Update on my healthier me journey

It's been 3 months since I started my journey to becoming a healthier me and I am down 40 lbs. I started this journey because I wanted to be the best version of me. I wanted to live life, be a better mom, a better wife... this time (unlike in times past) I didn't want this to be about the way that I looked. I even told family and close friends to not say anything when they noticed me slimming down - because it isn't about that - it's about becoming healthy!

Working with Dash has helped me in so many ways. He is always talking about loving myself - to stop being so negative and hard on myself (which is something I have always struggled with). He, along with the other coaches at DASH, have helped me realize that the most important thing is for me to love and accept myself just the way that I am. In the process of doing that - weight has come off. I'm treating my body like someone who loves them-self would. I'm giving it healthy foods - enough water - exercise. I look in the mirror and tell myself that I am enough - that I am beautiful just the way that I am.

The mind can be a terrible thing to your waist (another thing DASH always says)... and it can... but it can also be such a powerful tool when you use it for good! We are always so hard on ourselves - why? What good does it do us?

My journey is far from over - and I will have to make the choice everyday to be healthy... but I'm happy. I'm happy where I am at. I love waking up and feeling great and ready to tackle the world. I have a hard time sometimes dealing with some of the emotions and situations that I used to just "deal with" or "bury" with food... but I'm learning and that is whats important. I'm not perfect, I make mistakes, but when I do - I don't beat myself up.... "do your best and forget the rest".

I love the me that is emerging from this, I am happy, healthy, confident, a better mother, a better wife, a better neighbor - I am working on myself and I haven't done that in years... it feels great!

Today and everyday... I will choose health!!!

Take the step

"Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction, ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip toe if you must, but take the step."

I feel like I have just taken the step. I saw a post on facebook to vote for someone to become an allstar for a weight loss program called DASH. I saw it too late and was not able to submit an entry but I wasn't going to give up that easy. I emailed them and asked if they would consider me as well. I was contacted and told that I needed to get support behind me so I had friends and family email and post on my behalf and after doing all the same things the other contestants had to do (like submitting a video and everything) I was notified that a company saw my video and was going to sponsor me. I am so thrilled. The program consists of me eating healthy, and exercising. Novel idea right? To lose weight you have to eat healthy and exercise... but this time I will be doing it with the help of a coach and team of people cheering me on. This program does not have any meals that you have to buy - or pills to take... you can do a protein shake and have bars as meal replacements... but they are made with organic fruits and veggies - no chemicals or processed ANYTHING. It's exactly what I want/need.

Dash asked me what my "why" was for doing this. My answer was to live life fully. I want to be the best me that I can. I know its going to get hard and I will have to come back to my why to keep me motivated... but I am ready to do this and am very excited. 

2014 quick recap

So a lot of wonderful things happened to our family in 2014.
-Dan got a job with a the law firm Kipp & Christian in Salt Lake City
-We bought a house in Herriman
-Jaxon started Kindergarten
-We upgraded to a VAN lol
-We welcomed our 3rd beautiful baby

Dan is enjoying working for the firm, he works with WONDERFUL people - the hours are great for a law firm haha - and there are lots of other great perks :).

We are LOVING having our own home. Our neighborhood is absolutely perfect for us. There are a TON of kids and young families just like us.

Jaxon loves school. He always asks if it is "long or short" day (they get out early on Friday's) because he loves long days. His teacher Mrs. Wilson is amazing and we found out used to live next to my aunt Kristine and is good friends with the family. Jaxon is doing very well in school... as of today he has gotten 100% on all of his spelling tests and is reading really well. 

Lets be honest... the only reason people don't want vans is because of the image. Our van is the best thing that has happened to our driving life. It is so wonderful and I can't imagine driving anything else (however I did throw a bit of a fit before we got it... now I love it haha).

We welcomed sweet Nora Beth Garner to our family on December 8th 2014. Although she is the "hardest" baby I have had (which is still easy) we love her so much and it feels like she has been a part of our family forever. The kids love and adore her and are always making sure she is taken care of and happy.

We feel very blessed to have the wonderful lives that we do. We know that all our blessings come from Heavenly Father and we are so grateful for the blessings we get to enjoy.

I also just have to say that I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man. Dan has worked so hard to provide a good life for our family and he has made all my dreams come true. He is always learning and working to improve himself, he is so generous, the kids adore him and so do I.

Its been awhile...

One of my new years resolutions this year was to start blogging again.
A lot has happened since I posted last and the thought of going back and blogging about everything I missed seems impossible... so I will start with today and try to slowly work my way back.

A second alone could have changed my life

Today something scary happened.

If you are a mom of young children you will know that you don't get a moment alone, even when you have to go to the bathroom.

Well today was no different, I went into the bathroom and was going to shut the door to have a second alone, but felt that I shouldn't.

I am so grateful I didn't.

Both Jax and Addy came running in like usual and Addy started doing this little cough, the cough sound became quieter and quieter and when she turned around, her eyes were wide open and a look of panic was on her face, the coughing sound – gone.

OH MY GOSH SHE IS CHOCKING!

I immediately picked her up and held her head down and started smacking her back. After a couple hard hits a quarter (YES A QUARTER) came flying out of her mouth.

I have to say that I hear about kids chocking and I always have thought to myself that I would be freaking out and panicky if that ever happened to me - but really I was very calm and my instincts took over and just started doing what I needed to do. Now maybe this was because I didn't know what she was chocking on so I was able to stay calm, but as soon as it came out and everything was all right. All the what if's started:

What if I had shut the door

What if she hadn't come in and just stayed in the family room

What if her and Jax were playing and he saw her doing that? Would he know to come get me?

Thats when I started to really freak out.

Through all the panic I started feeling, I also felt such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to my Savior. I know it was the spirit that kept me from shutting that bathroom door.

Scary moments happen a lot when you are a mom, and if you turn every one into a near death experience you will drive yourself mad.

But I can't help shake the feeling that today, if I hadn’t been there, it really could have been.

I know that the outcome of events like this are not always happy ones and tragically little ones are taken early from us, but what a wonderful thing it is to know that our Savior is there with open arms welcoming them home when they leave this earth young.

People talk about a mother’s intuition - well I know better - I know it’s a loving Savoir nudging us and giving us thoughts and feelings that keep our little ones, HIS little ones safe.

Valentines Day

This year we had fun making Valentines to give to the grandparents and Dan. Jax and Addy made cards with their hands that had a heart shape in the middle. It was so cute and they had fun doing it. Jaxon kept telling me he loved me and he was excited for Valentines Day. Valentines morning, me, Jax, and Addy (Addy pulled out pots and pans while Jax and I cooked) make breakfast for Dan. We made French toast and cut them into heart shapes. Then Jax and Addy gave Dan their Valentines before we took him to school.

That night the missionaries stopped by and it was nice having a spiritual thought and we watched a short video clip about revelation. After they left our friend Lydia came over to sit at the house while the kids slept so we could go out.

I had gotten a free $20.00 gift card to a Mexican restaurant in DC that we decided to try on Valentine’s Day. We had never heard of it or been there before so we were hoping it would be good. We drove by and I'm not going to lie... I was pretty scared to try it. It was a total hole in the wall place. It looked like a house converted into a restaurant. They just had a little sign with the name of the restaurant on it and I kind of wanted to turn around and go somewhere safe like Olive Garden lol. But I was brave, we circled the block a few times trying to find parking (got to love DC) - found a spot we didn't think we would get towed from (thought it would have been better to take the metro), and walked to the restaurant. We went in and it was really small. There were probably a total of 12 small tables that people could sit at. We were lucky that there was a table open and we sat down. Lots of people were coming in and getting takeout orders so we knew it must be good. We ordered the food and I kid you not... it was the BEST Mexican I have ever had! AMAZING! After dinner we walked around DC and admired the old houses, got back in our car that didn't get towed THANK GOODNESS, gave each other our gifts which was just candy and cards this year since we are trying to be very frugal, and went home. It was fun to get to not just focus on Dan for Valentines, but also on our kids - I made Jax and Addy little Valentine and Jax still carries it around and wants me to give him treats with it all the time LOL.

Not only do I love my little family - but I love and am so grateful for our extended family. I was blessed to marry into and be born into amazing families. We have also been so blessed to have made some truly wonderful friends throughout our lives. A lot of people don't like Valentine’s Day because it makes them aware of their lack of relationship to a significant other - but Valentines is about the love that is in our lives in all different forms. Parents, siblings, friends, kids… I have been blessed with so many people and relationships to get to celebrate on Valentine’s Day! Yeah for Love!

Addison Turns One

January 18, 2012 our sweet Addison came into our lives! A year later and we love her even more than we did that day!

My mom flew into DC to spend some time with us and was able to be here for her birthday. We decorated with butterflies and balloons! I made her a butterfly cake and we had family on Google chat to sing with us and watch her eat her cake.

It was a fun day! She didn't dive into her cake, she was more cautious and would just scoop the frosting off and lick her finger. She got a little braver later and started grabbing a little, but it was cute how dainty she was about it.

Addy - we love you so much! You have such a sweet spirit and bring so much joy to our lives.

Right now you are

Walking
Getting into everything
Dancing
babbling
You have 3 top teeth and 4 bottom
you LOVE baths
you put EVERYTHING (including dirt) into your mouth
you love to have necklaces on
you like to play with whatever Jaxon is playing with
you can hold your own with your rough older brother
you love water
you hate wearing socks and always pull them off
if you don't have socks on - you will pull them off other peoples feet
you love to clap and play peek-a-boo
you use sign language to tell us more and all done
you are sweet and love to smile at everyone

Everywhere we go people ohh and awww over you. You are a beautiful girl and have such a happy sweet spirit. So many people have made the comment that you make their day. We love you and the joy you bring into our lives.

The Holidays

For Thanksgiving 2012 we decided to have it be with our little family. We could have done a group thing with some members of our ward - or we could have done dinner with our friends the Strait's, but we figured since this was probably the last time we would be away from family during this holiday, we would take advantage and have it be a close and intimate thing with us 4. We had fun playing together, cooking, and we went and saw the movie Wreck It Ralph. We made sure we talked about what we were grateful for and I loved having the 4 of us be together. I remember having such an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my family. I am so glad we had little Addy with us, our family felt more complete with her here and it was such a wonderful feeling. During the Christmas holidays we tried to do some new traditions and ones we had always done. We got to go see the Christmas tree at the Capitol, Jax and Addy saw Santa (Jax loved it - Addy was scared) - we had a fun ward party where we went on the "polar express". We were all in PJ’s and Santa and Mrs. Clause came and read all the kids a story.

Christmas our kids got spoiled for sure! We are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents for our children. They sent lots of gifts and it was so fun to see the kids get so many wonderful things from loved ones. We ate good food, watched new movies, played with new toys, and enjoyed each other and Dan's time off of school!

New years Eve, we went out to eat and Johnny Rockets for dinner and then we had an early family party since they kids would not be staying up until midnight. Dan and I had fun waiting for the ball to drop and then laughed when we realized that our friends in Texas wouldn't be celebrating for another hour, our family and friends in Utah wouldn't be for another 2 hours and our CA family and friends would need to wait 3! It was kind of funny to be celebrating New Years from the "future".

We have/had some fun things to celebrate this year - Addy's first birthday, Dan will graduate Law School, and we will probably be moving back to Utah. Lots of things to be excited for!

September 4, 2012

***This is detailed because I don't want to forget the details. As hard as this was for me to write and read, I wanted to make sure I have this in my records***

We arrived in Virginia on August 23 - we were getting settled and into the grove of things - and then On September 4 at 3:01pm I got this text from my mom "D went to the hospital last night. He had some bleeding. He had a procedure this morning. We are losing him... I can't call each of you.... we are still in the crisis." My brother Trevor responded "Grandpa Koch?" Then a few mins later she wrote back "We just lost Grandpa Koch. We are still in the ICU. All the kids are still coming. The sons and daughters. I will call you when I can."

I was so confused - maybe because I didn't want to understand because the text is pretty clear, but I called my mom and she told me he had just passed away and that she was in the hospital room with him and my aunts and uncles and she would call me later. I couldn't believe it. We had just seen him at Whitney's wedding and right before we moved and he was doing great.

We found out that he had a bleeding ulcer which he has had before. Last time it happened he went to the hospital, they did a quick procedure and he was fine and left the next day. So late on September 3rd after he put my grandma to bed, he realized he had a bleeding ulcer again and that he would need to go to the hospital. He contacted my Uncle Dan to have him go be at the house with Grandma, and he called my mom and dad to meet him at the hospital. It was confirmed that night he had a bleeding ulcer but his blood pressure was kind of low so they were going to do some things to get it up and wait until the morning to do the procedure. My parents checked on him the morning of September 4th and he was doing great - blood pressure was up and he was doing and looking great. The doctors said they would do the quick procedure and he would get to go home the next day.

My aunt Cheri works at the hospital my grandpa was at so she decided to go check on him during the procedure since none of the family was there right then. She could tell things were not going well so she called her husband James and said he needed to hurry and get down there - he then frantically called his brothers and sisters and told them to get to the hospital immediately. My uncle Brent and my aunt Susan live in California so they booked the next flight out of there and hurried to Utah. They all started showing up as fast as they could get there, my parents, James and Cheri, and Kris and Dan were there when the doctors told them what was going on. They went in to do the procedure and one of the things they do is give the patient a medication to thicken the blood so they can stop the bleeding. Well that put strain on grandpa’s heart which was weak. They tried to save him but it was time for him to go. The doctors stopped working on him and left the room and the kids that were there went in and were there when he passed on. They stayed there until all the other kids showed up so they could say their goodbyes. It was a crazy thing and something they needed to do to help him live, was the thing that ended up killing him.

The funeral was planned for Monday September 10th so we flew into Salt Lake on Friday September 7th. Saturday we all met at the Temple and did a sealing session with all the brothers and sisters and grandkids that could do it. The grandkids that were not old enough to do that did baptisms so we could all be in the temple together. It was a very special, sacred moment for our family. One I will cherish and never forget. Sunday we had a special family get together before the viewing where all of us grandkids could share our memories about grandpa. It was so wonderful to listen to people’s memories about him. Then Monday was his funeral and we had all of us grandkids sing a song and me and my mom and 2 of my cousins and an aunt sang "I know that my redeemer lives". I had a very hard time not crying during the song – so when I sat down - I lost it. It was a beautiful funeral and we had a wonderful time talking and spending time together. We were lucky that Mike and Brittney watched Jax and Addy for us so we could enjoy the funeral and not have to try and handle our wiggly kids.

Early Tuesday morning - September 11th we flew home. I was a little worried about flying into DC on Sep 11 (it is considered the most dangerous airport to fly into) but we were told there were extra air marshals on board and that there were other things being done to make sure it was safe. They were also doing random carry on checks and all this other stuff for people flying to DC. It was fine though - we obviously made it alive haha. And really it is probably the safest day to fly because of all those extra things they do LOL.

Jax and Addy did good on the flights and when we got home - it was hard to get back into the swing of things.

I love my Grandpa so much and miss him A LOT! Our annual family trip to St. George in May will not be the same. It is hard knowing that we won't see him on this earth anymore, but I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that I will get to see him again.

Love and miss you Grandpa!

Move to VA

Our move to Virginia went pretty smoothly considering we were moving across the country. First - we drove from Utah to Texas, which takes 15 hours. We got there late Saturday night. Sunday we spent the day recouping from the drive and packing up the last few things for the house that we needed to. Monday morning Dan got the truck, (SIDE NOTE - the truck we reserved was going to be a perfect size for our stuff, when Dan got there - the only truck they had available was the biggest one! They didn't make us pay more for it - but it was huge - we had so much extra room and it probably cost us so much more in gas so I was very irritated, but oh well - side not over) and I went and met with people that were going to be taking over the property management job I was doing... we were basically just finishing up everything we needed to. We had people come over and help us load up the truck and then that afternoon we started our drive.

We only drove to Dallas since we were getting a late start, and also because Dan's dad Rob was flying into the Dallas airport Tuesday afternoon to help us drive the rest of the way. WE WERE SO GRATEFUL HE DID THIS! This allowed Dan and I to be in the same car with the kids so I wouldn't have to do it alone. Tuesday we drove from Dallas Texas to Memphis Tennessee, Wednesday we drove from Memphis to Johnson City Tennessee, and that left Thursday with Johnson City Tennessee to Alexandria VA. We had planned it out so we were doing about 9 hours a day after the Lubbock to Dallas drive. The total driving time from Utah to Virginia was 45 hours - so it was pretty rough. Luckily the kids did GREAT considering. They would get restless for a little while, but we could usually break and let them run around for a bit and they would be fine. Thank GOODNESS for the little DVD player, and my iphone. I don't know how people did it before! Jax watched movies pretty much the entire time and I was able to use the iphone, for GPS and so we could look up hotels and decide where to stay at night and where to eat and all that good stuff. Thursday we thought we were totally fine on time, because all we had to do was get to Alexandria before 5 before the office at our apartment closed so we could sign the lease and get the keys and all that good stuff. I had contacted the elders quorum president of the ward we would be moving into before and asked if they could have people help us move in. On Thursday he called to check in with me and told me to expect traffic - so we ended going from having what we thought would be a 2 hour cushion into rushing and just making it before they closed. HAHA. Once we got to our apartment, we were met by ONE PERSON - the EQ President was the only one that showed up! BOO! But luckily Lydia Strait (the one member that lives in the same apartment complex as us) took Jaxon and Addy and watched them so we could focus on getting the truck unloaded. She also brought us dinner when we were done and gave us a box of starter groceries like milk, eggs, cereal, bread, flour, sugar.... that kind of stuff so we would have stuff to eat without having to run to the store that night. What a huge help and blessing it was to have her help us out like that! Oh - one little hiccup that happened. So I was in the apartment with Jax and Addy waiting for Dan and Rob to bring the truck around. Lydia called and said I could take the kids over so I called Dan, told him I was leaving - unlocked the door and left. A few mins later he called asking where the keys were because the door was locked. Well the keys they had just given us were still sitting on the counter, I didn't worry about it because I had unlocked the door. Apparently the lock on our door sticks so even though you turn it to unlock it... it actually doesn't unlock. So here we are - its now almost 6:00pm - the office is already closed, all of our keys are locking in our apartment, and Dan, Rob, and Rory (the EQ Pres.) are waiting to move stuff in. AHHHHH! I tried calling the afterhours number, but it just goes to voicemail. I obviously felt awful and sick inside. I said LOTS of desperate prayers and luckily Dan saw a maintenance worker walking out of another building so he flagged him down and was able to get into the apartment. PHEW! Our prayers were answered and we were able to continue with what we needed to do.

The next day we spent getting the apartment set up and unpacked. We learned that first night that none of the bedrooms have lights in them..... I know WEIRD! We also have no real pantry for food and the dining room has carpet so I went and got some lamps to put in the rooms, a rug for under our table (which is a card table by the way since we sold our dining room table before we came here) since we have 2 young children that would stain the carpet every time we eat I'm sure - and a few other things we needed.

The next day we explored. We drove to the law school and took a tour, walked to the capitol and around that area, ate at a delicious Irish pub and drove around looking for some of the big things like the Whitehouse. (It had started raining so we figured driving would be best!)

The next day was Sunday and Rob was leaving that afternoon but before he did we made sure we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, and the botanical gardens because those were things Rob really wanted to see. Then we dropped him off at the airport and said our goodbyes.

It was good to finally be at our new home and start to settle into our new life in Virginia/DC.

12-14-12

December 14th was a very sad day. A shooter went into an elementary in CT and shot and killed 26 people, most of which were first graders.

This is such a devastating thing to hear about, and having a child who is not much younger than those kids, I have so much sorrow in my heart for those parents. Those kids went to school that day just like any other day. They were excited for Christmas that is right around the corner.

I can't imagine how devastated those families were to lose such sweet children so early in life. We pray for their comfort and hope tragic events like this don't happen in the future.

Tell the ones you love that you love them as often as possible. I hope we don't forget the lives that were forever changed on 12-14-12.

Summer in Utah

Ok so I am going to play some catch up.I'm just going to post a little bit and a few pictures about our time in Utah over the summer. The first big thing - my sister Whitney got married! AHHHH! It was such a fun day! We were very lucky and had Mike and Brittany watch the kids so we could enjoy and help with the wedding, and luncheon and pictures and all that - then we picked them up and they joined us at the reception to be in all the pictures for that. It was a beautiful day and I'm glad Corbin is part of our fam! 

The second big thing was we went to Lagoon as a family with Dan's family. It was actually the day before we left to drive home so we were packing pretty frantically that night and the next morning, but it was worth it. Jaxon LOVED it - Addy slept a lot. We spent the first part of the day at the water park they have there - me and Addy stayed out since I wanted her to nap during that time. Dan and Jax had a blast! And the end of the night Jake and I did the skycoaster. He had never been and no one else would go with him and I love doing that so we went. It was a blast - no pics of that sadly. :(

 

 

 

 



And last but NOT least - we got to spend time with family. We stayed with my parents so we saw them a lot and Landon made sure Jaxon saw starwars and he let him play with his guns - Jax was in heaven! We got to meet Alia (my brother Trevor and his wife Jordyn's daughter) for the first time! She is mine and Dan's first niece! We were finally made and aunt and uncle when they had her! WAHOO! So Addy and her "played" together! And we made sure we visited the Garners as much as we could so the kids could be with their other grandparents and aunt and uncles!

 

We had a great summer. It was also full of stress! Dan took a LOT of classes and had to spend most of the summer in Texas while we were in Utah and we also had to pack - figure out what to do with our house so we could move. But it was great to get to spend the time with our Utah fam and friends!

All About Addy

So Addison had her 9 month appointment the day after Thanksgiving, at which point she was a little over 10 months haha! Oh the joys of moving. So here are her stats as of right now and a little bit about our fun loving little girl!

Height - 27.5" - 23%

Weight - 17.8 lbs - 29%

Head - 17.25 - 35%

She still has a little umbilical granuloma (sp??) that they have been treating since she was born and since it hasn't gone away we have a consultation with a pediatric suergon on the 21st to go over removal options. The fact that it still bleeds frequently is something that makes me and the doctors want to get it taken care of as soon as possible - but having this poor thing have another "surgery" is not something I want. I don't think they will have to put her under or anything but we will find out more on the 21st.

Addy, there are so many things we love about you! Right now you are:

*Crawling and speed crawling

*Standing up and walking while holding onto fingers or furniture

*Pulling everything out of any cabinet you can

*Speed crawling to a bathroom when you see the door open and trying to play in whatever water you can find (toiled {YUCK} or tub)

*Taking baths with Jax or by yourself everyday because you LOVE them so much

*Saying mama and dada occasionally

*Squealing, screaming, and giggling

*Loving playing at the park, on the swings especially but you love crawling around on the grass, in the dirt, or using the toys to stand up and walk around

*Playing with Jaxon and holding your own with him - you are the perfect little sister for him!

*Eating lots of new things

*Throwing toys or food over your head/shoulder

*Putting whatever you find on the floor in your mouth

*Getting more teeth in but right now you have 4 (2 top, 2 bottom)

*playing with your hair while you drink your bottle when you are really tired

You do so much and learn so much everyday! We love you and you are a perfect addition to our family! Jaxon loves having you as his sister and dad and I feel so blessed to have such a sweet, fun loving girl in our family!

Trick? or Treat?

Today is a day that as a parent, I don't ever want to forget.

I want the images of today burned in my memory forever.

We started out the day going to a show called "The Great Zucchini" (a kid’s entertainer) at one of the Smithsonian museums.

Jaxon was laughing so hard that he couldn't sit up, he had to lay on the floor and laugh - that gives an entirely new meaning to ROTFL for me.

Parents around us were even laughing because he was laughing so hard - it was infectious. The entertainer loved it because even things that were not that funny - Jaxon made funny by laughing so hard.

Jax even got to go up on stage and help him - he was so cute. He loved it. I love it. I love him. Addy was great - happy and content and darling.

We went home and played and had a good time - then Jax watched part of a movie while I got some work done and Addy took a nap and then we got ready to go trick-or-treating.

We drove into DC and met our friends at their house in Capitol Hill - we walked to a little Halloween Party and then started trick or treating in East Capitol Hill. It was so much fun and I loved every second of it.

It was very different than any trick-or-treating I have done - so much better - it was so much fun.

It was cold - Addy cried and fussed a little because she was cold - Jax got scared - I got scared when Jax would run toward the street - lots of amazing costumes - awesome people with their wine glasses sitting and enjoying their evening handing out candy to the dressed up excited kids - Jax's excitement at each new house - him saying trick-or-treat and then Thank you after he received candy - Jax making people laugh because of funny things he says - the conversations I have with Jax - the smiles I get from Addy - the great sport that Addy is - missing Dan and wishing he was with us - getting so excited when Dan got out of class earlier than expected - the awesome feeling of walking around with everyone in fun creative costumes and talking to complete strangers - getting yummy candy - watching Jax get so excited over his candy - asking if he can have one more piece 8 times.

 So much about today I don't want to forget - we missed Dan being able to trick or treat with us but are so grateful to new friends for inviting us and helping out with Jax to make our night so fun.

What a great day!

P.T. addition

I totally forgot to mention one BIG part of potty training Jax - and that was HUGE celebrations and rewards every time he went in the potty and he got to call whoever he wanted and tell them. It was usually one of the Papa's (Dan's dad or my dad). So randomly during the day - they would get calls with Jaxon saying with excitement that he went poop or pee on the potty! We also had some new Thomas train tracks for when he pooped on the potty because this was a very big deal for him - and when he would go pee on the potty we had little treats we would let him pick.

However you choose to reward your child during the process - I think it is a HUGE part of them being successful - and even though it gets really old after the 20th time being really excited and making a big deal out of it... I think it really helps. I still make sure to tell him how amazing he is for continuing to poop on the potty even though it was something scary for him but he overcame that fear :)

The potty train has chugged into the station

WARNING - this is a CRAZY long post. It also talks a lot about poop.

Here is the link to the video I reference later in the blog... you will want to check it out - so cute!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtq1XV6ZVOc

Jaxon was very scared to go poop on the potty so this is how we had him totally potty trained in 4 days and NO accidents during that time. He was totally pee potty trained in one, the other couple days were to get him ok with going poop on the potty. We started on September 13th and he hasn't had an accident since and is a peeing pooping pro! :)

Alright - so when Jaxon was about 2, I started thinking about potty training him, so I went online and read a TON of information about it, and what I discovered is that it is better to wait until your child is ready instead of forcing them to do it when you are ready. So I familiarized myself with the signs of readiness and watched and waited for him to be ready. Well a little bit before he was 3 I was seeing most of the signs and one day he came out of the bathroom without a diaper on and he said he had peed in his diaper and he needed to flush it down the toilet.

Luckily he didn't because that could have been a major plumbing expense, but that day I decided to just start potty training him. I wasn't really prepared but I didn't care, I thought - he is ready right now... let’s just do it. He went pee on the potty several times that day and I would give him treats every time he did it and he was so excited and proud of himself and was doing a great job! I had him sitting on the potty to go and one time he felt like he was going to poop too and he FREAKED out. Screaming, crying, trying to jump of the toilet so I just kept putting him back on and fighting with him trying to get him to stay there because I knew he had to go and after about an hour I had the thought that maybe I was freaking him out and making him MORE afraid of the potty so I stopped and when I tried to get him to go pee on the potty after that he wouldn't. So I went back online and read some more and decided he wasn't ready and to wait. Several articles and blogs suggested having your child just sit on the potty when they didn't have to go to get them comfortable with the feeling so it wasn't so scary. Every time I even tried Jaxon would have a HUGE fit and freak out and scream so I thought we would never be able to potty train him because I had ruined him for life making him sit on the potty that one time for so long when he was scared.

So I thought I would try again right after he turned 3... well we found out we were moving across the country right then and I figured I would rather not have to deal with a newly potty trained 3 year old for a 42 hour drive - so again... we waited. Then after we got settled in here we were going to do it, then my grandpa passed away and we needed to fly back to Utah for the funeral, so again - I pushed it back.

The night we got back from Utah (which was a Tuesday 9/11/12...that’s right - we flew into Washington D.C. on Sep. 11.... was I nervous? More on that later) - Jaxon was taking a bath and came running out naked and yelled - "mom, dad - I pooped in the potty"! Dan and I looked at each other and both just assumed he pooped in the tub probably - well sure enough when we got in there - he had pooped in the toilet! We both started cheering for him and praising him and telling him what a great job he did and how proud of him we were and we decided to potty train him on Thursday. Now I know that seems weird that we would wait a day, but I also learned online that if you want to have your child potty trained in one day you cannot have ANY distractions - that child needs 100% of your attention all day so we decided to wait until Thursday because Dan only has one class that day and it is in the evening so one of us could be watching Addy while the other totally focused on Jax.

He did GREAT! That morning he pooped on the potty and went pee all day long no problem - he would sometimes go a little in his underwear and then realize and stop and run to the bathroom - it was AWESOME, it wasn't hard at all - we would just make sure we set a 15 min timer and just have him try when it would go off. Every time he went he would get a treat and we let him drink a ton of juice all day long so he had to go a lot. That night we decided to just keep him in his underwear instead of doing a pull up or anything and just see how it went. We made sure to have him not drink anything an hour before we put him to bed and we obviously had him go potty right before we put him down and he woke up that next morning dry!!!

The next day everything was great! We had him pee right when he got up, we would remind him and see if he needed to go if we noticed he hadn't been in a while and he was perfect - no accidents, nothing. We did notice however, that he didn't poop at all that day, which for Jaxon is not normal. He normally goes at LEAST 2 times a day (this is due to the HUGE amount of fruit he takes in daily lol).

That brings us to Saturday, now because I didn't want him to only be able to go on the potty with a seat... I was trying to avoid using one, but something I saw online said that some kids are scared because they feel like they are going to fall in.. or it doesn’t feel secure to them and that making them comfortable will help so I borrowed a seat from my friend Lydia and put his little stool under his feet so he would be really comfortable... he still didn't want to go so that night we decided that we would give him the option to go in a diaper if he wanted so that he wouldn't get constipated and be even more scared to go later because it hurt so bad - we seriously had one diaper left and I was not going to buy more so I wasn't really sure what I was going to do after he pooped in that one and I didn't know if letting him poop in the diaper was a horrible thing to do but I didn't want him getting sick or hurting because of this. ANYWAY - he said he wanted a diaper so we gave him one... he pooped in it and I asked him if he wanted to start wearing diapers again and he said no and that he wanted his underwear so we put that back on and Saturday night he was dry.

Sunday he did great - no pee accidents, but again, he didn't poop - he would just hold it. So after Dan and I talked we decided that we would offer him a diaper again and see what he did (planning on giving him a swim diaper if he said yes LOL). He didn't want to wear it, so we thought that was a good sign so I asked him where he was going to go poop if he didn't want to go in the toilet and if he didn't want to poop in a diaper and he said - "I can go in my underwear". I explained to him that we do not poop in our underwear but if he really wanted to he could so he could see what it felt like. I know this sounds totally weird and crazy but I just felt like he needed to experience "an accident" in his underwear to not want to do it again - and this way, I would know he was going to do it, and I could make sure he didn't get poop everywhere. SIDE NOTE - He would always tell us he needed to go poop - we would go to the potty, he would sit on it for a while and not go, hold it in, say never mind and jump off and go about playing until the urge came again and we would do the same thing so that is how I knew I would know when he was going to poop in his underwear. DONE WITH SIDE NOTE LOL. He told me, mom I have to poop and I said ok go in your underwear so he did. Now I realize this next part is going to make me and Dan sound like horrible parents but we did all of this very lovingly and it worked so I think it is what OUR son needed. After he pooped in his underwear... we made him walk around with it for awhile, he wanted a snack so I had him sit down (I put paper towels under him just in case) and he did not like the feeling of it - then when we said ok lets go take your underwear off and get you cleaned up, he HATED it, some poop got on his leg and he was so grossed out by that and then we had him help Dan wash his underwear out in the toilet. After that we never had a problem. By the way, I do not count that as an accident because we told him to do it haha.

So then the next time he needed to poop he told me, we ran to the potty and we sat there for a while and he didn't go - so instead of putting his underwear back on I just had him running around with nothing on and I actually think that helped because he didn't want to poop on the floor so he would run really fast to the bathroom when he felt like he was going to go - then he finally went on the potty and he didn't want to look at it, he was embarrassed and told me not to look at it or smell it and he was acting sad so I told him it was ok and we talked about why we poop and that after we eat food - out body uses what it needs and then gets rid of the rest. The poop is like garbage and the toilet is like the garbage can (this led to some SERIOUSLY funny conversations after he would eat). I also found a movie online that is so stinking cute/funny but Jaxon loved watching it - so he watched it over and over and over again. The next time he had to poop it was much easier. We sang the song while he was on the potty - and he just went. Then he wanted to look at it because he said he did a daddy poop, a mommy poop, a Jaxon poop, a baby Addison poop, and a Volcano poop so he wanted to see them. After that we have not had any problems with him being scared to go at all!

Oh and the seat thing... that has not been a problem either... I was worried that he wouldn't go poop without it... so if we were out somewhere, he wouldn't go - but that has not been the case, he is fine not using it and he doesn't use it at home anymore either - I think it was just a good tool at the beginning to get him used to sitting on the potty and feeling comfortable.

Someone asked me if I thought it was worth it changing diapers longer and waiting until he was ready. YES YES AND YES! I think I would have had a harder time cleaning up pee or poop accidents all the time...so for me it was TOTALLY worth it - and even though it may sound like it was a hassle to get him to go poop on the potty... it really wasn't that hard, just a few days of working with him and talking him through it but I would take that and do that over having poop accidents all the time so FOR ME AND DAN AND JAXON... this was perfect for us.

Joy's of apartment living

When we moved into our apartments - we were not really sure what we were getting because there were only 3 pictures online - 2 of the living area and 1 of a bedroom so we had no idea what the kitchen or bathrooms were going to look like. When we got here I am not going to lie, I wanted to cry. We pulled up to the leasing office to sign everything, both the kids had had it at that point so instead of taking them inside, Dan and I took turns going in to sign so we wouldn't have to get them out and then put them back into the car to go to the actual apartment. So we followed the lady behind her golf cart over to our apartment. The buildings have a door that you go into that then will get you to the apartments. So when it’s raining, it’s really nice that the stairwell and everything is inside. The downside is that it gets hot and muggy in there and looks super GHETTO! So first impression, I wanted to cry. We then get into our apartment and I was very pleasantly surprised. They had just painted, put in new carpet, and got new cabinets in the kitchen and some new appliances. It looked very clean and really big. We have been fine with it here. They have a cap on your how much your water and utilities can cost so knowing that we can blast the AC as much as we want and not worry about getting a huge bill has been really nice and the highest amount we would pay a month is less than we were paying in Texas so that is ONE thing that will be cheaper here.

So we haven't really had any problems until this week. The AC isn't working and hasn't been for a couple of days, our car got towed today, and the water was off for a couple of hours without any notice today as well.

They don't know when the AC will be working and luckily it has cooled down a little but we are on the top floor and since heat rises... it gets really hot still. The good thing is, it cools down at night so we just open the windows and it isn't too bad.

When we moved here they gave us a temporary parking pass that expired on September 14th - so before then I called and asked what we needed to get to be able to park in the parking lot. I was asked if our car was registered here in Alexandria - I said no - so I was told that I needed to go down to City Hall and get a decal to put on our windshield that would allow us to park without getting ticketed or towed. So I did that - I went to city hall, paid the $33 bucks for the decal and a bunch of money for property tax on our car and was given the little sticker that would let us park without getting ticketed or towed and stuck it on our windshield. While driving in the apartment parking lot I looked at the other cars and saw the same sticker so I was reassured we had what we needed. Apparently not! Friday's Dan doesn't have class so we spend then mornings as a family, so when we went down around 1:00pm to drive Dan to his Georgetown softball team practice and get the stroller out of the car so the kids and I could go on our daily walk/play time with the Straits... we didn't see our car in the parking lot. We both started to panic thinking it was stolen. Our downstairs neighbor came out on her balcony and said - you drive the silver car right? Yes! It was towed last night. We didn't know which apartment you lived in... we were trying to find you to tell you, but it was towed. So Dan went and got it all taken care of and we found out that we had to get that decal so we could get another sticker to allow us to park in the apartment parking lot! No one said anything about that and since the stickers look almost exactly the same - same color, size, shape, everything, we had no idea! Needless to say - we were not happy that we had to pay the fee to the towing company to get our car back! AHHHHH!

Then just a few short hours later - I went to go do the dishes and the water wouldn't turn on. I called and was informed that it had to be shut off because of a problem one of the units in the building was having and it would be off for about 4 hours. AHHHHH! I needed to do dishes and start dinner at that point so I was very very frustrated.

So right now I am really missing my little house in Lubbock. I guess the plus side is that luckily we don't have to pay to get the AC fixed, or the water turned back on. I just haven't lived in an apartment for so long I am readjusting to it.

Aside from all that - it really has been a good place to live. We have a Mormon family in the complex that me and the kids hang out with almost daily - there is a pool and playground right next to our building - there is a BEAUTIFUL walking trail down the street that we walk to. It looks like you are up in the mountains but obviously you aren't. They have free car washes they do monthly, a free shuttle that takes people to metro stations, we are down the street from a huge mall, and it takes us 2 mins to get to the freeway and about 12 mins once on the freeway to get to Georgetown's Law school (which is within walking distance from the Nations capitol) so it's pretty cool. We decided to live outside DC to save money on rent - and we found one of the cheapest apartments available so we knew we were not going to be in anything special. Luckily Virginia is beautiful and makes up for my apartment not being the best haha!

 

So Behind

I hate getting behind. It is so overwhelming to catch up but it is very important to me that I do so I'm making a list of things I want to write about and I will slowly but surely get all caught up!

Our time in Utah - Whitney's wedding & Lagoon
Our move - Driving from Utah to Virginia
First weeks in Virginia - tourist stops - entire family sick
Grandpa passed away - back to Utah we go - lots of family time
Potty training Jaxon
Addy crawling, eating, getting too big too fast

I have been awful about taking pictures which I am regretting now and I'm sure will regret more in the future so once again, I am going to try and be better about taking pictures.

Utah

We love being in Utah - the only problem is we miss Dan A LOT! It has been just over a week and I have no idea how I am going to last 11 more days! And poor Jax asks all the time where daddy is and he says he wants to go home. This coming from my son is a SHOCKER! Jaxon is a social butterfly and wants to be out doing things and be with other people all the time and he NEVER wants to go home - so every time he asks to go home it breaks my heart. First because we can't - and second because next time we go home it is to throw all our belongings in a truck and drive away forever. I have been trying to explain to him that we will have a new home, but I don't think he fully understands. Being around family though has been WONDERFUL! I love and miss both mine and Dan's family A LOT so it has been great to get to be around them. I have also loved that my kids get to play with their aunts and uncles and grandparents!

Also - we found where we are going to live when we move! We found some apartments in Alexandria, VA (only 10 miles away from Georgetown University's Law School in D.C.) and we just signed a 10 month lease. We are going to be there for a total of about 17 months but we only signed a 10 month lease just in case we hate it LOL. It is always scary doing things online but we were able to talk to a member of the church who lives there and she says they are fine so we are going for it. We know they aren't going to be anything special because they are much cheaper than most everything else we can find - but they are big - our 3 bed 2 bath is 1350sq ft so we are excited about that. We will be paying TRIPLE in rent what our mortgage is in Lubbock... just to give you an idea of how freaking expensive it is over there and this is the cheapest thing we could find that wasn't a total HOLE haha! I feel ill every time I think about how much money it is. And they don't have washer/dryer hookups or anything so we will have to use the laundry facilities in the basement.... I feel like we are going backwards haha and I am REALLY not looking forward to paying to do laundry but oh well....it is all ok, we are very excited for the experience we are going to have living there and for Dan to go to Georgetown so it will all be worth it ;)

Oh - also, I mapped from Utah to our apartments in VA and it is a 32 hour drive - but because we have to go to Texas first and THEN to VA - it is going to be a 42 hour drive! AHHHHHH! Luckily we will be breaking that up into 4 or 5 days but I probably won't EVER want to get in a car again after that - neither will the kids. Good thing they have the metro to get us places!

Well that’s all for now - just wanted to update "my records" of what is going on in our lives right now.

I can do it... I can do it... I can do it

Well it has been VERY busy around here. Right now I am packing to go to Utah (I leave on Saturday), packing up our entire house to move to DC right when we get back from Utah. Trying to finish things with my "propery management" job, working for my dad, oh and being a mom.

On top of that - the other day I was in such a hurry to leave that I pushed the garage door opener and then just started backing out instead of waiting for the garage to open. I usually don't do really stupid stuff like this but it just shows how truly scatter brained I am right now. My brain is going in so many different directions...it is hard to just stop and focus on one thing which I think is really hurting me right now. ANYWAY - so on top of moving expenses... we also have to get a new garage. We could have just repaired it... but the model that we have is no longer being made so it is really expensive to get parts so it was only $50 more to get an entire new garage... obviously that is the better choice since we would have probably had to spend more than $50 getting paint to either repaint the entire thing or spending time trying to find an exact match of paint.

Then a day after the garage fiasco...Dan went to take a shower and the water didn't turn on.... what the? So I called Lubbock Power and Light to find out that our bill hadn't been paid and they shut the water off! What the crap!!! I had us set up on an automatic bill pay but about a month ago our credit card number was stolen so we had to shut that card down... well I thought I had switched everything over - but aparently LP&L fell through the cracks. ARE YOU SERIOUS? I was able to convince them not to charge us the $55 fee to turn it back on - but we were without water for the majority of the day. SERIOUSLY?!?! Just another thing to show that I have not been myself and cannot handle this much going on!

The garage and water were just two things that I really did not need to happen. It's hard enough leaving our first home that I love and the people here that I LOVE in such a short time...but then having things like this happen when we are getting ready to go just seem to make it that much worse.

Anyway - things are looking better now - we had a garage sale which was a huge success. We got the house ready for posting and so we are living in a normal living environment again. Now I just have to pack up the rest of the house before Saturday... no big deal right?
I just have to keep reminding myself that it is all going to be worth it and I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.