The Moodys' Musings

Oh, sweet bedtime...

2012-01-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have two binky-users. I honestly am not really in a hurry to take Judson's binky away. First of all, we're just finally past a rough patch of sleeping for him (lots of crying/screaming in the middle of the night). And, secondly, one of our little friends just gave up her binky and started sucking her thumb. There's nothing wrong with that - I sucked my thumb for a VERY long time, but I don't feel like dealing with the binky if it's only going to be replaced by thumb-sucking. (And I really think it would...he's had his thumb in his mouth a few times lately. I think it's because Macy sucks her fingers and Cooper still sucks her thumb sometimes.) Mostly it just gives me another excuse to not deal with the binky issue for awhile longer. :)

Cooper is no longer sleeping very well at night and I'm slightly devastated by this fact. I blame her binky and myself, not necessarily in that order. I'm not sure what I should have done/can do differently, but it is not fun to be going backwards with this whole sleep thing. (If anyone has any advice, please feel free to share!)

Anyway, I think these pictures are fun. And I also think it's fun that Cooper is now going to bed around 7:30. Aaahhhhh, to have my evenings to myself again! :)

Tummy time, part two

2012-01-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

Like Judson, Cooper is generally intolerant of tummy time. It's understandable. It usually makes her spit up (same as it did for him). On this particular day, however, she realized it can be quite pleasant...

She was in her fuzzy suit because we'd been outside playing. The warmer she is, the better she sleeps.

Love.

2012-01-19T15:26:00.001-08:00

We sure do love these two...and they sure do love each other! (There's slobber all over Cooper's head where Judson kissed her.)

What a difference a day makes.

2012-01-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's weather was so much more fun than today's. Today, it's pouring and all of our snow is gone (except for part of our snowman, which Judson desperately wants to remake). Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. :)

It probably goes without saying that Pacific NW snow is WET. I would've liked to play around with my camera more, but the snow was really coming down (and thus SOAKING my camera). So I put it away and just played with the boy.

The gloves were HUGE on him and he couldn't really do anything with his hands, but he didn't mind...

Thankfulness

2012-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Today, in addition to my countless other blessings, I'm thankful that God protected Judson and me in a very dangerous situation.

It's been snowing like crazy here most of the day. As soon as I put Cooper down this morning, I bundled up Judson (despite a lot of protesting...transitions are not his strong point these days!) and we headed out to play. We'd only been out a couple of minutes when I heard this sickening cracking sound. I knew a branch had just broken off, but before I could react, it crashed to the ground about a foot or two away. I'm not exaggerating. Some of the little branches on it touched me as it fell, and I even had one stuck to my hat. It was SO SCARY. My heart didn't quit racing for quite some time. (It's probably a good thing I didn't have time to react. If I'd moved the wrong way, I'd have a much different story to tell...)

Thank you, Lord, for our safety!

And later, after we were done playing and Judson was safely inside, I raced back out to take a few photos.

The cute Judson-playing-in-the-snow pictures will have to wait. I MUST accomplish something during naptime!

Using my foot for comparison...

...and my hand

Judson's First Snowman

2012-01-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

We woke up to a couple of inches of snow yesterday morning. (It's amazing what living on a hill can do for you! Most of Salem didn't have any that stuck.) We were in the one- and two-year-old nursery at church, so couldn't stay home to play in the snow, much to Nate's chagrin. :)

We went to Costco afterwards, which took much longer than anticipated. By the time we were driving home, Nate was convinced there wouldn't be enough snow to build a snowman. From the way he was talking even once we got home, I assumed they were going to build a tiny one. But by the time I nursed Cooper and threw her in a snowsuit, they had a huge one made. Such fun memories we're making with these kiddos! Okay, so they won't remember them at this point, but I'll have lots of documentation to show them...

Adding the (baby) carrot nose

The only time he'd look at me...the rest of the time he was too busy eating snow! (He usually doesn't even want to wear a hat, but he was heavily into bundling up today. He even asked for a scarf. :)

Cooper looks huge here, but she's just in a really big snowsuit. (Outfit courtesy of Anna - the suit was Macy's and the hat was a Christmas present from Anna...)

Our little snow lamb :)

Christmas #2

2012-01-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

We actually had three Christmas celebrations, but I didn't take any pictures when we were with Nate's brothers (at a restaurant), so this will FINALLY conclude our series. 'Bout time, huh?!

We had a fun evening at Paul and Becky's once we came back up from Bandon. Of course we were all spoiled again! Enjoy the pictures...

Cooper and Auntie M (FYI for family members: C's jumper is from Auntie Pat...so cute!)

Loves for Grandma

Papa and Judson

On the bright side, at least he doesn't look away when we pull out the camera... :)

Big Bandon News

2012-01-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you may have heard about the gray whale that washed ashore in Bandon. (It was already dead.) Of course we went down to check it out. It didn't disappoint. It was a bit stinky when standing downwind, but still so fascinating, especially the baleen. Nate and Morgan went earlier in the day and took the first two pictures. By the time we went, the tide was coming in and we had to look quickly and then run for dry ground.

Judson and my mom had lots of fun running around, and the beach trip ended with us running into my high school friends, David and Dianna Freitag, and their two kids. I hadn't seen Dave in four and a half years and it had been even longer since I'd seen Dianna...I think since our wedding seven and a half years ago. The best part was that my mom entertained the little kids so we could have a chance to chat.

Just protecting Cooper from the wind. She does a lot of gasping when it's windy in her face.

We looked away for a second and Judson found water to wade in, of course.

Love this one!

There's David and Dianna behind us. I'm so glad they spotted me, because I wasn't paying any attention to who else was down there! :)

** About a week ago, when we were reading stories before bed, we came to a picture of a beach. Judson looked intently at it and then said, "Where is stinky whale?" Pretty cute.

Christmas Day

2012-01-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day was a really fun, EXHAUSTING day. Judson hadn't slept well since we'd gotten to Bandon, and that, coupled with all of the excitement, just made for an exhausting day. Anna's brother, Jake, and his girlfriend, Shayla, joined us for the day and Judson was really enamored with Shayla.

Late on Christmas Eve. Yes, that's actually a stocking on her head. :)

Ignoring the tree and all of the presents. Coasters are much more exciting. :)

I remember when there were only four stockings on the mantle...

Ready for their stockings. Becky had just cut Judson's hair. How old does he look?!?!

Macy sure loves "Coop-Coop," as she lovingly calls Cooper.

First present of the day

Shayla, Jake, and Anna

Jake got up for a second, and Judson swooped in to sit with Shayla. It was awfully funny.

Opening the present Nate had continuously described to me as the one that would be my favorite gift up to this point in my life.

Yep. My old license plates. For the record, the "World's Best Teacher" cover is something Nate ordered. I did not drive around in my little blue Civic advertising myself as such. :)

As always, boxes are the most fun!

A GREAT gift from Anna and Morgan...goes well with his "fireman" rubber boots. We sure do love this boy!


Macy's new hat

Carnage (looking down from my mom's office)

All dressed up for Christmas dinner in a new dress from my parents. How cute is she?!

I don't remember what she was sad about, but it wasn't serious, so I quickly snapped a few pictures. She's such a sweet little girl. We love getting to spend so much time with her lately!

Jesus' birthday cake. We really focused on Christmas being Jesus' birthday party, and Judson understood as much as he possibly could at this age.

Yum! Apparently I let him eat too much, because he was so wound up at bedtime. We didn't get him down for HOURS. Live and learn.

Christmas Eve

2012-01-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas in Bandon and had a really great time. It was weird, since my parents aren't currently living there. (They're in Vancouver, in case you hadn't heard. Long story...) But Morgan had worked really hard to get it decorated and he did a fabulous job. I was very surprised and impressed.

He had a tree up - he'd gotten it off a Bob Nelson's property - and we decorated it on the morning of Christmas Eve. We only got out the nonbreakable ornaments and let Judson and Macy go to town. They loved it, we all had fun, and the finished product looked great.

We went to the 4:00 service at my parents' church. Judson and Macy lasted the entire service! (They weren't in the same row, which helped.) Cooper just had to be taken out for a quick feeding.

Afterward, we did our traditional trip to Shore Acres to see the lights. It was one of the warmest nights we've had there in quite awhile, if not ever...

All in all, it was a pretty perfect Christmas Eve!

I've mastered the "art" of nursing Cooper while she's in the baby carrier. It's not the easiest thing ever, but it is a necessity sometimes. :)

Having fun with Uncle Morgan


Anna and Morgan met us at church, so we didn't attempt a picture until we got home. The kiddos were hungry and/or tired and this is the best I got. (That wasn't supposed to be Judson's church outfit, but when I fluffed his pants and shirt in the drier with Nate's dress shirt right before church, I didn't realize there was a small package of crayons in his pants' pocket. Nate had put them in there for him. All three articles of clothing looked like they'd been splatter painted. Serious bummer. Mom opened one of J's presents because there were some brown pants in it and he wore them to church, but then they got wet.)

Three things.

2012-01-02T22:07:00.000-08:00

1. After three and a half months of gagging almost every time a pacifier came near her, Cooper has decided they're not so bad after all. In fact, she'd prefer to have one in her mouth most of the time. It hasn't messed up her sleep at all, so I'm okay with it.

2. Pigtails!!

3. I have a LOT of posts to do, and I plan to start catching up very soon...

2011-12-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Another month has passed too quickly, so I'd better share a couple pictures of the little one. Not that she's very little, except compared to her brother! I'll throw some pictures of him in as well.

*Note: Becky came by the other evening and remarked that Cooper doesn't look nearly as chunky in real life as she does in pictures. It's true. Apparently the camera adds ten pounds even if one is only fourteen(ish) pounds to begin with! :)


Three months

And for comparison:

Two months

One month

This is all I get these days if I ask him to look my direction. :)

Festivities

2011-12-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

We've really been enjoying this Christmas season. Judson is at such a fun age and is so excited about everything. We drove around looking at Christmas lights the other night and he was almost beside himself. I ended up recording him on my phone because it was just too cute.

I'm almost finished with an Advent calendar I've been making (it's fully functional, just needs some finishing touches...I'll definitely post pictures when it's completely done), and each day Judson's gotten some sort of surprise. It's mostly things I'm pulling out of the Christmas stuff - his Little People Nativity, a few of the Christmas books I set aside when I got the rest out for him, one piece of my Nativity set per day, and so on. He loves it! His Nativity set was one of the first things I got out. He was thrilled...and instantly realized the animals were very similar to the cow and farmer that came with his Little People tractor. :)

Baby Jesus takes over the angel's place atop the manger

The angel and camel take over the tractor

Baby Jesus has slept, eaten meals, and even danced with Judson. It's really funny.

The other day I ventured into the mall with the kiddos (and had an EXTREMELY pleasant experience, thankfully). As soon as we got into the Christian bookstore he said, "There's Mary and Joseph!" Of course everyone in there loved that.

I bought a gingerbread kit (with the house preassembled) at Costco for $9.99. I definitely think it was the way to go. It was actually the first house I've ever decorated, I think. We had lots of fun doing it, and it was just the right amount of activity for Judson. (There's a tree and two gingerbread men, too...)

Tree-decorating was lots of fun as well. I worried we'd run out of ornaments at the rate Judson was putting them on each branch. :) I don't have a picture of the finished product yet, but I'm hoping to get a good picture of the kids in front of the tree soon. If not, I will not be sending out Christmas cards this year. Please don't remove me from your card list. I'll do better next year.

See the little guy with the green pants and blue shirt in the middle? Not an ornament, but Judson wanted to hang him and I got a hook to stay in his hat.

Judson kept saying, "Put more balls on," so eventually I had to concede and let the Beaver ornaments go on. :) I asked Nate if he helped Judson get all six candy canes on one branch, but he said no. :)

I left all the ornaments where Judson placed them, but Selah Arnold (21 months) removed some of them this weekend, so it doesn't look quite as funny.

Finally, we went to ZooLights again - this time with my parents and Morgan, Anna, and Macy. It was a bit of a fiasco, but we had fun and learned some valuable lessons. (Most importantly: go mid-week!)

When I chose Judson's jacket color, I forgot Mandy had given us this hat last year. It matches perfectly...and really cracks me up.

We hope you're enjoying the preparation for Jesus' birthday as much as we are!

4GEN Farm

2011-12-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

It's almost midnight and I'd really love to be in bed, but I'm waiting for a certain little someone to fall asleep...and then stay that way. As I've said before, she's a terrific sleeper, but getting her down for the night is still a bit of a challenge. And since there's nothing more painful (sleep-wise) than being woken twenty minutes after falling asleep, I try to stay up until I'm sure she's really out. (Currently she's making all sorts of noise, but unless she starts wailing, she's on her own.)

Anyway, that's way off topic. I'm really blogging about our Christmas tree cutting experience. We weren't able to go on Saturday, which was completely gorgeous, but Sunday was a decent day too. Lots of fog, but it lifted briefly when we got to the tree farm.

Last year I had this ideal plan in my mind and, of course, the experience didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. It poured the day we went, Nate's brothers and their wives came, but certain members of the group weren't really happy about being there, Judson was terrified of Santa, our tree turned out to be fairly ugly, and the list goes on.

This year, I had no preconceived notions about our outing. I just wanted to find somewhere close and not have to spend too much. (Nate doesn't like it when we get to a place and then I make him leave because their trees are outrageously expensive. I think I've only done that once or twice... :)

I finally picked a place within about ten minutes of here and we headed out. We really are in the heart of Christmas tree farms out here. They're EVERYWHERE. I almost changed my mind while en route because I saw a sign that said $15. Well, I sure am glad I didn't.

We had to drive on a gravel road for a ways and during that time, we passed at least four other commercial tree farms. Judson kept saying, "Cut THAT Kissmiss tree," as we passed farm after farm. 4Gen Farm was on a hill and in a gorgeous location.

We had to hike up a hill and Judson had a blast. We found a beautiful tree really quickly and then got to ride down the hill in a pickup (the guys rode in the back, which Judson loved). The tree only cost $20, and then we got to choose a charity that would receive $5 of our purchase. We chose "Marion-Polk Food Share," a local food distribution charity where we volunteer once a month. Very cool!

We had cocoa and cookies and even got a decent family picture. What a perfect tree-hunting experience! Thank you, Lord!

Carrying our flag, which we could wave if we needed someone to cut our tree for us or carry it down the hill. We didn't use the flag, but Judson sure enjoyed hauling it up the hill! :)

Daddy was about to get him...

Our tree. Nate always picks. I've given up trying to pick. He's really good at it. I wasn't a fan of the Beaver Santa hat, but I didn't have a say. :)

Trying to show Cooper's face (Cheryl made the great blanket. It is SO COZY!)

Helping Daddy cut the tree down

Family picture. I wasn't even going to ask anyone to take one, and then one of the ladies who worked there volunteered. It made my day, because I hate asking people to do it for us, yet I always want pictures of the whole family.

Swings, cookies, and dirt...three of his favorites :)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

We had a fun long weekend at my parents' new house in Vancouver. Judson had a great time playing with Macy and she seems to really love him, despite the fact that he tries to control her every move - with force, when necessary. Ugh. We're working on it...

My pictures didn't turn out very well, but they're better than nothing.

Macy's new silly face

Making pumpkin pancakes

You should see this particular series of pictures. At least half the time it's my parents who aren't looking! :)

We met the Nelsons at ZooLights on Friday night. I'd never been and really wanted to make sure we made it this year. It was the perfect night for it, and it was a lot closer for us than driving from Salem. So fun!

Civil War Game Day (Morgan and Nate went to the game)

Pumpkin Pie

2011-11-29T14:17:00.000-08:00

Making the pumpkin pie (with fresh pumpkins - like I don't have enough to do these days! :) was a family affair. Nate and Judson were in charge of the crust and Cooper was the supervisor...

Tummy time

2011-11-28T14:24:00.000-08:00

Judson joined Cooper for "tummy time" the other day and followed her lead. :)

Ten weeks old

2011-11-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Cooper had her two month appointment last Monday (the same day as Judson). She weighed in at 12 pounds, 14.5 ounces and was 24 inches long. She was at the 90th percentile or above in every category. I wasn't surprised. Actually, I was just pretty happy she was still in the twelve pound range (barely!). Judson was the same length at two months...and three pounds heavier. :)

Cooper is growing and changing so fast! She's recently started being awake more during the day. Part of that is because she's decided she'd rather not nap in her pack-n-play. She generally sleeps much longer if she's in her swing. I often turn it off and she just keeps sleeping. I'm trying to not get so stressed about sleeping "issues" this time around, but it's hard! I really want to teach her how to sleep before we have to resort to "crying it out." I realize she's too young for that now...

I will say, however, that she's a pretty terrific sleeper at night. (She had three A-MA-ZING nights in a row recently. I won't tell you how long, in the interest of any sleep-deprived friends of newborns who may be reading.) She doesn't go down until 11:00 or later most nights, so we're trying to work on that.

Cooper is really smiley now, and it's usually this open-mouthed, tongue-out sort of smile. She's starting to coo/gurgle when she does it, and I can't get enough of it. Judson loves it when she smiles at him. :)

I really don't have time to be doing this today, so I'll add a few pictures and be done. That's what people want to see anyway, right?!

One month old (I wish I'd thought to take one when she was a newborn)

Two months old

This isn't really a cute picture, but it documents a few things: the Beaver cheerleader outfit and silly boots, first time in the Bumbo-like seat, and the chubby cheeks and multiple chins that have completely hidden her neck. :)

Such a happy girl!

Before you report me for putting a blanket (!!) on her, let me explain. I'd put her in there with Judson after his nap so he could hold her. Then he wanted to share his "cozies" with her so we bundled her up and I took him out to change his diaper. I looked over about a minute later and she was sound asleep. She slept like that for over three hours (and I checked on her a lot). I think she liked being so cozy...

Judson at two

2011-11-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying Judson so much right now! Yes, he does throw some pretty loud fits when things don't go his way, but those are, thankfully, fairly infrequent.

Here are some things we want to remember about him at twenty-four months (okay, almost twenty-five, but who's counting?!)...

First of all, he's so incredibly sweet to his sister. He kisses her every chance he gets and says, "Hold Cooper," at least once a day. He often calls her "Super Cooper," which just might be the cutest thing ever. :) There are definitely times when he wants me to put her down ("Put Cooper in bouncy seat."), but mostly he acts like she's always been around. What a blessing!

(Our friend, Joani, took these a month ago. To see the rest, click here.)

Judson's gotten pretty bossy lately. Firstborn, anyone?! Not that I ever bossed anyone around. :) It's mostly when we're playing. "Mommy, sit right HERE!" and that sort of thing. Another one that he tries a lot is when I start to put my hair up in a ponytail. "Leave it DOWN, PLEASE!" We certainly don't always do things his way, but he likes to keep trying...

About two months ago, Judson really started "singing" songs. He started with "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and has most recently been singing the alphabet song, "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," and "Happy Birthday." He sings others, too, but those are the most popular right now. He still loves to dance...and has moves like his father. If you've never been to a wedding where Nate was dancing, you have really missed out. :)

We went through a rough patch of sleeping issues for about a week. No clue what was causing it. New baby? New molars? (They're not through yet, but he's recently started drooling.) Just a phase? Thankfully, the worst seems to be behind us. (He slept thirteen hours last night and he's back to taking 3 hour naps.)

Judson had his two year appointment on Monday. He is 38 inches tall and weighs 40 pounds. As usual, he's WAY off the charts. Out of curiosity, I compared his stats to the three year old growth chart. He's not on there either (for weight). So, I tried the four year old growth chart. He's in the 80th percentile for four year old boys. CRAZY.

At the appointment, the doctor was going through developmental milestones with us. He said, "He should be starting to string a few words together." He did that at about eighteen months. At this point, he's really starting to understand pronouns and is consistently using 6-8 word sentences. (For example, he said to my dad the other day, "Mommy's making mac and cheese for us.") Some of his sentences blow me away, but I usually forget them before I get the chance to write them down. He'll try to say just about any word. He doesn't say "hippo" anymore. He says "hippopawmus." Another favorite of mine is how he pronounces silly: "si-wee." So cute.

Judson loves to just stay home and play. Cars, trucks, fire trucks, tractors, trains, and all sorts of other vehicles are one of his favorites. We also spend hours building with his new Mega Bloks (birthday gift from my parents). Today we built a structure his "monster truck" could drive over. (As much fun as it is to play with him, I'm awfully excited that we now have a girl and someday we can play with dolls and have tea parties! :) Finally, Judson loves to play with balls. He can catch pretty well and is actually shooting his basketball into the basket now. However, the basket is already almost too low for him. Who knew he'd be so tall?! :)

We've gone to parks as much as possible this fall. He LOVES to play outside and I want him to get as much fresh air as possible. These days, every time we get in the car, he says, "Go Crooked House Park!" We've been going at least once a week. We usually take lunch and go after Bible study. Then he can just fall asleep in the car on the way home and I can transfer him to his crib. Yeah, he's still in his crib and his high chair. I'm enjoying it while I can. I know Cooper probably won't be in either as long, since she'll want to keep up with her older brother. He doesn't know any differently and we're not ready to clue him in. :)

Okay, in the interest of getting this posted before he's two and a half, I'm switching to bullet points. Here are a few other tidbits about our guy.

He can count to ten, though he will not do it on command and often leaves out a number. Sometimes three, sometimes a different number.
He's getting pretty good at the alphabet.
His vocabulary constantly amazes us.
He generally loves riding around in the car because there's so much to see. When we're in the car, he has a running commentary going on the entire time. Someday I may get tired of it, but right now I really love it. I'd say the drive out to Stayton is one of his favorites around here - so many tractors and animals to see, plus a fire station in Turner. :)
He's fairly opinionated about what he wears. I thought I'd have longer than two years to dress him cutely! But no, he often insists on wearing a hand-me-down fire truck shirt or his new Thomas the Train shirt that Anna, Morgan, and Macy gave him for Christmas. I could talk him out of it (and sometimes do), but usually I just let him wear them.
I've mentioned it before, but he's such a hot body. He would never wear clothes if it was an option. (And he often doesn't at home.) After months of shorts, it was nearly impossible to get him to wear pants again!

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but very few people have probably made it all the way through this anyway. We are so thankful that God has entrusted Judson to us, and we're doing our best to enjoy every moment!

The last of 'em

2011-11-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

I'm so glad we made the effort (yes, there was definitely effort involved!) to have these taken. The newborn stage is such a fleeting thing, and Cooper has already changed so much. I love that we'll have these to look back on and show her.

My favorite family shot...and the one that went on the back of the birth announcement. Hopefully people didn't think it was too weird that we had a family picture on there. I really wanted one of Judson and Cooper and I didn't have the whole CD of pictures yet. And anyway, the ones of just the two of them either didn't match the announcement or were vertical instead of horizontal. Plus, now I don't have to send out a Christmas card! Kidding. Maybe.

Some of my favorites

2011-11-08T08:02:00.001-08:00

These were the last shots of the day. Originally we were hoping Cooper would stay asleep, but I'm SO glad she decided to wake up. I think she's pretty cute with her eyes open. :)

This is my very favorite of all. It's the one I used on my birth announcement.

We quickly scooped Cooper up, basket and all, when our cat, Moses, acted like he was about to pounce on something right by her. Since he catches huge voles (big rodent; short tail) in the field every single day, I didn't want to take any chances... :)

Some family shots

2011-11-06T23:42:00.001-08:00

And some more...

2011-11-05T14:25:00.001-07:00

Finally!

2011-11-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

I finally got my birth announcements sent this week, which I'm very excited about. It seems kind of ridiculous to me to send them out seven weeks after the fact, but honestly it wasn't my fault. I was waiting to get the pictures from the photographer.

I got a CD of the rest of the pictures from our session today. I'm SO excited to share them. However, I'm only going to share a few at a time...

Here is the first (well, second) installment.

Stay tuned for more pictures...

Told you so.

2011-11-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

I told you awhile back that Cooper was quite the spitter-upper. I decided it needed documentation one day. After I quickly snapped the picture and cleaned her up, she proceeded to spit up huge amounts twice more in the next couple of minutes. (This happens multiple times a day.) Believe it or not, this particular picture shows a pretty average spit-up. A couple of times, after she hasn't eaten for a very long time, she's spit up EVERYTHING she just gulped down. As in, soaked herself, me, and one of the humongous burp cloths I have to use for my babies. Good times...and good thing laundry is my favorite household chore (besides cooking). :)

The first store I took both kiddos into? JoAnns. For cute, girlie flannel and pink terry cloth for some new gigantic burp cloths.

She's clearly not bothered by this.

I figure if JuliAnn can post about Emmitt's blow-outs, I can post this... :)

Judson's second birthday party

2011-11-01T16:28:00.001-07:00

I hope to do a post about Judson at two years old soon. We'll see if it happens. For now, here are some pictures from his party on Saturday, the 22nd. Despite having a pretty nasty cold, he had a really great time surrounded by so many people who love him. We are so blessed and thankful to have such great friends and family!

New hard hat from Grammie and Papa

Amazing train cake by Aunt Bridgett. Notice the chocolate rocks and Tootsie Roll logs...the little kids LOVED the candy rocks!

Judson couldn't take his eyes off the cake. He kept saying, "Eat train cake, please!"

Dinner. My parents helped me a ton with the food. They did the hard stuff and I did the crock pot stuff. :)

The kids at the party (minus Cooper and Emmitt)...clockwise from left: Logan Nelson, Madi, the birthday boy, and Max Nelson

Judson had LOTS of help opening his gifts. :)

The only girls at the party...in their tutus. :)

Sleeping in people's arms all evening somehow wore this one out! :)

Nate's Family's Visit

2011-10-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Nate's mom and sister and her family came to Salem to meet Cooper last week. Here are a few pictures of the cousins...

Judson - 24 months, Cooper - 6 weeks, Alyssa - 7.5 years, Corbin - 28 months

The little boys with Uncle Phil

Pumpkin Patch #2

2011-10-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

We met up with the Olsons last Wednesday to go to a little pumpkin patch to actually get pumpkins. :) (Since Judson was sick at the first pumpkin patch and the pumpkins were REALLY far away from where we had to pay for them, we didn't end up buying any.) Madi and Judson enjoyed the hayride and running around in the pumpkins and the two "littles" slept the entire time in their Becos (really awesome baby carriers...both JuliAnn and I use ours daily).

We're so thankful for friends who like to go on adventures with us!

I have about four of these pictures...Judson is looking at me in one, Madi's looking in the next, then Judson... I never got one of both of them looking. Go figure! :)

Sneak Peak

2011-10-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

We had newborn/family pictures taken when Cooper was eleven days old. I will have a bunch to share in a week or so, but wanted to give you a sneak peak of a couple that were e-mailed to me today and are not ones I'm using in our birth announcements.

Bauman's Farm

2011-10-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nate took a morning off work last week so we could go to a pumpkin patch. We went to a pretty amazing one! Unfortunately, Judson ended up being sick, so he didn't enjoy it nearly as much as he would have otherwise. (He seemed fine in the morning and ate well. He cried for seemingly no reason at one point and freaked out when a rooster crowed, which seemed a little odd. The tell-tale sign that something was wrong came when he didn't want any of the apple cider donut we offered him. This boy NEVER turns down food, let alone a treat! He ended up having a fever but never threw up, which I thought he was going to do a few times.)

We did have fun, though, and we will definitely return next year. Actually, upon looking at these pictures, I decided maybe it was a good thing he wasn't feeling his best. We would've had a really hard time dragging him away from all of the tractors! :)

Macy and Cooper

2011-10-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

I only have one picture from this past weekend. Morgan, Anna, and Macy came up to help my mom celebrate her birthday (the fifteenth). Anna's is the sixteenth, so we sort of celebrated that too. My finger got in the way of the flash, but Macy wasn't about to let me take another one. :) I'm sort of afraid Cooper's going to pass petite little Macy up in size before too long.

I love all the hands ready to protect Cooper :)

Cooper's second trip to the zoo

2011-10-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

The kiddos and I met my parents at the zoo a week and a half ago. Cooper was exactly four weeks old. We had a terrific time and only got sprinkled on once. I'll let the pictures (and a few captions) speak for themselves...

Judson and I have never gone in the lorikeet habitat before. I needed someone brave to let the birds land on. :)

I've wanted to get this picture for a long time, but there are usually lots of other little people crowding around. Not this time! (It's a sea lion.)

Exhausted after a long, fun day...

I have a number of other posts to catch up and I hope to do that soon. Stay tuned!

Five Weeks Old

2011-10-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe our girl is already five weeks old! Time is going by way too fast! I'm doing my best to enjoy every second and not dwell on the state of my house. At least for once I have a valid excuse for it to be such a mess. :) (Though, at the moment it looks better than it has in weeks, because I worked really hard - and fast!- while both kiddos napped today.)

Here's a little bit about our month-old babe:

She still sleeps almost all the time.
She nurses like a champ, and she's really chunking up! According to our scale, she weighs somewhere around ten and a half pounds. She's not on any kind of eating schedule. She will go hours upon hours without eating and then nurse frequently all evening.
She is quite the spitter-upper. Good thing I'm used to it. :)
She's starting to have one longer (relatively...) period of sleep when we first go to bed. The other night it was six hours, but mostly it's three to four. Generally we go to bed sometime after 11:00, get up once in the night, and then once in the early morning (before I really want to be up for the day...).
She's really alert and cuddly. We hope it lasts.
She smiled intentionally for the first time last night. THE. BEST.

I think that's about it. We are so in love with this sweet baby, and we're thankful God has entrusted her to us.

Smiling in her sleep

Performing what Nate refers to as the "Super Coop." Look at that strong neck!

Playing "Follow the Leader." :)

Brotherly Love

2011-10-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Judson continues to amaze and bless us with his acceptance of Cooper. The other day he held her for about fifteen minutes. Every time I asked him if he wanted me to take her, he'd say, "Judson hold Cooper." After we took the hands and feet pictures, he'd touch her hand and say, "Tiny hand," and then hold his up and say, "HUGE hand." So cute.

It's hard to get many good pictures of these moments, mostly because we also have to be watching Cooper's head. :)

How cute is this outfit?! He wore it to church on Sunday. It was one of the first times he's worn pants in months and he really resisted when I was getting him dressed. He's such a hot-body. When I picked him up from the nursery at church, his hair was wet with sweat. Poor guy. I knew he'd be hot, but want him to wear it as much as possible before he outgrows it.

I'm not sure who I have to thank for teaching him to say, "Cheese." :)

Open House

2011-10-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, my college roommates (and some of my very best friends) hosted an open house in Cooper's honor. Everyone ended up coming at once, which was just fine, because that meant the girls and I had a couple of hours to just hang out and chat sans toddlers before other guests arrived.

I didn't get pictures of everyone who stopped by, but here are some fun ones... (Thanks, Cheryl, for taking many of them!)

Our friend, Joani, stopped by that evening with a beautiful quilt she made especially for Cooper. I'm going to be a little lazy here, and just have you click here (her blog) to see it. We LOVE it!!

My FAVORITE!!

Cheryl made the cute "Cooper" decoration in the window. Love it! And you can also see the hutch my dad recently built for us and well as Cooper's "nursery." (The glass in the hutch is "seeded" and looks really nice. However, if you happen to click on this picture to enlarge it, it looks quite strange.)

Elise, Greyson, and Cheryl

Lisa and Cooper

Becky's sister, Jerilyn, and Becky


Janelle and Brody

Laughing about the baby "chew toy" Jules found for Cooper

Auntie Mandy and Grandma Becky

Greyson

And here's where the baby switching begins...

Becky and Brody...He's so cute and such a chunk! Judson wouldn't have looked quite so huge if Brody and Greyson were around when he was a baby! :)

JuliAnn and Brody


Lisa and Emmitt (and Heather Austin in the background, changing Cooper, who had her very first blow-out while Heather held her. I told her I'd change her, but Heather insisted. :)

You may or may not remember this picture from November of 2009:

Bryson (2 mo.), Judson (1 mo.) and Madi (6 mo.)

And here are their siblings a mere 22 months later...

Cooper (2 weeks), Emmitt (1 mo.) and Brody (a little over 3 mo.)

Poor Emmitt was getting man-handled! :)

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures

2011-09-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

In some ways, it's hard to believe Cooper will be three weeks old tomorrow. At other times, it feels like she's been with us a lot longer. Here are some pictures from the past two weeks. She's really starting to fill out!

I'll do a separate post about our open house...

Holding her thumb in her mouth :)

Anna meets Cooper (one week old)


Uncle Morgan

Not a great picture, but Macy was so happy to see Cooper! What fun to have a female cousin so close in age!

First "cousins" picture. Notice the protective barrier around the baby. :)

She had her hand like that for a really long time. :)

After church...eight days old

First tummy time (Nate's idea) and Judson put his blanket down to participate too. :)

First cloth diaper...I have a similar picture of Judson

Sleeping in the one hundred(ish) year old "peanut" basket

I took this today. Cooper is currently about the size Judson was when he was born. So, this is sort of a "before and after"...AMAZING how much he's grown in a mere 23 months! (He insisted the police car be right by her head.)

Sleeping outside while Judson and I played ball and "Tonka truck." As I was taking these pictures, Judson was saying, "Mommy, work!" so it was back to the leaf pile for me... :)

Clarification

2011-09-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

Just in case any of my friends who are moms of new babies are resenting me because I happened to mention that Cooper slept 6.5 hours straight a couple of times, DON'T. I figured it wouldn't last, and I was right. Our nights seem to get longer and longer. I'm currently fantasizing over JuliAnn's two 2.5-hour chunks of sleep. :) I did get one chunk last night that was close to three hours, but then nothing over an hour. I'm not really complaining, just clarifying. Though if I don't start to get at least a little more sleep soon, I probably will start complaining. :)

Randomness

2011-09-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

1. Cooper had her two week appointment on Friday. She weighed in at eight pounds, one ounce (50th percentile) and she was 21.5 inches (90th percentile). I cried after Judson's two week appointment because he was already nine pounds, ten ounces. So, though Cooper's growing fast, it's at a much more tolerable rate than Judson's growth. Phew! I want my baby to stay little for awhile longer. :)

2. Judson took a bath this morning. When he got out, he was playing in just his diaper. This is a very common occurrence, but it wasn't very warm today. I asked him if he was cold and he said, "No. Fine. Just fine." This kid cracks me up with his vocabulary. He doesn't miss ANYTHING that goes on, and then he seems to just bank new words and phrases so he can bust them out later, in completely appropriate contexts. Amazing...and so much fun.

3. My wonderful college roommates hosted a very fun open house at our house on Saturday in Cooper's honor. It was fun to show Cooper off and just hang out with friends. We are blessed.

I need to get the new pictures off of my camera and I'm not going to do that now. It's 3:00 and I'm still in my sweats (read: pajamas). Both kiddos are asleep so I'd better hop in the shower!

Pictures will follow soon. I hope. :)

Call me crazy

2011-09-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was my first whole day alone with two kiddos. How did we spend it? At the zoo. Which made it my first solo outing with two kids too. I really want to enjoy every last bit of nice weather we have, since it's supposed to start raining soon (BOO!).

Judson hasn't really thrown a fit in days and yesterday morning, while I tried to get us out the door by nine, he threw three in about thirty minutes. Though I was tempted to call it off, I decided we'd probably have a better day if we went. And I was right. We got out of here by 9:20. Not too shabby. And Judson was TERRIFIC all day long. I think he was just ready for a change of scenery. :)

These pictures aren't great, but hey, at least I documented our outing. I think I should just be glad I remembered to take a camera AND use it. :)

Little Miss slept nearly the entire time

Checking out the ducks

Our friends, Ella and Max

It recently hit me that this guy is going to be TWO in a month! He's seeming so grown up these days.

Cooper's Birth Story

2011-09-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, September 8, after Nate got home from work, I headed to Marion-Polk Food Share to volunteer with some people from our Bible study group (we do it once a month). I'd been having more Braxton-Hicks contractions than normal, and on the drive there, I began to realize some of them were feeling more "real."

Of course, I went anyway and didn't say anything to anyone. :) We were bagging potatoes out of huge crates and I did sit down to do it. I also let someone else haul all my bags to their final destination. I felt like a wimp, but didn't really want to go into full-blown labor there. :)

When I got home, I told Nate what was going on. I didn't want to be an alarmist, but since we had Judson to think about, I felt like we needed to at least alert my parents. After hearing how fast a number of my friends' second deliveries went (and considering how fast my first one was), I was also pretty convinced things would kick into high gear at some point and happen really quickly. We called my parents around ten o'clock, I think. My mom said they'd get some things in order and we decided to talk again in an hour. Though I wasn't in any pain yet, I called about twenty minutes later and said I'd feel best if they came down that night. They'd already decided the same thing...

I didn't sleep well at all that night, but not because I was in pain. I had a few contractions, but mostly was just anticipating what was to come.

Nate didn't go to work on Friday, and things were seeming to move slowly. I was glad to have my mom here to take care of Judson, but I mostly felt fine. I tried to get some sleep in the morning, but seemed to have more contractions when I laid down. Once in a great while (half an hour or more in between), I'd have a semi- to moderately-painful contraction, but other than that, we were just hanging out. It was a gorgeous day (90*ish), and Judson played in his pool for hours.

Nate discovered a "contraction timer" app on his phone, which honestly was really great. Though my contractions were mostly non-events, they eventually started to get closer together and I decided we should head to the hospital around 4:15. Though Judson was so happy to have his Grammie to play with that he hardly acknowledged me all day, I cried pretty hard when I had to leave him. I think part of it was that I was dreading what was to come (labor, not the baby).

We got to the hospital just before five. The nurses at the station thought I was there to visit someone. I found this out later, but they didn't think I was really in labor (apparently I didn't appear to be in enough pain). Maybe it was because I showed up on my due date. :) Anyway, they didn't have me sign a consent form for my baby.

In triage, the nurse checked me and was amazed at how low the head was. She said I was at least 6-7 cm, but probably more, because the head was in the way. I was SO HAPPY, especially since I wasn't in that much pain yet. Then I found out that the midwife I most wanted was the one on call and I was even happier!

On the way to my room, I signed the baby's consent form while the nurse said, "You sure fooled us!"

I was in the jacuzzi tub by 5:30 and spent the next hour and a half in there. Once the midwife got there (she lives in Silverton, so was really quick), she said I was probably feeling so good because my water hadn't broken yet. (It broke much sooner with Judson.) That hadn't occurred to me, and I'd been wanting my water to break so we could get the show on the road. As soon as she said it might not break until I was ready to push, I told Nate to start praying that that would be the case. :)

Unlike last time when Nate was instructed to not talk or touch me, this time he had a job to do. While using the contraction timer app earlier, I realized I liked knowing when the contractions were about over. Once we were at the hospital, Nate's job was to tell me at about 50 seconds that it was almost over. I think he was glad to have a job to do. :)

I did have some intense contractions during that time, but none that made me feel out of control, like I had with Judson. At 6:55, I had the first contraction that gave me an out of control feeling. My water broke right then and I felt like I was ready to push. Another midwife had joined us by then (she's new and still needs some births where there's another midwife in attendance). She checked me and said I was complete. I moved to the bed and pushed for seventeen minutes before Cooper Anne entered the world. I was pretty sure I saw that she was a girl, but they put her on my chest and didn't say what her gender was. I asked and no one knew. I think Nate might've held her up to look and sure enough, we had a baby girl. I was thrilled...to have a girl and to be done giving birth! Like I did with Judson, I just kept saying, "Thank you, Jesus" over and over. What a miracle!

Honestly, things couldn't have been more perfect and I felt great from the start. The nurse was amazed when she came back to check on me and I'd already gotten cleaned up and dressed. I felt good enough to get in and out of bed multiple times throughout that very first night. (Cooper was slightly longer than Judson and a pound lighter. I had underestimated the difference a smaller baby could make in the birth process!)

We are so thankful to have a little girl. She is just as sweet as she can be, and Judson continues to dote on her. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us!

Now, for a few more pictures from the hospital... (We had lots of visitors, which made us feel very loved. However, I'm not going to include more pictures because they take too long to upload.)

The Moody brothers with the first "true Moody" female in some time

Two month old Greyson with his mom, Elise, and Lisa

Two week old Emmitt

Two year old Madi

One week update on the wee one...and the rest of us too

2011-09-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

I WILL get the birth story post done soon, but thought I should give a bit of an update on how things are going. I think I'll do it in bullet format so I don't have to work too hard on transitions and such. :)

Cooper is a fantastic eater and was from the first time she tried...about ten or fifteen minutes after she was born. So, it did not surprise me one bit that she was already back to seven pounds at her appointment on Tuesday. (Doctors like babies to be back to their birth weight by two weeks of age. She was only two ounces off at 3.5 days old.)
Cooper doesn't like to be swaddled. My mom pointed out that she has great control of her arms and hands. She never flails or startles herself awake. After she said that, I realized that maybe she wasn't sleeping very well at night because she didn't like being swaddled. (She was sleeping really well during the day while she wasn't swaddled.) The next two nights she slept 6.5 hours straight! Glorious! That was not the case last night, but it was sure nice to get a solid chunk of sleep for two nights.
I feel terrific! I honestly never felt like I'd just given birth and after a week, I'm practically back to normal. Well, almost. Minus the sleep deprivation.
Judson continues to be very sweet to Cooper. He often says, "Hi, Miss Cooper," and sometimes he'll look at her and say, "Cuuuuute." :)
He and my mom play this game where he'll say, "Nooze {snooze,}" and she'll pretend to sleep and then he'll say, "Awake!" and she'll wake up. Well, he says, "Awake!" a lot to Cooper, but it never wakes her up. :)
My mom will be here until Monday afternoon. I'm already dreading her leaving. She has helped us out tremendously, with housework, cooking, and mostly loving on Judson. The hardest part about her leaving will be how devastated he is. I'm pretty sure he thinks she's here for good. :)

I think that's it for now. Enjoy the new pictures.

First bath at home

First trip to the park

Fuzzy hair after a bath

Testing out some of Cooper's new toys

Cooper Anne is here!

2011-09-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Cooper Anne Moody was born at 7:12 pm on Friday, September 9, which just happened to be her due date. She weighed seven pounds, two ounces and was 21 inches long. I will definitely include the birth story, as it was as perfect as giving birth can be. However, you'll have to wait for that. Tonight I'm just going to show you the highlights in pictures.

First minutes with Daddy...he waited very patiently. :)

The first female Moody in many generations

So happy to have her safely here...and to be done giving birth! :) (Two-ish hours old)

Getting ready for her first bath and enjoying the warming table (3 hours old)

Ahhhh....

Judson meets his new sister (on Saturday). He wasn't very impressed at first. In fact, he walked into the room saying, "Tractor," because when we were there two weeks ago visiting baby Emmitt Olson, Judson got to play with a tractor someone had given Emmitt. He's definitely warming up to her and has given her quite a few kisses and pats now.

Did you know you can become a midwife when you're fourteen years old?! Me neither, but apparently Liz was able to. :) I really like her and I have no idea how old she really is, but doesn't she look REALLY young?!

Home! (At noon today...)

State Fair

2011-09-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Before I blog about the state fair, I suppose I should add a pregnancy update, seeing as how my due date is a measly THREE DAYS away and I've been getting all sorts of texts and e-mails asking how I'm doing. So, here goes.

I'm still pregnant and feeling great! (Though it is supposed to be in the low- to mid-nineties most of this week, so we'll see how I hold up... :) I do get worn out pretty easily, which is hard, because Nate has been so busy working on projects that most days I'm in charge of Judson his entire waking hours. I guess I need to get used to being exhausted though, right?

Anyway, I saw the midwife on Friday and she was pretty shocked that I wanted to be late. She said no one's ever said that to her before. She's really young, though. I'm certain I'm not the only person who wants to be late. :) She checked me and said it looked like I probably would be late. So, time will tell...

One other tangent before I get to the state fair. Nate totaled his pickup a week ago. He rear-ended someone who was stopped in his lane to turn on a big corner. Thankfully Judson and I weren't with him and no one was hurt. It's a crazy time to be down to one vehicle, but his brother Paul has a spare he's loaning us for now. The other good news is that our twelve year old pickup was miraculously still worth $8000! That's a little over half of what it cost brand new. Praise Jesus for that! (We also have "accident forgiveness" and no deductible, so that's another praise.)

Now, on top of a chaotic house, a garage that feels like it's never going to get done (our tape and texturer has been MIA for days and he's about to get a piece of this pregnant lady's mind!), and a baby who will be here any time, we have to think about buying a car. I know God's timing is perfect, though, so I will do my best to not freak out. :)

Back to the state fair. Finally. :) We invited my parents to come down two weekends ago because we figured it would be our only chance to go (we already had plans for Labor Day weekend). We went late Sunday afternoon and had a terrific time. Judson loved all of the animals and tried to pet as many as he possibly could. He also loved the tractors and tried to drive as many as he possibly could. :) Here are some pictures of our very fun evening.

38 weeks pregnant...

Playing "Ring Around the Rosies" with Grammie. Yes, she even falls down when she's supposed to. :)

Ever the cooperative poser...

Sharing Grammie's ice cream

He even got to go on one ride. My mom couldn't squish herself into the front, and as it turned out, I don't think he would've cared if he was on the ride all by himself. He looked very serious the entire time, but loved every minute of it. How do I know? He was HYSTERICAL when he had to get off. (It was way past his bedtime, which didn't help matters.)

Packing it all in

2011-08-31T21:08:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not "packing it all in" because I'm tired of being pregnant. On the contrary, I feel great and I'm still hoping Baby decides to come a little late. Remember? I want him/her to be born on the tenth, so the birth date will be 9/10/11. I'm being picky, though. I'd rather not have a baby on Sept. 11th. I know, I know. I really have no say in the matter. :)

Part of the reason I want Baby to come late (besides wanting as much time alone with Judson as possible) is that we still have things to get done. Nate has been working really hard in our garage for a very long time now (building a room in it, wiring, adding heaters and lights, sheetrocking, etc.). We paid someone to insulate it - it's cheaper than buying the insulation oneself. Love that! :) Now we're paying someone to tape and texture it. The reason for this project right now is that we're in desperate need of storage. The room in the garage will be heated, rodent-proof, and full of shelves and then all sorts of stuff will be able to be moved out there.

THEN we can think about a new room for Judson. Baby will eventually get the nursery but not any time in the immediate future.

Anyhow, since Nate didn't have anything he could do in the garage I took advantage of it and planned all sorts of things for this weekend. Who knows? It could have been our last weekend as a family of three.

Let me backtrack for a minute. I've actually been packing in as many activities as I can during the past few weeks. I'll spare you a blow-by-blow of the last few weeks and focus on just the past week. After a few days of checking things off of my "Before Baby Comes" list, Judson and I took a trip to the zoo with some friends on Wednesday.

No, those were not our friends...just two big boys who walked up to where Judson was standing to watch the polar bears. I thought it was so cute.

On Thursday, Judson and I played at the park with some moms and kids from our church's moms' group. Then we went to Silverton Hospital's Family Birth Center to meet adorable Emmitt Olson (who was born on Wednesday). That afternoon, we went to Garmin's company picnic and from there I headed to Bridgeport Village to meet Lisa, Cheryl, and Elise (and baby Greyson) for dinner and to see the movie "The Help" (SO GOOD!). Elise didn't stay for the movie, but we were so glad they could join us for dinner.

Friday was a much lower-key day. I did have a midwife appointment and everything looked good. I haven't gained any weight in two weeks, which I'm perfectly happy with. I'm eating plenty (including ice cream every day), so no one's worried. :) We met the Renningers and Comptons in Albany on Friday night for the Art and Air Show. Judson LOVED the hot air balloons. I'd apparently never been that close to one (they were on the ground), because I had no idea they were THAT BIG!

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Detroit Lake to visit the extended Nelson family (the Nelsons are the other family that live(d) on the ranch with my parents). They were all up there for the weekend, so it was fun to hang out with everyone for a few hours. I forgot my camera, but thankfully Krista took this picture. I know, I know. Judson's life jacket doesn't fit him. We bought it in April and it goes to FIFTY pounds, but it just doesn't zip (it used to...just not anymore). He was all strapped in, however, and the boat is really quite safe (very high sides and not tippy). We will be looking for a bigger life jacket ASAP...

38 weeks pregnant, with a huge wet spot on my belly because Judson went swimming and got me all wet...

On Sunday, my parents came down and we went to the State Fair, but I'll save that for another post...unless Baby decides to come in the meantime. Then it will remain unblogged... :)

Final days as a family of three...

2011-08-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

A friend from church, Hollie Miller, took some maternity/family pictures for us last weekend. Mostly I just wanted them for my personal documentation. Some turned out really well, though, so I thought I'd share them here. Don't worry - I'm mostly including ones of Judson. :) (He was fairly uncooperative throughout the shoot, but you can't really tell by the pictures.)

Thirty-seven weeks pregnant...

I really like this picture of us. I realize our color scheme is a bit much, but I don't have all that many clothing options at this point. Of course Nate loves it...always the ultimate Beaver fan... :) And I can always just change it to black and white.

Random Summer Shots

2011-08-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just take my little point-and-shoot camera with us on our outings. And then I forget to upload the pictures. I found a few cute ones today I thought I'd share.

Lisa, her girls, and Judson and I met up at Elise's house to visit baby Greyson in early July. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of Greyson. (He's very cute and looks a lot like his big brother, Campbell!) I did take these of Judson hugging Ella. He got quite a reaction from everyone, and thus decided to hug her over and over. We'd recently been camping with the Olsons and he and Madi would hug too. It's awfully sweet! He apparently has a thing for the older girls. :)

Olallie Lake

2011-08-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

This post is seriously belated. I have no excuse. Or maybe I do. I'm thirty-eight weeks pregnant, have lots to do, and am running out of energy. Judson pretty much takes every ounce of energy I possess these days. Well, Judson and the heat. Anyway.

Our third and final camping trip of the summer took place the first weekend in August. We went to Olallie Lake with Mandy and Justin. It's gorgeous, but out in the BOONDOCKS. At thirty-five weeks pregnant, I didn't really enjoy attempting to sleep on an air mattress or having to get up off said mattress in the middle of the night to pee, but I survived and we did have fun.

Nate had recently bought a drift boat and was very excited to use it. (A drift boat is basically a huge row boat. The nice thing about it is that it's not tippy and has high sides, so we didn't have to worry about Judson falling out.)

**After spending forever uploading pictures, I somehow lost a bunch of them. I have now uploaded them for a second time. Some are out of order and the ones at the end are pictures from Mandy's camera. I'm DONE dealing with this post.**

New chair from Grammie and Papa

The view of Mt. Jefferson as Nate rowed us across the lake so we could have the boat closer to our campsite. Gorgeous!

First fish (of three total for the weekend)

Judson liked to say, "Hold you, fish!"

Hauling wood. Good thing he had his blue sippy cup or he'd be invisible! :)

He spent LOTS of time collecting pinecones and other things off the ground.+-

Everyone else went swimming on Saturday afternoon (well, Mandy waded). I opted to stay dry and document the fun. I was nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes in the process. Ugh!

This boy sure loves water!

No matter how many times I cleaned his face, he'd look like this again within ten minutes.

So tired!


He really loved Ari...and she really loved him and all the food he hauled around at nose level.

He kissed it, too, but I didn't get a picture of that. :)

I definitely just look fat here, but figured I should include evidence that I really went. :)

Macy's First Birthday Party

2011-08-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a few weeks now, but I still have to mention Macy's first birthday. Anna went to a ton of work for the party, and we were so glad we were able to go to Bandon that weekend to help celebrate. The party had an Asian theme, which I believe was inspired when Anna read about making "candy sushi" in a magazine. (So cute and tasty, by the way!) For pictures of the decorations and food, click here to see Anna's blog.

And here are a few (ha!) of my pictures from the party. What a fun one it was!

Macy wasn't too sure about all of the attention, but she dug right into her cake when the time came.

Sleepy girl, wearing a cute little outfit Anna made for her

Ready for cake :)

Anna's two older nephews weren't able to come at the last minute, and neither of the little boys could even put a dent in the pinata she made.

Let's try a hammer...

Eventually Morgan pitched it to Anna's brother, Jake, a few times and it finally came open. It had all sorts of fun things inside, including little Snickers bars, Asian candy, and ninja rubber duckies.

Reading her new book

Judson was REALLY excited about his tattoos :)

Playing with Uncle Morgan after the party

A Day at the Zoo

2011-08-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

We've tried to fit in as many activities with Jules and Madi as possible before their baby comes. So, the day after raspberry-picking, we headed to the zoo. We tested out the Olsons' new Double BOB stroller because ours is still in its box. Multiple people thought Madi and Judson were twins, which isn't too much of a stretch based on age, size, and hair color. Regardless, they're two really cute little people! :)

Penguins!

It was lunch time and they were both anxious to get out.

Nap time!

Read on if you haven't seen the previous post...you don't want to miss it! :)

The long-awaited raspberry post

2011-08-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry to keep you hanging on the raspberry post I promised two weeks ago. I wanted to wait to get JuliAnn's pictures because she got some terrific ones with her zoom lens. And now I've had a terrible time narrowing them down. :)

I forgot to get the CD when we saw JuliAnn and Madi last week, so I got it this morning when we met to pick blueberries. Yes, we've been on quite a berry-picking streak lately. I'm happy to report that we're done. And just in time - Baby Emmitt is due on Friday! (That's the Olson's baby. Ours still has five and half weeks - and no name if it's a boy. Yikes!)

Because we were nowhere near a road (You can see our cars in some pictures. We nearly needed four-wheel drive to get out there. The main road was VERY far away.), we let Judson and Madi wander for a few minutes before deciding to call them back toward us. No big deal. They'd set out across the lettuce rows. As they headed back our direction, we watched (me in horror; JuliAnn in amusement) as they discovered a giant mud pit between the rows. Judson immediately dove in; Madi was much more reserved. Though I was NOT prepared to deal with that amount of mud, I decided to let him have his fun and figure it out when it was time to leave. (Our usual car blanket had been removed two days before when we got home from camping.)

Thankfully, I did find a small hand towel and between that and baby wipes, he was acceptably clean when I finally put him in the car. As soon as we got home, I bathed him, gave him probiotics, and started praying for "clean" mud! :)

Warning: These pictures may be horrifying to some of you. They probably would have been to me at one time. However, Judson had a blast, every last trace of mud came out of everything, he didn't get sick from the mud, and we have some terrific memories and pictures. It was a pretty great day, after all. :)

Look how clean she is! Well, in comparison, anyway...

Actually, Judson still looks pretty clean here... :)

Madi wanted to be involved, but it was just too much mud for her. Smart girl! :)

Really, Judson?!

And right after I noticed that there was still a strip of red shirt showing on his back, he did this.

I think I was trying to keep him from blowing bubbles in the water...

By the time it was time to go, his pants were at his knees, his cloth diaper had about ten pounds of mud in it, and he was exhausted. What a day!

Family Camp

2011-07-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

We attended our church's "Family Camp" for the first time this year (July 15-17). It was at River Bend County Park, six miles east of Sweet Home (about an hour from here). It was a really nice campground. More "cushy" than we generally like, but perfect for something like Family Camp. There was a great playground, a really nice swimming area in the river (even a good spot for little kids, as you can see), very clean bathrooms, and FREE showers. We did not take advantage of the showers. It started pouring on Friday night and pretty much continued until we left on Sunday. I didn't feel the need to get any wetter than I already was. Thankfully, it was still really warm, so I didn't have to worry about Judson being wet the whole time. (It was basically impossible to keep him dry.)

These pictures are all from Friday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day, and we had no idea at that point that the rest of the weekend was going to be SO. BLASTED. WET. Saturday afternoon and evening were dry (for a few hours), which was a nice break. Overall, we still had fun, and we got to know some people better. A number of families went home early, however, and it would've been a lot more fun to be in dry, sunny weather!

Heading to the river as soon as we got there

32 weeks pregnant...

Helping Dada. When did he get to be such a big boy?!

Dinner

Second S'more ever...neater than the first :)

We have one more camping trip tentatively planned for this summer. I have already forewarned Nate that I will not be going if rain is forecast. Once in a summer (or decade...or lifetime) is enough for me!

Picking Strawberries

2011-07-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Judson and I met JuliAnn and Madi to pick raspberries this morning (that post will be coming soon!), and Jules brought me a CD of her pictures from our strawberry-picking adventure. Since it was a couple of weeks ago and I already mentioned it, I won't say much about it. It was indeed an adventure, as we were 30 weeks and 35 weeks pregnant and we brought with us two plant-trampling toddlers who kept pulling up the marking flags every time we weren't looking. (Though, honestly, the flag system didn't really make any sense anyway...)

Judson got dirtier than I had anticipated, which wouldn't have bugged me, except that he wasn't in old clothes. I spent the afternoon stain-fighting, and I'm happy to report they look almost as good as new.

**Though Judson seemed so filthy to me that day, as I looked through these pictures, I realized he really wasn't that dirty, especially in light of today's adventure. God is gently teaching me that he is ALL BOY and I'm just going to have to accept the mud that comes with the gift of this child.**

This is one of the few pictures I took before my camera stopped working. It's JuliAnn's unattended bucket. Can you tell which FIVE berries Judson added?! :)

A bouquet of flags. At first we wouldn't let them touch the flags at all, and then we decided we'd let them each carry one, and we'd just put them back when we were done. Clearly that plan didn't work!

Stay tuned for our raspberry-picking adventure. I promise it won't disappoint!

Fourth of July Weekend

2011-07-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend the long weekend in Bandon, and after a really LOOOONG drive (left at 8:30 pm, came upon an accident outside of Drain and had to backtrack to get back on the freeway and drive further south, and then that exit was closed so we had to meander to get where we needed to be) on Friday, the rest of the weekend was very fun and relaxing. We picked raspberries at the Nelsons', played outside, went to the parade (which is pretty lame, really, but Judson loved it because it was just all sorts of vehicles), played at the beach, ate lots of really good food, and even saw the fireworks show. (We woke Judson up to take him and I'm so glad we did! It was an impressive display, he loved it, and he said, "Again!" as soon as it was over.)

Here are some highlights in pictures...mostly from the beach.

If only I could get him to look at me once in awhile!!

Judson loved playing with Uncle Morgan

I have no clue what they were doing...

Laughing at Grammie (now called "Gammie")


The guys decided to build a dam, and they took it very seriously.

Anna and Macy came for awhile. Anna was smug that her baby just sat nicely (read: CLEANLY) on a towel...not for long! :)

Judson inspecting the finished dam...and about to destroy it.

Tired, frozen guy who did NOT want to leave...

Judson's first camping trip

2011-07-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

We went camping with the Olson Family the last weekend of June. It was the only time that worked for both families, since Baby Olson is due a month from now. I was a little worried the weather wouldn't be very good and that we'd get NO sleep. Thankfully everything went really, really well. We didn't have reservations, but we were able to get a terrific double site at Breitenbush Campground (outside of Detroit). It was huge, flat, and right next to the river (with a chain-link fence, so we didn't have to worry about our kiddos). The daytime weather was perfect, we didn't freeze to death at night (though I thought we might...it was SO COLD!), Judson and Madi played together really well, we had so much fun with our good friends, and we even got pretty decent sleep! Thank you, Jesus!

Here are lots of pictures. I just can't help myself. And since I don't see myself doing any major scrapbooking anytime soon, someday I just have this blog made into a book, and viola! Documentation. :)

Judson's first campfire...tired guy

Fishing the first day

First catch (one of two that Nate caught the first day...none were caught the other two days)


Watching the daddies fish from a safe vantage point

We took Jules' parents' trailer so we wouldn't have to worry about packing carefully. The kids loved playing in it.

We noticed so many differences between boys and girls during our weekend together. For one, Madi is such a poser when the camera comes out, unlike Judson who MIGHT look at the camera, but definitely won't smile.


Playing in the freezing river. Notice my foot off to the left. I had to be ready to grab Judson, who kept lunging into the river. It was painfully cold, but he played in the water for close to an hour. I was the "lucky" one who got to freeze my feet to keep him safe.

My feet had long since gone numb, so I was no longer in excruciating pain from the frigid water. :) You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm seriously not. Between the sand in my shoes and the temperature of the water, it felt like my feet were rubbed completely raw until they went numb.

One of many rides in the bike trailer. I guess Judson will share it after all!

Tickles

Hugs

Judson spent close to an hour using his tiny shovel to load up his wheelbarrow. Madi decided it would be awfully fun to dump it for him. It made him really nervous, but, alas, her parents wouldn't let her. :)

Mr. Sandwich Maker...that day, anyway

First S'more...I think there are some people who will be very impressed that I was able to let him get this messy, especially without a shower nearby. Though there is a small part of me that still wants Judson to stay clean, he is ALL BOY and I've come to accept that he will rarely, if ever, be clean for more than about five minutes, unless I keep him in the house. And that would just be torture for both of us.

Look at those eyes!

Okay, so not the most flattering picture of the pregnant ladies, but it must be included. :)

Our campsite - looking toward the river from where our cars were parked. Such a perfect spot for little ones!

The adorable Olson family

34 weeks and 29 weeks

Let's do it again next year, Olsons. Surely FOUR kids won't be that much harder...?!?! :)

Strawberries and such...

2011-06-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Judson and I had a quite the berry-picking adventure with JuliAnn and Madi on Tuesday. Unfortunately, my camera was on the fritz, so JuliAnn had to take all the pictures. She got some terrific ones, which I hope to get from her before too long. In the meantime, you can click here to read her post and see some really cute pictures of the kiddos. Judson got far dirtier than I anticipated, but he had a blast and ate about a pound of berries...some ripe, some rotten, some completely white, and some with stems. It was really something. I'm happy to report it didn't seem to affect his digestive system. He did have a slight rash on his neck yesterday, but it was gone today.

And one other post-to-come: my dad came up today to install the cabinets he made for our entryway. It's a three-part unit: a hutch that faces our dining area, a long desk with a bookshelf and tons of great drawers, and a bench that opens closest to the front door. It's gorgeous and fits perfectly. I can hardly wait to organize it! I'll post pictures once we get the desk top installed. (We're planning on granite, since slabs can be purchased so inexpensively these days. We haven't bought anything yet, however.)

Judson's dream-come-true

2011-06-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Judson had a terrific weekend, complete with two of his favorite things. First of all, we went camping and he got to spend two whole days living outside (that post is coming...hopefully soon!), and since all he wants to do is play outside and get dirty, he was one happy camper...literally. :)

Then when we got home, Justin and Mandy were here mowing our field. (They'd rented a tractor to mow their new property and generously offered to do our field, too.) Judson was incredibly tired, but he perked right up when he saw who was here. He and Mandy played outside while I got a few things done. And then he got to drive the tractor with Justin once the mowing was done. Such a happy boy!

Being silly

We didn't get a picture of him and Mandy on Sunday, but this is a great one I took recently and have been meaning to share.

Well, hello, third trimester.

2011-06-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to have some fun 3D/4D ultrasound pictures to add to this post, but alas, that was not meant to be. We went in yesterday morning for our complimentary 3D/4D ultrasound (that's what the diagnostic imaging place calls them...not sure why, but I'm sure Nate could explain it to you :). We had the same tech for the fourth time in two pregnancies (the only time we haven't had her was when we had our dating ultrasound early on in this pregnancy). She's great, and she tried so hard, but Baby just wasn't having it. He or she was content to stay in a head-in-the-pelvis, nose-smashed-into-the-uterine-wall position. We did get to watch some fun yawns and such, but in terms of pictures, we came away with four fairly creepy ones, which I will not be posting. I was just thankful that I didn't dream of alien babies with pig noses last night! :)

I will be 29 weeks tomorrow, and I really can't believe it. I am happy to report that the stabbing groin pains have actually gotten better. (If you prayed for me, thanks!) I'm tired, but other than that, feeling really good. I love this point in my pregnancies, and I think it's because the movements are stronger and I love feeling random body parts jutting out. (I realize I will be changing my tune if Baby starts jabbing me in the ribs or doing some other movement that causes me pain.) I almost hate to mention this, but so far haven't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions, which I was having constantly by this time with Judson. They're not painful, just annoying.

Since I can't leave you with any fun baby pictures, you're stuck with pictures of me. :)

28 weeks this time..and looking like this tank top may not make it for all of my pictures. Dang!

28 weeks with Judson

Celebrating the first day of summer...

2011-06-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

...and the warmest day we've had.

We met Jess and five kiddos (two of her own and three daycare kids) at Memorial Park in Wilsonville today. (As an added bonus, JuliAnn, Madi, Kari, and Kade were all there too. Fun!) It was our second time to play in the fountains this year, but the first with a camera. Judson absolutely loved it. He was so much fun to watch...and listen to! He was constantly doing these happy shrieks that just cracked me up. If you think these pictures are overkill, you don't want to know how many I actually took. Oh, the joys of digital photography! :) I especially love my digital SLR, which allows me to actually capture the action.

Completely off the ground

With only one exception, the hat stayed on the entire time. He's figured out that it keeps the sun out of his eyes. Now I just need a navy blue one to go with his swimsuit and shoes. :)

Daddy's Little Helper

2011-06-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Phil and Bridgett gave Judson a wheelbarrow full of goodies for Easter. Literally. It had a shovel and watering pitcher, bubbles, puzzles, a book, and plenty of candy that Nate and I scarfed down. :) Nate has been working really hard outside - and it looks tons better - and he's been using our wheelbarrow a lot. So Judson decided to lend a hand. Nate was moving dirt, so he'd load up Judson's wheelbarrow and his own, and they'd take their loads to fill in some low spots near the field. It took a lot of effort on Judson's part, but he stuck with it. He probably made five trips the first day (LONG trips, including a hill), and he always dumped it right where he was supposed to. Except when it spilled before he got to his final destination. Then he'd say, "Oh, no!" and use his hands to try to put it back in the wheelbarrow. He's helped on more than one occasion, but I only have pictures from this particular day. He's also put his wheelbarrow to use hauling rocks, weeds, and water. I am so thankful to have property for this boy to "help" with and explore! :)

How cute is that?! I almost couldn't stand it. :)

Helping Mama weed

The first bike ride of the summer

2011-06-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was sunny and warm and we decided to go on a bike ride at Minto Brown Park after dinner. Judson wasn't so sure about his "hat" at first, but didn't care once we started moving. My stomach had just reached the size that makes bending over uncomfortable, so I wasn't very comfortable on my bike, but we had a great time nonetheless. I may have to get a "cruiser" if I want to ride any more while I'm pregnant...

I'm just not sure Judson's going to like sharing the bike trailer next summer...he pretty much takes up the whole thing! :)

Funny kiddo

2011-06-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

Most of us can agree that little kids say the funniest things. Though Judson is only speaking in two-word phrases at this point, he's already saying some pretty cute things. At least his parents and grandparents think so. :)

When we were in Colorado, he was able to convince my mom to let him try whatever she was drinking. (At home, we usually only have water and milk, so he was very intrigued by juice and iced tea.) One night she was having wine with dinner and he wanted some. She said something like, "Wine isn't for babies," and then we went on with whatever conversation we were having. Pretty soon, he asked for it again and she said, "What did I tell you, Judson?" He got a serious look on his face and said, "No, no," in the same tone he uses for the cat when Moses jumps on the table. It was awfully cute...and impressive, too, since he had to translate what she'd said to him the first time. :)

One other drink story happened the other day. He likes to say "coffee" now when he sees Nate or me drinking it. The other day I took my coffee outside while he played. When it was time to come in, I let him carry my mug. (Needless to say, it was not one I cared about.) There was one drop of coffee left in there, and of course he drank it. I asked him if it was "icky" and he said, "Mmm. Good." Funny kiddo, indeed.

Yet another flying experience for Judson

2011-06-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

Judson and I recently got home from a nine day trip to Colorado with my mom, Anna, and Macy. We had a great time with Fleeta (and various other family members we saw briefly) and enjoyed BEAUTIFUL weather! The temperature was between about 75* and 89* every day we were there. It was fantastic, as was spending extended time with "Feef", "Gaggi" (he can't quite get "Grammie" yet!), Anna, and "Mimi." I will admit, however, that Judson is not at an easy age to travel with. Shocking, I know. :)

He did well on the airplanes to Colorado, though, in his excitement, he was definitely on the loud side. Overall, it was just a very long day of traveling and we were SO ready to get to Canon City!


Sitting in the carseats while eating snacks at PDX...waiting for Mom to come back from parking the car. We checked the carseats...we just waited for my mom to come before we checked in.

The two factors working against us regarding Judson's overall behavior on the trip are the fact that he's definitely starting to throw fits and he just didn't sleep well. Not a good combination. But we did have plenty of times where he was lots of fun, and everyone was really understanding when he wasn't lots of fun.

I took Judson to a park on about half of the mornings we were there (while Macy was napping and Mom was getting Fleeta ready). Then he'd eat an early lunch and go down for his nap. (On the mornings I didn't take him to the park, it was generally because he went down for a morning nap. Sometimes he was back in bed by 8:30 am because he'd woken up so early.)

Once he was up from his afternoon nap, it was often pool party time. One day he spent THREE HOURS in the pool. It was great! No chasing after him required. :) Macy joined him from time to time.

One afternoon we went on the "Scenic Royal Gorge Railway." It was a fun little train that was perfect for the kiddos and ended with a great view of the Royal Gorge Bridge. Judson loved it! Unfortunately, Fleeta couldn't ride it with us, but she did get to see us on it and she was perfectly happy with that.

We also went walking on Tunnel Drive one evening. It was still HOT, but lots of fun. Judson didn't want to ride in the stroller on the six tenths of a mile back to the car. He ran most of it, "pushed" Fleeta's wheelchair for quite awhile, and was carried a little (when he stopped one too many times). At one point, he found the perfect handles on Fleeta's wheelchair and somehow tripped or just let go with one hand or something (I was watching, but it happened so fast). The next thing I knew, he was being dragged by one arm! He didn't let go; I had to pry his hand off. The gravel scraped up his legs and belly a little, but he didn't care one bit. Tough guy.


We have to tie Fleeta's legs on during our Tunnel Drive walks. Otherwise her feet just keep bouncing off. :)

He's got a stick in his hand, though it's hard to see. Such a boy!

Running to catch Grammie...not sure what she's doing. :)

The blurry background makes it look like they were going really fast, but they weren't.


Love her!

I'll close with some random pictures of other fun times...the park, feeding ducks and geese, walking along the Arkansas River, time with Jack and Donna, and so on. It was indeed a very special trip!

Checking out Fleeta's wheels. Fascinating!

The little wheels are very fun to spin, apparently. Both kids liked to do it. :)

Love this picture!

He will pose with other people, but refuses to pose with me. Little stinker.

Like mother, like daughter.

Judson has been great about wearing his hat lately, but this was the first time he kept sunglasses on. They were Macy's. :)

No food today...just throwing rocks. Not at anything.

This goose thought there might be some food involved.


Modeling his "new" hat from Uncle Jack. It says, "Your Basic Hat."

Party in the shade. It was nearly 90*!

Macy and Annie


Should she haul him around as much as she does?! He's half her size!

Macy's teeth grew SO MUCH while we were together. It was pretty crazy.

She started making a pig noise/face in Colorado and generally would only do it when I asked her to (no one else) and pretty much EVERY time I asked her to. It totally cracked me up.


I probably shouldn't even point this out, but I swear I only wore that blue tank top two different days. Apparently those were the days we took all the pictures. :)

Lunch in the airport in Denver...and the only time Judson sat still for the 2+ hours we were there. He was pretty wild the rest of the time, but we were in an unpopulated area and I was so glad he was getting it out of his system before we got on the next plane. He crashed in the stroller about ten minutes before we loaded and stayed asleep over an hour. Praise the Lord! It made for a very nice flight. :)

Not a great picture, but our only evidence of everything we hauled. Actually we did very well packing-wise, but with car seats and a stroller, it really added up. :)

***No matter what I do, there are often weird spaces in my posts that I CANNOT do anything about. It drives me crazy, so I thought I'd at least mention that I realize they're there.***