I stink at posting...

Not that this is a surprise to anyone, but I really stink at updating this blog. Being sick for the past three weeks (and I anticipate that I'll have a miserable cold until this baby comes) doesn't help. So here I am, adding something... anything.


I thought that I'd put some newborn pictures of Daniel up here, since most of you probably didn't see pics of Daniel when he was in the NICU. I still thought that he was the most adorable little dude in the place (of course, when you double and probably triple the other preemies weight, that's easy to do...). I can't believe that he'll be two in a couple of weeks... My little boy is growing up!


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Little D right after birth, with his fat cone head... John and my Dad watched while the NICU nurses worked on him. They eventually had to kick them out when D took a turn for the worse.



My first visit with Daniel. I wasn't able to stroke or pat him... that aggravates him. Instead I could just touch him every so slightly... Poor kid.



Sleeping little boy... He'd had a traumatic day...



Little Daniel under the "bili" lights to help his jaundice. He looked so cute in his shades...

Also, for those that are wondering, John's job is going well. I LOVE having him come home for lunch and then I get him again right after work for the whole evening. Daniel is adjusting. He was spoiled to have Dad with him every morning. He goes around the house chanting, "Dad's at work... Dad's at work..." It's cute. In addition, they released me from the Nursery. I am now going to be the Compassionate Service Leader. Heaven help us all. So, I guess this means that I get to plan my own meals after I have the baby?? :) It will be nice to be in Relief Society again, but I will miss those kids. I hope that Daniel can handle the Nursery without me.

BIG NEWS! (So big that I'm using all caps!)

So, as if adding a new baby wasn't exciting enough news, we have more! "Hold onto your hats and glasses kids, cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!" (Extra kudos for knowing that quote...) The news isn't mine to share, so I have John editing this update. My version would be much longer and more dramatic, I assure you...

John has a new job!! He has been sick and tired of working at KBCI, but because he was in a 2-year contract, we thought that we were stuck. As the situation there got progressively worse, we decided to start looking. Then an opportunity came our way and we jumped at it... John is now a copywriter for a commercial real estate company based here in Meridian. It's less than 5 miles away, has normal hours, plenty of vacation days, much better pay, sane co-workers, and he won't have to work on Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, New Years, etc. What more could we ask for??

We were very fortunate (I know that we were being looked after) that KBCI didn't put up much of a fight. They just required him to give 4 weeks notice, which made for a long goodbye, but we would have done anything to get out of that work situation. John started working his new job last Monday, so he's been at it for nearly two weeks. He gets to come home for lunch and we get a daddy at night. Heck, I even went to the cannery last night! We feel so blessed and love having Daddy home again...

Sorry that my posts come so infrequently. I have no excuses, just lazy. I guess life has been pretty busy for us with new jobs and new schedules. I'll get my groove on, I promise. In the meantime, here's a picture of me a month ago at about 24 weeks. I normally try to avoid putting hideous pictures of me up on the blog, but I'm afraid that's unavoidable at this time. So, enjoy!

More sides of Daniel...

the intellectual side...



and the giddy side!

Little fishy

We went from bundling up for a day at the park, to swimming in the local indoor pool! My parents were in town for the State Girls Basketball Championship that their team was playing in (Go Soda Spring Cardinals!), and since they were with the team, they got to stay in their hotel with an indoor swimming pool! Yeah! You cannot know how EXCITED we were to go swimming! Daniel had the time of his life and although the water was still a little chilly, he wouldn't get out until we dragged him out. I think that we have a little water baby on our hands! Now if we could only find someone with a swimming pool for the summer, we'd be set!

Our happy boy...

The sun peaked out just long enough for us to get some long awaited park time! In the summer, Danny and I usually go for walks twice a day, so it's been REALLY hard having a toddler get stir crazy in our little house... We had fun this day. It was still pretty nippy, but I don't think that Daniel even noticed. I will say that John complained the whole time about his poor frozen ears... :) It was worth it so see my little boy have fun at the park!



As promised, more squishy-face pictures. Once again, not flattering in the slightest, but oh so fun. Let's see, who has the fatter face? Mommy, Daddy, or Daniel??



I think that Mama wins!

See what Nursery is doing to us??

As many of you know, I am Nursery Leader in my ward here in Meridian. I actually love the calling, but it is definitely one of the most exhausting in the church! We currently have 12-13 kids each week, most of whom are just barely two or under. That makes it interesting to prepare lessons, activities, etc... What I love is that we have a five member rotation so that there are four leaders in the nursery each Sunday with one person attending auxiliaries. We rotate and every five weeks we get our Sunday without goldfish and animal crackers... It's glorious! Poor John is called to sub quite often, but he's great in there. After three hours, we all need a siesta!

It's a GIRL!!

Holy cowabunga, we are having a little girl! You cannot know how shocked John and I are over this little bit of news. We were both certain that we were having a little boy. So much so that during our ultrasound I kept referring to the baby as a him, ("his" head, "his" legs, etc.) and the sonographer had to correct me... more than once.

John and I are really excited, though. The more we think about it, the happier we are. Neither of us are overly confident in doing "girly" things, per se, but I guess we'll have to figure it out sooner than later! The idea of having to do hair absolutely TERRIFIES me! I know, I know, I'm a girl, these things shouldn't be so shocking, but I have never really done my hair, nor do I like to shop, or dress up, or get overly emotional... Hopefully she'll be like me! :) (SCARY THOUGHT!)

Daniel is pretty excited to be having a little sister. I think that he kind of gets it, to be honest with you. He loves to come and kiss mama's baby, and he is always very soft and gentle when he does so. John still thinks that we're going to have to be careful because there is a good likelihood that Danny is still going to want to use her as his little punching bag. Man, our lives are going to change radically in a couple of months!

And you know what? We can't wait!

New Year Resolutions?

Daniel has decided that he still has some baby fat to lose, so we've encouraged him to get on a daily Gazelle regimen. I think that he's enjoying his workout a little too much, eh?



And John and I have decided that we need more squishy-face pictures of the three of us. (What will we do when there's four??) I love these! Don't ask me why since no one ever looks good in them, but I continue to force John to take them whenever I want. And he does. What a great hubby!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I actually don't mean that. I'm sick of the snow and ready for some warmth. Daniel loves the "no" (the "s" isn't really all that important, is it??), but it's been too cold to let him spend much time out there. These pictures were taken after one of the first snow storms here in the Treasure Valley. It is nothing compared to what we have now, though... Man, oh man, has it been snowing here! As pretty as the snow is, we're ready to return to our daily walks and park trips. Come on, sun!

Bad bad blogger...

I know, I know, I am a horrible blogger. No excuses, just lazy. But I'm allowed to be lazy every once in a while, right? Hey, I'm pregnant! Therefore, I can do whatever I cotton-pickin want to do! :) (I tell John that all the time-- he loves when I'm pregnant...) I actually have been out of town on vacation (Yeah!) and busy with some other stuff, so forgive me, if you would...

Here's a little update. For those shocked to hear that I was pregnant-- good! :) We were hoping to surprise people a little bit this time. John and I are elated to be having another little baby and feel blessed that it didn't take us so long to get pregnant this time. I am 19 weeks and will have my ultrasound the day after Valentine's day. We are going to find out the sex because we know that we will need to start crashing thrift stores and garage sales for girls stuff if we're having a little girl. Otherwise she's going to be stuck in baseball jersies and dinosaur jammies (not that that would be so bad, right?) We'll see if we tell everyone else what we're having... Hehehe, oh the power! Thanks for the well wishes. I've been feeling great, and have just started feeling the baby move. I love being pregnant.

John and I have had a great Christmas holiday! We spent Christmas here in Boise (of course, since John doesn't get holidays off work). But we wanted to see the Tomlinsons also, so we had a belated Christmas in So Cal. It was great (except for the fact that we were sick the whole time... argh!)! We flew out on a Thursday, hung out with family, played at the park, went to Sea World, and went for nice walks in the California sunshine. Actually, it was a little cold, but nothing like Idaho! It was great. We stayed for a week and then had to come home. Daniel had a great time playing with/getting to know his cousins, and we were bummed to leave. I wish that we lived closer.

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure. It's going to be a little scrambled, but that's okay.

First, the Tomlinson grandkids minus 5 (so sad that they couldn't be there!) :(

Next, the Tomlinson siblings. We're missing Bob from Oregon (wish that your family could have been there!) but we got six out of seven-- not bad!

Then a family picture of our little family...

Then a close up of Danny boy. He's growing up so fast! (Don't ask me what this face is...)