lay a little puppy.  "What should I do?!" asked Alek.... I told him to grab the puppy and bring it into the kitchen but my big tough husband looked at me like I was crazy.... "I'm not touching that!" I rolled my eyes at him and ran to the puppy, picked it up and brought it into the kitchen to the newspaper I had to barely spread out. I knew Rorie was suppose to know what to do by her dog instincts but I think with Al and I both freaking out, we had scared her. I had to coax her a little bit to start licking the puppy and I started rubbing the puppy a little bit myself to help her. I seriously had know idea what I was doing. Finally, the puppy let out a little cry and instantly starting trying to find her mommy to nurse. I was in shock. Did that really just happen!! 

It was about 11:30pm when the first puppy was born. She was the only one born on Halloween. :) I knew at that point it was going to be a long night! We got Rorie settled into her bed and waited for the puppies to start arriving. My dad finally showed up and starting helping too.  Alek on the other hand was too grossed out and fell asleep on the couch ;) 

The puppies came every 45 minutes to an hour. Rorie did awesome! She knew exactly what to do. Usually, with the first litter it's normal for the dog to have a smaller number of puppies. I was hoping for at least four. Around 3am Rorie had number 5. At that point we thought for sure she was done and my dad went back home. I decided to stay awake just in case. Sure enough numbers 6,7,8 and yes 9 were born. The last one being born at 730 am. Saying it was a long night is an understatement!!!

There was one puppy that was half the size of all the others. A little white female pup. She stole everyone's heart. She was so small she had a hard time eating. We had to bottle feed her. It was so hard to watch something so little be so helpless. Unfortunately she only survived a few days. It broke my heart. I'm so thankful my in-laws helped so much watching over her and feeding her while she was alive. Poor lil girl:(

This is her Next to another puppy. Compare the size difference!

The first few weeks were a breeze. The puppies just slept and ate. The only thing I had to worry about was Rorie accidentally sitting on one when she laid down to feed them... haha..Their eyes didn't open until they were about 4 weeks old. And once they could see and walk... things got a bit crazier!

It was a lot of work! We had fun with them, don't get me wrong. Seeing them grow and start to get personalities. But, man did I get tired of cleaning up their poop!! There were so many of them and not very much room. So coming downstairs in the morning after they had pooped everywhere all night long was a nightmare. My house reaked!!! It would have been so much easier if we had done this in the middle of summer instead of the winter, that way we could have just kept them outside. :) Although, it was perfect timing for them to be Christmas puppies!! 

They were all soo adorable! Seriously I wanted to keep them all. 

It's really hard to get a picture of puppies all at once.... They NEVER hold still!

1. Lt. Pink-Female (Norah) Went to our high school friends Alex and Lindsay Knowles. She was the first one born. Our only Halloween puppy. Everyone always commented on her having the softest fur and had the prettiest light golden color.
2. Blue-Male (Harley) 2nd biggest of the litter. Quiet-giant
3. Green-Male (Rocco) One of the curliest of the litter. Also, the most playful and energetic. Was always playing with one of the toys. (Al's Favorite pup)
4. Multi-Male (name-unknown) Last one to be chosen. Lighter fur with darker ears. One of the noisier ones.
5. Purple-Female (Piper) One of the smallest. Dark and very curly fur. Had two little white back paws. Very dominant personality... A lot like her mom :)
6. Black-Male (name-unknown) Smallest and darkest colored pup. Very chill and laid back. Quiet and very well-behaved. Had a brown nose.
7. Jasper-Male (Chewy) Most unique looking puppy. Brown nose and blue eyes. I thought he was beautiful!

And last but not least my favorite:

8. Tank-Male (Walter) Biggest pup by far! Last one to be born. Lighter/greyish coat. I really don't know why he stuck out to me. But he did. Maybe it was because he was the biggest and also the cuddliest. Or his cute face, or the way he would look at me all sad when I was playing with another pup. But, man was it hard to give him away!! Glad I kept in touch with his family and they still send me pictures. Walter is a lucky pup with a family of two little girls who adore him! He now lives in California and is living the dream being a beach dog. :)

So the big question... Are we going to do this again? I don't know that I've made up my mind. I tell everyone, "probably in a few years." I'll give it enough time that I've forgotten how much work it actually involves. :) 

6 months!

I seriously can't believe my baby is half a year old. Makes me soo sad but sooo happy at the same time.
This is such a fun stage!! He is learning new things every day. He's one smart little boy.

Weight: 18 lbs (61 %)

Length: 27 inches (72%)

Head: 18 inches (96%) -Big head!

~He can now sit up by himself.

~His LOVES chasing Rorie around in his walker

~Is learning how to use a sippy cup

~Rolls across the room in seconds

~Still loves being swaddled, which seriously is so surprising to me!

~Sleeps from 730pm to 530am. eats then go back to sleep until 8ish

~He loves cords. Daddy's laptop cord, the TV cord, the Comp. mouse cord, etc... He gets away with chewing on them now because he still doesn't have any teeth. But once the teeth come we're going to have to cut him off!

~His new obsession has been tags! With other his stuff toys the first thing is does is finds the tag and starts sucking on it. If he sees the tag on the dish towel I'm using he will go crazy! It's hilarious! 

~He laughs anytime Rorie walks past him or barks.

He still kicks his legs like crazy 24/7! Especially when he knows it is bathtime and can hear the water running. It's his way of showing his excitement!

~He is getting so much harder to hold because he is so wriggly and just wants to look at EVERYTHING!

~I've started to wean him and he is eating formula like a champ! 
And

~He holds his own bottle... when he wants to. 

The past few days I've been realizing how soon he will be crawling. I'm so excited for him to reach that milestone but honestly I'm also dreading it! It's going to be a game changer for sure! I already have a hard time control him because he wants to get into everything and he's not even mobile! I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when I have to start chasing him around the house. I literally won't get ANYTHING done! I'm soaking in every ounce I possibly can of my Lil immobile babe ;)

I love you so much Jenson! Happy half birthday! :)

Confession about breastfeeding and formula

When I was pregnant, I never really thought twice about breast feeding. It was just something that moms did. When people asked me, Of course I was going to breast feed. That was the only option. Or so I thought...

Jenson was born and right after we tried to start nursing. At first he did AWESOME! Latched right on. For about 2 minutes. I was feeling proud. "See this is easy!" I told myself. Then he seemed to start struggling. Just when he started getting the hang of it, it was like he would give up and start getting fussy. Plus... no one told me just how bad it hurt! ugh!!! I would sit there and curl my toes and squeeze Al's hand. The nurses kept telling me  it was just because my milk hadn't come in yet. They also promised to send a lactation lady in to help me. But, she left early that day and never showed up. Plus Al was ready to leave the hospital as soon as they gave us the "okay." So, I never saw the lactation specialist. 

My original plan was to nurse and pump and get Jenson used to breast and bottle. It worked for the first... oh I dunno... MAYBE two months. We still never got the hang of nursing. It seemed like way too much work! So, I always resorted back to just pumping. After he was two months old, I was just exclusively pumping and feeding him breast milk out of a bottle. 

In my eyes it was WAY easier, and faster. I didn't have to worry about flipping my boob out it public. Kudos to every other women out there who can handle it. It was just too awkward for me. Also, I could freeze the extra milk and save it for later. Plus, other people got a chance go feed Jenson. :) 

The hard thing was that I never really felt support. Al had my back 100% which was super nice. But, I swear everyone else thought I was a total lunatic. I got questions like.... Do you ever nurse him? Does nursing in public scare you? Aren't you worried Jenson will miss out on the connection all the other babies get when they nurse? You know, it's twice as much work to pump and then feed, why not just nurse and skip a step?

Seriously, I've heard it all. It still makes me feel like a failure as a mother. I wish nursing came natural to me. HONEST! 

Well 6 months down the road and I'm still keep on keepin' on.... Pumping pumping pumping. I feel like we have a good routine down. Jenson eats and eats. I know exactly how much he is eating. I can plan for babysitters when I'm going to be gone. Seriously we have worked out a good system. 

Here comes the hard part of this post.... every once in awhile the past 6 months that dirty "F" word would come into my head. Yes, that's right. FORMULA. Dun, dun, dun..... At first it was thoughts like, "Oh  I could NEVER give Jenson formula, I would be such a bad mom." But, then slowly started shifting to things like, "What's so bad about formula?" Days when I would sit in the bathroom at the dance studio, pumping because practice had been way too long. Or all those long car rides when I would have to pump because I had already gone way to long and my boobs were throbbing. Those are the days when my mind would slowly start to think about formula. "Dang! Jenson is sleeping through the night but I still have to set an alarm at 3am and pump every single night! I wouldn't have to worry about it if he was eating formula."

Yes, I'm human and I worry too much about what other people think about me. It makes it even worse when it's people that are SUPER close to me. When I hear comments like "look how tiny that baby is, oh it's probably because that mom is feeding him formula." or "People who feed their baby formula are so selfish." Every time I would hear one of those comments I would cringe and hate myself for even considering giving Jenson the "F" word.

Then I found this on pinterest...

I started doing research and found testimonials and blog posts of other moms that felt the same way I did. 

I finally talked to my mom and told her I was considering weening Jenson and giving him formula. Guess what? Turns out I was fed formula! HA! I survived and am healthy..... must not be too harmful. 

I finally made up my mind. I was going to ween my sweet little Jenson. How selfish huh?

At his 6 month app. I told his pediatrician how I planned on starting him on formula. I was expecting him to lecture me about why that is not a good idea and how bad formula is just like EVERY ONE else. But, he didn't! He said, "Great! Good job for making it as long as you did!" Then I realized, you're right! I am pretty awesome for making it 6 months exclusively pumping! :)

That night I gave Jenson his first bottle of formula. I might have shed a tear or two. But, it also was like a big weight being lifted off my chest. Whew.... And Jenson chugged that Formula down like it didn't phase him at all.

The sad thing is... There are still judgmental people out there that I'm having a hard time telling. I wish I didn't have to worry... I wish I didn't have to feel guilty about packing my container of formula in my diaper bag....but like I said, I'm human. I want people to think good things about me. 

But... Here I go. I'm am now opening up to the world and letting everyone know. My sweet baby boy is 6 months old and I am started to ween him and have started feeding him the big nasty "F" word.  

Last but not least, all those mom's out there who make it the full year breastfeeding, HATS OFF TO YOU! You are amazing.

5 months!

~Jenson loves laughing at our dog, Rorie! 
~He can walk around in his walker like a CHAMP! 
~He loves his Oatmeal cereal and has started saying "mmmm" after every bite. We have completely given up on his rice cereal.  
~He beat his old record and slept 11 hours one night! I was so confused when I woke up by myself and Jenson was still sleeping!
~He still can't quite figure out how to roll from his back to his bellie. I blame it on his chubby tummy ;) It's just simply too much work. 
~He has started sucking on his tongue.
~He has started to teeth. Haven't seen any teeth poke through yet but he's constantly drooling and wanted to bite down on my fingers.
~He has finally found his voice and is talking so much! He use to only grunt.
~My favorite: He now reaches for me when someone else is holding him. He recognizes who I am!

~He is so close to being able to sit up. I give it two weeks! 

~His favorite thing to do is kick his legs. He can kick SO fast. I swear he's going to be the world's fastest runner one day.

~He has gotten SOOO much better at taking naps! (knock on some serious wood) He now sleeps 45mins. - two hours every nap, 4-5 times a day. wheww!  Before is was a constant fight to get him to sleep and he would only sleep 20 minutes.

~He still fights he sleep when we are away and his crib is not available. For some reason he NEEDS his crib or else he will not sleep.  Talk about high maintenance...

BFF

Do you remember when you were a kid/teen and you honestly could not imagine life with out your friends? You swore that NO MATTER WHAT you would always be BFFs? I remember feeling this way, and I also remember hearing from parents/leaders that "believe it or not you will lose touch with your best friends" or "I only talk to one of my friends from highschool every few months"  and "You'll find other friends." 

I remember thinking that that was ABSOLUTELY CRAZY and there was NO WAY that would happened to me and my friends. We needed each other! and would ALWAYS be there for each other. Bestie's for life!

Well believe it or not, I now understand what my parents were trying to tell me. They were right! I rarely talk to my friends from high school. Don't get me wrong, when I DO talk to them, I LOVE catching up and seeing them. They are all great. and I really do have the bestest of friends. But... I hate to say these relationships are no longer starting to feel like BFFs but more just like acquaintances. Or, (yes I have to say this) "Someone that I use to know." 

I loved high school! I loved/still love ALL of my friends! We made great, unforgettable memories. 

I'm in a different stage of life than most of my friends. To be bold... I'm at a better stage. I'm married and have a family. 

I hate HATE that people look at me and feel bad for me. "Her life is over." "No more fun for her!" PURE CRAZINESS! I could NOT be happier. I'm married. I have a son. Seriously my life is just starting. It's just getting fun. I don't have to play the stupid awkward dating game. I don't have to worry about who I'm going to hang out with on Friday night. 

I have my family. Ya, I don't stay up late anymore. Big deal. I get to hang out with my BFFs every single day. How lucky am I?? 

BFF
Best. Friends. FOREVER.

I didn't understand what exactly "forever" really was until I made a promise with Alek in the temple that I would be his... forever.

Yep. I really do have my family forever. <3

Friends come and go. But, how truly blessed am I that I have my BFFs and they're not going anywhere :)