Christmas is coming!

And I can't wait!  Our big plans are to go and spend some time in San Antonio with Jeff's family.  We were supposed to leave on Friday, December 17th, but Jeff had an important meeting rescheduled for the following Monday so we aren't leaving until that afternoon.  Hopefully the drive will be quick and painless. 

Jason has really been getting into the holiday spirit.  He loves to look at all the ornaments on the tree and really enjoyed the left over sugar cookies from the batch I made to hand out to Jeff's co-workers.  He was even okay when we saw Santa at a holiday party.  We have also been reading The Night Before Christmas almost every day and he is tolerating it well.  I for one can't wait to see him on Christmas morning with the pile of gifts staring up at him!



 

 We have been talking about the real meaning behind Christmas with him also and although he doesn't grasp everything I am glad we have started the conversation.  Every evening we do 2 advent calenders, the first one is a magnetic nativity scene where Jason gets to put a character or thing up.  We have had some flying wisemen or animals in the stable rafters, but Jeff and I help him out.  The second calender is just for fun and the one that Jason loves the best.  He gets a M&M on each night of December and has no trouble reminding us to complete this tradition.



 

As for the rest of the Christmas preperations I have almost all of the gifts wraped and packed up to take with us to Texas.  The Christmas cards got out yesterday, later than I like, but at least they made it out before Christmas!  And everyone loved the Christmas cookies I made for Jeff's co-workers and Jason's therapists.  So all in all I think we are ready for Christmas to get here, but not too fast because the anticipation is half of the fun!

Elizabeth is still a girl

That's right!  The good news is that our baby is still a girl.  The bad news is that our ultrasound tech was terrible!  We were supposed to go in for a high tech ultrasound to check baby girl's fingers.  When Jason was in utero we could see his and knew that he would have Jeff's fingers.  This tech tried for a few seconds then said the Doctor would come in and try.  When the doctor came in she said that the tech had told her that they couldn't see them.  I originally thought we wouldn't find out this time until baby girl was born, but when my OB said that they could refer me to go in I was happy to find out early.  It was just really frustrating that we couldn't see what we were specifically there to see!


You may have noticed that baby girl now has a name too.  We have for the most part decided on Elizabeth, unless something big changes before the end of March.  The thing we haven't decided is her middle name.  Originally we said Elizabeth Ann, but now we are considering Grace or Clare.  We knew we wanted something short since this girl will have a long first and last name.  So we would love to hear what you think.  I am adding a poll, please vote or comment and share your thoughts!

Continuing a tradtion

My family has a tradition of interesting Christmas cards. You will know this for sure if you have ever been the recipient of the Comer Family News. I can’t hope to be as witty as my dad so I have to rely on my son’s amazing adorableness! This year I have decided to use Shutterfly to design our Christmas cards. It is hard for us as a family of three to get good pictures of all of us together. Someone is always looking away or Jason is unhappy to be posed in a photo. So instead of finding a good picture of the three of us Jeff and I decided to instead use one of the many adorable photos of Jason and a good one of the two of us. So we needed a design that would hold two photos and we wanted one that would go with the colors in our chosen photos. Having such a great selection at Shutterfly was very helpful in appeasing my picky hubby. I really liked how we could narrow down the amount of photos and the color on the side Christmas Photo Cards It also didn’t hurt that if you blog about Shutterfly cards you can get a credit for 50 free cards (that has nothing to do with this post, of course.)

I had considered making calendars for family members, but they will be much better when we have two cuties to put in them. By next December it will be outdated to only have Jason in photos! Maybe if I can weasel Jeff into getting more pro shots or I get really good at working our SLR I can ask for one of our photos to be made into canvas wall art. The prices on these Canvas Wall Art don’t look bad and if you know anything about Jeff you know that price is a major consideration

I would share the photos that I have picked out with you, but then they wouldn’t be a surprise when they arrived in your mailbox. I will be sure to scan the ones we get to send electronically to Jeff’s work friends in Australia and Indonesia so maybe I will post it after Christmas. Well, I’m excited to get going on ordering our card so that we can get it out before we leave for Christmas vacation. I hope your family keeps us updated over the holidays.

Gobble Gobble

We hope you all had a wondeful Thanksgiving.  We certainly did!  We found something else our picky eater is interested in...STUFFING!  He loves it and would eat it for every meal if I let him.  We already finished up the stuffing from Thursday and made another batch.  He has gained at least a pound from everything he has eaten which is thrilling for the shrimp's Mama!

Although we didn't get up at the crack of dawn to get to the black Friday sales we still went to town to go shopping then.  Excitingly enough we finished all of our Christmas shopping.  I may exchange a gift that we got for my new sister-in-law, but at least we have a fall back gift.  We also decorated our house for Christmas and I am so excited.  Jason has even left most of the decorations alone except for the low hanging orniments that we allow him to take on and off the tree.  We were a bit concerned about how to set up Jeff's model train, but got a piece of plywood that we are eventually planning on making into a train table.  Jason loves to watch the train go around (go figure.)

We have been continuing with speach therapy with Jason to get him to say words.  We know that his receptive language is wonderful and he can follow directions when he wants to.  I learned something new at today's session.  We were playing with legos and there was randomly a blue and yellow pattern and we asked Jason to continue it.  He did!  Then we asked him to identify certain color blocks and he was able to do that too!  I had no clue that he knew his colors that well!  I was so excited that he really is learning a tangible skill.  Now if only he would talk to us, but I guess that will all come in time.

Our next exciting upcoming event is on Thursday.  We will be having an ultrasound to double check that the baby really is a girl and to take a look at her hands to see if she also has polysyndactyly like her father and brother.  We thought we saw a little bit of webbing at the first ultrasound at 18 weeks, but she was a bit small at that point to tell for certain.  I will keep you updated as I am sure you are waiting with baited breath.

our week in Virginia

We all flew to Virginia for my brother, Kevin's wedding and Jason and I stayed for a week.  We all started out by rushing over to the rehrsal dinner on Friday night.

Jason and I eating dinner

My brothers and I at the rehearsal dinner

On Saturday morning we spent time with the Moreiras.  We knew they would be awake with their sweet little 6 month old boy, Troy.  They made us a wonderful breakfast and we got to hang out and catch up.

Jeff getting back into the baby groove

Smilely little boy with his mom

The guys.  Jason has decided he doesn't approve of posed pictures

the wonderful Moreira family

We had to say goodbye and get ready for the big event.  We enjoyed spending time with family that we don't get to see all the time.  The next morning everyone, including Jeff, had to say goodbye at a brunch at my parents house.  Later that week my father, Jason and I went to the B&O train museam.

Jason's favorite train!

helping Grandpa work the engine

exploring all the trains!

Jason was in heaven!!!  Although I don't have pictures of the rest of the week we enjoyed spending time with Grandma at Claud Moore Farms and at story time.  We got lots of shopping done (mostly for Jason) and relaxed a lot.  All in all a great time.

The Wedding

This is mostly a picture post because Jason's movie is almost done and I won't be able to type much, but I wanted to share photos of my brother's wedding.  I will be sure to post to talk about the rest of the week we had a little later.

 



 













 




 

Until Death Do Us Part

With my little brother's wedding coming up in a little while (7 days, eeek!) and a bunch of marriages I know of breaking up, I have been thinking a lot about what keeps Jeff and I together.  Why do we have a strong marriage?  Are we just lucky?  Am I declaring victory too soon?  I don't know, but I do know that we made a commitment on that May afternoon and we both knew it was for life.  Jeff has seen me at my best and defiantly at my worst, but he still loves me.  We moved away from family as soon as we were married so we always had to lean on each other and be each other's best friend.  We couldn't turn to anyone else when we had issues, we had to work it out.  It was kind of us against the world.  We have certainly had our ups and downs, but that is the cyclical nature of relationships. 

Some of the things that have helped us stay together is how we try to hard to have dinner together without any distractions every night we can.  And living in the middle of no where has helped.  We always have long drives to get to town and we spend a lot of that time talking about life.  Also we keep trying to do and say sweet things for each other.  At the mall on Wednesday Jeff pointed to the poster in Victoria Secret and said to Jason "look it's a picture of Mommy!"  my heart melted!  And I know what his favorite meals are and make them as often as I can. Which is why we have half an apple pie in the kitchen right now.

The most important thing that keeps us in love is the fact that there aren't 2 people in our marriage, there are 3.  We have made God a part of our marriage.   There is a difference between the married parties having faith and actively making God a part of your marriage and we try our very best to be the second way.   That is not to say that if you put yourself in a compromising situation God will swoop in and save you, not that he won't, but you have to be responsible for yourself.  We each have to do our part and have faith that God will do his.  Paraphrasing Lon Solomon, if you are on a diet, what are you doing in the buffet line!  God does help make sure that an aggressive super model with a crush on Jeff doesn't work in his office and he also helps us forgive each other for the human errors we make.  This is not to say you couldn't have a good marriage without God, but it sure makes it a lot more work.

So with Thanksgiving coming up I remember the most important thing that I am thankful for and although I love my adorable little boy, it isn't him.  It is the wonderful marriage that Jeff and I have.  I know I am so lucky to have found him.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a wonderful time trick or treating or partying or enjoying the weekend!  We went out camping to try our new pop-up camper.  We had a good time, but have found that sleeping in a new place is difficult for our little man.  Mommy spent half of the night in Jason's bed, at least the second night we got a little smarter and put out a sleeping bag there to keep Mom warm.

We also got in a little hike that wore Jason out completely.  All in all I think we enjoyed ourselves.

We all went out trick or treating last night, also.  At first we started out in our neighborhood, but soon discovered that all the lights were out and no one was handing out candy, but we did get a couple of bucks from our neighbor (not exactly what we were looking for.)  So Jeff thought that maybe we would drive to downtown Truth or Consequences to see if we could figure out where everyone was!  We did find people and once Jason realized he would be getting candy he was very happy to go and visit new houses.  At the first house we went to Jason recognized the dum-dum that he got and was almost trying to bite off the wraper when we decided he could have that one piece tonight.  After about three blocks we figured we had all had enough trick or treating so we headed back home to scrub the sticky mess off our little boy.

We are pleased to announce...

...That Jason will be getting a little sister in March!  This is going to be short because we are all exausted, but I wanted my (limited) blog audience to know first

The "money shot"  To the left you can see her feet

Legs crossed just like a little lady

Our best profile view

I guess all the begging and praying payed off because Jeff took the family to the elective ultrasound place on Friday night where we got to spend about a half an hour watching our little girl.  We are working on names and are a lot closer in opions than we were at this point with Jason.

Boy or Girl

Jason's face in 3D ultrasound

So we got to hear baby #2's heartbeat on Wednesday and scheduled our next appointment.  When I was pregnant with Jason in Phoenix we had a level 2 ultrasound to check out Jason's hands to see if he has polysyndactily like Daddy (he does.)  I didn't think we would be getting another level 2 for this one because we are not in as major an area.  The good news is that we get the better quality level 2 ultrasound for this one also, but the bad news is that due to scheduling and insurance issues we won't be getting it until January.  Since this will be replacing my anatomy scan we would not find out the gender of our baby until January when I will be in the third trimester and 28+weeks (most people get theirs done by 20 weeks.)  I am begging Jeff to allow me get something called a sneek peak in Albuquerque in the next few weeks, but he still says he will think about it.  So if you talk to him soon you would mention how much you want to know boy or girl right now :)

cute Jason foot!

People ask if you would rather have a boy or girl and it has become a little cliche to say we don't care as long and the baby is healthy.  This really is true for me!  I will admit when I was pregnant with Jason I did lean a little more toward wanting a girl, but now that we have our sweet boy I couldn't imagine life any other way.

Pros for a Boy:

• A brother so close in age would be a wonderful playmate for Jason.  I saw my brothers growing up together and would love that comradery for my sons.
• We already have all the cute boy clothes and stuff and they will still be in style
• In our master plan this would not be the last baby for Jeff and I.  Not having a girl at this point would encourage us to jump back into the newborn stage after we had been out of it for a while.

Pros for a Girl:

• Adorable pink stuff!
• new clothes and lots of shoping
• I have always wanted a girl

Ok so my reasons for a boy are more concrete than for a girl, but I would really honestly be thrilled for either one.  I just want to know NOW!

So tell us what you think it will be on the poll to the right!

Trains and Taos

This weekend we decided to take advantage of the cooler weather and go out camping.  It took about 5 hours to get a little north of Taos, NM and by the time we got to our campsite it was pretty dark.  Good thing we are experts at putting up tents in the dark.  We did discover that Jason loves flashlights!  He was wound up after spending 5 hours in the carseat and loved stealing our flashlights to run around the campsite.  Luckly there weren't too many stumbles or falls.  I think the only injury incured was a little fat lip from falling down.  We discovered that the nights up there got VERY cold.  We had suspected as much so Jason was bundled up in no less than 3 layers.  Although he loves to cuddle with blankets Jason will not keep them on top of him.  In the middle of the night we thought he might have woken up from being too cold so I brought him into my sleeping bag to cuddle.  This ended up with him taking over my pillow with his whole body and me using my sweatshirt as a pillow.

He pointed out every tree on the way up there!

Jason woke up in such a good mood the next morning.  I guess the lack of sleep didn't bother him too much.  He cuddled with Mommy and Daddy and was thrilled to play peek-a-boo.  He must have known we were off to do fun things.  We drove up to Antonito, Colorado to take a train ride through the mountains and see the trees changing colors on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.  Jason LOVED it!  He was thrilled to see the engine and look out the open air observation car.  He was only disappointed when Mom and Dad wouldn't let him wonder the train by himself.  After 3 hours on the train we stopped for lunch and got on the train heading back.  We had one tired little boy by that time and he passed out almost as soon as the train started moving.  Mom was all too happy to cuddle her little one while he slept.

Jason inspecting the engine



The next morning Jeff decided it wouldn't be camping if we didn't take a hike.  So we hiked all the way down the gorge to the river.  I dreaded the trip back up the mountain the whole time and Jeff carried Jason on his back.  Jason wished we would have let him play in the river, but since it was so cold he had to settle for throwing rocks into it.  We did make it back up the moutain and don't tell Jeff, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  After I caught my breath back at the campsite we packed up and started the long drive home.  There was so much to do that we just didn't have time for, but all in all it was a good trip!





See that river WAY down there? Ya, we hiked to and from that!









Do these photos remind you of anything?





Whatever Jason is totally cuter than Tom!

But I think he might be a messier eater

At least he is enjoying it!

I didn't put him up to this at all!  He found the tiara I wore at my wedding and begged for me to put it on

He may have even worn it better than I did!

Jason has something to share

Have you guessed it yet?

He is pretty excited!



Jason is so big! That...



He's going to be a Big Brother at the end of March 2011!

He might not share his bananas

Ok we will work on the sharing thing

Everybody poops

Yup, I'm going to do it.  I'm going to write about my son's bowel movements, but don't worry there won't be pictures.  That is unless I can catch one of him pushing into his diaper.  That cracks me up everytime.  Jeff says I'm mean.

My sweet boy has been showering with me for a while.  As soon as he could pull himself up he did not want to be left out of a shower.  He loves the running water so we decided to abort bath time and just have him shower with me every morning since two washings a day are too many for his sensitive skin.  Normally when we are done I turn off the water and get out to dry off while he continues to play with his toys.  About three days ago I noticed him grunting after I got out and discovered he had left me a little present.  I cleaned it up and thought well at least then I don't have to waste a new diaper on that.  Aparently my son likes to be regular because yesterday he blessed me with the same gift.  This morning there was a little change, instead of waiting until I was out and dry he decided that this action needed to take place while we were still showering and I was halfway through shaving.  So I yelled at Jason not to touch the yucky and dashed out to grab handfuls of toilet paper.  After the offending poop was all cleaned up I scrubbed both of us and the floor of the shower very well.  I really hope that we can find another pooping time for Jason and I can enjoy our showers in relative peace.

Sleep trouble

Jason was not a particularly good sleeper when he was an infant. Eventually we weaned him from night feedings and did the Ferber method to help him sleep through the night. He did wonderfully! Eventually we got into a great cycle of going to bed well at 7:30pm with just a story and hugs and kisses from Mom and Dad then waking up between 6 and 7am. He was taking a nice 2 hour nap around 11am. Even changing him to a big boy bed a couple of weeks ago did nothing to change this great sleep cycle.

You may have noticed a general past tense sense to all this information. Recently Jason has been refusing naps. He doesn't want anything to do with them at all! Even saying the word nap will incite vigorous head shaking. We lay him down and he screams and screams until we come back in and get him. Since Ferber had at one point worked very well for us we tried it again. This entailed letting Jason cry for 3 mins then checking on him, laying down and waiting 5 mins, then extending the waiting 7 mins and eventually 10 mins. It was suggested in the book that if he wasn't sleeping after a half an hour to get him up and maybe try again later. Our stubborn child wasn't going to give up easily so after a half hour of crying I did get him and he completely passed out on my shoulder within 3 minutes.

The next day we thought maybe he didn't need to nap as early so I put him down later in the day. There was a little bit of fussing, but it went much better than the day before. Normally I don't check on him for naps in case I wake him, but today I wanted to be sure he wasn't asleep on the floor or anything. I peaked in and he wasn't in his bed. Instead he had climbed out of his bed, over his diaper champ, and onto his changing table where he had passed out. I tried to take a picture to prove this oddness, but he woke up before I got my camera. So I got him settled back in his bed and back to sleep.

So maybe the issue was that he was getting too much sleep during the night and didn't want to sleep during the day. I mean most days he was sleeping 11 hours at night. So I nudged his bedtime back to 8pm instead. Great idea, but it didn't work out as planned. It was now dark outside as Jason was falling asleep and he didn't like his room that dark. There is a nightlight on his side of the monitor, but it has a timer function and Jason was unhappy when it went off. He woke up and fussed around midnight then completely woke up for the day at 5:30am! GRRR! Well that was this morning so hopefully he will nap great this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for us!