Ta Da!!

Here's the pics of Monkey! Our small being is definitely a bit bashful though!! It wouldn't show their face at all...just a few profile pics. Everything looks spectacular and the baby is growing as expected! And this child did a very good job of keeping it's gender a secret...so don't ask, we have no idea!!

heart beat: 157

Upside down

profile shot

I had my first progesterone shot today too, which while it wasn't exactly pleasant, I am pleased to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Maybe after 18 weeks of this, I'll be able to do shots with no problems. I think Jon is secretly excited that he gets to give them, but won't fully admit it! :) Jon and I decided that it's good to set goals, so our goal is to get all 18 shots in! That means I would be at least 36 weeks...good goal to shoot for! Thanks for checking in!

18 weeks and counting...

This is the last time for about 18 weeks that I'll be able to remember my hiney not being stabbed! That's right...I have the joy of starting my progesterone shots tomorrow. Because Jackson decided to make an early entrance into this world, I will be getting to do weekly progesterone shots to help maintain this pregnancy until 36 weeks. Now, to most of you this wouldn't be a huge deal (and in all reality, it probably won't be...I'm sure I'll get used to it) BUT for me...I hate, DESPISE, dread, will do anything to avoid shots!! I make people go with me to hold my hand for a stinkin' flu shot! This is not going to be fun, but maybe, just maybe it'll get me over my needle phobia!

Tomorrow is also an exciting day, as we will be having our big ultrasound tomorrow! And no, for those of you out there who are wondering, we will not be finding out the sex of this little being. We were surprised with Jack and loved that surprise so will be doing that again! We're just hoping for a nice, healthy baby. We've got names picked out for both a boy and a girl (and yes, those will also be kept a secret!) so we're ready to go!

I'll post ultrasound pictures tomorrow!

Week 17

Week 17 is upon us! Over the last week, I thought maybe the puking was going to stop as I went 2 days without the fun, but no such luck...came back in full force last night and seems like today will be a repeat.  :(  Monkey's acrobats are definitely becoming more distinct now, which is a lot of fun. Jack is convinced that he can see Monkey moving around when we're getting ready for bed. I keep telling him it's just Mommy breathing, but he still thinks it's Monkey. Jack is so excited to be a big brother...every night at bedtime, he lifts up my shirts, lays his little head on my belly and says his prayers and sweetly as can be. Then he talks to Monkey for a while, gives kisses and rubs my belly.

Next Monday is our big ultrasound, which I'm super duper excited about. We can't wait to take another peak at Monkey and watch the acrobats that I've been feeling! We'll get to do a 4D ultrasound, which is really cool to see. Sanford (our hospital) is doing a research study, called Safe Passage, to study prenatal care and SIDS. I got chosen for this study and it certainly is interesting! They asked everything from how much macaroni and cheese I ate the month before I got pregnant to when was your last alcoholic drink prior to conception and what was it.  Odd to say the least and hard to remember! One of the bonuses to this study is some extra ultrasounds throughout...I can certainly answer some odd questions if we get extra peaks of Monkey! After the baby is born, they will do some extra hearing tests, watch brain waves and movements...also random, but we know this research study will do some good!

Well...the brownies I made are calling my name, along with the mint oreo ice cream! The only benefit to all of this puking is minimal weight gain so far...my sweet tooth is thankful for that right now, I guess!  Until next week!!

Here's the pics we've taken of Monkey's growth!

And we're at 16 weeks!

We've officially made it to 16 weeks...only (let's hope it's this long) 24 weeks to go!  Everyone keeps telling me that "oh you're in you're second trimester, the puking will get better." But I'm still waiting for that to happen!  Took a new medication that my doctor gave me, but it makes me feel a bit drugged and sedated...so what's worse?!?  Feeling nauseous or so tired I may forget I have a child to take care of?!? Hard to say! 

Jackson has lovingly nicknamed our baby, monkey, and continues with it, so that's what this babe will be called until his/her arrival!  Monkey is starting to do some mild acrobats over this past week.  Seems that Monkey likes sweets or just eating in general, as that's when I feel the most movement!  Jack is still very excited and wanting to talk with Monkey and sing songs, but has a hard time remembering that he can't just run and jump on Mommy for a while.  Gentle reminders...and it'll happen soon enough! 

Here's to hoping that everyone is right with the prediction that puking will stop soon!  It'd be a huge plus to our lives right now!!  We'll catch up soon!

Jon, Libby, Jack and Monkey

P.S. This week's homemade ice cream will be Mint Oreo...I'm ecstatic!!

It's Baby Time!

I guess it's time to make the official post!  Jackson is excited to announce that he's going to be a big brother in August!!!  My official due date is my best friend's birthday...August 5th!  So yes, everyone's curiosity about why we are moving is correct...we need another bedroom!  Jackson is extremely excited!  The night that we told him, he did his nervous/excited giggle for like 2 or 3 minutes straight!  And then it was right into talking to the baby, giving the baby kisses, singing songs to the baby...over and over.  I had an early ultrasound that Jack got to come along for.  All he said was, "it looks like a little monster."

Overall, I've been feeling OK...well, scratch that idea.  I've puked almost every single day since about 8 weeks...7 weeks of getting sick every night is not my idea of fun, but what do you do!  It's all a part of making a miracle I guess.  I've tried different meds and nothing seems to do the trick.  My doctor gave me something else to try and said it might cause some drowsiness...HAHA!!  I felt like I had taken a horse tranquilizer!  I took it at 5:30 and was dead asleep on the couch at 7:30 and didn't even move until 10:30 when Jon woke me up to go to bed...and then slept until my alarm went off!  So scratch that one off the list!  Other than getting sick almost every day, I've felt pretty good.  Hopefully it continues that way!

Now because Jackson decided to make an early arrival, it bought me a visit with a perinatologist (a doctor who specializes in taking care of high risk pregnancies).  Lucky me, starting at 18 weeks, I'll get to be doing progesterone shots.  If anyone knows me extremely well, I HATE shots and HATE needles!  Oh well, it's all a part of pregnancy I guess!  Jon will be learning how to administer these and he's been given 1 warning...if he doesn't do a very good job....I'm finding someone at work to give them!  I'm sure it'll be fine...I'm just not looking forward to it at all!!  I'll also be getting ultrasounds every other week to check my cervical length.  They don't know when I actually started with preterm labor with Jack, so we're being extra cautious this time.  We're not planning on finding out what gender this little being is until he/she arrives, so hopefully with that many ultrasounds....it stays a secret! 

Come back often to see how things are going...with this going on, I'm hoping to be better at updating our blog! 

Woooo Hooooo!!!

YAY!!!  Our house sold and we found another one!!  It's the house we've always imagined and it's great!!  Right now, our closing date is March 25th.  So if anyone is available to help move...we'd gladly take it!  Here's some pics!

Happy Halloween!!

                              

Jack had a great halloween!  The youth group at our church had a trunk at the trunk or treat, so we headed over there to play some fun games and get lots of candy! 

5 Days down

Jack is slowly recovering...day by day!  Sunday was a little rough, but we're making progress.  He doesn't want to eat a whole lot, but who can really blame him.  He went back to Jen's house today and she said he did well there.  He ate more than he has here, which is great news!!  We finally got him to sleep without argument tonight in his own room...we'll see how long that lasts!  All I have to say is that I can't wait for him to be able to get through the night without meds and feel ok in the morning...getting up every 3 hours is kinda tiring...forgot what that feels like!  Thanks for checking in on us!! 

Jackson sans his tonsils!

Yesterday was the big day for Jack!  We all woke up bright and early and headed into the hospital at 7:00!  He even woke up nicely and didn't complain in the least when we told him he couldn't eat anything for breakfast.  *for those of you who know him well...this kid could eat 3 breakfasts a day...so going without we thought would be horrible...but we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a big deal!* 

We checked in and got our pjs on.  They brought in this great big bag of kiddo surgical hats for him to pick on.  After digging through most of the bag, he landed on a Lightening McQueen cap and plopped it on!    It was soooooo cute!!  The nurses were all great.  We had to wait a while for Dr. DeSautel to finish up his first case and the nurses knew it was taking a while...so they brought him a little package of things to do. 

His surgical nurse, Julie, got his wagon all ready to go and in he went!  We walked with him to the big red line, gave him lots of hugs and kisses and said "see ya later dude!"  When we left him, he was giggling as Julie was "racing" around the corner with lots of sound effects! 

It took about 15 minutes to get him to sleep, and about 15 minutes for the procedure.  Dr. DeSautel came in and said he did great...yes indeed, his tonsils were big and ugly and needed to come out.  It took about 30 minutes to get him to wake up and back from the recovery room.  I used to work with Jack's nurse, Rosemary, in the NICU so it was nice to see a familiar face.  She kept us updated on how his recovery was going. 

Pretty soon, we heard a lot of "oh, he's so cute!" and popped our heads out...sure enough, Jack was rounding the corner in this big huge bed!  He looked so small in there!!  He was halfway awake with this dazed look going on!!  The nurses said he was delightful and was one of the best kids to recover!!  Always a nice thing to hear!!  We picked Jack up and he slept for the next 2 hours...one tired boy!!  *on a side note...when you have to wake up Jack, it's not a pretty sight...even when it's not after surgery...so this wasn't a fun process to get him awake and alert enough to drink!* 

Aunt Nikki showed up during nap time and stayed to hang out for a while.  We finally got Jack up and somewhat alert...convincing him to drink something was another story!!  I didn't know if we ever were going to get him awake enough to drink!  After some lovely hydrocodone, he agreed to a popsicle...red, of course!  So when the twin-pops showed up, all he wanted to do was share them...what a sweet boy!  We got 2 popsicles down him and then some chocolate milk.  Time for the IV to come out and we'd be on our way home! 

By about 1:30, we were on our way home.  After a quick stop at Wal-mart for a supply of popsicles, juice boxes, yougurt and a new movie...we headed home...only to make an emergency stop about 2 min from Wal-mart because our sweet little boy puked up every last little thing in his little tummy...NOT FUN!!  We had red puke all over Jack, his blankie, carseat and the van...not fun at all! I luckily had packed an extra pair of clothes just in case we ended up having to stay overnight.  A quick change of clothes and we headed home.  Cleaning up red puke is not fun...it's only the 2nd time Jack has actually puked, so all in all, I think we're fairly lucky! 

He came home, snuggled on the couch for about 10 minutes and then was ready to go.  So much for "quiet activity" today!!  2 popsicles, a container of pudding, half a container of yogurt and numerous crackers later, Jack was rearing to go!!  It was such a nice day, so we took him for a walk.  Got home, made some soup and beer bread.  He ate almost 2 pieces of bread, but didn't really like the soup so much.  His next request:  "Lets just watch a movie and snuggle."  I'm okay with that, so we made a little bed on the couch and snuggled on in.  We were waiting for 9:00 to roll around so we could give him another dose of meds and then we headed to bed.  He didn't think sleeping in his room was a good idea, so he laid on our floor.  Fine by me, since they told us to wake him up in the night to stay on top of his meds...and right at 3 hours, he'd start getting squirmy and whiny so with a quick dose of hydrocodone or motrin, he'd fall back to a sweet slumber!  He woke up about 7:30 and just wanted to snuggle. 

We're onto day 2 and he's doing pretty good!  He's active as ever and if you saw him, you wouldn't think anything had happened!  We're having a hard time today getting him to eat anything, but hopefully that changes.  Overall, we're pretty pleased about his recovery!!! 

We're working on getting our house ready to put on the market so there's been a lot of craziness going on around here!  Between painting and recarpeting the entire upstairs, our house is kind of looking crazy!  Best go help Jon with the basement...I can hear the track going downstairs so Jack will be entertained for quite a while!  Thanks for checking in...hopefully things keep going well and he'll be feeling normal in no time!

Well...

It's been a while since I've updated, we've been so busy lately!  When Jack was in for his 3 year check up, Dr. Wallace asked what Dr. Desautel thought of his tonsils.  (We had been to see him back in Jan/Febish) and I said 2+.  Then that look "oh" look crossed her face.  She said they looked more like 3+ now.  So I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Desautel.  Yes indeedy, Jack's tonsils are large!  So he is buying himself a tonsillectomy & adnoidectomy (T&A) on Oct 22nd.  We're anxious and nervous about it, but know that he will be fine.  Dr. Desautel is the peds ENT and does this all of the time...so I'm thankful for that!  We've started talking about it with him and explaining that his throat will hurt but it will help him not get sick.  It may be an interesting weekend for us, but better sooner than later! 

Since this isn't that "fun" of a post, thought I better add some pictures!!

Picture Time

Jackson had his 3 year pictures taken a few weeks ago.  We only have a few of them, but this is what we have so far!!  Really excited about how they turned out...can't wait to see more!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jackson Conrad!!

Jack had an awesome 3rd birthday!!!  No party would be complete without great friends and family, lots of smiles, great presents, a cool cake and tons of fun!  When you as the big guy, his favorite gift was the 3D elephant picture that Aunt Boo Boo got him!  I mean, come on, when you consistently have been asking for an elephant for your birthday, how does that not top the list?!?!  :) 



Jack was super excited to get a new digital camera, which he promptly needed opened and has proceeded to take lots of pictures of people's legs and other odd things.  The biggest surprise to both Mom and Dad was how awesome Jackson did with his new big boy bike.  Neither of us thought he'd be tall enough to reach the pedals and really get going.  Boy did he prove us wrong!!  He got right on that bike, started pedaling like he had been for years and away he went!!  Up and down the sidewalk, around the corners at high speeds...he did awesome!! 

This morning, Jack got woken up with candles on his birthday cookie.  Yes, everyone gasp and pick up your jaws!  We let him have a monster cookie for breakfast in bed!!  He thought that was great!!  Then Mommy headed off to work and Daddy took over birthday duties.  Jack got to pick whatever he wanted to do!  Fishing and mini-golfing it was.  What a Daddy!!  Jack had so much fun and couldn't stop talking about it!  Tonight, we attempted to go to Daddy's softball game....attempt being the key word!  We got there, it started sprinkling.  Jack really wanted to go, so we went.  Pretty soon, it's sprinkling more steadily...and then suddenly, here comes the rain!  Daddy ran in from the field and finally convinced Jack we needed to go home.  So grab my purse, attempt to hold on to the blanket, pick up Jack and run!  Hauling a now 3-year-old is hard work!  Man oh man, was I wiped!!  Jack thought it was hilarious running in the rain.  When we got home, all he wanted to do was feel the water from the rain spouts...didn't bother him at all that we were both soaked!!   



Jackson, we both love you to the moon and back a million times!!  You have brought us so much love and joy over the past 3 years!  Thank you for all of the lessons you have taught us, all of the love you have shown us and all of the wonderful years to come!!  We love you!!

Here's to July

To start our July out right, Jack and I went on our first mommy/son double date with Erica and Logan.  We took the boys to see Toy Story 3 and they had a great time!  Cute movie and the boys did a great job during the movie.  Afterwards, there was a comparison of injuries, making crazy faces and having fun! 

This last week, Reid, Stacy, Ethan and Rebecca came up from Texas over the 4th of July.  Jon had to work that weekend, so we met Oma in Sioux City on Friday and Jack and I headed down to West Point to go hang out with everyone.  The kids had a great time playing together in the pool Oma had in the backyard.  A lot of time was spent outside!!  Oma and Opa's shed was converted into a clubhouse for the week.  My old kitchen set that my grandpa made me was in there, along with the cradle he made for my dolls, plus a great new tool set for the boys.  Man did they go to town with that!  Hard hats were put on within minutes and Ethan's boom-boom (aka hammer) was with him most of the time!  Ethan was ready for projects!!  On the 4th, we headed down to the park to play and have supper.  Jon got to West Point around 7 that night.  Because of some lovely rain/cloudy weather, the dinner was moved into the Nielsen Center.  It was air conditioned, which was a welcome relief.  The band was setting up, so once the boys got enough guts to go, we headed up to the stage to watch them set up everything.  The guitarist even let Ethan strum a few times and gave him his pick...he was stoked and was trying to pick up some chicks with it later in the night!  Our good friends, the Wimmers, are always in charge of the firework show.  Andrew is amazing and coordinates music to the fireworks and always has an awesome show!  Miss Rebecca slept through the whole show!!  Ethan just kept saying "fireworks go BOOM BOOM" and would pound his fist in the air...it was funny! 



On Monday, my best friend, Melissa, came up to West Point with her husband and new baby, Rowan!  It's been a long 7 weeks waiting to meet Rowan...Jack thought she was pretty awesome!  He couldn't wait to hold her and give her snuggles and kisses!

On Tuesday, we headed to the Omaha Zoo and met Aunt Boo Boo.  The kids did really well and had a good time!  Our biggest story from the zoo was Jack and Moe.  If you're Dylan and Austin, you know who Moe is!!  He's a huge silverback gorilla.  We were standing on the ledge, watching this adorable baby gorilla play with Rosie, the grandma who always looks a little cranky.  Jack was standing there...watching, laughing, having a good time.  Well, Moe was at the other side and started slowly walking across towards the baby gorilla (sorry Boo, can't remember the baby's name!).  All of the sudden, Moe starts picking up speed and I was thinking he was going to swoop by the window and run past...nope!  Moe picks up speed and at full speed, shoulder butts the window...right in front of Jackson!!!  I've never seen his eyes get so big and the tears come so fast!!  Boy did that scare the little man!!  He cried until we got out of that gorilla house and then continued to talk about it until well after lunch!  He still is talking about it...minus the tears though!  So yeah..besides that little incident, we had a great time.  Jack, of course, loved the elephants and all of the kids loved the penguins.  They let them up by the window now, so Ethan was running with the penguins, up and down...it was cute! 




Wednesday, we headed into Lincoln and went to Pioneer Park for a while.  The kids got to watch one of the elks walk around and then we had a picnic.  After that, we met up with Melissa and Rowan at the children's museum.  Talk about a big hit!!  Wish we would have been able to stay all day and night.  There were so many things for them to do and they had a blast!  Ethan was all about driving the semi truck and firetruck...Jack was all about the face painting.  Opa was in charge of him for a bit and when I got there, Jack had painted his entire face, both arms and called himself a tiger.  We met Uncle Jay and David for supper and then Oma and Opa took the kiddos back to West Point and we stayed to hang out with Jay and David. 

Thursday was a pretty quiet day...until the UPS truck arrived!  Oma and Opa got the grandkids a jumping house!!  Talk about a hit!!  After naps, the jumping house was up and man did they have fun!  Jack convinced everyone to move the pool next to the slide and man oh man did things get crazy!  Rebecca would stand at the top of the slide, raise her arms each time as if she was a gymnast, and jump...except she would jump so far that she would skip the slide all together and land into the pool!  They had an awesome time...it was great! 



So that's our trip in more than a few words!!  It was great to see the Texas clan again and we wish every day that we could see them more often!  Love you guys!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!! We have had a wonderful father's day weekend.  Friday night, we took Jack to a Pheasant's baseball game in Sioux Falls.  He had soooo much fun!!  One of the kids near us had a baseball glove and was talking about catching a ball, so Jack asked where his glove was.  Well, we told him that if a ball flew our way, he could just catch it in his hat!  Needless to say, he sat the rest of the night with his hat ready to catch that ball.  The cute part was that any foul ball that was hit, it was always a long ways away...he'd reach out his hat as if it was coming his way!  He certainly kept our row well entertained with that.  The Pheasant's played a good game, hit a few homers and won the game.  They had fireworks after that, which Jack thought was really loud, but thought were cool. 

Jackson was so excited for today!  Yesterday, I worked on setting up a treasure hunt for Jon and Jack to do this morning.  Lucky for me, Jon went to bed before me last night (rarely happens...I was busy doing Arbonne things!) so I could go hide all of the clues and presents while he was in bed.  All of the clues were Jack-isms that he says commonly (such as 'don't push me' when he's on his tryke, so the clue went in the basket on his tryke).  Jack and I made monkey bread this morning and took Jon breakfast in bed.  Jack thought that was really cool to eat in our bed.  Good thing we only do that a few times a year!!  So then we gave Daddy his cards and away they went on their treasure hunt.  Jon would say the phrase and then you could see Jack's wheels spinning and off they'd go!  It was cute to watch them work together and find the next present. 
                           
So after that, we went to church and then headed to town for lunch.  Since it was Father's Day, we took Daddy to Red Lobster (gasp....what, Libby went to Red Lobster?!?!  yes, I can handle it once in a blue moon...just not often!!)  One of the waitresses even got a lobster out of the tank for Jack to hear.  He thought they were really cool crawling in the tank...not so much when it was out of the tank!  She showed him the tail and his legs and talked about his nose being long to protect its eyes, but Jack was most interested in putting it back!  It was very cool for the waitress to do that though...Jack talked about it most of the way home!  After a long nap by a few of us, (Jon watched the US Open, I fell asleep on the couch) Jack woke up and immediately requested to go on a bike ride.  So we packed up a picnic lunch and headed on our bikes for the pool.  Jack wasn't so sure he liked the big pool, but was much happier at the wading pool.  Bike trip home, a few quick books and then off to bed.  What a great day!! 

Thank you, Jon, for being such an amazing father!  You far exceed the typical dad and Jack is so lucky to have you!!  From all of the extra snuggles you give, to helping out around the house, to putting us before your job, to all of the sand castles you've built, to all of the love you give us...we both say thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!  We love you!!

Yucky Kisses!!

So yucky kisses started getting passed around this house a few weeks ago.  Let me explain...Jack started refusing kisses from Daddy stating they are yucky!  He wouldn't let Jon kiss him at ALL...and for those of you who know Jon, it almost killed him!!  After a few weeks of this, Jon came up with a solution...trick the toddler...tell Jack HIS kisses are yucky and see what happens.  What do you know, the intelligence of the adult took over...works every time!  If Daddy refuses yucky kisses from Jack, the kisses only increase!!  Now he'll only kiss Daddy if Jon says Jack's kisses are yucky.  If he tells them they're nice, Jack stops.  So night after night, Daddy tricks Jack into bedtime kisses by throwing a "fit" about getting yucky kisses!  Ah...the innocence of toddlers!  No complaints here...he dishes out the kisses if they're yucky enough!  : )

We went to see Luke and Talia's new little guy, Beckett, this last week.  Jack thought it was so much fun to hold Beckett and give him kisses!  He held him quite a while without letting anyone take Beckett from him.  He's certainly growing up!! 

More Jack-isms

So a couple more Jack-isms from tonight!  We were driving into town and I was asking him what everyone's favorite color was.  I got to Aunt Nikki and he sat there for a little bit.  "Uhhhhhhh....i don't remember how to say it!"  :)  He didn't say he didn't know it, just that he couldn't remember how to say it!

And then a few minutes later, I got "When big boys drink beer, they laugh at other big boys."  So I inquire a little more and he told me that's what happened with Daddy at the softball game.  Guess our little boy is very observant!! 

Big Ambitions!

So a quick post about the ever-so-hilarious Jackson!  Yesterday, we were sitting at the table and all of the sudden he announced "When I am a big person, I'm going to get gum, eat flower seeds (sunflower seeds), get a girlfriend like Uncle Adam, and play football with my friends and wear a helmet!"  And that was that...he has some big ambitions in life!! :) 

As the Wheels Turn

Well ladies and gentlemen...we have a rider!! Jack can officially ride his trike!! He's been working since last summer to get his little legs long enough to hit the pedals and put himself into motion! He did it once for Jon about a month ago and hasn't done it since then. I caught him one time doing a 3-pedal around but he wouldn't do it again for me to catch it on video. Well, tonight...same story, different day! I pull up and he's pedaling his little heart out down the sidewalk with Oma. I run inside to get the video camera...he won't do it for me again. Soooooooooo....major bribing on mom's part...I offered ice cream for riding his trike for the video. And it worked!! So here's the little guy riding his trike...big accomplishment in the little man's life!
So on a side note: I've been driving my mom's Bug this week so she can have the van if need be. Let's just say there's 2 problems with that: #1- It's a stick shift. #2- I haven't driven a stick shift in a LONG time!! Now this stick shift is a little different that what I was "raised" on...the reverse is right next to 1st gear...totally throws me off and makes me nervous!! Yesterday, I had to parallel park on a hill...MAJOR disaster for Libby. Oh yeah...when I pulled in I had to reverse to try and get closer...that wasn't working well...I reved the engine, rolled forward...not a good situation! And then to top it off, I watched someone park right in front of me...and get incredibly close. I just kept hoping and praying that the car was gone by the time I got off work...no such luck! So i sat in the Bug for a while and thought maybe if I just wait, they'll show up and drive away. Now I just have to try...so I crank the wheel, very slooooooooowly get going and start moving, get nervous that I'm too close and slam on the breaks. So I'm thinking, great, now I have to reverse and I'm not good at that (remember, rolled forward earlier in the day trying to do that exact thing!). So I take a deep breath, inch slowly forward, luckily did not scratch the car in front of me and got out...sigh of relief!! Well tonight I'm driving home, pull up to a stoplight, which also happens to be on a small hill. And then the dreaded...a car pulls up behind me! I'm almost in a panic attack thinking I'm going to roll into this guy. The car in front of me turns right, so it's, of course, my turn to pull up to the light. STAGE FRIGHT!!! I try once, roll backwards...get nervous, so I flag the guy to go around me. Talk about mortifying...I was almost in tears!!! So he pulls up next to me, still can't get into the turning lane, so there I sit...frozen....great. So I finally got up the little hill, made it home with only one stall (had two on the way in!). Maybe Jon should take the bug tomorrow so I can be safe in my wonderful little Honda...

Happy Month of May!!

Once again, I need to get back on the ball with blogging and keeping this up-to-date! We've had a crazy couple of weeks up here! Three weekends ago, Grandma and Grandpa came up for a visit. Jackson got a new sandbox that weekend and boy was that a hit!! It took convincing Daddy that it would be worthwhile to get it and it has proven it's point all by itself. Brandon has a local group called the Brandon Edge (combo of Jaycees and the Optimist Club) and every year they do a sand drive. $15 for 4 wheel barrels of sand = more fun than Jack ever realized!! He spent the entire afternoon out there, most of the next day and it took some major convincing to keep him inside on Monday when we got home as well!! He loves it and it was certainly well worth the $15!!

The next weekend Oma and Opa came up to help stain our deck. Jack wanted to be a helper himself, so we had to come up with some other activities for him...which included running through the sprinkler and "painting" the neighbor's fence...with water, of course!! The deck turned out great, thanks to some extra sunshine on Sunday. We almost missed being able to do it because it rained Sunday morning, but God sent us some sunshine and we stained away!

This last weekend, we took an extra special trip down to see Dawn, Ryan, Dylan and Austin. Jackson was superb in the car!! I was fairly nervous for the 6 hour drive, but Jack proved us otherwise!! He even drove the whole way over in his big boy underwear, warned us when he needed to go, held it in until we got to a gas station...impressed me!! We had a great time over in Williamsburg. Dawn and Ryan have certainly found a wonderful town to live in and raise those two boys!! When we got there on Friday, we ate supper and then they had their neighborhood Friday Night Lights, where everyone gets together at one house, has a fire pit and the kids all play. Man how I wish our neighborhood was like that!! Saturday, we got to enjoy the park, Java Lounge, and later swimming. Saturday night, we headed into Iowa City and ate at a great pizza place. The boys had a lot of fun entertaining each other and there were lots of laughs! Adam and his girlfriend, Bethany, came down on Sunday which was great to see them!! Sunday afternoon we went golfing and then had a family softball game, which proved the point that this lady isn't so hot at sports!! :) It gave me a decent workout though!! Monday morning, the ladies took a quick trip to the outlet mall in Williamsburg and then we were on our way back. A quick trip to Acute Care and then safely into our driveway. Poor little Jack contracted Hand, Foot, Mouth disease from somewhere, but managed to hang in there and not be too cranky! He had some mild fevers and a rash, but overall did alright. There wasn't much sleeping, but luckily, with lots of flexibility from the other Burns family, we managed just fine!! Thank you for such a fun, relaxing and enjoyable weekend guys!! We miss you already and can't wait to see you again!!

Long time, no post!!

Wow...it's been a while since I've updated our blog...as in almost 2 months!! Sorry about that...things have been a little busy around here! This could be a long post my friends, so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!

February 26th, we had the privilege of celebrating Jamie & Becky's wedding with them. It was awesome to spend some time with our friends and have a fun and relaxing weekend up in the Cities. Crystal and I took a trip up to Albertville for a very successful shopping excursion as well! Jack enjoyed swimming that weekend...over 3 days I think he went at least 5 times! He'd go between the "cold pool" and the "hot pool" back and forth...had a great time!!

So way back in February...we got to take Jack to Playhouse Disney! My friend, Laura (whom I work with), her husband is one of the managers at the Arena and got us tickets. It was after we found out Jack had RSV, so he wasn't 100% himself at the time. And Terry (Laura's husband) accidentally got us tickets for the early show, which was Jack's naptime, so he wasn't quite as alert as usual. He did, however, LOVE it and still talks about it!! Here's some pics from that event:

So now we're up to March...Oma & Opa came up one weekend and we took in the kid's museum in town. Jack got to experience the Wells Fargo Cinedome which he thought was interesting. It was all about animals, which was great for hi, except about halfway through he thought one of the animals was going to get him and ended up on my lap. He did pretty good considering!!

Alright folks, we've made it to the end of March, which gives us the start of
(drum roll please) GOLF SEASON! Here's a few pics of our first golf outing this year....Jack loved every minute of it and I didn't golf all that badly if I do say so myself!!

Jackson has been huge into playing legos lately and one day he built this robot. We totally thought he had done it all by himself...until we realized that there was a slim to none chance that he actually figured out how to alternate the colors. Pretty sure Aunt Nikki helped him with this one, but he was pretty proud of it!!

So this brings us up to Easter!! We headed down to Hartley for Easter this year. Dawn, Ryan, Dylan and Austin were back so it was great to see them...hadn't seen them since they moved!! Jack had a good time at the Easter egg hunt in town, although kept a close eye on the Easter Bunny...wasn't so sure about that one! The boys had an awesome time dying easter eggs...Jack thought that was something cool!! Easter Sunday we headed to church in Spencer and then came back for Easter dinner. After that, we had the easter egg hunt and then we headed back home.

(alright...i've tried at least a dozen times to get the pics uploaded...its been arguing with me and i do enough negotiating with a toddler to just let it go...easter pictures hopefully soon!)

So now we're up to the random "Jack-isms" that this little man does! We'll try and explain some of the many random pictures that we have! First pic...Jack relaxin as we read books before bed...it is a common occurrence for him to sit like this when we're hanging out. The next pic...Jack and his dinosaurs...this was one of his many bribes for potty training. A couple of days ago he asked to play with them and the next thing I see is that he's lined them all up and proudly announces that his dinosaurs are in a parade! Couldn't help but capture the proud moment! And anyone who wonders what Jack looks like after enjoying milk and Oreos...take a look at that face!! That constituted a bath that night!

Well folks...that concludes the last few months at the Burns household! Phew...after a long update like that I vow not to go that long between updates!!