Go Tigers!!

It's official! Jacob is registered for classes at the University of Missouri!

Don't worry... BYU will always be our #1.

We've got class.

Last week, I decided that Jacob and I needed a designated date night. We don't get to spend a lot of time together anymore, and for the little time we do get, we are usually taking care of Naomi. I feel like I never get to just be alone with my husband anymore. So I told Jacob that at least every other weekend, we are going on a date. By "date", I don't mean we're going to dinner or a movie every other week--we can't at all afford to do things like that. I just wanted some time set aside for Jacob and I to do something together without Naomi.

Saturday was our first bi-weekly date. Jacob's mom watched Naomi for us, and we went out to rent a movie from the redbox at Walgreen's and get dollar burgers at Wendy's (classy, huh?). But it gets even better... the only Wendy's close by was a Wendy's in a truck stop/travel center. So basically, we went on a date to a truck stop!

The place wasn't quite as ghetto as it sounds. It was a really nice truck stop. In addition to the Wendy's, it had Dairy Queen, a restaurant, a Verizon Wireless store, a laundromat, showers, an arcade, and a movie theater. By movie "theater", I mean a room with a huge screen where they projected dvds. (What did you expect? It was just a truck stop.)

Jacob wore his exercise pants, and I didn't do my hair or makeup. But even though it wasn't the most exciting date we've ever been on, it was fun! I have missed being able to go out with Jacob and spend time together without Naomi.

P.S. We redboxed "Robin Hood". It was really good.

Oh, there's no place like home for the holidays...

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Christmas. It is, by far, my favorite holiday. Growing up, I loved decorating my room for Christmas. I had my own mini Christmas tree, and I'd string white lights along the ceiling. And for the month of December, the Christmas lights were the only lighting I'd turn on. My past roommates may find this a shock, but I never decorated before the socially acceptable time--I waited until Thanksgiving was good and over. But something happened to me when I went off to college, and I started decorating earlier and earlier. Each year got worse, until it wasn't even Halloween yet, and I was itching to put up Christmas lights and turn on the holiday music. (Don't worry, I started buying Halloween decorations to satisfy my urge, and I'm fairly sure that my Christmas decorations never went up until after October... barely. haha)

I think the cause of my premature Christmas excitement was that I never went home for Thanksgiving--it cost too much money for too short of a visit. And although I never had Thanksgiving alone--there was always a roommate's family to eat with, or a group of college students staying behind who were eating together--but it's just not the same when it's not your family. So in my mind, I skipped over Thanksgiving completely. To me, it was simply a few days off of school and a yummy meal, which was nice but not a big deal.

This year, however, I haven't felt excited at all. I haven't even thought much about Christmas. As I was running through Walmart the day before Halloween to get a few things, I saw Christmas candy in the candy aisle and Christmas outfits in the baby section, and I thought to myself, "Seriously?! Halloween isn't even over yet! What are you people thinking?". I did buy Naomi a Santa dress and hat, but only because I didn't want them to run out of her size, and it was adorable.

A few days ago, I realized what was causing my disinterest in the holidays this year: It was the first year that I wasn't going to see my family at all. Not only that, but I have been wanting SO badly to get home so that my dad can meet my baby girl. She's 7 months old, and he still hasn't been able to see her, and it's been killing me. I wanted him to meet his beautiful granddaughter! But I just couldn't figure out a way that we could pay to fly home. And this depressed me so much that I started to do to Christmas what I have been doing to Thanksgiving for the past 6 years.

But two days ago, I bought plane tickets! Somehow, we found a way to make it work financially, and I found some good prices, and we are going home to Pennsylvania! And when I bought the tickets, it was like I turned on a switch. I suddenly had a strong desire to turn on Christmas music and put up Christmas lights and run to Walmart for new Christmas decorations. But don't worry! I promise to contain my excitement and not to start decorating until the socially acceptable time.

But maybe I'm only making that promise because all of our decorations are in storage. :)

Oh, how I love my baby girl!

Naomi is a terrible sleeper. She will fall asleep on her own initially, which is great, but she absolutely refuses to stay asleep for any decent length of time. We have been working on this... especially the fact that lately, she has decided to wake up for a 3-hour period only a couple hours after bedtime, meaning that she really doesn't go down for the night until around midnight, which has been absolutely awful.

The past 3 nights have been much better. And tonight, as she woke up briefly around 9:30 and started fussing, I ran in to see if our good luck would continue. I popped her pacifier back in and wrapped her blanket around her, and she rolled over lazily onto her side and closed her eyes. But as I stood there looking at my beautiful sleepy baby, all I wanted to do was pick her up and snuggle her close. I stood there, hearing all of the warnings in my mind that I've heard from a thousand people... about how important it is to get Naomi on a good sleeping schedule now while she is young; about how I shouldn't do anything to lose any headway I gain with her sleeping habits; about how sometimes, as a mom, I'll have to be tough (that one usually comes from the moms/doctors who favor the whole "let your baby cry themselves to sleep" method, which I am not a fan of)... and then I remembered one more thing that I'd heard from a thousand moms: Your children will grow up way too fast, and you will yearn for the days when they were tiny babies.

So I picked my baby girl up and snuggled her good. And as I put her in the big bed beside me, she smiled at me behind her pacifier and put her hands on my cheeks, and I knew I had made the right decision.

My Man

This is my man:

I would like to take just a moment of your time to brag about this awesome person that I married almost 15 months ago.

First of all, isn't he a stud?

Second of all, did I tell you he got a job a few weeks ago? Well, he did! He applied at a Nissan dealership for some type of temporary thing--we didn't know any details about it--but the managers were so impressed with him that they hired him on the spot, not for the temporary position but to be a full-time salesman. I'm so proud of him!

He's also an amazing husband. He gives me back rubs and foot rubs all the time without me having to ask. He often helps me with the dishes (or basically just does them by himself) even after he has worked all day because he knows they are my most hated chore. He will kill spiders for me when I wake up in the middle of the night to find them building a web in our bed. And he has always made me feel beautiful--when we were dating, he told me how pretty I was on a daily basis, and he hasn't stopped since we've been married.

And he is an incredible father. Naomi just adores her dad, and he adores her. No matter how exhausted he is after his 12 hour work days (14 hours with the commute), he has energy to play with his baby girl when he gets home. Until he started working, he changed as many of her diapers as I did. And he lets her get away with pretty much anything... even I don't let her suck on my nose. Gross.

I love you, Jacob!

Rice Cereal

Sleepless

I can count on one hand the number of times that I've been awake for the sunrise. I feel that it is unnatural for any sane person to be awake at that hour in the morning. I can (and often do, recently) sleep until noon. And yet here I am, at not quite 6 am, wide awake and watching the sky getting increasingly brighter outside our little basement window.

I used to be a GREAT sleeper. I could sleep anywhere, in any position, easily for 12 hours straight. I remember a Monday night a couple years ago when, in the middle of folding and sorting clean laundry on my bed, I got sleepy and decided to take a quick nap. I crawled into the corner of my bed where there was about a square foot of empty space, curled into a ball half-covered with clothes, and fell asleep for a few hours. (The best naps, by the way, are at least 3 hours long.)

I used to sleep so deeply, too. I used to joke around that someone could break in my bedroom window, steal everything in the room including the sheets I was sleeping on, and I would still be asleep when they left. I'm pretty sure every one of my roommates wanted to kill me at one time or another, because I was one of those annoying people whose alarm clock would beep, and beep, and beep... and they never wake up. Or I would somehow hit snooze before I was conscious enough to comprehend that I needed to wake up, so my alarm would go off numerous times.

Sadly, I don't sleep well anymore. I wake up to the smallest noises, and once woken up, I have a hard time getting back to sleep. And my bladder control is not at all what it once was--I wake up at least once or twice every night because I have to pee. I'm pretty sure I have Naomi to blame for my sleep problems... but she's so adorable that I will forgive her.

Summer Days with Naomi

My baby girl turned 4 months old on July 22! Time is flying by and Naomi is growing way, way too fast. I've been dressing her in some 3-6 month clothes that I received as baby gifts before Naomi was born, and I remember looking at them after she was born and thinking how huge they were compared to my tiny baby. But now, most of them fit her perfectly, and a few are even getting snug! It makes me sad. I just want her to stay my tiny, beautiful baby forever.

I jokingly call her my bi-polar baby, because she can go from being incredibly happy to incredibly sad within a few seconds. She is happy a lot though, and we love it. She gives us the biggest, cutest smiles where she opens her mouth wide and crinkles her eyes and squeals... it's so cute, I can hardly stand it.

(Naomi's 4-month photos)

We've been taking Naomi on all kinds of adventures since we came to Missouri. She went to her first rodeo a few weeks back (a first for me as well), which she didn't love--I think the biggest problem was the humidity. I don't think I have ever felt such awful humidity before. The rodeo announcers called it "air you can wear". It was miserable. Sadly, Naomi decided about a minute into the bull-riding that she could stand it no longer, and we had to leave without getting to see the best part of the rodeo. Someday I want to go to a really big rodeo, because to be honest, the little one that we went to was not anything fabulous. It was fun to be out with our family though!

(JR & Adelyn playing in the ice to cool off at the rodeo.)

(Our little family at the rodeo)

Naomi has been having fun with her cousins. Her cousin Zo, who we are staying with right now, has been using Naomi as practice so he can learn how to be a good big brother. He will have a baby brother within the next two months, so we are teaching him to "be soft" with the baby. Most of the time, he is pretty nice to Naomi. Naomi's youngest cousin, however, is not her favorite person. Little JR is a cutie, but he loves to hit Naomi and crawl on top of her and claw her face, so we have to keep them separated when we all get together. Adelyn, the oldest of the cousins here in Misosuri, just adores Naomi and is so sweet around her. She is always asking me where "Baby Omi" is and telling me how much she loves her.

On the 27th of July, Jacob's new video game came out (Starcraft 2), so we picked up his copy at midnight and then drove straight to Kansas City to stay with Jen & Jared for a couple days. Jen, being the brilliant woman she is, figured that we may as well hang out while our husbands are consumed by Starcraft and ignoring us anyway. So Jen and I watched movies, kept our babies from killing each other, and played with the kids at the free splash park. It was Naomi's first time in a pool, and sadly, it was not her favorite thing. I had been so excited to put her in her swimming suit for the first time and play with her at the pool, but I think it was a little too cold for her. We will try again soon, though. I hear the pool here in Marshall is actually really nice, so we're hoping to try that out one day soon!

Note: Do not judge me by the following pictures! My post-pregnancy body is not so cute, and I don't have a swimsuit that fits it, so the photos are really not flattering.

(Don't you just love the little fat rolls on her legs?)

Three sleeping babies!

The Sites

We have been here in Missouri about a month now, with very little to show for it. We still have no money and no job (Job hunting totally SUCKS right now, just in case you didn't know), but we have been having fun!


I feel like we've driven across the state of Missouri a dozen times since we got here. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but we have been to both the St. Louis and Kansas City areas numerous times in the past few weeks. Jacob has lived in both places, so we went to visit friends and see some of the sites from Jacob's childhood.


Here are some photos from our adventures:

(Naomi & her friend, Elliott.)

(Jacob's first job was as the grill man at this exact Steak 'n Shake.)

(Jacob's family's house when they lived in the St. Louis area.)

(Jacob played football on that field.)

(Jacob's family's house when they lived in the Kansas City area.)

(One of the high schools that Jacob attended.)

(Another football field where Jacob played football.)

My Apologies!

Well, it turns out that the internet here at Jacob's brother's house is pretty crappy... we lost internet for a few days, and even when we've had access, it has been spotty and slow, so I got frustrated and gave up using the internet altogether. But I'm back! The internet is still slow and annoying, but I suppose it will have to do.

Although I didn't get to post them all in a week as I had planned, I did think of 7 reasons why we're going to love Missouri!

Reason # 4: Lightning Bugs!

I LOVE lightning bugs. Growing up in Pennsylvania, we always looked forward to being able to catch lightning bugs in the summer evenings. Lightning bugs don't exist in Utah, which was a bummer when we lived there... but they have them in Missouri! Yay for fireflies!

Reason # 5: Lots of Green

People from Utah think that Utah has green, but it does not. By green I mean lots of pretty trees, grass, bushes... all that pretty scenic stuff that makes Pennsylvania and Missouri so beautiful. Utah has mountains, which are beautiful, but I grew up around the green and I have missed it!

This is actually one of the houses Jacob's family used to live in... but look at that yard! You don't get a pretty green yard like that naturally in Utah.

Reason # 6: Rain

Now, rain and I are currently having issues in our relationship due to the fact that it caused us to have a car accident, damaging my pretty little car and costing us a lot of money that we definitely don't have. Normally, however, I love the rain. I love the way rain smells, I love the downpours, and the thunderstorms and the storm clouds that come with them. I love it when it rains so hard that you're soaked after only 10 seconds of being outside. Utah does not have good rain. Utah is a freaking desert. And on the one day a year when they do get a good rainstorm, the rain makes the temperature way too cold to comfortably play in it, so it isn't any good anyway. Here, however, we get lots of rain! We had the PERFECT downpour on Friday evening, and Jacob and I would have been outside playing in it if we weren't about to leave for a wedding reception. (To be honest, we considered it anyway but then decided it probably wouldn't be very nice to show up dripping wet if we could avoid it.)

And Reason # 7 to love Missouri is... Humidity!

Humidity would also probably be on my list of reasons to hate Missouri, if I had one of those, because it's so dang uncomfortable. But I love it as long as I don't have to sit outside too long in it, because not having the dry, Utah air means that I no longer have cracked, bleeding hands. That was a problem that plagued me the entire time I lived in Utah, no matter how many times a day I applied lotion.

Reason # 3 to love Missouri:

Family!

I am having a lot of fun being so close to family and being able to get together with them all the time. With our 4th of July celebration, Sunday pasta dinners, and then having Jared & Jen and their two kiddos here to play all weekend, we have really enjoyed spending time with the family!

(Naomi & her Nanny on the 4th of July)

Reason to Love Missouri # 2:

Steak 'n Shake!

If you don't know what that is, you are missing out. Oh man, it is scrumptious. We may or may not have gone three times within our first week in the state.

Their fresco melt and double chocolate fudge shake are to die for!

Reasons to love Missouri...

This move has been really hard for me for numerous reasons, the latest of these being that we gave up the two-bedroom townhouse that we were going to rent in Columbia to move in with Jacob's family in a tiny, middle-of-nowhere town called Marshall so that we could save money. Luckily, I have amazing in-laws who are completely normal and wonderful, but it is still hard not having our own place. I didn't blog for two weeks after we moved mostly because I was really depressed about life and our situation, but in the past few days I have shaped up and am feeling more optimistic!

As part of my new, optimistic outlook on our life here in Missouri, I am going to find a new reason to love Missouri every day for the next week. So, reason # 1 that I am going to LOVE Missouri is... (drum roll, please...)

No Traffic!!

Traffic in the Provo and Salt Lake City area totally SUCKS, and I have been loving these empty roads!

What a beautiful sight!

To sum up our life...

After celebrating our fake anniversary, we went to the Macey's grocery store beside our apartment complex to get a yummy cake, and Jacob saw that sign. He bought it for me because he thought it adequately summed up our life since we got married.

We got married in June of 2009, shortly after Jacob was put on academic suspension from BYU, which also meant that he could no longer work at his job because he would no longer be attending BYU (he worked in the bookstore on campus).

Within a month from the day we got married, we got pregnant... still while Jacob was unemployed.

In March of 2010, we had our little Naomi-girl, and we decided that I would not be returning to teach next year so that I could raise her and be a stay-at-home mom. Jacob's current job didn't pay nearly enough for us to live on--we needed both of our incomes to survive--but we felt that it was the right decision despite the fact that we had no idea how it was going to work out.

In the beginning of June, Jacob lost his job, and we made a quick decision to move to Missouri at the end of the month. We had been planning on moving to Missouri anyway by the end of the year so Jacob could attend Mizzou (they have the program that he wants, and BYU does not), but since we had nothing holding us to Utah anymore, it made sense to move now. So we packed up everything we owned and drove across a few states to our new home... without having any money, a new job or a definite place to live. But again, we felt it was right, so we did it.

And now we are living with his family (more on that later), still penniless and job-searching... and still confident that somehow, everything will work out.

We couldn't wait for success, so we went ahead without it!

Moving Day

Tomorrow... well, really today... we are moving to Missouri. We're not at all ready. We still have hours of packing ahead of us, with hours of cleaning to follow that, and we need to be awake and ready to pick up the Uhaul in about 6 hours. Wish us luck... we need it!

Goodbye, Utah... Hello Missouri!

Our Fake Anniversary & Naomi's 3 Months

Our first wedding anniversary was June 9, and although we had planned to do something to celebrate, the day came and went just as any other. Jacob was fired the day before and we made a pretty sudden decision to move to Missouri, so we spent most of our anniversary day trying to work out the details for the move. I didn't even make us a nice dinner like I had been planning to do (we couldn't afford to go out) because we were invited by my friend Emilie to have dinner with her and her family. Ordinarily, I would have said no because it was our anniversary, but again, our spur-of-the-moment plans to move really changed things. I wanted to be able to see her once more before we left the state, and there really wasn't much time.

Since our first anniversary was such a bust, Jacob and I decided to choose another day and pretend that it was our anniversary. So yesterday was the day! Jacob's sister Rachel came over to watch Naomi for us, and Jacob and I went for a bike ride. We had bought Jacob a cheap bike at Walmart a little over a month ago so we could ride together, but we hadn't yet been able to find the time. I really wanted to ride on the bike trail going up through the Provo Canyon parks, and this was our last chance. It was fun, but it really showed me how out of shape I am! 5 minutes into riding, I was completely exhausted and seriously contemplating turning around. But somehow we made it from our starting point at Bridal Veil Falls to the trail's end at Vivian Park. Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. I want to drive up through the canyon once more before we leave... it's just so beautiful. I am really going to miss these mountains! *sigh* Every time I think about leaving Utah for good next week, I want to cry.

Anyway, back to our anniversary! I know tradition dictates that you save the top layer of your wedding cake, freeze it for a year, and then eat it on your first anniversary... but personally, I think this is completely ridiculous. Wedding cakes are extremely expensive! Everything about our wedding was done cheaply, including the cake, but what we paid was still an outrageous amount of money to pay for a cake in my opinion. So why on earth would I want to freeze my cake for a year?! Cake that has been frozen for that long will never be as good as it was when it was fresh. So we ate the top layer of our cake as soon as we got back from our honeymoon. It was delicious, and I don't regret it at all! And instead of eating year-old wedding cake yesterday, we spent 8 bucks at a bakery and bought a delicious, FRESH German Chocolate cake. It was scrumptious!

In other news, Naomi turned 3 months old on the 22nd. I ended up having to take her to the doctor for something random on that day, which wasn't fun, but the good news was that it meant we got her updated weight and height! She now weighs a whopping 11 pounds, 11 ounces (exactly 6 pounds more than she was at birth) and is 23 inches long! I can't believe how much she has grown! She is more than double her birth weight.

Thankfully, she has changed as much in temperament as she has in size. The first 6-8 weeks of her life, she screamed constantly. It was really hard! I knew that newborns cried, and I thought I could handle crying babies as well as anyone, but it was SO much harder than I had expected. It didn't help that all of my friends who had babies around the same time all seemed to have perfect, happy babies who never cried or fussed and who slept 8-hours straight right off the bat. (Ok, so that may be an exaggeration, but that's how it seemed. And Naomi still wakes up every 3 hours or so for feedings... the girl loves to eat!)

Anyway, Naomi now seems almost like a different child. She is so good and so happy! She really only gets upset when she is hungry or when she doesn't feel well. She is perfectly content much of the time to just be near us or to play on her musical rainforest play mat (I LOVE that thing... I will post pictures of her playing in it later). She always has smiles for her mommy and daddy, and we love it. We love our baby girl!

How do you train your man?

I have come to an important realization about my husband this past year: Special occasions/holidays are not his forte.

Valentine's Day was the one holiday on which he remembered to do something nice. But for my birthday, Christmas, my first Mother's Day as a mom, and now our first anniversary... nothing. It's not even that he forgets that it's a holiday... that fact, he remembers. He just forgets that on those days, you're supposed to do something special for your wife. I've even tried being so direct as to say, "Jacob, for my birthday I want this movie on DVD," and still, nothing. I love Jacob with all my heart, but the man is hopeless!

Are all husbands this clueless when it comes to special occasions? Mine is in need of some serious training... and my birthday is coming up! ;)

Outraged

As I was job-hunting online today, I came across this article about breastfeeding in public. It told about numerous occasions where women were asked to leave establishments or to move to other locations to breastfeed their babies. I was shocked. I was naive enough to believe that because there are laws that protect a woman's right to breastfeed their children in public, that it shouldn't be a problem. Breasts are EVERYWHERE in our society as sex objects, and that's ok... women walk around half-dressed with shirts that not only expose their chest but that enhance it as well to make it even more sexually appealing, and that's ok... and yet, people are disgusted with breastfeeding! Breasts are beautiful and sexy, until you attach a baby to them... then suddenly they're offensive. I don't understand it. Breastfeeding is natural. Women have done it for thousands of years. The research has shown time and again that breastfeeding is best for babies. So why are people so squeamish around it?

One woman in the article mentioned that she was even covered with a blanket when she was asked to leave. Seriously?! No one could even see any skin, but just knowing that she was breastfeeding under the blanket was enough to gross them out. Breastfeeding is hard enough--I would have given up on day 2 if I hadn't had help from the hospital lactation specialist, and I almost gave up again a few weeks later and probably would have if it hadn't been for all of the encouragement I received from friends and family. Americans need to shape up, grow up, and embrace breastfeeding instead of shunning it.

Father's Day

We had Naomi's baby blessing in church today. Sadly, the bishopric somehow lost our papers and had no idea that we were going to do it today, so that was pretty annoying, but we got it done. Naomi cried through the whole thing, so the only part I heard was her name (which I already knew!), but I'm sure it was lovely.

Jacob requested steak for his special Father's Day dinner, so I had my first attempt at making steak tonight! I was really nervous, but it turned out pretty yummy! (The brussel sprouts were also Jacob's request... for some reason, his family LOVES them. Blech!)

Happy Father's Day to my dad, my wonderful husband, and to all you other fathers out there!

Where our family began

Today we went to Salt Lake City to see the temple one last time before the move. It was a GORGEOUS day--perfect for walking around temple square. And we were able to get a picture of our little family in front of the temple where we were married.

I'm so sad to be leaving! I can't believe we move in less than 2 weeks. It is going to be a sad, sad day.

Uncle Baby

Two Weeks...

That is how much time I have left in Utah. I'm incredibly sad. I have so many things to do before we leave... so many people and places to say goodbye to. I hate goodbyes. I'm an emotional wreck!

I realized the other day that I won't be able to go to Jamba Juice once we move... they don't exist in Missouri. I think I'm almost as sad about that as I am about leaving my friends! (Ok, not really... but I really LOVE Jamba Juice.) I suppose I will have to attempt to make my own, although it will never be the same. Before we leave, I intend to get a Jamba Juice at least two or three more times.

I also need to go to J-dawgs one last time before we leave Utah for good. I hardly ever went when I lived just down the street at Regency during my single years, and now I won't be able to. So sad! (Alicia, didn't you somehow concoct your own "secret sauce"? What did you put in it?)

Other places I need to see one last time before we go...

*BYU! I've been wanting to put Naomi in her stroller and take her on a walk around campus, but I kept putting it off. If I don't do it soon, I'll lose the chance.

*Salt Lake/Temple Square. We were married in that temple, and I'd like to get a picture of my little family in front of it. Temple Square really is so pretty, and I don't think I've been back since our wedding.

*My favorite park... Nielsen's Grove Park, I believe it is called (out by the Orem Walmart). I just like it because it's pretty. :)

*The Provo temple. I don't know if we'll be able to do it, but I'd like to do a session with Jacob. We haven't been back since I went through the temple right before our wedding last June (I know that sounds awful... don't judge!) We kept wanting to go, but I got pregnant pretty much right away, and then I got sick and was sick for almost all 9 months of the pregnancy, so it just didn't happen. It will be even harder to go to the temple once we move to Missouri, so I'd really like to go before the move.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, which is probably a good thing, because I don't think we can possibly fit in anything more in just two weeks!

Because I have no picture to go with this post, I will leave you with a video of my beautiful baby!

My Little Family