Five Years

So today marks five years I have been married to this guy

We have had our ups and downs these last five years for sure... but he is my very best friend and my biggest supporter.

He has always worked hard to provide for us (even when he's had jobs he has hated), he's always there to listen and tell me what I need to hear (whether it's what I WANT to hear or not!), he makes me laugh, and keeps me sane.

He is an absolutely AMAZING involved and loving father. 

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband.  There isn't anyone else I'd rather spend forever with.  Happy Anniversary, Brew!  I love you!!!

Halfway to Three!

My precious boy is now 2 and a half!!!

I can't believe Jackson is now closer to three than two!  So much has changed for him in the past six (well, now more than six) months.

Here's the 411 on him now.  These are the same bullet points I used in his 2 year update.

• Height/Weight-  34.25 inches (HE GREW OVER TWO INCHES THE PAST HALF YEAR!); 26lbs.  He's in the 7th percentile for height and the 15th for weight.
• Clothing Size-  2T mostly, some 18-24mo, and size 5.5/6 shoes.
• Potty Training?  Is going well so far.  He now conisistantly goes #2 in the potty!  (It's been over a month since I've changed a poopy diaper!  Woo-hoo!)  We are now working on peeing on the potty.  He's making good progress.  :)  He wears diapers at night though (size 4), and he's wearing pull ups for naps and when we are out.
• Milestones- He's meeting most to all of the three year old milestones already!  He knows all of his colors and shapes, most of his letters, recognizes several numbers, can count reliably to 12.  He talks a TON.  He speaks in full sentences (like 6+ word phrases) - he's way ahead with his speech.  He is climbing stairs by himself now, and figuring out how to jump with both feet.  Still not sure if he is right or left handed (he will use both).
• Sleep- He's now in a BIG BOY BED (twin size bed) and has done great with it!  He still takes one 2-3 hour nap a day (usually from 1 to 3 or 4).  He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9.  He now basically sleeps through the night.  Some nights he's slept straight through in his bed, but most nights he comes into our room/bed in the middle of the night or very early morning and will sleep the rest of the time with us.  (We don't mind!)  
• Favorite Toys-Jackson loooooves to play outside.  He's fearless at the playground and loves it when there aren't many kids there and I'll let him play on the "big slides".  He also loves to swing, play "diggers" (in his sandbox), and ride in his ride-in car and tractor.  His favorite toys are his Thomas trains, and basically anything else with wheels.  He also loves books and being read to.  He has several stories pretty much memorized now and can recite whole pages.
• Favorite Foods- Macaroni & cheese is always the biggest hit! He also loves hashbrowns/tater tots, oatmeal, cheese in general, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, green beans, tomatoes, and pretty much all fruits (especially strawberries & blueberries)
• Favorite TV show- His most favorite is Thomas the Tank Engine.  He also really loves the movie Cars and Mater's Tall Tales (from Netflix).  He also still watches and likes Sesame Street, Curious George, and Mickey Mouse.
• He is now FULLY WEANED from breastfeeding- I know I said I would do a separate post on this (I still plan to!).  But long story short he was fully weaned at exactly 28 months.  When we completely stopped it was more of a mutual thing.  I do still miss it at times but we were both ready, and I am glad that I continued as long as I did.
• Comfort items- Jackson is never far from "KiKi" (his little monkey lovey).  He sleeps with him and pretty much goes everywhere with him.  He is still using a pacifer but he is only allowed to have it in bed or his carseat.  In a few months we will likely eliminate the car seat and restrict it only to the bed.  Then I think we will probably let him give it up on his own after that.  He basically did that with nursing so we will see how it goes!

I will leave you with his 2.5 year video update!

Loss

Hey everyone. I've been away from my blog for a while (sorry).

So here is the reason why...  I found out on April 21 that I was pregnant with baby number two. Finally after eleven months of not preventing (about six of those months were really trying), we finally were going to have another baby!  

But then, just after we told our families, at 6.5 weeks pregnant, I miscarried.  We were sad of course and so so disappointed.

Here is a video that I recorded shortly afterwards telling the whole story from the beginning, and my feelings, thoughts, and how we are/were doing...

And here is an update after my follow up appointment...

So now we are back to square one on TTC again. I actually just started a new cycle yesterday. So prayers for patience on our parts and prayers that we get pregnant again quickly (this time with a healthy baby!) are much appreciated!

I'll be back soon with another update. Until then...

March Happenings & Beginning My Last Year in my 20s!

It's been right about a month since my last post so I'll catch you up!

March has been crazy weather-wise.  Now that April has come though I'm hoping praying the snow is OVER for good!  It's officially Spring and we have had some nice days and gotten to play outside!  We got Jackson a new (to him) sandbox and he is loving that, along with his swing.

A second exciting thing this month-- We officially enrolled my big boy in 2-year-old preschool for next year!  It is a two half-day per week program at an area church.  We decided that it would be good for him to be around other kids.  He loves it sooo much and since I work (and will be working probably more next year as I'm returning to subbing), he is only ever with my husband & I and my mom on a regular basis.  He sees his cousin about once a week but that's about it- and it's usually in church when we are trying to keep them semi-quiet.  So we wanted him to get the opportunity to socialize with other kids his age.  We actually enrolled him in the same program with my nephew so they will be in the same class and I'm sure that'll make the transition easier on him.  (Though not necessarily easy for mommy!!!)


A third exciting March happening is that my new nephew arrived on March 26!

Henry Alexander - 9lbs 1oz!

Also- I have been doing periodic weekly videos on my YouTube channel, so head on over there if you're interested in seeing snippets of our daily lives :)



And finally the fourth BIG THING of March is that Jackson is officially 100% weaned from breastfeeding.  We had cut back to only bedtime and occasionally naptime since February.  But one night (March 18 to be exact) Jackson just didn't ask at bedtime.  I was completely shocked but just went with it.  The next night he did ask, and we did nurse, but then I thought you know what?  Maybe it's really time.  So the following night (Friday the 20) I decided to see what happened and if he did ask.  I decided I would try gently refusing to see how he took it.  I figured if he really put up a fight I'd go ahead and nurse him but I just wanted to test the waters.  So he did ask and I told him "no not tonight lets just cuddle" etc.  After whining for like 5 seconds he asked me to rock him to sleep, which I happily obliged and bam- that was it.  He went right to sleep!  He did ask a few times in the following two weeks or so but I just told him that the milk was all gone and he wasn't always happy about it but he accepted it with little to no fuss!  We were both ready to be done, but at the same time I definitely experienced the bittersweet side of it.  I still get sad when I think about him not nursing again, but more like a nostalgic sad-- like it'll always be a precious memory for me, and I'm super sad he is growing up.  I don't regret stopping because like I said, we were both ready.  Its definitely a complicated emotion and hard to explain.  I am hoping to do a post in the future about it in more detail but since it was such a big thing to happen this month I wanted to include it in this post.


Now we are into April and today just so happens to be my 29th birthday!  I can't believe it's my last year in my 20s!  Most of the time I don't *feel* almost 30... I guess it certainly doesn't sound as old as it used to!  I'm celebrating today by spending time with my two favorite boys (well now I'm catching some alone time, as Jackson in napping and Brew went to the firing range with his Dad for a few)... and dinner out tonight, which I'm actually leaning towards sushi take out as of now.  :) 

Alrighty well I'm off to do some more laundry (so exciting, right?).  I'll post again soon!

SNOW!!! ❄️❄️❄️

Today we woke up to a FOOT of snow!  No school today or tomorrow and basically the whole town is shut down. The most snow I can remember in at least 15 years I'd say!

Yep I almost lost my ruler!

I'm not salaried like contract teachers are so unfortunately these days off are unpaid. While a couple is okay, I'm hoping to be able to be back at work next week. In the meantime I am loving spending the day with my favorite little man! 

(Learning to cut!)

Well I'm off to sleep now since that certain little boy will no doubt be up around 7 as usual! 😜

Thinking of those without power/heat this evening and all those out working to restore power and emergency and state road workers out on the roads. I'm very thankful to be snuggled up in my warm bed with my hubby (and before the nights over I'm sure I'll have a little boy snuggled in too)

First (real) post of 2015 (I know it's about time!)

Well it's been a while since I last posted so I'm back with a little update of what's been going on....

First of all I did make a Christmas post and Valentine's post (but I past-dated it...is that a word? well it is now!) so I'm actually going to cover from Jackson's birthday (Nov 20) til now (Feb 16)

So Jackson is doing fabulous!  Since he turned two we moved him out of his crib (which let's be honest he never slept in it more than 4hrs a night-- most of the time was spent in our bed) and into a twin bed, or his "new bed" as he calls it.  He's been sleeping much better in it and seems to like it (although he does find his way into our bed by 4am or so)  Another "big" thing for him is that he is weaning!  Or rather, I'm weaning him.  In the past month he has gone from nursing 3-5 times in a 24 hour period to ONE time.  Bedtime.  Hurray!  So now that he is night weaned he does sleep better through the night and I'm sleeping better too.  He didn't do this on his own, I definitely encouraged it because I was ready.  Now we are down to just bedtime and are kind of chilling out here for a bit.  I'm going to wait and see what happens over the next month or so- and if he doesn't give it up on his own then I'll initiate it.  The whole thing has been definitely bittersweet.  My goal is to have him 100% done by the time he turns 2 and a half and I'm confident we will reach that goal.  In other Jackson news... we've looked into some 2-year-old preschool programs in the area and I think we have decided on one.  I know, 2 seems young to be sending him to school BUT first of all... it's more for social reasons that I'm sending him.  I can teach him shapes, colors, letters, and numbers at home (heck he already knows most of them!).  But I want to give him the opportunity to spend time with other kiddos his age and to be away from Mommy & Daddy and grandma.  Plus with his late Fall birthday he will be older than most of his peers in the same grade so I think it'll be good for him.

In sad news... on December 16 I lost my grandma.  She went into the hospital here right before Thanksgiving, we almost lost her then, but then she improved somewhat, they discovered she had a rare genetic blood disorder (that likely has contributed to her health issues her whole life), they transferred her to Ohio State Hospital to start this new treatment-- but unfortunately her organs had just been too badly damaged and she couldn't fight any longer.  While I know she is in heaven, I still miss her sooo much.  Then just a week ago my husband lost HIS grandmother.  Although she had health issues (has had multiple strokes, including bleeding strokes) this was a very sudden thing as she had a brain bleed into her brain stem.  We will really miss her a lot too.  Between my husband and I we only have one grandparent left.  My grandpa (husband of my grandma we just lost), and thankfully he is in excellent health- though I'm sure losing your wife of 59 and a half years will take its toll.  But I'm glad to still have "Papaw Tom" as Jackson calls him, in our life.  I told my husband I really hope we are DONE with funerals for a long while!

As far as anything else goes... we've still been trying for baby #2 (with no luck just yet).  It's been a while now, we haven't prevented pregnancy since April of 2014.  It took us a year with Jackson though so I'm figuring on it taking a while longer.  We will see, I'm not the most patient person!

Well Jackson just woke up from his nap so duty calls.  (We are home enjoying a snowday today!)  I'll write again soon :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I had to bribe him with Mickey Mouse and a sucker this year to get him to sit still and (somewhat) smile for a picture lol. And just for fun-- here's a collage of

Jackson's first, second, and third Valentine's. 

Sniff. Can't believe how fast he's growing up!  Hope you all had a fun day with the people you love!