our CRAZY weekend

This last weekend was VERY eventful, to say the least.

On Thursday after J was done with class we headed to Utah. We slept at my grandparent's house in Sandy (they were out of town but their home is always welcome to us!). We got into town just around dinner, and met up my best friend Sarah and her hubby for dinner. I am now really bummed that I didn't get a picture with her! Why do I always forget to take pictures of important things besides my child? grrrr....anyway we had a lovely time with them! I always love seeing my Sarah Lou :)

The next day Jonathan attended an internship fair specific for students majoring in Therapeutic Recreation. This was the whole reason for our visit to Utah. We are hoping to find out SOON where J will be interning so that we can arrange our living situation. I am so ready to get out of Rexburg!

While he was gone Sarah came over and we got to visit some more- which was soooo wonderful! We sat on the bed and talked, just like the old days :) I was sad to see her go but hopefully we can see a lot more of each other if we do end up in Utah.

That night the g-parents came home and we went out for sushi. I decided I would eat everything I wanted even if I wasn't supposed to, and it was VERY delicious. I could sushi every day for every meal.

EARLY the next morning we headed out to Twin Falls for Jonathan's brother's sealing. It was a long drive and we were all grumpy. It was good however to meet up with all of J's family for a bit. Talmage got to see his cousin Ethan- they are so funny together!

Right after the sealing and some pictures, we bolted back home to Rexburg for the ward Halloween party (I needed to be there because the RS presidency put it on). Talmge threw up all over himself multiple times as we were loading him into the carseat, so that was in one word a disaster. We think he was just carsick and tired, plus he had fried foods for lunch (not by my choice). The boys both slept in the car while I drove, in the meantime Talmage pooped a good one so the car had a plethora of lovely smells. I was nauseous and had to pee, but couldn't stop on account of waking them up. So on I drove until we were home. We had about 5 minutes to get changed for the party. Of course, we all dressed up as pirates :)

I was in charge of the fishing booth for the kids, and though not a lot of little ones knew what to do with the fishing poles it was still fun to see them pull the fish off :)

Talmage was exhausted from all the traveling, so he didn't really want to be there :(

However, we made the best out of it and had a smashing good time! (that may be a teensy bit over-exaggerated)

That night, after unpacking and showering and putting T to bed, all I wanted to do was sleep. I'm glad that we accomplished all that we set out to do but at the same time it was a little stressful. For once I was glad that our church started so late, because I wanted to take my time the next day.

In the spirit of Halloween, Talmage wore a bright orange bow tie to church :)

It's so good to be home! Even if it is in cold, windy Rexburg...

ahoy! (not the chocolate chip kind but the ol pirate saying)

I guess now is as good a time as ever to update everyone on our little family. We aren't the most exciting couple but I've come to terms with it :) In this stage of our life our main focuses are getting J through school, keeping our tot happy & healthy, and managing our stress level (that last one is the hardest).

Jonathan:
Is attending his LAST semester at BYU-I, and its already half way over! His major is Recreation Management with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation and Natural Resource. A lot of people ask me what this is exactly. To be honest it has taken me a while to understand it myself, but basically its a broad career field that allows him to be in various settings helping the disabled, elderly, or troubled youth either in a community or clinical setting. Right now he's looking for an internship that is clinical because it is more reputable. This weekend we are going to Utah for an internship fair specific for TR's, so hopefully we can have a better idea of where we'll be living next summer! Utah would be nice because its not a far move and we'd be close to some family.
When he graduates in December, he will take an exam that qualifies him for the job title of CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist), and its kind of a big deal. It's a very expensive and long exam...so our fingers are crossed that he only needs to take it once! If he passes, then after his internship he will have a much easier time finding a job. CTRS's are high in demand because it is such a narrow field. I know that in this economy any job can be a difficult to get, but I have faith that it will all work out. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much already!
(sorry for the overly long explanation- I just get tired of people asking me what the heck he'll be doing exactly!)

Lindsey:
Is 23 weeks pregnant today! Where did the time go? I feel like we JUST found out we are having a girl, but already a month has passed. Baby girl is getting pretty big in my tummy, I can feel her up in my ribs now and she kicks a LOT. I've been going a little nuts making baby hair bows and flower clips, and I've sewn a few things too. It keeps me occupied on something other than how tired I feel. I try to take a nap every day, but this doesn't always happen. It would be so much easier if I didn't have a toddler...but he is my whole world and I wouldn't want to go a day without him! He makes me laugh when I think I'm too tired to smile at anything. Gosh I just love him so much :)

Despite how incredibly BLAH I feel, I've been nesting like crazy. We moved the changing table (and soon crib) into our bedroom so that Emmalynne will be near to us in the 2 months that she's here, and now we're on the lookout for a toddler bed (so that baby can have the crib). This isn't how we originally planned on doing it but it seems more practical.

Talmage:
Despite some recent sickness, our son is wonderfully good! He has a whole range of vocabulary now (thank you tubes!) and is super hyper all the time. He turned 18 months not long ago, and we celebrated by taking him to Chilli's (they have the BEST kids meals) and shopping at Target.
Talmage currently loves: balls, anything with wheels, being outside in the leaves, taking off his clothes, helping mom with chores, playing in the leaves, learning animal noises, Elmo, giving kisses, talking on the "phone", climbing everything, and putting on his shoes. I have to say that I definitely love this age...he is just so active and entertaining ALL THE TIME, haha...

I finally finished his Halloween costume. If you couldn't guess he is a pirate :) and yes, I did add a few edits of my own.

haha, he is so fun to photoshoot!
Happy Halloween weekend everyone!

the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Yesterday was quite a day. I just have to blog about it because it was so bizarre. This post may not be for the weak stomach...

All during the night I couldn't sleep. Something didn't feel right- no position was comfortable and my belly just HURT. I tossed and turned all night. Around 5:30 am, I had that awful but all too familiar sensation to throw up. Thinking it would make myself feel better, that's exactly what I did. (Meanwhile, Jonathan in the shower heard me hacking it up and said, "Lindsey?! You okay?" Yeah, dandy.) well, I crawled back into bed hoping to get some sleep and J came in to kiss me goodbye. Normally he was home on Fridays but on this day he was going to Pocatello for a TR Conference. It was an all day event and I wouldn't see him home till about 7.

As soon as he walked out the door I threw up again. And again. And again every 10 minutes until about 8 am. Talmage woke up, and I felt so completely weak I could barely change his diaper. I threw some Cheerios in a bowl for him and set it on the couch because I didn't have the strength to put him in his highchair. He dumped them all out and I didn't even care. I called my midwife who wasn't available so I was told that she would call me back.

Three hours pass and no one has called. I am still violently vomitting left and right and I start to wonder if maybe I'm losing the baby. My throat hurt from all the acid, so I sucked on a cough drop which made me throw up immediately. My stomach ached from contracting, and I took a warm bath in hopes of relaxing my muscles. My bath lasted about 2 minutes before I was sitting in vomit water. The scary part was that I couldn't tell if I was going into early labor or just having bad muscle cramps. I tried nibbling on a piece of bread. Nope, rejected. So then I sipped some water. Rejected!! (don't you just love how dramatic I am being?) I could not stand without throwing up again or blacking out. I knew I needed to eat something...this whole pregnancy has demanded that I have something in my stomach 24/7 or I pass out. So I tried to eat an apple slice and after 3 small bites was back to hurling my guts out. Well finally I decide to call the midwife again and after being put on hold 4 times I have Karen on the phone. I told her my symptoms and she said "It sounds like you have the 24 hour bug." I thought, 'More like 24 hours of HELL.' She told me to get some sleep and drink water even if I did throw it up. I followed her advice and continued this awful pattern until around 1 pm. I thought I was going to die, or worse- that something was wrong with Emma.

Not long after our phone call, I begin to notice that I'm throwing up blood. In a panic I call her back and she assures me this is normal when someone is recurrently throwing up. Still, it freaked me out and I decided I would not let myself get sick one more time. I couldn't look at more blood, I just couldn't.

I counted down the minutes to T's naptime, so that I could sleep also. At exactly 11 pm, I shut him in his room and never looked back. He fell asleep by the door and napped there for about 2 hours. Since I wasn't able to sleep (kept throwing up), I decided to go in there and move him to his bed. As soon as I picked him up I passed out, and sort of clumsily dropped him onto his bed. This woke him up, and he was crying for me to hold him. I broke down into tears feeling completely helpless, realizing that I couldn't do this alone.

Basically, it was impossible for me to do anything for myself because I had a toddler on my hands. He was being so sweet natured through all of this, trying to give me hugs and mostly keeping to himself on the couch. I didn't want to bother anyone to watch him...honestly there are very few people I feel comfortable enough with to ask them for favors like that. But thank goodness for my friend Rachel... she came over without hesitation, gave me hug while I bawled my eyes out, and took Talmage away to her place. I only expected her to have him for maybe 1 or 2 hours. As I climbed into bed I prayed for uninterrupted sleep. I was out like a light for 4 hours. When I woke up I had a fever of 101 and was not able to stand. (by the way, I had kept in touch with Jonathan throughout the day about it and he was so so worried...how ironic to be gone at a time like this!)


Rachel came back with my sweet happy boy around 6:30 (bless her heart!!), and Jonathan came home soon after. Once he was here, I felt a huge burden lifted. He came home with a bunch of stuff from Walgreens (a prescription, heartburn medicine, ginger ale, some popsicles..) and kissed me even though I told him not to because I felt completely gross. He took care of everything, cleaning up the chaos that was our apartment, making dinner for our son and putting him to bed. I laid in bed while he continually checked in on me, bringing me this and that. I felt so selfish, being waited on like I was on my deathbed...but that's really what it felt like.  I am so grateful for a husband that pampers me when I'm sick :)

Sure enough, this morning I feel completely back to normal. How is this even possible? What kind of sick virus inhabits your system for only 24 TERRIBLE hours and then just up and leaves? I tell you it is so weird to me! My fingers are crossed that it's really over... as a side note, if anyone EVER feels this way and needs my help in any way at all do not hesitate to call me! No one should ever go through that alone.


I hope everyone has a good, HEALTHY weekend :)

Video time!

I really should be better about posting more videos on here...we have SO many but I always think, "This will only be funny to me...I'm pretty sure no one else cares." haha! Which is dumb, because I LOVE when my friends post videos of their kiddos on their blogs. So now I'm catching up...these are all from the last few weeks.

This first one is just a glimpse into the broad vocabulary he now has :) He says juice, cheese, shoes, baby, hi, bye, ball, please, various animal noises, uh-ohs, thankyou (deedoo), OH YES, yay, poo...

   

Sorry this one is sideways. Our silly boy LOVES to dance, especially when he does his "happy dance." He's been doing this ever since he could stand, and I'm not sure where he got it from...haha.

   

Here's T playing wii with his dad. He gets really hyper sometimes when he's holding the wii remote and swordfighting...and yes, that IS is his name is the top right corner there because YES- he has his own mii character :D (since before he was born, actually! We've had to alter his looks some since then)

Now before you watch this one let me just admit that I do NOT let him watch tv all the time. But usually in the mornings he watches PBS, which is somewhat educational :) (his favorites are Curious George and Sesame Street)...and every morning he looks like this- a total zombie! He definitely has the "Dennett gene" that makes him go into trance mode anytime the tv is on...

This last one is my favorite :) Talmage has found that landing on his rump is pretty hilarious. He starts out on his stomach usually and then ends the routine with his bum. He will do this for a very long time, and just the other day it occurred to me to videotape it! I got the end of it so his energy is pretty worn out by this point, but you still get the idea :)

btw, when you hear Jonathan say "ouch" it's because T stopped to bite his toe. ha ha...

I wish I could record all of the funny little things this boy does...he truly brings so much joy and laughter into our home. I am so blessed to be his mommy!

tubes and tiny things

Talmage had tubes on Thursday, and everything went great!

Sadly I forgot to bring my camera to the hospital as we rushed out the door at 6:30 am, but if I did bring it I would have taken pictures of him sitting in his little gown with rocket ships on it, coming out of surgery all doped up, and eating breakfast at Jack-in-the-Box afterwards. I was so surprised that he didn't cry at all- the anesthetic gas they made him breathe to go to sleep really knocked him out, so honestly I think he was just too tired to cry. He was plenty ornery though, and he would throw his binkie and his juice on the ground (he even threw his beloved Spot), and a few times he hit me then returned those hits with hugs. It was so bizarre. But we were just glad the surgery went well :) They almost sent us home without tubes in his ears because he had a wheezy cough, and this can put him at great risk during the surgery, but thankfully after I explained that this was the best he's felt in months, they went ahead with it. The doctor came in after they were done and told us that they took a lot of gunk out of his ears and we should begin to see improvements right away.

Since then our son has been a COMPLETELY different child. He sleeps through the night and takes his naps with ease, he eats his food (and more of it), and he is generally a LOT happier. It has made life so much easier :) he also responds to sound better and talks louder with more precision. Like instead of mouthing "hi" he shouts "HEY!" haha.

In other news, I have really tried shopping for baby Emmalynne but every time I go to a store I feel completely lost. I'm sure this phase will pass, but for now I am just overwhelmed. There are SO many girls things out there to accessorize with- little tiny leggings and tiny tights and tiny bows and flowers... and in the past I've loved buying things for friends expecting girls but I guess now it's different since it's my own. I finally cracked and got a few hair things. This is going to be an interesting 4 1/2 months...

(ps- please ignore my really cheesy expression. The sun was super bright and I had to squint to see...)

I cannot believe we are halfway there already. And winter is fast approaching. I think once the hoidays hit time will go by even faster...February will be here before we know it! :)

our week thus far

This week so far has been both eventful and wonderful!

Over the weekend Jonathan and I stayed home and watched General Conference together, and I have to say that I haven't felt so much peace in such a long time. There is something so comfortable and familiar about sitting down to listen to the Conference talks. During this time my mind wandered a bit to the upcoming ultrasound. We were finally going to know what our second baby would be! One of the speakers (I can't remember who..) spoke of the love that fathers have for their daughters. I looked over at Jonathan and he returned the look, and I think we both knew at that point what was to come :) Up to that point we were both fully convinced that we were having a boy. It just seemed practical :)

Saturday night Talmage started a fever of 102.2 and it was pretty scary. I have never seen him so warm and miserable. The fever continued throughout the weekend, fluctuating every few hours but peaking still at 102. Since we couldn't call the doctor's office, I anxiously awaited Monday morning to schedule an appointment with the ENT. At the doctor's, I found out that he has yet another ear infection and fluid in both ears still. He was officially diagnosed with chronic fluid and surgery was scheduled for tubes on Thursday. I cannot say how grateful I am for the knowledge of all his doctors that have helped us through this process, for the caring staff at the hospital, and for our insurance that has covered every bit. We are truly blessed, and in a short while my baby's misery will be over.

So the next day was our ultrasound, and sure enough we are having a little girl! I burst into happy tears the moment my midwife typed "GIRL PARTS" on the screen while Jonathan sat in complete shock. Though we had a feeling, we really didn't expect it to be true. I continued to cry, looking pretty much ridiculous, while Karen (my midwife) showed us all her little body parts. It was a happy day!

And now we are just looking forward to Talmage's surgery on Thursday morning. I know it will be hard to see him get an IV and hooked up to a heart monitor, but it really is for the best. They said that he would feel better instantly, and that his hearing and speech will greatly improve. I love him so much and just want him back to his normal goofy self again :)

On Friday Jonathan will be leading an overnight fly fishing expedition for Outdoor Activities, and he is really excited about that! The temperatures are dropping, so everyone will be freezing but I don't think that deters his enthusiasm. I don't know how he manages to be involved with all these clubs AND be in school full-time, taking the last core classes for his major. He sure stays busy!

Here's to the rest of a good week!