He survived!

Last Tuesday, after 19 weeks of classes, mock scenes, pepper spray, and lots of testing and physical training, Steve graduated from the Basic Law Enforcement Academy! I'm so proud of him! We had a great day...in the morning, we left the kids with grandma so I could go early with Steve to watch the final inspection and attend a final class with him on transitioning into his new career. I enjoyed meeting his classmates, the people he's been training so hard with and about whom he's told me many stories. The rest of the family joined us around noon, and then we attended Steve's official commissioning for him and the other guy from his department. Then came the actual graduation ceremony for the whole class, which involved a few speeches, awards, and pinning of the badges. I have to tell you now (because Steve never will) that in the award category of "Best Overall Performance" (which is measured by written test scores, scores on mock scenes, shooting range...basically, every type of test given)...Steve was third in his class! (and it was a class of 30, not 5:) Anyway, we capped off the day with a pizza dinner with everyone...really a fun day! Steve was super glad to be done with that step. He then had a good 6 days off before he went back to work this week. For the next 6 weeks or so, he'll be doing more training at the station, and then he'll start patrolling (with a training officer) in December. There really is a ton of training involved, but that's a good thing. Congratulations, Steve!

Final inspection. The guy to the right of Steve was his partner throughout the academy...the one he did all the mock scenes, etc. with.

Dang, he looks good in uniform:) I just realized I should have had him put his badge on.

Family who attended...Steve's dad and his wife, my sister, my grandparents, and Steve's mom and sister. A few of our friends made it up, too...Steve felt everyone's support!

The commissioning ceremony. The guy with his hand raised is the chief of police for Steve's dept.

Steve's whole class at the end of the ceremony. He's the one in the center, in the dark uniform.

Ziggy-zig

Poor Ziggy. This cat has been driving me nuts. I'm blaming it on pregnancy, but every time she climbs on me and starts doing this massaging thing on me with her paws and starts drooling, I shoo her away pretty quickly. So I guess it's no wonder why she prefers Steve over me:) Anyway, despite these quirky habits, I must admit that she is the best cat ever for our kids. Seriously, they can chase her, use her for a pillow, examine and pull her whiskers (Jayna), poke her...you name it, and she has never once swatted or tried to scratch them. And she's much more gracious with them than I am with her...she keeps coming back to them! In turn, the kids love her...so much that Travis was willing to cover her up with his beloved blankie when she was sleeping!

Maris Farms

One of my absolute favorite family activities each year is going to the pumpkin patch. This year we went to Maris farms for the first time (usually we go to Hunter Farms), and had a blast! It was yet another gorgeous fall day, and we enjoyed seeing and feeding animals, riding the giant slide, a hayride around the pumpkin field, and finding our perfect pumpkin. I do love corn mazes, but the one at Maris would have taken quite a while with the kids. Here are some pictures of our day.

So tall!

Travis and Daddy on the hayride.

Jayna and friend Clara for a stroll in the wheelbarrow.

The photo shoot on the pumpkins didn't go so well, but these pictures still make me laugh. I can't quite decipher the look on Travis' face....I think it's a mixture of being ornery and trying not to smile, and being annoyed with Jayna for crying and with mom for insisting on yet another picture. Jayna was overdue for a nap...can you tell?

Recent pictures

A few recent pictures of our cutie pies...

Jayna being silly

We've had some beautiful fall weather here in the last week. These two were taken at the park by our house after the kids woke up from their naps.

A self-portrait. Travis has grown more and more attached to his beloved "lambie". He's had it since he was 6 months, and lambie now goes with us most places. As long as he isn't walking into kindergarten with lambie in his arms...

On Saturday we went up to Bellingham for cousin Ethan's 2nd birthday party. In the morning we went to the "Fun Zone" where there were a ton of big bouncy toys and slides...the kids loved it. Here's just one of many pictures, of Jayna and I at the top of a slide. Do we have a Fun Zone around here?
And these were taken just yesterday. Again, the weather was gorgeous, so the four of went for a walk/tour of all the neighborhood parks.

Time to myself

Many of you know that I am - almost to the point where it's silly - a list maker. Every Sunday, I make a list of everything I want/need to accomplish that week, and then I make separate lists for every day of the week and transfer my weekly list into my daily lists. Sometimes they're really little things, like emailing or calling a specific person, and sometimes they're more involved, like cleaning the bathrooms or going to Target. I guess I make these lists just to keep myself focused and not let myself forget anything important. Yes, I'm a Type A, through and through:) Sometimes I finish everything, sometimes I don't, but at least it helps me prioritize and get the most important things done. Anyway, here is my list from last week...much more ambitious than a typical week:

pull weeds/prune
go to bank, library
organize/sort kids' clothes (purge outgrown stuff, hang new stuff)
list clothing needs for the fall/winter for whole family
clean bathrooms
clean our room (it was a disaster area)
Thurs.-worhsip rehearsal
Wed.-Seattle with Bonnie
hang bathroom things (these shelf thingies)
clean J's room
clean T's room
organize/sort toys
catch up baby books
do some scrapbooking
letters to kids (I do this every year on their birthday, for them to read when they are grown...they're both June babies, so I've been slacking)
clean fridge
ebay old crib set

Believe it or not, I completed everything on my list besides the last two! (The mood never struck for me to clean the fridge, and I've never sold anything on ebay and didn't feel like learning...is it easy to do?) Anyway, how, you are probably wondering, did I manage to accomplish everything? It is because my kids were gone for four whole days! My husband, too, which meant that I didn't even have to worry about cooking dinner! Some of you may be reading this and thinking, what's the big deal? But many more of you understand my excitement, those of you with young kids.

Don't get me wrong...I was apprehensive about this week. Especially about being away from Jayna, as she is much more clingy than Travis. Here's how it happened....last week was the week where Steve was sent (for work) down to Shelton, where the WA state patrol trains, to learn how to drive like a crazy man....I mean like police officers have to drive. And they stayed there overnight, got fed tons of great food, hung out with the guys in the evenings...he had a great week. Well, Steve's dad and his wife (Gary & Paula) had been wanting the kids to stay with them for a few days, and since they're only a couple of hours away, I thought, "Okay, maybe...". But then when I knew that this week was coming where Steve would not be coming home in the evenings (I desperately look forward to that time of day), my wheels started turning and I thought that might be a good time to send the kids to the grandparents. They happily obliged, of course, and though the kids ended up staying longer than I had anticipated, it worked out well. Paula drove up and I drove down so that we met at a McDonald's at Chehalis and made the transfer. I will admit that after I drove away from dropping them off, I bawled like a baby. Jayna had a cold/fever and had been super clingy, so I felt so guilty. Then when I got home I just felt really disoriented...the house was so quiet, and my babies were gone. It was wierd. But the feeling passed, and I really enjoyed my few days to myself. Like I said, I got a ton of stuff done, but since I could complete these tasks without interruption, I also had a lot of time to just relax. And it feels so good now to feel caught up on some things that I had put on the backburner. Oh, and I was also able to stop at my grandparents' place in Olympia on both my way there and back, along with the kids, and it was so good to be with them.

I knew the kids were in the best of hands, but it was still comforting to me that if something happened, they were only two hours away and I would be there in a heartbeat. In many ways I am a super laidback mom, but I guess not always. But the kids had a great time, even Jayna. Paula didn't get to do as many things with them as she had planned (because of Jayna's cold), but that didn't seem to bother them. Travis is still telling me stories from last week...he loved it! And the best part is that they really missed me toward the end of the week and were ready to come home. We had a great weekend together as a family again, just relaxing and having fun together. All in all, the separation was a good thing for all of us. I am a person who refreshes and regroups by spending time alone, and this definitely did the trick.

With that said, I am about to get yet another break....I would have preferred for these two breaks to be a bit more spread apart, but I had no control over the dates. Tomorrow, I am headed with a couple of friends to meet four more friends in Grapevine, Texas for the MOPS national convention. I have never been, and I am so excited! My goals are twofold...to be encouraged in ways to be a better mom and wife, and to apply some of the things I learn/hear to my role as co-coordinator for the MOPS group at RVCC. It is located at the Gaylord Texan, an all-inclusive resort, which is supposedly super fancy, and will just be a ton of fun. (and it better be, because we spent more money than I was comfortable with to make it possible!). Anyway, I'll let you know how it went when I return.

The word is out...

...so we'll put it out there even more...we are pregnant with our third!

We were quite surprised at first, but now we're just excited! We did want more kids, just maybe not quite so soon. Although, Jayna and this one will be almost 2 years apart, which is what Travis and Jayna are, and it works. Due date is April 3rd, making me about 11 weeks. Almost through the first trimester. One HUGE praise in all of this is that I have only felt a fraction of the sickness that I felt with the other two. With both of them, I had to take anti-nausea meds until about 16-17 weeks, and with Jayna, even that only kept the food down...I still felt pretty horrible 24/7. (and I promise I'm not exaggerating..it was bad). So I had kind of been dreading another pregnancy because I remember how physically, and thus emotionally, difficult it was to not be able to do anything when I was pregnant with Jayna...clean, cook, care for Travis, etc. He watched more TV/videos during those months than he ever has or ever will, I think. Anyway, this pregnancy, I am taking an over-the-counter combination of Unisom and vitamin B6 and notice a huge difference when I don't take it. But when I do, I feel great, as long as I keep food in my stomach and only eat a little at a time. I've only puked once, and that was before I started the meds. It's amazing! I never knew pregnancy could be like this! I have thanked God many, many times! Of course, this meant that in the early early weeks I was sure I had miscarried, but the ultrasound I had at 9 weeks showed a strong heartbeat (as amazing as watching it for the first time with Travis!) and a baby that looked exactly as he should! (Yes, I think it's a boy, though I won't put money on it:)

No, we will not find out the gender. We didn't find out with T, we did with J, and while I'm glad we did with J, it's just so much more fun to not know! And with the third one, we thought this would help keep it exciting. And practically speaking, we already have at least the essential clothing for either gender, and the baby will be in Jayna's room either way.

I am a little nervous about being a mom of three, especially when they will all be pretty young. But I know so many who have gone before me and were (or are) wonderful parents...my mom, some friends, several cousins. More than ever, I see the need to lean on God for everything...patience, strength, love.

I receive some weekly emails from babycenter.com that picture and describe all that is happening with the baby in that given week. Here's what was said about 11 weeks:

"Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden. She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements look like water ballet."

And these next two are in utero pictures I found online of babies at 11 weeks. It is still CRAZY to me that a tiny clump of cells turns into a fully formed human baby at all, let alone in such a short period of time. 6 weeks ago there was a heartbeat and a spinal column, and now all major organs are in place, as well as limbs and even fingers and toes. So cool.

I have no doubt that the next 6 1/2 months will fly, and we will meet our newest addition! We'll keep you posted!

Troublemaker

Our new nickname for Jayna is "troublemaker". Not in the sense that she is disobedient...actually, she is very responsive to correction and wails when given a stern "no". What I mean is that she gets in to EVERYTHING! She's explorative and curious (Mel-maybe she gets this from Ethan?!), which usually results in big messes. She is the reason our house too often looks like a disaster area (never mind the fact that I'm just not a good housekeeper, I've finally forced myself to admit). One of her favorite acitivities is to carry objects from one room of the house to another. For example, I often find tupperware (the tupperware drawer is the one thing in the kitchen she's allowed to play in) in our master bathroom. If you know our house, you know that's an impressive feat! Shoes, too...I can NEVER find a match because she carries them all over the house, one shoe at a time. And I have at least three sandwich bags of wipes from when she has pulled dozens out of the container before I caught her.

I'm sure if I looked back through all our pictures I could show you more examples, but I do have a couple of recent videos that demonstrate her amazing mess-making abilities.

In the first, she found a kleenex box and emptied it (almost) before Steve noticed. So he pulled out the camera.

In the second, which was just this week, we were just done with dinner and I had put leftover spaghettie noodles in a tupperware, but hadn't put it in the fridge yet. Apparently, Jayna decided to grab it off the table and carry it into the living room...and dump it out. I'm just grateful it wasn't the tupperware of spaghetti sauce! So we thought "what the heck" and let them play with it.