super-monster

Honestly, this Halloween sucked. We decided to dress Jake up as Superman, but he decided he wanted to be a monster. Seriously, I think he cried the entire weekend. He's going through a phase where he screams absolute bloody murder at bedtime. As soon as we even walk through his bedroom door his body goes rigid and he tries to squirm out of my arms. It's HORRIBLE every night and drives us nuts!!!

I think you'll find his costume...obviously last-minute.

Here is my awesome Jack Skellington pumpkin. Carved it alllll by myself, while watching Hocus Pocus with my mom and sister.

Here's a sneak preview of our counter top! Britton actually installed it this weekend but we didn't take a picture of the final product yet.

And here is our CARPET! It is so nice.

We will be moving in to the duplex this coming weekend, the 13th. Finally!!!

Pants Optional

Jake was born with really weird nails on his big toes. I cut one of them too short, thinking I would fix the issue.

Instead, he got a nasty in-grown toe nail that got infected and oozed brown puss. Antibiotics, soaking it in neosporin non-stop for 2 weeks, and still no better. We won a trip to the podiatrist where Jake got his toe nail ripped off. Believe me, I have seen some nasty things. That was one of the worst.

Here he is, showing off his bandaged foot.

Pumpkee

On Saturday we squished into the car with my mom and dad and headed out to the Country Mercantile in Pasco. I was so excited for this trip to the pumpkin patch. Jake is really excited about pumpkins and goes around saying "pumpkee" whenever he sees one. It is adorable. We had a lot of fun...we went at 9:30 in the morning so there would be no chance of running into the beast that comes out around nap time, so it was rather cold. We had a great time and got ripped off paying for kiddie rides that Jake was more confused about than excited.

Mommy and Jakey in the pumpkin patch. I sure love this little guy.

This place was practically run by John Deere tractors. This was an old one they had on display and we couldn't help but put Jake on it for a photo-op. He loved it.

When we first got off the hay ride and into the pumpkin patch Jake was a little confused and scared. So Britton ran around rubbing all the pumpkins and saying "pumpkin" really loud. After a few seconds Jake got excited and started copying his Daddy.

We are getting reeeeeeally close to moving in to the duplex. The carpet goes in November 5th and we are NOT moving that date back. Britton is so worn out from working on it non-stop and both of us are very excited to FINALLY move in to our own home! It will be so nice when it is finished. He has worked so hard on it.

Here's a sneak preview of our new kitchen cabinets...I'll be sure to post final pictures when we're all done!

Oops

I haven't blogged in a long time.

Nursing school does that to you.

Here's the update:

August.

• hung out
• went to the beach
• started school at the end (nasty)
• sister michelle visited from byu (yay)
• i can't remember anything else

September

• haven't uploaded any pictures yet, and barely taken any for that matter
• drove to provo for football game, huskies lost (bummer)
• saw the kradolfers for first time in over a year (too short of a visit--not even a day)
• sister jamie visited from seattle (yay)
• bought a new (used) car, 2009 chevy impala (don't tell dave ramsey)
• still not moved in to our duplex. britton works his tail off to get it ready.
• saw 4 babies come in to the world in OB clinical so far
• Jake has 2 in-grown infected toe nails. minor surgery in october to fix them (that's going to suck)
• i got food poisoning and barfed like there was no tomorrow

the end. maybe i'll post again at Christmas. (maybe)

duplex update and 18 months old!

We Edlers have been pretty busy! Britton goes to work every morning, getting up at 5 and getting home at 6 Monday through Thursday. He eats dinner with us and then drives over to our duplex to work on it just about every night. Fridays and Saturdays he's there from morning until late at night. He's exhausted, and I'm exhausted. It's just me and Jake and no Daddy. Not easy for anyone. Here's some pictures of our side of the duplex, for those who are curious. The other side is just about done, our renter moves in on about August 9.

This is a picture of our kitchen. It's sideways because I'm too lazy to go back and change it. The fridge is newer, we're keeping it. The floor is laminate and I think brand new, so we're keeping that too. It goes in to the little dining room. We're getting a new stove, new countertops, a new sink and adding a dishwasher and garbage disposal. The dishwasher in the picture is one of those mobile ones or whatever you call it and it's super nasty. No way we're keeping it. We're keeping the 1950's cabinets for now, they're not too bad and cabinets are expensive.

This is a picture of the common wall (wall shared with the other half of the duplex) in our living room. There was ugly paneling on it and when Britton ripped it off the original wall was in bad shape. He also put a hole in the wall to see what kind of insulation it had. There was barely any so...

He tore down the sheet rock and ripped out the thin, gross insulation that was there.

This is the other side of the living room. Britton ripped out the carpet (we're getting new carpet in a couple of weeks) and this lovely red tile was underneath it. That staircase goes down to our unfinished basement. And the little hallway goes to the 2 bedrooms and bathroom.

Our side definitely has a looooong way to go. Britton is still convinced we can be ready before I start school, but August 23 is coming up quick. Too quick. August 5 the windows we ordered are coming in, and Britton and his brother will be installing them. That's the next giant project. We'll see how quick they can do it...they need to do it really quick because our renter will be moving in 4 days later...Stress!!!!!!!

So me and Jake have been having a lot of fun together. He turned 18 months on July 22. I can't believe how fast this year and a half has gone. Here's some fun facts about my little man.

• He just started saying some "words": Woooo-ow for wow; uh-uh for uh-oh; he's finally starting to call me mama; whas is dat for what is that; and every dog he sees is a variation of the word gunther, my parents dog...usually da-da, but different then the da-da he says for daddy.
• he's going through a phase where he doesn't want to eat anything. I don't know if he's not hungry or just being super picky. But it's frustrating for both of us.
• he LOVES playing in the water, especially with his cousins.
• if someone gets out a cell phone, he squaks until you let him have it, then he pretends to talk on it
• he dances if you tell him to, or if music is playing
• he can do "wheels on the bus"
• if he kisses you on the lips you better watch out, sometimes it ends with a bite.
• his first day of nursery he walked right in and never looked back!

with Britton's cell phone. This kid is high tech.

Yogurt. One of the few things he will eat. Unfortunately when he does he demands to feed himself and things get a little messy.

He thinks it's pretty hilarious when I put 2 binkies in my mouth and give him kisses.

This has been a wonderful summer with Jake. I love being a stay at home mom and I'm dreading going back to school and having to leave him so much. I love my little guy. He's such a blast!

So rich we bought 2 houses

That's right, 2 houses. Jealous? Jealous? You should be.

Just kidding. But really, we bought a duplex. The second front door is behind the giant ugly bush on the left. We'll be living in one side and renting out the other. It's in Richland, which isn't very cool, but our goal is to be out of this house and living in Kennewick before Jake starts kindergarten. We'll see if that happens. All we know is it's a very good investment. I've heard someone say at some point in my life, that you should find a couple who is where you want to be financially, and do what they do. Britton's older sister and her husband bought a duplex when they were first married about 18 years ago. It is now paid off and paying the mortgage on their current house. The rental market in the Tri-Cities is at 99% capacity. People are basically begging for a place to rent. This duplex is going to be a lot of work. It's a fixer-upper for sure. But Britton has already been hard at work and we plan on having it ready for renters by August 1st. We will probably be able to move in to our side a couple of weeks after that, hopefully before I go back to school on the 23rd (yuck).

In the mean time, Jake and I have been enjoying playing and doing summer things. Except for earlier this week when all 3 of us got a nasty stomach virus. Jake only barfed a couple times in his crib (which we didn't find until after his morning nap, even though he did it the night before). But Britton and I almost died. Really. We both agreed that we'd never had such a terrible bout of the stomach flu before. It was awful, and it took like 5 days for our appetites to come back.

Jake playing with his cousin Emma. Anything she does, he follows. He loves that girl.

Nostalgic Post

Over Memorial Day Weekend Britton, Jake and I were able to head down to my stomping grounds in Northern California. It was a busy few days, with lots and lots of driving. We stayed in Chico with Britton's brother and his wife and 2 girls. Thanks to them for the food and place to sleep, and for helping with little Jake!We left on Thursday at 8pm, hoping Jake would sleep through the night as we chugged caffeine and drove, drove, drove. We brought along Britton's Mom and niece, 8 year old Lindsey. Jake did a great job, eventually falling asleep after the excitement of being in the car with a bunch of people waaaay past his bedtime wore off.

We arrived in Chico at approximately 6:30am, Friday morning.

The purpose of the trip was to attend my dear friend Jordan's wedding.

Me and Jordan were best pals from 7th grade on. Lots of memories. I seriously spent nearly every weekend from 7th grade through high school with Jordan. Nostalgic is the only word to describe what it was like showing up at her house, 5 years after high school, 4 years since seeing her at my wedding reception, with my husband and toddler. Jordan was my best friend, my partner in stealing traffic cones, my punk rock concert buddy, my playing in the park at midnight pal, my eating at Denny's at 1 in the morning go to girl...the list could go on and on. Life would have been pretty boring without Jordan.

Jordan married the boy we had a crush on our freshman year of high school. Taylor. He was a senior. We were awkward freshman. He was in a band. We were awkward freshman. Fast forward 4 years and they meet up in San Diego. Taylor is graduating from UC San Diego. Jordan is a not-so-awkward freshman at San Diego State. Sparks fly...fast forward 4 years and I'm sitting at their wedding.

Congratulations to Jordan and Taylor

A trip to Cottonwood wouldn't be complete without visiting my old street. I grew up on a street called Pheasant Drive. We lived in a house on 2 acres. The front acre was a walnut orchard, the back yard was grass and grass and grass with some trees. It was beautiful. It was the perfect place to grow up and it will always have a special place in my heart. I learned how to play baseball in the backyard, basketball in the drive way. I learned how to work in the orchard. We had a swimming pool...memories of night swimming are some of my favorite. I loved that house. Loved it. After visiting Pheasant Drive and standing at the end of my old driveway with memories flooding my thoughts, I prayed that in the next life, we will be ableto re-visit our childhood and see-up close the memories we made there.

On Sunday morning, the day of the wedding, we took Jake to church and left after the first hour so he could take a nap. He slept for 3 hours and woke up with a temperature of 101. It spiked to 103, and Britton and I left for the wedding feeling like terrible parents, but knowing he was in good hands with his Aunt and Grandma. By the time we got back, he was refusing to eat and would only take milk in a bottle. He was burning hot and couldn't sleep, so at 3am we packed up the car and hoped he would sleep better while we were driving. Thankfully, he did. We were back in Kennewick by about 2pm, took Jake to a walk in clinic where we were told he had strep throat and tonsillitis. Poor little guy. He's doing much better. We splurged a little bit on Tuesday, and got him a couple of things to cheer him up...

an unfinished car...and a Lightening McQueen chair. Pretty stylin'.

Playing Cars

Britton has been waiting a long time for Jake to be interested in cars.

Who do you think is having more fun in this picture?

I'd say it's pretty close.

:)

Turning into a little boy

He might still have plenty of baby chub, and not very much hair on his head...but Jake sure is growing up fast. Tomorrow he will be 15 months old. Here's some things that Jake enjoys:

• rough housing
• eating dog food when no one is looking
• opening doors (yes he can reach the handle and he figured it out quick)
• a bottle o' milk
• talking--this kid is a chatterbox
• attempting to stick his finger in any electric outlet he can find
• Gunther (my parent's dog). He regularly says Gunther's name, but not Mama.
• looking out windows and talking about what he can see (in his own language)
• playing outside! he cries when it's time to go back inside.
• his cousins. period.
• dancing

Laugh!

Here is the cutest video of Jake laughing. He is super ticklish around his ribs....just like his Daddy!

PS--it's been mine and Britton's goal for a long time to buy a duplex, live in one side, and rent out the other and keep it as a long term investment once we grow out of it. This past week, we made an offer, went back and forth a couple of times, and reached mutual agreement! We had the inspection on Saturday, and only a few issues were found, the rest were cosmetic. We were expecting this, because it is a total fixer-upper. I mean it. You will laugh when I post pictures. Which I'm not ready to do yet. We are excited though--to do whatever we want with the place. We know it's the right choice and it's such a good investment. Hopefully things keep falling into place as they have been.

Favorite

This is my new favorite picture of Jake, taken courtesy of my sister Jamie on her cell phone.

Jake is creeping up on 15 months. I can't believe how fast time is going with this little boy. I truly do love this kid more than I ever knew was possible! He's such a character. He constantly talks in his little jibberish language, and he says it like he knows it and he's the boss.

Jake is starting to be able to play outside for the first time in his life. While we were in Rexburg he was just too little, and when we got to Kennewick all he could do was sit in the grass. Now that he's walking and it's starting to warm up (a little ) we go outside whenever we can! He loves picking up rocks and just seeing what he can see. He constantly falls on the uneven surface of the grass or pebble-y cement driveway but he just hops back up like it's nothing!

I love every day I spend with Jake. I'm so glad to be his Mommy!

Bath Time!

Tonight Jake took a bath with his cousin Kyle.

I think they had a pretty fun time.

Jake loves his cousins.

And they love him!

Sleepless in Seattle

This past week was my Spring Break. A week off from waking up early, a week off from the guilty feeling that I should be studying every time I turn on the TV, a week off from clinical, a week off from listening to lectures that I really don't want to be listening to.

At the beginning of my Spring Break, Sunday night, I made a list of things to get done.

1. study for med-surg!!!! (nope)
2. complete assignment #4 for ethics (1/2 way nope)
3. work on blog for N322 (nope)
4. finish Monique and the Mango Rains (nope)

I had also been planning a fun 3 day trip to visit my sister Jamie in Seattle. I had visions of playing games late into the night, buying loads of cute clothes, walking in the park with Jake every day...it was going to be a relaxing trip to Seattle to see Jamie.

But it wasn't to be.

We arrived in Seattle Tuesday evening. Jake was happy as a lark, exploring Jamie's apartment, flirting with her roommate, just being his happy silly self. Then bedtime came. That kid would NOT go to sleep. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth...and then there was Jake. He SCREAMED. and SCREAMED. Eventually, in the wee hours of the morning, he fell asleep laying on my chest. He tossed and turned all night while laying on top of me, waking up every 30 minutes or so to let out a cry.

The next day was spent recovering...we did manage a walk in the park but it ended with Jake falling in a puddle in front of a large group of people who probably thought I was a terrible mother. And we did have pizza with Jamie and her boyfriend Mikey...it was good pizza. That night we were able to go to my Uncle's house nearby in Everett. They were out of town, and I thought I would have better luck letting Jake cry it out because we weren't in an apartment and I wouldn't have to worry about angry neighbors. We arrived to my Uncle's house just in time for bed. Great, we can put Jake to bed and spend the rest of the night watching The Office dvds. After a couple attempts involving lots of screaming, Jake fell asleep in his port-o-crib. Jamie and I watched the Office for a few hours, ate some popcorn, and crawled in to bed exhausted. Minutes after I pulled up the covers, I heard an all too familiar sound. It was the type of screaming I knew wouldn't end in sleep. Jamie went and got Jake, brought him to me, and we spent the night the same way we spent the one before.

Thursday we spent time with the kids Jamie babysits, did a little shopping, and ate at the best burger joint I know of...Dick's. At 4:30 we hi-tailed it out of there, leaving a day early and hitching a ride with my Dad on his way back home from his week of work in Kirkland.

We got home Thursday night and I handed Jake over to Britton, so exhausted I couldn't even stay up to watch the new Office. I spent this weekend recovering from the trip and doing absolutely nothing.

Better luck next year, eh?

A walking little man

The past couple of weeks Jake has been taking little steps here and there. Just this past weekend, he decided to start walking everywhere! He is now all over the place and getting better at walking all the time. It's so funny to see him walking around! He's such a cute little boy.

I Love this kid

Sorry these are out of order. Our cute little Jake has discovered he can reach the piano keys. I think he's a natural. :)

We bought a gate this weekend to close off the family room/kitchen area. If someone (mom or dad) jumps the fence and goes up the stairs Jake gets pretty sad...as you can see. Also, we apparently let Jake roam around without clothes on.

Proud of his tunes.

First Owie

The other day Jake found a shard of glass (we have no idea where it came from) on the floor and was about to put it in his mouth when I grabbed it from him. When I grabbed it out of his little hand it sliced his finger. He didn't even cry! But that sucker bled

f-o-r-e-v-e-r. We would put a band-aid on and he would suck the band-aid until it came off.

So Britton had the idea of putting on a band-aid, and then putting his mitten on over it. I have to admit I was doubtful, but it worked like a charm. And Jake looked hilarious crawling around with one mitten on.

And here is our son, playing with the toilet lid.

Jake's Party

At Jake's party we had his cousins: the Chans and the Benhams; my parents and Britton's Mom over to celebrate. I made a ton of pizza, which was devoured, and we partied. Britton's Mom made a big cake for everyone and a little baseball cake just for Jake. Jake wasn't sure at first what to do with the cake, but he figured it out and enjoyed stuffing his face. Unfortunately his little tummy couldn't handle the sugar rush and he ended up throwing it up about 20 minutes later while playing with his cousins. It didn't seem to bother him though! For his birthday Jake got a little toy laptop, a Little People Garage/Carwash toy, some very cute clothes including a Mariner's outfit, and a t-ball set.

As I've whispered in Jake's ears many times over the past couple of days, this has been the best year of mine and Britton's life. We are just in love with this little guy. Here are 12 fun little facts about Jake, one for each month so far!

1. You love milk. You've had breast milk, formula, and cow's milk and you've never complained about any of them. Milk is definitely still your favorite food.
2. You eat graham crackers cuter than anyone I've ever seen. You take tiny little bites and finish chewing before you go for the next one. It's adorable.
3. Ever since you were about 4 months old you've screamed your head off when we take you out of the bathtub. We have no idea why you do it and have no idea how to help you get over it. You love bath time!
4. You love your Daddy. When he walks in the room your eyes light up and seem to say "that's my Daddy."
5. You can say ba-ba (for byebye), da-da (for Daddy and a lot of other things), ma-ma (when you're hungry, tired, or sad), du-du (for Gunther), and you have your own little language in which you speak complete sentences and are very convincing and eloquent.
6. You have figured out when you hold a piece of food out over the side of your high-chair, Gunther is there without fail to snatch it and lick your hand. You think it's hilarious.
7. You are speechless any time we go to Wal-mart, WinCo, Target or any other big store. You stare at the lights and the people and are completely mesmerized with all the activity.
8. You love being with other kids, especially your cousins. They make you laugh harder than anyone can!
9. You're starting to walk with your toy truck-walker and it's so fun watching you, you're so proud of your self and you smile the entire time, pausing every few steps to turn back and wave to make sure everyone is watching.
10. You are very opinionated. If we're making you do something you don't want to, like changing your diaper, getting dressed, or getting strapped in to your car seat, you let us know, and loudly.
11. You sleep on your stomach with your bum in the air.
12. You have the most adorable grin I've ever seen. I think everyone that's seen you smile has fallen in love with you Jake.

Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Jake turns one this Friday! I can't believe it's already been a year. Enjoy the video!

Jakey's 1st Christmas!

Here's the Christmas pics I said I would post!

Jake did really well meeting Santa Claus...no tears! Just very quiet and concerned.

Not really a Christmas picture, I just think he looks super cute asleep.

Santa Claus brought Jake a giant toy chest. Jake loves it almost as much as his cousins do...they think it's pretty funny to hide inside of it.

Jakey surrounded by presents on Christmas morning...

Jakey with his cool tractor from Mommy and Daddy.

We had a great Christmas...and now Jake turns 1 in just a couple of weeks! I can't believe it!