Jase's new job

Aren't they cute together!

Jase's sleeping positions

Over the last few months we had gotten to see Jase fall asleep in some interesting positions.
For instance, the morning after a Halloween party Jase could not stay awake and fell asleep while eating his pop tart and getting his diaper changed.
Then we drove back home from Michigan (overnight to miss the majority of the bigger snow storm in December) and Jase kept his head covered with his beloved blankie - hmmm maybe to keep the traffic lights out of his face, but I kept pulling it off to make sure he had fresh air to breathe. Also as a note, both kids slept the whole 7.5 hours, from 6:30p-2a - which made our trip take only 1.5 hours longer than usual ;although the following day (when we were going to leave) it would have taken us at least 4-5 hours longer because of the snow and ice.

Over the 2 weeks Jase has fallen asleep like this:
and this:
This kid really loves having his head covered up - I for one always feel like I am suffocated if I have something on my head when I try to sleep.

We don't always check on him before we go to bed, as he rarely moves around on his bed anymore. Maybe we should check on him more often...

Christmas in Michigan

We had Christmas with Heather's family in Michigan the middle of December and it sure was a busy 3 days. To start with we visited the wonderful Santa house in Midland. This Santa house is the best I've seen and each year it is a little different. In addition to the many trains, there is an airplane with an elf that blows "snow" bubbles on everyone inside. Jase still hates Santa and it takes everything we have to get him to sit next to Santa. Thankfully Meghan was content being held by the big guy...
A family picture in the sleigh...
After Santa's house we had a small Christmas with Heather's paternal grandparents. Jase really liked the village that was set up.Over the next two days we had Christmas with Heather's parents and Heather's maternal gramma. It was a very nice couple of days and we were blessed with many gifts given and received. Some of Jase's favorites include his Shake n' Go Crash ups race car track, Imaginext T-Rex dinosaur, Thomas train track, and many other toys. Meghan got clothes, a doll, an animal farm, and some stacking and nesting cups. I got a 12c food processor, 4-slice toaster, and other kitchen and craft accessories. Joseph got tools (level, jig saw) to add to his collection. The best gift we gave as a family was to Heather's parents, a digital picture frame and photo calendar for 2008. The digital frame was preloaded with pics of the grandkids and will be perfect for the 5th wheel camping they do.

Meghan's Blessing gown

I wanted to post a couple pictures of Meghan's blessing gown. I enjoyed designing and making it, and just love the ribbon tie in the front and the three ties in the back.

Doesn't she look darling...

Meghan's baby blessing

Meghan was blessed during Sacrament meeting on December 9, surrounded by family and friends. After church all the family headed back to the Holdaway house for food and fun. This was the first time for Joseph's side of the family to meet Meghan and for most of them to see our house. We also exchanged gifts as we wouldn't be seeing them again before Christmas.

As you can tell, our small house can hold a lot of adults (9) and kids (6)...

Christmas pics

If only we could have gotten one with the 2 of them together, but when Meghan was happy, Jase wouldn't cooperate, and when Jase was ready, Meghan was screaming. Maybe next year...

This is what grandkids learn from their grandparents...

Thanksgiving

I just realized that I never blogged about our Thanksgiving. Here it is a week late...

We had a very nice Turkey day with the Hubert's and a family from Columbia that they know through Purdue. It was a bit hectic and crazy at times (I'm not sure why, with 6 adults and 6 kids in a 1000 sq ft house). We had lots of yummy food (everybody made some, so everybody got leftovers!), including turkey, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, green bean casserole, raspberry pretzel salad, deviled eggs, punch, homemade crescent rolls, an orange and cranberry bread, carmel apple pies, pumpkin pies, and a key lime pie. Wow, it makes me want to have another turkey day soon, just to have more leftovers...ours were gone by Saturday night :(

If you can't spend the holidays with family, then the holidays should be spent with friends who seem like family.

Christmas tree hunting

On Saturday we went hunting for a Christmas tree. It was a sunny but cold morning - perfect for finding the right tree for our house this year. We got our tree from Cassens tree farm. Jase loved running around the trees, hiding, and helping cut down the tree. Meghan was nicely bundled up and slept for the entire excursion.
My 2 big strong men hauling in the tree...now we just have to decorate it.

My new haircut

I finally got a new haircut (other than the standard trim every 3-4 months). I love my hair being length. It is a great style to wash and go, or to spend as much time styling as I want/am able to.

Bumbo, oh bumbo...

how we love you so!

Meghan's grandparents got her a bumbo seat and we all love it. Meghan loves to be sitting upright and able to look around. We love being able to interact with her and see her face (not always the easiest if you are holding her).

Jase loves playing with his little sister and can't wait until she can play with his big toys and trains. He gives her train cars and matchbox cars to hold all the time, and can't quite understand why she doesn't seem interested.

Meghan loves her brother and they interact really well. The best smiles we've seen so far have been when Jase is right next to her and playing with her, or acting goofy around her. It won't be long and she will be laughing at him too!

The many faces of Meghan

Meghan has reached the wonderful stage of having some really cute faces and finally smiling at us (other than the gas smiles). Here are some of the faces we've got with the camera...
(and just to make it clear, that is Heather's arm behind Meghan...)

Sleeping babies

My sleeping baby is so precious...

Family visits and camping

The beginning of November brought Heather's parents to visit. When Heather's parents come to visit, Jase goes camping at a nearby campground with his grandparents. Jase loves camping with his grandparents. Not only does he get spoiled with toys, clothes, food, and playing nonstop, 24/7, but he comes home absolutely exhausted and sleeps really great for a few days (naps that is). One of Jase's favorite things to do when camping is to stand and sit on the small table. It is always hard for him to not do this when he comes back home...

This time we had a surprise visit of Heather's paternal grandparents. It was a short visit, but it was nice for them to get to Meghan in person.

Happy Halloween

Halloween was extra great to our family dinosaur, Jase.


He had a blast going trick or treating in the University Farms subdivision in West Lafayette, with his friends Ashton, Dominic, Will, Chris, and Alahna. After going door to door, we went to our Church's trunk or treat and had more fun and candy. On the way home we stopped by Heather's supervisor's house to trick or treat one last time. It was there that Jase got not only candy, but he got to pick out 5 Thomas the Train car sets. Jase was so happy that he didn't even care about the candy anymore (well not until the next morning when we wouldn't let him have candy until he had a nutritious breakfast and had eaten his vitamin). Jase even slept with the trains...

Meghan was dressed as a duck, all in yellow, although she spent the whole evening in the front carrier, asleep - what a life!

Pecan Caramel Clusters (aka Turtles)

I found a recipe for turtles in one of my favorite cooking magazines, Simple and Delicious, by Taste of Home, the Nov/Dec 2007 issue. It has just 4 ingredients and only took me about 20 minutes to make 11 nice sized turtles (supposed to make 16, but I used up the chocolate with just 11, so I guess I need to make them smaller next time...)

With them being so easy to make, I wanted to make up lots and give them away as gifts this Christmas season, however they need to stay chilled, otherwise they are a gooey mess.

Pumpkin cleaning

We decided to finally carve up the pumpkins for Halloween. It was quite fun to watch Jase look at the pumpkin "guts" reach in and barely touch them, and then pull his hand out really fast. He worked much better with a spoon, and some help from daddy.

Here we are cleaning the pumpkins...


You will have to wait a little longer to see the faces, and Jase and Meghan in their costumes...

Fall is here

The hot and humid summer weather is gone and the cool, crisp, sometimes rainy fall weather is here.

We made it to the Pumpkin Patch at Millenium Farms in Oxford and rode the hayride and picked out pumpkins from the field. Jase also jumped 2x in the air bouncer and rode the barrel "train" too. Jase also loved the farm animals in the petting barn. Meghan was a trooper and slept the whole time in the front carrier. We forgot the camera, but will post pictures when the pumpkins get carved up...

October has also brought us visitors in the form of Heather's Gramma and her dog Molly. We all loved having the company and Jase loved having a little dog around.

Jase has decided that on some days he doesn't want to take a nap, so he then usually falls asleep around 7:30p on the futon or in the recliner while being read to. Sometimes the next morning he is still pretty tired when waking up (or being woke up when it is Sunday), hence the pictures where Jase is asleep standing next to the chair, while eating a poptart, and asleep while getting his diaper changed. I have to admit that that Sunday at church was the best we've had (as far as a listening to the talks) in the last 2 years, as Jase wanted to be cuddled/held or laid down the whole time.

Meghan has been sleeping great the last week, only waking up once in an 8 hour period to eat. She has also started to sleep in her crib for the first shift of the night and doesn't fuss too much when put in her crib while awake but sleepy. Occasionally she will be fussy and just want to nurse constantly for 3-4 hours, so after we know she isn't hungry, wet, or cold/hot, we try to get her to be happy in the swing, bouncer, etc. The one position that always works is Joe slouching her over his arm (usually while playing computer games).

So here are some pics of the above highlights of the month so far...

Differences between siblings

I've always thought it interesting how different siblings can be. Being an only child I've never experienced this first hand, until now. With Meghan joining our family just 3 short weeks ago, it amazes me the differences I already see between her and Jase.

The four main differences include:

-Jase would cry, but it was always at an even keel, no screaming or shrieking; Meghan cries for about 30 seconds, before escalating to a scream/shriek that identifies her as being peeved about something (probably not nursing 24/7)

-Jase has always loved riding in the car, while Meghan loudly protests both short and long car rides (see above difference and think of how fun a trip to Indy would be with screaming for 30 minutes...I don't forsee a trip to Michigan anytime soon)

-Jase was a very quiet sleeper, one of the babies that you had to touch them while they were sleeping to make sure they were still breathing; not Meghan, she is the noisiest sleeping baby I have ever heard, grunting and squeaking all night long (this makes it difficult having her sleep in our bedroom)

-Jase has never (from day 1) ever slept more than 13 hours in a day; Meghan averages about 18 hours of sleep a day (granted most of this is while being held, in the car seat, or in the swing - she despises the crib and bassinet)

So, my question for all you blog readers with more than child is this: what differences do you notice between your children and how early on did you notice these differences?
Of course I'll end the post with a couple pictures of Meghan, with Joseph and Jase...

Circus Time

Joseph and Jase went to the Ringling Bros. Circus with Paul, Misty, and Ashton South. Jase got to try out his nifty backpack/child restraint which he was excited about. That was until he found out the part about the restraint. They showed up early to go down on the floor and visit with the clowns and other people from the show. It was loud and Jase was more timid than usual, refusing to sit on a motorcycle that he would otherwise love. Jase really liked the tigers, elephants, and horses. They left a little early due to being up way past their normal bedtimes, but a fun time was had by all.

Life with baby and toddler = exhausting but fun

Life with a new baby and a 2yo is wonderful, fun, and exhausting (not to mention frustrating).

Jase figured out how to climb into the crib quite fast and likes to put his toys in there and then climb up to play (I guess it is good that Meghan hasn't really started to sleep in there much so far).
Meghan likes to swing and be held and nurse all the time (I think this is the 2 week growth spurt time).
Jase loves to hold his little sister and is still quite protective when other people come near her (he actually says, while standing in front of her: "Stop, don't touch, my sister" - it is quite cute and we hope that lasts for a while...

We got some pictures taken of Meghan (and the rest of us) when she was a week old. We think they turned out quite well.

Baby Meghan arrives!

Little Meghan Anne was born at 3:07p on September 12, 2007, weighing 8lbs 8oz, and 20 inches long.

Having a scheduled c-section is really nice, because you know the day and time that the new baby will arrive. But alas, just because it is scheduled, doesn't mean that it won't be delayed (still working on that patience concept). The day before my Dr and I were joking about having a "date" scheduled (perhaps that was the first of the jinxes...). The night before Heather went to bunko and mentioned that the only way it wouldn't be at 10a, would be if there was an emergency c-section needing to be done (jinx #2).

Wednesday morning we arrived at the hospital at 9a, for the surgery scheduled for 10a. I was prepped and the baby monitored and everything looked great. We decided against taking all the bags and "stuff" into the hospital right away, since we would only be in the room for an hour at most before the baby came and then would be changing rooms (jinx #3).

Then the first delay came - my Dr had another patient ready to start pushing, so we were going to wait (about 30 minutes total) and then get started. I was fine with that, since it was only 30 minutes, not a big deal. Then during that 30 minutes, an emergency happened and so I got bumped (about 2 hours total for the surgery and then clean up of the OR). Then when that one was finished, another emergency happened and I got bumped once again. At this point I was starving and when the nusres asked if there was anything I needed, I said, " not anything I can actually be allowed to have" - ie: food and drink. So, while I was learning patience, Joseph and I decided to close the blinds, turn off the tv, and take a nap. It wasn't 10 minutes later when the nurses came and said that it was finally my turn - yeah!!!!

So I got the spinal, Joseph came back, and then a few minutes later a baby girl was born. The baby and Joseph went to the nursery, I went to recovery, and I beat them to the room by an hour. While it took us about a day to figure out a name, we decided on Meghan Anne. The hospital stay wasn't too terrible, even though all the rooms were doubled up - it was a busy time at the hospital (about 50 births over 3 days).

My recovery has been good and I already have lots of mobility, hardly any pain, no swelling, and feel really great, considering having a new baby and surgery only 4 days ago. Much better than with the first labor and c-section (I guess not being tired from 30 hours of labor helps...).

So here are the long awaited for pictures:
Jase loves being the older brother and wants her to be able to play trains with him (although I'm sure by the time she is able to play with his toys, he won't want her too anymore...). She gets lots of love and kisses from her big brother and we know that they have a great relationship growing up together.

Where did the month of August go?

So, it has been quite a while since I've done an entry, but then again, life has been pretty hectic this last 6 weeks...

Here are some highlights for the month of August and the first 2 weeks of September:

• Jase helping to cook most meals (naked with an apron on)

• Jase and Ashton playing, and Jase just plain being silly...

• Joseph and Jase going to the Indy zoo with Misty, Ashton, and Dominic
• Jase climbing on the futon and falling/tumbling off the back
• Joseph, Jase, Paul , and Ashton camping at Prophetstown (this was the first father/son camping trip)

• Jase hangin' out
• Jase naked in a basket
• Jase loving to "swim" in the bathtub
• A trip to the Children's Museum with Misty, Ashton, and Dominic
• A visit to Fair Oaks farm (the second this year) with grandpa and grandma
• Jase golfing in the front yard (right before Joseph went golfing - hope he didn't miss his tee time...)

This was the majority of the last 6 weeks. We were busy, especially the week Heather had off work before the baby was born...