Wednesday, May 13, 2009
I'm A Horrible Mother!
September 24th, 2008: So with Aaron being out of town for several days, trying to get Jade back on schedule, and working two days in a row 1800-0600, I'm exhausted!!!! This morning I fell into a stupor around 6:30am and didn't even hear Aaron get up to go to work. Supposedly Aaron gave Jade a bottle before he left for work and then I guess she fell back to sleep because I didn't hear anything until 9am when I woke up to her crying. However, I was so tired that while I laid there thinking about getting Jade up, I feel back to sleep. I didn't wake up until 10am. When I walked into her room she was just laying there "talking" to herself. I wonder if she had just been lying there for the last few hours while she waited for her horrible mother to wake up and come get her. Needless to say, I felt pretty awful. What a good baby and what I neglectful mother I am!!!!
Nasty Habit!
September 15th-21, 2008: So while Aaron and I were in NYC, Jade stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Gunn. While there she developed a nasty habit of waking up at 3am for a quick brewski, some fun and then back to sleep for 4 hours. Of course, being the softie grandparents that they are, they obliged and gave her the brewski. Now she thinks she can continue to do it and that it's okay. Boy is she wrong. However, I'm finding out that breaking her of the habit is a lot harder than expected. I spent all night on Monday up listening to Jade cry. I unfortunately can't sleep when Jade is making noise. Doesn't bother Aaron though. He could sleep through anything. Jade first woke up at 3am. I went and checked on her, gave her the pacifier and walked out. She didn't like that. She cried for a good 30 minutes. The entire time I layed there, wide awake, counting the circles on the ceiling, wishing she would just fall back to sleep. After about 30 minutes there was welcomed silence, but it didn't last very long. At 4am Jade started crying again. I got up and checked on her and she was fine, just ready to get up. I told her nicely that it was bedtime still and to go to sleep. She didn't like that either and so she cried for another 30 minutes. She woke up again around 5am and we did the whole routine over again. I must admit that it was very exhausting and there were several times I almost broke down and gave her a bottle, but my persistence paid off because she slept until 9am that day. I think she was just super exhausted from all the crying. That's pretty much been the theme of the week. Just trying to get Jade back on schedule. She does such a great job of sleeping through the night...normally. But this week has been pretty rough. And then when I thought I had her back, Aaron went out of town (Dallas, Tx) and Jade and I stayed with my parents at their house. I don't think Jade likes sleeping in the Pack-n-play very much because she never sleeps well when in it. So once again I was up all night on Saturday. I should just learn my lesson and take her home after playing at my parents. But I don't and then I regret it the next morning.
Monday, May 11, 2009
NYC Trip
September 8-13th, 2008: Aaron invited me on a business trip to NYC. He had a conference that he had to go to Tuesday through Thursday and so it was a great excuse for him to invite me. Of course, I was super excited to go. Also, when we were explaining to Aaron's parents that we were going to NYC, they mentioned that they would love to go. So we were able to work it out and they came with us. They checked Kylee out of school for the week and she came along too. It worked out well because while Aaron was in conference meetings, I had someone to hang out with.
We ended up leaving Jade with my parents for most of the time. However, my mom couldn't watch Jade on Monday, so Bobbi Loosli, our next door neighbor to the west of us watched Jade all Monday and into Tuesday. Austin came and picked her up after work and took her down to my parents house on Tuesday night. Jade then spent the remainder of the week there until we got home on Saturday. According to my mom, she did really well and my parents made sure to post pictures of the cute thing so that we could be super homesick.
When we got to NYC, we ended up staying in the Affinia Hotel, just west of the Empire State Building. You could see the Tower from Claire and Roanne's room. It was a perfect location for everyone. It was one block away from Madison Square Gardens, Macey's, the Garment District, the Empire State Building and about a 10 minute walk from Times Square. We got to NYC around dinner time and we decided to do dinner and the Empire State Building. As we were walking the the ESB we say a little dive called Dan's BBQ. I remembered going to a similiar dive when I went to NYC with my family. It's cheap and great BBQ all smoothered in butter. I convinced everyone to go there but it wasn't as cheap as I remembered. The food was good though and just as greasy as I remembered. We then headed over to the ESB and took it to the top observatory. It was $20 a person just to get to the top. That was my first indication that this trip wasn't going to be cheap. We took some great pictures from the top observatory and had a great time just walking around. You could see the twin lights were the Twin Towers used to be. It was beautiful with the lights shining throught the clouds. After the ESB we decided to walk to Times Square to see all the lights. It was a pretty good walk, about 15 minutes and by the time we got there Roanne was pretty tired. She has feet problems and to walk so much was killing her. We stayed and walked around for a while, just people watching and taking pictures. Then we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. For the prices we were playing for the room you think we were staying in the Shangrala but it was an old hotel with a new coat of paint. It was pretty pathetic but I wasn't going to complain. At least I was in NYC.
On Tuesday, Aaron had his conference meeting early and the rest of us slept in until 9am. We got together and picked up brunch at a small cafe that served eggs and pancakes for $5. It ended up being were we had breakfast every morning of our trip we loved it so much. The weather was super rainy and so we decided to stay in doors and see the Museum of Natural History. We had bought these NYC passes that gave us a deal on several tourist attractions. Part of this deal was choosing between the Natural History Museum or the Museum of Art. We took the subway for the first time and that was an adventure making sure we got off on the right stop. The Museum of Natural History was fun but a little disappointing. I guess that is the problem with TV. If you have seen the Discovery Channel it kind of ruins the wonderment of the Museum. But I think everyone had a good time. The rain had stopped by the time we were done with the museum and so we decided to walk through Central Park on our way to a subway station. However by the time we got to the end of Central Park, we were all super tired of walking. We got back to the hotel and took a little nap waiting for Aaron to get back from the conference. We met up and went to a little cafe off of Broadway and 42nd were they are famous for the Reuben sandwich and cheesecake. Aaron and I decided to share on and we ar so glad that we did because the sandwich was a foot high of corned beef. The cheesecake slice that we shared was at least 6 inches high. It was the best cheesecake I have ever had and I ate most of it. :) After dinner we went to the Broadway play "Wicked". Aaron was given free tickets for the entire family by Ben and Jerry, bosses of the copacker that Xango works with. They were able to get us fantastic floor seats at $250 a ticket. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Even Aaron really liked the show. It was a perfect ending to a great, but exhausting day.
On Wednesday, we got a late start and almost missed breakfast at the little cafe. We decided to use our city passes and take a double decker tour bus of uptown Manhattan. It was a perfect day with sun and high 60's. After the tour we took the subway to Canal Street and did some much anticipated street shopping. It was really fun and I think Roanne had a blast buying a black market hand bag and gold "Rolex" watch. After Canal Street we met up with Aaron and went to dinner. We had dinner plans with the Quality Control Director of Victoria. Romi and his wife Hillary took us to a great BBQ restaurant off of Broadway and Times Square. It was really great and Aaron and I decided that if Romi and Hillary lived in Utah we would be good friends.
On Thursday, September 11, we decided to go down to Wall Street and see the Twin Towers. Aaron played hookie from his conference so he was able to go with us. They were having a large memorial service for the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. There wasn't much to see of Ground Zero because they had it fenced off for construction but we were able to get inside a building across from the site and were able to see down into the site...kind of. We did see Senator Obama and John McCain, the two canidates for the presidental campaign walk down to the memorial ceremony. It was neat to think that we were super close to the next president of the United States. That night we took a night tour of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. We were able to take a photo op on the Brooklyn side of the river and take a photo of the two lights representing the twin towers. It was a neat experience and the weather was great.
On Friday, we took a tour of the Statue of Liberty. It rained all day, which was kind of a drag. Since September 11, they don't let anyone go up inside the Statue of Liberty but it was still fun to walk around her and see the island. Part of our tour inclued a tour of Ellis Island and so after the Statue of Liberty we went to the Museum at Ellis Island. By the time we were done with we were wet and tired but unfortunately we didn't have any time for a nap today. We quickly went back to the hotel and packed our bags. We checked out of the hotel but kept our luggage there. The game plan was to take the train to the Yankee's stadium for a night game then come back, grab our luggage and head to the airport. However, because of the rain, the game was canceled. We had fantastic seats and were there for their last home game in the Yankee Stadium before they tear it down and it was rained out. We sat there for an hour waiting for them to make the official decision but the rain never stopped. It was so disappointing. The way back to the airport with all our luggage was a challenge and after a week of walking we were all pretty tired, especially Roanne. We got to the airport around 1 am but our plane didn't take off until 8am. We had originally decided to just stay in the airport and rough it waiting for our plane but Roanne had a different plan. She ended up convincing Clair that they needed to get a hotel. So we did and slept in a hotel room, all of us, for about 4 hours. It was a lot of money to spend on a 4 hour stay but it was so worth getting to sleep in a bed and shower before getting on a 4 hour flight.
It was a fun week and it was great to see all the sites of NYC but we sure were tired. I had Roanne, Clair and Kylee moving every minute.
Jade did really well at my parent's house. It was good to see her. I sure did miss her. We ended up coming home on Hudson's birthday, so we were able to celebrate it with him and my family.
We ended up leaving Jade with my parents for most of the time. However, my mom couldn't watch Jade on Monday, so Bobbi Loosli, our next door neighbor to the west of us watched Jade all Monday and into Tuesday. Austin came and picked her up after work and took her down to my parents house on Tuesday night. Jade then spent the remainder of the week there until we got home on Saturday. According to my mom, she did really well and my parents made sure to post pictures of the cute thing so that we could be super homesick.
When we got to NYC, we ended up staying in the Affinia Hotel, just west of the Empire State Building. You could see the Tower from Claire and Roanne's room. It was a perfect location for everyone. It was one block away from Madison Square Gardens, Macey's, the Garment District, the Empire State Building and about a 10 minute walk from Times Square. We got to NYC around dinner time and we decided to do dinner and the Empire State Building. As we were walking the the ESB we say a little dive called Dan's BBQ. I remembered going to a similiar dive when I went to NYC with my family. It's cheap and great BBQ all smoothered in butter. I convinced everyone to go there but it wasn't as cheap as I remembered. The food was good though and just as greasy as I remembered. We then headed over to the ESB and took it to the top observatory. It was $20 a person just to get to the top. That was my first indication that this trip wasn't going to be cheap. We took some great pictures from the top observatory and had a great time just walking around. You could see the twin lights were the Twin Towers used to be. It was beautiful with the lights shining throught the clouds. After the ESB we decided to walk to Times Square to see all the lights. It was a pretty good walk, about 15 minutes and by the time we got there Roanne was pretty tired. She has feet problems and to walk so much was killing her. We stayed and walked around for a while, just people watching and taking pictures. Then we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. For the prices we were playing for the room you think we were staying in the Shangrala but it was an old hotel with a new coat of paint. It was pretty pathetic but I wasn't going to complain. At least I was in NYC.
On Tuesday, Aaron had his conference meeting early and the rest of us slept in until 9am. We got together and picked up brunch at a small cafe that served eggs and pancakes for $5. It ended up being were we had breakfast every morning of our trip we loved it so much. The weather was super rainy and so we decided to stay in doors and see the Museum of Natural History. We had bought these NYC passes that gave us a deal on several tourist attractions. Part of this deal was choosing between the Natural History Museum or the Museum of Art. We took the subway for the first time and that was an adventure making sure we got off on the right stop. The Museum of Natural History was fun but a little disappointing. I guess that is the problem with TV. If you have seen the Discovery Channel it kind of ruins the wonderment of the Museum. But I think everyone had a good time. The rain had stopped by the time we were done with the museum and so we decided to walk through Central Park on our way to a subway station. However by the time we got to the end of Central Park, we were all super tired of walking. We got back to the hotel and took a little nap waiting for Aaron to get back from the conference. We met up and went to a little cafe off of Broadway and 42nd were they are famous for the Reuben sandwich and cheesecake. Aaron and I decided to share on and we ar so glad that we did because the sandwich was a foot high of corned beef. The cheesecake slice that we shared was at least 6 inches high. It was the best cheesecake I have ever had and I ate most of it. :) After dinner we went to the Broadway play "Wicked". Aaron was given free tickets for the entire family by Ben and Jerry, bosses of the copacker that Xango works with. They were able to get us fantastic floor seats at $250 a ticket. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Even Aaron really liked the show. It was a perfect ending to a great, but exhausting day.
On Wednesday, we got a late start and almost missed breakfast at the little cafe. We decided to use our city passes and take a double decker tour bus of uptown Manhattan. It was a perfect day with sun and high 60's. After the tour we took the subway to Canal Street and did some much anticipated street shopping. It was really fun and I think Roanne had a blast buying a black market hand bag and gold "Rolex" watch. After Canal Street we met up with Aaron and went to dinner. We had dinner plans with the Quality Control Director of Victoria. Romi and his wife Hillary took us to a great BBQ restaurant off of Broadway and Times Square. It was really great and Aaron and I decided that if Romi and Hillary lived in Utah we would be good friends.
On Thursday, September 11, we decided to go down to Wall Street and see the Twin Towers. Aaron played hookie from his conference so he was able to go with us. They were having a large memorial service for the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. There wasn't much to see of Ground Zero because they had it fenced off for construction but we were able to get inside a building across from the site and were able to see down into the site...kind of. We did see Senator Obama and John McCain, the two canidates for the presidental campaign walk down to the memorial ceremony. It was neat to think that we were super close to the next president of the United States. That night we took a night tour of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. We were able to take a photo op on the Brooklyn side of the river and take a photo of the two lights representing the twin towers. It was a neat experience and the weather was great.
On Friday, we took a tour of the Statue of Liberty. It rained all day, which was kind of a drag. Since September 11, they don't let anyone go up inside the Statue of Liberty but it was still fun to walk around her and see the island. Part of our tour inclued a tour of Ellis Island and so after the Statue of Liberty we went to the Museum at Ellis Island. By the time we were done with we were wet and tired but unfortunately we didn't have any time for a nap today. We quickly went back to the hotel and packed our bags. We checked out of the hotel but kept our luggage there. The game plan was to take the train to the Yankee's stadium for a night game then come back, grab our luggage and head to the airport. However, because of the rain, the game was canceled. We had fantastic seats and were there for their last home game in the Yankee Stadium before they tear it down and it was rained out. We sat there for an hour waiting for them to make the official decision but the rain never stopped. It was so disappointing. The way back to the airport with all our luggage was a challenge and after a week of walking we were all pretty tired, especially Roanne. We got to the airport around 1 am but our plane didn't take off until 8am. We had originally decided to just stay in the airport and rough it waiting for our plane but Roanne had a different plan. She ended up convincing Clair that they needed to get a hotel. So we did and slept in a hotel room, all of us, for about 4 hours. It was a lot of money to spend on a 4 hour stay but it was so worth getting to sleep in a bed and shower before getting on a 4 hour flight.
It was a fun week and it was great to see all the sites of NYC but we sure were tired. I had Roanne, Clair and Kylee moving every minute.
Jade did really well at my parent's house. It was good to see her. I sure did miss her. We ended up coming home on Hudson's birthday, so we were able to celebrate it with him and my family.
Jade is Four Months Old Today
September 5, 2008: Jade is four months old today! Today we hung out with Grandma Gunn and went shopping for Jade's "birthday". We went to Burlington Coat Factory were they always have great deals on the cutest baby clothes. Of course, everytime I shop there I spend a lot of money and buy lots of baby clothes. It doesn't help that Mom looks through all of the racks and finds the cutest clothes. I always end up having to put at least 10 items back...but then I always buy at least 10 items as well. Jade is getting so big. It seems like everyday she gets bigger. I bought her 3-6 month sized clothes today. She weighs 15.5 lbs and is wearing a size 1 diaper. She still doesn't have very much hair, and I'm resigned to the fact that she probably won't for quite some time. Roanne says that Aaron was a butterball til he was around 2 years old, then he grew a ton of really thick red hair. I'm sure Jade will follow in her father's footsteps. She looks just like him. She can reach out and grab things with her hands. She is always putting things in her mouth and she drools uncontrollably. She goes through at least 2 bibs a day due to sooooo much drool. She also can hold her own bottle and recognizes it instantly. Anytime she sees her bottle, she holds out her hands and tries to grab it. If I don't get it to her fast enough, she starts to scream. Very cute (said sarcastically.) She also is a great rice cereal eater. She eats rice cereal at 0900, 1200 and 2100. She is done with the nursing thing and exclusively has bottles-4oz at a time. We keep her on an eating schedule and it seems to work really well. She has also been sleeping 10-11 hours through the night on a regular basis. She doesn't have any teeth yet but I wonder if that is coming soon because of all the drool. She also can't sit up by herself. I wish she could though. It should would make life a whole lot easier. Jade is very intrigued with everything and everyone around her, so she constantly wants to be sitting up and looking around. Unfortunately, I don't have all day to just hold her. She's close to sitting up by herself but she needs to be propped up by something. But that means she can't be left alone. That's alright. She still is totally adorable.
Tender Mercy
September 2, 2009: So I had a tender moment last night. Aaron, Jade and I spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Gunn's house after getting home super late from Lake Powell. We slept downstairs in the blue bedroom with Jade in the playpen. I think she was so tired that she had a really hard time sleeping. She was super restless all night and finally woke herself up around 4am. I was so tired and Aaron didn't even move he was so unconscious but I didn't want her to wake anyone else up. So I quickly got up and got her a bottle. I thought for sure that would help, but she decided that she was done sleeping. I tried everything I could think of to get her to go back to sleep but it was useless and I was so tired at this point that the only thing I could think to do was to say a prayer or cry. After my prayer I was sitting at the side of the playpen looking at Jade when I had the distinct impression that I should hold Jade's hands while still wrapped in the ace bandage and put my hand on her chest. After about two minutes of bending over the playpen and Jade still wide awake I was ready to give up, but again I got the impression that this would work if I was just patient. Sure enough, 5 minutes went by and Jade fell asleep. I was so amazed. I thought for sure she would be up for the rest of the morning. I was so thankful that Heavenly Father listened to my prayer and inspired me as to what I should do. It just reaffirmed that our Heavenly Father loves us and is very mindful of our needs. He answers even the silliest of prayers. I love him and know that he lives and loves each of us. I am grateful for his tender mercies that help me each day.
Lake Powell
August 29-September 2, 2008: Every end of summer we get together with my side of the family and head to Lake Powell for Labor Day weekend. It's kind of our last event before everyone goes back to school and fall starts. It's one of our favorite events of the year! We left today on Aaron's birthday around 8pm because we had to wait for all the boys to get off of work. Dad, mom and the girls had left earlier in the day. Austin and Hudson both rode down in the truck with Aaron, Jade and I. We had a full vehicle with all the gear and even the jetskis. It was a long drive, especially because we were so loaded with stuff and because we had to keep making stops for the Jadester. We didn't arrive in Page until 4am. We were all dying we were so tired. It was a fun drive though and we had a good time with Austin and Hudson.
The next morning we got up kind of early...at least early for us who had just gotten in at 4am. We headed down to the beach at Lone Rock and set up camp for the day. It was great weather, not windy, just sunny with a slight dusting of clouds. We set up Jade's play pen and put her under the canopy. She played there for most of the time and really had a good time. The water, even in August, was too cold for her to get into but we would get her out and she would play in the sand, or sit on our laps and watch everyone else play. For being out on the beach all day, she did a really good job. I just made sure we kept her sunscreened and well hydrated. However for all the sunscreen I applied, Jade still got a little sun. She was wearing a headband and when I took it off that night, she had a small sun line on the top of her forehead. Oops! I'm such a bad mom for letting my 3 month old get some sun.
The next day was Sunday and rainy. So it was perfect. We went to church and then stayedn in the motel and just rested. It was perfect for Jade because she needed the rest after being outside all day yesterday.
On Monday, the rain had stopped but it was really cloudy and windy. So for the first hour or so at the beach, Jade and I spent the time in the car. The wind was whipping up sand everywhere and it was hard for the little Jadester to breath. I was afraid that I would end up spending the entire time in the car but after about an hour, the sun came out and the wind stopped. The rest of the day was fantastic and we all had a great time jet skiing and playing around in the water. We buried Hudson in the sand and made him look like an elephant. It was really fun! We ended up getting off the lake around 7pm at sunset and showered and got ready for the long, exhausting ride home. All in all it was a great weekend and a fantastic end to the summer.
The next morning we got up kind of early...at least early for us who had just gotten in at 4am. We headed down to the beach at Lone Rock and set up camp for the day. It was great weather, not windy, just sunny with a slight dusting of clouds. We set up Jade's play pen and put her under the canopy. She played there for most of the time and really had a good time. The water, even in August, was too cold for her to get into but we would get her out and she would play in the sand, or sit on our laps and watch everyone else play. For being out on the beach all day, she did a really good job. I just made sure we kept her sunscreened and well hydrated. However for all the sunscreen I applied, Jade still got a little sun. She was wearing a headband and when I took it off that night, she had a small sun line on the top of her forehead. Oops! I'm such a bad mom for letting my 3 month old get some sun.
The next day was Sunday and rainy. So it was perfect. We went to church and then stayedn in the motel and just rested. It was perfect for Jade because she needed the rest after being outside all day yesterday.
On Monday, the rain had stopped but it was really cloudy and windy. So for the first hour or so at the beach, Jade and I spent the time in the car. The wind was whipping up sand everywhere and it was hard for the little Jadester to breath. I was afraid that I would end up spending the entire time in the car but after about an hour, the sun came out and the wind stopped. The rest of the day was fantastic and we all had a great time jet skiing and playing around in the water. We buried Hudson in the sand and made him look like an elephant. It was really fun! We ended up getting off the lake around 7pm at sunset and showered and got ready for the long, exhausting ride home. All in all it was a great weekend and a fantastic end to the summer.
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