Jack is TWO!

[and has been for three weeks now, haha]

Well, after acting two for a few months, Jack officially hit the milestone at the beginning of the month and we couldn't be more delighted to have this bundle of craziness in our family.

The poor kid's actual birthday was pretty lame - he had his very first dentist appointment! It was the only day available over the break for the boys' check-ups so we threw Jack into the mix. To say he was not thrilled would be somewhat of an understatement.

 But hey, he got to wear a 'birthday boy' t-shirt and eat Little Caesars for dinner, so it all works.

 Oh, and that night he spent like an hour watching and re-watching a darling 'happy birthday' video his cousin Bailey sent him:

 Seriously. Just over and over, haha. It was pretty dang cute!!

 We finally got around to really celebrating that Sunday evening. I was really really sure that I had frosting in the pantry, only to be unable to find it... thus prompting a quick batch of homemade frosting - my first (and possibly last!) ever.

 Luckily Jack was thrilled with his little Elmo cake and presents (Duplos! more Duplos! Please stay away from the Legos!!) and Chuck lit and relit the candle a bajillion times to Jack's pure joy.

Jack is the funniest little guy ever; he continues to hilariously mimic grown-up tasks, here he is paying attention to his own personal foot hygiene as well as mine:

 PS Don't you love how there's clearly laundry waiting to be folded and yet I'm lounging with my feet up on the couch? It's cool, I'm pregnant.

Jackers definitely keeps us on our toes; his bullying has very happily decreased a decent amount over the last few weeks and he's getting loads better at saying sorry. He's sleeping in his little toddler bed pretty well, although he still likes mid-day rests in the hallway:

 Ah, cute boy :). He's chatting a bit more, although his language skills are for sure a bit behind, following after his older brothers on that front! His favorite things are Daddy, playing Duplos and legos, watching 'shows' (funny, he can say that word reeeal clear), oatmeal (often at 5am), books!, the alphabet, trains, cars, being sans clothes, Elmo, his brothers, lifting up my shirt to check on the baby, shoes (not so much socks...), nursery, and songs. He and Chuck do an enthusiastic rendition of 'Wheels on the Bus' that pretty much makes me laugh out loud every time.

Jack is funny and feisty and we're sure glad he's ours!! Happy birthday Jackers!

How to avoid the January BLAHS

I think it's pretty universally agreed that January is the worst. It's cool, I can say that since it's my birthday month. Let's face it: the high of Christmas is over, everyone's cooped up inside trying to stay warm and avoid everyone else's germs, it's grey and dreary outside and everyone and their mom is trying to peer pressure you into revamping your whole life with new goals and outlooks and workout plans. It's no wonder I usually hide under the covers with Oreos and watch loads too much TV during the month.

NOT this year though. This year my mom thoughtfully planned ahead and came up with a project to keep us all busy:

Packing up a five-bedroom house! But first, going through everything! Oh, and renovating various rooms at the same time! Let's not forget re-carpeting! On a really tight schedule! AHHHH!

Here's the quick backstory: my amazing mom made a very momentous decision over Thanksgiving break to sell the house she's lived in for the past 25 years. It's too big and too much work and she isn't there enough to enjoy it and put the time in that it would require to really be the 'home sweet home' she would want it to be right now.

Of course, at that point it was all pretty distant in the future, aka 'sometime in the spring'. Then in early/mid December a new plot was hatched, I think mostly to give me ulcers and grey hairs but also for mutual benefit of my mom and Sam/his family: they would rent out the house for Sam's 7 week med school rotation in Boise, providing them a swell place to stay and my mom some money for the first steps in needed renovations. Everybody wins! (Again, possibly with the exception of my stomach lining... that's where you get ulcers, right??)

Anyhow, life since then has been a bit of a blur. For those weeks I would close my eyes at night and see these images:

SO much stuff! I will concede that my mom is not a hoarder (I've been inside an actual hoarding house; I've got stories...) but she is fo sho a 'collector' and has the books, marbles, dolls, teddy bears, BOOKS, heart-shaped items, toys, dishes!!, and so on to prove it. She's had a lot of time over the years to pick up cute little things here and there and until now, she's had plenty of space to store them. Enter Jana, armed with a trash bag, a D.I. box, and a storage tote and sternly overseeing as EACH AND EVERY item in that house was placed into one of the three containers. 

Things that came out of my mouth every two minutes: 

"Do you love this or just like it??" 

"Mom, I'll buy you a new one."

"Someone at D.I. will love this!!"

 "We're not just clearing physical space, we're clearing mental space!" 

"Nooo, I didn't mean to throw that away. Whoops! Don't know how it got in there..."

And as the deadline got closer and my mom had to head back to work, I got some free time in the house, leading to picture messages like this one:

"Mom, pick TWO of these wicker baskets to keep, go!"

(Harsh, right? If only you knew the astounding number of wicker baskets we started with. At one point we played a game in the computer room where I told my mom to close her eyes and guess how many were in just that room... it was 17, hahahahaha.)

I'd also like to thank the City of Boise for having extra trash pick-ups during Christmas break:

And lest you think we hate the earth, understand that about twelve times this amount of stuff went to thrift stores. Maybe more.

I didn't do a swell job at before and after pictures (lots of during...), but here are some glimpses into it all:

the living room! It was crazy to see it slowly go from a nice old lady living room with plants and wooden-accented chairs and couch to a big empty space. Crazy.

the dining room:

aka the storage room (in addition to the garage, of course) while the new carpet was going in everywhere. My mom made so many really hard decisions about which dishes and furniture to keep from the dining room; I was very proud of her!

the kitchen:

('before' picture courtesy of Christmas 2012)

new stove, new countertops, new backsplash, new sink, wooo!

the main bathroom:

SO much work went into this room!! Bless Brother Arnold's heart, he thinks of bathroom remodeling as a bit of a hobby and offered his expertise and labor free of charge. I happily signed Chuck up to be his apprentice, and they went at it: new bathtub (and walls around it), new flooring, restained cabinets, new sink, new lights, new countertops. Amazing.

Apologies for this picture, but it's the only 'before' one I could find at this late hour:

If you can drag your eyes away from Quinn mid-shave, you can see the awesome vintage yellow and orange walls and the super cool frosted shower/bath door. 

Funny story: I was just telling Chuck about the days when Quinn was little and HATED baths to the point that my mom and I would have to strip him down to his underwear and throw him in the full bathtub and then hold the doors shut, hahahaha. Probably a good thing we didn't upgrade to a fancy 'shower curtain' any sooner :).

 

And my personal favorite: the back room/playroom/my old room:

 Ahhh, this room was intense. My mom is a superb grandma and this play room was the envy of many a small child. It also housed her scrapbooking materials, movie and game collections, etc. It was also the room that got some attention at the beginning of the project and was then left to its own devices and thus became my exclusive project right before the carpets need to be torn out. I think packing up this room in less than two hours will go down as one of the great accomplishments of my life...

Blessedly, we're at a stopping point for now, Sam and co. are all moved in and now the rest of the projects will wait until March - painting, redoing the kitchen/dining room floor, more packing, etc. It's been a LOT of work and time away from the boys (they were barred from the house once most of the construction began) and Chuck (we'd often switch shifts, I'd work over there for a few hours and then come home and send him over to do bathroom work with Bro. Arnold), but it's also been an incredibly rewarding experience. I've found all sorts of fun treasures from my childhood, some that I looked at nostalgically before putting them in the D.I. box and some that came home with me, much to Chuck's chagrin :). I've sharpened my craigslist skills as we sold bookcases and canning supplies and toys and a hutch and chairs and other random items. I've gotten to see old friends in that part of town as I've shamelessly asked them to watch my kids, haha (thanks again Emily and Janna!!)

And mostly, I've grown even closer to my mama. There's no way to do something like this without lots of bonding - although we managed to fit in some yelling and tears too, haha. I've been so impressed as I've watched her pack up her entire life and make difficult decisions about what to keep and what not to (obviously, I did not consider the wicker baskets a difficult decision at all, but she did, bless her heart). I've learned more about her as she's shared stories about different things we've found. I've spent time in my own house thinking about what I want to keep and share with my sons and daughter(!) some day. And I'm grateful it's prompted my mom to write again. She's shared a bit about all of this on her blog and she's a much better writer than I even fancy myself to be, which is saying something... about her talent, not just about my ego :).

So anyhow, January's almost over and I haven't even really had time to shake my fist at the fog and inversion or get addicted to a new TV show or eat loads of cookies - just kidding, I make time for that. But if anyone's looking for a cure next January, just find some nice older lady who collects EVERYTHING and start D.I.-ing packing!!

Da Boys

[I was going to get real corny and title this post 'Da Boys in Dacember' but I just couldn't do it. Sighhh]

I have a lot to blog about December, buuuut that sounds like a lot of work and last night's episode of Elementary isn't going to watch itself (I'll be stuffing New Year's cards as I watch. Oprah calls it multi-tasking) so until all of that gets covered in-depth, here's a quick look at what each of my cute boys was up to at some point in December:

1. Jack looking like the chatty neighbor kid on Home Alone:

 Please tell me you see it. I don't know why, but as soon as we put that hat and coat on Jack, all I could think about was that kid. In my mind, they were twins (that were, you know, different ages). I was pretty bummed out when I actually googled a picture and found the similarities were less striking than I initially would have bet my life on, but I still think there's a resemblance... anyone? 

2. Will and me singing one of our favorite songs, 'Ho Hey' by the Lumineers. (that link takes you to an older, live recording of the song that's my personal favorite. Apologies for the incidental language and subject matter in the background chatter...). 

Will LOVES music and when this song came out and I listened to it a lot, he quickly proclaimed it his favorite. I frequently sing the boys a medley of songs (I love you in the morning/You are my sunshine/I love my boys - a Jana Izatt original) and we usually stick the Ho Hey chorus on the end. Anyhow, this day we were listening to it and decided to make a video. First up is our attempt with some lead-up that shows a pretty accurate glimpse of our day to day interactions (Clyde is reading, Jack is not very clothed and also hitting people, etc):

 and then here's a quick one of just the song (I think Clyde provides background vocals): 

Ahhh, I love this age that Will's at - I keep telling him we're going to skip March 26th this year so he has to stay 5, but he kindly tells me that he has to grow up, but he'll come and visit. [cue tears - damn pregnancy hormones!!]

 3. And finally, Clyde had a fun encounter with my ring finger just before Christmas that left me slightly terrified that I had (half!) blinded my oldest child.

 Luckily what I lack in good parenting, I make up for in awesome eye patch/bandana creation skills!!

Here's the story: Clyde kept bugging me on Monday afternoon about when we were going to decorate gingerbread houses, even though he had been told about twelve thousand times that we were waiting for Chuck to get home from work that evening. So of course he asked again and I responded with something like "Hey buddy, what did I say would happen if you kept asking?" and to make my point more clearly, I moved my hand to [LIGHTLY! I promise! I don't even spank!] flick him on the forehead... unfortunately, at the same time, he moved towards me and so my extended ring finger jabbed him right in the eye.

The next few minutes are a blur of wailing (Clyde) and tears (probably both of us) and immense guilt (me, duh). We finally calmed down and the combination of the warm damp washcloth and the pink headband along with lego videos on the computer helped us get through the rest of the evening. 

Unfortunately, the next morning he woke up in a lot of pain again and the internet seemed to think he might have a scratch on his eye. DANG. So I called the doctor and made an appt to take him in (keep in mind it's December 24th at this point. HO HO HO).

 I stuck him in the bath, and he actually seemed much better afterwards - the sensitivity to light was mostly gone, but it was still pretty red and swollen. 

Grandma Pam met us at the doctor's office to wrangle the two little ones and Clyde was given absolutely stellar care. I was bummed that our regular pediatrician wasn't in the office, but the one there was excellent. They took us into a dark procedure room and put special drops in Clyde's eye and then busted out a black light to look for an abrasion. Happily, there were none to be found. Dr. Booth said that Clyde's reflexes probably kicked in quickly enough that I just jabbed his closed eye, hence the bruising and swelling. (PARENT OF THE YEAR, I tell ya.)

They fixed him up with a slightly more professional looking get-up (I think the elf ear look was particularly appropriate) and sent us on our way. Clyde sported that for another hour or so and then took it off and hasn't looked back (hahahaha, horrible parent but excellent pun skills!!).

[Hmm, I feel like I should have re-ordered this so we ended on me singing with one of my sons, not me causing bodily harm to one of them... but that sounds like a lot of work to go back and change, so we'll roll with it! Have a great day everyone!]

It's ... a ...

GIRL. ohhhh snap!

Monday morning we said good-bye to Chuck's parents (they had been up for a weekend visit, more on that fun later!) and dropped the boys off at my mom's and then headed over to the ultrasound. We were pretty mellow - Chuck had a pretty dreadful head cold and I was in the grips of a sleep-deprived/pregnant/hormonal anxiety attack, haha. This is my one and only ultrasound during my pregnancy, so even though I'd heard a solid heartbeat at all of my regular appointments, I hadn't actually seen a healthy fetus yet, and that will mess with the mind of any mom-to-be (is everything okay? is the baby developing correctly? is the size on track? did my existing children do some sort of voodoo so their wish for twin babies will be realized?)... so I was a little on edge. 

Plus I had followed the directions to drink loads of water that morning, and I think all emotions are exacerbated when you have to pee that badly :).

But the ultrasound went so well! Our technician Amy was a superstar - and I realized part of why I liked her so much was that I remembered her from Jack's ultrasound! I doubled-checked the ol' blog to make sure, and then she checked their records and found out that she had done our ultrasound with Will too! She was the perfect mixture of fun and friendly and professional and I loved her.

We got the clear gender view of our wee little girl pretty quick in the ultrasound. I was glad to get that figured out early on so we could be mentally adjusting to this huge change in our lives, all while getting to watch her squirm around. She was crazily all over the place, so that bodes well for her ability to keep up with three older brothers!! Amy kept grabbing whatever measurements she could at the moment since there was no guarantee the baby would return to that position again. She managed to get everything she needed and our wee girlie looks perfect.

Chuck and I left the ultrasound in a bit of a fog - him because of the DayQuil and inability to breathe, and me because I was pretty much terrified. I haven't made a secret out of the fact that I'm much more comfortable with boys than I am with girls. We had some time before Chuck had to head to work, so obviously my first stop was Savers for some quick retail therapy, and it worked!

I needed some reassurance that I would be able to appropriately dress a wee girl, so I picked up a couple cute things - the yellow and white shirt and the green skirt (I promise it's cuter than this 'pulled out of the dryer mid-cycle' picture suggests...) and a couple little onesies. The sparkly silver shoes were a clearance purchase from a couple of months ago that I couldn't resist - hello SPARKLY soles! I maintain that I'm not super girly, but sparkles get me every time.

In another move to psych myself up a bit, I came home and pulled out the scrapbook that my dear mom made me and checked out some of my baby pictures.

This worked too pretty well too, I don't look that scary (I probably hadn't perfected my 'LOOK' of pure evil/disdain/terror yet...) so probably our daughter won't be that scary either, at least not at the beginning! Right?

And how excited is everyone for a slew of pictures like this, except add one more older brother??

 I'll tell you what, my mom gave me a couple boxes of my old clothes and while some of them proved too ruffly/lacy/pink to adorn my child, that dress on the right WILL be her favorite when she's old enough. I loved that dress. If I could wear it now as some sort of awkward tunic-y, puffed sleeve shirt, I would.

It's been so fun to receive congratulations and well wishes from family and friends as we've shared this news. Ultimately, Chuck and I would have been equally as delighted to discover we were having another son - and probably just as scared (four boys? sounds pretty daunting to me...). Welcoming another child into a family is thrilling and fun and wonderful and also stressful and worrisome and humbling. There's no 'one size fits all' parenting approach, so another child requires that customization, regardless of gender (and that also provides loads of opportunities to second guess your parenting! Fun!) Another child means your heart stretches and grows and your love multiplies to include that child - but that also means more heartache because it turns out you can't protect that child from sadness or pain or consequences. Another child means stretched resources - time, money, attention, space, energy. 

Basically it's a wonder any of us have a second child at all, let alone a third, fourth, etc :).

My point is that we are so grateful to be able to welcome another sweet baby into our home. I know that Heavenly Father will help our family with the adjustment and help me be the mom to this little girl that I need to be - and if her hair rarely looks combed and she wears mostly greens and blues (Chuck and I put an alarming number of Jack's outgrown onesies and clothes into a drawer for this baby, assuring ourselves they were 'gender neutral' and that with a bow, she'd be fine...) and I have to call in someone else to teach her how to put on make-up when she's a teenager, so be it. She'll be loved lots and lots and lots and we'll figure out everything else as it comes :).

[OH, and she does have a name... but in the interest of not having our slightly (very?) non-traditional choice mocked mercilessly for the next four and a half months, we're keeping it pretty close to the vest right now. We'll announce it when she's born, and then if you people feel good about poking fun at a tiny baby who can't defend herself or her parents' choice in names, then that's your deal, haha.]