2012: A year in review

January

We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! We went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Buca Di Beppo.

February

We celebrated Valentines day.

Jessalyn started a true love for her baby dolls.

March

Our second year going to the car show downtown with the boys.

A true friendship really bloomed between Jess and Ro Ro!

April

We celebrated Easter with the family. 

We got to spend the day at the Kansas City Temple open house working as ushers. I got to spend the whole day IN the Temple! 

We took a trip out to Colorado to meet Jess's new baby cousin Brayden...

And to spend time with Grammy!

May

We spent the beginning of the summer at the cousins football practices. 

 

Then pretty much most of the summer at the pool. Jess discovered the slide and that's basically where she stayed the whole time.

I also celebrated my 27th birthday.

June

I got to go through the Temple and receive my endowments!

July

We celebrated the 4th of July at the usual spot in at Cleveland Chiropractic College. 

Jess fell asleep before the fireworks even started.

 August

We took a trip to Arizona and got some quality time with some cousins!

 And we got some Eeegee's!!

September

Our first family camping trip!

October

Jess turned two on October 9th and we celebrated with the family and had a Minnie Mouse party!

 We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch to pick some pumpkins.

 And dressed up as the Flintstones for Halloween.

 November

We were sealed as a family for all time and eternity in the Kansas City Temple! We shared this special day with our family and friends.

 December

Christmas time!!

 And Jordan celebrated his 28th birthday!

  Here's to another exciting year for 2013!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!!!

Weaning

"Am I a push-over? A weak mom who needs her son more than he needs her? Not at all. Am I letting my toddler run my life? No way. Am I spoiling him? There’s no evidence of that! Do I enjoy knowing that mothers who nurse longer have lower rates of breast, uterine, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis? Sure. Do I enjoy knowing that breastmilk contains antibiotic, anti-allergy, and anti-obesity properties? Yes. Is this why I do it? No. Those are neat facts, but the real reason we nurse this way, now, all night, all day, anywhere and anyhow, is because it’s not broken, so there is nothing to fix. "

I just read an essay written by a famous mother who nursed both of her sons till they were 2 1/2. This was a paragraph that I really loved and could completely relate to. Everyone has their own opinions about when they feel the time is up for breastfeeding their babies.
Before Jessalyn was born I knew I wanted to do everything in my power to nurse her. I knew I would take it one day at a time . It came so easy for the two of us from the moment she was born so we made all of our goals. 6 months, 1 year, 18 months and I kept saying when she turns two, that's it! Well here we are at almost 26 months and she doesn't show any sign of slowing down. Although I don't see anything wrong with letting her go as long as she wants but for personal reasons of my own we have started the actual weaning process.
Whenever we are out for most of the day she doesn't even think about asking for it. It's whenever we are home and she just wants to snuggle with mommy. That's when she starts tugging at my shirt saying "um um". But now I haven't been giving in quite as easily. Which appears to be the worst thing in the whole entire world to Jess when I say no! After throwing a for a few minutes then gets over it and goes on her merry way. Weaning her from nursing just shows me that my little baby isn't exactly a little baby anymore. It's been tough so far but I know she will be fine. And so will I.

Lately

Things are cooling down around here. Jordan is busy in school and Jess is busy at being a crazy toddler. She is talking up a storm of course. Lately she has been extremely friendly. She loves saying hi to everyone and talking to strangers when we're out. Which is a big change from a year ago. She used to cry whenever a stranger would look at her. She becomes girlies by the day. She loves anything princessey. She especially loves playing dress up. When she puts on a pretty skirt she calls it a "princen" AKA Princess. She likes to sit her babies down in a chair and pretend to do their hair like mommy does. She is also a great mommy to her baby dolls. She likes to rock her babies and sing rock a by baby. She likes to give them bottles and wrap them up in blankets. I love listening to her talk to her babies when she's playing. She has such a big imagination like I had when I was little. I made a blanket and pillows for her doll crib and she had to test it out for herself. She always likes to pretend she is going somewhere and puts on her "pack pack" AKA purse and get her keys and says "Mommy, I go back." Then walks away and goes to her little ride on horse toy and pretends to put the keys in it. I love watching her play.

Trunk Or Treat!

We had our annual trunk or treat at the church building on Saturday.  Us Flintstones dragged uncle James along as Barney Rubble since his Betty and little Bam-Bam's were in Arizona. 

Jess got to see her friends all dressed up too. Addy was little red riding hood, Holly  was the "We can do it!" girl and Parker was the Hulk! So cute!

 At first Jess was a little weirded out with all the people handing her candy. But eventually she got the hang of it and thought it was pretty amazing that people were handing her candy left and right to put in her "Punk"

 I love any excuse to get dressed up. And it's even more fun to dress up in a costume and do my hair crazy colors like orange! It was fun seeing our friends dressed up too. 

 She was pretty stoked to have her very own pumpkin filled with her very own candy. She didn't let it go for a couple hours after. She doesn't realize but she's sharing some of her candy with mommy and daddy.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

We made our traditional pumpkin patch trip to Schaake's pumpkin patch this year. Jordan and I have been going to pumpkin patches since it was just the two of us but this one is really special to us. 

 Not only is it the first place we've ever been to as a family of three but it's the place we went to the day before I went into labor. Thank goodness for those bumpy hayrides! Haha. 

 It was nice and cool day to pick pumpkins today. 

Jess was super excited because she has a new obsession with all the pumpkins all over the place lately. She gets so excited when she sees them and says "Punks! Punks!" She obviously means pumpkin. She's not being mean and calling anyone a punk. Lol. 

 We also saw some chickens. She loved seeing them and kept saying "Hi chickens!"

 One of the best parts is the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. She loved it and called it a "choo, choo". 

 She wanted pretty much all the pumpkins but she settled for one she could actually carry by herself. 

 Daddy and I found some awesome pumpkins as well. We can't wait to carve them.

Just for fun...here is Jess right before her first birthday! Cutest little baby ever!

 After she picked her perfect pumpkin, she wanted the "choo, choo" to come back so we could go play on the "Wee!" (Slide and swing)

 We proudly hauled our pumpkins off to the car then went to get some apple cider and cookies. 

Then we all got to play on the "Wee!" 

It was very hard to pry her away when we were ready to leave. 

Here's my cute little ghost and daddy helping in the background. 

 Then one last time playing on the "Wee" before we went home.