9 months already?!?

     It is so crazy to believe that Jace is already 9 months old. He has pretty much been alive as long as it took me to cook him up inside of me! Thats a little weird to think about! This kid, is seriously just growing up way way way to fast!

     This child of mine now has 5 teeth! Yes 5! The poor dear cut 3 all at once! He now has is two bottom ones, and three on top, with the fourth top front tooth well on its way to cutting through pretty soon! On top of all the pain from teething, this little man also had a cold, and an ear infection at the same time! He is on the mend though and has TONS of energy again, so thats a good sign. While I love me some snuggles, I am more than grateful that he is sleeping better at night again.

     He is almost finally to the point of sleeping through the night. Lately, on average Jace has been getting between 7 and 9 hours straight sleep. Its a huge blessing for me! But silly Jace still has a crazy internal clock because he just cannot sleep in past 8. Thats on a good day mind you. Most days he gets up at 7 ready to rock and roll. I am hoping with time he might get used to sleeping a little bit more, but if not, I will definitely make sure that when he is a teenager he knows just how much he loves to wake up at 7 every day of the week!

     I have been working on sign language with Jace for about three months now. He understood it before, but just recently he has been attempting some signs of his own. He is not very consistent yet, but it has been so nice to be able to communicate with him. He can sign more, which is great because I basically know when he is hungry or if he needs me to give him more food to eat. And he can sign milk, which is also nice. I think he has been trying to sign all done, but deciphering his rendition of all done has been interesting. Jace can also wave goodbye, (for the most part). He is starting to understand no. He gets it for the most part, unless he really really doesn't want to stop what he is doing. If thats the case, he gives me the, "I know I am getting into trouble, and I am too cute for you to stop me" look. Little stinker! He has also started handing me things. Especially if it is something he has picked up off the floor that he knows I don't want him to eat. 

     He is crawling even faster than before. I thought he was fast last month, but holy cow is he a whole lot faster than he was before. Paul and I joke that he might not walk because he likes to crawl so much and he is so stinking good at it. Lately he has made more of an effort to pull himself up onto furniture and walk along it. He has also started walking while pushing the laundry basket. No attempts yet to stand up without support, but there have been little signs here and there that make me think he might be getting ready to try it soon. Stairs are still a favorite for Jace. He can cruise right up, but still has no desire to learn to come down them correctly. When we are over at our neighbor friends house, he comes down her stairs face first. Granted it is only like one and a half stairs and they are wide. But when it comes to the big stairs, he most definitely would rather go up than come back down. 

     Jace is talking like crazy! Not that I can understand any of it. But he is always just jabbering away at something or another. Even with a bink in his mouth, he still manages to voice his opinion. If I talk to him, he will usually talk right back. 

     Because the weather has been so nice lately, I have taken Jace to the park a few times. He loves the swings! We don't get to swing a whole lot because the parks with swings near us are at an elementary school so we have to go after school is out. He hasn't decided how he feels about the slide yet. I think it makes him a little uneasy for now, but I bet in the future he won't mind the slides so much. 

   Jace loves to eat practically anything. Literally. I caught him eating a check that I hadn't cashed the other day. I had to ask my neighbor to write me a new one because Jace just happened to eat the part with the routing number. Lately we have discovered that he loves to eat beets and grapes. Jace and I were out to lunch the other day with a few of his cousins, my in laws, and a few brothers and sisters in law. We all decided that we are pretty sure Jace at more than is 2 year old cousin, and came pretty close if not beating his 4 year old cousin at how much they ate. The problem with his cousins is that they are just a little bit picky when it comes to eating. And Jace, like I said, will eat anything! I really hope it lasts. I don't want him to be such a picky eater that he will only eat one or two meals. I think it has really helped though too that Paul and I put lots of spices in our food, and that we don't eat a lot of processed foods, so he hasn't had any of most little kids go to foods. I do have to say that I have loved baby led weaning. Jace is to the point where he is chewing up his food pretty well. He rarely gags on anything anymore. And it is so nice not to have a billion little baby food snacks packed for him. As long as it is relatively soft I can just feed him whatever I am eating. Paul and I had enchiladas for dinner last night, and Jace had it right along with us. I even tricked him into eating more carrots by covering them in enchilada sauce! I was hesitant that he couldn't like Caesar Salad, (mostly for the dressing), but he sure did. Loved the tomatoes and chicken that we fed him, and even asked for more. Now I just need to get to the point where I am letting him try things that I don't like. Its hard because we don't eat them much here, but I don't want to be one of those parents that never lets their kids eat anything they don't like. I mean who knows, Jace could just love lima beans and cooked peas. 

     Well, thats all that I can think that is new so far with little Jace man. He develops and grows so much every day. It is so crazy to me to see how fast he is developing. I feel very blessed to have him as my son. 

Jace has an obsession with that little crab. Every time he has a bath that crab is in his mouth. No joke!

The onions in my house are on a bottom shelf. And our pantry is actually a book shelf so it doesn't have doors to close. One of Jace's favorite toys is to pull out the onions and eat them. It just makes me laugh that he tries to eat the tops of them. We live for cheap entertainment at this house!

Just a cute pictures of Jace chillin with me on the floor. 

Jace and Lyla are riding an elephant together at Lyla's house. 

Paul's Aunt Susan, our land lady, told us that we could paint his room how ever we like. For me this was a dream come true. I really wanted Jace to have a nursery but because we have been in an apartment or renting I didn't think I would get to give him one. This is his room before.

This is after we painted. We still aren't quite finished. I need to paint just a little strip, and get the curtains up and a few more things, but I have loved how well everything came together!

I have been running on the elliptical every so often. The first time I tried to, I thought Jace would just play nicely on the floor with his toys. Oh boy that was not the case. He kept trying to climb up with me. I was worried that his little fingers were going to get squished or something. So I brainstormed a bit and got our hiking backpack Paul's parents got us for Christmas. He loves to just ride in the pack every time I use the machine. And its so great for me, because not only do I get some extra weight and more of a challenge for my workout, but Jace falls asleep around 15 minutes in! And the transfer from pack to his bed isn't too bad. 

Because the weather was so nice we went out to play. In our front yard there is a tree with a perfect perch. I put Jace up there just to see what he would do. As you can tell he is a little hesitant here. 

By this point though he was playing and more interested in the bark of the tree than in me taking pictures. 

9 month pictures here we go! The sticker lasted only about 30 seconds. As you can see in the pictures below. 

But instead of trying to eat it, he tried to hand it to me because he knew I didn't want him to eat the sticker!

Best place to put his stickers is on his head. Jace is actually pretty good about not pulling off hats or hoods, and stickers we found out. I was able to snap quite a few more pictures with his sticker on his forehead. Silly little boy didn't hardly notice. 

I might be crazy, but I seriously can't get over how cute his little bum is!

Jace LOVES to help with the dishes. Anytime Paul or I work on the dishes, Jace is always there to help us. 

This is the after picture of Jace. He made Valentines for Mimi and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, and Nana. Don't ask me how he managed to get paint in his eye when only his hands and feet touched the paint. But somehow he did. 

Jace showing off his new $2 PJs. He loves to climb around on the couch. Especially if I am trying to lay on it. 

At his checkup they had to draw blood. They missed the first vein and had to poke him again in the second arm. :( But luckily he was happy even having two pokes!

Loving him some enchiladas! 

Update on Life

     I have been pretty good about updating the blog when it comes to Jace, but I have been horrible when it comes to the goings on of Paul and myself. So Just a quick little update as of today.
      Paul has been asked to senior several jobs this busy season, (which is both good and bad). Good because he has only been an employee at Tanner for 1 year and they trust him enough to promote him and give him more responsibilities. Bad because more responsibilities means more work. His busy season last year was easy peasy, just over 40 hour weeks. This year we estimate him working 50-60 hour weeks on average. He said he has liked the challenge, but it is also somewhat intense having other people rely on you, and being held responsible for training them. He doesn't want to screw someone up because he trained them incorrectly. I think that he will do just fine though. He has been gone all week working at a client in Reno, NV. Its been interesting with a sick and teething baby. But we have made it work. He has been working 10-12 hour days this week, so he says that he can't wait to come home and be with the family again, and not have to worry about work for a few days.
     Paul hopefully took his last CPA test (for the last time) this month. We find out in a week and both of us are dying. I feel like he passed. I feel really good about it. But there is always that what if. And last time he took this test he felt sure he passed, and he didn't. This time he felt like it could go either way. Which usually means he passed. But AHHH the suspense is killing us both. We keep praying that he passed because him needing to study, and being in the middle of busy season would be so so hard. I really wouldn't have a husband if it came down to that. But I don't think it will. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he is licensed by March at the latest. He still has some small state tests to take to be fully licensed, but wants to wait until he knows he passed before he starts taking them.
      Paul and I took a day date and went snowboarding last week. It was so great to be up on the mountain, out of the horrible air. It was definitely hard to leave Jace for the whole day. But it was also nice to relax and not worry, (as much as possible), about the baby. We didn't get up to Snowbird until around 10:30 and we only stayed till about 3. But for us, out of shape, old fogies, it was just what we needed. Paul doesn't enjoy it quite as much as I do, because he has only recently started. But he said that he felt like he was boarding well enough that he actually enjoyed some parts of it.
     We also got to go and see the US premiere of The Count of Monte Cristo musical at BYU. It was So amazing! I just have to tell you that both Paul and I thought that it was one of the best plays that we have ever been to. The cast did an amazing job, and the graphic design that they implemented as part of the set was incredible!!! It is so cool to see what technology can do. If you have the opportunity to see it, definitely do!
      The stay at home mom Kylee hasn't been up to much. I work out at least 5 days a week with my friend Meagan. I am still tutoring and nannying a few days a week. And just taking care of Jace. I get a few projects done here and there, but nothing big and fancy. With the warmer weather we have been having this past week, Jace and I have played out side a few times. I have set up a hammock chair to sort of double up as a swing, and he loves it. It wraps around him like a cocoon and he just grins and giggles while I push him. I can't wait until the weather is good and I can take him to the park. He is getting to the age where he will actually like going to play at the park. No major exciting news or crazy adventures this month. But hopefully as the weather gets warmer there will be lots more to share!

This is how Paul takes a break when we go snowboarding ;)

I just LOVE the views you get when you are up in the mountains away from everything. 

Paul thought I needed a picture of me that wasn't a selfie. How thoughtful :)

The two of us having a great time with out a baby for a few hours. 

Jace is 8 months!!

     Jace is 8 months. I can't believe how the time has flown. Our little bundle of joy is rapidly growing into a cute, chunky little man. Jace got his first tooth on the 3rd of January. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be. But when his second tooth came in on the 18th, boy, that whole previous week was awful. Silly Jace's teeth decided to grow in funky. He got his bottom right tooth first, then his top right tooth second. I think he is working on the bottom left, but its not through yet so I can't be too sure. To make things worse, he caught a cold, so he is congested and teething, which makes for a sad, snuggly, cranky baby.
      He is eating more and more solid type foods which is good. But since he has been sick, he has an aversion to others that he used to like. I can't decide if its because his nose is so stuffy that he can't taste it, or if its just his changing pallet. Jace loves to zoom all over the floor. He is seriously a fast crawler. He can weave in and out of tight spaces too with minimal head bonking. He is getting more and more daring about pulling himself up onto things. He does like to practice walking while he is holding onto the couch. And boy oh boy does he love to climb the stairs. Because we live in a basement apartment, I have had him practice the stairs all the time, so that I know that he can climb them. Thankfully though, he hasn't attempted to climb the stairs without me looking. He will crawl over to them, and just look at me, waiting to follow him over there. Or if I run upstairs to start laundry or something, he has been really good about just waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. I don't know how long this good behavior will last, but I am grateful that he hasn't had any tumbles down the stairs from trying to climb them himself.
      Jace still loves to give high-fives. He is more and more consistent with it these days. He is still pretty good at clapping also. We have been trying to teach him how to waive. He can kind of do it. It I don't think it means bye. I think it means more of, come here, I want you. But I am not sure. He makes the sign language sign for milk, which I have been teaching him. But I don't think it means milk. I could be wrong, but oh well. We will figure it out with time.
     He loves to talk. No real words yet just gibberish and lots of mumbling. But its just too cute. If I talk to him, he almost always talks back to me. He loves to mimic people too. If Nana coughs, Jace fake coughs. If some one sneezes, Jace fake coughs. It just makes me giggle. But I love that his mind is continually developing.
     Jace still loves to take baths. He is a big fan of splashing water EVERYWHERE. He loves his bath toys too. And lately has started crawling all over in the tub water. Silly kid. This month we haven't had any poop in the tub accidents. YAY!  And we haven't had any blowouts either.
     Jace loves to move all over the place and its hard to get him to sit still long enough to get a good picture. If I hold him he does ok. But getting him to sit still all by himself these days is impossible.
    He still doesn't sleep through the night, though we have been working on cutting out night feedings. He will wake up at the 4 hour mark, and usually within 5 minutes he has put himself back to sleep. The time has gotten shorter, and Paul and I don't always have to get up and comfort him, so that has been great. I keep holding my breath that one of these days it will just click, and my baby will sleep through the night. But I will just keep waiting because we aren't there yet.
     Jace loves to play with his friends Lainey and Lyla. I have been working out with my neighbor friend almost every day, and it has been fun to watch how the kids interact with each other. Sometimes Jace and Lyla push each other, and try to steal toys from one another. And sometimes they crawl side by side under the table and climb up the chairs together. It really is just too cute.
     Anyway. Thats the latest update on Jace. :)

 

Jace just looks so serious in the car. He loves being in is newer carseat because he can actually see out the windows. I used to have to sit in the back with him every time Paul drove us somewhere, but now that he has switched car seats, I rarely have to sit in the back with him. It's so fun to watch him. He watches everything out his side window or the back window.  

Jace and Lyla LOVE to play together. They are just so fun to watch together. In church they usually entertain each other quite well. We have had lots of comments from others telling us just how cute our kids are. 

When we play dominos or any game for that matter, Jace has to play with us. So as you can see, he is eating a delicious domino. 

Here we are practicing our selfies. Jace usually never smiles any more when I take pictures of him. But somehow we managed to get one here. 

"Here Mom, have some watermelon!"

Yay! Snow day! We love playing especially in the snow. 

The first snowman Jace has ever built, or really, watched me build. Haha

Jace just lovin the snow. 

Jace has started to really enjoy books more. Which makes me so so happy! I have his little board book drawer out so he can get into his books any time he wants. He is actually using his books more than he is using his toys! 

This is one of the best pictures we got of Jace for his 8 month pictures.

Cute little Jace is only happy when he is doing his own thing. 

Yep, happy when I am not forcing him to pose for pictures. 

Jace in all of his Cuteness

     While we were on the cruise, everyone would come up to Jace and say high-five! (like a 7 month old baby knows how to give high-fives...) But after a while, he would actually high-five them back. He wouldn't hit their hand back, but he would put his hand up to theirs. We figure for 7 months old, thats a good start to a high-five, so we started praising him when he would give high-fives. One day, he just started saying "ess" and making a fist and pumping his arm. You know, the action you do when you say yes! It is so cute. I don't know if it means the same thing to him as it does to us, but when we say YES! he will go es, and do the whole hand thing! its so great! He also recently started clapping. This replaced the YES action I think. Because sometimes when we say yes he claps his hands now. Usually its when we say YAY and he claps his hands. Its a hit and a miss getting him to do both actions right now, but I caught some on film that I thought would be so fun to share.

If you watch closely you can see Jace do his little YESSS thing during this video

This one is Jace's high-five followed by a small little yes fist pump

I have been doing baby led weaning because Jace just hates to eat the puree stuff. He eats two bites then acts like I am choking him and refuses to eat any more. So him feeding himself is much much more productive. Any how, he just makes the cutest sounds when he is eating, like its the best food anyone has ever eaten. So I had to post a video of it.

There isn't a whole lot to watch, but just listen to the cute noises Jace makes when he eats.

This is a quick video of Jace clapping. He is definitely getting better at it, and he socially knows when to clap. It is so crazy how fast he is growing up and developing!

Jace found my boots and started playing with them. So I slipped his little feet inside and had Paul take a picture. His little smile is just the cutest.

Because we were on the cruise when Jace turned 7 months I didn't really get pictures. I finally did, and because he is mobile, its impossible for him to sit still. This was one of the better ones I got of him. The background is cluttered, but at least Jace isn't blurry

I really thought Jace would pull the sticker off of his head and try to eat it, but to my surprise he left it alone until I put it in his hands and let him play with it for a little bit.

I had to take a picture of his cute little jumper thing he is wearing. I found this at a thrift store for $1. Its one of the best dollars I have spent in a long time!

Christmas 2014

     This year is my family's year for Christmas. This made me super excited because it was Jace's first Christmas and we got to spend the first part of it with my family. We also got to spend Christmas Eve with my family, (which has not really happened since we've been married). I was so excited to do all of my childhood traditions with my family and friends. It seemed like the time leading up to Christmas came so fast. We got back from our cruise, Paul had a few days of work, and then BAM, its Christmas Eve. I worked hard to get my quilt done, (we make a homemade gift every year) but I was still super behind on my quilt. Despite the fact that I started this quilt in July, it is now Christmas Eve and I am not finished tying it yet. Paul was able to take Christmas Eve off and help me tie the quilt. Even with his help, and stealing my sister Lena, and having Aunt Susan help, we were still late by 2 hours to the start of the family party!
   Every year my family goes sledding on Christmas Eve. We took a break from tying the quilt to go sledding. I probably shouldn't have done that, but it was definitely a break that I needed. We went sledding at Donut Falls, had some coco, then came home and continued to work on the quilt. Finally at 7pm we finished it. We threw everything together and rushed to my parents house. The Mustoe's, (a good family friend of ours), have dinner with us Christmas Eve and do the nativity, so they were there. We made fun little personal pizzas and caught up on life and how everything has been going. We did the nativity with all the little kiddos, and sang some christmas songs before our guests left to do their own Christmas Eve traditions.
    We got to open our ornament. (This tradition started with my grandmother before she passed away. She used to give us an ornament each year so we would have enough to decorate a tree of our own when we were all grown up. Now that she is gone, my mom gives us one every year to keep the tradition going). We also opened up our PJs before trying to corral my younger siblings to bed. Paul and I decided that we were going to spend the night at my parents house this year and do the big Christmas morning tradition with them at least one last year before we decide what types of traditions we want to start with our little family.
    I still hadn't finished sewing Jace's stocking by the time Paul and Jace were ready for bed, so I got them all situated and then stayed up cutting, pinning, and sewing the rest of his stocking. My mom wasn't quite finished with a sewing project yet either, so we stayed up together. Tanner came upstairs hungry around 12:30 and cooked us some tuna noodle casserole. So we stopped and took a break, then kept on finishing our projects. Mom finished a little before me and headed to bed. Just as I was finishing Jace's stocking he started to wake up. I hurried and got ready for bed, fed him, and put him back to sleep so Paul wouldn't wake up.
     Much sooner that I was hoping for, Paul woke up for the morning. I don't know if it was Jace that got up first, or Paul, but Paul was up and looking for his stocking long before I wanted to get out of my bed. But he came in and told me it had snowed. This was a big deal because we both had been dying for it to snow for Christmas, and we got our wish. There was lots of snow on the ground. I was excited, but not enough to get out of my bed for it quite yet. I went back to sleep for like an hour before I couldn't sleep anymore.
     The rest of my family was pretty much up already. So we opened or stockings and talked with each other for a little bit before getting ready for presents. We always start with our homemade gifts, which is so fun. I love it. Paul got a Norwegian game called KUB that my dad had made. My brother made me a super cute picture frame. My dad loved his Beatles quilt, and Paul is making Yulia a greenhouse. She is stoked about it! Jace had a blast with all of the wrapping paper. I don't think he actually opened a gift all by himself, but he did actually play with his own gifts once they were opened. It was so cute to see him going back and forth between the paper, the ribbon and his presents. I can't wait to see how magical Christmas becomes for him as he continues to get older. After we gave all of our gifts out, things sort of mellowed out a little bit. We cooked some breakfast/brunch, and played a few games together. Jace and I took a nap while Paul played some other games with my siblings.
    After my nap, we packed up all of our stuff and headed over to Paul's parents for their share of Christmas day. We got there just before it started snowing crazily again. We had a great dinner with the Burnett side of the family that came to visit, and we played lots and lots of games. We stayed so late that we decided to sleep over. Cottonwood heights had gotten easily 10 inches of snow, and we were told the roads were bad so if we could avoid them, that would be best. So we played games late into the night and just spend the night at the in-laws.
   I was a little bummed because Rex and Julie gave us a nice set of sheets for our bed, and I had washed and dried them at their place so they would be all ready for me to use, and I didn't get to use them that night. It was fun to sleep over though, because in the morning we were lazy and just relaxed with all the family members and played games basically all day long.
    I feel like Christmas came and went so fast this year. It was so different actually living near our families and not needing to stay with them for a whole week, but it was also nice being able to decide at a moments notice to spend the night at their house rather than drive home.
    Oh by the way, the best/worst Christmas gift we got was that of Jace being able to speed crawl. He has be taking 2 or 4 crawling steps for the past few days, but literally, Christmas morning he was crawling all over the place. It has been so fun to see him in action. I am so excited for all of the developments that are to come.

Jace about to go sledding with Papa. He is definitely not as excited as Papa is. 

Jace and daddy being lazy and not sledding with the rest of us.

Boom, they crashed into the shrubs, but they had fun on hill and didn't go too too fast.

He is giving us the, "I am ready to go home" face.

And this is the, hmmm maybe snow does taste okay face.

I was trying so hard to get a cute picture of his eyes, and the snow, and the light, and it just wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, but I didn't have a fancy camera, just my phone, so its as good as could be expected.

Jace and Paul beat the rest of my family back to the car. Jace had a blast holding onto the steering wheel. It was just too cute to not get a picture. 

The annual Blatter/Mustoe Nativity.

Jace was our little baby Jesus, but he was much more interested in playing with the toys than in laying peacefully in a manger

My kid isn't cooperating, but I had to get proof that I was actually with my friend Erin. 

It is WAY past Gloria's bed time. All you had to do was look at her and she cried. 

Still has puffy red eyes, but at least she isn't crying in this picture. She did start crying immediately after I took it though. 

Don't mind me, but Jace is opening eating his ornament from Mimi

Now Jace is trying to get into his PJs. I taped the bag shut though, so it is was tricky for him to open.

The cousins on Christmas morning. They are just so cute. And look, Gloria is actually happy for the time being.

Jace is actually interested in opening up his present

Yay! A book, he looks so thrilled

Jace is enjoying his loot from Santa

The Christmas tree at Mimi and Papa's in all its glory!

I think this is the only picture of us together that I got on Christmas

Yay, a present for Paul!!

Jace enjoying the box more than the toys!

Dad opening up his awesome Beatles quilt. His face was priceless, but even more so when he realized what the quilt actually was a picture of. 

Yay! Jace is actually playing with one of his Christmas toys. 

My cute niece Gloria. She is starting to get a cute little personality of her own. I can't wait until Gloria and Jace are crawling around the floor together. 

Once we got to Paul's parents, we FINALLY got Jace to take a nap. Since he is crawling now, we couldn't just leave him on the bed. He just sort of sprawled out on his make shift bed, and it was too cute to not get a picture of.