It's amazing how quickly the past two weeks have gone by!  We are enjoying every minute of this new addition, he is a charmer.  Jared mentioned maybe we should turn this into just a picture blog.  Good idea, I do plenty of those and that's probably what our few followers want to see most.  We're selfishly enjoying our time with Bennett.

Here's our handsome little guy getting tummy time today.  He is now weighing in at 9 lbs 11 oz!  And the Dr. said it's great- let him eat.  We are fortunate to have such a mellow baby, he doesn't cry unless he actually needs something, like some one on one time, or a diaper change, or if he's hungry.  This outfit is a newborn size but he barely fits into the puppy feet pants.  Life is great, we are both taking some shifts to feed him at night so we aren't exhausted.  The last couple of nights he's been able to sleep for 5 hours at a time so we are feeling pretty lucky to be getting in some Zs.  

Jared's Dad came through yesterday and he stayed last night.  They were able to hang the rest of our doors in the basement except one that didn't get ordered and one that needs a repair.  The next step will be to paint the doors and walls.  We plan on borrowing an airless sprayer that worked very well to prime.  We hope to have the basement open for business this summer...just in time for some adoption party BBQs.

OUR BLESSED LITTLE ONE'S ARRIVAL!

Here is the handsome little guy.  Wow, what a miracle.  He was born Friday night, just made it before midnight.  He was 8 lbs, 8 oz and 22 inches long.  We don't know how he fit into Jaylene's tiny body!  It's been an emotion-filled weekend.  Many joyous times and some very bittersweet times, we LOVE Jaylene so much and know she has incredible strength and courage.  You are amazing J, and this little one we all love so dearly is PRECIOUS beyond measure.

He is almost here!!! Today I was complimented for being a very thin person to be expecting a baby.  I took it with a huge smile, glass half full people!  More like, my cup runneth over...life is so good right now.  And it will get even more exciting with our babe making his debut soon.  Jaylene sent us pictures of her "huge" belly, so cute.  She seems to still be feeling well at this stage, although she says her ankles have disappeared.   Each day we learn more and more what a GEM she really is, truly.  Yesterday she was making bathing mitts for us.  Okay, some of that was in procrastination of writing a paper but mostly it was self-less.  The other fantastic event that will be happening is that we are now able to move forward in adopting our 3 year old we have been fostering!  YaaaaY!  He is slowly starting to understand that a new baby will be joining us and that he will be a BIG brother!  Today at our church meeting there was a baby girl blessed and he kept wanting to leave our bench to go see the "white baby".  No reference to race here, just her dress : )

In more news, our ward boundaries changed today.  The Stake President created a new ward which affected all the old family wards except one.  It will be fun for me, many of my family members are within our new ward boundaries.  I don't know how the new people will feel about having many more extended members of the same family...we should build a complex or form our own township or something!  So, as of now, we are supposed to function in our old callings until April 10th.  After that we are released from them but could get a phone call in the meantime about something new. 

The basement progress - drywall mudding and texture is finished.  Tomorrow I will order some doors (amazing how many - 11 single and 1 double) so that Jared can experience the massive frustrating of hanging them.  It shouldn't be that bad, and we can always call an expert too.  If you've never tried it, I'm telling ya, it takes some kind of voodoo magic to do it well.  Then there's priming which isn't bad at all, we should be able to borrow an airless sprayer to make it go fast.  This will be ONE HAPPY WIFE if we get that far before D-Day.  Then we can slow down, do the trim work ourselves, paint rooms we want to use.  As if that isn't enough, it's nearly SPRING!  I am gushing here, don't know how I could be any happier and looking forward to what is ahead of us.  Yes, I know there will be some long nights and tiring days but that too will change before we know it.  So I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.  

True March Madness

Not even referring to basketball, although that is what guys would think of if they actually read this blog.  ONLY 33 days (or less) and our baby boy will be here!!!  To say we are excited would definitely be a  massive understatement!  We are telling Jaylene all the time how fast it has gone by - hopefully these last few weeks won't be too tough for her.  She continues to feel great.  Last check, the baby is probably about 18 inches long and wieghs 4.7 pounds.  Sound right?  Anyway, Jaylene says he moves like a champ and she doesn't have any idea how he is fitting in there!  She's starting birthing classes next week so if any of you sister-in-laws have some great tips, bring them on!

 

I am pretty sure we won't have everything as ready as we'd like but I think we will have the important stuff taken care of.  I guess the advantage to entering motherhood a little older is that I have some perspective on what is important.  As far as the pictures here, yes I  have a major case of Spring fever.  These are the tulip and daffodils that just poked out of the ground.  Early last summer I bought some tulip bulbs from the Thanksgiving Point sale they do after they pull all the bulbs used in their tulip festival.  I planted them soon after buying them (yes you can do it then instead of Fall) so I have been anxious to see them come up.  We have had a few days nice enough to do some yardwork and I always jump at the chance.  Our 3 year old loves to be outside too so it works well.  He was very happy yesterday when I used his dump truck for weeds.  He is slowly starting to acknowledge that a baby will be joining us, at least he knows where the babe will sleep.
       

 As far as March madness, I was referring to our ridiculous schedules this month.  One event I'm looking forward to is the baby shower that some sweet neighbors and my mom are planning.  Last week I was visiting area high schools that participate in UVU's concurrent enrollment program.  So far I've been to five and have one more to schedule.  Then we have to keep our foster care license current (expires in April) by completing in-service training hours (12) including an adoption class the state requires.  Not to mention Elder's Quorum, Young Women activities including regional basketball playoffs.  Then a portrait of 8 people which is only in the line drawing stage.  Oh yeah, then the matter of finishing our basement (which, gratefully we aren't doing much of ourselves).  And last but not least, the foster-to-adopt court dates we're facing at the end of the month.  But, it is ALL good, not complaining here, we wouldn't want it any other way and in fact have never felt so blessed.

President's Day Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend.  Jaylene came up to visit since we all had President's Day off.  On Saturday we traveled to Saratoga Springs to watch a birth parent panel.  If you ever have the opportunity to listen to birth parents tell their story you should jump at the chance.  Amy and Jaylene spent some time Saturday afternoon shopping while the toddler and I spent time at home watching some college basketball.  I guess they came home with some "cute" things, I will take their word on it.  We feel so blessed to have Jaylene part of our lives, and the next couple of months are going to be life-changing for all of us.

The basement is moving along, we officially received our building permit so we are legal to start work.  Haha. The same day we got our permit we scheduled an inspection for the framing, heating/cooling, electrical and plumbing.  I decided to run the wire for the phone, internet and cable which is slowing down the process slightly.  I want to plan for any future changes in technology so I am taking some extra steps to help.  Once we have the inspection and I finish running some wire we are ready for insulation and then bring on the drywall.

Unfortunately due to the construction in the basement I haven't done any pottery.  I could pull out all of the supplies from the cold storage, but I would have to put it all back before the workers returned.  I had my first finished pieces fired over a month ago and gave some to my mother for a late birthday gift.  I am already discovering that you can create more pots than you have room for.  I am donating some bowls to the Food and Care Coalition who use them for a fund raiser.  They have an event where they sell the bowl and fill it with soup for you to eat.  Amy and I went a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the event.  Hopefully they will not have to give my bowls away.  I will make sure to take some pictures of some pots that I have done and post them.

We had a good time today taking Jaylene and a couple of her friends to our favorite hole in the wall restaurant.  They seemed to like it, even our little guy enjoyed the papusas.  Then we were able to go to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU.  It was beautiful, very busy today though.  I (Amy here) could NOT get over how utterly ridiculous so many of the people who rented the ipads looked.  Here they were, with the ACTUAL, fantastic painting 5 feet in front of them and what are they looking at as they listen to the tour?  THEIR IPAD screen.  Yep, same painting, only the digital version.  Unbelievable.  Why didn't they just take the tour online if they were planning on staring at a screen so much?  I guess it was good for us, we could walk right up to the paintings, stand in front of everyone else and they didn't even notice.  So my advice, DON'T waste your $3 on renting an ipad.  The exhibit has plenty of written descriptions and you really should spend your time staring at the paintings, they are well worth the trip.

The Countdown

 Unbelievable...less than 10 WEEKS to go until baby's debut!  The little steps in his development are so fun, like his eyebrows and eyelashes.  We are soooo excited!  This pregnancy (probably because I'm not the pregnant one) has gone be very quickly.  So we ordered a crib last week.  The store was having a trade-in sale, you can bring in any old crib/stroller/carseat etc for 25% off of a new one.  So, not having anything stored in the closet we asked my Mom and she said she still had MY old crib.  Despite it being some sort of death-trap, I somehow made it through infancy alive sleeping in it.  All sentimentality aside, she said TAKE IT!  So they dug it out of the shed and I hauled it away, cobwebs and all.  That truly is the goal of this sale, to take old, out-of-date and unsafe baby equipment/furniture out of people's homes.  Good idea, $80 saved!

Other things going on lately - see the picture at right.  No, it isn't an earthquake or some other disaster, actually just a self-imposed mess.  We are working on our basement and this shows the concrete after our friend jackhammered it.  It's now been re-done. The reason we decided to replace it was a prominent bump and low spot which you could trip over.  Other stuff done - framing and plumbing.  Electrical next, then inspection.  If we're lucky it will be done by April.  Maybe.  We figured while I am still at work we can pay for it now.  It will be great to have room for more kids, or, at the rate we've been going, at least room for guests.

Our niece had her birthday this month and we were able to take her and her friends to Soldier Hollow.  They have two giant pulley systems which pull you up the hill so you just have to sit on your rear virtually the whole time!  Truly the lazy man's way to enjoy the winter wonderland.   The day started clear but before long it was snowing which was kind of nice but made the runs faster.  I think everyone had a great time, we ate at a restaurant in Heber that has a train running along a track near the ceiling.  Our toddler was very content to watch it come and go.  And, with her fabulous good taste, our niece chose Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes for her birthday cake.  Yum.

Life is Good!

We had a great time over Christmas.  Relatively quiet but enjoyable.  You can see the hoop that Santa brought - Jared and I have had a lot of fun with it!  Of course, it was for our toddler who likes to play with it, mostly if he can stand on a chair to shoot the ball.  But best of all, Jaylene stayed with us, making it it even more fun.  She was so sweet in bringing gifts for everyone, including the babe we are all waiting for.  She made some great burp cloths out of super soft minky and kitchen towels so the baby will have a soft place to rest his head when we burp him.  Very cute and colorful.  We were also able to look at cribs and think we have found one we'll purchase soon.  It converts to a toddler bed and eventually a regular bed too.  And since we'll be adding to our family, we decided to finish at least part of our basement.  We are having all the electrical, plumbing, hvac done soon and will then decide how many rooms to finish.  Probably the large family room, pottery room (Jared's newest hobby is for REAL) and one bedroom will be finished for now but we'll see when we get a better idea of cost if we want to just complete the other rooms and bathroom while we're at it and while I'm finishing up working.


Our little 3 year old LOVES the snow.  But not the ice, a couple of harmless falls have left him crying.  But as for the snow itself, it seems he would stay out there all day if we let him.  He loves to play in it, eat it, sled on it, or just walk around on it.  I don't share quite the same love of it but during the last significant storm Jared built a snow fort and snowman with our little guy.  We have also put the sled Grandma & Grandpa Davis gave for Christmas to good use.  Even on our little hill it works very well.  We just need more snow to build it up a bit.  I say, if it has to be cold, let it snow too!

With the excitement of a new baby coming, I find I get less and less interested in my outside-the-home job!  It just feels so much less important and I look forward to being at home full time.  The only teaching I would do in the future would be maybe a class as an adjunct, but that would come later.  It has been good for me to get a taste of full-time this year, to know that I don't enjoy the balancing act and that the people most important to me do indeed get less attention.  Maybe some women can do it but I am VERY fortunate that I won't have to.  Thanks to my great husband!  We are so very blessed by a loving Heavenly Father.