Exercise Fail

Sarah: 

Recently I decided to try a running program and see if I could get into shape.  It went like this:

Week 1: Run one minute. Walk 90 seconds. Repeat eight times. Do three times a week.

Week 2: Run two minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat seven times. Do three times a week.

Week 3: Run three minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat six times. Do three times a week.

Week 4: Run five minutes. Walk two minutes. Repeat four times. Do three times a week.

Week 5: Run eight minutes. Walk two minutes. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.

Week 6: Run twelve minutes. Walk one minute. Repeat three times. Do three times a week.

Week 7: Run fifteen minutes. Walk one minute. Run fifteen minutes. Do three times a week.

Week 8: Run thirty minutes continuously.

I thought to myself, "1 minute isn't that bad, it won't be easy but I bet I can do this,"  so I tried to run for one minute ... I made it 15 seconds.  To add insult to injury I was only able to repeat 4 times.  After 4 times I felt like throwing up.  Being sick and not being able to do a ton while I was pregnant really caught up to me, bah. And since I'm not in high school anymore and I now have a little one to look after when I get home, throwing up was not an option.  Oh well, life does have it's setbacks.  Now I am planning on getting my diaphragm back into shape (I have discovered it's a lazy bugger) and I'm still planning on running and using a modified running program, even if I need to do it 15 seconds at a time.

On to a happier note =) I have been able to find time to do crafts.  Josh is getting used to the way I do things: several projects going on at the same time and constantly starting a new one before I finish the old ones.  In my defense, I don't let myself get to bogged down in too many crafts I usually finish at least one before starting a new one, also Allen makes it hard to finish .  Recently I have finished booties for Allen (bigger ones than the ones I originally made him, they actually don't fit him yet), a cute hat, and a dishcloth.  Projects still in progress (some of these are really, really close to being done):  another dishcloth, two doilies, another cute hat, and two crocheted toys.  Projects for the future:  overalls for Allen (sewn not crocheted), more baby booties, another dishcloth, mini mittens and hats (this may take a bit to build up courage to do, I don't have a pattern and I really want to try and make them, but making my own pattern is intimidating), and a quilt.  It's quite nice to have lots to keep me entertained. 

Joshua:

The past couple weeks have been busy to say the least.  All of the projects that I've been had due this semester were due the in the past week.  After tomorrow at about 6:00 I'll be done with three of my classes though and that's good since my brain is checked out already.  I've been on the search for a full time job without any luck.  I have had a couple of phone interviews but nothing more than that.  I had an interview with Bechtel, out in Maryland, a few weeks ago but haven't heard anything back from them yet so there's still some hope there.  At the moment we're trying to decide whether we want to move to Texas or stay in Utah and continue to look for a job, we'll try and decide within the next month.  

On a funner note, I get lots of exercise every day.  I walk up the hill to campus almost every day to work or school and I walk home everyday rain, snow, or shine and I definitely prefer the warm sunny days.  But this doesn't keep me in good enough shape to do 5k's which I want to do more now that school is basically out.  This summer I'm thinking maybe I'll do a biathlon with my mother-in-law but that'll depend on where we are.  I've also been reading some good books to keep my stress level down, team members that don't do anything are quite frustrating, and have found some new books that I wouldn't mind owning sometime in the future.

Allen:  

Allen loves the morning; he wakes up and wants to eat anywhere between 5:30 and 7:30 am.  Usually it's around 6:30 or 7:30 then he usually spends about an hour with Joshua as he gets ready for school/work.  When Joshua brings him back to Sarah, sometimes he's willing to cuddle and sleep for another hour or so, but usually he wants to get up and go.  This usually involves sitting in his chair and batting his chimes (a gift  from Grandma Wilcox) while Mom eats and gets ready, tummy-time, a bath, talking, and lots of naps.  

Allen is doing great at tummy-time he holds his head up longer every time he's willing to try.  Sometimes though he just lays his head down and hangs out without even flexing a muscle.  When he gets fussy and bored of being on his stomach (or tired of laying in his drool puddle, the child is turning into a drool monster), we've started rolling him onto his back so he can play with the toys on his play mat.  The first time we did this he had all of his limbs going and was hitting a different toy with each limb.  He's calmed down a little and though he still enjoys hitting them he only hits one at a time, usually with his arms.

 Tummy-time failure with a pillow.

Tummy-time failure without a pillow.

One of Allen's favorite games lately is Superman with dad.  Josh holds Allen up and Allen goes stiff as a board (though he doesn't stick his arms out yet).  He coos and smiles and has a grand time playing.  He's also decided that sitting isn't that bad.  He looks around while sitting on our laps.  We have to help him balance a little but he's working those stomach muscles and doing better every day.  Allen also has started baby talk.  He makes all sorts of noises especially when his diaper is being changed or he's playing.  It's amazing to think that he's been around for 3 months (13 almost 14 weeks) already.  Crazy how time flies

Well so much for daily or weekly posts ... or monthly for that matter ... maybe we should have said bimonthly?  No, we'll do better or try anyways.  We've gotten a little bit used to having Allen around so while life is hectic we're starting to manage our time better.  Sarah's day is usually spent doing her best at completing some housework while enjoying being distracted by Allen.  Joshua goes to work, school, a bit of homework before he gets distracted by Allen or dinner.  Joshua has been on the hunt for a full-time job and has found some things that are of interest to him but no offers as of yet.  Hopefully he'll find something in the near future.

Not a ton has been happening, Allen's a baby, but there has been some fun and exciting progress (to us, his doting parents, anyway).  He had his two month doctor's appointment and he's growing wonderfully!  He's 9 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long!  According to the statistics he's small but he's gotten so much bigger to us.  Allen got some immunizations today too, those weren't too fun but he's recovering well and doesn't seem to be hurting really although he's very cuddly.  He's obviously gained some weight, just by looking at his weight, but his cheeks and legs have gotten chubby.  He's holding up his head and looking around almost like it's nothing now ... at least while he's over one of our shoulders or being sat up on one of our laps.  Allen also has gotten a lot more talkative over the past little while.  He does all sorts of things like cooing, grunts, whines, and of course full on crying (mainly when he's hungry).  When he's having a good day and/or when we're playing with him he smiles quite a lot.

We had a good time during Spring Break last week too.  We went down to Sarah's parent's for the week and had a great time visiting them.  Joshua went on a few bike rides up the canyon close to their house and also did a 5k run with one of his friends that was up here for the weekend.  We all also went to the Natural History Museum up by the University of Utah and had a great time.  We wish we could have spent all day there but were only able to spend a couple hours.  It's an awesome museum and we hope we can go back and spend some more time playing around. 

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Grandpa Stones and Allen

Our happy family

He's Here!

It's been a couple weeks since our last post but they sure have been an eventful couple weeks. Mainly because our little one, Allen, came into the world. When we first went to the doctor's office to start our weekly check-ups, Sarah was dilated to a 4. This being extremely rare for a first time mom, we were warned to go to the hospital fast without waiting for contractions to get close together or if Sarah's water broke. This made us extremely nervous resulting in one false alarm. We had two more doctor's visits and Sarah was scheduled to be induced before Allen decided that now would be a good time to grace us with his presence. Labor lasted 4 hours and we were warned that next time it'll be faster so we're going to have live close to a hospital in the future when we decide to have more kids. He was born at 11:07 in the morning, weighed in at 6 lbs. 7 oz., and was 17 1/4 in. long. He's just short little guy. The first night was a bit hard on him because he was sent to the Newborn ICU (NICU) with low blood sugar. Mom and dad had to make the trip down to the NICU every few hours to feed him recovered quickly and was able to join mom and dad for good the next afternoon. He's been eating well ever since, besides the fact that he falls asleep while he's eating every once in a while. As proof of this, he gained 4 oz. his first weekend in the world.

Because Allen times his need to go to the bathroom so well, or because mom and dad are slow, we go through a couple diapers at each changing. Speak of the devil, he just decided to pee on mom. He's got some great facial expressions already and smirks at some things that dad has said. He can flip his head to look the other way during "tummy time". He really enjoys bath time, especially when mom and dad wash his head. He likes music and "dancing" with mom. Dad did finally finish his cradle, with some help for Uncle Samuel, so he didn't have to sleep in a laundry basket.

We're still learning how to deal with sleep deprivation, Allen keeps waking us up every 3 or so hours to eat (little piglet), but all-in-all things are going well. Both Grandmas have been a huge help with taking care of Allen when he decides to be wide awake at 2 in the morning; this really helps mom and dad with the sleep deprivation. Both Grandmas and the Aunts have helped clean up the house, a great thanks to them as well.

The week after Christmas and New Years

This was a pretty exciting week for us. We spent Christmas down at Sarah's parent's place and had a lot of fun with her family. We played a game called Quelf, its kinda similar to Curses and Cranium, and was pretty fun. We had to say "izzle" at the end of every sentence and do some other weird things. Josh made some sausage gravy and chocolate gravy for breakfast and introduced Sarah's family to the amazingness of chocolate on biscuits. They were fans by the end of breakfast. We gave one of Sarah's brothers a ball launcher so they could play fetch without touching slobbery balls, Dot (their dog) loved it! She didn't want to stop playing but she couldn't really run anymore so we just stopped throwing it to give her a break.

We had a good New Years as well, we introduced Meagan and Justin to Settlers of Catan (a new game that Sarah and I got) and had a great time playing. Now Meagan wants to play almost every day now. We didn't stay up until midnight because Joshua gets a little cranky if he's too tired but we had a good time.

Thursday was pretty exciting as far as baby things go. We had an appointment with our doctor and he was quite surprised that we weren't in labor at the time. We had a false alarm and went to the hospital but ended up getting sent home with no baby. So he's staying in mom's belly for a bit longer, gaining a bit more weight, but could come at any time. Joshua just about finished sanding and will start refinishing the cradle in the morning while he's not at work. Sarah got all the baby clothes washed and set out on our shelves so we're all ready when the baby comes. She's also working on a few more cute booties to keep his little feet warm when he does decide to come into the world. We're both VERY excited for the baby to come.

most of the baby's cute clothes

don't worry, it'll be put together in time for baby (hopefully)

The Week Before Christmas

This was a pretty fun week for us. Josh got a really good chunk of the sanding done on the cradle, now he's only got a couple of pieces left till he finishes. He'll start re-finishing it next week when we get back from Sarah's parents. He's also been working a lot and is looking forward to cleaning (ok, maybe not this part) and making room for the baby. Sarah has been doing a lot of crocheting for baby. She's almost finished one pair of baby booties that looks like eskimo boots and she's finished a hat (pictures below). Depending on how much time she has she'll make a few more pairs and might decide to work on a jacket.

We went to Samuel and Kamee's place for an early Christmas party and had a great time opening gifts from siblings, parents, and grandparents. We didn't have much time after all the presents to play games but a plan to get together and play some game called "Pairs for Pears" (or something like that) or "Settlers of Catan" is already in the works. Now we're down visiting Sarah's parents for Christmas and last night Sarah was able to visit with her friends from high school and had a great time.

Eskimo Booties

Baby Hat

Catch Up ...

Thanks to Kamee for being on top of things and starting their blog, it made us realize that we've been meaning to do it for a long time. Since we're about a month away from our due date and haven't started one yet, and we wanted to keep the family/friends updated with pictures and stories (especially since baby is just about here), now is the time to begin! Sarah's 35 weeks along now and the baby is doing just fine. Sarah doesn't really enjoy the kicks in the ribs that our little one gives (he's going to be a soccer player yet) or the big stretches that he does sometimes but she's doing OK too. Yes, we have a name. What is it you ask... Answer: we're not telling till he gets here and make sure he likes it too.

Now that he's done with finals and has some "free" time (between work and Christmas "free" might be an exaggeration), Josh is working on refinishing the cradle we found. Though that might also have something to do with the need to get it done before the little one gets here. I'm sure Josh will finish it with time to spare and so far it's looking good. We still have other things that need to be done/bought before the little one comes: making space for the cradle, getting diapers (and other miscellaneous baby things), cleaning up the house (so we can mess it up without having to worry about old messes getting in the way), storing baby stuff (somehow it is possible), etc.

Sarah has some projects that she wants to get done too, it's not just me that has the projects. She's crocheted several pairs of baby booties for the baby just to give them to another baby in the ward, or friends. Not that we mind giving the booties to other people, they make great gifts, it just gives Sarah one more pair to make. But she's good at it and enjoys crocheting so it's not a big deal. She's also finishing some Christmas gifts and library books, although she can never read too much.

All in all things are goin just dandy.