The Meandering Thoughts of Jan

Milestones First social (ie "real") smiles. He likes to smile at Mommy, Daddy, the picture of Jesus in our living room and the animal prints on the wall in his room that his Aunt Michele made. Had an adventure to the mountains and visited a real waterfall for the first time. (Bridal Veil Falls) Was Blessed at church!! (He looked rather dashing in his little white getup.) Is tracking items and people with his eyes more, is more aware. Lost all his hair on top of his head and grew it back, which has caused a lot of envy among the bald men of the world. He is now sporting a soft brown fuzz. Grew out of newborn diapers and and most of his newborn clothes. He's practically all grown up, sniff. Proved how cultured he is becoming by visiting his first art museum with Mom, Grandma, Aunt Michele, Uncle Dan and Princess C. It still counts even though he slept through the whole thing, right? Stats from his 2 month appointment: Length - 20.75 inches (.19 percentile) ...

* You guys, Danny and I are now home owners! Crazy, right! I still don't think it has sunk in yet, particularly because we haven't moved in yet. However, the past couple of weeks have been filled with painting, cleaning and packing, oh so much packing as well as other home owner stuff I'm learning about. (Special thanks to my parents and older brothers who helped with taping/painting, since I can't be around paint fumes and shout out to my mom who scrubbed the inside of that new house of ours in lightening time while I dusted. She is one hard worker. And of course thanks to Danny who has been working hard and been taking care of so much stuff!)  *The baby is doing pretty good, for those who are wondering. He moves a lot, which is fun. Every doc appointment I go to, she tells me everything is measuring perfectly and baby's heart beat and such are right on, which I'm most grateful for. We have a little less than 2 months now until baby time, which is incredibly ...

Friends, I know it has been forever. Apparently, growing a baby as well as prepping for his arrival and taking on the adventure of buying a house and still trying to keep up with work and every day life has caused me to become a little brain dead. Every time I sit down to blog, I just go blank. However, I will try tonight. On the baby front, all is going well. Danny and I went to some birthing classes which we found very informative. My favorite part is when they taught the dads-to-be how to give back massages to relieve pain to the mommys-to-be. That was the best class. Baby likes to move and wiggle all the time. I also got a prescription from the doc, so the heartburn is way more bearable. The latest pregnancy symptom to combat is the swelling that comes with the heat. I had no idea how it can hurt! However, with ice packs and a nice sister and husband who will sometimes massage my ankles, we shall soldier on. On the house front, we have found a house we really like and things ar...

Ok, so in my last post about pregnancy , I kind of just shared the story of our pregnancy thus far.  A lot of people have asked me about what symptoms I've had and I have had a few. One of my friends asked me the other day, "Don't you just love being pregnant?!" I didn't exactly know how to answer that. I love that I am pregnant, I'm most grateful for it. I don't know if I would say I love being pregnant per se. They are just so many changes going on. If I could describe pregnancy in one word, coming from a rookie like me, I would say it is weird. Yes, it is cool and amazing and beautiful and all those things. However, in my day-to-day life, it's just weird. Morning Sickness Yes, this definitely exists. I started feeling sick around 5 weeks and I don't feel like it really went away until around 19 weeks. However, I don't know if I can 100% say it is gone, because I still find myself gagging at things every once in awhile and I still can'...

So, the main reason I’m writing this post is because so many people have asked me lately how I’m feeling and how pregnancy is going.   If you don’t care to know, I’m not offended.   But for those who have asked, here is my really long-winded answer.   I could sum it up by simply saying, pregnancy is weird and it is a roller coaster.  This post I'll share the roller coaster of it all, because it has been a little crazy, but life is kind of crazy, so what can you do. Perhaps I should back up a bit, because it was a few months ago when I last talked about our desire to have children . It was during a very low time when my body had completely stopped responding to the fertility drugs I had been taking and at that point all seemed awful.   I probably sound dramatic, but quite honestly that is how I felt. This is one of the reasons Danny and I went on a couple vacations during October.   I was emotionally spent and my doctor kept telling me I neede...

I had a photo shoot this week with a couple of my adorable nieces (ages 4-5) .  I was most appreciative that they were willing to participate and that their mothers  (my sis-in-laws) were willing to help as well by bringing the girls and helping direct them a bit.  Halfway through, one of my nieces got a little shy and decided she had enough of the photo shoot.  I don't blame her, I don't love my picture being taken as well.  Since we were at her house, she got up and went straight to her room. We decided to take a little break and see if we could convince her into coming back out for the rest of the photo shoot.  Her mom and I went to go talk to her.  This is the following conversation that ensued, which I'm still chuckling about. Niece: (With her head buried in her pillow) I'm shy, I don't want to go back out. Me:  You aren't shy, you are one of the friendliest little girls I know! Niece: (with some tears at this point) Yes I am! (Note: ...

I know we are well into 2014, but I'm still in the midst of recounting last year and making goals for this year. As I've looked back on and thought about 2013, I have to admit it has been a rocky year. However, during some of these hard times, I feel like Danny and I have drawn even closer in our marriage. I sure love that man of mine. I really think what makes a strong marriage is facing the tough stuff together. I have also grown closer to my Savior, though at times it didn't always feel like it, which I will discuss more below. I can honestly say, this year has whittled me down to a rather more fragile version of myself.  I think that is what being humbled is.  I have been humbled.  I’m still working on being humble. I think with this past year, I’m understanding more what grace is.  I think you have to experience a lowly place to even feel the need for grace.  I agree with the common phrase: “Do your best.” However, I don’t think we always unders...