Sleeping woes

I'm sorry to say that Jake's naps haven't gotten much better. I've tried switching to the one nap thing but he still seems so tired and cranky. So, my solution thus far has been to keep him in his crib for at least an hour twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If he sleeps then he's gotten a good nap. If he doesn't sleep then he's gotten some good quiet time. Nice, right? Well, today Jake really tested my patience. He was in his crib this morning for two hours and slept for half an hour. This afternoon, Jake was in his crib for the same amount of time and didn't sleep at all! I feel bad leaving him in his crib for so long, but if I don't he just won't fall asleep, and by the time I come to the conclusion that he just isn't going to fall asleep half of the day is gone. So this afternoon when I went in to get him out of his crib, this is what I found. Notice how tired he looks. Also notice how he refuses to sleep. But he's also so cute...What is a mother to do???

Jake's first steps!

We can't believe it, but Jake is actually taking his first steps! Within the past few days, Jake has really started walking all on his own, and we are so proud of him! All of the sudden he just seemed to get his balance a little better and now it looks like we have a walker on our hands. He still prefers to crawl because it's faster, but if we bribe him he'll walk. He is still pretty wobbly, but walking nonetheless! Here is a video of his first steps.

Congrats Jake!! Good job!

Anti-anxiety pills needed here

I have been very frank about how much I enjoy donating plasma. It has been a time to relax, and I look forward to dropping Jake off in the play area and getting some much-needed quiet time. This being said, I don't know quite what is happening to me.

My iron count has been low in the past, and therefore it requires me to take iron supplements, and still sometimes it's too low to donate. I always get a little bit nervous before they take my blood because I'm just hoping that my iron count is high enough. Well, a couple of days ago my nerves got the best of me and my heart rate was a little high. I actually didn't even know that they checked your heart rate, but they do that while they're checking the blood pressure. So all of the sudden now that I was aware that they checked the heart rate and that mine was high and it freaked me out. They told me to go sit down and relax and they would recheck it in 5 minutes, but instead of relaxing I was just freaking myself out. Of course, my heart rate had risen. So now that I was aware of what was going on, I started really psyching myself out. The next day I tried to donate and it was 139!! Off the charts high! I got it down to 118, but it was still too high to donate. Now I was really freaked out. The next day I went in and tried my hardest to relax, but it had the opposite effect. Now my heart rate was 147!!!!! AUGH!!!! That is dangerously high...as in, I'm stressing myself out to the max about this. My heart rates in the past had always been in the 70's.

I have to go see a doctor now before they'll let me donate again. I went to see the nurse and was in tears because I was trying so hard not to stress myself out and in turn stressed myself out to where I can't even donate anymore!! So now what? I totally have a mental block. I guess I just need some anti-anxiety pills or I will stress myself to death here.

The only nice thing that happened while I was in the nurse's office was that she commented on how pretty my new ring was. It made me smile. :)

A Valentine's day, Birthday, and Christmas present

Here's the story:

I was at the mall a while ago and I went to Fred Meyer Jewelers just to look around (I'm a girl, I can do that). I came across a gorgeous wedding set that I just couldn't take my eyes off of. Joseph had always said that the ring that he gave me when we got engaged was a "starter" ring and we would upgrade in many years when we were a little bit more established. So when I went to the store, I admired and put it on my fingers then put it back and thought to myself, "give it ten years, then come back." The lady who was working at the store obviously saw how much I liked it, so she offered to put the name of it and code on a card with my name so that if Joseph ever went in he would see the kind of thing that I liked. As she did this I thought that it doesn't matter what she does because it's not like Joseph would ever do anything like that at this point in our lives, and in ten years from now it would be long gone.

Fast forward to Wednesday. I was freaking out because I was positive that my wedding ring had vanished down the drain. I couldn't find it anywhere. I thought I was going to have to find a fake ring to wear for about ten years and I felt just sick about losing my wedding ring.

Fast forward to Friday. I had left my phone in the bathroom to charge, and I heard that I had gotten a text message, so I went in the bathroom to check it out. Sitting there, where my other ring had been before it "fell down the drain" was the brand new, shiny, gorgeous wedding ring set from the jewelry store. I about fainted. I never thought that he would actually get it, but here it is (sorry it isn't a very good picture, it's very hard to get a good picture of small things):

Joseph said that he went in there to see what kinds of things they had for Valentine's Day and found my card and laughed because there was just one thing on it. The ring was on clearance and he negotiated with them to get the price even lower, then turned in my other ring to get it even lower, and eventually got a fabulous deal.

I'm not gonna lie, I feel a little guilty. I know that he had to dip into our savings a little bit to get it. But, this constitutes a Valentine's present, birthday present, and Christmas present all rolled into one for the next few years. Of course, I don't feel guilty enough to stop admiring the gorgeous ring on my finger.

Awesome weekend

I love the weekend. Especially ones like this. We had a great time with both family and friends, and AWESOME weather! What more could a girl ask for? I guess maybe shopping...

First off, as I said before, the weather was beautiful this weekend. It was such a welcome relief from the -20's that we've been experiencing. In the sun it was about 60 degrees!! You just can't beat that in February.

Friday night we went to Texas Roadhouse for some savory steaks. YUM!! Actually, the reason that we went out was because I had tried to donate plasma earlier that day and I couldn't because my iron levels were too low. I was pretty depressed about it, so Joseph suggested that I eat a nice steak, which has two benefits: 1) Steak has plenty of iron to get my levels up and 2) I LOVE to go out to eat (it's one of my absolute favorite things) so that helped my mood in itself. That evening was game night at one of our friends houses. Jake fell asleep there, so it left Joseph and I without having to take care of a baby. It was like date night without having to pay for a babysitter.

Saturday was our $50 plasma donation day. Joseph and I both donated, so that means an extra $100 in our pockets between the two of us. I love donating...

Then after I donated plasma I went to the tanning salon. Please hold your criticism, because I really know how bad it is, but it just feels so GOOD!! My friend and I had coupons for a free week of tanning, so we took advantage and intend to go every day this week. Don't worry, we'll be careful.

On Saturday afternoon Joseph and I went to Grinnell to spend some time with his parents. We enjoyed good food, movies, and company. The weather was so nice that Nana took Jake out for his first walk in months. He loved it. He really loves his Nana and Papa.

We stayed the night in Grinnell, went to church with his parents the next morning, then came home in the afternoon to host a birthday party for Taysia! Here are all the people that we managed to fit in our house:

A couple of funny things about this picture:
1) Please excuse the placement of my hand. I swear I didn't mean to be grabbing Joseph's butt in front of the camera.
2) Robyn is apparently so perfect that the camera caught the halo over her head. She'll probably be translated here any moment.
3) Random cup in the window. Taysia said she did that. Since it's her birthday we'll let it slide.
4) Jessica and Joe look like little midgets in the back corner of the couch, and Jamison, Joseph and I all look like giants.
Happy Birthday Tay-tay!! We love you!! And thank goodness for awesome weekends, they make the weeks a lot more bearable.

Getting a head start in reading...or making a mess

Jake loves his books now! He loves to sit and look at the pages of the book and have me read to him. Don't be fooled, though, it's not like he actually LISTENS to me read. He likes me to read to him while he turns the pages so the book makes no sense. But, of course, he doesn't care. One of his absolute favorite things is to open the door to his bookshelf and take all the books out of the shelf one by one. Then he sits in his pile of books, opens one, and begins to turn the pages. I can't tell you how many times I have picked up these books and put them back on the shelf. I have been waiting a while for him to really enjoy books, so this is a fun stage for him to be in.

David after the dentist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

Alright, I can't figure it out. It doesn't seem to let me just download the video right onto my blog, but you MUST watch this.

This is a little boy who went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. They gave him some morphine to numb the pain. I think it's hilarious that Joseph is going to be dealing with kids like this, and I hope he calls me every time he pulls a kid's tooth out so I can watch the kid when he's done.

Does anyone know how?

Does anyone know how to post a video onto your blog from youtube? I saw this HILARIOUS video that I need to post but I'm not sure how to do it. Thanks!

My brush with danger

I went to the mall yesterday just to kill some time before Joseph got home from school. I had Jake in the stroller and I was just looking in the windows of the stores to see what kinds of stuff they had when all of the sudden I heard a lot of yelling. I looked up and saw two men running right towards me really fast, one was chasing the other. The guy doing the chasing was the one who was yelling "HEY!!!" and the other guy just kept on running. Of course, being the non-overdramatic person that I am, my first thought was "Oh my gosh, he's got a gun and we're going to die." Instinctively I pulled into the closest store so Jake would be safe and watched the action unfold right in front of me. By the time the two guys had reached where I had been standing, there were a couple more guys who started to chase this kid too. Then out of nowhere a man working in one of the kiosks jumped the counter and tackled this guy as he tried to get past him. It was like something out of the movies. He tackled him and pressed him down to the ground and put his hands behind his back. As I got a closer look at the guy he looked like a teenager. He must have been shoplifting or something like that. It was pretty intense as they took this guy down, and it was funny to watch as the man who took him out went back to work. He had the biggest smile on his face like he was a hero. He certainly has a good story to tell, and lucky for us, I don't think that the kid had a gun afterall.