Cody Jacob

Cody Jacob, born 8/22, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz. Not as much hair as the other kids, but he sure looks like he belongs in our family!

He loves his binki, and sister Sarah loves him!

The day we brought him home from the hospital.

I had to put this picture in because I love Talia's face! She's so excited to have a baby brother!

Mommy means.....

Last week Sarah had a fever and sore throat for 2 days, and now Talia's got it. She was up 5 times last night because she was either hurting or had to go to the bathroom. She wouldn't eat much last night, but drank a ton, hence the frequent bathroom trips. Usually she'll just take care of herself at night, but because she was feeling sick, I got the privilege of being woken up to help because she felt she just couldn't handle it on her own. At 2:15 am, when we were on the third trip to the bathroom, I said to her in complete exasperation, "Talia, you can do this by yourself! You don't need me to help!" She looked at me, made an annoying sound like "duh" and said, "Mommy means you wipe me whenever I need you to."

The reason for my existence has never been stated so pathetically and yet so truthfully. I wanted to cry. So my question for all of you today is.... what does Mommy mean to you?

Yellowstone vacation

In front of Castle Geyser, which went off for at least an hour--it's the first time I've ever seen this one go off, and it was pretty cool!

In front of the entrance to Yellowstone--yeah!
The kids and I as Old Faithful is dying down--don't they look thrilled!
At the Canyon overlook--this is Chris's favorite part of the whole park. The kids thought it was cool, but I guess you have to be an adult to really appreciate how beautiful it is!

In July we took our family summer vacation to Yellowstone. The kids had never been before (well, I guess Robbie had been when he was 18 months old, but that doesn't really count because he can't remember it) and they were way excited to see the geysers and animals. Their favorite part of the trip was seeing all the animals--buffalo, elk, eagles, coyotes, squirrels, deer, etc, etc. We didn't see any bears or wolves, but we did see some great movies about them! As far as the geysers, the kids thought they were way overrated. After we watched Old Faithful, Robbie's reaction was, "That's it?!" They actually liked Castle Geyser a lot better because its eruption lasted a lot longer, and they thought the paint pot stink was disgusting and cool at the same time. We covered most of the park during the 3 1/2 days we were there, including visits to Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Falls, the Canyon area and Upper and Lower falls, Yellowstone Lake, the geyser basins around Old Faithful, Hayden Valley, and I forget what else. I also forgot how freaky it is to stand at the top of those huge waterfalls and watch all that water drop off to the canyon floor below--it gave me the heebies big-time, and Chris kept a SUPER tight grip on Talia while we were at Upper Falls. We went to some ranger programs at Madison Junction and Canyon visitors center, saw movies and other cool displays at other visitors centers, and drove A LOT!!! We saw an IMAX movie on bears, which was awesome, and the kids did the Junior Ranger Program and got their ranger badges! The kids were real troopers, considering how much time we spent in the car, but we did have a few episodes. For the first time on any of our vacations, we had some major meltdowns--by the kids, as well as by mom and dad! Thank goodness the hotel had a pool that we could play in at night--that always seems to make everything okay! The only real drawback to the trip was on Chris's end--he was DYING to fish, but since fly fishing is not really a family activity, that was shot down by the rest of us; he had to deal with fruitlessly gazing upon the fish-laden waters of Yellowstone and dreaming of future man-trips where the only purpose of the trip is to fish. Maybe I'll let him have one of those trips this fall--Ill have to see how well he helps out with the baby and the kids to determine if he earns it or not! (FYI--he's not going to be happy with me saying he has to "earn it", but we all know that's how it really works, don't we!!)

Oregon wedding trip

Okay--now I'm attempting to play catch-up with my blogging, and I'm blogging about a few of our summer trips and fun times. Chris and I flew to Oregon in June for my brother's wedding. Jen and Brian were great to stay with the kids, so I was looking forward to some R&R away from home before the baby comes. Anyway, the trip started out with an airline aborted takeoff (like, the nose of the plane had literally started to lift off the ground, then came slamming back down and the plane braked hard to a stop) because of mechanical problems. We had an hour delay while they switched planes. We should've just given up right then and gone home, because the rest of the trip wasn't a whole lot better. When we got to Oregon, we went to dinner with two of my college roommates, and that was the highlight of the trip. I hadn't seen Rebecca in eight years, and it's so fun to see how everyone changes but yet doesn't change that much. Anyway, we enjoyed a great evening with Becca and Kim and their husbands--and if you gals are reading this, I love you guys, and I did send the roommate letter to Stacie! Anyway, from there the trip seemed to go downhill. The next morning we were totally shafted by my siblings, who all went to breakfast but apparently didn't feel the need to invite us. That didn't put me in the best mood, and by thr afternoon of the wedding my allergies were in full attack on whatever was in the wonderful Oregon air. By the evening of my brother's reception, I was sneezing CONSTANTLY, could barely breathe, and my eyes were red and swollen. The allergies continued the rest of the trip, and I spent part of one night and another afternoon in the hotel room with a cold washcloth over my eyes. All in all, it was rather miserable. Chris didn't fare much better, and his allergies were just as bad as mine. Needless to say, we were rather glad to come home and get away from the Oregon pollen count! It was great to see my brother get married, and I'm so happy for him and Katie, but I have no desire to visit Oregon in June ever again!

Eggs for Everyone!

Well, we took Talia to the allergist three days ago, and happy news! She's no longer allergic to eggs! We were told she would probably outgrow it, and sure enough, she has. When Robbie and Sarah found out, they immediately requested breakfast food for dinner. So on Thursday night we enjoyed a dinner of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and waffles. These are pictures of Talia's first bite of scrambled eggs. I can't believe she's three years old and has never tasted scrambled eggs before! The dinner was a success, and she declared that she LOVES eggs now. I'm sure it's just the novelty, but it was exciting nonetheless. On the downside, we did discover from this trip to the allergist that she's actually more allergic to cashews than she is to peanuts. Besides the peanuts and cashews, she's also allergic to pistachios, Brazil nuts, and shrimp. Hopefully the list won't keep growing as she gets older!

The Last Stretch

OK everyone! I am finally posting--expect a flurry of updates since it's been a few months! We'll start out by saying that the last month of pregnancy STINKS! In an attempt to be creative, here are some things that I think STINK about 9th month.

S--wollen ankles, legs, face, hands, everything

T--ake a tumble. You may not remember that 4 days before Talia was born, I did a glorious belly flop in Jen's driveway while carrying a crock pot of beans out to my car. Well, I had a repeat the other day, but this time I wish it was in the privacy of Jen's yard. Unfortunately, it happened at the Gateway while we were there shopping with our friends Dan and Stacie. I caught the toe of my shoe on the edge of some bricks in the walkway, and couldn't regain my balance and ended up sprawled out all over the pavement. By the way, thanks for laughing so much Dan!

I--'m ornery. Let's face the facts and call it what it is. The other day, Chris pointed out how ornery I really am. I reminded him that an ornery day for me is a normal day for him, which he did agree with.

N--o sleep. How can I possibly sleep with my back and hips hurting this much, and a human inside me kicking to get out?! You may see more posts on the blog at odd hours of the night, because lately I've been wandering around quite a bit between the hours of 1 and 5 am.

K--ilograms (or pounds). Can the weight gain just stop already? Who knew I would end up this huge?! I cringe to think of all the lunges and squats I'm going to have to do, along with all the months I'm going to have to go hungry, just to get some semblance of my old body back. It's so depressing, I don't want to think about it. Hand me another cookie to take away the pain!

S--upport hose. What a marvelous invention! When it's a hundred degrees plus outside, let's make poor pregnant women with bad veins wear glorified nylons that are so freaking tight they take 15 minutes to put on and raise your body temperature another 20 degrees! Curse the women in my family for giving me the varicose vein genetics! Let's hear a round of applause for laser vein surgery, which has replaced a tummy tuck as #1 on my list of procedures to have done in the near future!

Another fear alleviated...

For those of you who heard about my mouse predicament, I have good news! The mouse I saw in my basement a few weeks ago has successfully been caught and killed! Halleluia! I DO NOT like mice, and the thought of one running around free in the my basement was giving me the heebies. We have more traps downstairs, just in case there was more than one, but so far they have caught nothing and I am sleeping easy again!