The Last 3 Months

Well, time to dust of this 'ol blog here. It's intimidating writing again after a 3 month hiatus. Here is what happened in a nutshell.

October: We went to the BYU vs UCF football game in Orlando! It was a blast. Ryan really wanted to go and made an agreement with me that we could go to Harry Potter World and Disneyworld too. Of course I said yes! Ryan loved the football game (even though we lost), I loved Harry Potter World, and Jackson loved Disney...so much in fact that he asks on a daily basis to go back, and I kinda want to indulge him. Oh, if only I had a few thousand dollars lying around....Halloween was pretty chill. We stayed in and carved pumpkins and made pizza. I also happened to lock the keys in the car earlier that day, so we had to go pick it up. We almost got hit by a wrong way driver on the freeway, and then on the way home it rained so hard I could hardly see. It was pretty much torture. But as you can see, we are alive and well. Oh, and we found out we were pregnant on Halloween!

November: We took a road trip to Nowheresville, TN, I mean Murfreesboro, TN to go to the Middle Tennessee vs BYU football game. We won this time! GO TEAM. We saw a lot of Georgia friends there, and it was freezing. During that trip, I had to go to the ER--my first time as a patient there. Wahoo. On the way back, we made a pitstop at the Chattanooga aquarium (or as Jackson likes to call it, the "water zoo"). Jackson turned 3! He had a Winnie the Pooh birthday party. He is getting so big and sweet. Love that little boy! Thanksgiving I was sick as I was well into my first trimester. My mom was very gracious, and made Thanksgiving dinner pretty much by herself.

December: Ryan studied a ton this month, and I mean a ton. I was sick, and our house was dirty, and Jackson spent a lot of time on the computer and Kindle. Whoops. Then 3 of my siblings came for Christmas, and it was a party and a half at my parents house. 21 people under one roof! It was eventful. 3 urgent care visits, 2 ER visits, and 1 visit from the fire department (turns out my parents heater was bad, so we lived for a couple weeks with space heaters. Brrr). Jackson had a blast playing with cousins. Ryan and I got really sick on Christmas Eve (c'mon! I was sick on Christmas last year! There should be a rule about not getting sick 2 Christmas' in a row). We played a lot, and Ryan applied for a bunch of jobs.

January: Much to Jackson's dismay, all of his cousins left. Ryan started his last semester of law school, and I feel like a human again. I just got released from YW's, and am now the primary pianist. I'm actually pretty happy about this! I was starting to get worn out from YW's and with primary, I don't have to do much preparation. *Phew*. Unfortunately, Jackson is not a fan of Sunbeams. He misses his toys. He also started preschool back up and as of right now, there are 2 other little girls, so instead of 5 kids like last semester, we are down to 3. Jackson prefers the smaller group.

Well, that's what we've been up to. I really want to blog more in depth about a couple of things, so I have made myself a checklist, and will hopefully get around to blogging more. I'm sure you are all dying to know:

A little more about our Orlando trip
A little about 3 year old Jackson
A little about the baby growing in my belly
and what I think about the newest Hunger Games Movie. (Just kidding. But I did love it)

Until then, hope you have a great day, week, and month! (Depending on when I write again...)

This is Halloween

Does anyone know that song? The one that goes, "This is Halloween, this is Halloween" (That's the only part I know because I've only heard it once at our ward trunk or treat party). Well, it's stuck in my head. I bet you can imagine how one sentence repeated over and over again can get annoying fast.

Anyways....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

I am happy to be alive. It was a very interesting night. And I heard reports of there being slushy snow that melted when it hit the ground (but snow none the less!).

Wowzah. What is happening in this world?

Here are pics from last week's trunk or treat! No one really knew who I was. I did get a Mrs. Incredible, which is pretty cool, but no. I was Batman's good lookin' (haha) sidekick, Robin. Ryan thought it was funny that the flier said no cross dressing and then there is me...pretending to be a guy. Whoopsies.

 

I do have a lot to update on...like the BYU game we went to and DISNEY WORLD!!!! But until then, you can go to www.tedjamulia.com to see the pictures. :)

Prayers and Preschool

Lately, Jackson's been all about saying his prayers by himself. I must admit, it's pretty cute some of the things he says. For instance, tonight Jackson was saying his bedtime prayer, and this is what he said, " Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for bubbles, nursery, cow and animals."

Yesterday, after my parents babysat Jackson, all he wanted to say was, "Thank you for Grandma and Grandpa...." He wouldn't say anything else, so I tried to prompt him, by saying, "Thank thee for..." and he finished with, "Grandma and Grandpa" a second time. Well, alright then. Guess he had fun while we were gone. :)

In other news, Jackson has started going to preschool. He loves it! There are 5 kids total in preschool, and they are all from his nursery class at church. Us moms all take turns teaching each week. My turn is coming up soon. Wish me luck!

On the drive home from school, I always ask Jackson what he did. It's interesting to hear what he says. Sometimes he will actually talk about the lesson, and other times, he will tell me what his favorite toy he played with was. He is learning a lot, and is always proud to show Ryan his school folder when Ryan comes home from school. Jackson's folder is red...which is conveniently his new favorite color.

All in all, I am pleasantly surprised with how much Jackson likes school. I thought for sure we would be preschool drop outs!

I have a picture of Jackson's first day of school, but I'll have to post it another time. My camera is in Jackson's room, and he's sleeping. Until then, adieu, and see ya next time!

Sharing is Caring

Whenever Jackson sees me on my computer, it's hard to get anything done. He usually tries to steal it from me so he can watch a show or play games. Well, tonight was no different. I was using my computer to look up something, and Jackson came over and said, "Jackson computer!" I looked at him, raised one eyebrow (Yes, I'm talented), and said quizzically, "Jackson's computer?"

Jackson then looked at me sheepishly and said, "Mama's computer" in which I told him that was correct.

He then thought for a second and said, "Share, Mama! Share!"

There is no winning when it comes to a two year old...
(But at least I know Jackson understands what sharing means!)

Who are the Stephens?

If you find yourself asking that question, you should probably watch this video.



(I actually made this video for our upcoming family reunion, and Ryan requested it be put on the blog. Huzzah!)

Comfort Food

Ryan eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at least once a day. It is his staple, go-to meal.

A couple weeks ago, I made a meal after church. He looked at me and said a little hesitantly, "Is it okay if I still eat one pb&j? I'll still eat some of your food."

I was kind of expecting this, so I told him I wouldn't be offended.

"It's my comfort food, y'know?" he replied.

I had to laugh at the irony because this is what I was serving.

Roast and cooked carrots.
Comfort food at it's finest.

Spots

Sometimes during the day, I mentally start writing a blog in my head. I always plan on actually typing it out, but I never do. At least there is some effort, right?

Jackson is quite the busy bee. He is very curious about the world around him, and he probably asks me, "What's this?" ten times a day. They are usually simple things, like carpet, a hem of a blanket, a zipper, electrical outlet, etc. One time I put a shirt on him, and he said, "What's this?" pointing at the cute little pocket on his shirt. It's fun to see the wheels in his head turning. Sometimes I will see him studying things trying to see how they work. Can you say engineer in the making?

Yesterday, I had just picked up my dry cleaning, and I asked Jackson what he wanted to do. "Do you want to go see books and legos? Or should we go to the store and play toys?"

He thought for a second and said, "ZOO! Tiger! Rawr!" This kid loves the zoo. He asks to go all the time, but we can only go on Saturday when Ryan can come with us.

Speaking of zoos...

Last week, Jackson came down with the chicken pox. It was a rough week for everyone. Luckily it was Ryan's one week off, so we teamed up to help Jackson. I don't know if Jackson would consider it helping. He HATED taking his medicine! We would have to hold him down and force him to swallow. In his defense, he is usually not that difficult, but he had sores all over the inside of his mouth, tongue, and throat. Poor guy. He didn't eat or drink anything for two days straight, except for the milk and pedialyte we forced him to have. On the fourth day, we got a Smoothie King, and his eyes lit up, and he drank the whole thing. This was a huge relief. You should have seen Ryan and my silly, happy grin as we watched Jackson scarf the smoothie. *Phew*

We definitely learned patience that week.

*Warning: The pictures you are about to see will pull at your heartstrings and make you feel sad for this little boy*

Day 1

Spots. Why are there spots?

Day 2 

Finally asleep after a rough night. Poor guy had blisters in his mouth and down his throat.

Swollen lips, fever, and crazy cool hair

We could've played "Connect-the-Spots"

"Fix it," he said.

Day 3

Grandpa brought Mr. Fu to help Jackson feel better. He also brought pudding, popsicles, and yogurt, but only Ryan and I ate it.

Day 4

Drank a smoothie FINALLY and zonked out.

That blessed smoothie

Day 5

This pretty much summed up our day...and week.

The only place that made him happy was Grandma and Grandpa's house. Guess where we went that weekend?

Just in case you were wondering, this is Jackson on Day 8. So much better. We couldn't find his shoes, so he got to wear his Holland shoes. This is the classic smile we would get since it hurt too bad to smile for real.

I wish I could say he is back to his regular 'ol self, but he actually has a bad cold/fever right now. This poor kid can't catch a break!

At least he is building up his immune system!

And Jackson has this book.

I think that animal can relate to Jackson.

And we did end up taking him to the zoo.