I love my...

When my Mom left and Jesse went back to school, I was left alone with 2, terrifying boys. How was I suppose to take care of these kids all day everyday without help? Well, clearly I figured it out, I just had to rely on things rather then people. When Landon was still using a bottle I will never forget getting-up and 2:00am filling a cup with hot water and then wait and wait and wait... all the while looking at my microwave and just thinking to myself just this once. It won't hurt to do it just this once.  So this time around I spent the $30 and got a bottle warmer. I love my bottle warmer, it is a true love that you can only experience at 2 in the morning. By the time I change Travis's diaper Jesse is coming back with a warm bottle. We are back, snug in our bed in only 20 minutes. Also our bottle warmer comes with cold compartment so we never have to go down stairs, we can just stumble to our bathroom and then stumble back to our room. It's extremely handy when Travis is starving and Landon is throwing a temper tantrum.

My extended family bought me a swing for Landon's baby shower. And of course Landon hated it. But, now that I have two kids I have no choice but to use it. I can't really put Travis on the floor or couch. Landon has the idea in his head that he would rather walk over or under things instead of going around them and any time I put Travis on the couch Landon will try to play catch with him. So the swing Landon hated has become Travis's safe haven.

I thought Penny was making a break through
and trying to be close to Travis. After closer
observation I realize that Travis was in
the only sunspot in the living room and she was
just trying to get in on the ray of sunshine too.

Bro bro

Travis was an emotional journey from the very start. Back in January when I found out I was pregnant with our second baby I immediately started to panic. I wasn't sure if I could actually endure another pregnancy like Landon's. Landon's pregnancy has made me terrified beyond reason to throw-up, and I knew it would be too good to be true if I didn't get sick with Travis. Well I didn't, but at 11 weeks along, Jesse and I were in Wal-Mart when I felt a rather large gush of blood. That night we went to the ER fully expecting me to be miscarrying the baby. At around 2:00 am I received an ultrasound to confirm that the baby was still alive but under a lot of stress. My placenta had partly torn away from my uterus. When the doctor came in she told me that I shouldn't have too high expectations for the baby to make it. After a lot of prayer and patience, he did make it and now he is here in my arms where I can keep him safe. I'll never forget when they threw him on my chest after he was delivered, I was both disgusted with all the after-birth and overwhelmed that I was holding my little miracle in my arms. There was no doubt in my mind that God does hear and answer our prayers.

When we introduced Landon and Travis to one another it didn't go over very well. Needless to say, Landon actually tried to kick him. After this initial meeting he continued to take his jealousy out on me and the baby. He would hit me and the baby just to make me mad. It was extremely hurtful to feel like my little Landon hated me. After two hard weeks Landon recently accepted Travis into the family. He will now acknowledge me as Mama and let me take care of him without putting up a fight. Instead of being a terrible two year-old he has become Mommy's little helper. It is important to Landon to feel involved; he has to help take Penny potty, put the dishes away, help give Travis baths, hold the bottle while Travis eats, and he likes to get things that the baby needs. I think Travis and Landon will be good friends when they're older.



Landon and Travis



Landon loves the water bottle I got from the hospital.
He wanted Travis to have one too.



Landon loves to feed Travis his bottles.

Landon helping dad clean the kitchen.

Landon helping mom put the grocery's away. He really likes to
put the water bottles in the fridge.

It has been a difficult jouney learning how to have 2 kids. I didn't expect it to change my everyday life so much. I can't clean as much as I would like and I feel like a slave to my children's tummys (and mine too!). I love being a Mom and I am learning how to be a Mom to both Landon and Travis.

Book of the Month

Young Countess Meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to what follows, in peacetime. Meliara is summoned to live at the royal palace, where friends and enemies look alike, and intrigue fills the dance halls and the drawing rooms. If she is to survive, Meliara must learn a whole new way of fighting-with wits and words and secret alliances. In war, at least, she knew in whom she could trust. Now she can trust no one (http://www.goodreads.com/).

This is one of my top 3 favorite books. I first read this book when I was a sophomore in high school, since then I have read it every spring. Sherwood Smith has done an awesome job in creating a world that is easy to become apart of.

Travis Samuel

Hey everyone. It's Jesse. I am hijacking Rachelle's blog in order to upload some pictures of the newest addition to the family. Rachelle was induced Thursday morning at about 8:30 AM. It didn't take too long to get things rolling, and by about 12:00 she was in heavy labor. At about 3:30 the doctor broke her water and told her she was dilated to a 5.

We figured that would give me plenty of time to race home and check on Landon and Penny. I was just getting back into the hospital parking lot at 4:19 when Rachelle called. She said: "Where are you!?! I'm going to start pushing!" Needless to say, I ran all the way across the parking garage, up three flights of stairs and down a couple of hallways. By the time I got to the phone outside the entrance to labor and delivery, I realized that I was too out of breath to tell them who I was. Luckily, they just opened the doors for me. I figure the conversation went something like this: "Hey Jan, the idiot dad actually made it back on time." "Idiot is right. Buzz him in, Bess."

I got there just before her first push. What a miracle. God loves idiots, too. She pushed for about 6 minutes (3 contractions) and out came Travis Samuel. After I sawed through the umbilical cord, they (literally) tossed him onto Rachelle's stomach. Then Travis proceeded to mimic the shrieking eels from Princess Bride for the following 4 minutes or so. That is all I heard. I will not tell you all I saw (for the kids), but it was a miracle. Especially considering she tried to push Landon out for 2 solid hours, only to have the doctor drag him out by his head with forceps.

Our son was born at 4:29 on Thursday, September 23, 2010. He weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. "And the name by which he shall be known on the records of the church, and throughout his mortal life shall be Travis Samuel Egbert." Sound familiar? FYI: The baby blessing, unlike the baptismal and sacramental prayers, need not be recited verbatim. Let's try and mix it up a little, people!

Here is Travis's journey so far:



Back when he was just a twinkle in our eyes. We use pregnancy tests from Dollar Tree first. If that says positive, then we go and pay top dollar for the high quality ones. "In the mouths of two or three witnesses..."

According to Rachelle, this is one of the most crucial parts of the preparation process.

Travis on the inside.

Travis on the outside: First bath.

 

The scale.

Travis and Mom



Travis and Dad

 Travis and Dr. Perrin

Just the boys: Travis, Dad and Landon

On our way home from the hospital

I'm all ready to go home, Mom and Dad!

Who's the cutest baby???

Okay, Dad. Enough pictures. Let me sleep, please.



So...like...I was serious.

Thank you...

My Last week of pregnancy

My favorite memory from growing up is cooking with my Grandma Reid. I used to stay at her house for weeks at a time during the summer, and we would cook up a storm. I really wanted to give my children the same memories of spending time in the kitchen with mom. Landon is finally at the age where he can help me pour things into the bowl.

 On September 24th I am being induced. This is officially my last week of pregnancy, which means dieting starts in 6 days. So for the next 5 days Landon and I will be cooking up our own storm, making some of our favorite desserts and dinners.

In memory of frivolous eating and pregnancy I have posted some of my favorite desserts. You can only imagine how much I am going to enjoy my last week of pregnancy.

Eclair Cake

It's funny how the most simple desserts are the best ones. Any time we have visitors over for dinner, I always make this for them. It is fast and yummy, just the way I like it.

ECLAIR CAKE

1 Cup of Water
½ Cup Butter
1 Cup of flour
4 Eggs
½ teaspoon of salt
1 Large Pkg. Instant Chocolate pudding
8oz. Cool Whip or Whipping Cream
Hershey's chocolate syrup

In a saucepan bring butter and water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and stir in flour and salt until mixture forms a ball. Beat in eggs one at a time, the mixture should be smooth. Pour onto a greased jelly roll pan. bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. You may need to poke the crust with a fork after 10 minutes if it begins to bubble. After crust has cooled down, top with chocolate pudding and then top with cool whip. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have never been able to make chocolate chip cookies. Mine always end up flat and crunchy, in fact they don't even look appetizing at all. I had already given up trying to make a good chocolate chip cookie when we arrived at my sister in law, Jocelyn's house one day and she pulled these out of the oven. This recipe was the first one that I was able to get right. You need to be sure to add a little more flour if you live at a higher elevation.

SOFT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 cups butter, softened
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture in. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Note: I have to add 1/4 cup of flour becuase of the higher elevation.


Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.



Oreo Cookies

I love cookies, but I've never loved the ones that come from the store. Believe it or not, I don't love cooking either. What I love is eating, so when I find a recipe that is fast and yummy I just add it to my stack of favorite recipes.  These cookies are definitely fast and yummy. There is hardly any waiting time from when you start cooking, to the time you start eating. Love it!

OREO COOKIES

Cookie:
1 package Devil Food Cake Mix
1/2 Cup Shortening
2 Eggs
Mix the above ingredients together. Form dough into half inch balls and place 2 inches apart on un greased cookie sheet.

Note: I have to add 1/4 cup of flour becuase of the higher elevation.

 Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool.

Icing:
1 package cream cheese (3 oz.)
½ Cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Mix together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar. Put frosting between two halves. If you want, you can put the frosting in the fridge, to let it firm a little more. (Approx 2 dozen)

Landon and Penny

Jesse wanted me to do a post on Landon and Penny's complex relationship. To begin, I will need to introduce you to Penny. Penny is a purebred Hungarian Vizsla. Common nicknames for this breed of dog are Velcro Vizsla and Sunspot Seeker. Penny is those things and more. I don't really like Penny, but I love her immensely at the same time. Each morning I open the blinds so she can take a morning nap in her favorite sunspot. When the sunspot is gone she comes and finds me so I can spend the rest of the morning stepping on her or accidentally kneeing her in the head. I love it when Landon wakes up so she can go shadow him and leave me alone. She has to be at somebody's feet at all times. I have never met a more loving animal, though. If you want Penny to learn her lesson for being naughty you simply let her know how disappointed you are. I normally just gasp, then in the most devastating voice I can muster say: "Penny, no no" and send her to time out. She wants more then anything in the world to please us. 

Penny in her favorite sunspot

Now for Landon and Penny's relationship. Jesse is Penny's distinguished master. I think she considers me more of Landon's master and the person you do NOT make mad. But what is Landon? Because Landon is just a little boy it has been a hard task to teach Penny that she is beneath him, but at the same time responsible for his safety. Dogs are naturally pack animals and, as puppies, they often attempt to move up in the pack/family, particularly over young children. Now that she knows her place in the family, she has taken a completely different approach to Landon. She is very maternal toward him; they aren't so much friends as they are companions. When I catch Landon doing something naughty, Penny is doing 1 of 3 things: watching, participating, or getting me/telling on him. Landon and Penny are always together. It's hard for me to find pictures of Landon without some part of Penny being in them.

Landon doesn't like it when Penny starts her nap before him.

When Landon is finished eating, he will throw his food on

the floor and Penny knows it.

Landon's timeout is on the bottom stair. He normally takes

Penny by the collar and drags her along, too. Penny will

sometimes bring a toy if she has enough time to grab one.

Penny's timeout is in her kennel. Landon normally likes to join her.

Landon and Penny normally play with toys and listen to music
in the morning.

Even though Landon is a little rough with Penny, you can tell that he really loves her. Also, you can tell that Penny really loves him. She will pretty much let Landon do what ever he wants to her, even if it's hurting her. A few months ago we were teaching Landon how to be soft with Penny. We would pet her softly on the head and say, "be soft with Penny." Now Landon thinks the word 'soft' means 'pet'. So when we ask Landon to be soft with something, he will pet it. It's really cute! Penny is the only one in the world who can have endless hugs and kisses from Landon. He will only kiss her on the nose, we tried to get him to kiss her on her head but he wont do it. It's kind of weird, but cute at the same time.

What's New with the Egberts

A lot of new things are happening in our lives. I am 35 1/2 weeks pregnant, Jesse is buried up to his neck with life and Landon is growing up too fast. When I was pregnant with Landon I really only had two major problems: weight gain and health problems. This pregnancy I have only one major problem: I have lost my mind. Sadly I'm not exaggerating. On Monday, I thought it was Thursday, I can't put my thoughts into words, and I lose interest in most everything after 5 minutes. I have nearly lost the ability to make the tiniest of decisions and I can't remember anything. In fact, this week I know that I have lost two things, I just can't remember what they are. How in the world am I supposed to find them now? On the bright side of things, Jesse is doing great. He just turned in his PhD application. We are hoping for an early acceptance into the Applied Linguistics PhD program starting in January. He is student teaching early morning seminary and he is all set to graduate with his Master's come December. It's hard to be married to someone who is accomplishing so much when I can't even remember what I've lost, other then my mind.

Landon is growing-up so fast. He is a child of very few words, but he is a lot more intelligent then I give him credit for. Landon loves to make new discoveries. He works hard to figure out how things function. He can now open doors, lock doors, but not unlock them. He knows what every light switch goes with and he knows how to open penny's kennel. When we get home after being out and about, it's his job to let penny out of her kennel. One thing I have finally done is give Landon chores,  he is responsible for them throughout the day. He has to make sure every door is closed that leads into a room I don't want him to play in. Penny gets locked in a lot of rooms. He is also in charge of making sure all of the shoes get put in the front door basket. If they don't fit he normally brings them back to the owner and he wont let you put them back on the floor. You have to put them a way upstairs or back on your feet. His last chore is to throw away any garbage that's on the floor. If he isn't sure whether it's garbage or not he comes and asks me. Landon is very independent, he loves to feel responsibility and he loves to have some freedom to do his own thing. We have free time in the afternoon where I do my house work and he can pretty much do what ever he feels like, as long as I approve of course. We are  getting ready to move him out of the nursery and into the big boy room. Once we get a mattress for his bed he will be all ready to go!

Book of the Month

For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were gathered to a hidden refuge called Fablehaven to prevent their extinction. The sanctuary survives today as one of the last strongholds of true magic in a cynical world. Enchanting? Absolutely. Exciting? You bet. Safe? Well, actually, quite the opposite... Kendra and her brother Seth have no idea their grandfather is the current caretaker of Fablehaven. Inside the gated woods, ancient laws give relative order among greedy trolls, mischievous satyrs, plotting witches, spiteful imps, and jealous fairies. However, when the rules get broken, an arcane evil is unleashed, forcing Kendra and Seth to face the greatest challenge of their lives. To save her family, Fablehaven, and perhaps the world, Kendra must find the courage to do what she fears most (http://www.goodreads.com/).

This is book one in the Fablehaven series. I started reading this series a few years ago and fell in love with it instantly. It's easy to get lost in the adventure, get lost in the book.

R-Workshop/Bootcamp

Earlier this month Jesse left for Denton, TX to attend an R-workshop/Boot camp. It took Jesse a while to explain this to me, but "R" is actually the name of a statistical programing language that can be used for corpus linguistic research. You would think that they could come up with a more creative name. He left on August 8th and got home really late on August 15th. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to have Jesse leave me for a week. It was even more difficult because we hadn't had the opportunity to spend much time together before he left. We were in Utah for a week and then Jesse's sisters Emily and Lizzy came to visit for a week and then Jesse was gone. I felt extremely overwhelmed and extremely stressed out. I was grateful my Dad could come stay with me for a few days to help me take care of Landon. I really hate being alone, but in addition to being alone, I am pregnant and have a 2 year old.

                               

Jesse went with 2 other students from NAU, John and Shelley. They spent most of the car ride to TX and back studying for their comprehensive exam. Jesse didn't have to write a thesis for his Master's degree, but he does have to pass this exam in order to graduate.  

While daddy was away, we went to the park and had lots of fun. Landon thought it was really funny when Grandpa would swing. I thought it was pretty funny too. I don't think I have ever seen my dad swing before.

I am grateful that Jesse is home and back in school. When Jesse is in school he doesn't miss it for anything (except when I have a baby). Which means he is home with me.  

July Utah Trip

Because of Jesse's work and school schedule and my pregnancy, we didn't get to do a lot of fun family  activities this summer. We did however, get to go to Utah for 10 days and spend some time with our families. While Jesse was at Wind Rivers, Landon and I were being spoiled by my sweet mom. Landon is a lot like me, he is clean, organized and very routine oriented. Every evening we did the same thing we picked up our room and went swimming; well he went swimming and I just watched.

Landon's cousin Jason, came over a few times to go swimming with him. Landon wasn't very thoughtful though. Landon would splash poor Jason in the face and take away his toys.

Needless to say, Landon spent a lot of time giving Jason hugs and kisses for being mean.

  

Since Landon was 6 Months old he has had a love for music. He likes to lead the music in sacrament and he loves to dance and sing. Anytime we go over to Grandma's, Landon always wanders off to the piano room and plays his little heart out. He spent a lot of time in the afternoons playing the piano. I took this picture after he was in there for 30 minutes. I will probably start teaching him about music around 4 or 5 years old.

When Grandma would come home from work we normally went shopping or out to dinner. While Grandma Perez was  looking at baby cloths Landon and I were goofing off playing with all the fun things.

We also went and visited my Grandpa and Grandma Reid in West Jordan. My Grandma just got a skin graft on her leg and was on bed wrest. We were able to make my Grandparents Sunday dinner and play with our cousins. Landon learned how to do somersaults and play ring around the rosies. Landon also liked to give us a piano performance every now and then.

Some other things that we got to do (I don't have pictures, Sorry). We got to spend an evening with Grandpa Egbert and Landon's Aunt Jenna, Melissa and Ashlyn. Aunt Jocelyn made us some yummy Cherry pie and eclaire cake. We also got to spend the day with Diane at her home and played a lot of fun games. Landon and I took a nap in the afternoon, we're kind of lame like that. Later that same evening we went to Jesse's Grandmas and had a really good fireside, the entire Egbert Family was there. Laura was there via phone. Cousin Rylee also taught Landon how to say "No". Now Landon likes to say "No" and then smack you the face. Isn't he an angel, not. At the end of our stay we had a game night with my older brother David and his wife Heidi. As for Penny she came to Utah with us. She spent the whole time bothering my moms dog, Riley. When she wasn't bothering Riley, she was bothering me or playing somewhere in the background.