Head West Young Man

We are moving!
In one month from today.
We are moving to a tiny little town of 294 people. Actually we will be living 5 miles outside of this tiny little town.
We are extremely excited for this opportunity for both Jordan and our family.  After being out of school for almost two years Jordan realized that sitting at a computer looking at drawings and work packages all day was not for him.  We are extremely grateful for our time here in South Carolina, it taught us so much, it has been special to be able to take the kids to visit Jordan's dad twice a week, own our first home, have Bo, and so much more.  While these things have been great, we knew that we wanted our kids to grow up with a different lifestyle, a more simple and wholesome lifestyle.
After much prayer and fasting we have decided to move back to Idaho.  Jordan will be working on a large ranch.  And yes, we realize Jordan knows nothing about ranching.
We were not out looking for a ranching job, we were actually looking into other field engineer positions in the oil and gas industry.  While visiting family and friends in Utah this summer our friends Tim and Elaine stopped by, it was briefly mentioned about a possibly of an engineering position with their family's company.  When we got back to Aiken we talked about how we really missed Idaho and maybe we should look into that rather than oil/gas.  We also knew they were looking for a ranch hand for their cattle operation.  About 4 months later we were sitting in the living room and it just kind of dawned on us that we should ask about that position and seeing if there was anyway to make it work for our family.  For some crazy reason they said yes, and now we are packing up.
 This is a big change but we truly think it is right for our family.
Really though, it all boils down to that I look way more cute in the freezing cold than I do the sweltering heat.

Survival mode.

In the past 33 months I have either been growing a child or physically providing a child with all of their nutrients. For 9 of those months I was doing both simultaneously. 

In the past 24 months I have changed roughly 7,482 diapers. 

I have not slept through the night in two years. 

I have not slept longer than 3 hours in the past nine months. 

I have gone to school part time during all of this. 

I still wake up at 5 and make Jordan a lunch every morning. 

Most mornings it takes a whole lot of self control not to throw his camelback at his head. 

But yet I do it cause it's the only time we get to talk without kids. 

I have 5 loads of laundry to fold. 

It's been sitting in my room for over a week. 

I still have 3 more loads to wash. 

My sink still has dishes from thanksgiving. 

I am tired. 

Today is madilyn's 2nd birthday, and I can't even imagine finding the energy to buy let alone make a cake. 

My kind of husband.

Comes home from work.  Takes you to Hobby Lobby.  Carries both kids to the car.  

But really this is just one of those snapshots I want to remember forever.  He is one great dad, which makes him one great husband.  Life can be extremely overwhelming with babies just 14 months apart, and although we can both have our "natural man" tendencies, he handles like it's the most normal and easy thing ever.  

*Unless of course he has been home with both kids more than an hour.  In that case I get a call that goes something like ..."It's really hard being mom, come home we need you."  

Hurray for Chipotle.

Have you seen Chipotle's  new commercial?   

Well, what did you think?
If your thoughts were something along the lines of " I don't get it" or "well that is disturbing,
things are not really like that."
Do me a favor and go watch FOOD Inc (it is on netflix, amazon prime, and youtube) and Fresh (amazon prime).  Open your eyes to the reality of factory farming.
At first you might think, well I am never eating meat again.  Here is the thing, that does not have to be the answer, meat is not the criminal here.  The industry is.  When the industry is pumping your family's dinner full of hormones and antibiotics, you are feeding your family hormones and antibiotics for Sunday dinner.  Makes your mouth water huh?  There are thousands of farmers out there who are raising animals the way God made them to be raised.  On Grass.  Find a farmer who feeds his chicks grass, not fecal soup.  And if you are going to eat out, cause who doesn't love skipping the dishes, find a place that supports sustainable agriculture.
  I love how brave Chipotle was to come out with such a bold statement.

Farmers Market.

I am officially a PROUD vendor at the local farmers market.
Along with creating two human beings and keeping them not only alive, but also thriving, this may in fact be one of my proudest accomplishment.  It might even trump graduating college... yeah it does.
Happiness is still Homemade is a cute little stand selling homemade bread, granola, pies, and possibly some other treat I decided to whip up at 1am.

So WHY am I doing this?
There are two main reasons.
The first would be that being at home with my kids is amazing, I know that I am a lucky girl to be at home everyday with Bo and Madilyn while Jordan goes to work solely to provide for our wants and needs at home.  But here is the thing, any stay at home mom will admit there are a heck of a whole lot more diapers, various bodily fluids, and tantrum filled moments than there are the warm and fuzzy ones.  And this girl needs an outlet.  Seeing as my sewing machine and glue gun only get used once a quarter it is not like crafting really does much for me.  I love being able to look up and develop new recipes. I love staying up late with the husband on friday night baking together.  I love being at the market from 6 to 11 every Saturday morning where I get to meet new friends, talk to adults, and just be apart of my community.  And I love that by 11 I am really missing my little family.
So the second reason.  I LOVE LOCAL FOOD.  You should too.   I love that I am providing good nutrient rich food.  Have you looked at the ingredient label of your bread lately?  If there are more than 5 items listed you are feeding your family... well junk.  I want everyone to eat food that is truly food, not a GMO, not processed, not shipped from the other side of the equator.  Jordan said that I seem to talk about it so much that I should do something about it.  So I did.  Kind of crazy right?  I can't tell everyone I know to stop eating enriched white flour and Jiff, and trust that they will.   But what I can do is introduce them to almond butter through granola bites, and freshly ground wheat through still warm bread.

Ever tried a 100% whole wheat pie crust? No?  I make one and it will rock your pumpkin pie loving world.

Hair.

*warning contains graphic image*

This post is mainly just to remind myself why I will be chopping 12 inches off on Monday. 

Pregnancy is fan-freaking-tastic to my hair. It's thick, shiny, grows faster than a weed. It's awesome. 

Jordan loves it.

Currently my hair is the longest it's ever been. Easily mid back. 

Then all at once, literally over night, something horrible happens. Postpartum hair loss. 

This ain't no joke. 

With madilyn I had a full on receding hair line. It took me until Bo was born to be on the way to recovery. And now what? The beast is back. 

This is from ONE shower. 

My once lushes mane is no more. 

The hair is everywhere in the house other than my head. 

If they are trying so hard to prevent teen pregnancy in the schools,  I think they should take a different route. Telling them the responsibility of taking care of a newborn is obviously not doing the trick. I think it's time we just show them the cold hard facts. Postpartum bleeding and hair loss should do the trick. 

This image, and any hint and reminder of nausea, are the best form of birth control I know of. 

Y-M-C-A

Best money I'll spend all summer. 

So I had a baby four months ago.

Bo is 4 months old. Ya.  That went by fast, like ten times faster than it did with Madilyn.  Also just because of his size and motor skills he seems even older.  He is off the charts in everything, and is bigger than madilyn was at 9 months.  He is almost 19 pounds and that was 2 weeks ago.  He is a mover.  He has very controlled rolls in both directions, can push his chest up off the ground, and LOVES the bouncer/jumper thing.  I think it must just be a second child thing, he is just always (relatively speaking of course) so happy to be standing in his bouncer in the playroom while Madilyn plays and talks all around him.
When we flew to Ohio a couple of weeks ago we had so many people ask if they were twins.  They are  similar in size but not that similar.  We just guessed they did not have kids.  One is running around and the other is still in an infant carseat.  come on.
I knew this age gap would be a little crazy but I really actually love it and now think that the average 2.5 year gap would be crazy.  Most of the time it is pretty low key, madilyn still takes a nice long nap if not two shorter naps and Bo is still 3 or 4 a day.  As long as I get one break where they are both asleep for at least 45 minutes at the same time I know I am going to make it though the day.  However, sometimes they manage to wake up within seconds of each other and I usually have a mini panic attack right then.
The tough times are when they are both crying and need something at the same time and trying to decide who to help first.  Or the fact that Bo LOATHS the his car seat and cries no matter what when we go for a drive for the first bit.  It makes me dread leaving the house sometimes.  But on the bright side his crying does not seem to bother madilyn too much.  She just says "shhhh" or "nonobobonono".
She is for real crazy for him. There are no jealously issues at this age gap, which is great.  We only have an issue with too much lovin.  "Madilyn, Bo does not want you to sit on him", "Madilyn, one kiss is enough", "Madilyn, he does not want your (fill in the blank)", "Madilyn, he is eating, you can't hold him" are all said about 100 times a day.  She LOVES giving hugs and kisses to him.  She can be in the middle of a full on tantrum, rolling on the floor and 75% of the time if I say, "hey go tell Bo why you are crying" she will get up and go find him and leave me.  The other 25% of the time is messy.  The girl can tantrum it up. *help*.
Never in a million years would I have guessed that I would be 23, married, and a stay at home mom of two under two. If you would have asked me 5 years ago I would have laughed and said what about a mission and grad school?
But this is an amazing mission, just without a designated time to actually get ready for the day and to go to bed.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who had a much better plan for me.  And I am sure He has bigger and better plans than what I have in mind right now even.  And that is awesome.

Now enjoy 35 of the 700+ pictures I have taken in the last 4 months.

Pretty much love at first sight.

 The feeling was not mutual to start with. 

 Monthly family temple trip

 When is the last time you had that much fun?

 She was 15 months and he was 1.5 here. 

 Jordan was so proud of this moment. 

 I'll have to do a post on our car wash trips. 

 Jordan Blessed Bo on cinco de mayo

 Pretty much the one time he has smiled in his seat

 She ate that whole salad. Really.

 My whole world. 

tantrum.  

 Do you think that maybe I hold Bo like this a lot?

 Traveling with two under two

 All three passed out at BWI when our flight was delayed 4 hours

 He did this on his own. 

*this next statement comes from a mom whose kids have been asleep for almost four hours now, take it with a grain of salt. Kinda*
Holy cow Bo is so old already, and madilyn is such a little toddler, it makes my heart ache and rejoice.  I have loved this age gap.  Looking at these pictures makes me already excited to add more a few more of these munchkins to our gang.  I think I could be forever happy with a little itty bitty newborn always in our home, I already miss having a sweet little sleepy one.  Somedays are hard, and I can not deny that I miss the socialization and actually having real conversations, but having an excuse to wear running shorts and a t-shirt everyday is my kind of job.

Jordan Boyd

I forgot to publish this. 

Baby Bo will be two months old this week and I still have yet to write anything about him! Actually, I am not that surprised I am a pretty mediocre blogger so I am pretty much right on par.

The birth.
I was 40 weeks and 4 days so my doctors decided to finally induce me. So on Feb 25 Jordan and I ventured over to the hospital to have a baby. I had been having contractions for WEEKS, like since 35 weeks along.  And they hurt every time, but when I would tell my doctor about them he would say it was normal third trimester pains, not contractions.  (I think he was forgetting this wasn't my first rodeo) When we got there and got "settled in" and hooked up, the nurses were shocked to see regular strong contractions... the same ones I had been feeling all along.  My doctor came in and informed me that he would have started labor a few weeks ago if he knew they were this real.  Haha oh well.  Because I was already contracting he broke my water right away, and gave me a super small dose of PIT and said he would prob turn it off in about a hour or so.  Things got moving pretty quickly from there, I had it made up in my mind to hold off from an epidural for as long as possible.  With Madilyn I had two real contractions and decided I had nothing to prove and asked for it right away.  This this labor was moving MUCH more quickly and as long as I was standing I was able to handel the contractions.  If I sat or laid down I pretty much wanted to die.  When the nurse or doctor came in they were always surprised about how well I was doing, saying things like I did not even look or act like I was in labor, or most women with contractions this strong and close would be freaking out.  I credit two things, mostly being able to stand up and move around,  I can not even say enough how much this helps, second I am super duper prideful and wanted to keep my tough girl act up.  ( During my pre-natal care all the doctors would say I was their easiest patient, and so I never wanted to complain or mention anything to them because I am a total weirdo and took way too much pride in that.) Four hours into labor I was at a 7, and my doctor said it would be my last chance to get an epidural and I said no, said the contractions hurt super bad, but I was ok, and its not like the epidural helped during pushing anyways, and so it was not worth it.  Well, I was then informed that it must have worn off when I had Madilyn because I should have not felt any of that pain, and it does in fact cover up the "ring of fire".  The anesthesiologist was in my room 30 minutes later.  45 minutes after it was placed I was ready to push.  Even with the HEAVY epidural I could still feel that sensation, and the need to, even though so many people say you cant.  Here is the kicker. There were two other ladies in labor that day.  One had been there for like 12 hours and the other one since the morning like me. Somehow we all become complete and ready to go within minutes of each other.  The nurse came into my room and said the girl next door had an epidural that did not work and they wanted to help her first since she was crying and hollering up a storm. I did not know it was her first baby and she was going to be pushing for over an hour.  THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THEN THE FEELING OF NEEDING TO GET THE DANG BABY OUT OF YOU AND BEING TOLD NOT TO.  They literally told me to lay flat on my back and cross my legs.  I told them I was going to push and Jordan would catch.  I was told no by both Jordan and the nurse. When My doctor came in 90 minutes later Bo was born 3 pushes later.  One push for the head, one for the shoulders and one for the chest. The boy is big.  He weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces, and 22 inches long.  After Jordan went over to look at him he came back to me and could not stop talking about his huge hands and feet.  An hour later I was FINALLY able to hold him.  ( that's a whole other story about how annoyed I was at it.  He was 100% fine, but the nurse kept doing things that did not need to be done right away, like a full bath, dressing him, TRYING TO FEED HIM, telling me how young I was and she would show me how to do everything. I think she thought I was 16 and this was my first baby.) Overall it was great and wonderful.  Totally beats the 18 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing with Madilyn.


Ps. 4 months later now and after much debate and time to think. I regret the epidural. 

Where are your horns?

We love living in the conservative Christian south, since moving here one of the questions we are FREQUENTLY asked is, "so ya'll have a home church yet?" When we tell people that we belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (which by the way is a mouth full we have learned) the reaction is something along the lines of, "well that's real nice, I voted for Mitt Romney".
 Today was a little different, we had a baptist minister and his wife stop by, they were inviting us to some event at their church tonight, while talking he asked where we go to church, and boy oh boy he could just not hide his emotion from is face.  It was like he wanted to ask me to tip my head down so he could check for horns.  And just because I am sure he wanted to be wrong, he stuttered as he asked if it was in fact the mormon church right around the corner from theirs. I politely informed him that yes indeed he was right. He uncomfortably offered the invitation to join them tonight again,
I'm not thinking he got the message Billy Graham said we are not a cult.

Dad.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing these two together. He loves her so much. i can't wait to watch him become a dad all over again.