Hayes Family

Hard to swallow

2012-02-07T12:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday West was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome, and the doctor told us that most likely Jack has it as well. We only took West to the psychologists, but he asked about our other children. We were told that aspergers is inherited, and is more common in boys than girls, and if one of your boys has it, then more than likely your others will too. Aspergers is an autism spectrum disorder, that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.

The symptoms West has:
*Easily frustrated- when West tries to do anything and it does not go his way, he completely melts down, sobs, cries, and he can't be comforted. I try to hold him and he just wants down.
*West hates change, he just can't handle it. When I want him to do something other than what he is doing he completely melts down.
*Taking him anywhere is a chore, I never know how long he will last. I honestly can't remember the last time I took him to the store without him throwing a huge tantrum. I dread taking him anywhere, even though I want too.
*West is very anxious in social situations, whenever we go to the mall to play, he basically just sits on my lap, I can tell he is very uncomfortable. When he first entered nursery he sat on the nursery leaders lap for 4 months, before he would get down and play.
*He has a very hard time looking people in the eyes, again very uncomfortable for him.
*When he plays with a toy he is very focused and it is hard to pull him away.
*Rocks when he is angry or frustrated.
*He hates light touch.
*Wants to play by himself, and there is only one specific way to play with each toy. He will line his toys up and if they are touched by anymore, the world has ended.

Jack exhibits a lot of those qualities, but since he talked early and interacts really well with others, I never ever even thought that he had any problems, especially aspergers. When the psychologists said he probably did I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

For a while Aaron and I had known that there was something different with West, but we were not quite sure what it was, but I never suspected anything with Jack. After the psychologists explained things to us, a lot of Jacks actions, and melt downs seemed to fit as well. Anytime someone touches his toys he dies, and I can't calm him down. He wants me to play with him, but only a specific way. And apparently a lot of aspergers kids talk early, and are really smart. But not only do they talk early, they have one-sided conversations, and tend to be up in your face, which describes Jack perfectly.

I knew that West was having problems, but not having any idea that Jack did, really hit me hard. My boys have been really hard, but I thought for the most part that they were just being boys. I have wondered what I was doing wrong, why don't they just understand me, and listen. Most days I am at my wits end, and I hate to say it, but most days I lose it with them. I am a very patient person, and I could just not understand where my patients had gone. Now knowing that there has been something else at work kind of out of my control and helped.

We are going to be putting West into a program for kids with aspergers, and looking at getting him into a special pre-k that starts at age three. We were told that if we start early, and work with our boys, that they should be able to go to normal elementary schools, and will be able to adjust. They will have aspergers their whole life, but we can manage their symptoms, and they should be able to live normal lives. Knowledge is power, and I am so grateful that I know what is going on and will be given tools to help my boys and Aaron and I. I am also so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and Savior, who are constantly comforting me, and for supportive family and friends.

Fail

2012-01-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

Last night before taking the boys to bed Aaron told them he loved them:

Aaron: "Jack, I love you more than candy."
Jack: "Dad, I love candy more than you."

Aaron: "West, I love you more than cake."
West: "Oh"

It was pretty funny, poor Aaron.

Memorable Quotes

2012-01-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Recently Jack has come up with some pretty funny quotes, we just have no idea what is going to come out of his mouth.

Jack's first joke: "Hey mom, I love you too too too, get it, too too too. I made a joke." And he constantly uses his joke.

During his prayer last night, "Thank you Heavenly Father for not letting the dinosaurs come back to life on the earth, and eat us."

Yesterday Jack told West that it was OK with him that West played with his own toy. I told Jack that he was not the mom and did not get to tell West what he could and could not do, Jack's response to me, "Thats OK with me mom that you told me that."

When West and Jack play in there room, they make quite the mess, and generally put all of their toys in front of the door, I over heard Jack say to West, "Come on West we can get out, dig, keep digging."

I am so far behind on posting, so here are some pictures:

Jack LOVES holding Alexis

West sleeping on the car ride to Texas

I use a stroller for time out, because they will not stay on their beds, Jack figured out how to walk while being buckled.

We got family pictures done a couple months ago, as you can tell the kids were thrilled

They all cried at some point

It was really sunny, so we are all squinting

In love

2011-11-29T11:08:00.000-08:00

On Sunday at church Jack saw a pretty girl, this is the conversation he proceeded to have with Maga (Grandma Hayes) :

Jack, "Who is that?"
Maga: "Sara"
Jack: "I have ever wanted to meet her, she is beautiful. I know, I will meet her in primary."

Jack loves the ladies!!

Birth Story-pictures

2011-11-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

I know Alexis is almost four months, but I just got these pictures. Someone in our branch, Emmalie Prigmore took these pictures for us:

Dr. Harward

Debbie, my nurse

Happy and tired

Holding dad's finger

Holding Alexis for the first time

This is my favorite picture!

Slacker

2011-10-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

i have been a slacker, or just really busy. West turned two on September 17th. I attempted to make him a Mickey Mouse cake, but it turned out pretty creepy...

I think my cake making days are over. West had his two month appointment, and we were sent to a specialist for his legs. He has one leg longer than the other and knock knees. He had x-rays taken and the doctor said that he should grow out of the knock knees, but she is going to monitor the length of his legs. I hope West gets use to his different leg lengths, cause this kid falls all of the time. Last week he had three bloody noses, and a huge bruise on the rim of his nose. This week he fell and scraped his face on the side of our table. His face is constantly bruised. The doctor said it was normal for kids to fall a lot, but I don't think this much.

Happy boy

Creepy boy

Alexis is almost three months old, time has flown bye. She is now sleeping 10-12 hours at night, and is so so calm. I put her to bed at about 9 and she wakes up around 7. She is completely different than our boys. I did not know a baby could be so calm and happy.

Ready for church

Chillen with Uncle Devin

Smiles

Her blessing day, wearing the same dress I did.

Jack continues to be silly. He is constantly making silly remarks:
-Talking about Alexis: "I think I will make her my pet."
Talking to Chomper (my parent's dog) : "I said to wait three minutes and I would be back, just be patient."
- "Chomper Hess, you listen to me."
He is also Mr. bossy pants. He told me the other day that I was his slave, but I nipped that in the bud.

I asked him to smile

Fishing with Memaw

Breanna caught the fish, and then had Jack reel it in.

Pictures

2011-09-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the big game

Jack just adores her

The flowers Aaron got me, after I delivered

Relaxing

Every time Jack holds Alexis, he asks me to take a picture.

This picture cracks me up

Cheese

I wore this dress when I was a baby

Alexis Kathleen Hayes

2011-08-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

We went to the hospital Monday, August 8th, at 5 am, to be induced. When we got to the hospital I was at a 2 and 80% effaced. They monitored me for about an hour before they stared the pitocin, to make sure Alexis would be able to handle being induced. About 7:15 they started the pitocin. They checked me again and I was at a 3. I knew I wanted an epidural, but I kept debating on when I should get it. The contractions were starting to come, but they were not that bad. About 9 am my doctor came in and broke my water, I decided that I needed the epidural.

I got the epidural about 9:30, and I was still at a 3. Alexis's heart rate started to dip, so I had to lay on my left side. The nurse told me that the epidural worked with gravity, so that my left side might be pretty numb, but that my right side might not be. About 10:45 they checked me again and I was at a 5. My left side was really numb, and luckily my right side was still numb.

Around 11 I thought I could feel the contractions, and I was getting nervous. I started to feel the urge to push. I called my nurse (whom I loved) and sure enough I was at a 10. I had gone from a 5 to a 10 in about 15 minutes. My doctor was seeing another patient and I was told he would not be there for about 5-10 minutes. Every time a contraction came I wanted to push, it was so hard not to. The nurse kept telling me not to push, it took everything I had not to push. I felt like she was just going to come out on her own. My doctor got to my room about five minutes later, and I stared pushing at 11:15. Alexis was born at 11:24. It took three sets of pushes to get her out.

I only put on 20 lbs with this pregnancy, and I was quite a bit smaller, than I was with the boys. My doctor thought she was going to weigh around 7 lbs, so when we found out she was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20.5 inches long we were all surprised. My entire labor was 4.5 hours. What a blessing Alexis is on our lives.

She has such a different temperament than our boys, she is so calm, and sleeps really well. Jack just adores her. He asks to hold her all of the time, and wants his picture taken with her. He told me that he was going to take care of her, and I could take care of West. West is not quite sure what to think yet.

I'll post more pictures soon.

Mom vs. Beast

2011-07-27T22:13:00.001-07:00

Since I have been put on partial bed rest, due to high blood pressure, this past month has been pretty challenging. I know it has been really hard on the boys, because I just can't do as much with them. I am supposed to stay out of the sun as much a possible, so taking them outside is not really an option. I have had help from friends and family, but I can tell they are craving my attention, and doing anything to get it.

Yesterday was a long day. After yelling and crying most of the morning, I decided it was time to put the boys down for a much needed nap. Jack has recently learned how to climb down from the top bunk, and he was not to keen on the thought of taking a nap. He kept climbing out of bed and playing with West, so I moved him to my bed. I told him to stay in bed and not to touch anything. About an hour later he came out of my room and said, "I took a good nap." I noticed he had pen all over his arms and legs, so I went to investigate my room, and found a disaster.

Jack had found and broken my real pearl necklace that Aaron had given me, he ate a whole tube of my chap stick, he also ate a red sucker that Aaron had in his drawer, on our comforter, making a huge mess. He could tell I was not happy with him and so he said, "Oh I'm sorry mom."

I did not know what to do with him, I was so mad, but did not raise my voice and stayed pretty calm. I had to give him a shower to get all of the pen off of him, then I fed him dinner, and sent him to bed at 5. So of course he screamed until West came to bed at 7. A little while later, I heard a scream coming from the boys room. I opened the door and West was screaming bloody murder. Jack had taken a wooden toy and thrown it at his head. Again Jack looks at me with a smile and says, "Oh I'm sorry mom."

As if that was not enough I go and check on the boys a couple of hours later, and find ALL of their toys thrown all over the floor in their room, along with the stuffing from Jack's pillow, which he ripped open. I took all of the toys and put them up high, and took what was left of Jack's pillow away from him, and told him he lost it. After they had finally fallen asleep I went to check on them, and Jack had taken West's pillow and was fast asleep on it. I am so glad that not everyday is that bad!

In fact my sister Jocelyn saved me and took Jack this afternoon, and he is spending the night at her house. It is a good thing that I love my little beast, and if I am lucky I think my necklace might be covered under kay's protection plan.

Dreams

2011-07-05T15:28:00.001-07:00

Jack told me that last night he "dreamed of wonderful stuff." I asked him what his dream was about, and he said "princesses and make-up." He then replied that most of of the his dreams are bad and about scary dinosaurs. Oh dear.

Long time no blog

2011-06-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has happened since the last time I posted. West is walking like a pro and talking really well. I am 32 weeks along, time has gone by so fast, probably because I have been so busy. Jack is a chatty Kathy, he talks more than any girl I know. I often have to tell him to take a breath, but I do love him! Aaron is still working at Wasatch, and loving it. Here are some pictures from the last little while.

Super hero Jack

Aunt Anne came to visit after her knee surgery

Dino Time

Making scones for dad on Father's day

Kind of a scary smile

New hair

Handsome boys

West and Mom

Almost 20 months...... and he is Walking

2011-05-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

West has started walking! He has been working with a physical therapist for about three months, and started walking about a week ago. It makes me so happy to see him walking around the house. He is so much happier, and loves chasing Jack around.

Here are some pictures from recently:

Maga got the boys shirts from her trip to Florida.
Jack's new smile, tilting his head all the way back.

Saturday we went to Bridal Veil Falls

Jack and Dad

West loved his new found freedom!

Mothers day was so nice. Aaron got up with the boys, and and made breakfast with Jack. Jack also got to sing in sacrament meeting, and had his first talk in primary. He did a wonderful job! Aaron then grilled Steaks for dinner. I was definitely spoiled, and loved every minute of it!

Mother's day morning

Jack making Hash-browns

Sunday Attire

I could not get the boys to smile

26 weeks. And West is very happy!

Easter

2011-04-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

For Easter this year, we had an Easter egg hunt with a family in our Branch on Saturday. There were 6 kids, but about 100 candy eggs. We went a little overboard, and now we have tons of candy, but they all enjoyed it.

Jack filled his basket 4 times

Getting loot!

Sunday morning the boys got their Easter baskets.

We were having a fun Easter morning, until West stuck a sweet tart bunny in his mouth, and swallowed it without chewing. He started coughing, and was having a hard time breathing. He then began throwing up, but still could not get the candy out. We could tell he was in a lot of pain, Aaron hit him on the back a couple of times, and West was able to breath better, but the candy was still stuck. He kept coughing and throwing up, but was eventually able to breath a little better. Since he was breathing ok now, I just held him, he looked so tired, after about thirty minutes he threw up again. We called the doctor and they told us the candy should dissolve, and just to keep an eye one him. Finally about an hour and half after he popped the candy in his mouth, he had his energy back and was playing with Jack. I don't know if I am ever going to buy that candy again for Easter.

The boys in their new ties

Chair Spin

2011-04-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today I spent about thirty minutes spinning the boys in our computer chair. Jack kept asking me to spin them faster, and then would promptly, say slow down. West was just enjoying himself, he was laughing and singing. Jack and West are similar with their temper, but quite different other wise. West is our dare devil, and well Jack is kind of scared of everything.

Jack freaks out when:
-He gets a drop of water on him, he completely strips his clothes off
-He gets the slightest bit dirty
-He goes swimming, or goes down a slide
-A bug comes any where near him

We are hoping West will cure him. West gets into anything and loves being dirty. Saturday he tried to eat a rollie pollie, and constantly eats dirt. He will leap off the couch, jump into the water (from his bum, cause he is still not walking) and loves wrestling. It is funny how different they are.

This was right in the middle of a spin, they both look high, or sick

The boys each take a couch and play cars, almost all day

Aunt Anne visited a couple of weeks ago.

Trying to do a summer salt

Jack has been singing a song lately:
"Spank my booty, spank my booty, give me a kiss, and then spank my booty."
I asked him who he learned it from and he said, Aunt Anne First, then his Sunday school teacher, and then my sister Breanna. It is really funny to hear him sing it.

A Girl?

2011-03-30T08:12:00.001-07:00

Another month has gone by, but not without exciting news. We found out last week that I am not going to be as outnumbered. We are expecting a GIRL on Aug. 13th. We are super excited! I think Jack might be as excited as Aaron and I. He is excited to play with girl toys, and help pick out girl clothes. He even says that he has a baby girl in his tummy.

West is starting physical therapy today. He is not walking, so hopefully this will help him. He had physical therapy in Washington, because he was not sitting, I guess he has his own schedule.

Jack has been quite the character:

Talking in a high squeaky voice, while holding a teddy Graham. "I am getting really tired, I need to take a nap in Jack's mouth."

He ate a some grapes this morning, and said that he had a grape tree growing in his mouth.

He has a great imagination and it is fun to see him play. It is hard to believe that he is getting so old.

Here is a video of how West rocks himself to "sleep," I swear he is going to break his neck.

Some Pictures

2011-02-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

Life has been crazy, so here are just a couple of pictures.

Trying to make a funny face

Cookie!!!

He would not let me put a diaper on him.

West is 17 months, and still not walking, but he gets into everything none the less. People ask me how old he is, when I tell them, they are surprised, they think he is 12 months, just because he is so small. He is going to nursery next month, but I am not sure how well that will go. He is scared of everyone, he will only go to me and Aaron. He is also a big tease. He will not say mom, he points to me and says dad, and giggles. And he loves taking toys away from Jack.

When he takes something from Jack, it is not a pretty sight. Jack has a bad temper, he will pick up anything near him and try to hit West with it, while yelling at him at the top of his lungs. I have "washed" his mouth out with soap a couple of times, because he loves spitting at me, when I ask him to do something. One time I put soap in his mouth, and he still spit at me, so I told him he was going to get it again, his response, "Do it, I like soap in my mouth!" He sounds like a teenager! I hope I can tame him, before I go crazy! I love him so much, but he is a handful!

I love staying home with my boys, and can't wait till the weather is nice so we can go outside!!

Big Bum

2011-01-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

Today I was working out, and Jack walked over to me lifted up the back of my shirt and said, "Mom, see that big bum, you need to work." He is lucky he is so young, I might have beat him, although it was pretty funny.

Lately I have been quoting Disney movies and then asking Jack what movie it comes from. The other day Jack said, "Clean up, Clean up, everybody everywhere, where is that from? I am pretty sure it comes from Barney, even though he has never seen that show, so I said Barney. Jack said, NO! It comes from The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. They sing it every Sunday when they pick up toys in Nursery.

Here is a video of West Attacking the Vacuum. Fun Times.

One of the many faces of West.

BOYS!!!

2010-12-30T23:17:00.000-08:00

With a house full of boys your bound to have some gross comments. Tonight Jack tooted and it was a bad one. I said ," Oh Jack that smells horrid." "No mom it is not horrid, it's poop!" Got to love little kids innocence!!

Relief Society, What???

2010-12-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

It feels like forever since I last posted something, but man life has been crazy. The last wednesday in September Aaron and I were driving home from the mall, as we pulled into our parking lot, I said to Aaron, "I am surprised we don't have a calling yet." Aaron looked at me and said, "Never say that, cause it will happen." Well he was right. Not even five minutes after we got inside there was a knock on our door.

It was our Branch President and his first counselor. They asked if they could talk to us and extend a calling. I thought they were about to call Aaron because they talked to him first, but President Sivert said, "Aaron will you support Rachelle as the new Relief Society President?" This was all to familiar, three years earlier I had been called to be the R.S. President in our first married ward. I was shocked to say the least. We had been in the branch a little over a month, and I thought the Relief society President was amazing! It turned out she was moving to Idaho. President Sivert said that I would be sustained two Sunday's after General conference. Aaron replied, "Well President that should give us enough time to find another place to live."

Two weeks after I was called our Branch presidency was changed. Since our Branch has a lot of turnover rate our Branch President does not live in our Branch boundaries. This was also a shock, because now I had to give our new branch President all of the ins and outs, of the branch, and I was new too. Even though we are in a branch and not a ward, I think I am the busiest I have ever been. Aaron works till seven at night, so I do some visiting during the day, which means I have to find people to watch Jack and West, which is not an easy task. And then when Aaron comes home, I generally leave. I am so busy, but in my two months in the Presidency, I have seen many miracles. I am constantly reminded that our Heavenly Father knows us individually and wants what is best for us. I am so grateful for the patience and love He has for me, as I try to help His children. And I am so grateful for Aaron and his support, I am not home most nights and he is always willing to take care of the boys and the house.

On another note, West had his 15 month appointment yesterday. He weighs 20.4 pounds, and is in the 5th percentile for weight. Our doctor has ordered 6 different labs for him, she thinks he might be anemic, and wants to check thoroughly to make sure that everything is ok. We are also going to put him in a head start program, since he has no desire to walk, and is not really talking. We are not too concerned, but are hoping they are able to find something out about his weight.

I have not posted pictures for a long time, so here are some things that we have been up to recently:

The boys love reading books!

Helping me "make" dinner. While helping me yesterday, he dropped my crock-pot and the bowl shattered everywhere.

Dad and Jack

He said he wanted to be a princess like in the movies, Oh dear!

Jack took this picture

Eating the chocolate of the spatula, and feeding West.

West took his pants and diaper off during nap time.

Oldie but Goodie

2010-11-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

So recently I have had three different people say that they saw this picture of "Jack and Yoda" on different websites. Here is one example, it is a Lego website.

http://legos.tumblr.com/post/1537374581/the-force-is-strong-with-this-one

I know it is a funny picture, but it is kinda creepy to see it on all of these websites, and know that I did not put it there. I guess I should find a photo contest to enter it into.

Family Photo Shoot

2010-10-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had our pictures taken by a friend in the branch, Emmalie Prigmore. She did a great job. We went up past Sundance, can I just say CAR SICK!!! Emmalie rode in the back with the boys on the way up, and I switched her on the way back. We both got car sick, and were out of commission for the rest of the day. Thank you so much Emmalie!!!!!! Here are some of our favorite pictures:

West Loves being thrown in the air!

Giving dad kisses.

West put a huge handful of mud in his mouth before this picture.

My favorite family picture.

Aaron's favorite.

West

The boys and I.

Jack

ADVICE PLEASE!!

2010-10-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

You guys know that I love to clean, yes love. Aaron says I use any excuse I can get to vacuum. I love it because I love seeing the finished project, and with two boys, it is a project!!! Well I have come upon a mess, that I can not defeat!!

We have linoleum in our kitchen, and it is a BEAST!!! I have had it in previous apartments, but have always been able to keep it clean. I use a swifer mop at least once a week, and about twice a month, I am on my hands and knees scrubbing it with hot water and soap. Two days after I scrub the floor, on my hands and knees, it is disgusting again! How can I tell? My boys knees, feet, and clothes. There feet and clothes are black, and I mean black. West's knees are also black. I am so tired of scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees!! I need help!! Does anyone have any advice, on how I can keep the floor clean? Please help!!!!!

Look who's one!

2010-09-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Time really has flown by this year. I still remember thinking that West would never come, and now he is one. I took him in for his one year appointment and he weighs 19.4 pounds, which puts him in the 7th percentile for weight. He is in the 50th percentile for height and the 30th percentile for head circumference. His iron was also low, so we are giving him an iron supplement. It is crazy to me that he is so tiny cause he is a pig!!! He eats constantly, he is probably trying to make up for getting a slow start. Today he pulled himself up on furniture for the first time, it is fun to see him growing and coming into his own. Here are some pictures from his birthday cake, it was a lot of fun to watch him pig out!

Digging in!

Jack really wanted to help

So did Kaden

Bath time

MOOOO

2010-09-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in the car, I turned to Jack and said, "Your my cute little dude." Jack responded, "No I am a BIG cow, and you are a pig." If that statement had not come from a 2 year old, I might have been offended. He then started to moo, and asked me to oink, like a pig.
On a nicer note:

West

Here are a couple of videos for your listening pleasure. Jack loves to sing:

Singing "Life is a Highway"

He decided he had a boom boom and not a microphone

During Nap time: Justin Bieber

Just Like Jack

2010-09-10T10:50:00.001-07:00

West wants so desperately to play and be like Jack, but most of the time Jack does not like West playing with "his" toys. When Jack "allows" West to play with his cars (most of the time I have to make Jack give West, some of his cars) West tries to play and do exactly what Jack does. It is a lot of fun to see them play and enjoy each others company.

Jack races his cars on the couch, now West does it too.

Playing together.

Super Hero

2010-09-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Last week we watched Spider-man, and ever since then Jack has been obsessed with super heroes. He runs around the house saying, "I'm a super hero, and I save the girl." He blushes out of control when when Spider-man kisses MJ. Well tonight we watched Spider-man 2, when MJ and Spiderman were about to kiss jack said," I'm a boy." He walked right up to me and gave me a smooch on the lips, and did not pull away for a second. He then got a smile on his face and said, "I kissed the girl." What a funny kid!

FINALLY

2010-08-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

I have been without our computer and internet for almost three months, and boy has a lot happened!! We moved to Utah the end of June, even though Aaron did not have a job. His license to work in Washington expired the end of June, and we would have had to pay $300 to renew it, so we prayed and decided that we needed to move, even though Aaron did not have a job.

We had been looking for a Job in Utah since February, Aaron had 7 phone interviews, but nothing panned out. We moved into my brother and sister-in-laws basement the end of June. Aaron continued to have interviews, but nothing. It was really hard getting our hopes up, thinking that this was going to be the job, and then nothing. We had money in savings that we were hoping to use to get moved into our new apartment, but we ended up using almost all of it on bills, since Aaron did not have a job.

We had to be out of Brandon's basement by Aug. 14th, cause Amanda's sister was coming to visit for two weeks. On Aug. 6th, we found out that Aaron had been offered a job, with Wasatch Mental Health. After 11 interviews, and a lot of fasting and praying we were blessed. I am so grateful for Aaron's persistence. It was really hard on him constantly being told no, but he kept his faith. We went apartment shopping, that next week, and found an apartment in Orem. We used our last penny to move into the apartment. We have been truly blessed. These past couple of months have been really trying, but the Lord had truly blessed. AND after 1.5 years, WE ARE FINALLY LIVING IN OUR OWN APARTMENT. The elders quorum helped us move in, and it turns out we are in a Branch. In the middle of Utah. Last Friday Aaron and I were asked to talk, that coming Sunday. I am guessing we will have a lot of opportunities to speak, since there are about 45 people in the Branch. Even though it is small we LOVE our Branch.

OTHER NEWS:

This Dude:

is crawling and has popped two teeth!

He is so much Happier now that he is mobile

And this Dude:

Is Potty Trained

I tried to potty train Jack at Aaron's parents house, and at Brandon and Amanda's house, but he refused, and what a pain it was. We moved into our apartment, and that day he wanted to go Potty like a big boy. He has not had an accident in 4 days, and last night he did not wear a diaper to bed, and was dry when he woke up.

Big Smiles

During "Nap Time" Jack throws all of his toys into West's Crib.

We went to the zoo and Jack carried the map, he sat down a couple of times in the middle of walk-way to show us where we were supposed to go.

Ill post more pictures later.

Oh Dear

2010-05-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

This week has been a crazy week. I thought that Jack had already gone through the terrible twos, but boy was I wrong. Jack has always had a very strong personality, but lately it has been out of control. He has thrown some pretty impressive temper tantrums. Here are just a couple examples:

Tuesday we went to the store, and he did not get what he wanted, he cried all the way home, so he when to straight to his room when we got home. When I put him down he hit me, and tried to push me out of the way to get to the door before I closed it. He then proceeded to hit and kick the door while screaming, "Mom open this door." I had to go in three times before he would apologize.

Saturday he was playing with Mr. Potato and kept throwing it. We told him to stop throwing it, or he would go to his room. I went into a different room and heard poor Mr. Potato head hit the floor again. I asked Jack if he threw Mr. Potato head, and he said, "No mom, I did not throw him." Even though Papa saw him do it. That is the first time Jack has ever lied to me. I was shocked because normally when he does something wicked he confesses.

Today was probably the worst yet. I told him it was time to take a nap and he needed to pick up his toys. He started screaming and throw a block at me. I again told him to pick up his toys and he tried to hit me. So I put him in his bed and left. I went back in to talk to him and he hit me again, so I left. He hit and kicked the door for a good thirty minutes, while I was trying to calm West down. He finally fell asleep. When he woke up I asked him to apologize and he said, "No," and would not look at me. So back to his room he went. I went in a couple of times to get him to apologize and every time he hit me. Happy Mother's day to me. Man where did my sweet boy go? If any one finds him please send him back.

Even though Jack has been a pill, the good times out weight the bad times. Here are a couple of pictures we took this morning.

My brother just got his mission call to Peru, this is for you Jordan.

Jack and West

Even though West is not looking, I love Jack's face.

My Boys

2010-05-08T13:20:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to post some pictures of my boys! I love them so much!

Jack loves holding west.

Aaron just got glasses. Ill post a close up picture of him with them on soon.

West looks like he is about to say "hey stop that."

Jack and West watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

This is the first picture we have of West looking some what chunky. He is almost 8 months old and finally has a roll on his thigh.

Recipes

2010-04-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I love to cook, so we decided that we wanted to make a family cook book. It has taken me almost a year to finish, but it is done!! It is 158 pages long, with two recipes on each page. I designed my own format and am pretty happy with the way it turned out. When Aaron gets paid next we are planning on getting it printed. One of my friends Bekah asked from some new recipes, so I wanted to post some. I hope these help. My format did not transfer over very well, so I had to delete the notes. Enjoy!

CHICKEN SANDWICHES Serves: 6-8

Cooking Time: NA Preheat Oven To: NA

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breasts cooked

½ Cup mayonnaise

½ Cup Green onions

1 tsp. Fresh tarragon

½ Cup cashews

Bread

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and spread over bread.

Lime chicken is one of my favorite meals! We generally eat it with black beans and rice:

LIME CHICKEN Serves: 2

Cooking Time: 1 Hour Preheat Oven To: 375

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

2 TBS. Olive Oil

2 TBS. Lemon Juice

¼ tsp. Thyme

Pepper to Taste

3 Lime Wedges

Directions:

Place chicken in lightly oiled baking dish. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, and pepper, brush over chicken. Bake at 375 for one hour, until chicken is done and golden brown. Set aside lime wedges for each piece of chicken. When chicken is done, squeeze lime wedges

This might sound weird, but it is really good:

PASTA WITH BROCCOLI Serves: 4 Cooking Time: 30 minutes Preheat Oven To: NA

Ingredients:

1 Head of broccoli, cut into florets 2 TBS. Butter

3 TBS. Olive oil 4 Cloves Garlic

½ tsp. Pepper flakes 1 lb. Spaghetti or linguini

¼ - ½ Cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook spaghetti according to pkg. directions. Meanwhile cook broccoli either by boiling or steaming. Drain and set aside. Just before pasta is done, melt butter with olive oil, add garlic and cook one minute, add pepper flakes and remove from heat. Drain pasta and combine with garlic/butter mixture. Add broccoli and “toss” with Parmesan cheese to coat spaghetti well.

These are the beans we generally eat with the Lime Chicken:

CUBAN BLACK BEANS Serves: 6

Cooking Time: 1 hour Preheat Oven To: NA

Ingredients:

15oz can Black Beans 2 Bay leaves

½ small onion, chopped Pepper to taste

1 tsp. Red pepper flakes Splash Tabasco

Directions:

In saucepan, sauté onion until translucent. Add remaining ingredients and perhaps a little water. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Serve over white cooked rice.

CHICKEN CURRY Serves: 6-8

Cooking Time: 30 minutes Preheat Oven To: NA

Ingredients: Fruit:

1 ½ Cups cooked cubed, chicken Mandarin oranges

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup Bananas

¾ Cup Chicken Broth Pineapple

1 tsp. Sugar Apple

1 TBS Curry Powder Kiwi

½ tsp. Ginger ETC.

1 ½ tsp. Lemon juice

Directions:

Mix sugar and spice with half the soup, then add remaining ingredients. Gradually stir in the chicken broth, cooking over low heat. Add chicken and lemon juice. Serve over rice. About two cups cooked for this recipe and top with fruit.

This is also a favorite of mine. I generally double the spices, and cube the chicken.

MOROCCAN SPICED CHICKEN Serves: 2-3

Cooking Time: 20 minutes Preheat Oven To: NA

Ingredients:

2-3 Chicken breasts 1 TBS Paprika

½ tsp. Salt ½ tsp. Ground cumin

¼ tsp. Allspice ¼ tsp. Cinnamon

1 TBS Vegetable oil

Directions:

Cut chicken into pieces. In a small bowl mix all spices. Coat Chicken with spice mixture. In skillet heat oil over medium heat, and cook chicken, until juice of chicken is clear. Serve with couscous and green beans.

Slacker

2010-04-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

A recent pictures of West:

I have been a slacker lately so here is an update on what has been going on. After a roller coaster ride, we finally got in contact with the person that hit Aaron and were able to get her to agree to pay us some money. We made a contract, so she has until May 8th to get us the money, if not we are going to the police, because it turns out even though her insurance company let me file a claim (after I finally hunted them down, with no help from the person that hit us) they called me back and said she did not have insurance. WHAT A PAIN!!!!! So hopefully in a couple of weeks this will finally be over.

Aaron had a phone interview with Wasatch Mental Health in Utah today, he said it went really well. They are planning on doing a couple of rounds of interviews, and told him he should hear from them within the next 24-48 hours. They want the position filled by the end of the week. We are hoping and praying that he gets it, so we can make the move back to Utah, so Aaron can start grad school soon.

In other news I started potty training Jack again. How time consuming. He is catching on, he does have the problem of telling me he has to go potty, when he already is, but hopefully we can get that fixed soon. West has decided that he no longer needs to drink milk. The most he will drink at a time is two ounces, and then he generally spits it right back up. Our doctor told us we should not be to worried, because he is growing and looks like he is retaining fluids. So she switched him to Soy milk, but it has not seemed to help. I can't wait until he can drink real milk, maybe the spitting up will stop. Between Jack potty training and West spitting up all of the time I do Laundry every other day. Because lets be honest, West generally spits up on me three times a day, and I am talking huge amounts. Yesterday he got me right when church was about to start. He drenched me, all I could do was go to the bathroom and try to clean it up as best I could. Its a good thing I love my boys!!!!

Here are a couple of pictures from recently:

Aaron made a chair fort for Jack.

Jack and I in the Fort

Dad and Jack in the Fort

Jack with Mr. Blanket

Easter clothes

2010-03-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

Since Easter falls on General conference this year, we dressed the boys up in their Easter clothes this week. They looked so cute:

Jack's new love!

Jack likes watching Aaron play video games. He generally just watches, but Aaron let him play yesterday. He was playing millipede, and actually got to the third level by himself at one point, I could not get past the first level! I must say I was impressed by his skills, considering we have not let him play video games before.

If you listen in the video he says, "Oh no boom boom, it got me!"

I hate being right sometimes!

2010-03-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I were lucky enough to get a pretty nice tax return, which we used to pay off some debt. Before we decided how we were going to spend the money, I told Aaron that we should keep some money in our checking account in case anything happened, because lets be honest, any time we get money, something happens.

Well about 5 months ago Aaron's parents gave us a car. They said we could have the car, if we fixed the brakes, which was a blessing. All together it cost us about $900 to get new brakes in the car, which we just finished paying off. Well Last Friday Aaron was rear ended in our Taurus, the car, his parents gave us. It is now totaled. The right back side of the car is completely smashed in, and it will not start. So on to keeping some money in our account, Aaron had been meaning to insure the car, but had not done it yet, so we got a $550 ticket for it not being insured! I understand that it is our fault it was not insured, so I understand getting a ticket, but we did not cause the accident, that is a lot of money, shoot, its more than the car is worth.

Well Aaron got all of the girl's insurance information, and tried to call her insurance company. She is insured under an insurance company called Patriot, or so she said. We called Patriot and they said she was not insured there, even though the police wrote down her insurance information. So Aaron started calling her Monday, and no luck. She gave us her wrong phone number, luckily Aaron got a hold of her friend that was in the car and got her right number. She finally called us back Friday, saying she left her phone in another town, all week. Oh and she said she just found out that her insurance expired right before the accident, and she wanted to settle outside of court.

How did she not know her insurance expired that day? She is tricky!! She did not get a ticket for not having insurance, and the ticket she did get for causing the wreck was less than our ticket. So now we are out a car, it was an old car, but it worked just fine, we lost the $900 we paid to get the brakes fixed, we owe $550 on a ticket, Aaron's back still hurts, so he is going to the doctor, and she does not have insurance. So now we are trying to decide what to do. Do we settle outside of court, or do we take her to court? We don't want to ask to much, but she has been tricky and very unhelpful! Does anyone have any ideas on what we should do? We feel lost.

Aaron called a layer and is waiting to hear back from them. I suggested that we ask the police, but Aaron said that then she would get a $550 ticket. Oh life!!

How Embarrassing!

2010-03-01T16:52:00.000-08:00

I must say that this past Sunday was the worst that Jack has every behaved at church, and that is saying something. Sunday Aaron was giving a talk, so I was sitting on a pew on the side of the chapel by myself, with Jack and West. For the past 5 months Aaron has had to work on Sunday, so I have had a lot of experience sitting alone with the boys, but this Sunday was "special." We were sitting three rows from the front, maybe that was my first mistake.

We made it to the Sacrament and Jack and West were both doing really well, but then West had a poopy diaper, so I had to take both of them out. Well Jack did not want to leave, so all of the way out he kept sighing really really loud, and stomping, which created a lot of stares and giggles as we left the chapel. We made it back in without a problem, but had only been sitting for a little while, when Jack started acting up.

No one was sitting in the two rows ahead of us, so Jack climbed under the bench and sat on the row in front of me. I decided to let him stay there because he was being good, and I knew if I tried to move him he would freak out. Well Aaron stood up to give his talk, and Jack made his move to the first bench. He started looking at the stairs with a smile on his face. I was able to make eye contact with him and said, "don't you dare." I was holding West and he was starting to get fussy. Jack then walked over to a couple of metal chairs that were against the wall and started rubbing his hands on them, which made a pretty loud noise. I knew I had to act but it was not going to be pretty.

I stood up and told Jack to come with me, of course he screamed "NOOOOOO," and dropped to the floor, continuing to scream. Keep in mind I was in the very front of the church, not in the back. I had to set West down on the pew pick Jack up in one arm, and then pick West up in the other. So I had a screaming, uncooperative two year old in one arm and a crying five month old in the other. I now had to make my escape! I started making the very long walk down the isle, with Jack screaming and kicking, luckily the RS president met me half way and took Jack from me. I guess Jack was trying to help Aaron with his talk, which was on adversity. I felt so bad for Aaron, but some how he was able to continue giving his talk. It is a good thing we love our kids!

Here is a video of Jack trying to do the Heisman pose. He loves going outside and throwing the football with us so I tried to teach him how to pose:

And here is a video of West talking. He is such a happy baby and loves to talk:

Decisions and a New Love

2010-02-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

Aaron and I are pretty sure that we are moving back to Utah in April. Things here in Washington have not turned out how we would have hoped. Aaron wanted to go to grad school in Seattle, but we have both decided that it will be to expensive to live in Seattle. If he does not get into school here, then we don't know what we would do. We were planning on moving out of his parents house in a couple of months, and feel like going back to Utah for grad school is where we should be. It is kinda of funny how things work out. We both said that there was no way on earth that we ever wanted to move back to Utah, but now it just seems right. So now we are basically waiting for Aaron to find a job, so we can move. Hopefully it will happen within the next month or two, so we can take the next step in our lives. Below are some random pictures from the past week:

Jack still loves Lightning Mcqueen, but a new love has also come into his heart Mickey Mouse! He runs around the house saying "Oh toodles where are you?" We found a book at Barnes and Noble that had all of the characters from the clubhouse. He insisted that I take a picture of him holding each character. Here are a few:

Jack asked if he could help change West's diaper, it was pretty funny to watch him try and take West's diaper off. He eventually said, "Mom I can't do it, it's too hard." West did have a poopy diaper, so I am glad that Jack could not take it off:

Here is a video of Jack. He loves running circles around the house, but when he discovered I was taking a video of him he was pretty upset:

FHE

2010-02-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

So Aaron and I have not been the best when it comes to having FHE. We have been hit and miss, but mostly miss. A couple of months ago, I decided that this needed to stop. I decided that I was going to make a treat every Monday, for FHE, not only because they are yummy, but also to help us remember to do it. We have held FHE for the past month, with songs, and a lesson, and of course deliciousness!! If feels so good to follow the prophets council. It is also fun to make the treats. Jack is my helper, and boy does he love chocolate! Here are a couple pictures to prove it:

A funny story, We like watching American Idol, the try outs are the best. Our favorite tryout was the "Pants on the Ground" song. Well Jack walks around the house saying "Pants on the ground," over and over. A couple of weeks ago during Sacrament Meeting, I was picking West up out of his car seat (he is a lot smaller than Jack was at his age) therefore his pants were falling off of his tiny bum, Jack sees this and says pretty loudly "Pants on the Ground." I could feel my face turn red. Lets just say a lot of people heard him say it. A little embarrassing, but also pretty funny.

Little ears

2010-01-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

Jack picks up on everything that I or anyone around says, so I guess we just have to be careful when we talk around him.

Yesterday I was watching a show and something crazy happened, so I said,
"What the," and then Jack said "Heck"

Jack is very hyper so one day he was running all over the place so I said, "Jack please calm," and then he said "Down."

I think the funniest one so far though was when Anne was playing a video game and she won, so she said, "Take that sucker!" Well Jack sure thought that was cool, he proceeded to tell the TV and me the same thing.

Yesterday I was reading a book to Jack with a rooster in it and tried to get him to say Cock- a- doddle- do. Well now he walks around the house saying cock a do do. Kids are so funny!

Here is a video of Jack walking in high heels, it is sideways, but still pretty funny!

Pictures!

2010-01-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

I have taken a lot of pictures lately so here are some of them:

West is getting so big!

Jack loves Buzz, he also likes wearing West's bibs.

When West is scared or sad he makes this face

Watching a show with Mr. Blanket

Some times its hard to wake up!

Both boys watching Mickey Mouse Club house, Jack's Favorite show!

Eating a cupcake!

Lookin good with a stach!

Our Two Year Old

2009-12-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

Jack turned two on December 15th. I know this is a little late, but our computer has been in the shop. Words can't explain how much we love this boy!

8 pounds 7 Ounces and 20 inches long

Now he is a little chunkier, 29 pounds!! He loves to eat , eat, eat!!

His new thing is to walk around with his hands in his pocket!

Jack is our little stud! He has grown so much and seems so old. Here are some of my favorite pictures of him:

Jack has been completing sentences since about 18 months. He loves telling us what to do:

"Mommy get up" (while pushing me from behind)
"Mommy come crash with me"

"Daddy get up and find it" (He will grab your arm and pull you)

Besides bossing us around he also knows how to be very cute:

"Hi Mommy I love you" (While giving me a hug or rubbing my back)
"Daddy Please Hold you"
"I am so so fast"
"Please sing Popcorn song"
"Lets go Eat"

He is also very helpful around the house:

He puts the silverware away
sets the table
wipes the table
Picks up his toys
Puts his diaper in the garbage, and dirty clothes in the hamper
Tries to comfort West when he is crying.

We Love our little boy and thank the Lord Everyday for the blessing he is to us.

Life

2009-12-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

Well since my last post nothing much has changed. We ended up taking West in to the ER, and they said that if his pyloric was .1 millimeters bigger, they would keep him, so they sent us home. We have been taking him in to get weight checks, and he has been gaining weight, so that is a plus, but he is still throwing up tons, and has started to become kinda fussy, which is bringing back bad memories!! But hopefully he will calm down again. So now we are just going with the flow.

Other than that life is pretty good. Jack just loves West. When West cries Jack tells him that he is ok, and gives him hugs and kisses. I love seeing them together. Jack is almost two and I can't believe how fast time has flown. We are getting ready for Christmas, and can't wait!! We are so excited to see Jack open presents. We are also coming up on our 4 year anniversary, which is so crazy! I love my family so much!! Here are some pictures I have taken recently:

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Watching Anne play a racing game

Just chillen

The faces West makes are very similar to Jack's

Hanging with Dad

Jack took the piano Christmas ornament and played it on the real piano

Jocelyn will kill me, but that is ok. She has been working with a trainer and looks so good!!!

Pyloric Stenosis

2009-11-22T09:47:00.000-08:00

What in the world is that? That is what I first thought when the doctor asked if we had a history of it in our family, "Well I don't think so because I have never heard of it." Pyloric Stenosis is a disease that causes the lower part of the stomach in babies to narrow, which prevents food from emptying the stomach causing babies to throw up what they have eaten. It occurs in 1 out of 500 babies, generally boys. It can be fixed with surgery.

West has been spitting up for quite some time, making us think that he had acid reflux, but it has continually gotten worse. He will spit up from the time he has finished eating all the way to his next feeding. Friday I took him in to get an ultrasound because our pediatrician thought he might have Pyloric Stenosis. The ultrasound came back with one abnormal reading and two borderline readings. Our pediatrician told us to monitor him this weekend because it is a disease that gets worse as time goes on. Well this weekend he has been spitting up even more. Unfortunately our doctor Cynthia Ironside (who I absolutely love!!), is not on call. She told us to call the on call doctor if it got worse and he would tell us what we needed to do.

This morning I was getting ready for church I had just fed West and he spit up some, but that was normal. I started to get him in his Sunday wear and he spit up all over it, so I changed him. As we were getting in the car he again spit up all over the place. I immediately brought him inside and called the on call doctor, who made me feel like an idiot! I told him about teh ultrasound and the findings, and he said that there was a bug going around that was causing babies to throw up. I told him that he was not eating very well and he proceeded to tell me that he can't spit up more, if he does not eat more. I told him that Saturday I had fed him at 5 am and then again at 8. At 8 he only ate half an ounce, but spit up at least three ounces, meaning that the food was probably stuck in his stomach and had finally come out. He then said all I can tell you is that if you are concerned go to the ER.

WOW I felt like a complete idiot. My pediatrician was very concerned and told me to monitor him and if it got bad to call to the on call doctor, well it has, and he could care less. So my plan is to wait until his next feeding and if he throws up again I am going to take him in. If he has to get the surgery he will be on an IV for 24 hours to prepare his body. He will then be there for a couple of days after to be monitored. We are hoping that we can just get this taken care of so our baby will feel better!

I hate when doctors think they know everything and won't listen to you, even when my doctor told me she was concerned!!!! I am so grateful for our pediatrician, she has never made me feel dumb and always listens to my concerns. We have gone to 5 different pediatricians since Jack was born, and Cynthia is by far the best we have seen!!! I will post again when we figure out what is going to happen.

Halloween and Baby Blessing

2009-11-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had West's baby blessing. Brandon, Amanda, Jocelyn, Taryn, and Kaden visited from Provo, to be here for the blessing. It is about a ten hour drive. They got in Friday night about ten and left Sunday morning right after the blessing. Aaron's brother Alex also came for the blessing. He took a train from Portland to be here. It was so nice to have family here for the blessing. It was also nice to have them here for Halloween.

Jack is a pro when it comes to trick or treating. One of the doors we knocked had a bowl on the front porch that said, "take some." Jack picked the bowl up moved it in front of him and started taking pieces out one by one to put in his bag. It was pretty funny, we had to make him stop, i believe if we had not he would have emptied the whole bag. One of the houses we walked up to had a man dressed up in black with a scream mask on. Jack looked at him for a second and then turned around screaming and crying. He was so scared that his whole body was shaking. It took us a little while to calm him down, and then he kept saying scary! Taryn joined and said, "he is a mean man." I felt pretty bad for Jack, but all in all they had a fun night.

It was so fun to see Jack and Taryn play together again. It has been six months since they have seen each other. Jack would walk around the house saying "Taryn where are you, oh there you are. I found you!!" Taryn is so so funny when West was hungry she said, "oh no he is starving and hungry. She also said that the reason West was crying was because he missed his daddy. I am so so grateful that they came and visited for the blessing! I have not seen Brandon and Amanda since I graduated in April. Seeing my family made me so so happy, I have really really missed them! Here are some pictures from the short weekend.

Taryn, Kaden, West, and Jack

Giving West kisses

They were pushing cars down the slide, I love their faces in this picture

I love candy!

Not so sure about this!

Little Fairy

Getting ready to go the West's blessing

Looking UP!

2009-10-09T16:39:00.001-07:00

Well things are looking wonderful! West gained .3 ounces at his appointment and the doctor said that was what she was looking for. She said I need to keep him on formula, but said she did not want us to have to buy it, so when we run out to give her a call and she will give us some. I am still breastfeeding West every other feeding to see if I can get it to work, so we will see what happens. As for Jack his finger is looking so much better. The medicine has worked and the doctor said that the staph is gone! I am very relieved and happy! Here are a couple of recent pictures:

He loves holding West!

Dr. Office: My new home!

2009-10-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

West is a little over 2 weeks old, and boy has life been crazy!! Last saturday night, Jack started feeling sick, he had a fever of 102, a rash all over his body, and a little blister the size of a pea on his thumb. We gave him some medicine and finally got him to sleep about 1 in the morning. Aaron and my room is in the basement, and Jack shares a room with Kyle upstairs. Their bedroom is right across the hall from grandma and grandpa's. Sunday morning about 7, Maga (Grandma Hayes) woke up that morning to Jack saying "What is it, What is it?" She went into the bedroom to find that Jack had thrown up all over his bed, and was wondering what it was.

That afternoon we noticed that the blister on his finger had grown, and by the next morning it was covering his whole thumb. I called our doctor and took Jack in to be checked. The doctor checked Jack and discovered that he had a staph infection. She told us it was very contagious and we needed to keep him away from West. She also popped his blister, gave us a prescription and set us up to come back and see her in a week. Well we were successful in giving Jack his meds the first two days, and then he decided he did not want them. Every time we tried to give them to him he spit it out. We even had two people holding him and one shutting his nose so he would swallow. We tried putting it in chocolate syrup, yougart, ice cream, and even his drink, but he would not take it. We finally tried putting it in an otter pop, and it worked!

While all of this was happening with Jack, we also had problems with West. West is a sleepy boy. I have to wake him up to eat every time. We have to put our hand in the freezer then on his stomach, and then sometimes this does not work. I took him in for his 3 day appointment and he had lost weight, which is normal, but she wanted me to bring him in one week later to make sure he was gaining. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Three days later he was circumsiced and they weighed him and he had dropped to 7 pounds 4 ounces. I brought him back in two days later and he was down to 7 pounds 1 ounce. So I have had to give him formula. I want to keep breastfeeding, but not sure if I will be able too. I am switching between the bottle and breastfeeding. Monday I have to take him back in to see if he has gained weight. If he has not gained weight we will discuss what needs to happen next, hopefully he has though. All in all I have been to the doctor's office 6 different times in one week. And I am going back monday, and tuesday. I hope this is the last time I have to take them in for a long time!

Some pictures of West

2009-09-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

West has been such a good baby so far! Jack cried all of the time, never slept, and was a pretty hard baby, it is crazy to see how different their temperaments are so far. All West does is sleep. He only cries when he is hungry, and even then not very long. I have to wake him up to feed him and even then he falls asleep while he is eating. With Jack I usually did not get to bed until after 1 and then I was waking up almost every hour. I have been putting West to bed at 11 and he generally does not wake up until around 3:30 and then again around 7. I hope that I am not cursing myself by writing this!

Right after I had West. Pretty tired, but so happy!

Getting ready for his first bath

Sleeping in his crib

I am getting better at wrapping him in his blanket.

My mom came to visit from Texas, it was so nice to have her here!

My sister Jocelyn also came to visit from SLC.

West has arrived!

2009-09-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

West Aaron Hayes was born September 17th at 5:24 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz and was 20 inches long. We are so so happy to have him with us.

My mom got in on Tuesday th 15th, and she had been praying that I would not have him until she came, so my prayers for him to come early were in vain Haha. Wednesday the 16th I had a doctors appointment, where I found out that I was at a 2. I was bummed because I was so ready to have our baby. The doctor stripped my membrane, which hurt like crazy, but I was happy he did it. He then told me that they were backed up on the induction list and that they could not get me in until the 25th, if I did not have West before then. He then told me that if I had three contractions or any type of pattern to come in and the doctors would try to do everything they could to keep me, because they did not want me to go past my due date by to much. After we left the doctors office, we went grocery shopping, and I tried to stay on my feet. That night my mom took me on about a 45 minute walk, and I started to have some contractions. We then came home and watched the season final of America's got talent.

My contractions were staring to come every 5-7 minutes, but not to intense. So we watched an intervention and then a couple of episodes of Reba. At about midnight we decided to go to the hospital. They checked me and I was at a four and so they admitted me. I was given an epidural about thirty minutes later. My contractions were not as bad as they were with Jack, but I did not want them to get that way. The doctor then broke my water and I moved from a 4 to a 9 in three hours. At five in the morning I was ready to push. I only pushed for 14 minutes. I felt a lot of pressure and some intense pain as his head crowned. The doctor had me reach down and feel his head, it felt neat but weird. The epidural was not as strong as it was for Jack. I could not wait for the next contraction! I pushed again and he came out. It was so amazing. Aaron had a huge smile on his face and was teary eyed. My mom, as well as Aaron's mom, and Aaron's sister Anne were in the room. West weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. And my labor only lasted 5 hours! We are so blessed.

That afternoon Aaron brought Jack to meet West. Jack said he wanted to hold West, so we put West in Jack's lap and he turned his head and said no no! He was a little scared of him, but now he sits right next to West and says "Hi baby", it is so so cute! Oh we love our boys. I will post more pictures later.

The Fair

2009-09-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Aaron, Jack, Anne, and I went to the county fair. I have never been to the fair before so I was really excited. There were tons of animals; cows, horses, chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats, roosters, and dogs. We thought that Jack would love the animals, but they really scared him. I was hoping to get a couple of pictures of him next to some animals, but he would not have it. When we saw the roosters he immediately covered his ears and looked terrified. So the animals were not a big hit, but he loved the elephant ears, and so did I!! We decided that next year we are just going to send someone in to the fair to by a couple of elephant ears. I know Fat kid story.

On the way to the fair

Jack loves sitting on Aaron's shoulders and wearing a hat just like dad!

Jack loved making the animal sounds even though they scared him!

On another note, Jack also loves loves cars. Every morning when he wakes up the first thing out of his mouth is Race car. He then jumps out of his bed runs down the hall to where the stairs are that lead to the basement, gets a couple of his cars, lightning Mcqueen and Mater, and sits on the couch while chanting race car, race car. I let him watch a little of the Movie Cars every morning. He will not eat or do anything until he gets to see the race cars. Here is a little video of him requesting race cars.

Baby Belly

2009-08-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

As requested here are some pictures of my baby "bump" not so much of a bump as a mountain now.

My tummy 35 weeks:

I am so ready to be done!

Church clothes!

2009-08-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here are just a couple of pictures of Jack in his new white shirt and tie.

Oh no Crash!!

2009-07-28T16:04:00.001-07:00

Jack loves loves loves playing with and crashing his cars, so here are some pictures and a video.

Playing with his car from Aubrey

He loves to color!

Dad and Jack in the basement watching the movie Cars together!

Playing itsaball (baseball) with Aunt Anne

Crashing his cars. He literally does this for hours without getting bored! Pretty funny!

Lactose Intolerant

2009-07-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I got on here, so I am going to give a quick update. Aaron has been working for 3 weeks and is enjoying his job. He works four ten hour days a week. The nice thing is that he is off Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, which might change soon. Jack is almost 19 months old. He says over 100 words and sentences. When I took him to his 18 month appointment, the doctor said that 10-15 words is the norm, he loves to talk. He also loves to flirt with the ladies, he thinks he is pretty hot stuff. Well I am 7 months pregnant, and starting to want the baby to come. I am also lactose intolerant, which is very stinky! I miss my milk products. When I was pregnant with Jack I was lactose intolerant as well, and it went away right after I had Jack. I hope that happens with this baby. I can't wait to eat a huge bowl of ice cream, or even drink a glass of milk. I feel like a fat kid because all I want is ice cream. I will post pictures later.

Sporting the Mohawk

2009-06-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post some pictures of Jack recently in his church attire! Aaron did his hair this morning and tried to part it, but jack instantly ran his hands through his hair and messed it up, so Aaron gave him a Mohawk.

Close up!

Lovin from Mom!

I asked him to smile for me!

Our Stud!!

I did it!

2009-06-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

We are so excited Aaron just got a job working as a case manager for a place called La Clincia. He will be getting benefits and making a lot more money than he has been. He is going to be starting his job on Monday. We are so thankful for all of the prayers and support we have received from family and friends. We are really enjoying it in Washington, we have met a lot of really nice people and we don't have to go to school what a plus!

I also wanted to give an update on Jack. He is talking so much! He has started talking in sentences, it is a lot of fun to see him grow and learn. Here are some of the phrases that he says:

I did it
I'm stuck
I tumbled (whenever he falls or trips)
I found it
Where is the ball?
I love you
I want a gink (drink)
I want to eat
Ready, set, go (Then he runs)
Oh no
Oops
I want to go ni ni ( then he lays his head down and pretends to snore)
Sorry

Those are all I can think of right now. One other thing he does a lot is go to time out. He used to hit a lot, but not as much anymore, now he just does not listen. When we get him out of timeout he gives us a hug and kiss and says he is sorry. I usually ask him if he knows why he is in time out to which he answers yes, with a smile on his face. He is growing so fast! Here are a couple of pictures and a video.

We have been telling Jack that I have a baby in my tummy, so he wants one too. He gives great kisses!

Our dude!

On our trip to the beach we got to eat at a restaurant overlooking the ocean it was so pretty!

Our trip to the beach. We had a contest to see who could go the farthest into the ocean, Aaron won, I was a chicken!

Little Turtle

2009-05-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Jack helping me sing his favorite song:

Life is so fun!

2009-05-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well Aaron and I offically graduated from BYU and we are now living in Washington. Aaron is on the search for a Job in Social Work, and I am loving being a stay at home mom. At graduation my cap fell off my head as I walked across the stage. Of course this could and would only happen to me. I would say I was a little embarssed. Jack will be 17 months in two days. He is so so silly! Today we also found out that we are going to be having a baby boy September 17th. We are both very excited. But we are also worried that jack will teach his little brother his wicked ways. Ha ha. It was so neat to get the ultra sound today. The baby was laying on his stomach so they were not able to see everything they wanted to, so we get to have another ultrasound in July. Here is a video of Jack being Jack. He is making a funny face over and over cause he knows it makes me laugh:

In other news Aaron's parents got us a graduation/honeymoon trip, since we never made it to our honeymoon due to the car accident. My parents also gave us some money for the trip. We were able to go to the Beach and we even saw two whales. We slept in Yurts on the beach it was very rainy but a lot of fun. We also went to a Seattle Mariners game and the Cheese Factory in Tillamook. We also got to stay in three different Bed and Breakfasts. It was our first time to stay in a bed and breakfast, and it was really cool. The food was great! It was so so nice to relax and take a break. We were gone for eight days, Aaron's parents watched Jack for us. It was hard to be away from him for that long. We were all excited to see eachother. I will post pictures from our trip and graduation later, the computer is being slow.

One, two, three!

2009-04-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Jack turns 16 months today! He has grown so much. One thing he loves to do is count to three. I say one, two, and then he says three. Aaron loves to throw Jack on the couch and Jack is also a big fan. Aaron will ask what comes after two, Jack will giggle and then say three, then Aaron will toss him on the couch. Here is a video of him saying three. He also disses me and refuses to give me a high five, but I love him anyway.

Jack has also discovered the joy of tickling, like father, like son! He thinks that he is pretty funny:

Here are some other pictures from the past little while, enjoy:

Eating Pancakes with Strawberry jam. Front View

Back View. He loves to run his hands through his hair.

Helping with the dishes, kind of.

A little trip

2009-03-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

With our Tax return money Aaron bought me a plane ticket to see my family in Amarillo. At the end of April we are going to be moving to Washington and living with his family for about a year, so he wanted to give me the chance to visit my family! It was a wonderful surprise. I was really nervous about taking Jack on a plane, cause he is a crazy little dude! Well he was good on the plane, he even thought it was funny, but he was awful in the airport. On our return home our plane was delayed an hour so we waited for about four hours in the airport, a mothers worst nightmare.

Jack was awful!!!! He wanted to walk around the airport, but continually walked into the bathroom, and then tried to walk down the escalators. When I picked him up he would smack me in my face and try to pull off my glasses. I would then turn him around so he could not hit me, and he would headbutt, and pinch me. I felt like everyone was looking at me and thinking "why can't you control your son." I was ready to give him away to a stranger. I have to say he is lucky he is still alive. Ha ha. Other than the awful flight we had a wonderful time. We surprised my little sisters, and they all just ate jack up. So here are some pictures from our trip:

Jack and Aunt Aubrey

Jacks cute smile

Jack brings me the clothes he wants to wear. He is wear a vest, and two sweatshirts.

Jack learned how to play the piano with his bottom, and he loved it!

Half way there!!

2009-03-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well the semester is half way over, which means that we are almost graduating! We are so excited to be done with school. This semester has been a busy one. I am doing an internship, watching my brother's two little ones, and trying to keep up with Jack, and the messes he makes. Aaron has been working his tail off. He is taking 20 credit hours, doing an internship, and working. Needless to say he is very tired. We are so thankful for all of the help and support we have received from friends and family.

About a month ago Juan helped us do our taxes, and did a wonderful job! Getting that done was such a stress relief, and it gave us money we needed to get our car looked at. I know that Cami and Juan would do anything for anybody.

After we got our tax money back I lost Aaron's keys. I looked for a good month and was not able to find them. So I went to get keys made and found out that our car keys have a chip in them. It cost me almost $200 to get a new car key. While the car dealership made new keys they also checked our fluids. They told us we needed a transmission, coolant, power steering, and brake flush, which would cost a little more than $600 dollars. We have had bad luck with car dealerships, so I said no thank you and called other places. I finally took our car into Honest-One Auto care. They checked our fluids and said we did not need a coolant flush, go figure. We ended up paying $245 dollars to get everthing else done. They did a great job and I will defintly go back to them any time I need any thing worked on! I recommend them to everybody!! They are off of Bulldog in Provo, next to the Mc Donalds. I am so grateful that there are still honest people in this world.

He walks!

2009-02-09T18:38:00.000-08:00

Jack finally decided to join the crowd and start walking. He can walk all over the house. Many times he walks a little to fast and falls, but it is so cute! Here is a of video:

Our Lazy Stud

2009-02-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

One day last week, after Jack woke up from a nap, he decided he wanted to be lazy! Aaron was playing a video game, so I sat Jack next to Aaron and gave him a controller. I also gave him a snack bowl. Jack did not move from how he was laying for a good thirty minutes, and kept stuffing his face.

Jack and dad Playing Halo 3

Examining his food

We also bought Jack a little suit for Sunday! I have to say he looks very handsome!

He is such a happy boy!

Here is one other picture of Jack. I just love him in this shirt!!

Late Church

2009-01-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

Since the new year, the time our church meets is one in the afternoon. We can normally get Jack to take a nap before we go, but lately he has been refusing to take a nap. Today I laid him down around 10:30 and he cried till around noon, so we just got him up. We are nursery leaders in our ward, so we bring Jack with us. After two hours of playing with other kids he is always really tired. We were not going to let him take a nap when we got home from church because it would be to late. We made dinner and put him in his high chair, and he was gone. He head bobbed for about ten minutes, but had no place to rest his head. So we felt bad for him and laid him down in his crib. Here are some pictures and a video of him attempting to sleep in his highchair.

Getting Sleepy

Out for the count