What's Your Mirror Face? :)

Okay, you know when you look at yourself in the mirror and you kind of "pose" for yourself. Well, I was looking through my pictures and was trying to figure out why this picture looked different to me, but SO familiar. And then I realized it's because this is my mirror face. I raise my eyebrows and just give a small smile. Totally not what I ever do in any situation in life. But apparantly, this is how I feel I look prettiest. Thus why I made the face for a "self-portrait". Hahaha!!!


Well, I don't really have anything that I want to post, but I figured I might as well post because this is a family journal. It's kind of ironic that I just posted about us being pregnant, cause now I have to post about us losing the baby. It happened Jan 14. I was 13 weeks along (or 3 months). I wasn't completely surprised about it happening, I had felt for a few weeks that something was different/wrong, but I was trying my best to ignore those feelings and was looking forward to the exciting part of pregnancy, where the sickness goes away and the baby starts moving around and letting you know they're in there! But....it was inevitable I guess. I was okay with it all at first, but after the hospital and being home again, it all hit me and I had a few sad days, but I'm doing okay now. I know that it was all meant to happen and hopefully I'll be able to have another one soon! And I wouldn't post this normally, but since I announced the pregnancy already, I know this is the only way to get the word out to some of you that I won't be having the baby.

On a happier note, I've been able to do a ton of dejunking in my house. I completely gutted the storage room under the stairs and have WAYYYY more space to put things in this tiny little basement! I started my room the other day, trying to get rid of the clothes that are NEVER going to get worn again...even if i do one day lose weight! I stopped though in the middle of my sorting and cleaning, because our car wouldn't start, and we were supposed to be picking up a new dresser to put everything in and since we couldn't get one, my enthusiasm died and so did my working. So now my room is a complete disaster and I can't get up the energy or desire to start up again. :( Jeffrey has the day off tomorrow so hopefully we'll get a dresser then and I'll be able to finish the job. I hate starting big projects like that, and I always feel like I get in over my head while I'm in the middle of them..but as soon as I'm done, I LOVE it and I can't stop looking at what I've done and just relishing in all the work I've accomplished!! It's a bittersweet cycle. :)

As for my kids, I don't think I've really done any updates on them for a while. This is just going to be very brief and point form.

Jacey
-still sleeping in my bed
-says everything is stupid
-is really good at sharing with jaclyn and being her best friend, but the very next second is being completely mean to her and making her cry
-decided that he won't try anything new to eat and barely eats the stuff he does like
-has become almost as computer literate as i am, getting on the internet and finding his favorite shows websites and games through google search
-has discovered rhyming and walks around chanting rhyming words
-climbs the counters and gets in the fridge to find his own snacks (i actually really like this one because he doesn't bother me to do it anymore...and so far there have been no disasters or messes)
-has learned how to spell a few names and words and knows what most sounds each letters makes
-learned how to play twinkle twinkle little star on the piano
-is still in love with my hair and can't sleep without it in his hands
-still loves to snuggle and cuddle and i don't think i can ever get enough of it!

Jaclyn
-repeats any word or sound we make (not always properly, but she tries)
-loves to dance and has a different dance for her 2 favorite songs (both from Glee!!)
-is in love with her daddy and more often chooses him over me (hooray!!!! jacey's the complete opposite and i would die if she was too)
-continues to be an angel and sleep through the night by herself...she needs to give jacey lessons!
-eats anything and everything she can get her hands on
-still weighs around 20 pounds..maybe 22 lbs.
-gives the best kisses and also gives bisous (the french double cheek kiss)
-wants to do anything that jacey does and gets mad at us if we try to stop her
-is completely sassy and independent
-bites her hands and throws herself to the ground when frustrated
-bites jacey if she's mad at him (the poor boy has so many bruises)
-has the most adorable smile that's hard to turn down
-loves to snuggle jacey..probably one of her favorite things to do..in fact, every morning when jacey and i wake up (jeffrey and jaclyn get up first), jaclyn runs over to jacey, calling his name and the two of them lay down together on the floor and just snuggle for about 5 minutes. it is absolutely adorable and this morning i finally got it on video and will for sure post a little bit of it when jeffrey helps me get it on here.
-loves to point out pictures of Jesus and read the book of mormon stories with me
-loves to play the piano and will pull mine or jeffrey's hands off if we're playing so that she can play.

Well, I can't think of anything else new or exciting. I'm loving that they (or I guess Jaclyn) are old enough to just play together and I am able to get things done even if it's not naptime. Like taking a shower...or blogging..or dishes or laundry or cleaning. All of the things that if I attempted doing while Jaclyn was awake, they would both throw fits because I wasn't playing with them. Now they play together and just ignore me. :) Not always, they still like me to play with them, but I am more productive now. While Jaclyn naps, Jacey and I have our "quiet time" and we'll often do learning games or paint or play with playdough. All the things that can't happen with Jaclyn around (cause she'll just make a HUGE mess). It's a fun time for us to bond and I wish I could have that alone time with Jaclyn too! It would definitely help her with her learning. I try to sit down and help Jaclyn learn letters or numbers, but Jacey just kind of takes over. Mr. Know It All :) haha jk. Oh well. :) Actually Jacey's really good at teaching Jaclyn things, it's really cute to watch! Anyway, that's all that I really have to post about right now. Maybe I'll look for some pictures to post. :) My camera's dead right now and I'm too lazy to charge it so I can load the pictures. Aaaaanyway, I better go get lunch ready for the kids. Ciao!!

So I know that everyone already heard on Facebook that we are having baby #3, but I figured I'd just put it on here for the journal aspect of the blog. We're due July 22 and we are so excited! Although, we'd love a girl or boy, we're kind of hoping for a boy so that Jacey can have a brother close enough in age to actually do things with growing up. Any more spread apart and there will be a big gap that might make them not be as close. My dear sister, Lizzie and I were just under 2 years apart and she definitely has always been one of my best friends. :) And I want that for all of my kids! And I know they can have that with a sibling of the opposite sex, but there's something about playing with barbies that just wouldn't be the same with my brothers. :) haha. In all honesty, I'm actually terrified about having this baby....but only for the actual labour and delivery. I'm sure many of you remember my surprise circumstances with Jaclyn's labour and it still makes me feel panicky when i think of it! I have issues I hope I can deal with before July comes! This past month has been tough, the lovely sick part of pregnancy that you are all aware of! Diclectin is my best friend! It's amazing the difference it makes the next morning, if I take it when I go to bed! I've been more tired than I remember being in past pregnancies and I feel like I can't get enough sleep! Having Jacey in my bed is a problem (obviously that we need to fix before the baby comes) right now though, because he sleeps RIGHT at my side and my back is already killing me and I find myself waking up SEVERAL times throughout the night to readjust. It's awful! And I haven't even gotten big yet! Anyway, all the lovely things we go through to bring our beautiful children to the world! It's obviously worth it, or we wouldn't do it, right?? :)

Since I've been so tired and sick, I decided that any energy I do have, needs to be directed at my kids, since they're obviously suffering from my lack of attention. So to help me focus on that important job, I decided to deactivate my facebook account. Rather than going to the computer when I feel okay, I need to play with my kids! It was really easy the first couple of days, but I find myself wondering what everyone is up to! It's crazy how much I relied on facebook to feel connected to anybody and everybody!! And also it's funny and also kind of pathetic how much I went on there. The first day I deactivated it, I was doing laundry and cleaning...and I was feeling so proud of myself for being productive...so I started walking towards the computer so I could put on my status "I'm having such a productive day!" Then I remembered I didn't have facebook anymore, and I started laughing at how stupid that was!!! Oh man, it's so funny! I didn't realize how much I truly centered my day around facebook. Now, probably most of you aren't THAT addicted to facebook, but I will admit that I was. It truly was an escape for me from my daily grind to get on and feel connected to people! Anyway, because of this realization, I'm glad I decided to take a break from it for a while, because I need to get out of the habit of it! Just as much as I need to spend more time with my kids. But I do miss you all! And knowing what you're doing..and seeing pictures etc. I feel a little lost, but it's okay..there was life before facebook and there can still be life now :D

So this year, we decorated for Christmas early, I think i mentioned that in my last post...and i will NEVER do it again!! It's WAYYYYYYY too long!! A few times I've come really close to putting them away early! Jaclyn cannot keep her hands off the tree....I feel like I redecorate it 3 times a day! And my pile of broken decorations is growing!! Maybe it's just so bad because my kids are so little, but I'm pretty sure Christmas can't go from the beginning of November till the end of December. Or else the magic dies early! But..lesson learned! I'm still excited for Christmas, but I sure can't wait to put my decorations away!!! And I will never decorate before Dec 1 again. EVER.

I've always been jealous of people's husbands that get time off around Christmas. Like my brother Jonathan..he gets 3 weeks. And my brother in law, Keith, he gets 2 weeks. Not like my husband, Jeffrey...who gets 2. Two days that is. Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We're lucky because this year, boxing day is on Saturday, so monday is off for boxing day. Which I'm actually surprised his office is doing! They're not very big on closing their office for ANYTHING. Which is good for business...just sad for the employees and their families! BUTTTT... I just found out that Jeffrey has 4 days saved up that he can take for holidays (which never happens because he usually has used them all up through the year already) so he gets all the days off in between Christmas and New Years AND an extra day a couple of days before Christmas!!! So including stat holidays and weekends, he'll get 10 days off in a row!! Plus that one extra day! I'm ECSTATIC!!!!! We're going to be able to actually DO things with our families instead of just hear about it! Like maybe go to Banff and go skating...or go to the Mountain Home (every year my whole family goes for the week between Christmas and New Years, and I've NEVER been). Kandice will be up with her boyfriend, Brady and I'm excited that we'll actually be free to hang out and get to know him better!! Anyway, most of you probably all get that time off with your families, but I am excited to experience it for the first time!!!! :)

Okay, so just to end. Here are some family pics that Heather took for us. We've never really done a family photo shoot before. Jeffrey and I don't like getting our pictures taken! But, obviously, we need to do it once in a while! The lighting was really bad when we did it though, it was getting late...and it was FREEZING and our kids didn't really want to cooperate. So we just got a few good ones. We're going to have to try to do it again soon though! I do like what turned out however, it's so nice to have us ALL in the pictures and like them!! :D

Christmas Time!!!

They totally had to trade hats this year. Jaclyn is CRAZY! :)

I am sooo beyond excited for Christmas. We've been decorated since Remembrance Day, the earliest I've ever done it! We love turning all the lights off except for the Christmas lights and dancing around to christmas songs. Well actually, mostly Jingle Bells because to Jacey, "that's Christmas!" My kids love running around and laying on and playing in this Christmas blanket we inherited from Cyndi. This is totally something Lizzie and I would have done when we were little. We always marched around the border of the area rug in our living room to many different types of music growing up...and this Christmas blanket would have been such a treat! :) We watch Christmas movies daily and drink hot chocolate! Polar Express and The Grinch (real live version) are our favorites right now. I haven't gotten sick of them yet! The only problem I've encountered so far are the broken decorations. I have quite a collection building up in my room that I have to glue back together. In all reality, I'll probably wait until the Christmas season is over and do it all at once so I don't have to do it multiple times! Jeffrey and I are done our Christmas shopping (with the exception of some online orders) and it feels GOOD! I can't wait to wrap all the gifts, it's one of my favorite things to do!! I have to wait until we get closer though, or we'll be having Christmas early at our house! There's not a chance my kids would leave them alone! I love that they're too young to notice the mounds of things hiding under blankets in my closet though. They have bumped them and walked by them a hundred times and not even questioned it. It's kind of funny! I remember my mom would just load her bathtub up with gifts (they had a separate shower..don't worry, they didn't just forget about showering during Christmas) and then put a big blanket on it and just trust us not to look under it. I will admit that some years I peeked and others I didn't. And the years I didn't look, Christmas morning was ALWAYS better. Anyway, I just love Christmas. I love all the memories of past years and making new memories with my kids! It's so fun!! Here are some pics of my kids enjoying Christmas. I decided with Jeffrey busy getting his insurance company/website up and running, I wouldn't wait for him to take pictures for me. So I forced this photoshoot on my kids today so I could make sure to preserve some memories. I also photoshopped them myself...or attempted to. I have to say this so that no one thinks Jeffrey's amazing skills are going down hill! :) Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful Christmas season!

Picture Update For Kandice

Since Kandice is away and doesn't get to see my babies grow, and also since she recently hounded me to update my blog :) I thought I'd just throw some of these pictures on here for her sake. These two are getting so big and crazy. I love them and they keep me on my toes!! Enjoy Kandy Jill!

she looks sad, but i promise she's in heaven! every time "in the night garden" comes on, she collects her toys to watch!

getting ready for family prayer

look at their height difference!

this is what her hair looks like when i take the elastics out

Of all the spots on the couch Jacey could have chosen to sit, he chose to sit RIGHT by Jaclyn. :)

It's About Time...

I'M PREGNANT!! Haha, just kidding. That was fun. For me at least. It's actually just about time that I posted again!!! It's been more than two months. That's just sad! I'm not even going to write anything. I'm just posting these pictures that have been waiting to be posted since July. One of these days I'll actually work up the energy to catch up. It's too overwhelming today though. So enjoy these pics of our little backyard barbeque!!

Enjoying the Summer

CAUTION: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST!!!

This is the first summer I've had so far that I've actually been able to get out and enjoy with my kids. Jaclyn was too much of a newborn last year and I'm not a fast recuperater (is that a word??) and the summer before I'm not sure what happened. I think I just figured Jacey was too little to do anything and we stayed inside. But I sure am enjoying the outdoors with my kids now! If the weather permits, we usually walk to a park in our community and have a picnic and then play on the playground. I haven't gotten sick of it yet! It's good exercise for me and the kids LOVE being outside!! My rule for Jacey is that he has to eat lunch before he can even set foot on the playground. Otherwise he'd never eat. He's been very happy to comply because he knows he'll get lots of time to play after. I'm so proud of him when he's out there playing, he can do everything at the park (except the monkey bars). I don't have to follow along and spot him. He climbs all the ladders, tries all the slides. He loves to make new friends and play games with whoever will include him! And because of that, Jaclyn and I can play together at her pace. Which usually includes her playing in the rocks (and me taking them out of her mouth) and sitting on the sidelines and watching. She loves ledges/curbs. She will sit and and stand and sit and stand and sit etc. It's apparantly a game for her. :) She LOVES the baby swing and can't hold back her smile when she's in it! Here are a load of pictures from the park.

Can't you just see this outfit on a cute Asian baby?? I love it!!

My mom watched Jaclyn one afternoon last week and Jacey and I went with Heather and her kids to Calaway Park! That was a blast! I wasn't sure of how Jacey would take it all. But he tried all the rides he could go on, alone or with me and loved them all! He even cried when he had to sit one of the rides out that his cousins could go on that he wasn't quite tall enough for! The afternoon ended with the little rollercoaster. He cried the whole time because the guy running the ride did his seat belt up for him, and Jacey wanted to do it himself. I guess the whole day couldn't be perfect! Jacey talked about the rides for days though. He absolutely loved it!!! We're definitely going to have to go back with Daddy soon! I didn't have my camera with me, but Heather documented every moment (at Jeffrey's request, as he was missing Jacey's first time there). So when I get some pics, I'll post them!

The Palmer grandkids in age and height order. Works out perfectly!

So, many of you know that for the past while night times in our home did not include very much sleep! Jaclyn was in her playpen in our room and Jacey was in the crib in his own room. But Jacey would wake up every night without fail for 2-3 hours, come into our room, wake up Jaclyn and then we'd all be up for some time...and sometimes it happened more than once in a night! We felt like we were losing our minds and life was not happy for any of us. If no one gets any sleep, the next day is also a nightmare. We have tried almost everything with Jacey, I'm not even going to list all the things we've done! But I think it was 3 weeks ago that we made some bigger changes in our nightly routine that have actually resulted in ALL of us getting a FULL night's sleep!!! We put Jaclyn in the crib by herself and put Jacey in our bed with us. Now that does not sound ideal at all. I've never wanted my kids to sleep with me. Actually that's not entirely true, because I always have the kids as newborns in bed with me when I nursed them. But I never wanted that to last more than a year. But as much as I didn't want it, it is actually the best thing right now! Jaclyn sleeps like an angel and from the time we put her down until morning, we don't hear a peep from her! And Jacey, who we thought had insomnia because of his 3 hour average of WIDE AWAKE time in the middle of the night, sleeps the entire night!! I don't know if our bed is just more comfy for him, or if he just has peace of mind knowing he's with us, but whatever it is, I'll take it! It's the first time since before Jaclyn was born that I get to sleep the whole night! It feels amazing and I'm a better mom during the day because of it!! :) I really hope that we can figure out something for the near future that will allow Jeffrey and I to have our own bed, but for now, I'm just relishing in my normal nights!!

Jacey, Madi and Nixon in their fort.

Jaclyn has discovered a new "talent". Her voice. She has always been a really sweet, easy going, basically perfect little baby. But I think she's tired of being a pushover or something, because now she fights back!! She has this squawk, screech, scream, cry...call it what you want, it's LOUD!! And if she's not happy with something, out it comes!! Sometimes it drives us nuts, and sometimes it just makes us laugh!! It's most common occurence is when there is food involved! She loves to eat. She's very serious about meal and snack time and will let you know if you're not moving fast enough! The lucky duck has the best metabolism and still only weighs 20 lbs putting her in the 25th percentile for her age and height. But I couldn't possibly feed her more, she pretty much eats all the time! She will love that about herself when she's older!! She also has this growly voice that is hysterical!! She will make all sorts of noises and sounds in a low, rumbly voice. She knows it's funny and loves to keep going the more we laugh! I still need to capture it on video, it's definitely something I don't ever want to forget! She doesn't say very many words yet. Just Daddy, Jacey, Mommy (only sometimes), bye bye, bubba (yet she won't take one), and no. Very small vocabulary. One time though, me and Jeffrey both heard it, Jeffrey said I love you to her, and she repeated it back PERFECTLY!!! It has never happened again, but we know that it happened! :) She still communicates well though, with her smiles and laughs and her screams. She loves to give kisses and blow kisses. She gives hugs and pats your back. She is so loving. Jacey and Jaclyn will kiss and hug for long periods of time throughout each day. It is such a joy for me to see!! And I've said it before, but Jacey and Jaclyn make each other laugh like no other can! It is soo wonderful!!! They are truly best friends!

We try to bath the kids as often as we can at Nana's so they can actually have a tub to play in. (We just have a shower and a small baby tub..not as fun!)

Jacey is getting so big and soooo independent. He completely potty trained himself, during the day and nights too. I honestly didn't do a thing. I got this e-book that a few people I know have used and that worked for them. But before I could even read it, he just started using the toilet by himself. He had only a few accidents at the beginning, but now he's pretty much 100%. The ONLY problem he has is not wanting to go and he'll wiggle all over the place and I have to remind him that it's time to go. But even then, he holds it in. I guess life is just too much fun to take the time out to go to the bathroom! Something that Jacey has started doing in the past few days, is call me Emily. At first I thought it was funny and a little cute. But now I don't like it. Mommy is a special name and title and for all that I do for him, I feel like I deserve to be called it!! I'm ignoring him when he calls me Emily to see if he'll get the hint and switch back to Mommy. I think he's getting it. I hope so anyway!

This summer we are soo excited to take a few little vacations. Tomorrow night, just Jeffrey, me and our kids are going to BC to stay at the Palmers condo until Friday. We've never gone there just by ourselves and we're looking forward to the time alone to relax and enjoy the sun and pool/lake! Hopefully we get good weather! The August long weekend we'll be heading down to Cardston to stay at my parents' "mountain home" for a few days. I love how peaceful and calm it is out there and am looking forward to being able to spend some extended time with my parents (and all the other family members that will be out there). In fact, if I feel brave enough to part from Jeffrey, I may go down for three days at the end of July with two of my sisters and my parents. And with the kids of course. But the thought of being away from Jeffrey brings me anxiety! So we'll see. THEN in the middle of august, we're going to be going to Sandpoint with the palmers!! We're renting a big house right on the lake for about 10 days! We are so excited for that, hopefully our kids will let the traveling go smoothly! Jacey didn't do that drive very well last year when we went to Portland! Anyway, we are really looking forward to all our getaways and family time this summer!! I love the memories I have of my childhood vacations (mostly to BC and the lake) and really hope that we can always provide those experiences for our children! And of course, they'll have the added bonus of trips to Cardston too! We're lucky to have both of our parents have places for us to vacation at! :)

And just to make this post longer, a few other things I have to look forward to this summer are Michael and Alana's first baby, and my first Primary party. Alana is due July 31. We're sooo excited to meet their little one (gender unknown)!! They are going to make such great parents! The primary party will hopefully go well, we're having a birthday party for President Monson (I know his birthday's in August) and are going to be doing a few service projects for people in the ward...as per President Monson's request. I'm super excited for it!! Oh yeah, I also am looking forward to Elizabeth and Levi FINALLY moving up north once they finish renovating their house up here! It's been torture for us all who live up north, all within 10 minutes of each other, to have Lizzie in Okotoks! It'll be so fun to all be so close and to be able to hang out more often! I also have some get togethers with some close friends that should be fun! My summer is just so jam packed!! It couldn't be better!! I'll be back to post pictures and hopefully share some fun stories..so stay tuned!! And happy summer to you all!!