Again

We had an enormous storm yesterday which dumped more than 6" of snow on Portland in less than 12 hours. As a result church was again canceled today. I'm getting worried that maybe our flight to CA tomorrow will be canceled, I'm praying it doesn't. We are starting to get tired of being cooped up in the house. We are now getting what they call freezing rain.. it sounds kind of like hail with little tiny taps on the window. The freezing rain has put a layer of ice 1/4" thick on top of the snow.

That's all I wanted to say. Pray for us friends.. we don't want to spend Christmas up here alone.

SNOW!!

Today was an absolute first for me.. church was ::gasp:: canceled!

Overnight it started snowing and this morning there was already 2" and by the end of the day we had almost 4". Schools are closed tomorrow and so is half the town. The reason they cancel events is because they have no snow removal equipment so the roads are too dangerous to travel on. We have to wait until the sun melts the snow away. We are expecting more snow tonight and tomorrow and then Wed/TH and then even then another snow storm next Sun. I wonder if they will cancel church again.

We stayed inside all day long and played with the kids and watched Lion King and a children's Christmas movie called "Alabaster's Song" and then some bible stuff on the discovery channel. I, unfortunately, am sick with a cold so I rested this afternoon. I kinda hope things are shut down tomorrow also so Brent can stay home and help with the kids while I try to rest and get better.

I love the snow, it is just so beautiful. It was falling much of the day, these big soft snowflakes and I loved watching it fall. I taught Jacob to say, "snow, pretty!" it was great. Snow is the one thing I really missed while I lived in California and then last year when we got only light snow that melted off by noon I was sad.. so I was very excited to wake up to a white winter wonderland this morning. Here are some pictures;

- These first three pictures are of our front porch (which is under an overhang and we still had this much snow) -





- We left Jacob in his pj's all day to fully enjoy a real snow day -

- This is what I saw this morning when I opened the curtain of our sliding door -

Joke

I got this joke in an email today and it made me laugh. This is, for me, very accurate.

Daniel and other updates

I took Daniel in for his 4 month check up. Here are his stats:
Weight - 18 lbs. 10 oz. (96%)
Height - 27" long (also 96%)
Head circumference - 43 cm (75%)

He got 5 immunizations today, poor boy. He is healthy and happy and doing well. He is babbling all the time, laughing, smiling, blowing bubbles, raising his head (like the sphinx), eating well, sleeping well, grabbing toys and playing with them.. in other words, he is on target for every milestone. I love my boy!

In other areas...
We had a very nice Thanksgiving. I'm very glad we went up to Oak Harbor, WA to be with my brother John and his family. The kids did ok in the car and were well behaved while there. On Thursday Jacob lost my cell phone. We never did find it and it still hasn't shown up.. so I got a new one yesterday with a new number. I was kind of bummed because I have had my 408-421.. number for so long! Now I have a local 503 number ::sigh:: I can feel California slowly slipping away. :o(

I made a goal to exercise 5 days a week this month (well, with the exception of Christmas). So far I have! I know, I know.. it's only the 3rd, but I'm still happy about it. :o) It feel nice to be sore from exercising, my dormant muscles are thanking me. I noticed that every time I laughed my abs slightly hurt and because of that I was conscious of how often I laughed.. I was pleasantly surprised to notice I laugh often during my days. Jacob can be such a ham!

Thank you Daniel!

Daniel slept for 7.5 hours straight last night!! That means that last night was the first time he officially slept through the night! YAY!

I'm really trying to find the determination to start exercising again. I know the hard part is getting started, but it feels especially hard to me right now. Maybe because I have two kids this time to juggle a schedule around (just one is a lot easier to manage). My back still isn't all the way better from the accident and I don't think it will get better until I start being more active and strengthening my dormant ab muscles. Wish me luck and happy thoughts.. maybe even a few prayers for motivation.

My first cake job

I was commissioned to make this cake by a lady in my ward for her daughters 6th birthday. She even paid me.. making the first cake I've been paid to create (the others have all been gifts). If I could I would like to attend a cake decorating class at my local cake shop so I can get better at this and really make it a side job, that would be awesome.

Big news in my little world

Tonight Jacob went pee pee in his potty chair for the very first time! Brent and I made a big deal of it and I hope it encourages him to do it again. He often tells me "potty" and wants to sit on his chair but until now he has never done anything. YAY - I am so excited for him!

update on me and Jacob

I'm doing just o-k right now. I have a serious pain in my neck that is giving me heck and that is affecting every area of my life. It started on Sunday and is just awful, I have a marble sized "knot" in my neck to the right of my spine (creepy really). On Monday I couldn't even look side to side without pain so I went in to see my chiropractor, he said it is an inflamed nerve. I asked my doctor about it today and she said it is a swollen lymph node.. whatever it is it sucks big time and I'm hurting a lot because of it. It hurts so bad that I can't even to simple stuff and it's really getting to me. Ugh.

I took Jacob in for his 2 year check up today. J-man is 32.5 pounds (90%) and 36.5 inches tall (75%), he is right on target in all other developmental levels and is an overall healthy, busy little boy. Gotta love him.

catchup - Daniel

Daniel has been doing so well. He has adjusted to his shoes and his sleeping has gone back to normal. He is just the best baby in the world (to me) and I wouldn't mind having 8 kids if they were all like him. My friend Angela took this picture of Daniel when he wasn't even two weeks old yet. I just thought it was a cool perspective shot. He is in his bouncy seat with Brent's foot next to him.



- All swaddled up and sleeping -

Here is a picture of my boys before church one day. (Daniel still had his casts)


A cute picture of Daniel sleeping on Brent's shoulder


The journey we have had with treating his clubfeet was an interesting one. We had some very hard days but overall it wasn't as difficult as I had expected. He is all fixed now and his shoes/braces keep his feet from relapsing. Clubfeet is so treatable and I am so grateful that we had access to good medical care to take care of him. He is just fine now and will be as "normal" as anybody else soon enough. It is unimaginable to me that anyone would abort a baby just because of a clubfoot ultrasound diagnosis (yet many do). These babies just need a little extra attention and then they will be "perfect". I am so grateful that God gave me Daniel. He can give me those special spirits anytime.

I saw this video on utube a while ago and it just broke my heart. Clubfoot, if left untreated, is a hard thing to live with. It is only 3 minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfgiG2YJJdw

catchup - Jacob turns 2!

On November 6th Jacob turned 2. We had a nice day together and he was so well behaved which made it easier for me to have a good day with him. I made homemade pizza and a dinosaur cake (he blew out both candles with one blow!). We had our friend's the Cole's over to help us celebrate. Here are a few things I love about Jacob and things he can do...
* says "mourning" really loud each time he wakes up
* says "ready? two, four, go!"
* he loves to help us do anything
* he is my baby monitor and always knows when Daniel is awake or crying (even if I can't hear)
* loves his routine. Loves his baths and brushing his teeth. He really loves his books and even sleeps with them
* he loves to dance and listen to music. we rock it out together in the car all the time.
* has a beautiful smile.

I love you J-man!





One of our presents to him was a big boy bed. I think he really likes it. His transition from a crib to a bed has been so easy. I was dreading it and it turned out to be smooth and pretty painless. We only had a few 3 am moments with him right next to us saying "hi mom" or "hi dad". He is such a good and delightful little boy. He is learning new things constantly which keeps me on my toes and is just so much fun to watch.

catchup - Halloween 2008

Thursday October 30th was our ward's trunk-or-treat. For that night we dressed up Jacob as a dinosaur and Daniel as a GI Joe. They looked adorable and we all had a really fun time at the event (well... Daniel slept through most of it). I taught Jacob to say "treat" and then "thank you" and we went from car to car and he did very well.



On October 31st we invited several couples over for a halloween party at our house. We had lots of food and played games while the children played or watched baby einstein. It was a very fun evening. For that event we had Jacob dressed as Prince Ali Ababua (an outfit John brought back for him from Iraq). Here is a picture of Jacob and my graveyard cake.

Yesterday I met up with a lady I met on craigslist (when I purchased a baby seat from her) at the Children's Museum. Jacob had so much fun. He especially enjoyed the Bob The Builder portion and the Dig Pit. Everything is interactive and touchable which is really nice. I only saw a quarter of what they have there so I know I'll be going back. Here are some pictures of him in the dig pit where he spent a good 40 minutes of the 2 hours we were there. The pit was larger than my living room and dining room combined and had a dozen dump trucks, buckets and shovels they could play with, it also had a conveyer belt that Jacob was totally entralled with for about 15 minutes. The little rocks are made out of some sort of rubber like material and very realistic looking - I was impressed.



He calls the camera "cheese", probably because that is what we say to him when we take a picture. Well, he always wants to play with the "cheese" and he did the other day and managed to take a picture. So I thought I would post his very first picture - a self portrait of his shirt.



Tomorrow is our wards Truck-or-Treat. I will post pictures of the kids in their costumes - Jacob is a dinosaur and Daniel is a GI Joe (you know, those little green molded guys on a stand). Friday is Halloween and since we think Jacob is too young to trick-or-treat we decided to have a Halloween party at our house. We got a bunch of other couples from the ward with kids the same age and younger as ours and it looks like we will have loads of fun. There will be 10 adults and 6 kids all under age 2. We are doing a lot of the Turner traditional stuff like mummy dogs, witch's brew, graveyard cake etc... I am really exited about it.

Next Thursday Jacob turns 2. We haven't planed a party yet so we aren't sure what we are going to do, but hopefully it will be a lot of fun for him. He is in the process of transitioning out of his crib (he has had one rail of his crib off for a month now), so we are thinking of getting him a big boy bed for his birthday. He really likes dinosaurs so hopefully I can find some dinosaur sheets.

Daniel is doing well and adjusting nicely to his new shoes. His sleep has been lighter and he stirs a lot, but I think in a few weeks he will be back to normal and progressing. His feet/legs are very weak from being in casts for 10 of his 12 weeks of life, so everyday when he has free time from his shoes I exercise him as often as I can. He is such a good little baby and a joy to have, I'm just so in love with him. On Monday he hit the 3 month milestone. I had pictures taken at Sears and they turned out nicely. Here are a few;

I love Fall

Today I went with my ward's newly formed playgroup to a pumpkin patch. Jacob has already been to one this year, but I didn't think he would mind going to another and I enjoy socializing with the other moms. He had a really good time and so did I. I was hoping to get a picture of Daniel with some pumpkins but he slept through the entire morning.

I love October because of the crispness in the air and the beautiful colors (not to mention my birthday and Halloween). I took this picture on my way home from the pumpkin patch. Even though a car drove into my shot you can see the beautiful colors on the trees. Oregon is so gorgeous!

Free at last!

Daniel got his casts off yesterday. He didn't like being in the doctor's office and cried most of the time. Since he is done with the casting phase he now has his little Ponsetti shoes. The guy from orthotics showed us how to put them on and gave us some instructions. He slept most of the afternoon (from being pooped out from all that crying) but the time he was awake he did ok. In the evening he was having a hard time of it all and cried a lot. They told his we will "earn our parenting medals" over the next few days as he learns to adjust. I, however, have been smiling. I laughed with happiness as I gave him a bath last night and just had so much fun. He did to - he was kicking and smiling and splashing.. it was so fun to see. After his bath we let him chill out on his changing table for a while and was just going nuts! He was having so much fun kicking his legs and his eyes were all wide. We wanted to preserve the moment so we took a video of him. It will be fun to show him all these pictures and videos when he is older.

Here are some pictures;

- Before -


- After - (you can see his scars from surgery)


- first picture of him in his casts - (2 weeks old)


- last picture of him in his casts - (12 weeks)


- a picture with Dr. Achterman -


- new shoes! -


- lookin' like a snow boarder -


- sleeping - I couldn't resist posting this picture, it's just so cute!

Weekend Update

I finally have a minute to blog about this past weekend. Friday Brent's parents arrived in town and were wonderful enough to watch the kids while Brent and I went to dinner to celebrate my birthday. We went to the Outback Steakhouse and had a wonderful time. My tradition has been to go to Tony Romas but alas, they are no longer in Oregon. We celebrated with a little party when we came home and, as is tradition, had banana cream pie for dessert.

Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch and Jacob had a blast! They had baby animals there to look at and hundreds of pumpkins. We got some fun pictures..

Sunday was Daniel's baby blessing. It was lovely and everything went so well. John and Vanessa came down to be a part of it and we got to hang out for a while in the afternoon. We played Uno and had a nice pot roast dinner (thanks John for making the awesome gravy) then some played settlers while the kids watched Cinderella. Most of the good pictures were taken by Grandma Turner and I don't have those yet. But here are some pictures I took..