Alright, so for those of you who don't know me that well, my attitude depends very highly on the amount of sleep that I get. So needless to say - I have been slightly sleep deprived since the arrival our little Ellie. Between night time feedings, Ethan having a cold, and also refusing to nap I may, just possibly, very rarely have been a little irritable lately?! My poor husband - he really has been a good sport and does help quite a bit.

Ethan's vocabulary has been exploding lately and it has been so fun to hear him try to say new words and learn what they mean. He got a Little People Farm House for Christmas and loves to say the names of all the animals and the sounds they make.

His new favorite show is The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We have DVR so I record it for him and then when I am desperate for a shower or Ellie requires a little one on one that is what he watches. He tries to sing the songs so hard when they spell out Mickey Mouse. It's so hilarious to listen to him. And at the end of the show they do a little song and dance called the "Hot Dog Dance". He calls hot dogs "gock gogs" so to hear him to try to sing along just makes me laugh so stinking hard.

Ellie and I are starting to get the hang of things with each other. No routine and no sleeping through the night - yet. Mark my words though, it won't be long! I know there are those people out there that don't believe in routines for themselves or their kids but here at MY house we live by a routine. Ellie does haves good nap time routine and bedtime. It's just the waking at night that we have yet to conquer. It will probably be atleast another two to four weeks before that wrinkle is all worked out.

Jacob and I celebrated our five year anniversary on Saturday, January 3rd. It hasn't felt like five years but looking back and seeing what we have done inthat amount of time makes me wonder how we got it all done in just five years! We have moved 5 times, bought and sold a home, had two children, took an awesome trip back east, and have sold six cars and even purchased one of them back!! It has been an awesome five years and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

To celebrate we went out to eat on Saturday - our real celebration is this Wednesday. We (and by we I mean I) saved up to buy Jazz Basketball tickets. I think we are on row 13? We will go out to eat that night as well. I have never spent that much on a sporting event so...the Jazz had better frieking win!

Since everyone else has New Year's Resolutions I figure that I may as well too. Keep in mind that I have NEVER kept a resolution in my life. My goal this year is to lose the baby weight. ALL OF IT! You see, I never lost all the weight from Ethan. I am on a mission this time! So, by publishing my goal publicly I hope to motivate myself even more. So...starting from my weight today (and please keep in mind I just a had Ellie three weeks ago so I still have some weight from that) of 162- I have 40 lbs. to go. Yea that's a lot. So everybody wish me luck!

As always I am posting from my phone so I will have to add some cute pictures later. I'm not going going to lie either - it will probably be much later.

Here is just a few pics of these last few weeks

This is Jacob holding Ellie. She is not yet one day old.

This was her coming home outfit - I got it at the Gap and I love it!

Ethan giving his new little sister kisses.

Ethan on Christmas morning, PJ's courtesy of Grandma Youngberg.

Ellie is here!!

I went in to be induced on Friday afternoon. By the time I got all the paperwork done I didn't get my IV untill around two. My doctor, Kathy came at five to break my water but because I needed four hours of penicillan (for my GBS) she didn't actually break my water untill seven.

Immediately after that I wanted my eidural! I had it within the next half hour but it wasn't working. He came back three more times to up my dosage. In the meantime I was feeling every contraction and it was not fun. I never planned on giving birth naturally so I didn't take classes for it or learn breathing or anything.

Kathy finally arrived and literally one contraction before I started pushing the epidural kicked in! I gave three pushes - two for her head and one for her shoulders and I was done.

Elizabeth Jean Barker was born December 12, 2008 at 9:33 p.m. She weighed 7 lb. 5 oz. And was 19 inches long.

We came home Sunday morning and Ethan came home Sunday night after spending the weekend with both sets of grandparents. We really missed our sweet little boy while he was gone!

The first thing he wanted to do was hold Ellie and he did such a good job. He was very soft and just giggled at every little move she made. If I put Ellie down to sleep he cries because he wants to know where the baby is at all times. They are best buddies already.

She had a hard time nursing our first night home but after getting some great advice from Aunt Rhonda who is La Leche certified and had five kids of her known, Ellie is nursing much better and my chest is no longer in great pain. Thanks Rhonda!!!

She has her week check-up on Thursday and then her Great Grandparents from Arizona are going to be here on Sunday so we are very excited to have them here.

I will have to post her pictures later because I am typing this in 10-15 minute incriments on my phone while trying to nurse! One day I will be more efficient and get more done but today is not that day!!

I know it has been forever since my last post and since it might be a while again until my next one this one is going to be long and boring!

I am scheduled to be induced this Friday to have Ellie and for those of you who really know me - patience is a virtue that I do not have. I have been ready to have this baby for atleast two months now. I had an appointment last Tuesday and even my doctor was commenting on how much the baby dropped and that I "look" ready. So almost a week ago I was 70% effaced and dialated to a three. When I told her that I was hoping she would say that I was 100% and at a six she just laughed at me. Honestly I was joking! Well, maybe just a little bit joking.

We have everything we need for her to come and I feel more prepared this time than I did with Ethan. I just feel like I know what is coming. The labor part doesn't worry me at all - EPIDURAL!! It is the part when we get home and life settles in that I am not sure how everything is going to work out. When I had Ethan his fat little head did not 'mold' at all and I was incredibly sore when I got home. Even though they gave me pain pills it didn't solve everything. The other thing I am really worried about is nursing. I wasn't able to nurse Ethan or produce enough milk to pump for him. I would really like to be able to atleast pump milk for Ellie not only because it is better for her but I remember how expensive formula was!

Our ward here in Foxboro is being great and already has meals planned for next week. I am really looking forward to having them do that since it will be one less thing that I have to think about.

Jacob I think is a little nervous not only about having a girl but supporting one more mouth to feed. I think it will all work out and there is nothing to worry about but then again that is what he tells me about the pain and nursing!

My Grandma and Papa Barrow are coming up this month for Arizona. I like to think it is just for me and the fact that I am having this little girl and I am sure that they are just telling everyone else that is for Christmas so they don't play favorites. I know the truth!! They are going to stay long enough for Ellie's blessing which is really nice and I am glad they are making the trip up here. (even if it might be Christmas and not for me!)

We are getting all reved up for Christmas and have all our presents wrapped but definitely not under the tree. Ethan would have them all opened in a matter of seconds. I am desperately trying to get everything finished before this Friday (like this post!) because I doubt I will have too much spare between te 12th and the 25th. We found Ethan some good presents at great deals (Thanks Mom!) and I am hoping that they help to entertain the poor boy while I am busy with Ellie and throughout the winter. Thankfully, he has his birthday in February so he will get a new dose of toys to keep him busy indoors through the rest of the cold season.

Ethan has been doing much better with his asthma. We have not had to make another ER trip since the beginning of September for our Norovirus. Which by the way - to anyone who has ever had a horrible hospital visit like I did. I called and filed a complaint with the hospital and they are going to pay my co-pay. That is the least they could do I think! Anyway, back to Ethan. His new pediatrician was a resident at Primary Childrens and we have been really happy with him. He tells us the honest truth and skirt around issues and doesn't make me feel stupid when I ask him questions that most people know the answer too.

I have been making most of the last posts on my phone which I haven't learned to how to post pictures from so from here on out is mostly just catch up on pictures!

Last night we went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. Ethan was having the best time and was just running all over the place! We had him leashed so he couldn't run off and it was a good thing because there was a ton of poeple there. I loved how excited he was and he just kept saying "WOW" over and over again. The only problem with that was that he just could not stay still for a picture at all. This is the 'best' picture I could get of him all night long. But if you look closely you can see he is smiling!

The lights on Temple Square were gorgeous and I love seeing the Temple all lit at night. It really stands out against the black sky.

Oh boy. Everyday after Ethan has fallen asleep for his nap I go in and make sure he is covered and that is not contorted into some horrible sleeping position. Well, this day I go in and find him completely comfortable and naked! He went to bed with clothes on, I promise. His shirt and shorts were on the floor along with his diaper. I don't know how this happened! Thankfully he did not wet while he was sleeping or immediately after waking up. I couldn't bring myself to wake him up to put anything on him so I let him sleep like this - though I did cover him with a blanket. I dealt with the nakedness after he woke up!



Thank heavens for washable markers

We have been trying really hard to find some activities to keep Ethan busy indoors all winter long. I finally got this book called The Everything Toddler Activity Book. It has alot of great ideas - this being one of them. It is bath paint. It is just dish soap, corn startch, and food coloring. You jut mix in enough corn startch to make the 'paint' the thickness you want and then add whatever color you like. Wha-la! Bath time paint. And the bonus is that when he was all done all I had to do was run a wet wash cloth over the walls and not only was the paint gone but because it was soap the tub was clean too!

This is Ethan new "comfy" chair for watching his show in. It doesn't look at all comfy to me but he loves it!

Ethan loves books. He has really taken a liking to this Cars book and we keep it in the car for him. Every time we get in he asks for his book. He sits there and turns the pages and points at it and says "car"!

Here is my two cute boys going down the slide at the park.

Ethan was a dinosoar this year for Halloween. This was my costume from when I was two that my mom made for me. It fit Ethan perfectly and he was so cute!


I just put this one up here so you could see the tail on the costume. Disregard the pregnant lady.

In September we went up to Sherwood Hills in Sardine Canyon to take some pictures of Ethan. He had a great time running around outside and playing with the leaves.

Ethan is such an awesome little boy I couldn't ask for anything more out of him. Except to maybe keep his diaper on while napping!

What an awesome boy!

(I acidentally hit post instead of save on that last post!)

We decided to go to a Jazz game here in Salt Lake. Romantic I know but it is something we both enjoy and since I will only be about 3 weeks post pregnancy we don't have a lot of options. We have Bern saving for the past few months and purchased our very expensive lower bowl nearly front row tickets. I have never even spent that much on concert tickets before let alone a sporting event! It will be fun though and we are both realy looking forward to it.

Just as a little note that made me laugh. I was sitting here typing and Ethan asked Jacob for a drink of water. He had one his little plastic cups in his hand. Jacob went to the fridge and got him a bottled water - we have little ones that are kid sized. He took the lid off for him and handed him the bottle of water. Now in the split second before the bottle reached Ethan I knew what was going to happen. You see, when Ethan wants a drink from a cup I get him water from the fridge so it's nice and cold - I pour it in his cup. So what does Ethan do? Dumps the entire bottle upside down and over flows the cup all over the couch. Oh, what a boy! We both couldn't stop laughing. He is getting so big and though we love it we hate it at the same time.

He is picking up on a lot of words and I am still trying to convince Jacob that certain words - though technically not swear words for us - certainly are to a little two year old!! We will work on it. Not that Jacob has a bad mouth but you know - CRAP HAPPENS!!

The new words he has picked up ate so random too. Things like watch, cup, rice, cup, baby, story, and tickle. Of course no one can understand him when he says them except me and Jacob but that's what makes it so gosh darn cute!!

ONE MONTH AND COUNTING!!!

Well it's official. I have one month left and I am ready to be done pregnant. I am so tired of not being able to roll over in bed without being out of breathe or just get up off the floor in less than two minutes for that matter! I yhumk Jacob is really getting tired of me asking for a "push" to get up off the couch. I had my appointment yesterday and Ellie is weighing a healthy 5 1/2 lb. We have everything ready for her and after our over nightet in Brigham next week for Thanksgiving I will pack our hospital bag and Jacob will get the car seat in the car.

The only concern at my appointment was that I had lost some weight (due to that nasty little virus I had two weeks ago). If at my next appointment I have not gained some weight back I will most likely have to go on atleast moderate bed rest. Which is nearly impossible with Ethan running around!

Jacob and I have our five year anniversary coming up in January and since we will have a newborn we can't do too much.

It has been a crazy week! So I'll start at the beginning.

The three of us drove up to Brigham on Friday (pictures will have to come later!) and had a great time playing show and tell and visiting all the Grandmas.

Saturday my sister-in-law, Samantha, and cousin, Katie came to moms house so we could all make peanut brittle which has kind of become a yearly tradition for us. Everything went really good and we only ruined three batches!!

On Sunday I went to my friends baby blessing for her new little girl. It was great and the baby was so cute!!

We drove home Sunday after church and all was good - or so we thought!!

Monday morning Ethan started throwing up. Poor little boy! He was miserable and I was miserable because not only was he sick but he had thrown up all over the couch and our bed. I talked tomom and dad and apparently Samantha, Katie, and Mom were all in the same condition as well.

By Tuesday afternoon Jacob and I were in and out of the bathroom every 20 minutes and throwing up just as often. Ethan was doing better but dehydrated. Finally Tuesday night I called my visiting teacher and she took me to Lakeview Hospital. When I got there I was furious!!! They refused to treat me because I was 34 weeks pregnant. Does that sound right to you? I was mad. They said they were reluctant to treat me because they didn't know me. So they sent me still dehydrated and very sick. I plan on calling and complaining.

By the morning I was at my doctors office in Ogden with an iv. While I was there Jacob drove Ethan to Primary Childrens where they put both of them on an iv. They both went through two bags each and I went through three bags. We were all sent home with anti-nausea medicine and orders to drink, drink, drink!

We are all feeling better now but are just exhausted from being totally dehydrated for two days and just from being so sick. I am so glad it's over and I hope we never have to be that sick again! Especially at the same time.