"Despicable Me" Jayci's Version

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A Snazzy Kind of Party

This year we celebrated Jayci’s 5th birthday at a place called Snazzy Pizazzy here in town. It is a fairly new place that I hadn’t even heard of until last month when some friends of ours went to a party there. I am so glad we chose to have it there. All the kids had so much fun and it was so easy for me. All I had to do was show up with the birthday girl and my camera. I put some of the pictures in collages to share on here instead of putting them on here individually.

Here are a picture of her and her friends getting dressed up and their hair and make up done. Jayci looks so big to me in the group picture with her friends.

Even Ms. G dressed up with a little hat!

All the beautiful girls.

Here starts the runway show. Jayci has this new thing with pressing her lips together when she is doing her “fashion shows.” It is so funny to me what kids pick up.

Group picture and Cupcake time. I love how O’s lips match her eye shadow.

Well I think all the girls (and boy) had a great time and I am so glad they all got to come. I love that Jayci has a lot of friends that we can celebrate things with. I also love that most of their parents are our friends as well. Gives us a good support system having kids that are around the same age!

I did not get one picture of the three of us together. However, we are going to have another little family gathering at our house so grandparents and aunts can come celebrate so I will get one then. This place was a little too small for all of our family to come. I know it may be a little crazy for my child to be having 2 birthday parties but it is what works for us this year. Next year we will probably figure out something different. But hey she only turns 5 once and to me 5 is such a big deal. It’s like she is going from a baby/preschooler to a little girl. I mean she does have to use all of her fingers on one hand now to tell how old she is. HA!

Hope you all have a good rest of the weekend!

~Kristen

Exciting News

This week started out kind of stressful with my job. The CEO was making announcements about jobs and money, you know all that fun stuff, since our census has been so low for about 6 months now. Let me preface by saying that I truly do not like having to wish for sick kids but seeing how I’m a pediatric nurse at a hospital that is just part of my job. And honestly I need my job!

Okay so back to the announcements….

I don’t remember all the details but the biggest one they changed is our weekend option. They decided they were cutting back MAJOR on people that would be working strictly weekends which initially does not effect me since I don’t work weekends. However, I really wanted to go to weekend option before or right after Korbyn gets here. With all the changes they were making this was definitely not going to happen now. I was really sad and disappointed. I know that giving up every weekend does not sound fun but K would not have to go to daycare, I could still work, and be home during the week. Plus who doesn’t really just want to work 2 days a week.

Monday afternoon Jay received a call about a job  he has been waiting on. It’s a company that is very family oriented and he knows his boss and really likes him already. It’s not really a change in pay or anything but it is a place he believes he will be happier at. Which, after watching him really dislike is current job, I am ecstatic about. As a bonus he gets a company truck which will allow him to be able to drive both kids around. Woo-hoo! Something we were kind of stressing about because he has always had company vehicles so we haven’t ever bought him a personal one but they have always been work vans that only carry 2 people. So this job is a HUGE blessing.

Okay after that side note. Jay picked up the paper from daycare for our taxes stating how much we paid in day care of the last year. Want to take a wild guess? Over 5 THOUSAND dollars. Holly cow! I about passed out!

This is where my, well our, other big decision came into play. We thought about daycare and the fact that it was going to be even MORE with an infant and thought how we could change this. So back to my story above about the hospital changing a lot of stuff. Part of the problem with them taking people out of their weekend option shifts is that they will have to go to part time employees and will lose their full family benefits. And some of them just can’t do that. Here’s the great part….Jay starting this new job has opened up a way for us to put our family on his insurance. Which in turn means that I could go to a part time job, keep my insurance on me, but put Jayci on his insurance. So I talked to my boss on Wednesday about wanting to go part time and work Friday-Sunday only, and only 2 days instead of 3. I would do it without the weekend option contract and it would open up my full time spot to someone who needed benefits. I think she was just as EXCITED as I was. She agreed almost immediately.

So to sum up a very long story…. Jay got a new job that we think he will be much happier at and gets a vehicle that can carry 2 kids. I get to go part time either right before K comes or when I go back to work from maternity leave. Financially we are thrilled!

I am a little nervous about just working part time. I have never not wanted to work. The desire to be a stay at home mom has never hit me. So I really think this will be the best of both worlds. I will get to be home with my babies during the week and only have to work 2 nights on the weekends. I am so excited about these changes.

We have stressed and prayed that something would change with our jobs and here we are, at perfect timing, both getting the changes we have prayed for. Well, that was a really long story that probably could have been much shorter but oh well.

Okay well I hope each of you have a very good weekend. We have a certain someone’s 5th birthday to celebrate. I can’t believe my baby girl is going to be 5. It is just surreal to me how fast it goes by.

Just for fun here is one of her pictures I took of her in her birthday shirt the other day. She was quite full of herself that day so I don’t feel like I got great pictures but they were okay and captured her at this age.

 

Hope you all have a good rest of the week and a good weekend!

~Kristen

Snow Day

Okay so I know this post is a few days behind but better late than never huh?

Sunday started as a kind of busy day. I was supposed to be co-hosting a baby shower for a friend and was doing some last minute cleaning. Of course, we knew what the weather was calling for but I just assumed it would be later that afternoon or even not at all. Boy was I wrong. About 2:15 the snow just started coming down like crazy. I was completely surprised!

I had sent Jay and Jayci to my parents house for the shower and to our surprise the snow started coming quick which meant the roads got slick pretty quick as well. So they tried to come home early and ended up getting stuck at the gas station for about an hour or so until my father in law came in got them in his truck. So Lucy and I enjoyed the first of the snow ourselves.

This is from our back patio when it very first started.

Lucy was very excited. This was her very first snow.

Later on after they got home. Jayci was dying to go out in the snow. So I bundled her up and said she could go on the side walk for a couple of minutes. Obviously I couldn’t find her gloves before she headed out the door.

The next morning. Me and my sweet girl. The only picture of us because I usually am the one taking the pictures.

I Love these next couple of pictures! She just looks so happy and recently she has been a little turd and I only see a whining face.

This is her car my parents got her a few years ago for Christmas that she has literally driven maybe 5 times.

After playing in the front yard for a while we went to the back so we could play with Lucy some too. She was very excited.

My camo loving husband!

Last picture of the day!

That is really the only time we went out and played. I had to work Monday night. Luckily the roads were not too bad but I was still pretty nervous driving. I HATE driving in the snow or ice. But I made it to work safely so I was happy about that!

Well hope you all have a great rest of the week!

~Kristen

Love…

As you may have noticed I changed my background and header on here. I made it something neutral so I don’t have to worry about changing with each season. I like blogging but keeping up with a background really gets on my nerves. And I pretty much refuse to pay someone to do it.

Anyway, you will see that I added the quote, “A life without Love is no life at all.” I am sitting here on my night that I am supposed to have been working but was put “on call” instead and I’m just thinking how lucky I am. I am grateful I have a job that they can call and tell me to stay home for a night. Does it dip into my pocket book? Of course. But at least I have a job…Lots of people don’t right now. In fact, I have a job I love. But work is not what this post is about.

However, because I didn’t have to work, I got to stay at home with my family. The three of us ate dinner together, sat in Jayci’s playroom and played a game, and enjoyed some family time. In fact, Jayci even won and we only helped her out a little bit. HA! 

After Jayci went to bed Jay headed to bed pretty quick which left me up to watch a movie, blog, and just think. To really think how much God has blessed me these past years. I know I would not be where I am today without Him.

Most of you know, or if you are new to my blog you may not, but Jay and I had a really rough start to our life together. We had dated for about a year, I got pregnant, and when I was about 6-7 months along we were married. I can honestly say that I had some strong feelings for Jay but Love…I don’t know. I thought I did at the time but I look at us and we were such kids. I was 21 and he was 22 which age wise makes us adults but definitely not maturity wise. But here we are 5 years later; happily (most days) married, raising a beautiful little girl, and about to have a precious baby boy to raise.

I am just undoubtedly filled to the brim with love for my husband. He is the man that God sent for me. We may have our differences but I know with all my heart that 5 years ago when I very hesitantly said “I do” I made the best choice I could have ever made.

I love you, Jay. Hopefully you will read this one day but if not I will just start trying to show you more and more how much I love you.

Okay well I’m not a real softy kind of gal, when it comes to feelings, so I’m going to end on that note before I say something dumb and ruin this post. I hope each of you have a good week.

~Kristen

20 Week Post

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 weeks

Size of baby: About the size of a banana. Which actually sounds pretty good right about now. Ha

Maternity Clothes: I bought my first pair of maternity scrub pants and they are pretty comfy. Most of my clothes that I wear now are maternity. They are just so much more comfortable. Except shirts I still wear a lot of my regular shirts. I think I’m carrying pretty low so my pants are not fitting quicker than my shirts.

Gender: Jay and Jayci were obviously right. Boy! Name: Korbyn Rusden. Korbyn is just a name that we liked and Rusden came from my dad being named Rusty and Jay’s dad being named Dennis. We just thought it was different and fun.

Movement: Definitely feeling lots of movement. Not strong enough for Jay to feel yet but definitely where I can feel it.

Sleep: Better especially now that I know I can take melatonin. I sleep so good. Working nights throws my schedule through a loop and this has really helped.

What I miss: Still wanting sushi…

Cravings: None specifically besides sushi. I’ve really started to just not feel hungry. I feel like I have to make my self eat sometimes.

Symptoms: Still kind of tired but not near as much. Lots of movement.

Best Moment this week: Finding out our precious baby is a boy! I love my little girl so much but I can’t wait to know this mother-son relationship so many people talk about.

~Kristen

It’s a…..

BOY!!!!

By the way if that picture is not obvious then I don’t know what is. HA!

We had a good day today with some family and friends over for the reveal. We had our ultrasound done last Wednesday and decided to wait to find out today with our family and friends. It was actually pretty fun that way. Also, it wasn’t near as hard as I thought it was going to be to not know for a few extra days. Now I could not be one of those that waits until the very end but a few extra days was okay.

The box my sister made. She is the only one that knew so she could fill it with either pink or blue stuff. She did a great job keeping a secret!

Jayci and I trying to open the box…

Again…Jay is standing up for some reason. Who knows?!?

Our friends and family that came to find out!

All of us with the blue onsie…if you can see it.

  

The stuff that was in the box.

Jay and I are so excited about having a little boy. Not that another little girl would have been bad because I love having a little girl. But I think a little boy is just what our family needs and I know my husband is super excited to do all that fun boy stuff.

Anyway, I hope all of you had a great Sunday and a safe New Years.

~ Kristen