Avocado Monster

Drew is 6 months today, wow time passes quickly. Posting from the ipad tonight so I apologize for any errors!

I am a firm believer in breast fed babies waiting until 6 months to start ANY kind of solid foods. So I did. I also ( through research and popular knowledge) completely skip baby cereals. After all "food before one is just for fun"

Avocado is Drews first "real" food, he absolutely loved it. I fed him half of one all mashed up and thinned out. He probably would have eaten an entire one, but I would rather him fill up on milk instead!

I am so glad he enjoyed it. After about a week I will probably try another veggie. Squash and peas are next on the list.

His food will all be made at home, and as much of it as I can will be organic! We were lucky enough to get an amazing cuisinart hand mixer from one of Andrews old co-workers (Brad). This thing is awesome!

Talking about this new mixer...I have made quite a few health food smoothies with it recently! It is so much easier than a blender or food processor. I made a raspberry, blackberry, and spinach smoothie the other day, it was delicious. I add a bit of crushed ice and a splash of water to help with the consistency.

My goal for February is to make an effort to eat a lot healthier and to exercise more than I do now. I try to do a little bit of cardio throughout the day while watching the kids, buts its not always possible. We do however take advantage of days when the weather s nice and we go for walk in the double stroller and we run around the backyard ( Drew watches if course)!

I will have to add photos later, posting from the ipad is kind of the pits but I do not have a lot of time to hop on the computer.

Until later

Jamie

Sunday, Slow Day

It is Sunday, our day to relax and just enjoy spending time with each other. I think we hung out in bed with both of the babies until around 9:30, when Evey could not wait any longer for “fooood”. Scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, most of which was fed to Boo and thrown on the floor.

After breakfast the kids played while Andrew and I relaxed a little. Then, we all went for a walk outside since the weather is gorgeous today. My cheeks got a little bit cold from the breeze, but the sun felt wonderful on my shoulders. Drew fell asleep and Evey seemed to be getting pretty sleepy as well.

We came home; the kids played while I cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes. We attempted to put Evey down for a nap but unfortunately she was too distracted by me setting up her playroom that she would not stay in her crib. Lucky us, she has learned to poop on command so she is allowed to come out of her bed.

She has now been in her playroom for almost 2 hours, she hasn't left, she hasn't whined, she hasn't done anything but play…I think I will leave her too it. Drew is asleep on Andrews shoulder while he plays a video game on his PlayStation Vita *good wife* that I got him for Christmas.

The house is coming along, today I may hang a few things on the walls and organize Evey's room a bit more. Not too much left to do other than buy a few pieces of furniture and hang the rest of our pictures on the walls.

Our next project will be getting Evey to transition from her crib to the toddler bed we got her, its adorable! I hope she loves her room. We will have to find a latch lock to close up her playroom so she isn’t up partying in there all night.

Dinner tonight is steak, it is Sunday after all and we are Ulsher’s!

Have a wonderful week.

Jamie U. 

Home Sweet Home

I am so happy that we are finally in our new house, so happy! Home truly is where your heart is, but I also think having your personal items, privacy, and living your normal life is incredibly comforting. Having our bed back has been the most amazing thing, I think in the past month we have slept in 5 or 6 different ones, that’s a lot. Moving with kids is incredibly different than moving just as a couple, or by yourself. There is so much stuff to remember, and no place to put it.

It was a wonderful surprise to be able to sell our Houston house so quickly, but we must have done something right. Finding a new house to live in was a tiring few days of house hunting, but much much more research online, looking through floor plans, talking with builders, and trying to figure out exactly what is was that we wanted in a house.

Our new house is absolutely beautiful; I am still blown away when I look around. I’m 22 and I live in a home that most well off middle aged people would be content with, We must be doing something right *really 

Andrew, I’m along for love, support, and of course final say :p* Our house has 4 bedroom, 3 full bathrooms, an office, dining room, huge kitchen, separate laundry room, covered back patio, lovely backyard, tandem 3 car garage, and an open floor plan that is only one story. It is everything we wanted!

I have so much to say and so little time to say it. I have never been so stressed but so happy at the same time. Andrew and I are happy to be in our home with our 2 little babies and dog, it’s nice to have our family settled under one roof just living our life and back to our routines. We feel like the adults of the house again and the kids seem to be enjoying the new house and backyard. Boo loves the backyard too, she chases Evey around every day.

I will have to plan my writing this evening. I have so much to talk about, so much to say that it’s all just mumbo jumbo in my head right now.

Until I figure this out…

...Back in the Day

I was chatting with one of my friends recently. We had a nice time talking about "The Good Old Days", I didn't think we were old enough to do that yet, but I guess we are.

I skimmed through some of our old photos from high school, fun times. Oh  my how life has changed for me in the last 4 years. Married, Divorced, Baby, Remarried, Baby!!! Crazy! But life is amazing, and I could not be happier. It is fun to take a peek into the past from time to time. 

High School Graduation

Senior Frogs in Honolulu, Hawaii

Bon Fires in Oviedo are some of my favorite memories (me in pink)

ROTC Field Trip in Boca Raton, FL. 

Some of the girls I worked with for several years.

With my dad before Prom. 

My friend Holli, MCBH 2009

Induction to French Honors Society *Principal Lundquist and Madame Bierkan*

First day as a Freshman

diving team

Sensei Michelle and I working at the kids black-belt graduation

Paquettas Birthday, MCBH 2009

Me with my fellow commanding FEMALE officers and our ROTC Col.

The MOST influential man in the world, amazing, truly amazing. We love you.

Wow, it has been quite a while since I have updated.

Our house is a crazy place lately, hardly a quiet moment, but it sure is interesting.

Two weeks ago we were lucky enough to be invited to our friends Vlad and Stephanie’s house to celebrate 

Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) with them. It was a good time; we visited with them as well as our friends Pyiush and Ritchu, who are expecting twin girls in December. I was happy to not be the pregnant one, for once, as she was limited in the eating and drinking part of the celebration!

Andrew and I have been on a virtual house hunt, mostly so when and if we move any time soon we are on the same page as far as what we like and don’t like in a home. It is amazing how many bedrooms we will need, crazy kids.

The kids are doing great. Drew is always smiling and cooing, we love it! Evey is in a fun stage of slapping and growling, but she is learning, and regressing, and then learning again. Sometimes it is nice to have a degree in Child Development, other times I feel like a living text book and the more knowledge I have the more conflicting it becomes. Raising children is surely not a science, more of an art form left open for interpretation, which would explain the lack of handbook  on the subject *ha ha*!

I am sorry; I will apologize midway if this post is completely unorganized, grammatically incorrect, and flat out doesn’t make any sense. I have only had one cup of coffee today, most days it takes at least 2 to keep everything together.

I am supposed to be doing school work right now, figures. The computer is such a distracting place, one of the reasons we did away with Facebook. I really have no excuse for not doing my work right now other than pure procrastination. Drew slept a fabulous 8 hours straight last night, it was awesome even if I did wake up to a huge explosive poopy diaper.

The kids eat so well lately, obviously Drew has no major issue; his biggest choice is left or right. Evey loves her organic grilled chicken nuggets for lunch, mostly because she gets to practice her awesome fork skills. She really is pretty good at hand eye coordination, I even let her use a big girl cup, that lasted a while until she dumped it on herself and then laughed. Fun.

I will post some random pictures we have taken over the last few weeks. Please excuse the mess that may be lingering in the background. I clean everyday…and every night, and then Evey runs through like a tornado, Yet I still keep cleaning. 

Andrew caught me singing to Drew, He was a bit gassy.

This is how Evey helps me organize. 

She has a thing for Dog Beds

oh, this boy!

She is so in love with Uncle V

Aunt Stephanie loves these babies!

(sorry its sideways) I cannot believe we have already passed 2 months.

She likes to sleep in like Daddy.

She may look like Andrew, but that crazy personality, yeah...that is all me! 

I'm Back!

Ok, Most people that read this probably already know that we had our baby Drew.

I will write about that later.

Lets get onto other things, as of this week, Andrew and I have started our "Diet". The 17 day diet. I would say mine is more, healthier eating, because of breast feeding I cannot cut that many calories.

The day I gave birth I weighed a ridiculous 135 pounds *I only weighed 120 when Evey was born*. As of today I am 118, and baby boy is 3 weeks old. My hopes are to drop those nice extra 18 pounds, the last time we did this diet I got down to my NORMAL weight *normal for me...Pre-Andrew lol* 95 pounds. Healthy, Happy, no Flabby!

So, It all began today. Fun.

Weighing in at 118 this morning. I sucked down my 4 bottles of water, my 3 servings of green tea, and my single cup of black coffee.

Greek Yogurt with berries for breakfast.

Apple for a snack.

3 Scrambled eggs mixed with a little bit of fat free cheese and spinach for lunch.

Greek Yogurt for a snack.

Bell pepper for a snack.

Dinner, we cheated, pork chop with a side salad filled with veggies *celery, peppers, and carrots*

Carrots for a snack.

...Now I am hungry. Running out of snack ideas. Yikes. Water, Water, and um maybe some more Water!


I will weigh my self in the morning. When I am not feeling so STRETCHED out I may even dare to post a few pictures. yikes.

Until Day 2...

Tomorrow is the Day!!!

Tomorrow is the day.

We are having our baby boy tomorrow.

At 7am, bright and early in the morning, we will start the induction process at the hospital. I will be checked for dilation, hooked up to an IV, and then the Pitocin will be added. The Pitocin will make my contractions come every 2 minutes in hopes to keep them regulated and to proceed with dilation!

This is a crazy week for us, we are so anxious and excited to meet our son.

We are taking the time to slow things down and focus on our life and our happy little family. No extra stress needed, as we know that we will be over our heads in diapers, sleepless nights, and feedings. Between Evey and Little Andrew the house is surely to be a chaotic but a love filled place.

Pictures will be shared as soon as we can, I am sure Andrew will keep everyone up to speed while the laboring process is occurring. I do not think we will be encouraging visitors to come to the hospital, as last time it was fairly horrific having people coming in during that time. Once we are home and settled then we will be welcoming people over, but not until then. (Except sweet baby girl, she had better be brought to the hospital ASAP, I cannot fathom not having her around)

Luckily this time we are not first time parents, we have a better handle on this entire baby thing, I think!!!

Evey will have a lot of adjusting to do, but with her love for “baaabies” I am sure she will be just fine and we will do our best to make it a smooth transition for her and to show her all of the love and attention that we possibly can.

Right now the biggest challenge for me will be spending the night without Evey, I have never once been away from her for more than a few hours and certainly never overnight. Then, we must make the decision whether Andrew will be staying in the hospital with us or to come back home to get some rest and be with Evey. Last time I was not even able to move out of bed without assistance because of my tailbone being broken so Andrew had to be there to take care of Evey. Hopefully this time that will not be an issue and he will be able to come home and get as much sleep as he can until we bring the little peanut home.

The Doctor believes that Little Andrew will be on the smaller side, about 6 pounds. Considering she thought that Evey would be even smaller…I think he is going to be about 7 pounds, just like his big sister. We will see!!!

With all of my love, and last tiny bit of patience.- Jamie