Guitar Hero

Lex loves to play along while his dad plays the Wii. Usually it is WiiFit and Lex is following along with the exercises and sporadically joining Jer on the balance board. Last night we borrowed Guitar Hero from Jackson, so when Jer started playing it, I got out Lex's ukelele so he could feel like part of the fun.

He's sort of hard on the instrument, but what rock star isn't?!?

Picture Time!

We ordered the one above

We ordered the one above

We ordered the one above

And we ordered this one!

We took Lex to Portrait Innovations today and got his picture taken. Here are some of the shots -- we didn't get printouts of many of them, but I still thought they were cute!

Lex's Speech Therapy

Lex has been going to speech therapy twice a week for about nine months now. He has a great speech therapist, Shirah, who has taught him how to use a bit of sign language and verbalize to express himself instead of crying. We decided that this would be his last month of speech therapy since we were traveling so far (40 minutes each way) for our 30 minute appointments, especially since gas prices have been outrageous! Also, I knew that there was no way I'd be able to make those appointments once the baby comes.

We will miss Shirah. Lex loved sitting in the highchair at speech therapy and playing with new toys. His favorites were Mr. Potato Head, the windup Thomas and Dora toys, Felix the Cat, waving at the mobile with the monkeys on it that hung above his head, and bubbles.

20 week update

So, here is a photo of me at 20 weeks. Here is also our front yard jungle. Right now is rainy season for us, so our plants are growing like crazy! We've already transplanted one hibiscus plant to the backyard since it got so big, and it looks like we are due soon to transplant some more.

Anyway, Jer got to feel the baby move around for the first time today. Since yesterday morning, I've really begun to feel this baby move around, and it is visible from the outside, too. That is really fun for us since with Lex it seemed like weeks before Jer actually felt anything, and I was obsessed with him experiencing it. So, he had to drop what he was doing and run over all the time, just to find out that it wasn't yet strong enough to be felt from the outside!

Boyorgirl.com was right again!!!

I'll never doubt their $2.99 results again! See here if you don't know what I am talking about.

It's a boy! There's no doubt about it! And he looks healthy so far! We are really excited!

Above are the photos of his profile. We have the photos to prove he's a boy, but I am trying to hold back and not cause the kid embarassment later in life. As many of you know, this takes quite a bit of restraint on my part!

The ultrasound was fun. Jer, Lex and I were there together. Lex played with the scale and a few toys while we looked at the baby. Lex did look at the TV screen a bit, but I think he got bored with the lack of cartoons on the screen and moved on.

Baby boy was moving around an awful lot during the ultrasound, so we got to see him move his fingers and arms. He switched positions several times, so it was cool to see proof that those frequent movements I feel in there really are the baby and not in my head (see the doorbell story below if you wonder why I would doubt myself). At one point, I felt a lot of fluttering in one area of my abdomen, and the ultrasound tech told me it was the baby's arms and hands moving. How fun!

This kid will be so lucky to have a big brother like Lex, and I am sure Lex will love his baby brother very much. Oh, and we can reuse many of the same clothes, bedding, and toys we had with Lex (except the cute snow clothes and sweaters we had for Lex -- those unfortunately don't go along with Florida's winter weather).

Stay tuned for tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow is my ultrasound! I am twenty weeks along, so I am sure hoping that everything is developed enough to be able to find out the gender of this little one! I'll update the blog tomorrow evening and let you all know what we find out!

I am really excited. I have been feeling kicks and movements, but it will be nice to have a visual of the baby and know that everything is okay. I still don't know what gender I am hoping for. I really am fine either way. I still just can't imagine coming home from the hospital with a new baby -- a completely new human being who is different from Lex. In my mind, I just keep imagining Lex, round 2. It is so crazy to think it will be any different!

Jumping Party

Jer, Lex, and I went to the 2nd birthday party of a little boy named Kaden this weekend. Kaden is the son of someone Jer knows from work. Anyway, it was a fun party at an inflatable jump place, so Lex had a blast! He was asleep when we got there, but he quickly woke up and started to play. Here are some photos from our day.

Jer seems scared of going down that slide!

We were trying our hardest to tell Lex that it wasn't the time to pretend like he's a puppy. I hope he doesn't get sick from putting things in his mouth!

Door Bell Dingbat

About three weeks ago, we were sleeping peacefully when I woke up at 2:30 to the sound of the door bell ringing. I knew it wasn't a dream because it was such a clear external noise, and the sound of our home's door bell wouldn't fit in the dream I was having before I woke up (I was having a boring dream about shopping for Lex's clothes). I hurried and woke up Jer in a panic. Who could be at our door at this hour?!? We were so worried because our friends Chris and Paula recently had some nighttime break-ins in their nice and quiet neighborhood that freaked me out. I even called the police to come and check things out. A policeman drove by slowly and shined a spotlight on our house and the woods nearby.

We felt better, but it was still a while before we could get back to sleep. What killed us was that we had just purchased an alarm system, but I hadn't gotten around to installing it yet. The next day, I got that puppy installed! We still freaked out about it a bit, so we also bought some other security things (motion lights, sensors, etc.).

So, the other night at 2:30 (there must be something about that time of night), I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I figured it was a wrong number, so I ignored it. I still had trouble getting back to sleep, though. Anyway, the next morning I told Jer that if he ever doubted that I really heard that doorbell and didn't dream it, he should check my phone for a missed call. He jumped at the chance to prove me wrong, and got the phone right away. I was so sure it would be there! Yet, the last missed phone call was our friend Chris at 8:30 the previous evening. Crud! Jer laughed at me and told me that he's glad my door bell dream cost us $1000!

Oh well, the house is more secure now. I guess pregnancy dreams really are more vivid! The hardest part of this whole thing is that this isn't the first time the police have been called because of my active imagination. I did something very similar in high school (shadows, anyone?). I feel like the girl who cried wolf!

Our Champion, Jer!

Wednesday night we tried to take Lex to the park to let him run around. Unfortunately, when we got there, a big thunderstorm was just coming in so we couldn't get out of the car. Poor Lex was devastated! He saw the park, but he couldn't get out! We hurried and changed our evening plans to going to Chik-Fil-A's indoor playground, then going to Books-a-Million for train time. So, we happened upon Chik-Fil-A without realizing it was Bingo night! Jer was excited for the next game to start, and we qualified for two Bingo cards. I stayed in the playground area with Lex while Jer played his heart out at Bingo. He had just one competitor who had three cards. So, for you math geniuses, his odds of winning were 40%.

Anyway, it was close, and Jer felt that the franchisee who was calling out the numbers was rooting for the other guy, but Jer won! He got a little stuffed cow for Lex, and coupons for five free value meals. My hero!

I don't think I've mentioned on here how much we love Chik-Fil-A. Back in February, we won a $100 gift card for Chik-Fil-A through one of their online promotions. I am ashamed to admit how quickly we ran through that!

Another shame -- Thursday morning (yes, just 15 hours after we left the Bingo Chik-Fil-A), I pulled through Chik-Fil-A. I am addicted to these Thursday morning runs. Lex has a speech therapy appointment every Thursday morning that gets out right as breakfast ends. We pass Chik-Fil-A on the way to the freeway. So, I pull through, order Lex an early lunch, and they always put free breakfast items in the bag as a bonus. I just can't resist seeing what we'll end up with!

This week I was sad since I pulled through and didn't get anything. I was really pretty bummed. But, as I was leaving the parking lot I noticed they were stopping people and giving them breakfast sandwiches! This day wasn't bad after all! So, they gave me a couple of chicken biscuits and I called Jer to meet me for a quick bite to eat (he was working in the area). Lex loved the unexpected visit with his dad!

Anyway, I thought I would share our cheap thrills with you.

What a way to fall asleep

A year or so ago, Jake mentioned that his second son, Vaughn, fell asleep standing up (while leaning against the couch). I thought this was really strange and couldn't imagine it. Now I can! Lex fell asleep for his nap one day this afternoon while sitting up. I thought it was cute, but I did move him to a more comfortable position after I had my fun!

Our Little Fish

Lex has always loved swimming, but he generally clings to Jeremy the whole time. On Thursday night, Jer and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie together, while Chris and Jackson watched over Lex. They ended up swimming for about 90 minutes, and Lex ventured out on his own! Chris told us that Lex had crossed the entire pool by himself (with his floatie suit) and had video to prove it, but it was still hard to imagine!

Yesterday we had a pool party at my friend Andie's house for the kids at church. Lex was so confident! Jer would reach out for him, but Lex would shoo him away and stay an arms-length away. At one point, when everyone was eating, Lex plopped himself in the pool on his own and swam across the whole pool! I was there watching him the whole time in case something happened, but he was totally confident in his little suit.

We are very proud of him, but also happy we don't have a pool at home for him to try to sneak into. He thinks he is invincible now and needs to learn to have a little more respect for the water.

A post by Jer -- San Diego Trip

In late May, I went to San Diego for a work conference. It was fun and I was able to go do a bit of sightseeing in my spare time when I wasn't at the convention center.


I have a strange habit of self portraits while crossing streets in urban settings.
Palm tree shadow in old town

This was taken in La Jolla at the beach. It was pretty chilly.
I had my work friend Toby drive us over to the San Diego temple so I could take a look.
I went on my last night in San Diego to a Padres game. The cheap seats came with a sandbox for kids to play in. I wish we had that here.

View of San Diego from my room looking towards Coronado Island.
I had the morning off one day so I went on the trolley to old town. I happened upon the Mormon Batallion visitor center by luck. I went in and I was the only one in there. I was getting talk-attacked by the missionary couples so I got out of there within 8 minutes.
This brought back memories of not only Nacho Libre but also of the famous puzzle photo from my childhood.And the seals barked praises at their new found king.
I liked this natural formation in the water at La Jolla. It was very hilly there and I hiked a staircase that reminded me of one at the south end of BYU campus.