Nursery

We have finally got the kids' room all set up! Hooray! Steve worked very hard all day Saturday to clean the house and get the crib done. YAY STEVE! Here are the pictures of it all. :-)

Jason's bedding. I love the Safari theme. Thank you to Regan for giving it to us!

A corner of the crib, showing off the sheet, bumper and comforter.

The sheet. This sheet actually isn't the one that came with the bedding. It's from the bedding we originally wanted, but it was way too expensive. So Regan got us the sheet, to have as an extra one. We like it more than the sheet from the set we have, so this one went on. :-)

Another corner, showing more of the bumper.

The mobile. It has an elephant in the middle, with a monkey, lion, giraffe and tiger that spin around. (Jilly is in love with this. Everytime I turn it on, she runs into the room and just stares at it. Then she'll start singing along.)

A farther back shot of the crib and the rocking chair in the corner.

Jilly's bed, with the quilt my mom made her before she was born. It's the perfect size for a toddler bed!

When Regan gave us the second sheet for the crib, it made me think that I should get an extra one for Jilly's bed, because let's face it. I change her bedding a lot more often than Jason's! He doesn't take off his diaper as much as she does. ;-) So I got this super cute pink and green polka dot one, which matches her quilt better anyway.

Here is the changing table, next to Jilly's bed. This is actually the exact spot we put it in when we set up the room 3 years ago. We've moved it once or twice since then, but it's back in the best spot.

Closet door and more of the changing table. (This is now just going around the room to show you all of it. Nothing that exciting about a Diaper Champ. ;-))

Bedroom door and closet.

The view of the room from the doorway, so you get an idea of how it's laid out. Can you spot the Jilly?

And here we have Wildcat testing out his jungle bedding. Rawr! :-)


The room has turned out nice! I am impressed with how nicely both sets of bedding go with the furniture. It's also really nice to finally have the computer out of the kids' room. We can be on it when they're sleeping and now I'm not afraid to have Jilly out of a crib (i.e. in the toddler bed), because she can't mess with it. Another benefit- this weekend is General Conference for our church. The past 3 years, we've spent this bi-annual weekend, in that room with Steve sitting on the computer chair and me in the rocking chair. We often miss the Sunday afternoon session because Jilly is napping. This time, we can all be comfortable sitting on the couch and listen to both Sunday sessions regardless of napping children. Hooray!

Cheap Thrills

Roll of craft paper = $2

Box of crayons = $1

A toddler happily coloring in a designated spot, not on the TV/furniture/walls, and 20 minutes of peace for Mommy = priceless.

Squooshed by Granny

We now have pictures of both our kids being squooshed by Granny on their blessing days.

Jason got a little over the shoulder action.

Jilly got the cheek-to-cheek method.

Blessing Day Pictures

Jason cuddled in the moses basket, under Grandpa Paul's own baby blanket.

Auntie Juliet giving Jilly her "big sister present", an elephant that snores. ;-)

Uncle Kelly with Jason.

Our family of four.

With the grandparents (yeah, Jilly was just a teeny bit squirrel-y by this point).

With Auntie Juliet and Uncle Kelly.

Jason's blessing outfit. My mom made this for my brother, when he was blessed 19 years ago. Both my kids have been the second generation to be blessed in these outfits. The dress Jilly wore for her blessing was the one my mom made for me, and both my sister and I wore.

Smile!

Dear Jason

Dear Jason,

My sweet little guy, you were blessed a couple Sundays ago; August 30th to be exact. It was a cloudy and foggy morning, and I was worried as we drove to church that our family would get lost since they couldn't see the signs to turn. But it was fine, everyone got there, and on time, no less. Your Granny Sam and Grandpa Paul came, as well as Auntie Juliet. Even a couple friends of Mommy's came, Candace, and Bri and her daughter Ginny. They were so sweet to come celebrate this day with you. Your daddy blessed you, along with our friends Kurt L, Justin O, Shawn W, and the Bishop Todd S. We are grateful they were willing to be there and exercise the Priesthood to bless you.

It was a very beautiful blessing. Daddy took you in his arms (making sure to pop the pacifier in before he started, so you were an angel during it) and addressed Heavenly Father. He pronounced the name we gave you, "Jason Emmanuel Hall". You were blessed with obedience and humility, as well as health and endurance. At one point, Daddy said that we're aware of the burden of the opportunity we've been given to raise you. He asked Heavenly Father to bless us (your parents) and you, that we'll all follow the Spirit and help you reach your full potential. He closed the blessing, and then showed you off to the ward. Right after your blessing, there was another little baby boy blessed, but the poor little guy was upset and cried during the whole thing. So you got labeled "the one who didn't cry." ;-)

After Sacrament Meeting, our family went back to Granny & Grandpa's house for brunch. Granny made some yummy Impossible Pie, had muffins, danishes, fruit salad and juice. While we ate you got all cozy in the moses basket. After a little while, Auntie Juliet came over with Uncle Kelley, who had just arrived from Chicago. He had been on his way back from England on Saturday night, and got stuck in Chicago for a night. He was glad to be home and get some food. We spent the next little bit, hanging out and relaxing with the family. We took some pictures and everyone held you. You were very sweet and well behaved all day.

Little Man, we are so happy you are in our family. You're a mostly relaxed and calm baby who loves to snuggle. You sleep in my arms every night, and I love waking up to your smiles. I know it's time to wake up for good when I squint one eye open and get a big, gummy, toothless smile from you. After nursing, I can pick you up, hold you and we'll spend 5 to 10 minutes, just smiling and making silly noises at each other. You're so fun! Daddy is so excited to have his son. He is always talking about how happy he is to have you here. He talks to you about sports, especially Longhorns football and Spurs basketball! He loves your smiles too. He really loves teasing your big sister, by trying to hand you to her. He's so silly. Jilly is really excited to be a big sister too. When you cry, she gets very concerned about you. If she doesn't see us coming, she'll run over to you and try to hand you your pacifier. In the morning, when I take you into her room in the morning, to change diapers and clothes, I will sometimes set you in her crib for a minute. She likes to give you kisses and pat your head. Even though she's had a rough time lately, adjusting to having a baby in the house, she has never acted out toward you or tried to hurt you. She loves you and tries to take care of you.

Jason, thank you for choosing our family. We wouldn't be the same without you.

I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

Ta-da!

As of right now, Jillian is still asleep in her big girl bed!!! She did fairly well. She was soooooo excited when the FedEx man delivered it yesterday. And then when Daddy assembled it? Wooo, the girl could hardly contain herself. I just had to let her test it out before bed. Then of course, she didn't want to get out of it. So, the big ol' softie that I am, I decided to try and let her stay in it. I figured if it didn't work, then I'd just throw the mattress back in the crib and no harm, no foul. We had her come out and say prayers with us, then I took her to bed, tucked her in with her music player and closed the door. A little bit later though, we heard her crying. I went in, found her music player on the floor, so I tucked it back in with her, calmed her down and left again. Quiet for awhile, then more crying. So I went back in. I think she might have been a little scared, being uncontained in the new bed, in the pitch black. So I soothed her a bit, got her some juice and then sat in there on the floor for a little bit. I slowly scooted myself out of the room and she was asleep soon after. I didn't hear her make any noise all night! And she's still sleeping (I got up in the middle of typing to double check). I, of course, didn't sleep that restfully because I kept waiting for her to get up and wreak havoc. ;-) But I am so proud of her! I know this is just one night, I anticipate having more problems. There's no way it could be this easy. ;-) But just for last night, it was a success!! Hooray!

Adventures In Climbing

Today we got a visit from the UPS man. I love the UPS man. I have since I was a little kid. The UPS man = presents! Today was no exception. Our trusty UPS man brought us some delightful gifts from our dear friend Regan. She generously bought Jason's bedding for the crib! I just had to open the boxes, even though I'm not ready to put the bedding in the crib yet. I did and this is what I found:

Yippee!! It's all so cute. There's the bedding set, plus a mobile and an extra crib sheet! And it's all the cute safari theme we love. Fantastic. Now I had to figure out where to keep these wonderful gifts, so that certain toddlers residing in our home would not open and destroy them, until I was ready to put them in the crib. Well, I ended up putting them IN the crib, until she goes to bed. Haha.

However, I underestimated her curiosity and desire to get to anything. This is what ensued:





Haha! She climbed up on the rocking chair and used it to climb INTO the crib! Well, at least she doesn't climb out.

Stay tuned for next week, when the toddler bed arrives, our furniture gets moved and we transition the kiddos into their new beds! It should be exciting.

Crazy Pants

Jilly demanded that I help her put on her swimsuit today. Over her pajamas. She would not leave me alone until I did. And she's been pleased as punch since. ;-)

Good Idea, Bad Idea....Friends

This week in Good Idea, Bad Idea...

Good Idea: Chatting with friends visiting from out of town.

Bad Idea: Staying up until midnight to visit with friends from out of town, when you have to get up at 5am the next morning to work for 11 hours.

Our awesome friend, Will, is visiting this weekend from San Antonio! He got here Thursday night and flies home Tuesday morning. We are so excited to have him here. It's been almost a year and a half since we saw him last. Jilly wasn't even walking, when we saw him down in Texas, and Jason was just an idea. ;-) Yesterday, we took a fun drive up to Deception Pass and Whidbey Island. We were a little nervous to see how the kiddos would do in the car for such a long time, but it turned out fine! Jason fell asleep the second the car started moving, and stayed asleep the whole way up to Deception Pass (like an hour and a half), and kept sleeping even when I pulled him out of his car seat and put him in the wrap to walk across the bridge. Jilly did great too.

The drive was lovely as always, and Will got lots of good pictures as we walked across the bridge. The bridge always makes me a little nervous, because it SO HIGH over quite turbulent water. It was a little freakier now, having two kids. I wasn't too worried about Jason, because he was secure in the wrap (barely his head was showing), but Jilly was another story. We made sure and put the monkey backpack leash on her, just in case she yanked her hand out of Steve's, and kept a tight grip on her too. The walk across the bridge isn't the most toddler friendly activity. On one side of the sidewalk are the speeding cars. On the other side is the drop to the water. Not much room for error. And Steve didn't want to carry Jilly, because it would put her too high above the railing. So she had to walk across the long bridge. It was tough at one point, because she didn't want to keep going. But they made it and I'm glad we went. It was sunny, not very windy and warmer than we thought it would be. By the time we got back to the car, we were all sweating a little. ;-)

After spending some time at Deception Pass, we got back in the car and drove down to Oak Harbor. We decided to stop and get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins. My big grown up girl ate her own bowl of ice cream with sprinkles on it and LOVED IT! Hehehe, and she didn't make much of a mess at all!! (Well, until she accidentally knocked her mostly-gone bowl on to floor, ice cream side down. ;-)) She wasn't that thrilled to get back in the car, but was a trooper and calmed down. From there, it was another, what 40 minutes (?) to the ferry. We got there about 5:45pm, just before the next sailing (6pm). There were very few cars on board go east, since most people were trying to get out of the city for Labor Day weekend, not go into it. ;-) We got right on, parked and went upstairs. Jilly had such a blast on the ferry. She dragged me all around, then climbed up on Will's lap to look out the window. She was pretty bummed when we took her back downstairs to the car. I agreed with her, the ride was too short! Once off the ferry, it was just a short drive home.

The rest of this weekend should be fun too. Today, I work all day and Steve is at home with both kids. It's going to be like 12 hours total, about double the amount of time I've ever been away from Jason. :-( But Will is going to hang out at the apartment with Steve and help out. Especially during Steve's Fantasy Football league draft this morning. ;-) Hehe. We'll probably go out to dinner tonight. Then tomorrow is church, and after that another friend of ours, Justin, is also coming over for dinner. I'm so excited to see both of these guys! They're so awesome. Monday, we may hit the zoo if it's not raining, then I have to work that afternoon. Steve, the lucky dog, is getting a 4 day weekend! We're going to have a lot of fun. :-)

Sure, I'm tired today at work, but I'm willing to deal with it, because it's not that often we get to visit like this. :-D

(I decided to make this Good Idea, Bad Idea thing a series. So I'll be posting with the theme once a week, I hope.)

Wow!

WOW! I just saw that my last post (Assorted, Random and Miscellaneous Pictures) was our 100th post on this blog! Yay for us. Just had to point that out. ;-)