This is happening...

Wow! Life is full of surprises! We will start with this: 

That's right. In the last few weeks naptime & bedtime have turned in to "undress myself time" for Jameson, but I was rather surprised when I walked in to this earlier in the week. PTL it was just wet! I could have sworn that kid had fallen asleep, his mommy did-- that's why I can't say for sure, but maybe I was wrong? He was very quite for a good hour to say the least. Sigh. 

And to top it off, for a few weeks I've been trying to convince Jake that Jameson has been calling me by name. For a while he wasn't buying it, until this weekend, clear as day, Jameson is calling me "tori". Who is this kid? And who taught him my real name! I'm "mama" :)

I'm pretty sure combined with his late sleeping habits, opening his own granola bar (yes!) and calling me by name he is already applying for college. Slow down little one! 

Little bro/sis is happily cooking as we roll in to 32 weeks. I feel as though my last 10 weeks with Jameson went very slowly, but I am hoping that is not the case. We still have lots of preparing to do. The crib has arrived and that is about as prepared as we are so far. Oh and I've pulled out a handful of clothes that J wore that could possibly pass in case we have a girl. Hmmm, I see a lot of shopping in my future, which makes me happy happy happy but with this polar vortex I may have to do it all online! Brrrr!

And seriously, isn't he the cutest? 

30 weeks

Welcome to the third trimester! Here I am at 30 weeks on the left with Jameson and on the right with our 2.0. I'm still struggling with what to call this little baby. I hate to say the "new baby" or "it". Oh well, he or she will be here soon enough and then they will have an official name. I ordered our crib today and it's time to do a little shopping for this little cutie. I really have few complaints.

We have had a lot snow recently and Jameson had a blast playing outside in his snow gear and drinking hot chocolate. He is a typical toddler. We have really good days and really exhausting days but I think it's safe to say the days are mostly good. He has an ever expanding vocabulary and grows every day I swear. Naps are few and far between and have mostly become an exercise in undressing himself which always make for an interesting surprise when I walk in to his room. 

We also welcomes our first niece into the family. She is so beautiful and just to sweet. Perfect and pink! I think she looks like my brother but that could just be a familial bias. I can't wait for the upcoming years of raising families with my family. 

The house is really coming together. We keep adding things to the walls and Jake has been constructing some awesome built ins by our garage door. I'll post pics of that soon.

Practicing the potty

Sledding thru the street 

Putting his paperwork in his pocket

2013

Oh hey there! Hi! I can't believe we are on the of 2014. As I reflect on this year, I see this year as a year of extremes for me. I struggled with moments of feeling unseen by God and even greater moments of extreme blessing. These are not just the monumental blessings of a new home and a new baby, but the smaller riches of having my home filled with friends from afar now gathered with babies of our own, and celebrating a quiet christmas with Jameson as he hollers "look what I got!". 

This year we lived in three different homes. We even got to experience generational living, which I have to admit I rather enjoyed. The highs being we sold our home with relative ease, we got to spend 8 weeks with Jake's parents in their home, and we were just thrilled to move in to a home we worked hard for and dreamed about, maybe not a forever home, but a good long while home. We started looking for a new place in 2012 so it was a long road, but it helps having your dad as your realtor and your mom as a babysitter! The lows being two hard moves (one while just 6 weeks pregnant), jealousy over cries that turned from "mama" to "Mimi" or "dada" (not my finest moments) and more stress than I have experienced in maybe ever. We are rather settled in our new home and though we still have walls to fill and closets to arrange we have already made some lasting memories here and I wake up thankful everyday for the blessing of being close to family, and with space for our family to grow. 

A few times this holiday season my mother in law commented that I am such "a happy pregnant person" and I have to agree. I love being pregnant, I am even crazy enough to say I loved the actual work of having a baby too, the end result is just too sweet. We are so happy to be growing our family, so far in my life I have experienced nothing greater than being a mother. I am even more thankful for this pregnancy after spending more than half the year just trying to get pregnant, crying with friends over their own losses and struggles to conceive and just having experienced pregnancy and birth once before and the anticipation of getting to do it all again (see, I am slightly crazy!). Yes, there are discomforts in pregnancy but I think most will agree those seem to fade in comparison to a late night snuggle or an early morning hug from tiny arms. Jake and I (and Jameson) can't wait to meet little bro or little sis in 2014. 

This fall I was devastated to receive a call that I was being laid off from my job. Nothing could have prepared me for the emotional roller coaster of being laid off and trying to start over again. As a nurse, the threat of job loss never seemed real or pertinent to me, but with changes in healthcare and the consolidation of the three downtown NICUs almost half of our nurses were told they weren't needed anymore. It's difficult to explain to people who didn't work there, but I felt like I was losing my very close friends, women who taught me how to take care of tiny sick babies and women who I text on my day off and meet up with for play dates. I was losing a job that defines a large part of who I am what my mission is. After working on that unit for 4.5 years there wasn't much you could throw at me that I couldn't handle and I had worked so hard to get there. Of course there were also concerns of affording our new home on one income, being pregnant and losing my health insurance, being pregnant and finding a new job that would hire me and then let me take maternity leave. A lot of it left me  an emotional wreck, but it wasn't long before I found a new job. I still get to take care of tiny babies, even sicker babies and I am so happy to be working closer to home, and though there are new challenges of learning a new unit and new people and working 12 hour night shifts I am just thankful for God's provision. 

All in all 2013 was a good year, though not without it's low points.  But it is these valleys that make the peaks so much greater, and I never lack things or moments to be thankful for, even when I feel drained or at my lowest. 

Our best attempt at a family photo on thanksgiving

Jake and Will

Growing baby

Yes, I can now balance a coffee cup on my baby bump. Christmas morning.

Holding baby Annabelle 

Little doctor