Friday, December 23, 2011

Coin Stephens?

The other day, I went to pick up a prescription at Walgreen's for Jackson. It was almost midnight, and there were lots of sick/injured/prescription picker-uppers waiting "patiently". Everyone and their winter sicknesses. Anyways, there was only two guys working that night, scurrying to fill prescriptions, man the drive-thru, answer phones, and wait on the customers in the pharmacy line. Needless to say, they were a bit frazzled.

When it was finally my turn, things didn't go quite as smoothly as I expected.

J: I'm here to pick up a prescription for my son, Jackson Stephens.

PM (Pharmacy Man): (Looking through some medicine)Hmmm...(couldn't find it, started typing in computer for several LONG seconds, looking confused). What's his date of birth?

J: 11/6/11...and that's Stephens with a P-H.

PM: (Several more awkwardly silent seconds staring at the computer.)

J: My doctor should have called the precription in.

PM: (Calls fellow coworker over to help)

More waiting...finally I see them putting together the prescription. As PM was about to hand over the medicine...

PM: Coin Stephens, right?

J: What?

PM: It's for Coin Stephens?

J: Jackson Stephens...

PM: Oh...is his middle name Coin?

J: No. It's Ryan.

PM: Really?...Are you sure his name isn't Coin?

I found this situation somewhat humorous. I think I know my own child's name. I mean I named him myself.

After about 10 more minutes and several attempts to convince PM that Coin was not my son's name, they straightened everything out, and I left with the correct medicine. That was a close one. I almost got a prescription for a mysterious Coin Stephens with the same birthday as Jackson's.

(And I'm about 99.9% sure I named my son Jackson!)

Friday, December 9, 2011

1 Month

My little baby, Jackson, is officially one month old! It is amazing how much he has changed since we brought him home from the hospital. Here are some little tidbits about him.

--He grabs onto things now. When we burp him, he'll grab our shirts or my hair and won't let go.

--He really loves his stuffed whale on his play mat. He will lay there for over 20 minutes cooing and smiling at it.

--He still has his nights and days mixed up. Poor Mom and Dad.

--Almost all his outfits have monkies on them. Even his diapers have monkies.

--He has the biggest eyes and loves to stare at you.

--He hates having his arms wrapped up in his blanket. He loves having them be free and even sleeps with them over his head.

--He doesn't mind having his diaper changed (unless he's really hungry.)

He's a pretty good baby. I think Ryan and I lucked out!



(www.tedjamulia.com for more pics!)

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

2 Weeks

Jackson had his 2 week check up yesterday. He likes to show off at the doctor's office. This usually involves a diaper change and an outfit change. And one embarrassed mom.

The first time he went to the doctor's, he had a dirty diaper and decided he wanted to "mark his territory" and spray the examination room while we were changing him. He got an outfit change.

Yesterday when we went to the doctor's, he also had a dirty diaper (we really do check before we go). I learned my lesson last time and covered him so he couldn't spray anything. Well, when we were swapping the dirty diaper for the clean one, he urinated all over the examination table and his outfit. Another outfit change.

Little show off.

Luckily, we weren't the ones that had to clean it up. Unluckily, the nurse had to clean it. I bet she's going to cringe every time she sees Jackson's name.

Anyways, here are his 2 week stats:

Weight: 10 lb 4 oz (90th percentile)
Height: 22.5 in (96th percentile)
Head Circumference: 37.25 cm (55th percentile)

Big boy!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Jackson Stephens


Jackson is finally here!

He arrived early Sunday morning. He was here just in time to welcome the first snow fall of the season. Lucky boy.

He was a whopping 9 lbs 11 oz. 20 inches long. He also has a head full of hair and the cutest dimples. He barely fit into his newborn onesie on the way home from the hospital.

Unfortunetly, he has jaundice, so he is a yellow boy. He has to wear what we like to call his jet pack that gives him UV light 24/7. You can kind of see the blue glow in the picture above. I am excited for his jaundice to go away so he doesn't have to be attached to a machine, and he can stop getting his poor bruised heals pricked.

All in all, we love him even though we are a bit sleep deprived. We are also thankful to have my mom here helping us out and teaching us the ins and outs of parenthood.

Welcome to the family little guy!

Friday, November 4, 2011

9 Months!


The last of the pregnant belly pictures! Hurray!

Baby Update: I have officially "graduated" from my office visits! The next time I see my doctor it will be when Jackson makes his big debut. I am excited and getting anxious for when he comes. I also feel like an elephant with all this water retention. Maybe that's what I should have been for Halloween....Too late!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Boppy Story: Part II

Grandma T felt bad for Baby Jackson and his pink pillow dilemma. Being the nice Grandmas she is, Grandma T got him an early birthday present!

Now you see it:


Now you don't!


I think he approves of his new jungle-themed pillow cover. He has been doing flips and kicks all night long.

Ryan and I were Halloween scrooges this year. No Halloween costumes for us. We didn't go to any Halloween parties, and we didn't even get trick or treaters this year. However, we did continue our pumpkin carving tradition.



I think it turned out pretty good! (I had to convince Ryan that we were NOT going to do this pattern. It's what comes up when you type into Google 'BYU pumpkin pattern'.)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Whoops!

I had some money I needed to spend on Amazon, so the other day I ordered a Boppy pillow. I heard it's really useful and for some reason, this one pattern was $7 cheaper than the rest. I couldn't find anything wrong with it, so I went ahead and ordered it. I guess I should have paid more attention to the name.


Miss Cherry Boppy pillow.

I received the package yesterday and excitedly opened it. I pulled the packaging out and.... PINK? The pillow was light pink striped with pink cherries. It wouldn't be a big deal if I was having a girl and if I wasn't expecting it to be white with red cherries. Poor Jackson is just going to have to deal with his new pink pillow. Not exactly manly, but that's okay.

At least it was the pillow that turned out girly and not the baby--we would've had to rethink the nursery decoration, clothing selection, and name if Jackson turned out to be a GIRL.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sunday Drive

Ryan and I went on a pretty, scenic autumn drive in the canyon today. The mountain air was cool and crisp and perfect for a 37 week pregnant lady. We brought our camera along in case we wanted to take pictures of the pretty view. Ryan made me get out and snapped a couple pictures of me.



Ryan wouldn't let me put any pictures of him on the blog. But here is a picture of our kitty in her new favorite bed.


A big box with lots of brown packing paper.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Nursery and Name Unveiling

When we found out our baby was a boy, I immediately starting brainstorming what to do with the nursery. It wasn't too hard to figure out I wanted to do a Curious George theme. Ryan loved Curious George as a kid. Here is what we came up with:




We even made the balloon mobile.


From the baby's point of view.


Decal on the wall


Other side of the room.



Mommy and Baby Curious George on the awesome glider my parents bought us.


The closet


Only 4 more weeks till Baby Jackson makes his appearance!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

FYI

A couple weeks ago I made cinnamon rolls for the first time ever. They turned out pretty good. I was proud of myself.


Ryan was pretty happy too.


8 Months
(and sick with the flu!)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Pillow Project

Warning: This is me attempting to be crafty again.

If anyone knows me, I am artistically challenged. I can't draw, make cute things, or sew. But I can work a hot glue gun (with only a few burnt fingers).

I found this idea on my friend's blog and tried it out during General Conference. It's super easy!


The best part about it was the price:

Pillow: $1.62 at Target
Felt: $0.60 at Michael's
Total cost of pillow: $2.22

Not too shabby!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A New Addition


Ryan and I purchased a white shag body pillow from Sams last week. It was supposed to help me sleep better at night. Unfortunetly, it was a little too fluffy for my liking. Ryan slept with it and the next morning declared, "It's like sleeping with a polar bear!"

I guess that's a good thing when you are so cold at night you have to wear a hoodie and 2 blankets.

Polar Bear (aka the pillow) is nice to have when I sit on the couch. I just wrap it around me and it adds padding and comfort. I don't think Lily likes our new addition to the family. I woke up one night to her shredding the shag with her teeth. Hopefully she gets it out of her system before the baby comes.

Other news: I have come down with the flu. Body aches, fever, chills, nausea, sore throat....it is awesome. Sometimes I have problems differentiating what is the flu and what is from the pregnancy. And actually, one good think about having the flu is that when I have the chills, I'm not freezing my poor husband out of house and home. I think he kinda likes it. The funny thing is, I was supposed to get the flu shot at work this week. That is what I get for procrastinating!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

There's a Baby in There

Tonight at work I walked into a patient room and sat down on the stool. There was a 3 year old boy in there. When he saw me, his eyes widened and he leaned closer to his mom.

"Mommy!" he said in his exaggerated child whisper. "That lady's got a BIG belly"

His mom looked slightly embarrassed. I could hear her whisper back, "That's because there's a baby in there."

"OH!"

It was pretty funny.


7 Months
And yes there is a baby in there.

Monday, September 5, 2011

You Know You're Pregnant When...

You know you're pregnant when...

--You make your husband go to the nearest gas station in the middle of the night to buy Tums.

--You sleep in till one and still need a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day.

--You try to squeeze behind big spaces and realize you don't fit or you get stuck.

--You think your ribs will never feel the same again.

--You drop 3 cups in 24 hours. One shattering into many pieces on the floor.

--You wake up in the middle of the night with an excruciating leg cramp, only to be woken up an hour later with another leg cramp...in your other leg.

--Your husband says your gait resembles a duck.

--You sleep with 4+ pillows at night.

--When people say you're huge or you're getting bigger, it is actually a good thing.

--You have what you call "optimum sleep temperature" which involves turning down the air several degrees, cranking the fan, and freezing out your husband.

I may or may not have had personal experience with all of these things.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Weddings and Babies

This weekend, we had a wedding reception and a baby shower. (Not for the same person though.) The wedding reception was for Ryan's brother, Trevor. They had it at the art musuem! There were a couple...interesting...statues, but once you got past that, it was a really neat place!

The food was great, the decorations were great, Heather and Trevor were in love (and great), and the guests were great. (Hey, Ryan and I were there. What more can you ask for?)

One of my favorite things at the reception was this little table that had a typewriter sitting on it. You were supposed to type advice to the newlyweds. I went to type my advice, but realized I had no clue how to use the thing. How do you capitalize letters? How do you delete typos? In the end, my message read like this:

go onndates. julie

Best advice ever--if you can interpret what I was trying to say. It was amazing though, some people were pros at it! Ryan said typewriting is like texting for old people.


Abraham Lincoln even came to the reception.


--

Today was my baby shower that my sister-in-law Veronica threw for me. Everyone was so nice to come and spoiled the baby with lots of amazing gifts! If you were one of the people who came, THANK YOU!!!

One of the games we played was a fun pictionary game. I had to draw a word that I know oh too well.


Curious George floating away with a bunch of helium balloons.


What a fun weekend.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Fly Guts

Today at work, I felt something on my arm. I looked down and saw this little critter:


Grossed out, I tried swatting at it to make it fly away...only it didn't fly away like normal flies do. Instead, I successfully smashed it on my arm.

I was thoroughly grossed out. I'm pretty sure I washed my arm about a million times.

Speaking of work...I'm not sure how I'm going to survive my 12 hour shift tomorrow. I am exhausted as a type this. Friday cannot come soon enough.

--


6 Months!

Guess what? I am now officially in my 3rd and final trimester!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

What's in a Name?

As I type this, Ryan is currently putting up the baby's name over the crib. It has been fun...

except for the part where we found an insect in our freshly spray painted letter
or when we discovered how hard it was to hang the letters
or when I caught Ryan misspelling our poor child's name on the wall
or when we figured out one of the letters was smaller than the rest
or when we were charged per letter at the store (this kid does have kind of a long name).

If we had known how complicated this task was going to be, we would've named him something with 2 letters--like Al or Bo or after my great uncle GO. (pronounced G.O.) Too bad we didn't think of it earlier.

Oh well, our project is actually starting to look really good (once you get past the midget letter).

Monday, August 1, 2011

Lazy Summer Days

Ryan asked me if I updated the blog today. I said no...and then felt like a slacker, and decided to fix that.

So hello blog world!

Ryan and I are babysitting a Wii this weekend.
Lately we have played:

3 games of Mario Party.

Hours of Wii Tennis.

And a healthy amount of Mario Kart.

And just so you don't think we are lazy--Ryan also flew a kite. And I watched. I guess that still makes me lazy. Oh well.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Sir Husband, the Engineer

Did you know...

My husband is a

(1) Spider killer extraordinare
(2) Trash taker-outer
(3) Litter box cleaner
(4) Jar-opening guru
(5) Baby crib engineer

That's right. What would I do without him?

Today we got our crib! It's funny how excited you can get over baby things when it's actually for your own baby. Ryan, the baby crib engineer, put our crib together tonight. Kitty and I supervised (and helped...a little). It turned out great!

Here are some pictures of the process:

Curious Cat:

Putting it together:

Finished product! I spy kitty paws!:

Close up:

Side View:

We love it! Now we have to figure out what to do with the rest of the nursery.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

100!

Happy 100th blog post Blog!

I never thought we would make it this far! (Okay, I never really thought about 'how far we would make it', but it sounded dramatic!)
We have had fun times. We have had neglectful times where I have forgotten about you.

But to celebrate this momentous occasion, I will tell you about some events this summer that I have not recorded in you.

Well blog,

1. Ryan and I went to San Diego! It was sunny, and I got burnt to a crisp! We had fun touring the San Diego zoo, bicycling, going to the beach, and relaxing.


2. We have gone to tons of wedding receptions in the past 2 months. Free food is always a good thing.

3. I work. A lot. And Ryan studies non-stop.

4. Ryan and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. He was a sweetheart and bought me the Harry Potter books 1-7 so I don't have to get them from the library anymore. And I gave him headphones. Again. :)

5. And speaking of Harry Potter, we went and saw the last Harry Potter movie. It was awesome...even though they deviate from the book.

6. Sometimes I get nervous when I think about naming our baby. He will have the name from the rest of eternity! What if he doesn't like it! When I asked Ryan if he ever thought about it, he said no. Must be a mommy thing.

Anyways blog, I will update soon. Enjoy your special day!

--


5 Months!
(Tired after an 8 hour day at work.)

PS: I just realized blogger was counting my unpublished blog posts in the 100. Sorry Blog, this day is not as momentous as I once thought. But, um, Happy 94th blog post!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Baby Update

Dear Blog World,

I can now officially say, "HALF WAY"! I cannot believe I am over half way done with my pregnancy. My thoughts? I am nervous, happy, scared, feeling great most days, love feeling the baby move. It feels more real now. We are actually going to have a little baby (or maybe a big baby? See post below) in a short time.

We finally ordered a crib, started collecting baby clothes, got a gliding rocking chair (thanks Mom and Dad!), and have a name picked out. And...we finally got our baby bedding! We decided to do a Curious George theme for the nursery. I am pretty excited about it. It came yesterday in the mail. We love it! (except we accidentally ordered the wrong crib skirt. Oops).

We're not the only ones that love it though.


Something tells me we're going to have to close the door to the nursery soon.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Picture Phobia

62% thought we were having a boy
38% thought we were having a girl.

Well...this little guy


is indeed a boy!

I was so excited I could hardly sleep last night. Ryan and I both thought this little baby was a boy. We had a giftcard we needed to use, and we actually bought a baby boy outfit this past weekend thinking we could return it if we were wrong. Guess we don't have to!

The baby wasn't cooperating too well. He was hiding his head and the ultrasound tech needed the measurements. She had me turn on my right and left side, jump up and down, and go to the bathroom. I never thought an ultrasound hurt before...until now. You can really jab someone with those things! Baby is in the 98th percentile...so he is big! I am measuring 1 week ahead of schedule.

The baby didn't like being photographed. He kept kicking the ultrasound probe. The ultrasound tech said he was also pouting. See:


His chin is against his chest, and you can see his little lips.

Guess he needs a little training on liking his picture being taken--especially since his grandpa's favorite hobby is taking pictures!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Spidey-Man

For Ecology class, Ryan was given the worst assignment ever given to any BYU college student (in my opinion). He had to catch web-spinning spiders to experiment on. If my teacher made me do this, I think I would be a college drop out.

This assignment was a challenge for most of May because it was so cold and rainy outside. He couldn't find any arachnids. It seems like you always find the little buggers when you DON'T want to, but when you try to, you can't find any. Go figure.

Well, the other day I went with Ryan, and we actually found a couple spiders in some bushes. I ran to the car not wanting to see my husband capture them in jars. I guess it is more difficult then it sounds. They use their spiderman senses to escape cature. Ryan finally got one and when he was closing the jar, the spider sent a web out trying to escape. Ryan, with his cat-like reflexes, was too quick.

He brought the little guy home (well, in the backyard. I wouldn't let him bring it in the house) and built it a nice little home in a cardboard box. An hour later, Ryan came in really upset.

"My spider escaped."

"NOT IN THE HOUSE, RIGHT?" was the first response out of my mouth. The answer was no. *Phew*

Saddened, he went out and looked for more spiders. Later on, he realized that the spider had not escaped, that it simply buried itself in the dirt to hide so when Ryan opened the box, it attempted to scuttle out.

Who knew spiders were so smart? I seriously think the directors of Spiderman examined spiders and their defense techniques while filming the movie.

Anyways, the spider still resides in the backyard, and we speculate whether it is still alive, breathing, and happy. If it dies, I don't think I would be too disappointed--not going to lie. I will be one happy camper when this experiment is over. Even if we have a little superhero in our backyard.

---


4 Month Picture!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Harry Potter 7.2

Guess who is seeing this movie


on opening night on IMAX 3D?
Super excited.
And guess who was the doof that got work off on the wrong night.
I should probably work on fixing that.
(I suffer from a mild case of pregnancy brain. Ask Ryan. I called him Jennifer and kitty today by accident. Oops.)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Vacuuming Blues

Our vacuum cleaner is out of shape. (Not the only thing out of shape in our home. *Cough* me *Cough*.) One day we tried to get it to exercise, and the vacuum belt broke, leaving us in a mess (literally).

When we clean the carpets, we have to resort to this.


It takes twice as long, but at least the user gets a good workout! And poor Ryan has decided he doesn't want me to hunch over like this for extended periods of times, so guess who gets to be the lucky one to exercise the vacuum hose?

At times Ryan will pretend the hose is attacking him, in which case the cat nearly has a heart attack. Makes for some exciting times my friends.

And good news! Today we went and bought a new vacuum belt for a little over $2. We just need to install it, and our vacuum cleaner will be able to resume it's exercise program once more. It might not be too happy about this, but we are.