Jewelry

My new project has been organizing the new pieces that I have made. I am not thrilled with the picture quality and have to retake them before I can put them up on etsy.com but here is a sample of my stuff:

Recap of the last month

OK, here is a quick recap of all of the things that I have wanted to blog about but haven’t gotten to it…

I started teaching Bradley classes on the 4th of Feb. It has been great! If anybody has helpful tips, hints etc about what they liked/disliked about childbirth prep classes or childbirth- I am all ears!

I went back to Oregon at the end of January. Thank you Jessica for watching my son!

I have been making jewelry. I am debating on creating my own website or just putting them up on etsy. I will be posting pictures soon.

Jude… oh how can I recap him. He is continually developing new habits. Right now he fake laughs at everything. He also fake cries. His favorite thing is a toothbrush. We was quiet and content for 30 minutes (everyone who knows Jude will think this is a miracle) as he sat with the toothbrush in his mouth.

Blood test results: Low vitamin B and D. I got a b-12 shot which was heaven. It made me feel like a normal person for about a week. I am trying to figure out how to get them every month.

We have been attending and loving a new church, The Pearl church. The church that the pastor was from was Portland City Bible church. We are both excited to look forward to every Sunday.

I think that is all for now…

Exhausted

It has now been 11 days since I got 4 vials of blood drawn to find out why I am so exhausted. While I am still waiting for the results, I can’t help but do my own conjecturing…

Does your son sleep through the night? No

How many times does he wake? 1-2

How old is he? 16 months

How long since you had a good night sleep? Hmm. 20 months ago

I will stop there. As a mom, there is a constant companion with you for the first few weeks, months, years…? It is called sleep deprivation! I know most moms are tired and feel like they are operating on half a brain. I have felt this way for some time but have noticed an increase in true exhaustion.

Yesterday afternoon I was giving Jude a bottle before I put him down for his nap and before I knew it, we were both snoozing on the bed together. Two nights ago I was giving Jude a bottle of warm water (teething) at 1 am and woke up hours later- Jude still in my arms. As I laid him in his crib and snuck out, I found a pacifier tangled in my curls.

I sure hope that someone out there reads this and can tell me that this is normal. I also hope that this new exhaustion won’t last. Stay tuned to find out the results of my blood test…

Happy 25th Birthday, JD!

JD: As I write this, you are sitting on the couch holding Jude. He has just screamed in his crib for the last 30 minutes.  Even with this rocky start to your day – You still smile and laugh with Jude. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday and I love you sooo very much! I hope that the year of “25″ is fantastic for you and full of blessings. You are the best….

Joy

My 30lb workout

Clearly, it is January. Though I have not been to the gym in months, there is something about the new year that pushes you to get your butt up and go.
I have tried (for the last ten months) to take Jude to the childcare at the gym. This has been a nightmare. Out of the four times that I have taken him, most end with my name being called over the loud speaker. When I get to the daycare my child is in the middle of a melt down. Thanks to some advice from his friendly caregivers I tried again today during the “slow” time so that he would not be overwhelmed by all of the kids. It worked!
However, this is not my point. As I was standing at the front counter to pay for Jude’s care, the guy next to me said, “So, how do you manage to stay in shape with that baby of yours?”
My answer: “I am in shape because of this baby of mine. He is my own 30 lb personal workout…everyday”.

Kuddos to all of the moms out there who workout all day long. I have determined that moms have some of the strongest biceps and backs, best balancing skills and ENDURANCE!

October

Holy cow! It is October. It has been over a year since we had Jude, over 2 years that we have been married, 6 years since we met on a random balcony on a warm California night…Where has the time gone? Right now JD and I are in the middle of a new, strange, awkward, exciting, scary transition in life. JD is back in school, I am soon to be at home more with Jude, and we are trying to figure out what the future may look like. Here are some of the things that we are excited about for 2009/2010

- Jude’s first steps (he has had a few but we are waiting for him to really walk)

- JD to finish his degree

- Joy to be a bradley instructor ( I have done the training and just have to wait to get the certification)

- My family to come out for Christmas… Please

- Snow

- Meeting Eli Groves soon

-Waiting for Jude to say Mama – not just Da da

- A couples bible study where everyone has kids

- Fall & Christmas sweaters, scarves, cocoa and goodies

- A new season; a time of change in our lives and a chance to learn and grow as a couple

- Ooh, and the marriage of our good friends, Brad and Summer

That’s all for now. Stay tuned…I think that some of my brain capacity is returning.

Just so I can remember

These last few months have really been an uphill hike for me. I feel ready for a big nap. I feel like I am missing photo ops and scrapbooking time. There are a few things that i don’t want to forget…

May 18th or 19th – Tooth number one popped through Judes gums. The next day tooth number two popped through. I now understand why they call it cutting. These teeth really do slice through their gums.

June 2nd- CRAWL! He crawled I swear I saw it. As soon as the camera came out… he reverted back. He is now unsure which way he is supposed to get around. He will do two “crawls” and then go back to belly flopping. Then he gets frusturated. I am sure that he will improve greatly in no time.

Here is my cute baby

Yes, he has a big head.

I am still here

Fot those of you who may be wondering if I have fallen off the face of the earth…the answer is, no. I am still here. I am currently trying to figure out how to balance being a mom, working full time, while trying to keep up with the laundry, cooking, cleaning etc… oh yeah and throw being a wife in there too. Notice that I left out time for myself. Ooops, that wasn’t even intentional. I am going to try to conquer the others first. I would love to chat a little more but the clock is ticking and I have to hop in the shower while Jude is content in his jumper before heading off to work. Hopefully… I will be back soon.

My thighs are burning

My thighs are burning! I went skiing on Sunday (which was glorious), but I am sore! I know that I haven’t really been in the best cardio shape due to pregnancy and then mommyhood, but come on! At the end of some runs I felt out of breath and ready for some down time on the lift. Yet, I loved every second of it. We (JD, uncles and Murph) had a beautiful Sunday at A Basin. I was so proud of myself for improving as the day went on and for not falling. At the end of the day, I looked at JD and said, “I did so good! I think I am so much better then last year”. He said, “Yeah, well think about when you went last year. Ahh, mid-January.

It was this very same weekend last year that JD and I were up at Beaver creek for a weekend away for JD’s birthday. When I look back on it now, it is comical. We drove up to the mountains in the night (after work) and I was fighting with myself the whole time to stay awake. I just wanted to take a nap! I knew that this was supposed to be a romantic weekend but the only thing that I wanted to do in bed was sleep.

The next day we went skiing and after a couple of hours, it was lunch time. We went to the blue moose, ate a ton of food and prepared to go back out. I told JD that we should do a few more runs, even if we were tired. He said, “Why don’t we go back, rest and take a nap”. Of course, that idea won out! I felt like I could sleep for 24 hours. As I rolled over in bed I said, “Ouch, my chest really hurts”. “What, are you pregnant”? “Ha, ha. Vary funny. I am not pregnant.”

Then we went to dinner at Wolf gang puck’s restaurant. It was delicious but I was left feeling nauseous the whole night. The next day we made our way down the mountain, stopping in Vail. JD wanted to look around and I again wanted to curl up and take a nap. I was like a zombie. We grabbed lunch before making the trek home and about 2 hours later I was feeling sick and nauseous.   

“You better pull over and get me something to eat before I yak”, I said. “Seriously, Joy, what if you are pregnant?” “I am not pregnant! Trust me”. Good thing JD made me buy a pregnancy test to make sure! So ladies, remember that if you feel tired, sluggish, nauseous, achy, sore and tender in your chest, and are ready to puke each day…take a pregnancy test. You might be surprised.

A Reflection from last year

I know that it hasn’t yet been a year since I found out that I was pregnant but we are pretty darn close. With that, I thought that I would post something that I wrote for our book… P.S. I love you Jude and I wouldn’t trade you for anything!

“   Two Pink Lines 

      January 14^th 2008. I (Joy) sat on a cold hard surface as a numbing sensation began to fill my entire body. Within seconds, my heart began to race and my breath came in short spurts. The object in my hand had just informed me that the course of my future was going to be altered, permanently. All this, I knew, simply by two pink lines. I was pregnant.

      Yes, pregnancy is an exciting and amazing time in which women have the unique opportunity to experience life within themselves. Many women are overwhelmed with happiness at the sight of a positive pregnancy test. I, however, was in such shock that I couldn’t quite figure out how I felt. I was only twenty-two and had been married for only six months. We both wanted to have children eventually… in five or six years. After a couple of days of processing the pregnancy, and many encouraging words from the hubby, I was finally ready to face reality. Since I am one of those people who do better with lots of information, I geared up to learn everything that I could about my pregnancy; do’s and don’ts, helpful tips and what to expect.

      I devoured the information and found myself creating a new lifestyle, one that didn’t include sushi, soft cheese, wine or skiing (I fall to much for it to be a safe activity). Along with my lifestyle change, I noticed a change in my perspective and mentality where body image was concerned. I was catapulted overnight into a body which was no longer my own, but rather a mini factory set up for my future son or daughter. My primary objective was to make sure that my “factory” was a safe place for the work that would be done.

      I immediately modified my workouts so that I wouldn’t put unnecessary strain on my body, eliminated most ab work and made sure to keep my heart rate within a safe range. This is the first time since high school that working out is only for my health with no ulterior motives like flat abs or fitting into my jeans. These aren’t bad motivations but it is such a strange thing to go to the gym knowing that my abs will start to look like jello, my hips will widen even more (scary thought, I know), and I will pack on about 30 pounds.

      However, it also freed me to take a new look at myself. Wow, I thought, as I looked in the mirror. I look great. I wanted to capture the image before me and frame it in my mind. Soon, I could have spider and varicose veins covering my legs and stretch marks reaching from east to west along my torso. My breasts will certainly never look the same and I am sure that I will encounter other surprises throughout the pregnancy. Why had I taken so long to appreciate what I had? What a waste of time. I can accept that my body may be forever changed after pregnancy, but I am grieved that I wasted what short time I had to enjoy a body that hadn’t yet been put through the strains of pregnancy. 

      ~ In the early stages of writing this book, Tiffany and I talked about the idea of beauty being gone, hence, what if it were gone. We talked about aging, accidents and I offered up the idea of pregnancy. And isn’t it interesting that God decided to give me firsthand knowledge of the subject that I would be writing about. Is it a little scary at times? Yes. Do I sometimes try to ignore facts and statistics like, 90% of women will develop stretch marks? Yes. Do I plan to watch as an army of cellulite decides to make camp on my thighs? No!

      As a matter of fact, I was laughing as I reread the above section that I wrote about a month and a half ago because my abs have started to look like jello. I think Jenny McCarthy describes it best in her book, Belly laughs, when she says that we feel that it is so obvious that we are pregnant but to the rest of the world, it just looks like we are getting fat. And my hips? Well, the extra cushioning on them has quickly eliminated half of the jeans in my closet. I feel like I am watching both the discovery channel and the sci-fi channel as I watch my body grow and change. I am intrigued and interested at times yet shocked and puzzled when I discover new blood vessels, protrusions and marks.

      It is truly a magnificent/ bizarre/ invigorating/ draining experience to be pregnant. But, is it worth it? A thousand times over. I can’t even begin to imagine the awe that I will feel when I hold my own child in my arms and know that their life was made possible because of my body. What a huge purpose our bodies can serve. Personally, I would rather have my body’s greatest accomplishment be that it brought life into this world and not that it had a six pack, wore a size four, or had 12% body fat. “